NOBODY EVER WANTS THE BASSIST
ZAC
A couple of weeks after Fool's Banquet, one of the guys from the retreat and his band were coming back to Tulsa to play Cain's. Neither of the Hansons really knew the guy too well, as he was more or less a referral by one of their musician friends, who was also at the retreat. Either way, he had asked the guys if they wanted to join him for a guest spot onstage for a couple songs during their show and, always itching to play live, they didn't give it a second thought when they agreed to do it.
They decided to make an evening of it. The three of them arrived toward the end of sound check to run the songs they were playing. The guy wanted to do a rock cover and one of the songs that one of Taylor's groups had written during Fool's Banquet. Naturally, Tay brought Mel along. He seemed to bring her along everywhere lately, but it wasn't like she was a malignant presence or anything. And she looked nice, anyway. A little too nice, as far as Zac was concerned. She dressed simply in a black, long-sleeved, belted mini dress, dark turquoise tights, black suede stiletto boots, and a gray and magenta fringed scarf around her neck. Her dress clung to her light curves and he didn't like the way the band members looked at her. She didn't notice, but he did.
As they sound checked, Mel sat with her legs crossed on a short stool and fiddled around on her phone as her dark hair hung in her face. It was weird enough that Zac sat behind someone else's drum set, but it was even
weirder how he was the only one who could see her and the way the bassist kept glancing at her from the stage. As Zac waited for direction, he looked around at the scene in front of him. To his right, off in the wings, sat Mel, oblivious to the world, as roadies and techies walked around her to do their jobs. The bassist, with short black hair, tattooed arms, and a black sleeveless t-shirt, stood near the drums with as clear a line of vision of Mel as Zac had. Upstage to the left, Tay stood near the front, sans keyboard that night, and Ike took his usual stance with a guitar on the right. The rest of the musicians littered the stage, the drummer on a
separate set next to Zac. Based on the sound check, it would easily be one of the heaviest songs they had ever performed live and Zac was excited. But he was distracted by the bassist's attraction to Mel. He was almost
annoyed at Tay for bringing her along, as he now had difficulty concentrating, but he also constantly reminded himself that it wasn't anyone's fault that the bassist couldn't keep his eyes in his head.
As sound check wrapped up, Ike and Tay and a couple of the other guys convened at the front of the stage to talk. Zac wasn't interested in conversing at the moment. Instead, he was more interested in watching the
bassist squat eye-level with Mel and take her phone from her hand. He fiddled with it for a minute and then handed it back to her, continuing to talk to her. Zac couldn't hear a word either one of them was saying, but Mel's face read oblivious innocence as she burst out laughing at whatever funny quip he had just delivered to her.
The bassist conveniently walked away as the little meeting upstage began to break up. Zac then left his spot behind the strange drums and followed everyone else backstage. As Tay retrieved his fiancée, he said to Zac,
"Hey, we're gonna go hit the restaurant next door for dinner, you coming?"
Zac didn't realize how hungry he was until food was mentioned, so he was game without question. Much to his dismay, he found that the band was coming along as well. He made a conscious effort to place himself on the
other side of Mel as much as he possibly could on the way over--not that he was terribly worried or anything, but he didn't really know these guys and he was feeling naturally protective. Beside him, Mel's fingers were interlaced with Tay's and she laughed as he whispered in her ear, the two of them in their own world. He knew there was no way this punk bassist could stand a chance against his brother in the wooing department, but the fact was, Zac didn't know him, he didn't know what he was into, and he certainly didn't trust him, especially after the blatant disrespect he had already shown toward Tay, whether Tay knew it or not.
Through dinner, the guys talked and laughed, and Mel kept up right along with them. Zac was finally able to relax a little as the general conversation kept on and he remembered how much he enjoyed having Mel around
sometimes. He had forgotten that she could hang, sometimes better than the other guys.
Naturally, however, Zac tensed up every time the bassist's eyes glanced across the table and smiled now and then. The talk soon turned to tattoos and the guy was quick to be long-winded about the thousands all over his body. As if she had forgotten, Mel suddenly seemed to remember she had tattoos of her own. "I have two," she volunteered.
"Really?" The bassist smiled and nodded. "Nice. What kind?"
She rolled up her dress sleeves to her elbows and revealed the tattoos she had branded herself with on her forearms just below the insides of her elbows. The bassist reached across the table for a better look and thumbed her tattoos for a second. "I got them both at the same time. I probably won't get any more."
"So you didn't get addicted to the needle, huh?"
"No...I got what I wanted, I'm pretty sure I'm done."
"These are nice. Simple. What's this one about?" he asked, referring to her treble clef.
Mel blushed and glanced over at Tay before she turned her attention back to her arm. "That's my mana," she said quietly.
The bassist laughed. Zac rolled his eyes. The buffoon. "Your what? What the hell does that mean?"
Choosing not to be offended by him, Mel calmly explained, "In Hawaiian culture, your mana is a form of spiritual energy you gain from objects, forces of nature, anything, really. It's where your inspiration comes from. It's how you're connected with the world. It's the one thing that always heals you and comforts you. It's essentially who you are."
Zac glanced across Mel at Tay, who had stopped his own conversation to listen to her speak with stars in his eyes. Zac then noticed that the entire table had fallen silent to listen to her talk. It was almost eerie.
"So you're a musician, too?" the bassist asked.
Mel shook her head and smiled at her arm. "No. I mean, not professionally. I've dabbled before. But my entire life has always centered around music. I couldn't live without it. That treble clef is who I am." Then she leaned over and pointed to it. "And so is that little T there that the tail was turned into."
"It looks like a J."
"It's both." She glanced at Tay once more and smiled. "They're his initials."
"Awwww, isn't that just so sweet!" One of the other band members taunted. Mel and Tay both blushed the same shade of red.
The bassist didn't let up. "You know what they say about tattooing someone's name on your body."
This comment finally caused Tay to cut eyes at him for the first time that afternoon. Zac tensed up. He had no idea what to expect. The moment was short-lived, however, when Mel answered, "Well, we've never really
been your garden variety--"
The bassist interrupted her when he focused on her small, black, triangular-shaped one on the other arm. "Hey, I recognize this one!"
Mel furrowed her brow at him, now appearing offended. "That's impossible."
"No, I'm serious! That actor dude has one like that, he was just featured in an ink magazine a few months ago. Jason Ka--Kam--K--well, I can't pronounce his name but he's fucking badass. I love his movies! Anyway, it's so crazy how it looks just like his!"
Instantly, Mel jerked her arms away and shoved her sleeve down to cover the triangular tattoo. "No it doesn't," she argued, annoyed.
"Oh, well. You probably wouldn't know anyway. Chicks aren't really into the kinds of movies he makes."
"I've actually seen every single one of his movies."
"No kidding," the bassist said, returning to his dinner. "You don't strike me as the type that would be into that sort of thing."
"He's my best friend. I support my friends."
"No shit, seriously? THAT guy is YOUR friend?"
"Don't act so surprised," she furrowed her brow at him. "Unless you live under a rock or something. We were friends before he was famous and stuff."
"Well it's nice to know he didn't forget the little people, right?"
"Dude, stop being such a douche!" The guy from the retreat laughed. "Sorry about him," he said to the rest of the table. "He doesn't really have a filter."
