Shattered Secrets

I calmed down less than a minute later after a lot of shouting at myself in my head and wishing that my breathing wouldn't hitch when I took a look around the place. The bus where the guys spent all their free time in between shows. Eventually I pulled myself together and saw them more as themselves than the famous rock gods that I had been following since I was a young teenager.

"Nissa? You want a beer?" Johnny called from the kitchen area of their bus, his head stuck into the half sized fridge.

"Yeah," I called back, "Thanks."

The man brought me over my drink and I took a few gulps, letting the distantly familiar taste flood my senses. Now I was sitting next to Valary on the couch seeing as Michelle politely demanded that she sit next to her boyfriend. I had nodded and moved to the other side of Zacky, where I smiled up at him.

"The Red Sox are playing in a couple of day, here," Amanda told me, a smile coming on her face as she thought about Bronson, her older cousin.

"Really?" I questioned, smiling at her, "Is Bronson going to come visit?"

Amanda nodded frantically like if she didn't her cousin would change his mind and completely ignore her when he came to L.A

"Bronson Arroyo? The Sox starting pitcher?" Zacky asked from beside me, dropping whatever conversation he was having with Johnny.

Amanda nodded again. "He's my cousin."

Zacky looked awestruck as he sat beside me and I laughed at his expression. Matt laughed loudly and took a swig of his beer quickly before he said, "The Sox are one of ZV's favorite baseball teams. Except for the Angels." He laughed again, seeing as Zacky had started to recover from his initial shock.

"I know." I ran my finger over the Anaheim Angels tattoo that was behind Zacky's ear and then smirked, "I think that's why Mandi brought them up."

Amanda shrugged. "I can get as many tickets as I want, do you guys want to go?"

Zacky smiled and nodded eagerly. "Hell yes!" The rest of the guys and girls murmured words of agreement as Zacky sat almost bouncing in his seat with excitement.

"Okay," Mandi said simply. But her smile gave away the fact that she was ecstatic to have another chance to hang out with them, seeing as right now they are all pretty beat from being on stage and finishing off a two month tour.

I sighed and sat back, trying to figure out how I would tell Bronx that I'm going to a baseball game with four of his favorite people in this entire world and not crush him more than I already did tonight.

"What's up, Nissa?" Brian asked, snapping his fingers in front of my face with a smirk.

I laughed. "Oh you know, just trying to figure out how I'm going to kidnap you and lock you all in my basement for my own sick enjoyment."

Johnny jumped up after those words had left my mouth. "I'll go willingly!" he shouted, a smirk on his face as I laughed and leaned forward to shove him back down into his seat near Brian.

"You're funny, Seward," I glared at him playfully, "But I think Mandi would be at my house a little too much if I had you locked up."

Mandi just shook her head, used to my embarrassing jokes. The room laughed along with me and soon we were cut short by my cell phone ringing.

A place of hope and no pain
Perfect skies with no rain
Can leave this place but refrain
'Cause we've been waiting for you

I pulled my cell phone out of my back pocket as the guys smirked at the familiar song. I flipped it open after seeing the number to my house phone. "Greg?" I asked into the phone, holding it to my ear as the bus suddenly went quiet.

"Mommy?" A sniffling voice called into the phone. I suddenly got the chills as I heard my baby crying.

"Bronx, what's wrong?" I demanded urgently, sitting on the edge of the couch.

"I had a nightmare and I can't find Greg. It's dark Mommy," he cried.

"Baby, go turn the light on, Greg is probably asleep in Mommy's bed, it's late." I cooed, trying to calm him down. I heard him sigh when he turned the light on and shuffling as he made his way up the stairs.

"Why's he in your bed, Mommy?" Bronx asked, calming down slightly as he noticed that there was someone there to look after him and fight off the monsters that frequented his dreams.

"Because he's tired, Bronx. Hey, listen baby, you need to go back to bed, okay? I'll be home soon," I told him firmly, knowing that he'd be incredibly grouchy if he didn't get back to sleep.

"Okay Mommy, but did you see them?" he asked, his voice growing louder and excited as he woke up and got over his fears.

I nodded although he couldn't see it and smiled to everyone around me to know that he was fine, "Yeah, I did. I'm actually here with them right now!"

I heard him gasp on the other end and then he yelled, "You're with Avenged Sevenfold? Can I talk to them?" He screamed it so loudly that everyone started chuckling at the little boys excitement even me as they sent me smiles and Val seemed to coo at the fact that I even had a son.

"Babes, I don't know if that's a good idea. It's late and you should be in be-" My phone was ripped out of my hand before I could even finish my sentence. Brian had leaned over and yanked it away from me and put the phone on speaker,

"Hey little man," Brian greeted, "It's Syn."

Bronx was silent on the phone and then he said, "I don't believe you." Causing everyone on the bus to laugh.

Brian chuckled and shook his head, "Why not?" he asked, a smile on his face.

"I can't see you." Bronx said simply, his voice becoming shy as he talked.

"Well," Brian muttered, "We have to fix that don't we? How about you come to a baseball game with us and your Mom, of course."

Bronx screeched happily on the other line and I groaned knowing that he would never get to sleep. Not until after he gets to meet the band. "When?" Bronx questioned eagerly, quickly.
Brian looked to Amanda who held up two fingers, signaling the the game was two weekends away, two weeks.

