Avery's Desire Pt. 11

LOSERS!

"Those mother fuckers..." Boomer hissed. He touched his hands to his temples and shook his head.

"Do you have any idea who might have done this?" Bob, the older cop asked him.

"I have a pretty good idea who's behind it." Boomer said. "I got no idea if he done this himself or hired someone to do it, but I can almost guarantee that I know who planned it."

Boomer had a real good idea who was behind it; the issue was, proving it. With Mikey showing up at the Halloween concert, and then the mysterious lurker from the other night, it was only too obvious who the culprit was. This was Mikey's doing for sure. It was his lame attempt at intimidating Avery and the others into dropping out of the battle of the bands.

"This is just some stupid asshat with a chip on his shoulder, trying to scare the bejesus outta my boys."

Bob clicked the CB radio on his shoulder, "Dispatch, we have a possible B and E at Shaggys Tavern on Chase. I'm with owner now. No suspects on site."

"Copy that Bob," A female's voice rang back over the radio. "Keep us advised."

"Will do, Sarah, stand by."

"Look around the rest of the place and make list of everything that's missing or damaged. I'll also need the names of anyone you think might be involved. Think of any confrontations that you might have had in the past few days, any suspicious looking people hanging around. Even the smallest detail could be important."

"There was one incident..." Boomer told him. "We had a guy hanging around at closing the other night. Freaked one of my boys out pretty bad, I gave him a ride home. We didn't think anything of it at the time, the guy left and we haven't seen him since."

"Who was with you that night?" Bob asked.

"Avery..." Boomer said. "His name's Avery Duprey. He lives over on Carol Street in the apartments. He's the lead singer of the band that practices in back. He's been having issues with a member of a rival band. The guy showed up here during a live concert on Halloween. There's some bad blood between them.

I figured he was just here to get under Avery's skin, maybe shake him up a bit, but I honestly never thought he'd go this far. I just can't think of anyone else who would have any reason to go after the band this way. Their all good kids, there's no one else I can think of that would have a grudge against them."

Bob nodded as he wrote down everything Boomer had told him. "Well get me that list, and I need this Avery kid's contact information."

"I'll get that for you, one sec." Boomer walked behind the bar and pulled down a sheet of notebook paper that he had tacked to the wall. "Here's his address and phone number." He told the officer as he handed him the paper. "Rick's his roommate, his cell numbers on there too."

Bob took the paper and wrote the information down then handed it back to Boomer. "Alright, I'm going to call this in. You might want to get a hold of the other kids, let them know what happened. I'm going to need statements from each of them as well."

Boomer nodded, "Not a problem."

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Trash's number as he walked around looking the rest of the place over. He was almost certain that there wasn't anything missing. It didn't even look like there was any damage to any other part of the bar, a fact that made Boomer suspect even more that it was Mikey behind the whole thing. It wasn't a robbery, and it wasn't directed at him or his business, it was an attack against the members of desire and them alone.

"Hey Trash..." Boomer said when he heard the line pick up. "Sorry for calling so early man but we have a situation down here at the bar. No, no one's hurt, but there's been a break in. Well, I think you just better get down here. Swing by and grab Rick and Avery on your way, and you might want to call Kat. This involves her too.

Yeah, I'll be here. Got the cops here too, they wanna talk to all of us. Okay, oh and park out front, the front doors unlocked. It's better if you all come in that way." He snapped the phone closed and laid it on the counter as he sighed, leaning on the bar. "What a fucking mess." He grumbled under his breath. "Fucking little prick; you done kicked the hornets' nest now boy, and I'll be damned if you're gonna get off easy this time."

___________________________________________________________

A kind of somber hush had fallen over the room. No one knew quite what to say. There were just no words to express how they were feeling. Avery leaned against the wall, his eyes wet with tears. He just stared at the mess in silence, his heart pounding so heavy in his chest that the sound rose up into his ears until all he could hear was the deafening sound of his own heart. He put a hand over his mouth as a small, pitiful, cry escaped his lips.