After dinner, they hung out outside around the tour bus. Beers were passed around and everyone laughed and cut up. The bassist had disappeared long enough to open the bus door and stumble down the steps to offer Mel, who happened to be standing next to the door, a hit off the joint he was smoking. "Hey, you want in on some of this?" he coughed at her.
Mel didn't immediately shoot him down, which piqued Zac's curiosity. Glancing at Tay with his cigarette in his hand, Zac then looked over at Mel and instantly remembered a particular Skype session during her Cabo trip. He knew for a fact that Tay still didn't know what she'd done there and he raised an eyebrow at her when she glanced back at him questioningly. Zac knew Mel was no stranger to marijuana and he knew that he was the only one there who knew the truth.
She shook her head and waved the bassist off. "Uh, no thanks. I'm good with my beer. You go right ahead with that, I'll cheer you on from out here."
He nodded at her. "Okay, okay. That's cool. It's not for everybody I get it. Let me know if you change your mind, though."
"Yeah, sure thing."
Zac walked over to Tay and leaned into his ear. "How the hell did we end up with these guys anyway?"
Tay slightly furrowed his brow at him. "They invited us to play. We got along with them at Fool's Banquet, they're not so bad."
"We met ONE of them at Fool's Banquet. The rest of them--well that one guy--"
"So they're a little eccentric. So what? We've hung out with worse."
Zac looked around and then he shrugged. He guessed Tay was right. The only one he really had an issue with was that bassist, but seriously, how was he the only one noticing the way he constantly undressed Mel with his eyes? Was Zac just crazy? Was he imagining it?
--------------------
Zac decided that he wasn't imagining a damn thing. They were slated to guest on the last two songs of the first half of the show. The band was good, he had to admit. He and both of his brothers had a good time rocking out to the show backstage. When they took the stage, it felt weird because they didn't really have any fans there. Of course they hoped to leave with some new ones, but with this being a genre a little different from theirs, they were not only excitingly out of their comfort zone, but they didn't quite feel the pressure to be perfect, either. It was laid back and it was fun.
Halfway through the second song, Zac noticed the bassist had disappeared from the stage. The moment the others noticed he was gone, the guitarist, who had surrendered his part to Ike, retrieved an extra bass and took up the slack on his own. As Zac drummed, he looked on curiously. The guitarist had simply picked up and carried on as if it were nothing. Did this sort of thing happen all the time? How in the hell did bands
function like this, with so much disorganization?
Zac then glanced backstage beside him and was instantly hot under the collar at what he saw. The bassist had stopped his entire part and bailed on his band in order to go and flirt with Mel. It was the damnest thing he
ever saw. He watched Mel smile and show him her engagement ring and the bassist took her by the hand as if to get a better look. Chump move. Zac knew better. As the bassist had her hand, she pointed onstage toward
Tay and this made Zac smile with victory. The bassist looked behind him where she pointed then turned back to her. Zac wished he could see more of him, but he could really only see him from the back and some from the side.
Sometimes when you're the drummer, and you get distracted, you can forget that you're the rhythm and the heart of the band. You just go on auto pilot. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Zac to concentrate as he kept glancing backstage at Mel. Unfortunately, everyone was in front of him and couldn't see what was
going on, so he had absolutely no witnesses. It was when Mel's facial expressions started to change when Zac started beating a little harder on the drums. She had shaken her head at the bassist on more than one occasion already and she had to back away from him at least three times that Zac saw, and the guy just kept stepping closer and closer to her. He watched the guy touch the scarf around her neck and Mel's body stiffened, defiantly. The more Zac watched, the faster he drummed. He was no longer in the game on the song. He was completely on his own now.
However, he had no idea he was on his own until he heard the guy from the retreat announce into the microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, Zac Hanson!"
This snapped his attention back to the song and he realized that his sudden change in tempo caused him to be expected to deliver an impromptu drum solo. Shit. Right now? He did as expected, but it didn't keep his eyes off of backstage. He tried to get Tay's attention using his eyes as Tay cheered him on with the rest of the band, but it was no use. As he finished up the solo, he glanced backstage one more time and then he couldn't stand by any longer. He looked just in time to see Mel back away from the bassist's grip and her body language told Zac everything he needed to know. He knew Mel and he knew she didn't take any shit. Especially not lately. However, she was still a small woman and he was still her brother-in-law and, currently, the only person who could bear witness to this guy's gross display of drug-induced advances toward her.
Zac watched Mel's head start going off as her mouth seemed to go a mile a minute. She pointed in the bassist's face and then pointed toward the stage and began to advance on him as he backed away from her. She pointed to her ring and when she balled up her fist, Zac was done with his contribution to this show for the night.
Abruptly, Zac stopped drumming, stood up from the set, handed his sticks to the other drummer on the smaller set beside him, and exited the stage without a word. He knew he had dumbfounded everyone, but he didn't care. The song hesitantly picked back up and Zac marched straight over to the situation that was about to unfold. He reached his arm in between the two and gently shoved Mel backward as he himself got in the bassist's face. "Hey, don't you have a song you're supposed to be playing right now, buddy?"
"Don't you?" The guy countered back.
"What I do is none of your concern. This your band, not mine. I don't give a shit if you sink or swim out there, honestly."
"Well what's going on backstage at MY show is none of YOUR concern, now is it? We were just having a nice conversation--"
"It didn't look too much like a nice conversation from where I was sitting. You almost got your ass beat by a woman, did you know that?"
The bassist scoffed. "Please. I could take her, I dare her to touch me." He then got in Zac's face and smiled. "As a matter of fact, I wish she would."
"Look. She's told you several times already that she's engaged to my brother. You're being very disrespectful to her and my brother right now, and frankly to my entire band, who are guests here tonight. I'm telling you one last time, nicely, to step the fuck off or else we can take this outside. It's your choice, I don't give a shit."
The bassist practically stood nose-to-nose with Zac now. "Yeah, pretty boy? You wanna fight me? Right in front of this fine-ass lady, you wanna get your ass beat? Come on then, guy. Let's go. Unless you're hot for her, too. Which would make a hell of a lot more sense that you're back here ready to pound me instead of her own man out there."
Mel rushed to the two of them, her phone in her hand, poised to dial. "You know what? Fuck this. I used to be a cop. I can make a call, no problem. How many ounces of weed you think you got on that bus so I can be accurate when I report it?"
The bassist stepped back off of Zac and waved Mel off. "Okay, okay. Fine. Fuck both of you, okay? Both of you. And bra, maybe next time you guys shouldn't let pinup girls travel around with you and shit like this wouldn't happen. You got that?"
"You can go fuck yourself," Zac said, his last words to the bassist as he took Mel by the arm and led her calmly out her back door of the venue.
________________________________________________
MEL
Outside in the quiet parking lot was a completely different story.
"I had him, Zac," Mel said as she followed him to his truck. "I didn't need you to interrupt an entire song and alert anyone of what was going on."
"A simple thank you would suffice."
"Maybe it's my small stature, I don't know. I don't know why everyone thinks I'm this fragile damsel in distress all the time. I wish, for once, someone would just LET me pound the FUCK out of someone!"
