Sometimes you have to give people a taste of their own medicine.
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Butch

“How the fuck did he get on stage?” I hear the roaring voice of Rocky which causes me to re-direct my immediate attention. Slash and I can’t have our eyes exactly on Bellamy because of the logistics with the stage, so we stay backstage and watch her from a camera with the monitors right next to us.

I see a man on stage with her and quickly realize it isn’t Jase when he whizzes by me.

“Evie! Where the FUCK is Evie?” Jase snaps.

Slash and I exchange a quick glance, knowing whatever this is – it isn’t good.

“Dammit to hell. I’m gonna get arrested for manslaughter tonight,” Rocky huffs, starting up the stairs. I don’t think. I quickly follow him, and I hear Slash’s boots hitting the metal stairs right behind me.

“What the fuck is going on?” Slash asks. I’d love to tell him – but I don’t know either. The only thing I know for sure is that two of the guys she runs around with looked like they were gonna pop a coronary with whoever this guy is on stage with her.

“Zac is on stage with Bells,” Rocky roars, glaring at Slash and me.

“Who the fuck is Zac?” Slasher asks, genuinely not knowing. At this rate, I’d love to know who Zac is.

“Hmm. Let me think about that. Zac is the asshole who leaked Bellamy’s photos to the press, you know, her nudes that only he had access to. Yep. That’s Zac, the bastard that keeps threatening to expose her.”

I’d almost forgotten what she’d told me, about her ex trying to ruin her career. This was that ex, and on top of it, I’d completely forgotten about her nudes leaking. It happened a bit ago and seems to be happening to so many celebrities. How did I not put two and two together? Damn.

“You’re not going to kill him,” I tell Rocky, he gives me a “yeah, right” look, and before he speaks I elaborate, “You’re not going to kill him because I’ll make sure I get to him first.”

The grin that slides across this redneck’s face tells me that he and I are about to be good damn friends.

We get to the back of the stage, the three of us staring out onto it. By the angle we’re at, the audience can see us all. Our eyes are dead set on Bellamy, watching every move she makes – and more importantly, every move he makes. I start to take a step forward when Slash puts his hand out in front of me, instantly causing me to stop. “Don’t.”

“Are you kidding me?” I ask, irritated. The only thing I want to do right now is dart across that stage and plummet the asshole until he can’t even sing Kumbaya.

“I’m with him. Are you kidding us right now?” Rocky adds.

Slash looks at the two of us, the most serious look I’ve ever seen come across his face. “She needs this. Trust me. If she’s struggling, we’ll go – but she fucking needs this.”

I take a step back, thinking about what he just said to me. He could be right, you know. Maybe she does need this. As far as I know, she hasn’t seen her ex in ages. This could be a way to confront him about what he’s done. This could be closure. Shit, this could be so many fucking things right now.

I barely hear feet hitting the stairs behind us and glance back, seeing Jase, Syd, and even that bastard Miles who none of us fucking like.

“Why aren’t any of you fucking doing anything?” Jase hisses at the group of us.

“Cause Mr. Serious over here thinks Bells needs to have this moment with Devil Dude,” Rocky grumbles, “…and he might be right.”

“We should be out there, helping her…shouldn’t we?” Syd asks.

“No. She deserves whatever is coming to her today,” Miles adds, and that’s it. I knew I was going to punch someone today, and I thought it was going to be Zac, but nope. Miles is first on my list. I whip my fist around and slam him so hard in the face it knocks him back. Luckily, he grabs onto the railing of the stairs, or he would’ve taken a nasty tumble. When he rises to look at me, I notice my ring caught a bit of his face, and he’s now bleeding. That makes me feel good. I want the bastard to hurt, after all, one punch is taking it lightly on him.

“I’m glad you did that, ‘cause I wouldn’t have stopped,” Rocky mutters, the rest of the guys agree with a round of mmhmm passing through their lips.

“Well, what’s the game plan here? What are we doing?” Syd asks.

“Hells Bells is gonna do what she does best,” Rocky says as we all stare at him with confused looks dragged across our faces.

***

Bellamy

This is not real.

