Smoke & Mirrors

You can do this, I told myself as I cut the engine of my Range Rover. Just get out of the car and go knock on the door, that's how it all begins.

With hair freshly straightened and an outfit consisting of a Guns 'N' Roses tank dress with bleached torn up jeans over lace tights and Misfits sneakers, I was looking way better than I did the day before when I got a surprise visit from my husband. No, this time my makeup was in order — a little bit of eye shadow, some smokey eyeliner, and enough mascara to ensure my lashes were long and easily noticeable, and some red lip color. I even had some jewelry to accessorize my outfit, but none of that made me feel any better about being here.

Zacky and I were currently on good terms after our big chat in Starbucks and I didn't want to jeopardize that by not showing up, but the thought of facing his band mates and their wives/girlfriends made me rather queasy. I wasn't the prettiest of girls for a rock star of Zacky's reputation to be with, and I knew that's what the other girls would think as soon as they saw me. Me — with my size 8 jeans and big thighs — and them with their tiny ass size 4 bodies. I'd learned long ago that size didn't mean anything, but that didn't mean I didn't have insecurities around people I didn't know.

Just as I thought about turning the car on and leaving before anyone noticed my car in the driveway, the sound of my phone vibrating inside of the cup holder in the middle console made me jump.

Get out of the damn car, and get in there!

The text was from my best friend, Dreyanna, and it didn't surprise me at all that she knew me well enough to know that I was still sitting in my vehicle.

Putting my phone away, I grabbed my purse and climbed out of the SUV with my heart beating nervously in my chest. Knocking on the door made it all the worse for me, but I didn't turn and run like I wanted to. Instead, I kept my feet rooted to the ground because I knew Drey would have my ass if I chickened out and ran home.

It was a few minutes later when the door opened to reveal a pretty blonde. She was my height with hazel-green eyes and a perfect complexion, wearing a white tank top with a pair of faded jeans and
flip-flops and looking rather disheveled. Noticing my eyes on her messed up clothing, she blushed a bit, rushing to fix it. "Sorry, my husband can't keep his hands to his self today," She giggled. "You
must be Zacky's wife, Landon, am I right?"

I just nodded my head, not really knowing what else to say or do.

"Well, I'm Michelle, Brian's wife," She replied. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"You, too," I sighed, politely. "I'm sorry if I'm a little late. I wasn't entirely sure if I should come here, today."

"Well, I'm glad you did." Michelle exclaimed almost instantly. "The girls and I have been dying to meet you. Well, most of us — I think you've met my sister once before."

I followed her into the house and to the living room, where the guys were sitting around the plasma screen watching football.

"They're gonna lose." I murmured while watching one of the two teams run across the field with the ball, which caused all five of them to turn and face me with dumbfounded looks.

It was Zacky, of course, who broke the silence that awkwardly followed my words. He jumped up from the couch and came around to the other side just to pull me into his arms and kiss my forehead. "I didn't think you were gonna make it."

"I almost didn't,"



As humans, we all have a deep instinct to protect what is rightfully ours and keep others from getting their paws on it. That instinct is what ties us to our distant animal cousins; the very instinct that makes us similar in a way. What makes us different, however, is the fact that we don't always feel the need to act upon that territorial instinct, unless, of course, some nasty little slut wants to start a fight and steal your man out from under you. That's when the instinct kicks in and your blood starts to boil; when caution is thrown into the wind and all hell breaks loose.

That's how I found myself on the ground sitting on top of that little bitch Gena as she thrashed about and tried to scratch me with her nails. Everything was going perfectly lovely -- I was actually enjoying spending time with Michelle, Valary, Jessa, and Airicka until the little tramp showed up, begging for Zacky's attention in the most pathetic of ways.

The girls had already explained the situation to me before she got there, telling me how no matter what Zacky did or said to her, she still insisted that he loved her and wanted her around. Now, seeing as it was me they were telling this to, I could partway understand where she was coming from; in the sense that I knew love was blind and it could fool you into believing things that weren't true. However, I knew for a fact that Gena wasn't in love with my husband; she just thought she was. What she really was in love with was the idea of him. She wanted his fame and fortune all for her own fifteen minutes of useless fame.

She clacked her way through the front door, practically bouncing with confidence as she searched for Zacky, and when she found him, she really put on the charm. Smiling and playing with the buttons on his shirt as he tried to shrug her off but failed at each and every attempt. That's when I decided to intervene, like the lovely wife that I was.

"You must be Jenna,"

She turned around to look at me with her eyebrows raised and her hands placed on her hips. "Its Gena, actually."

"Is it?" I questioned, carelessly. "I must have heard the girls wrong then, when they were talking about how you follow my husband around like a lovesick puppy."

"Husband?" She repeated, a dumbfounded look on her face. "I thought you were out of the picture?"

"It wouldn't matter if I was, though, now would it? You'd still be here, pining after a man that didn't want you but kept you around because you were a decent lay." I murmured narrowing my eyes at her. "You girls are all the same, little home-wrecking sluts with nothing better to do than to act like a lovesick puppy."

In all honesty, I was never this rude. I never insulted people in such a way, but this little girl was a home-wrecker trying to use my husband as her meal ticket, and I wasn't about to let her get away with it; even if Zacky and I were in the process of getting a divorce still.

"You don't know me," She replied, a manicured hand on her hip.

"No, but I know what your intentions with my husband are, and that's enough to know the kind of person you are." I stepped closer to her, managing to tower over her somehow, so that all she could see was my face and nothing beyond it. "I may have asked you to politely stay away from him all those years ago, but today, I'm not asking you; I'm actually telling you. Stay. Away. From. Him. Go find yourself another meal ticket to live off of."