Zac stopped in his tracks and turned around toward Mel. "Really, Mel? How much pounding did you get done when you were nearly raped? Huh? What the fuck do you think would have happened if Tay hadn't shown up that night? You'd have been a goner, that's what! Just because you were a cop, ten thousand fucking years ago, doesn't mean you can conquer the entire goddamn world on your own! That guy in there is a horn dog on drugs. I've been watching him ogle you since we got here today! You WEREN'T getting out of that!"
"How would you know? You didn't give me the chance!"
"Yeah, Mel, I'm pretty sure the 'pinup girl' didn't have the upper hand this time. I KNOW you didn't."
Mel was furious, but then paused and looked at him for a second. "This isn't about that guy in there, is it?"
"Are you--are you serious? What the fuck else could it possibly be? What ELSE did I miss?"
"This is about Maxim, isn't it?"
Zac stared at her hard. And then he hesitated before he exploded. "YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT IT'S ABOUT THAT MAXIM BULLSHIT! The 'pinup girl' he called you. THE PINUP GIRL! And you weren't the only one in that issue, you know. Both mine and Ike's wives were in it, too. So when you get referred to as 'pinup girl,' all of them are being referred to. MY WIFE is a fucking pinup girl for every goddamn horny drug addict to see, NO THANKS TO YOU!"
Mel had never exploded all over Zac before, but she guessed there was a first time for everything. She refused to play innocent victim any longer. She was NOT taking anyone's shit when it came to this Maxim shoot and she certainly wasn't taking any blame for it, either. "YOUR WIFE IS FUCKING GORGEOUS! THERE'S NO REASON SHE SHOULDN'T BE IN EVERY ISSUE OF THAT MAGAZINE! And speaking of Maxim, KATE TOLD ME YOU'RE A FUCKING SUBSCRIBER! SO WHAT YOU ARE, IS A FUCKING HYPOCRITE! For the record, I didn't talk them into this. They tagged along for MY shoot! The people there saw Nikki and Kate, they loved them, they pitched the
idea. We all talked about it first. WE ALL DECIDED TOGETHER!! SO NO, I AM NOT TAKING THE BLAME FOR YOUR INSECURITIES!"
"Insecurities? You're fucking crazy. WHAT GOES ON IN MY MARRIAGE IS NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN CONCERN!"
"WELL THEN MAYBE WHAT GOES ON BACKSTAGE AT OTHER BANDS' SHOWS ARE NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN CONCERN EITHER!"
At this point, Ike and Tay had entered the parking lot. Tay trotted up to them, asking what was going on. Both of them ignored him.
"Mel, I love you. You're my sister. My family," Zac said, breathlessly into the night air. "So sue me for wanting to protect you every once in awhile! But don't you DARE stand there and pretend like you know what's going on in my personal life!"
"Really, Zac? SERIOUSLY? LIKE THE TIME YOU WERE FUCKING DREW ALL OVER THE WORLD WHILE YOUR WIFE SAT AT HOME WITH YOUR CHILDREN? IT'S CALLED INSECURITY, ZAC! YOU'RE INSECURE BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN INFIDELIITES! BUT GUESS WHAT? YOU CAN'T FUCKING KEEP HER LOCKED UP ALL BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T KEEP YOUR DICK IN YOUR FUCKING PANTS!"
Zac advanced on Mel, furiously. "Oh, is that what we're doing now? We're spilling secrets? How's this for cheating? How 'bout the time you fucked Ike on the goddamn tour bus that last summer you toured with us? Huh? YOU'RE TRYING TO PLAY THE INNOCENT CARD, STILL?"
Ike raised his hands and backed away, his eyes wide. "Hey, I'm not in any of this..."
"Oh get off it, Zac," Mel sneered. "Tay already knows about that! He and I weren't even--well we weren't really technically together then anyway. I don't cheat, Zac! I'VE NEVER CHEATED ON ANYONE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! EVER! AND TAY KNOWS EVERYTHING BECAUSE WE TALK! THERE ISN'T ANYTHING HE DOESN'T FUCKING KNOW ABOUT ME!"
Zac smiled and raised his eyebrows, tauntingly. "Oh really? He knows everything, huh?"
"Yes," she spat. "Everything."
"How much does he actually know about Cabo? Better yet, how much do you REMEMBER making ME aware of?"
"Some things are need-to-know only. And we weren't together then, either."
"Wait, what happened in Cabo?" Tay butted in, suddenly.
Zac laughed menacingly. "Let's just say if airports drug-tested, Mel--or Jason, for that matter--would never have made it back to the US."
Mel glanced at Tay nervously. Oddly enough, due to recent events, this didn't seem as huge a deal to Mel anymore as it did a year ago. "FINE," she spat to Zac and glancing at Tay. "Jason and I got high in Cabo--"
"And?" Zac prodded.
"And drunk, so the fuck what?"
"Just high and drunk?"
"Okay, the weed was strong. MAYBE it was laced, I DON'T FUCKING KNOW! I DID DRUGS IN CABO AND STAYED AN EXTRA DAY TO RECOVER FROM THE FUCKING HANGOVER! OKAY? ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY NOW? BIG FUCKING DEAL!"
"Why didn't you tell me that part?" Tay asked quietly.
Mel looked over at him and shook her head, "It wasn't my finest moment. It's not like I'm proud of it or anything."
"I wouldn't have judged you..."
"Maybe not NOW. You know what, this isn't even about us right now. But you know what else I did while I was high in Cabo?" Mel turned her attention back to Zac. "SKYPED YOU WHILE YOU WERE AT MY HOUSE FUCKING DREW BEHIND YOUR WIFE'S BACK!"
"That was in the past! Drew can go to hell for all I care, for all the stunts she's pulled lately! She's not even the issue here! The issue here is that my wife is on display for every man in the world now, hanging on the walls of auto shops and teenage boys' bedrooms! She is the mother of my children! What are they going to think when they get older?"
Mel's head spun. Seriously? Was he serious right now? "When the fuck did you become such a goddamn prude?! Somewhere between the time you were sneaking into Drew's room in my Brownstone or the time
you were sneaking around with her in my house here in Tulsa? Or how about the times when you were texting her and coming onto her in the club WHILE YOUR WIFE WAS PRESENT? Zac, I am NOT the problem here! Maxim is not the problem here! KATE is NOT the problem here! The problem here is YOU and how you can't handle it that maybe your wife might be doing something good for HERSELF for a change and you have no control over it! YOU are insecure because you are obviously STILL having a hard time dealing with the fact that once upon a time, you were a dirty cheater, and maybe, just maybe, YOU'RE AFRAID YOU MIGHT DO IT AGAIN SOMEDAY!"
"You know what?" Zac said, his tone sinister. "You can fucking burn in hell for all I care. Okay? We're done. Fuck you. I knew it was a bad idea for you to fucking be here. Life was SO much easier when you weren't around. BEST TEN YEARS OF MY FUCKING LIFE!"