I’ve tuned out everything that’s come out of his mouth, not able to understand what’s happened. How did he even get here? How did he get this far…

This is just some fudged up sort of dream. No – nightmare. This is a nightmare. Never would I dream of Zac being on stage with me, that would be something that happened in my deepest, darkest nightmare. Yep. I am totally asleep right now.

No way in h-e-double hockey sticks is this real.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

I blink hard, hoping that if I internally count to three he will magically disappear and be gone, but nope. He’s still here.

Crap.

The music continues to play, as he makes slow steps towards me. No. No way am I singing this song with him. Right before I was discovered and signed, Zac begged me to be a feature on one of his songs, and I mean he begged me. I told him no because I didn’t want people to automatically assume I was band-wagoning off his success. It is exactly what it looked like too. Now I think he knew exactly what he was doing. Zac is the most manipulating and calculating man to walk this planet, and I was the dumb girl who fell for him – I was the girl who thought I could change him, even though a leopard never changes their spots. My naiveite killed me and sent me straight here to the hell that stands before my very eyes.

Nope.

Not happening, asshole.

I glance up at the booth where the sound techs are positioned. They control everything to do with the sound for the show, and sometimes even the lighting. My buddy Kenny has been working with me on a new number, a new cover that I’ve been too chicken shit to try until our last show. Right now? Well. It’s the perfect freaking time to start it.

I put my hand above my eyes, taking away the brightness from some of the lights shining on me and glance up, seeing if I can spot him. I should’ve known that I couldn’t spot him being so far away, but he and I have been practicing communication. I don’t have any sort of walkie talkie that connects up there, so I’m stuck with hand signals.

I spell out the letters “S O L” over and over again until I hear the music is stopped. That’s my proof that the bastard heard me, and boy is Zac in for a ride.

You might be thinking that “SOL” stands for shit outta luck, and for Zac, that definitely fits the bill. It’s also the initials of the song I’m going to sing.

The music pumps through the speakers and the lights begin to change. I hear the roar of the crowd as they recognize the melody, and instantly I’m smiling. This could not be more perfect. Damn, I’m going to enjoy this.

I sing my own rendition of Selena Gomez’s ‘Same Old Love’ changing the lyrics so that they apply more so to my relationship with Zac. I tell the story about how he tore me to pieces, his lies and deceit, and worst of all, the betrayal that I never expected.

Selena and I both have something in common, we don’t put up with bullshit. That’s exactly why this song is perfect, especially right now.

Through the beat I strut down the stage, leaning down and touching the crowd’s hands. What not many people knew is that I’ve been practicing choreography. I needed to if I was going to keep touring, there was no way I could be a boring Betty.

I step back, adding a few of the moves I’ve been taught recently that matched up perfectly with music. Right now, this gave me the confidence to keep learning choreography. It was a dick move for him to show up here and try to throw me off my game. Funny how the tides have turned and now he’s the one being showed up.

As I finish singing the audience screams and roars, clapping away.

This, right here, is what tells me that I’m doing something right. If I wasn’t a good singer or a good performer – no one would ever applaud me. Every single thing that Zac said to me after the single released and hype began to build up surrounding my talent was a lie. Every time he told me I was only getting somewhere because of him, every single time he told me that I didn’t have what it took to make it in this business. I seem to be doing pretty damn fine, don’t I?

The music cuts and the lights turn from pink to the normal white that shines down upon us every night I sing.

“Have you missed me or what?” Zac chuckles, grabbing my arm forcefully. He tugs me towards him and the next thing I know he’s trying to slam his lips down onto mine. I duck, hear the thumping of boots and sneakers, basically hearing my ‘cavalry’ come to rescue me. Taking a step back, I see Butch, the rage that is evident throughout his face. In line behind him come Slash, Rocky, Jase, and Syd. It’s no shocker to me that Miles couldn’t give a rat’s ass.

Butch grabs onto Zac’s collar, glances to me and back to Zac quickly. “Do you see her? She belongs to me. Mine,” he snarls.

I should be offended that he claimed me like a piece of property, that he flat out said I belonged to him like a lost puppy. But I’m not. I’m melting, figuratively and literally, the caveman just said what he wanted.

He told me everything I’ve wanted to hear for the past couple days.

He wants me.