All or Nothing

Val and Katie stood in the terminal.

“I swear this bitch is going to be late for her own funeral,” Katie mumbled.

“It’s not like she can help that, though. The plane is the one that’s late, not Eliza.”

“Still, she should’ve been here like forever ago,” Katie whined.

“Katelyn, we got here an hour early because of you. Now, you can chill and wait for her to get off the plane.”

“God, you sound like her,” Katie said and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, well, you’re acting like her,” Val said and rolled her eyes. "Not to mention, Zacky."

Finally, a crowd of people headed towards them and they stood on tip-toes to look. Katie got mad when she couldn’t see and stood on one of the sets of chairs. Val held onto her thigh to make sure she didn’t fall.

“I see her! God, I couldn’t miss that hair. I’ve missed that hair,” Katie said and Val couldn’t help but laugh.

“You just had to have those shots before we left, didn’t you?”

“Hey. It was a pre-barbeque drinking time. How was I supposed to say no?”

“God, you’re more like Eliza all the time,” Val said, rolling her eyes.

“I see her!”

“I heard you the first time,” Val mumbled as Katie pried her thigh away from her grip.

Katie hopped down from the chair and took off in a run. She didn’t pay any attention to the people pushing her, she just shoved them back and when Eliza was finally in sight, she launched herself at the pink-haired girl.

Luckily, Eliza caught her, laughing.

“God, you’ve been drinking, haven’t you?”

“Absolutely not,” Katie said at the same time Val appeared and said “Absolutely.”

Eliza laughed and let Katie down. She turned to Val and hugged her, too.

“Doin alright there, Bridezilla?”

“I haven’t hit that point yet,” Val said. “Things are getting rough, though. I’m planning for it to happen right around Christmas when the guys have enough time to be home for it. I think it’s a good thing that we did my ‘bachelorette party’ before, even though it wasn’t really a bachelorette party because the guys showed up. It was still fun, though.”

“It’s about the only time we all had together, really,” Eliza said.

She heard a throat clear from behind her.

“Oh, yeah, duh,” she said and smiled. “Katie, Val, this is Adam and Dominic, my bassist and drummer. Guys, these are my best friends Katie and Val.”

They all said their hellos and shook hands before moving to get their luggage. They quickly moved to Val’s giant SUV and headed down the road to Huntington.

The party was in full swing at Jimmy’s house when they got there. The girls sent Adam and Dominic out to the backyard while they rushed upstairs to change. Eliza had advised Dominic and Adam to wear boarding shorts since Jimmy’s pool came in handy, yet she hadn’t put her own on because she’d left it in California. Thankfully, Katie had remembered to remind Brian to get it.

They made their way to one of the guest rooms that had a view of the backyard. Eliza moved to the window where she saw Jimmy introducing Dominic and Adam to Zacky and Matt. Her eyes floated around the setting looking for Brian. She found him talking to one of the Berry twins, with that little slut Kaicey not far behind him. She was staring at his back, and even from her distance Eliza could see a plan formulating in the girls’ head on how to get closer to him.

With speed she didn’t know she had, she quickly changed into her bathing suit, not worrying about a shirt. She pulled her jean shorts up and buttoned them. She flipped her hair over, ran her fingers through it and flipped it back before slipping on a pair of pink wedges.

Just as she was walking out the door, Val hollered. “Where are you going?”

Eliza just looked over her shoulder, but Katie and Val both knew that look. They heard her thunk down the stairs and they turned to the window.

“Oh, hell, Kaicey’s near Brian,” Katie said with a groan. “This can’t end well.”

“Eliza won’t cause a scene unless she’s actually doing something. She’s not doing anything. As long as Kaicey doesn’t move towards Brian.”

“Like she’s doing now?”

“Oh, hell,” Val said.

“I told you it would be best to fire her.”

“I know, but she already knows everything. I hate training someone in the middle of a tour. It was hard enough to train her; I’m not doing it again. Look, she stopped.”