If Mel hadn't let loose before, she certainly did now. Suddenly, she saw red and nothing else. She charged at him, stiletto boots, tights, dress, and all. Storming over to him, she shoved him violently backwards. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU SNIVELING LITTLE SHIT! YOU DID THIS! THAT NIGHT I WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS! NOTHING! WHY THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I GOT SO GODDAMN WASTED? BUT NO, IT WAS YOU! YOU CONTACTED DREW! YOU GOT YOURSELF INTO THIS SHIT AND HERE I AM! YOU DID THIS! YOU PUT YOURSELF BACK IN MY LIFE! YOU AND IKE AND TAY AND DAMMIT, ZAC, IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, I WOULDN'T BE HERE RIGHT NOW! I WOULDN'T--I wouldn't...I wouldn't be marrying the love of my life if it weren't for you, Zac." Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, the rage and the anger finally taking its toll on her. "YOU did this.
But you know, what, fine. Maybe you're right. Maybe I shouldn't be here. Maybe I should just sell back my portion of the label and quit. Maybe it's just too weird for me to be around. Would that make you happy? Would ANYTHING make you happy right now?"
Zac looked back at her, catching his breath, his expression pained. It was obvious that he didn't know what to do or say in that moment.
"Now hold on, hold on. I don't know what the hell is going on here, but let's not make any hasty decisions like this out of anger," said Ike. "I think we all just need to go home and chill out and reconvene in the morning. This was kind of an odd night for all of us. Okay? Zac, you go home. Tay, take Mel home. Take a chill pill. We'll handle it civilly tomorrow."
Neither Zac or Mel budged for the moment. They both looked at each other, each one wanting to say something, neither one knowing what to say. Finally, Zac gave up and got in his truck, tearing out of the parking lot.
That left Ike and Tay and Mel in the parking lot alone. Both men looked at her expectantly and she could only look back at them. "Look, I just wanna go home," she said in listless exasperation.
"I'll call you later," Tay said to Ike as they parted ways and got in their vehicles.
----------------
The Jeep was silent on the way home. Mel sat in the passenger seat with both her arms and her legs crossed, looking out the window. She and Taylor had started the drive with the stereo blaring an industrial rock album. After five minutes down the road, Tay finally turned the music down and said to Mel, "So...does ANYONE wanna tell me what the hell I missed back there?"
Mel huffed and kicked her leg impatiently.
"So you're not gonna talk to me," he pressed her.
Silence. She didn't want to talk about it. All she wanted to do was sleep.
"Hey." Tay reached over and took her hand in his. Then he kind of laughed. "I'm actually not the one you fought with this time. Don't forget what we talked about. Don't shut down on me. Talk to me. He's my brother. Maybe I can fix it."
She sighed and looked over at him in the dark, the Jeep roaring silently over the road in pitch dark. His eyes glittered in the dashboard lights and she squeezed his hand, instantly grateful to have him there. "Zac was just...being Zac, I guess. I think--well you heard him. He has some personal issues."
"You and I both know Zac isn't 'being Zac' without probable cause. He left the stage in the middle of a performance. Why?"
She sighed again. "I'm not sure what HIS reasoning--well I know what his reasoning was, but by the time he got backstage, I was ready to swing on that bassist. I was poised and ready."
"You didn't have your gun on you, did you?"
"No."
"That's a first."
She scowled at him in the dark and continued. "Anyway, according to Zac, the guy's been after me all day. I, personally, couldn't tell--"
"I could."
Mel looked over at him in shock. His body weight favored the elbow that rested on the console as he held her hand, his other hand listlessly thrown over the wheel. He looked so laid back and relaxed that Mel would have
been turned on had the current conversation not been such a cock-blocker. "What do you mean?"
"That guy had it bad for you. I kept an eye out, I wasn't gonna let it get out of hand."
"You know, once upon a time you would have beat him to a bloody pulp for even looking in my direction."
"Is that how you want me to be? Cause between you and me, I kinda get a cheap thrill when I get a good punch in."
Mel smiled, amused. "No. I guess I'm still getting to used to you being--I don't know..."
"In my thirties?"
Her smile widened. "Yeah. I guess so."
"Mel, we're not teenagers anymore. And sure, when we got back together, I had issues. Sometimes I still do. But I think I know how to deal now. I know--I know you. I trust you. And that's all I need. So tonight, I kept an eye out. I let you handle it. And I was going to step in if he started to be disrespectful."
"Well, he did. When he disappeared in the middle of that song just to talk to me. He was on something, I don't know what. Pretty sure it was more than just weed. Anyway, he started getting a little handsy and I was poised and ready to strike. Apparently Zac could see what was going on from the drums, because just as I was ready to make my move, he was there. He should have just let me hit him."
"Mel, come on. Zac was just looking out for you. He did what any decent man in his position would have done. You can't fault him for that. I would have done the same if it were Nikki or Kate. We protect our own, it's what we do."
"I know," she said regretfully. "But then it escalated out there and--he's REALLY pissed off at me about Kate being in Maxim. He blames ME for it. And I'm sorry, but I'm not taking the blame for this. The three of us made this decision together, I didn't talk them into it. Hell, if anyone talked anyone into anything, it was Nikki doing the convincing. Anyway, Tay, I think he has personal issues and he's taking it out on me."
"You know Zac as well as I do. You know he's gonna sleep on it tonight and he'll be over it tomorrow."
"I don't think he needs to be over it. I think he needs to deal with it."
"I know. I agree."
"Do you think he really wants me off the label?"
Tay was silent for a moment before he shook his head. "No...no, I don't think so. I think you were both angry and things were said..."
"You don't sound too confident about that."
"Well you said so yourself, he's got some things he needs to deal with. Maybe it's why he's been acting so out of it lately. Why? Do you--I mean, are you thinking about leaving?"
"Is it weird? Having me there, I mean? Me being all in your business all the time, calling some of the shots..."
"I love it, Mel. I'll be honest. This was my dream for us someday. You and I, we just WORK together. I want you in every aspect of my life, professionally and non. I want you involved in it all. And I love that you're at the label and I love the work that you do. I couldn't think of anyone better to have in there. I, personally, have no problem with you being there. And I don't think Ike has a problem with it, either. As a matter of fact, he's excited to see what you're going to pull off with that New York office."
"I'm scared to death, Tay. I don't wanna mess it up."
"You'll do great. If I didn't believe in you, I wouldn't have suggested that you run it."
She sighed as they pulled in the driveway. "But that still leaves Zac. He's a third of the band, he has a third of the say."
His sigh matched hers as he parked the Jeep. "Like I said before--apparently Zac has some issues of his own and he might just be having a hard time differentiating right now. Seriously, don't be surprised if he apologizes to you tomorrow. He's not a grudge-holder. You know that."
On the way to the porch, Mel had a thought. An observation, rather. "How come every time I end up in some kind of social situation with you guys, I always end up fighting with one of you? You ever notice that?"
Tay laughed and unlocked the door, holding it open for her as he ushered her in and smacked her ass when she walked past him. "I think you might just be too hot to handle."
"Yeah, hot headed, maybe," she retorted.
"Hey, you said it, not me."
Once in the house, Mel scooped up Fred and headed straight upstairs. He was big enough to climb the stairs on his own now, but she didn't care. As she settled into bed, listening to Tay mill about the bathroom, preparing for bed himself, her text alert went off. She knew it wasn't Tay and she dreaded the message that might be waiting for her. Picking up the phone, her heart pounded at the name on her phone. It was Kate.
"I don't know what you said to Zac tonight," the text read. "But thank you."
