Crossroads

-Joanna’s POV-

I hung up my phone and slid it into the inside pocket of my jacket. It was hot as hell but, I’d rather sweat then possibly fall and have the skin on my arms and torso ripped off. We kick started our bikes and made way for our journey home. Our much needed vacation had to regrettably come to an end. We missed out boys along with Aden, Katie, Lexi and the kids, and we couldn’t wait to see everyone again.

We had finally shaken off the remains of our high from the night before. We had almost enough for two bowls and we figured it would be safer to just get rid of it instead of having it on us while we traveled back. We didn’t want to throw it out and we had no idea who would take such a little amount off our hands, so we decided to do the deed ourselves.

About three and a half hours in, we decided to stop and fuel up at the same place we stopped at on the way in. With how active my bladder is and the amount of coffee I drank this morning, I figured it would be a good idea to use the facilities and then possibly fuel ourselves by getting some food.

After we had both used the bathroom, we roamed the isles looking for something to snack on before leaving. I settled for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and a bottle of Mt. Dew along with a can of Monster for later and set it on the counter in front of the cashier. Lucy walked up with a bag of Fritos and a bottle of Diet Coke.

I pulled out my wallet from my back pocket and looked at the man. He looked confused.

“Uhm,” I started, “I want to pay for these and the bikes on pump 2 and 4.”

He shook his head and smiled, “No need, it was taken care of.”

Lucy and I looked at each other, “Was it the same person as last time?” she asked.

“Yes, is he not your friend?” he asked.

We shook our heads. “No, what did he look like?” I asked.

“What are you going to do Jo?” Lucy asked grabbing my arm.

“I’m just curious. This is the second time this has happened, and at the same gas station. I think we should at least thank him or something.” I replied.

“He had long dark brown hair, he was wearing sunglasses, lip piercings, he was pretty well built, tattoo’s. He had a camera too. He pointed at you two and said he was paying for your gas and whatever else you two wanted.” He said with a tint of concern in his voice.

I looked around; it could have been a very appreciative fan. There was no way that it could have been any of our guys or family. The description didn’t fit. Not to mention the way the man looked concerned put me on edge. I looked at a corner behind the counter and smiled.

“I’ve seen that look before Jo, what are you thinking about?” Lucy asked nervously.

I pointed, “The baseball bat. Do you think I can have it? I’ll give you money for it, I don’t care.”

“Oh no no no. You can have it.” He said grabbing for it. He handed it across the counter and I took it and thanked him.

I weighed it out in my hands. It was a very sturdy wooden bat, one of my favorites. “Perfect. Now if we see him again and he’s threatening we mustn’t fear!”

I thanked the man again and we headed out. We walked to our bikes and got ready to venture off again.

“Joanna what time is it?” she asked me.

“Uhm, almost 2:30. Why?” I replied.

“There’s a tattoo place, look.” She said pointing a little down the road. “We’re not in a rush, let’s get some new ink!”

“Fuck yeah!” I said giving her a high five. We took off down the street and walked in.

We looked at the artists portfolios and settled for a man called ‘Greed’. We asked the receptionist if there was a way for us to talk to him. She was a pretty stuck up bitch, but after popping her gum a couple of times she got her hoochie ass up and did her job. As they walked to the front we heard him firmly stating that he was going home after his last client. However his mood and decision changed as soon as he laid his eyes on us.

“Janet, is that, is that Lucy and Joanna from Shattered Halo?” he asked his receptionist in disbelief.

“Oh, hey,” Lucy started politely, “if now isn’t a good time we understand. We know appointments are usually better than walk-ins.”

“Oh no you guys are fine. Come come, talk with me.” He said waving over for us to talk in his office.

We sat down and gave him a general idea of what we wanted and where we wanted them. Lucy decided she was going to get a Batman tattoo on her right calf, so I decided to get the Joker and Harley Quinn in the same spot.

A good four and a half hours later our tattoos were complete. They looked amazing, they were so detailed and just beautiful. We took a picture with him and signed it before paying him and tipping him $250 each, which he was grateful for, then left.

It was close to nine o’clock when we got home. We stretched as we got off the bikes and grabbed our helmets and went into the house. The first to greet us were Dribblez and Nightmare, a moment later we were greeted by Zacky.

He kissed me hard and gave Lucy a hug. “Took you guys forever to get home. What was up with that?” he asked.

“Let us show you.” I smiled as we lifted up our pant legs and showed him our tattoos.

“WOW!” he said kneeling down to inspect them. “Where did you guys get these done?”

“This place in Victorville. The guy was really nice.” Lucy replied.

“And the receptionist was a cunt.” I added. Lucy nodded in response.