I would've been fine with just our words to solve the issue at hand, but the second her hand came in contact with the skin of my cheek, it was on from there. I reacted before I could think rationally and before I knew it, the two of us were rolling around on the floor, acting like two two-legged bitches in heat.

I couldn't tell you how long it went on for, because in a way I sort of blacked out, but I can tell you that it was Zacky who interrupted the fight. He managed to grab me off of her with ease, telling me in my ear to calm down as Brian grabbed Gena to prevent her from trying anything sneaky.

"I think you broke my nose!" She cried, cupping her hand over her face.

"You shouldn't have hit me!" I exclaimed, smirking sarcastically at her.

"Gena, shut up!" Zacky demanded, turning to face her. "Brian, can you and Shell go help her clean up while I handle Landon?"

I watched Michelle roll her eyes as she followed her husband in his pursuit to take care of the fake blonde, not at all happy to be helping the gold-digger.

"Before you start scolding her, can I just say that was fucking awesome?!" I grinned at Airicka's choice of words as Zacky just groaned. Her bright hazel eyes were wide and full of amusement as she stared back at me, her bright as hell fire-engine red hair contrasting greatly against the dark beige of her skin. She was Johnny's girlfriend, and she was crazy as all get out, making her one of my favorite people to be around.

"I can't believe she hit you," Val mumbled, shaking her head. "Are you alright?"

"She's fine," Zacky groaned in annoyance. "I just need to clean her up a bit." Then, he was pulling me with him down a random hallway and into what I assumed was a guest bathroom, where he told me to sit on the counter while he searched for the first aid kit.

"I didn't want to fight with her." I confessed to him after a few minutes of awkward silence. "I couldn't control myself."

"I know," He nodded. "You never have been too great with being assaulted. Even when we were little kids, you didn't hesitate to kick some ass when the need came."

A couple seconds later, he stood back up with the kit in his hand and began gathering everything he would need out of it. "I'm just surprised you didn't kill her, is all."

He began to dab a cotton ball dipped in alcohol on my face, causing me to gasp out loud every time it came into contact with a scratch. After my face was good and tended to, he went on to clean up my knuckles and fingernails in a lingering silence that bothered me to no end.

"Is it true that she wanted you to get her pregnant?" It was a question that had been lingering in my mind ever since Michelle told me about it earlier. It was also something that really bothered me to no end.

Apparently, it was a question that he didn't expect me to ask him either, because he paused in his movements and just stared at me for a few moments.

"Who told you about that?"

"No one, Zacky. Just answer the question."

He sighed, placing the items in his hands on the counter before leaning back against it. "Look, I won't deny that I was attracted to her in the beginning, because I was, but it was purely sexual on my side and nothing more. But for Gena, it was the other way around. She didn't care that I told her I didn't want to be with her. She even went far enough to beg me to help her conceive a child, but I refused. I didn't want to help her make a kid. I only ever wanted to have kids with you, Landon, and I wasn't about to give her something I couldn't give to you."

"Why not?" I asked him, jumping down from the counter. "You were able to choose her over me two years ago. Why were you not able to give her everything else you denied me?"

He shook his head, "I didn't choose her over you, Landon. You're the one that left me."

"Well, you left me with no other choice, Zacky."

"No other choice?" He scoffed. "You could have stayed, Lanny. You could have let us work our problems out instead of running off to Glendale. Each time I found you, I begged you to come back, and each time, you just threw the divorce papers in my face. I'm not the only one to blame here. You're at fault, too."

"At least I can say I was faithful to you, even after I moved off."

"Can you?" He counteracted. "Because I'm not the only one that saw you getting cozy with a certain blonde guy at your parents' funeral, Landon. Everyone else saw it, too."

The look on his face paired with his insinuation of my unfaithfulness had me reeling with emotions that I couldn't quite explain. At the top of the list,sitting above the rest was annoyance. I couldn't believe he would suggest that Sunny and I were anything more than just friends. It was ridiculous!

"Screw you, Baker!" I exclaimed as I pushed past him to exit the bathroom. "Sunny and I have only ever been best friends. Nothing more."

"We said the same thing about each other 10 years ago, and look where it got us," He challenged as he followed me out of the bathroom.

I only turned to face him long enough to send a glare in his direction and then I was headed towards the door with my
things in hand, telling the other girls that it was nice to meet them before I walked out. It was Zacky's hateful words that followed me to my car. "Go ahead and walk away, Landon. Its what you're best at,"



"Why would he think Sunny and you were an item?" Drey inquired, curiously. "I mean, he's . . . Sunny!"

I shrugged, even though she couldn't see me. "It's not as obvious to everyone as it to you and me, Drey. Sunny doesn't just flaunt it like others in his situation would."

She sighed, "I guess you're right, but it still makes me mad that he would accuse you of something you would never do."

"Don't get me wrong, Drey; the temptation has been there, especially after I found out about Gena two years ago, but I stopped myself every time because I couldn't do that to someone I loved, not when I saw how much it hurt my own family when my mom found out my dad was unfaithful to her. That's the kind of pain that never goes away, ya know?"

"I know, hun. Do you want me to come down and stay with you until you get everything sorted?"

"No, I'll be fine." I stated, positively. "Sunny will be back down here in a day or two, so there's no need for you to leave Caleb just to come down here and babysit me."

"Alright, doll-face. Just don't forget to call me when you need me, okay? And if Mr. Baker has anymore accusations, he can talk to me, you got that?"