ZAC
A couple of weeks after Fool's Banquet, one of the guys from the retreat and his band were coming back to Tulsa to play Cain's. Neither of the Hansons really knew the guy too well, as he was more or less a referral by one of their musician friends, who was also at the retreat. Either way, he had asked the guys if they wanted to join him for a guest spot onstage for a couple songs during their show and, always itching to play live, they didn't give it a second thought when they agreed to do it.
They decided to make an evening of it. The three of them arrived toward the end of sound check to run the songs they were playing. The guy wanted to do a rock cover and one of the songs that one of Taylor's groups had written during Fool's Banquet. Naturally, Tay brought Mel along. He seemed to bring her along everywhere lately, but it wasn't like she was a malignant presence or anything. And she looked nice, anyway. A little too nice, as far as Zac was concerned. She dressed simply in a black, long-sleeved, belted mini dress, dark turquoise tights, black suede stiletto boots, and a gray and magenta fringed scarf around her neck. Her dress clung to her light curves and he didn't like the way the band members looked at her. She didn't notice, but he did.
As they sound checked, Mel sat with her legs crossed on a short stool and fiddled around on her phone as her dark hair hung in her face. It was weird enough that Zac sat behind someone else's drum set, but it was even
weirder how he was the only one who could see her and the way the bassist kept glancing at her from the stage. As Zac waited for direction, he looked around at the scene in front of him. To his right, off in the wings, sat Mel, oblivious to the world, as roadies and techies walked around her to do their jobs. The bassist, with short black hair, tattooed arms, and a black sleeveless t-shirt, stood near the drums with as clear a line of vision of Mel as Zac had. Upstage to the left, Tay stood near the front, sans keyboard that night, and Ike took his usual stance with a guitar on the right. The rest of the musicians littered the stage, the drummer on a
separate set next to Zac. Based on the sound check, it would easily be one of the heaviest songs they had ever performed live and Zac was excited. But he was distracted by the bassist's attraction to Mel. He was almost
annoyed at Tay for bringing her along, as he now had difficulty concentrating, but he also constantly reminded himself that it wasn't anyone's fault that the bassist couldn't keep his eyes in his head.
As sound check wrapped up, Ike and Tay and a couple of the other guys convened at the front of the stage to talk. Zac wasn't interested in conversing at the moment. Instead, he was more interested in watching the
bassist squat eye-level with Mel and take her phone from her hand. He fiddled with it for a minute and then handed it back to her, continuing to talk to her. Zac couldn't hear a word either one of them was saying, but Mel's face read oblivious innocence as she burst out laughing at whatever funny quip he had just delivered to her.
The bassist conveniently walked away as the little meeting upstage began to break up. Zac then left his spot behind the strange drums and followed everyone else backstage. As Tay retrieved his fiancée, he said to Zac,
"Hey, we're gonna go hit the restaurant next door for dinner, you coming?"
Zac didn't realize how hungry he was until food was mentioned, so he was game without question. Much to his dismay, he found that the band was coming along as well. He made a conscious effort to place himself on the
other side of Mel as much as he possibly could on the way over--not that he was terribly worried or anything, but he didn't really know these guys and he was feeling naturally protective. Beside him, Mel's fingers were interlaced with Tay's and she laughed as he whispered in her ear, the two of them in their own world. He knew there was no way this punk bassist could stand a chance against his brother in the wooing department, but the fact was, Zac didn't know him, he didn't know what he was into, and he certainly didn't trust him, especially after the blatant disrespect he had already shown toward Tay, whether Tay knew it or not.
Through dinner, the guys talked and laughed, and Mel kept up right along with them. Zac was finally able to relax a little as the general conversation kept on and he remembered how much he enjoyed having Mel around
sometimes. He had forgotten that she could hang, sometimes better than the other guys.
Naturally, however, Zac tensed up every time the bassist's eyes glanced across the table and smiled now and then. The talk soon turned to tattoos and the guy was quick to be long-winded about the thousands all over his body. As if she had forgotten, Mel suddenly seemed to remember she had tattoos of her own. "I have two," she volunteered.
"Really?" The bassist smiled and nodded. "Nice. What kind?"
She rolled up her dress sleeves to her elbows and revealed the tattoos she had branded herself with on her forearms just below the insides of her elbows. The bassist reached across the table for a better look and thumbed her tattoos for a second. "I got them both at the same time. I probably won't get any more."
"So you didn't get addicted to the needle, huh?"
"No...I got what I wanted, I'm pretty sure I'm done."
"These are nice. Simple. What's this one about?" he asked, referring to her treble clef.
Mel blushed and glanced over at Tay before she turned her attention back to her arm. "That's my mana," she said quietly.
The bassist laughed. Zac rolled his eyes. The buffoon. "Your what? What the hell does that mean?"
Choosing not to be offended by him, Mel calmly explained, "In Hawaiian culture, your mana is a form of spiritual energy you gain from objects, forces of nature, anything, really. It's where your inspiration comes from. It's how you're connected with the world. It's the one thing that always heals you and comforts you. It's essentially who you are."
Zac glanced across Mel at Tay, who had stopped his own conversation to listen to her speak with stars in his eyes. Zac then noticed that the entire table had fallen silent to listen to her talk. It was almost eerie.
"So you're a musician, too?" the bassist asked.
Mel shook her head and smiled at her arm. "No. I mean, not professionally. I've dabbled before. But my entire life has always centered around music. I couldn't live without it. That treble clef is who I am." Then she leaned over and pointed to it. "And so is that little T there that the tail was turned into."
"It looks like a J."
"It's both." She glanced at Tay once more and smiled. "They're his initials."
"Awwww, isn't that just so sweet!" One of the other band members taunted. Mel and Tay both blushed the same shade of red.
The bassist didn't let up. "You know what they say about tattooing someone's name on your body."
This comment finally caused Tay to cut eyes at him for the first time that afternoon. Zac tensed up. He had no idea what to expect. The moment was short-lived, however, when Mel answered, "Well, we've never really
been your garden variety--"
The bassist interrupted her when he focused on her small, black, triangular-shaped one on the other arm. "Hey, I recognize this one!"
Mel furrowed her brow at him, now appearing offended. "That's impossible."
"No, I'm serious! That actor dude has one like that, he was just featured in an ink magazine a few months ago. Jason Ka--Kam--K--well, I can't pronounce his name but he's fucking badass. I love his movies! Anyway, it's so crazy how it looks just like his!"
Instantly, Mel jerked her arms away and shoved her sleeve down to cover the triangular tattoo. "No it doesn't," she argued, annoyed.
"Oh, well. You probably wouldn't know anyway. Chicks aren't really into the kinds of movies he makes."
"I've actually seen every single one of his movies."
"No kidding," the bassist said, returning to his dinner. "You don't strike me as the type that would be into that sort of thing."
"He's my best friend. I support my friends."
"No shit, seriously? THAT guy is YOUR friend?"
"Don't act so surprised," she furrowed her brow at him. "Unless you live under a rock or something. We were friends before he was famous and stuff."
"Well it's nice to know he didn't forget the little people, right?"
"Dude, stop being such a douche!" The guy from the retreat laughed. "Sorry about him," he said to the rest of the table. "He doesn't really have a filter."