"Two weeks from now, kid." Brian told him, a smirk on his face.

Bronx groaned, "That's so far away!"

The bus laughed again at his impatience and Brian thought for a second. He looked at Michelle than me and than back to the phone where he said, "Then I'll stop over sometime to say hi."

After Bronx freaked out and agreed that Brian would stop by and meet him in the coming days I took my phone back and rolled my eyes while I tried to contain my smile. After a minute Brian stood up, catching the attention of everyone. He reached his hand out for me.

"Yes?" I asked, looking up at him wearily from my spot next to Zacky.

"Come on." Brian answered, reaching out towards me even farther.

I looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Damn, just come on I need your number and address and shit so that I can come meet your kid!" He groaned, rolling his chocolate brown eyes as he did so. I smiled to myself and reached out to take his hand to he could pull me up.

He didn't let go of my hand as he tugged my to the back room where guitars, and drum things were laid out. His calloused fingers scraped against the back of my hand as our fingers stay intertwined as he sat down on the couch and grabbed a notebook from the small brown coffee table that was sitting there.

"Here, write your address and crap down." He said, handing me the book and a blue ink pen. At the top I wrote my name and my phone number. Under that I wrote my address.

"You live in Huntington?" Brian questioned leaning back into the couch as he read over the info. that I had written down.

"Uhm, yeah," I said nervously, not quite wanting to admit that his band was the reason I moved from L.A to Huntington Beach.

Brian smiled at me, and my breath caught in my throat on instinct. I scorned myself and looked away from him quickly so that he wouldn't see the faint blush on my pale cheeks.

"Why so nervous?" he inquired, laughing to himself as I glared.

I scoffed loudly, theatrically. "I'm not nervous."

Brian laughed animatedly at my obvious lie. "Sure you're not."

"I'm not!" I defended, shoving his shoulder.

He continued to laughed. "Alright, I believe you. If you were nervous you wouldn't have pushed me," he remarked, sarcasm heavy in his words.

I chuckled. "Yeah. I might break you."

This time it was Brian who scoffed.

We talked for a while about the show, the band, about how long I had been a fan and even about Bronx. It even surprised me on how down to earth Brian really was. As we talked Brian pulled his back of cigarettes from his pocket. He lit it with out a word and took a deep drag on his marlboro. He exhaled with a smirk and I leaned back against the couch, content with sitting in silence since we had been talking non-stop for the last half an hour or so.

Brian went to put the cigarette back to his lips but before he could, I pulled it away from him and took a drag on the cancerous stick. "Next time," I said then exhaled, "You really should offer me a smoke." I handed it back to him with a shake of my head. I raked my fingers through my own dirty blonde hair as I sat there.

"Who said there's going to be a next time?" He questioned and leaned forward to toss the notebook back on the coffee table, his smoke still between his lips.

I rolled my eyes, "You've got my number, my name, and my address Mister Gates, I'm pretty sure that there's going to be a next time."

Brian raised his eyebrows suggestively and I laughed, shoving him back in his seat so that his face wasn't so close to mine and I wouldn't be tempted to lean forwards and place my own lips on his soft, thin ones. "Not like that!" I laughed, as he sat back and shrugged his shoulders.

"That was so not what I was thinking," he chuckled, "You're the one with the dirty mind."

I nodded my head. "Oh yeah totally. Because I fantasize about you Synyster.." I trailed off seductively, playfully with a smirk on his lips matching the smirk on my own.

Brian leaned across me slowly to put his cigarette out in one of the many ash trays that littered the room. The smirk didn't leave his lips as he leaned across me and even when he paused and his eyes flicked to me his smirk stayed on his face, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. "You know," He murmured, turning so that his lips were by my ear, "That's not such a bad thing. There are plenty of women that fantasize about me everyday."

He leaned away from me quickly as the door opened and Matt stuck his head in. "We're heading out soon." He told us before he disappeared again hesitantly, with a look of suspicion on his face.

I shook my head to dislodge the thoughts that were raging through my mind. "I better be going." I uttered out, my voice strained as I stood up, Syn following after me.

"I'll stop by sometime, to say hi to Bronx, he seems like a cute hid," he murmured almost awkwardly, a slight smile on his features.

I nodded. "He'll be waiting," I said with a smile as I walked out of the back room to where Amanda was standing.

"Give me your phone," Brian demanded as he followed me out to the others, stealing a glance at Michelle as she looked at him when those words left his lips.

I tilted my head to the side. "What for?"

Brian laughed. "So you can call me when Bronx wants to meet up."

I smiled and nodded. "Okay."

As Amanda and I climbed back into the Hummer the grins on our faces couldn't have been any larger. The time on the dashboard said 2:15 AM and I realized that we had been with the band for over three hours.

"So..." Amanda coaxed as we pulled out of the now empty parking lot.

"So?" I inquired, knowing exactly what she wanted to hear.

Amanda groaned, "He hung out with you by himself for over a half an hour!"

I shrugged. "We just talked."

Amanda rolled her eyes, obviously forgetting about his girlfriend who sat just feet away on the bus, "Talked my ass."