I looked over and saw Jude sitting in the den in his bouncer watching Yo Gabba Gabba. I walked over to greet him. “Where is everyone?” Lucy asked.

“Oh, they all went to a bar with Amber and Kristin. I can’t stand the thought of Kristin so I told Aden and Brian I’d watch Jude. You can meet up with them if you’d like. They left maybe 45 minutes ago?” he replied.

“That sounds good. I’ll go get ready.” Lucy said before heading upstairs to change.

“You.” Zacky said looking at me.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“I wanna talk to you.” He said. He didn’t look too happy.

“Uh, okay.” I said getting up. He started walking towards the kitchen so I followed.

“Here.” He said sliding an envelope across the counter. I picked it up and took out the contents.

My eyes went wide, “The fuck?” I commented. They were pictures of Lucy and I from Vegas. “Where did you get these from?” I asked.

“I found them in the mailbox. Keep going.”

I kept flipping through them. The majority of them were us hanging out with Max, Craig, Benji and Joel, but then there were others when we were in our room. I felt a shiver as I kept going through them. Some of the pictures were of us sleeping, it sent chills up my spine. And then I saw a picture of Lucy and I stoned, taking another hit from the bowl.

“You’d figure that picture would bother me most, but no. the fact that someone has pictures of you guys in your room bothers me. I want to find out who the fuck took these.”

I was about to reply when Lucy skipped into the kitchen. I looked at her and her expression changed, “What’s going on?” she asked. I handed the pictures to her and I watched her expression go from concerned to scared and creeped out. “Where did these come from?!”

“Zacky found them in the mailbox. Go to Matt, we can all talk about this later.” I said to her. She nodded and headed out, grabbing her car keys on the way out.

“Can you help me with something?” Zacky said, suddenly sounding exhausted.

“Yeah, what’s wrong babe?” I asked.

“I can’t get Jude to sleep. I rocked him since before they left and he can’t fall asleep. He’s got a tooth coming in and, I don’t know what to do.”

I thought for a moment, “Go grab your acoustic guitar and meet me in the den.” He smiled and kissed me before going to the studio to grab his guitar. I ran up to our room and grabbed mine and ran back to the den where he was sitting.

I sat down next to him and looked over a Jude, “Let’s play something for him, see if that helps. Music always helped Aden and I sleep, maybe it’ll work for him.”

He shrugged and looked skeptical but started strumming to Seize the Day. I immediately joined him and it seemed to calm Jude down.

We played a couple of more songs for him and his eyelids started to droop. Zacky looked at me, “I have to go get some milk and a couple of other things before the store closes. I’ll be back in a bit okay?” he said.
“Alright.” I said kissing him on the cheek. He got up and grabbed his keys and headed out to the store.

I decided to play one more song for Jude, which happened to be Give You My All by Eyes Set To Kill. Before I finished the first verse he fell asleep, however I finished the song to make sure he was staying asleep. Once I was positive he was going to stay asleep, I set my guitar to the side and carefully lifted him from his bouncer and carried him up to his room. As I placed him in his crib, I put on his night light and TV and headed back downstairs.

I grabbed a blanket out of the hall closet, turned off the lights and made myself comfortable on the couch before picking a movie to watch. About ten minutes into the movie, exhaustion hit me and I dozed off.
I woke up and saw the credits from the movie scrolling on the TV. I felt someone at the other end of the couch and looked over. It was too dark to make out features but I assumed it was Zacky. I looked at the cable box and saw it was 11:26. No one else would have been home yet, so it had to be him.

I sat up and went to the other end of the couch and leaned on him. He put his arm on my shoulder and that’s when it hit me. The hand on my shoulder did not feel like Zacky’s hand. He didn’t smell like him either. I looked up and noticed his hair was far too long and he was a lot more muscular than him as well.
I screamed as I flew off of the couch and over to the fire place mantle, grabbing the baseball bat. I turned on the lights and I did not know the man standing by the couch. My heart was racing and I felt my palms begin to sweat.

“Who the fuck are you?!” I yelled.

He just smiled at me. I looked around to see if there were any signs of someone else being home. There weren’t any. “DRIBBLEZ!” I yelled. I heard him start barking and growling, but he was locked outside. I began to panic.

“There’s no need to be frightened.” He said still smiling. His smile put me on edge.

As I continued to look at him, his features rushed into my mind. Long brown hair, lip ring, tattoos, well built…

“The guy from the gas station.” I thought out loud.

“Yes.” He replied.

“What do you want?!” I asked, gripping the bat.

“Why, I want you of course. You and Lucy. You two hold a special place in my heart.”

“You. Did you take those pictures too?!” I yelled.