After dinner, they hung out outside around the tour bus. Beers were passed around and everyone laughed and cut up. The bassist had disappeared long enough to open the bus door and stumble down the steps to offer Mel, who happened to be standing next to the door, a hit off the joint he was smoking. "Hey, you want in on some of this?" he coughed at her.
Mel didn't immediately shoot him down, which piqued Zac's curiosity. Glancing at Tay with his cigarette in his hand, Zac then looked over at Mel and instantly remembered a particular Skype session during her Cabo trip. He knew for a fact that Tay still didn't know what she'd done there and he raised an eyebrow at her when she glanced back at him questioningly. Zac knew Mel was no stranger to marijuana and he knew that he was the only one there who knew the truth.
She shook her head and waved the bassist off. "Uh, no thanks. I'm good with my beer. You go right ahead with that, I'll cheer you on from out here."
He nodded at her. "Okay, okay. That's cool. It's not for everybody I get it. Let me know if you change your mind, though."
"Yeah, sure thing."
Zac walked over to Tay and leaned into his ear. "How the hell did we end up with these guys anyway?"
Tay slightly furrowed his brow at him. "They invited us to play. We got along with them at Fool's Banquet, they're not so bad."
"We met ONE of them at Fool's Banquet. The rest of them--well that one guy--"
"So they're a little eccentric. So what? We've hung out with worse."
Zac looked around and then he shrugged. He guessed Tay was right. The only one he really had an issue with was that bassist, but seriously, how was he the only one noticing the way he constantly undressed Mel with his eyes? Was Zac just crazy? Was he imagining it?
--------------------
Zac decided that he wasn't imagining a damn thing. They were slated to guest on the last two songs of the first half of the show. The band was good, he had to admit. He and both of his brothers had a good time rocking out to the show backstage. When they took the stage, it felt weird because they didn't really have any fans there. Of course they hoped to leave with some new ones, but with this being a genre a little different from theirs, they were not only excitingly out of their comfort zone, but they didn't quite feel the pressure to be perfect, either. It was laid back and it was fun.
Halfway through the second song, Zac noticed the bassist had disappeared from the stage. The moment the others noticed he was gone, the guitarist, who had surrendered his part to Ike, retrieved an extra bass and took up the slack on his own. As Zac drummed, he looked on curiously. The guitarist had simply picked up and carried on as if it were nothing. Did this sort of thing happen all the time? How in the hell did bands
function like this, with so much disorganization?
Zac then glanced backstage beside him and was instantly hot under the collar at what he saw. The bassist had stopped his entire part and bailed on his band in order to go and flirt with Mel. It was the damnest thing he
ever saw. He watched Mel smile and show him her engagement ring and the bassist took her by the hand as if to get a better look. Chump move. Zac knew better. As the bassist had her hand, she pointed onstage toward
Tay and this made Zac smile with victory. The bassist looked behind him where she pointed then turned back to her. Zac wished he could see more of him, but he could really only see him from the back and some from the side.
Sometimes when you're the drummer, and you get distracted, you can forget that you're the rhythm and the heart of the band. You just go on auto pilot. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Zac to concentrate as he kept glancing backstage at Mel. Unfortunately, everyone was in front of him and couldn't see what was
going on, so he had absolutely no witnesses. It was when Mel's facial expressions started to change when Zac started beating a little harder on the drums. She had shaken her head at the bassist on more than one occasion already and she had to back away from him at least three times that Zac saw, and the guy just kept stepping closer and closer to her. He watched the guy touch the scarf around her neck and Mel's body stiffened, defiantly. The more Zac watched, the faster he drummed. He was no longer in the game on the song. He was completely on his own now.
However, he had no idea he was on his own until he heard the guy from the retreat announce into the microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, Zac Hanson!"
This snapped his attention back to the song and he realized that his sudden change in tempo caused him to be expected to deliver an impromptu drum solo. Shit. Right now? He did as expected, but it didn't keep his eyes off of backstage. He tried to get Tay's attention using his eyes as Tay cheered him on with the rest of the band, but it was no use. As he finished up the solo, he glanced backstage one more time and then he couldn't stand by any longer. He looked just in time to see Mel back away from the bassist's grip and her body language told Zac everything he needed to know. He knew Mel and he knew she didn't take any shit. Especially not lately. However, she was still a small woman and he was still her brother-in-law and, currently, the only person who could bear witness to this guy's gross display of drug-induced advances toward her.
Zac watched Mel's head start going off as her mouth seemed to go a mile a minute. She pointed in the bassist's face and then pointed toward the stage and began to advance on him as he backed away from her. She pointed to her ring and when she balled up her fist, Zac was done with his contribution to this show for the night.
Abruptly, Zac stopped drumming, stood up from the set, handed his sticks to the other drummer on the smaller set beside him, and exited the stage without a word. He knew he had dumbfounded everyone, but he didn't care. The song hesitantly picked back up and Zac marched straight over to the situation that was about to unfold. He reached his arm in between the two and gently shoved Mel backward as he himself got in the bassist's face. "Hey, don't you have a song you're supposed to be playing right now, buddy?"
"Don't you?" The guy countered back.
"What I do is none of your concern. This your band, not mine. I don't give a shit if you sink or swim out there, honestly."
"Well what's going on backstage at MY show is none of YOUR concern, now is it? We were just having a nice conversation--"
"It didn't look too much like a nice conversation from where I was sitting. You almost got your ass beat by a woman, did you know that?"
The bassist scoffed. "Please. I could take her, I dare her to touch me." He then got in Zac's face and smiled. "As a matter of fact, I wish she would."
"Look. She's told you several times already that she's engaged to my brother. You're being very disrespectful to her and my brother right now, and frankly to my entire band, who are guests here tonight. I'm telling you one last time, nicely, to step the fuck off or else we can take this outside. It's your choice, I don't give a shit."
The bassist practically stood nose-to-nose with Zac now. "Yeah, pretty boy? You wanna fight me? Right in front of this fine-ass lady, you wanna get your ass beat? Come on then, guy. Let's go. Unless you're hot for her, too. Which would make a hell of a lot more sense that you're back here ready to pound me instead of her own man out there."
Mel rushed to the two of them, her phone in her hand, poised to dial. "You know what? Fuck this. I used to be a cop. I can make a call, no problem. How many ounces of weed you think you got on that bus so I can be accurate when I report it?"
The bassist stepped back off of Zac and waved Mel off. "Okay, okay. Fine. Fuck both of you, okay? Both of you. And bra, maybe next time you guys shouldn't let pinup girls travel around with you and shit like this wouldn't happen. You got that?"
"You can go fuck yourself," Zac said, his last words to the bassist as he took Mel by the arm and led her calmly out her back door of the venue.
________________________________________________
MEL
Outside in the quiet parking lot was a completely different story.
"I had him, Zac," Mel said as she followed him to his truck. "I didn't need you to interrupt an entire song and alert anyone of what was going on."
"A simple thank you would suffice."
"Maybe it's my small stature, I don't know. I don't know why everyone thinks I'm this fragile damsel in distress all the time. I wish, for once, someone would just LET me pound the FUCK out of someone!"
