Valentine's Day

Chapter 15

Maddie was in a pretty good mood when Monday swing around the next week. Sure Brian hadn't called her after the time they'd spent together but she had gotten a rare glimpse of the human who lay just below the exterior of the Synyster Gates facade. It was enough to call their time together a success...Even if she was a attracted to him and he didn't seem to notice she was on the planet.

Of course she could have taken his flirting as proof that he may have liked her a bit but he kept her at an arm's length even while he winked one of those dark chocolate colored eyes at her. And he didn't mention the Vegas debacle once, so all in all it was a win for team Maddie.

She smiled to herself and she booted up her computer. At once an idea popped into her head, probably not the smartest one but she was curious. She opened up Google Chrome and typed the words Brian Haner Jr into the search bar. As she suspected, the first search page was filled with Avenged Sevenfold news that mentioned his name. Old band photos, their Wikipedia page, merchandise...All interesting but not what she was looking for. She clicked page two...And there it was.. An article from MTV news at the very bottom of the search screen. Maddie read the headline aloud.

"Armed fan shows up on Avenged Sevenfold guitarist front lawn. Wow." Maddie was stunned. She looked around and when she saw no one around, she clicked the link.  A picture of Brian on stage with the Hail To the King stage set behind him flanked the article.

An article that detailed how Allison Greene of San Francisco, California showed up armed with a 9mm pistol to Brian and Michelle Haner's home after he had broken off their brief affair. Apparently he had met Greene in a bar in San Francisco after one of their local shows and she had followed them on tour within California. When Haner stopped returning her calls after putting an end to their affair, she waited until he returned home from touring and held both the rock star and musician at gunpoint. Michelle Haner managed to text her sister, Valary Sanders, who in turn called police.

Maddie skimmed the rest of the article but it was the last couple of sentences that drew her attention. Michelle gave no formal statement and moved out of the home they shared shortly after filing for divorce.

Well that explained a lot. Being held up by a stalker he'd picked up in a bar might explain why he had turned her down in the Las Vegas. At least there was that.

"So,"Liza's sing song broke into her thoughts. Maddie nervously clicked the X button on the browser. "How was your date with Brian?"

Maddie's eyes widened "Hush...You don't want Larry to hear you."

Liza chuckled as she dropped herself into the chair in front of Maddie's desk. "Larry is in conference. Disturbed is in the office today. Besides it's not like he isn't going to find out you're dating one of his major clients."

Maddie shook her head rapidly. "I'm not dating him."

Liza looked at her disbelief "He announced he was dating you in front of his friends at the club and then he asked you to go the beach with him, the day after his divorce settlement was signed. If that's not dating then...."

"You're reading entirely too much into it," Maddie tried to convince here "trust me, he doesn't think of me like that."

"Why wouldn't he? You're beautiful and smart...and funny..."

"And you're reaching," Maddie interrupted. "He's like one of the most beautiful men on the planet and I'm...me. Even Mason...."

Liza put her hand up to stop her. "No! No Mason references. He's a complete tool that didn't realize that he let the best thing in his life walk away. He's going to be sorry."

"Emphasis on thing...am I right?" Maddie joked half heartedly. "But seriously, that whole thing with Brian...completely platonic."

"Uh huh," Liza said "So you don't even like him...or think he's attractive."

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Those are two completely mutual states of mind....Of course I think he's attractive. I mean seriously I have eyes." She pointed to them for emphasis "But as for liking him...he's a nice enough guy but why bother with that when he doesn't see me that way. He even said when he invited me to the beach...."

"He said he didn't see you as a date?" Liza asked "Like to your face."

"Not in so many words...but he said he'd rather take someone that he had no plans on sleeping with."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Liza said.

Maddie shrugged. "So what is Disturbed doing here?"

"Oh," Liza said returning to work mode. "They are doing a few summer festivals with Avenged and they are planning the dates."

"So Avenged is coming in today then?" Maddie said shuffling papers across her desk.

"I think so...at least a few of them...Sanders....Vengeance...maybe Gates. I didn't get a full update," Liza threw out and waited for Maddie to react.

"Oh...well thats nice," Maddie's voice climbed an octave and her face lit up.

Liza's eyes narrowed. "I'll be sure to let you know when they get here."

"You don't have to do that. I mean if Larry needs me he'll let me know," Maddie gave a fake smile.

Liza stood with an all knowing grin. "Uh huh...I'm sure he will. Well I'll​ let you get back to work."

Maddie took a deep breath and tried to settle back into work. But it didn't matter how hard she tried to concentrate, her mind kept going back to Brian. Every sound she heard outside of her office made her pause listening for his voice. There was no way she was going to be able to concentrate.

It was going to be a long morning.