Rick moved to him immediately, wrapping his arms around the boy as he pulled him close. Avery buried his face in Rick's chest and let the tears come.

"So this is it..." Kat spoke up finally, breaking the quiet of the room. "It's over."

Trash looked over to her, his eyes hard and cold as he furrowed his brow. "What are you saying?" He demanded.

"What is there to say?" Kat sighed. "You know as well as I do what this is. This is a warning, back out now or else. So fine, I'm done. It's not worth it."

The others stared at her, shocked. They couldn't believe what she was telling them, they couldn't believe that she could just so easily give up and give in.

"I thought you were one of us." Rick stared at her with a harsh glare. "I thought this band meant something to you."

Kat shrugged. "I'm just a guitarist for hire, remember. I'm not a part of this fight. This is between you guys and your ex band mate. I don't want to get involved, there are other bands, other gigs, and honestly, better opportunities."

"So that's it?" Trash asked her. "You're just going to walk away and abandon us?"

"Don't take it personal." Kat told him. "It's just business. You don't try to save a sinking ship."

"Oh that's a load of bullshit!" Avery pulled himself away from Rick and looked up, wiping his eyes on the hem of his shirt. "You're just scared. Every time something gets too hard for you, you just walk away! How many people have you bailed on so far? How many friends have you abandoned just because you were too scared to stay and fight?"

"Don't go there kid." She glared at Avery hatefully. "You know nothing about me or where I come from, none of you do."

"I know enough." Avery said coldly. "You're too scared to get close to anyone so you push everyone away. You're so afraid of being hurt that you'd rather be alone, that's why your running now. I know that you feel something for us, you've gotten close to us, and now you're scared that everything you're worked for is going to be taken away but instead of staying and fighting with us, you're just bailing on us!"

Avery sighed and shook his head. "Don't you think that we're scared of the same thing? The difference is we're willing to stay and fight. That's what a family does. We opened our hearts and our lives to you, we accepted you into the band, and made you a part of our family, so don't you dare say that it's nothing personal, because it is. It's very fucking personal. A family doesn't abandon each other just because their scared, if anything, we band together, and face our problems head on."

"That's a real romantic notion Avery, but this is real life, not a fairy tale. It's time you grew up and realized that there are no happy endings. It's just one miserable day after another with a whole lot of fucked up shit thrown in between. Sooner or later you're going to have to face the truth little boy, there ain't no one in this entire shit hole world that you can rely on except yourself. The sooner you get that through your pretty little head, the better off you'll be."

"No..."Avery shook his head sadly, "Then I'd just be bitter and alone, like you."

Rick hugged Avery against him, trying to comfort the boy, but his eyes were fixed on Kat. "I guess I was wrong about you." He said softly. "I really thought you had something special, and I was willing to give you a chance. I honestly thought that you could be a part of us, part of the band, but if you can just walk away from us now, without giving us a second thought then you are just a guitarist for hire. So, if that's all we mean to you, go, we don't need you."

"Rick?" Trash took a step towards him. The poor guy looked miserable but he knew that Rick was right. If Kat chose to leave now, then maybe he had misjudged her even.

"I really am sorry guys." Kat whispered as she made her way to the door. "You're a great group of guys, you're really talented, but you're going nowhere. This concert was maybe you're one shot at making a name for yourselves, but if you continue to go up against this Mikey guy, it's not going to end well...for anyone involved. I just can't be a part of that. I have too much to lose."

Kat turned her back to the guys then touched her hand to the door frame and stood there, almost as if she were debating whether or not to leave. She turned and looked at them one last time and sighed, sadly. "Good luck boys. I really wish you the best."

She hurried through the door, leaving the bar as quickly as she could and made her way back outside and to her car. Before she'd even reached the driver's side door hot tears had begun to stream down her cheeks. She silently cursed herself for getting so emotional, it was a sign of weakness, and she was not a weak person.