Zac stopped in his tracks and turned around toward Mel. "Really, Mel? How much pounding did you get done when you were nearly raped? Huh? What the fuck do you think would have happened if Tay hadn't shown up that night? You'd have been a goner, that's what! Just because you were a cop, ten thousand fucking years ago, doesn't mean you can conquer the entire goddamn world on your own! That guy in there is a horn dog on drugs. I've been watching him ogle you since we got here today! You WEREN'T getting out of that!"
"How would you know? You didn't give me the chance!"
"Yeah, Mel, I'm pretty sure the 'pinup girl' didn't have the upper hand this time. I KNOW you didn't."
Mel was furious, but then paused and looked at him for a second. "This isn't about that guy in there, is it?"
"Are you--are you serious? What the fuck else could it possibly be? What ELSE did I miss?"
"This is about Maxim, isn't it?"
Zac stared at her hard. And then he hesitated before he exploded. "YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT IT'S ABOUT THAT MAXIM BULLSHIT! The 'pinup girl' he called you. THE PINUP GIRL! And you weren't the only one in that issue, you know. Both mine and Ike's wives were in it, too. So when you get referred to as 'pinup girl,' all of them are being referred to. MY WIFE is a fucking pinup girl for every goddamn horny drug addict to see, NO THANKS TO YOU!"
Mel had never exploded all over Zac before, but she guessed there was a first time for everything. She refused to play innocent victim any longer. She was NOT taking anyone's shit when it came to this Maxim shoot and she certainly wasn't taking any blame for it, either. "YOUR WIFE IS FUCKING GORGEOUS! THERE'S NO REASON SHE SHOULDN'T BE IN EVERY ISSUE OF THAT MAGAZINE! And speaking of Maxim, KATE TOLD ME YOU'RE A FUCKING SUBSCRIBER! SO WHAT YOU ARE, IS A FUCKING HYPOCRITE! For the record, I didn't talk them into this. They tagged along for MY shoot! The people there saw Nikki and Kate, they loved them, they pitched the
idea. We all talked about it first. WE ALL DECIDED TOGETHER!! SO NO, I AM NOT TAKING THE BLAME FOR YOUR INSECURITIES!"
"Insecurities? You're fucking crazy. WHAT GOES ON IN MY MARRIAGE IS NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN CONCERN!"
"WELL THEN MAYBE WHAT GOES ON BACKSTAGE AT OTHER BANDS' SHOWS ARE NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN CONCERN EITHER!"
At this point, Ike and Tay had entered the parking lot. Tay trotted up to them, asking what was going on. Both of them ignored him.
"Mel, I love you. You're my sister. My family," Zac said, breathlessly into the night air. "So sue me for wanting to protect you every once in awhile! But don't you DARE stand there and pretend like you know what's going on in my personal life!"
"Really, Zac? SERIOUSLY? LIKE THE TIME YOU WERE FUCKING DREW ALL OVER THE WORLD WHILE YOUR WIFE SAT AT HOME WITH YOUR CHILDREN? IT'S CALLED INSECURITY, ZAC! YOU'RE INSECURE BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN INFIDELIITES! BUT GUESS WHAT? YOU CAN'T FUCKING KEEP HER LOCKED UP ALL BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T KEEP YOUR DICK IN YOUR FUCKING PANTS!"
Zac advanced on Mel, furiously. "Oh, is that what we're doing now? We're spilling secrets? How's this for cheating? How 'bout the time you fucked Ike on the goddamn tour bus that last summer you toured with us? Huh? YOU'RE TRYING TO PLAY THE INNOCENT CARD, STILL?"
Ike raised his hands and backed away, his eyes wide. "Hey, I'm not in any of this..."
"Oh get off it, Zac," Mel sneered. "Tay already knows about that! He and I weren't even--well we weren't really technically together then anyway. I don't cheat, Zac! I'VE NEVER CHEATED ON ANYONE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! EVER! AND TAY KNOWS EVERYTHING BECAUSE WE TALK! THERE ISN'T ANYTHING HE DOESN'T FUCKING KNOW ABOUT ME!"
Zac smiled and raised his eyebrows, tauntingly. "Oh really? He knows everything, huh?"
"Yes," she spat. "Everything."
"How much does he actually know about Cabo? Better yet, how much do you REMEMBER making ME aware of?"
"Some things are need-to-know only. And we weren't together then, either."
"Wait, what happened in Cabo?" Tay butted in, suddenly.
Zac laughed menacingly. "Let's just say if airports drug-tested, Mel--or Jason, for that matter--would never have made it back to the US."
Mel glanced at Tay nervously. Oddly enough, due to recent events, this didn't seem as huge a deal to Mel anymore as it did a year ago. "FINE," she spat to Zac and glancing at Tay. "Jason and I got high in Cabo--"
"And?" Zac prodded.
"And drunk, so the fuck what?"
"Just high and drunk?"
"Okay, the weed was strong. MAYBE it was laced, I DON'T FUCKING KNOW! I DID DRUGS IN CABO AND STAYED AN EXTRA DAY TO RECOVER FROM THE FUCKING HANGOVER! OKAY? ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY NOW? BIG FUCKING DEAL!"
"Why didn't you tell me that part?" Tay asked quietly.
Mel looked over at him and shook her head, "It wasn't my finest moment. It's not like I'm proud of it or anything."
"I wouldn't have judged you..."
"Maybe not NOW. You know what, this isn't even about us right now. But you know what else I did while I was high in Cabo?" Mel turned her attention back to Zac. "SKYPED YOU WHILE YOU WERE AT MY HOUSE FUCKING DREW BEHIND YOUR WIFE'S BACK!"
"That was in the past! Drew can go to hell for all I care, for all the stunts she's pulled lately! She's not even the issue here! The issue here is that my wife is on display for every man in the world now, hanging on the walls of auto shops and teenage boys' bedrooms! She is the mother of my children! What are they going to think when they get older?"
Mel's head spun. Seriously? Was he serious right now? "When the fuck did you become such a goddamn prude?! Somewhere between the time you were sneaking into Drew's room in my Brownstone or the time
you were sneaking around with her in my house here in Tulsa? Or how about the times when you were texting her and coming onto her in the club WHILE YOUR WIFE WAS PRESENT? Zac, I am NOT the problem here! Maxim is not the problem here! KATE is NOT the problem here! The problem here is YOU and how you can't handle it that maybe your wife might be doing something good for HERSELF for a change and you have no control over it! YOU are insecure because you are obviously STILL having a hard time dealing with the fact that once upon a time, you were a dirty cheater, and maybe, just maybe, YOU'RE AFRAID YOU MIGHT DO IT AGAIN SOMEDAY!"
"You know what?" Zac said, his tone sinister. "You can fucking burn in hell for all I care. Okay? We're done. Fuck you. I knew it was a bad idea for you to fucking be here. Life was SO much easier when you weren't around. BEST TEN YEARS OF MY FUCKING LIFE!"
