Second Heartbeat

As soon as the girls reached their dressing room, they sat down for a breather with their kids before they showered and washed up for the night.

"So what are your girls' plans for the rest of the year?"

Brian asked, as he carried a snoozing Laetitia in his arms.

"Record one more song for the album, releasing it, filming videos, touring ... You know all the usual stuff that comes with releasing an album."

Ash answered as she burped Junior. It wasn't long before the door opened and Mike, Joe and Chester walked into the room.

"Speaking of the album ..."

"What about it?"

"How do you girls feel like recording a few more songs for it? We were giving what you recorded a listen and feel like it could use some more. What do you think?”

“Well, you’re the boss and if you think that we need more, then we need more.”

Corinne replied, as Matt took a sleeping Lily from her arms.
“When did you want to head back into the studio?”

Jess asked.

“That’s the thing, I have got to go back to California and concentrate on Linkin Park stuff, so I won’t be with you. However, I have found a couple guys who are completely free and more than willing to help.”

“Sounds like a plan. Who did you get?”

Mateja replied, as she put Owen into his carseat.

“Three Days Grace.”

Ash and Anne shot panicked glances at each other from across the room, before looking away.

“When do we start?”

“I’ve set up a breakfast for you ladies and them at the Westin Harbour Castle the day after tomorrow.”

After talking with Mike, Joe and Chester for another fifteen minutes, everyone packed up the room, their bus and headed to the house that the girls had rented. The ride over to the house was relatively tame and quiet, as they had managed to get all kids to sleep and did not want to wake them. Once they had all pulled into the driveway, the guys in Avenged Sevenfold helped to get their kids into the house, while Dan and the Berry brothers brought in the bags. As soon as everyone was inside, and the kids were safely in their beds, they all congregated in the kitchen with bottles of beer, except for Anne and Ash who were out on the porch.

“Why are you freaking out so badly? So what if we’re working with them? Isn’t it better that we are going to work with people we already know?”

Anne asked Ash, who was pacing back and forth, trying to prevent a panic attack. She stopped dead in front of Anne, opened her mouth as if to say something, before she stopped herself and resumed her pacing.

“Will you stop it before I have the panic attack? And for the love of God, tell me what’s so bad about working with Adam, Brad, Barry and Neil?”

“Adam left the band while you were in rehab.”

“WHAT?”

Anne’s jaw dropped, as Ash stopped her pacing, and started to nibble on her nails instead.

“But if Adam is gone, then who is going to sing for them?”

“Qu’est-ce t’en penses?”

Anne’s eyes widened, and her jaw hit the floor.

“You know we’re going to have to tell them everything now. And I mean everything. Every single detail.”

Ash stressed her last three words, and Anne turned ghost white. Telling Brian every single detail about her relationship with Matt Walst, also meant telling him the truth about something that only she, Matt, Brad and Ash were privy to.

“We were wondering where you two wandered off to.”

Brian said, as he and Johnny stepped out onto the porch with beers in hand.

“Why do you girls look like you’re both about to pass out? Are you feeling okay?”

Johnny asked, as he sat on a lounge chair and pulled Ash down onto his lap.

“We’re fine.”

“No you’re not. What’s wrong?”

He prodded, as Ash still tried to look for ways to stall. As she realized that it was now or never, Ash took a deep breath, and a long swig of Johnny’s beer.

“Well, it all started when I changed high schools and met Matt Walst in detention …”

Three months before her sixteenth birthday, Ash had started at a new school, and had found herself in detention after falling asleep in class. There she met the younger Walst, and they had become fast friends. Eventually, he had brought her home for dinner, where she met his parents, and the man she thought she was going to marry, Matt’s older brother, Brad. She had fallen for Brad instantly, but had said nothing, as he was already into his twenties, and she was still only fifteen.