He nodded, but said nothing.

“What do you want from us?” I asked, trying to look for a way to my dog.

“I just want you guys. I want to have you two.” He replied.

“Well, we are not objects, you can’t just have us. And if it’s a relationship you want? You won’t be getting one from us, we are happily taken.” I replied.

“Well, don’t worry. No one will be finding you.” He said. I didn’t understand what he was saying, but I didn’t have time to think when he charged at me.

I screamed as I began to run. I leaped over the couch and ran for the back door. I let Dribblez in, along with Majesty and Lolly, and charged for the man. He swung to hit them but missed. I grew enraged that he tried to harm my dog, and I finally put the bat to work. I hit him in the side and he sunk to the floor. I let the dogs after him as I ran upstairs to check on Jude.

When I reached his room I had tears streaming down my face and that I was out of breath, but my adrenaline was pumping so hard that I didn’t feel tired. Jude was still fast asleep in his crib and I was grateful and relieved that he was not harmed. I saw headlights come up the street and into the driveway. I saw it was Zacky and I grabbed Jude and the bat and ran downstairs.

When I got to the front, I saw Dribblez, Majesty and Lolly barking and growling by the backdoor. I slammed the sliding door shut and locked it as Zacky came through the front. As soon as I saw him I ran up to him with Jude and started crying.

“What’s going on?! I heard the dogs growling.” He said as he dropped the bags and wrapped his arms around us.

It took me a few moments to catch my breath from all the sobbing. I handed Jude to him as I grabbed the bat, still trying to collect myself so I could speak, and went around locking all the doors and windows.

I finally went back into the den and sat on the couch, still crying, but stood right back up after remembering who was on the couch.

“The-there was a man! I fell asleep, and he was sitting, right there!” I went on pointing. Zacky put Jude back in the bouncer and he dozed right back to sleep.

“Whoa, slow down. What?” he said putting his hands on my shoulders, I couldn’t stop shaking.

I heard the front door open and immediately grabbed the bat again, trying to get ready for who was walking in. I saw it was Lucy, Matt, Aden, Brian, Lexi and Jimmy. They all looked at me with a shocked expression. It took me almost 45 minutes to get my story out. Matt called the police and they soon arrived. Brian and Aden took Jude to Brian’s parents house and decided to spend the night there. I didn’t blame them, I almost wanted to ask if I can come too.

When the police showed up, they came directly to me since I was the one who was here. Lucy told them about our trip to Vegas and what happened at the gas station.

“Go get the pictures Joanna.” She told me. I walked into the kitchen to grab them.

Just as I went to walk back into the den I remembered there was a picture of us smoking weed, I quickly pulled out that one and threw it out before turning back in.

“You see, these,” I said pointing out the ones of us hanging out with the guys, “Those don’t bother me, it’s like seeing pictures of us in a magazine. But these,” I said pulling out the ones in the room sleeping, “these send chills up my spine.”

The one cop, Officer Leroy, grimaced, “Do you mind if we take these?” he asked.

“NO! Take them. Do whatever you need to.” I replied.

“Did you catch his name by any chance?” the other cop, Officer McMahon, asked.

I shook my head, “No, I can just tell you what he looked like.”

I gave them the description as the jotted it down. “Would you like someone to patrol the area tonight?”

“Yes. Please.” Matt replied holding onto Lucy.

“Very well. We will do what we can. If you hear or see anything, please, let us know.” And they left.

“I-I don’t even know how he got in.” I said to everyone. I seriously did not recall anything out of the ordinary as I went through locking all the doors and windows.

“Well we are really lucky that nothing happened to you or Jude. Could you imagine Brian if anything happened to Jude?” Jimmy said.

“Could you imagine Aden?!” Lucy, Lexi and I exclaimed in unison.

After the police left and all business was taken care of, and Lexi, Jimmy, Lucy, Matt and Zacky got me to calm down, we decided to sleep in the living room. We felt we would be safer if we all slept in the same room. I made Zacky and Lucy sleep on both sides of me on the floor, Matt next to Lucy of course, while Lexi and Jimmy made themselves comfortable on the couch I refused to lay on.

Zacky stayed up with me, rubbing my back and talking to me. I broke out into tears twice since the other fell asleep, but Zacky refused to fall asleep until he was sure I was asleep.

Surprisingly enough, the only thing we spoke about that helped me fall asleep was Jude. He went on to tell me how my idea to play music for Jude to help him fall asleep was genius. He helped me come up with an idea to record some songs for him, songs that we could write together, and play them for him at night to help him sleep.

I was halfway through a catchy lyric when I finally fell into a deep, thankfully dreamless sleep.