If Mel hadn't let loose before, she certainly did now. Suddenly, she saw red and nothing else. She charged at him, stiletto boots, tights, dress, and all. Storming over to him, she shoved him violently backwards. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU SNIVELING LITTLE SHIT! YOU DID THIS! THAT NIGHT I WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS! NOTHING! WHY THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I GOT SO GODDAMN WASTED? BUT NO, IT WAS YOU! YOU CONTACTED DREW! YOU GOT YOURSELF INTO THIS SHIT AND HERE I AM! YOU DID THIS! YOU PUT YOURSELF BACK IN MY LIFE! YOU AND IKE AND TAY AND DAMMIT, ZAC, IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, I WOULDN'T BE HERE RIGHT NOW! I WOULDN'T--I wouldn't...I wouldn't be marrying the love of my life if it weren't for you, Zac." Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, the rage and the anger finally taking its toll on her. "YOU did this.
But you know, what, fine. Maybe you're right. Maybe I shouldn't be here. Maybe I should just sell back my portion of the label and quit. Maybe it's just too weird for me to be around. Would that make you happy? Would ANYTHING make you happy right now?"
Zac looked back at her, catching his breath, his expression pained. It was obvious that he didn't know what to do or say in that moment.
"Now hold on, hold on. I don't know what the hell is going on here, but let's not make any hasty decisions like this out of anger," said Ike. "I think we all just need to go home and chill out and reconvene in the morning. This was kind of an odd night for all of us. Okay? Zac, you go home. Tay, take Mel home. Take a chill pill. We'll handle it civilly tomorrow."
Neither Zac or Mel budged for the moment. They both looked at each other, each one wanting to say something, neither one knowing what to say. Finally, Zac gave up and got in his truck, tearing out of the parking lot.
That left Ike and Tay and Mel in the parking lot alone. Both men looked at her expectantly and she could only look back at them. "Look, I just wanna go home," she said in listless exasperation.
"I'll call you later," Tay said to Ike as they parted ways and got in their vehicles.
----------------
The Jeep was silent on the way home. Mel sat in the passenger seat with both her arms and her legs crossed, looking out the window. She and Taylor had started the drive with the stereo blaring an industrial rock album. After five minutes down the road, Tay finally turned the music down and said to Mel, "So...does ANYONE wanna tell me what the hell I missed back there?"
Mel huffed and kicked her leg impatiently.
"So you're not gonna talk to me," he pressed her.
Silence. She didn't want to talk about it. All she wanted to do was sleep.
"Hey." Tay reached over and took her hand in his. Then he kind of laughed. "I'm actually not the one you fought with this time. Don't forget what we talked about. Don't shut down on me. Talk to me. He's my brother. Maybe I can fix it."
She sighed and looked over at him in the dark, the Jeep roaring silently over the road in pitch dark. His eyes glittered in the dashboard lights and she squeezed his hand, instantly grateful to have him there. "Zac was just...being Zac, I guess. I think--well you heard him. He has some personal issues."
"You and I both know Zac isn't 'being Zac' without probable cause. He left the stage in the middle of a performance. Why?"
She sighed again. "I'm not sure what HIS reasoning--well I know what his reasoning was, but by the time he got backstage, I was ready to swing on that bassist. I was poised and ready."
"You didn't have your gun on you, did you?"
"No."
"That's a first."
She scowled at him in the dark and continued. "Anyway, according to Zac, the guy's been after me all day. I, personally, couldn't tell--"
"I could."
Mel looked over at him in shock. His body weight favored the elbow that rested on the console as he held her hand, his other hand listlessly thrown over the wheel. He looked so laid back and relaxed that Mel would have
been turned on had the current conversation not been such a cock-blocker. "What do you mean?"
"That guy had it bad for you. I kept an eye out, I wasn't gonna let it get out of hand."
"You know, once upon a time you would have beat him to a bloody pulp for even looking in my direction."
"Is that how you want me to be? Cause between you and me, I kinda get a cheap thrill when I get a good punch in."
Mel smiled, amused. "No. I guess I'm still getting to used to you being--I don't know..."
"In my thirties?"
Her smile widened. "Yeah. I guess so."
"Mel, we're not teenagers anymore. And sure, when we got back together, I had issues. Sometimes I still do. But I think I know how to deal now. I know--I know you. I trust you. And that's all I need. So tonight, I kept an eye out. I let you handle it. And I was going to step in if he started to be disrespectful."
"Well, he did. When he disappeared in the middle of that song just to talk to me. He was on something, I don't know what. Pretty sure it was more than just weed. Anyway, he started getting a little handsy and I was poised and ready to strike. Apparently Zac could see what was going on from the drums, because just as I was ready to make my move, he was there. He should have just let me hit him."
"Mel, come on. Zac was just looking out for you. He did what any decent man in his position would have done. You can't fault him for that. I would have done the same if it were Nikki or Kate. We protect our own, it's what we do."
"I know," she said regretfully. "But then it escalated out there and--he's REALLY pissed off at me about Kate being in Maxim. He blames ME for it. And I'm sorry, but I'm not taking the blame for this. The three of us made this decision together, I didn't talk them into it. Hell, if anyone talked anyone into anything, it was Nikki doing the convincing. Anyway, Tay, I think he has personal issues and he's taking it out on me."
"You know Zac as well as I do. You know he's gonna sleep on it tonight and he'll be over it tomorrow."
"I don't think he needs to be over it. I think he needs to deal with it."
"I know. I agree."
"Do you think he really wants me off the label?"
Tay was silent for a moment before he shook his head. "No...no, I don't think so. I think you were both angry and things were said..."
"You don't sound too confident about that."
"Well you said so yourself, he's got some things he needs to deal with. Maybe it's why he's been acting so out of it lately. Why? Do you--I mean, are you thinking about leaving?"
"Is it weird? Having me there, I mean? Me being all in your business all the time, calling some of the shots..."
"I love it, Mel. I'll be honest. This was my dream for us someday. You and I, we just WORK together. I want you in every aspect of my life, professionally and non. I want you involved in it all. And I love that you're at the label and I love the work that you do. I couldn't think of anyone better to have in there. I, personally, have no problem with you being there. And I don't think Ike has a problem with it, either. As a matter of fact, he's excited to see what you're going to pull off with that New York office."
"I'm scared to death, Tay. I don't wanna mess it up."
"You'll do great. If I didn't believe in you, I wouldn't have suggested that you run it."
She sighed as they pulled in the driveway. "But that still leaves Zac. He's a third of the band, he has a third of the say."
His sigh matched hers as he parked the Jeep. "Like I said before--apparently Zac has some issues of his own and he might just be having a hard time differentiating right now. Seriously, don't be surprised if he apologizes to you tomorrow. He's not a grudge-holder. You know that."
On the way to the porch, Mel had a thought. An observation, rather. "How come every time I end up in some kind of social situation with you guys, I always end up fighting with one of you? You ever notice that?"
Tay laughed and unlocked the door, holding it open for her as he ushered her in and smacked her ass when she walked past him. "I think you might just be too hot to handle."
"Yeah, hot headed, maybe," she retorted.
"Hey, you said it, not me."
Once in the house, Mel scooped up Fred and headed straight upstairs. He was big enough to climb the stairs on his own now, but she didn't care. As she settled into bed, listening to Tay mill about the bathroom, preparing for bed himself, her text alert went off. She knew it wasn't Tay and she dreaded the message that might be waiting for her. Picking up the phone, her heart pounded at the name on her phone. It was Kate.
"I don't know what you said to Zac tonight," the text read. "But thank you."