Such a Beautiful Lie to Believe In

Breakfast was already spread out across the counter by the time I got downstairs. Looking over everything, I was a little disappointed to find that there was hardly anything left. But just as I was about to turn around with an empty stomach, a couple of pancakes caught my eye. I grabbed a fork nearby, not caring if it was used or not, and went to go claim my food when another person’s fork was heading for the same destination.

I looked up and came face-to-face with Brian. “I had it first,” I declared, more than ready to start a fight with him.

He removed his fork and shrugged, “Fine.” Then he walked away.

What the hell was that? He thinks that after all that has happened these past days, he can just walk away from me? No, I beg to differ. I scarfed down my food and ran after him into the living room.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked in a demanding tone, catching Jimmy and Johnny’s attention.

“To play a video game,” he said.

“No, I need to talk to you,” I replied, sitting down on the couch with my arms cross over my chest.

He rolled his eyes, “Right, like I need to listen to you.”

“You know what, fine, go ahead get away from me. I’ll just talk to someone else!” I shouted…remembering that there were two other people who seemed trustable in the room. He, however, didn’t seem to pick up on that and left without another word.

Picking up on the hint, Johnny asked, “What was all that about?”

I sighed, “Last night Zacky tried to attack me but Brian stepped in and ‘saved’ me. Then he took advantage of me and tried to rape me…only it didn’t end like a rape. It was so awkward – the tension and confusion in the air was unbelievable.”

“You still like him, don’t you?” Jimmy asked, sounding almost a little disheartened.

I avoided eye contact, maintaining my stare at my lap. “I don’t know. I hate him so much for what he’s done to me, but what happened between us last night seemed to rekindle some part of me that liked him.”

“What are you gonna do?” Johnny asked.

“I honestly have no idea. After how he was acting this morning I’d say that I shouldn’t give a shit about him. But at the same time I can’t forget about what happened last night,” I groaned.

“I hate to say it, Joie,” Jimmy said, “but this is a tough choice that only you and him can make.”

I nodded, “I know…it just felt better getting it off my chest. Oh, and also could you guys please do me a favor?”

*Jimmy’s POV*

“So why did you two call this emergency meeting again?” Matt lazily groaned as he stared at some paperwork in front of him.

Johnny and I exchanged glances. “Well, because we think that it would be a fairly profitable idea to let Joie go back to work.”

Zacky laughed, “Why the hell would be do that? Didn’t she just lose that privilege by trying to escape?”

“True,” Johnny agreed, “but keep in mind, if she’s missing for too long, then people will start to wonder where she is. And if she’s out of practice then the governor will never ask her to cater to his next event.”

Matt paused for a moment. “I hate to say it, but you do have a good point there. I suppose if we put some bug her then we could hear her entire conversation. Alright, I’ll allow it.”

“Now,” he said, “is there anything else anyone else wants to get off their chest?”

Brian and I shared a very hard stare, our eyes burning into each other’s minds trying to determine if the other would make a move. But luckily silence was all that answered Matt.

Glancing around the board table, you could see that Johnny and I were subtly relieved, Zacky was a little pissed, Syn was indifferent and expressionless, while Shadows seemed to be in his own world and thoughts.

So far, so good. Damn Joie is gonna owe us big time for this.

*Normal POV*

Much to my surprise, the guys totally pulled it off for me! But I knew Shadows would be up to something, which made it all that much easier to figure out that they had placed devices on my clothes to hear everything that I say and what the people around me say.

That shouldn’t be a problem to get rid of. There’s a girl that works in back with me, and all she does is talk nonstop. If they want to hear talking, then they’ll definitely get their ear-full of it today.

Shadows and I drove in a totally silent ten minute car ride before he dropped me off on the curb and waited until I walked inside the building. Knowing him, he probably stayed outside, looking like a creep, for the next hour or so.

As soon as I walked inside the restaurant, Alex ran over and gave me the strongest hug I’d ever felt. “Thank God, you’re alive!” he said with a smile.

“Barely,” I replied, lifting up parts of my chef uniform to show him the remains of the stab wounds.

“Well, still I thought we’d never see you again.”

“I guess I just got lucky.”

Before he could say anything else, I held my hand up to tell him to hold on while I wrote something down on a piece of paper: They’ve got audio devices on me. We’ve got to get them off before we can talk about this anymore. Let’s put them on Macy. While we walk back to the kitchen, keep up casual convo with me.

He got the idea right away and started talking about how things have been at the restaurant since I was gone. Then he left momentarily to fill Macy in and bring her over. Now, Macy and Alex continued the conversation while we moved the bug from under the collar of my uniform to the collar of hers. Alex said he’d be leaving and ‘I’ said that I’d just get back to work.

Alex then led me over to where Kathy was. “Look who’s here,” he said.

Kathy turned around, not expecting much. Her eyes practically bulged out of her sockets when she saw me. “JOIE!” she screamed as she tackled me to the ground.

“Nice to see you too, Kath,” I laughed.

“How have you two and Brittney been since I last saw you?” I asked, growing serious suddenly.

“Brittney was scared shitless, that much was for sure. But other than that we found a pretty safe place to stay,” Alex said.

“No there’s more,” Kathy said, catching both of our attention, “at first I thought it was just a feeling…that we were being followed. But it was more than just a feeling. There’s been a guy stalking us, and I bet he’s associated with the thugs that have you, Joie.”

Suddenly, I remembered the conversation that Matt and Matt were having in the car after they captured me. “Damn it, you’re right Kathy. I remember hearing them talking about some guy tracking you down.”

“What, so now you’re saying we have a stalker?” Alex asked calmly. Kathy was about to freak out, but Alex managed to calm her down.

“What do we do now?”

I shook my head, “There’s more to the story. I found a secret room in the house. Those guys – they’re Avenged Sevenfold. They’ve got pictures of all the people they’ve killed taped up on their walls. And at the very top, there were only two pictures without X’s in them – the governor and…me.”

“Joie, that’s huge! We can get them so busted right now. Do you know how many federal agencies and policemen have been looking for them?”

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy,” Alex said.

Kathy scoffed, “And why’s that?”

He handed me a formal looking document. It was an invitation from the governor himself, inviting me to cook food for his birthday celebration, and to attend it as well.

“This can’t be them working on this, right?” I asked skeptically.

“No, if they have some elaborate plan, then they’d inform you. And plus they wouldn’t let you go back into work,” Alex said.

“So you know what this means…we’ve gotta come up with a plan to not only get to the event without A7X knowing, but also tell the governor that there’s a threat on his life,” I announced.

And with that, we ignored our jobs for the rest of the day and went back into Kathy’s secret room, which Alex now knew about, and planned for the difficult task ahead of us.