"They want to meet with me today?" Candace asked, her eyes wide.
"Yeah. We usually only work with people we've known for years. But I asked them to make an exception and trust me." I told her with a small smile.
"Johnny, I'm not sure about this anymore." She told me, a scared look on her face.
"Why not?" I asked her softly.
"I'm just scared. What if they don't like me?" Candace said, looking down at the floor.
I stepped closer to her and lifted her chin with my finger tip.
"They're gonna love you. All you have to do is be yourself." I told her.
She smiled softly and pressed her lips to mine.
"Okay. Let's go." She told me.
I grinned widely and put my arm around her waist, pulling her to my car.
We made small talk the whole way to the studio.
The guys were there working on some tracks.
When we finally pulled up, I could see Zacky standing outside with Brian, smoking a cigarette.
Candace took in a sharp breath and she started to fidget with her fingers.
I covered her hand with mine and she looked up at me.
"It's gonna be okay." I told her.
She nodded and slowly got out of the car.
When the guys saw me they started walking towards me.
"Johnny!"
"Short shit!" Zacky and Brian yelled at the same time.
I shook my head and tried not to laugh at the look on Candace's face.
I forgot to tell her the guys liked to pick on me a lot.
Oh well.
Guess she's about to find out.
I smiled and gave the guys a man hug and they stood in front of me staring at Candace.
"So Johnny. Who's your friend?" Brian asked, smiling down at Candace.
She looked down shyly and moved a little closer to me.
"Guys. This is Candace. Candace, this is Zacky and Brian." I told her, pointing them out.
Zacky smiled and put his hand out to her.
"Nice to meet you Candace." He said politely.
She grinned widely.
"Same here Zacky. I really appreciate you guys meeting me." She said in a soft voice.
I looked at her and smiled at how cute she looked when she was meeting new people.
"It's not a problem. From Christ has been saying about you, you seem pretty reliable." Zacky said.
"Christ?" Candace repeated, clearly confused.
"Yeah. Johnny's stage name is Johnny Christ. He got it cause he's a little shit and he likes pissing people off." Brian said with a laugh.
Candace looked up at me and smiled.
"You never told me that." She laughed.
"Yeah, kinda slipped my mind." I told her, even though it wasn't true.
"I'm Brian, by the way." Brian introduced himself, stepping closer to Candace.
I kept my face empty as the jealousy inside me started to roar it's ugly face.
"Nice to meet you Brian. I've heard a lot about you. Johnny talks about you guys all the time." Candace said with a smile up at me.
"Really, does he now? Hope it's all good. Where did you meet anyway?" Brian asked.
Candace's mouth opened and closed and I could tell she was uncomfortable.
"Where's Matt?" I asked quickly.
"Inside talking to Fred." Zacky said.
"Come on Candace. You get to meet the rest of the crew." I told her, putting my hand on the small of her back and leading her inside.
She nodded and we all made our way inside as the guys trailed behind us.
Matt was listening to a play back of a track when we all walked in.
He turned around and saw all of us and his eyes widened.
"Holy shit. You guys came out of nowhere." He said with a laugh.
"Sorry dude. This is Candace." I told him, pointing to her.
She grinned widely again and put her hand out.
"It's nice to meet you Matt. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me." She said softly.
"No problem. Any friend of Johnny's is a friend of mine. Especially the pretty ones." Matt said with a friendly grin.
She blushed and looked down.
"What was that babe?" Val asked, coming from the other room.
Matt started laughing and wrapped his arm around Val, pulling her in for a kiss.
"I said come and meet our new assistant. Candace, this is my wife Val. Val this is Candace." Matt said.
Val smiled and pulled Candace in for a hug.
I could tell she was surprised and didn't know what to do.
She hugged Val back and grinned when they pulled away.
"It's so great to meet you Candace. I can not tell you enough how much we appreciate you coming to help. It takes so much stress off of me." Val said warmly.
Candace nodded and looked over at me quickly.
"It's no problem. You all are the ones really doing me the favor." She said honestly.
"Modest. I like it. You're hired. Come on. I'll show you around." Val said, grabbing Candace's hand and pulling her off.
She turned quickly to look at me and I nodded sending her a smile.
She grinned widely and ran to keep up with Val.
I sighed in relief.
"Damn! Tell me you're hitting that Christ! Don't lie. I can keep a secret." Brian said with a loud laugh.
"No you can't! You have the biggest mouth!" Zacky argued.
I shook my head and laughed as they started arguing back and forth.
This is my life.
Having to deal with these knuckle heads.
But it's okay.
I love these guys.
The most important thing is that Candace has a job and she doesn't have to go back to stripping.
I have a feeling she's gonna fit in great here.