“Yeah, because Brian saw Eliza. Thank God, crisis averted,” Katie said and moved away from the window. “Look, I love you, and I trust your judgment, but I only see this ending badly.”

“I love you, too, Katie, and I hope you’re wrong. They’ve already been through enough shit. I just really don’t want to get rid of her this quickly. She knows everything, she’s selling through shirts, and she works hard.”

“I know, but don’t make me say I told you so.”

They both looked back out the window to see Eliza and Brian smiling. Kaicey, of course, didn’t look happy, but neither of them cared at that moment.



Eliza unlocked the door to her house, happy to be home. She turned and waved to Val as she drove away. Brian was still at Jimmy’s helping clean up, and Adam had gotten so drunk he’d passed out. Dominic volunteered to stay and be there when he woke up. Jimmy promised he’d bring them over the next day.

She set her keys on the table and turned to close the door. Just as she reached for the light switch, someone grabbed her and slammed her against the door. Her head banged against it, and sent light flashing through her vision.

“Don’t fucking scream,” someone barked out.

She couldn’t even if she wanted to. Their hand had a vice-like grip on her throat to the point where she could barely breathe. She tried to fight back, but the other hand shot out and hit her across the mouth. Suddenly, she was thrown down on the floor, and went sprawling with the rug that was there. The person came down on top of her and pushed her face into the floor. She tried to scream as she felt her shorts being ripped from her. She struggled as best she could, but the person’s grip was too strong. They forced her head down to the ground and she tried to bite the hand that was in front of her mouth, but all she tasted was leather.

The tears came down as she felt herself being ripped. Her thighs were on fire as he pistoned in and out of her. Her screams grew, yet nothing happened. He continued for another twelve minutes. All she could see was the clock hanging in the hallway and she tried to focus on it instead of the pain that was happening to her lower body.

Finally, he was done and pulled out of her. With one last shove, he was off of her. He didn’t speak to her and she heard the door close. Slowly, she pushed herself to all fours as she cried harder. She pulled herself up using the table and cried out when she felt more pain in her pelvic area. She moved to the front door and made sure it was locked before gathering her clothes and climbing the stairs.



All the lights were off in the house, which was weird. Brian put his key in the door and turned it. He looked around the downstairs as he set his keys on the table. He saw Eliza’s there, and he smiled.

“Eliza, baby, you better be fucking naked in that bed or else I’m gonna be pissed,” he said with a cheeky grin.

He took the stairs two at a time, noticing how dark the house really was. Normally, she would’ve cut on a couple of lights. As he entered the bedroom, he noticed the lights were off in there, too. He saw a light from underneath the bathroom door, and moved to it.

Opening the door, the first thing that hit him was the steam and how hot it was in the bathroom. He heard the tub running and moved cautiously toward it. Eliza was sitting there, her hair down her back, facing away from him. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she was rocking back and forth.

“Baby?” he asked as he moved closer. She didn’t reply.

“Eliza?” he tried again but she still didn’t reply.

He sat down on the side of the tub and touched her shoulder. She flipped out, splashing water onto him and over the side of the tub in her haste to get away from him. She whirled around and Brian saw the fear in her eyes. They were wild and wide and she held her knees into her chest. Moving his eyes down her face, he saw her lip was bruised and red in the corner. He happened to glance down at the water to see it was tinged pink, signaling she was bleeding from someplace else, as well.

“Eliza, baby, what the hell happened?” he asked quietly.

She didn’t say anything, just cried as if she didn’t see him. He reached out to her again, and it was when his hand was about to touch her that her eyes seemed to focus again. She blinked a couple of times and looked at him before she flung herself at him. Not caring about the water or anything, he wrapped his arms around her as she cried harder.

He could vaguely make out what she was saying. He heard bits and pieces of it, and it sounded like she was attacked. He wasted no time in letting her go long enough to call Val, Katie, and Jimmy. Once he’d hung up with them, he’d called 911.