She hated leaving like this, but she just couldn't afford to be making enemies with the other local bands, her career would suffer if she did. In the end, it didn't matter how well she liked the guys, how talented they were, or even how badly she really did want to be a member of the band. They came with too much baggage. It wasn't her fight, so she couldn't get involved. She needed to get in good with a band that would take her places, and as it was now, Desire was a dead end.

"So that's it then." Avery looked around the room. He was feeling something between complete despair and total fury. "We're screwed. Half our equipment is destroyed, and now we've lost our lead guitar. Does this mean we forfeit?"

"Hell no!" Trash glared at him. "That would be admitting defeat and fuck if we're giving Mikey the satisfaction."

"I should have taken care of that bastard when I had the chance." Rick sneered. "My main mistake was letting him walk away. I should have had him taken out on a stretcher."

"That's real smart." Boomer said as he pushed passed Rick and Avery. "You think your keyboarding would sound any better in prison? I hear they have real good acoustics in the joint."

"Well you got a better idea?" Rick asked him, a little curtly.

"Yeah I do..." Boomer handed him a broom. "We got a mess here, so let's clean it up. Cole's on his way. I told him to bring some heavy duty lawn and leaf bags. Anything big that can't be salvaged, just take it directly out to the dumpster."

"And what is this going to accomplish?" Rick asked.

Boomer shrugged. "You can't very well practice in this mess now can you?"

"Yeah, well, what are we supposed to practice with?" Trash looked around at the destruction. He picked up a broken piece of his drum set and held it up as to prove a point.

Boomer sighed. "Things can be replaced boy. Mikey can destroy all kinds of things, hell, he could have burned this mother fucker down, but I would have just built it back up. The important thing is that we all stand together. Like Ave said, we're family. Hell, this is nothing. All this is, is proof that Mikey is scared.

He's scared of all of you, your talent, your love for each other, and most of all your determination to win. He can't take away your spirit unless you let him. Now is the time to show him what you're all made of. It's time to show him that he can't scare you off, he can't cut you down, and he can't win."

"Well I think our spirits are pretty much broken at this point." Avery tossed a part of the broken microphone stand into a pile of rubbish. He wasn't ready to admit defeat but he also didn't know how they were supposed to recover from this latest blow. Even if they could clean up the mess, replace the damaged equipment, and find the strength to keep fighting, it seemed hopeless now that they didn't have a guitarist.

Avery and the others had everything riding on winning the concert but without Kat, there was no way they could do that now, and it was too late to replace her, not unless Cole or Boomer had another guitarist in their back pockets. He didn't want to give up hope, but what could he do? It was hopeless, he knew that, and he was sure the others did too.

Boomer sighed. He walked to Avery and gently laid his hand on the boys shoulder. Avery looked up at him. His expression was somber and his eyes full of concern but through it all, he managed to smile at the boy reassuringly.

"You can't give up hope." Boomer told him. "I know you feel like it's all over but it's far from over. This is a small bump in the road and one that's easy to come back from. You've been through worse kid, hell I've been through worse, we all have.

When I lost my son I felt like giving up. There was nothing in the world that I wanted more than to just crawl in a hole and die. I was shattered, my marriage was falling apart, Cole had hit rock bottom and I knew that I was about to lose him too if I didn't do something so I forced myself to keep going. I picked up the pieces and I refused to give up. Now, I know what Mike did to you. Rick told me everything; I know how bad he hurt you, and how bad he's still hurting you. He's already got you down, but it's up to you whether or not you allow him to keep you down.

One thing that I can tell you though is if you don't stand up to him and fight for what you want, he will always have control over you and your life. You don't want to spend the rest of your life living in fear of this asshole do you?"

Avery shook his head. "Hell no, I just want him out of my life for good."

"Well, the best way to do that is to show him that he no longer holds any power over you. He's sitting somewhere right now laughing at you, laughing at all of us. He won't be laughing though when he sees you boys take to that stage and win the battle. But to be able to do that, you have to move past this, and start cleaning this fucking mess up."