The feelings grew stronger, after Matt had told Brad that Ash was attempting to teach herself to play bass, and Brad had offered to give her lessons. The mutual attraction grew, but neither bassist acted on it, until two years after they had met. For Ash’s eighteenth birthday, and Matt’s nineteenth, Brad, Matt, Ash and Neil Sanderson, had driven to Montreal for a weekend of booze filled fun. And while Matt and Neil hit on girls at the bar, Brad and Ash only had eyes for each other. Their second night there, eventually ended in Brad and Ash retreating to Brad and Neil’s hotel room early, and finally giving into their feelings for each other.

“So, how long were you two together for?”

Johnny asked, as he tried to digest everything that Ash was telling him.

“Five years. We started dating when I graduated high school, and he broke up with me, while they were out promoting the One-X album.”

“He broke up with you? Why?”

“He said that it was unfair to me, that I was stuck at home, while he was out traversing the globe. I tried to tell him that it wasn’t and that I wanted to make it work, I was desperate to, but he didn’t feel the same way. I thought by now, that he and I would have been married with kids, but I guess we just didn’t have the same vision. Oh well, it’s whatever. It happened and it’s in the past. I just thought you should know, and hear it from me, before we start working together, and it just comes out.”

Ash said, as she snuggled into Johnny’s side.

“Thank you for telling me.”

He replied, as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head.

“Anything else you girls aren’t telling us?”

The porch remained silent, with Anne trying to avoid the pointed look that Ash was giving her.

“C’est maintenant ou jamais.”

Ash chided her.

“You know, you could have had a wild orgy with the whole band, and there’s not much that I could do about it, because it already happened.”

Brian told her, which put a smile on his wife’s face.

“She didn’t have an orgy with the band Brian. She does have quite a bit of history with Brad’s brother Matt, who is now Three Days Grace’s new singer. Am I going to have to tell this story, or are you going to speak at any point tonight?”

“Is your history anything like what Ash and Brad had?”

Brian asked.

“Not exactly. Brad never managed to knock Ash up.”

Anne finally spoke, as she chewed her lip; trying to think of what to say next. As she nervously played with her wedding ring, Anne told the story of how she moved to Toronto when she was eighteen, and had soon met Ash, who introduced her to the Walst brothers. Like when Ash had met Brad, Anne and Matt had hit it off quite quickly. They soon found their selves spending all their free time with each other, only leaving each other’s side for work or when dragged apart. Six months after they started dating, Anne, Ash, Matt and Brad, decided to take a trip up the California coast. They flew into San Diego, and were due to leave from San Francisco.

It was after they returned from the trip, that Anne found herself pregnant with Matt’s baby. She immediately panicked, calling Ash, while crying, to come get her at the doctor’s clinic. Once Ash got her to calm down, Anne told her what the doctor had confirmed. Anne was terrified to do anything, especially tell her parents, that she had come to Toronto to go to school, and instead ended up pregnant before her nineteenth birthday. While Ash tried to convince her to tell Matt, so that they could deal with the matter together, a different solution was nagging away at Anne.

Much to Ash’s protests, Anne had settled on getting an abortion, with or without help. And all with Matt remaining completely oblivious and clueless. Not wanting Anne to go it alone, and to end up with a botched back alley procedure, Ash reluctantly drove Anne to the clinic, with the condition that she tell Matt everything. When a week passed without her saying anything, Ash resorted to locking Anne and Matt into a room with each other, until Anne broke down and told Matt everything. Not only did that put an end to that relationship, but it also caused a rift between Matt and Ash, as he was upset that she had known and neglected to tell him.

“How are things with Matt now?”

“With Matt and I? Good, we eventually made up when Brad made him understand why I couldn’t tell him anything. Between him and Anne, it’s still awkward as fuck. I don’t think they ever really talked or resolved anything between them. But they need to if we’re going to be working together.”

Ash answered Brian’s question, as she rose from her spot on Johnny’s lap.

“I’m going to bed. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

Johnny quickly followed her, and a calm soon fell over the house, after its occupants all let sleep take over.