Avery did his best to force a smile. "I'll get something to scrub that paint off the wall." He told Boomer.

Trash picked up the broken table and headed for the back door. "I might as well start dragging this shit out to the dumpster."

"I'll help you." Rick handed the broom back to Boomer then started going through the mess seeing what was worth keeping and what wasn't. "The sooner we get this clutter cleared out; the sooner we can get the rest of this mess cleaned up."

Boomer watched as Rick and Trash began to drag junk out the back door. Avery returned a few minutes later with a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush. He immediately went to work on the graffiti that the vandals had left on the wall. Boomer couldn't help but smile when he saw how diligently the boys were working, his boys, and he couldn't have been any prouder of them.

_____________________________________________________________

"Man you should have seen that place when we were done with it." Frankie plopped himself down on the couch and laughed.

"Did you destroy all their equipment?" Mikey asked. "All their instruments?"

"Just what we could find." Don told him. "A drum set, an old keyboard, an amp and some other crap. They didn't have their guitars at the bar, probably took them home with them, but the stuff that was left there is trashed."

Mikey stood up and glared at the two. "What the hell good is that going to? So you trashed a couple of drums and Rick's spare keyboard. He keeps his good one in the apartment. Basically all they're down is one set of old drums, big fucking deal!"

"They can't play without drums." Frankie shrugged. "And after the message we left, they're probably too shaken up to play at all. I'd bet you anything they drop out of the competition as soon as the parks office opens on Monday."

"Well I ain't leaving anything up to chance." Mikey slouched down in the recliner near the stairs.

"What are you planning?" Don asked him.

"I don't know yet." Mikey glared angrily at the wall. "It's time to up the game though. We need to hit them hard and hit them fast, before they have a chance to recover."

"We could trash the apartment." Frankie suggested. "I think I scared the little girly boy pretty good the other day, he's getting paranoid that he's being followed now so I don't think he'll be spending a lot of nights home alone anytime soon."

"Maybe..." Mikey considered it. He just wasn't sure if that would send the message that he really wanted to convey to Rick and the others. He wanted to let them know that he wasn't to be fucked with. He wanted them to know that he was watching them, and that he was willing to do whatever it took to beat them. "I think we need to send them a message a little more profound than that though. Something they can't just walk away from. I really want to hit them where it hurts. They need to know that it's over and I've won."

"So, what do you have in mind?" Don grabbed a couple of beers from the cooler. He handed one to each of the men then sat down and popped his bottle open, taking a long gulp of the drink before setting it down on the end table. He looked at Mikey then, waiting for a response, but Mikey was lost in thought.

Avery had a strong will, he could pull himself up from just about anything, and Mikey knew just how resilient he could be. He knew that it wasn't going to be easy to break Avery's spirits, not unless Mikey was willing to really push the boy past his breaking point. To do that though, he couldn't pull any punches. He had to be ready to do anything, no matter the cost. It was the only way he could win.

Mikey leaned back in his chair, took a drink from his bottle, and thought long and hard about the situation at hand. He had to consider just how far he was willing to go to get what he wanted. How would he feel about it afterwards, and how badly did he really want to hurt Avery? That was an easy one the more he thought about it. He wanted to humiliate Avery, he wanted him to suffer. He wanted Avery to feel exactly what Mikey had felt when Avery threw him out of his life.

'I won't let you get away with what you did to me.' Mikey thought as he took another drink. His expression becoming one of anger and hatred, but at the same time he almost felt like crying. That pissed him off even more, the fact that he still felt pain over losing the boy. It wasn't just something he could dismiss or forget about though. He had truly been in love with him, but it was obvious to him now that Avery had been playing him for a fool.

"I'm going to break that little bastard." He grumbled low under his breath. "And Rick too; I want them both to suffer."

Don and Frankie looked up when they heard Mikey's voice though neither of them could hear exactly what he had said.

Mikey grinned suddenly as he leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbow up on his knee; he stroked the small goatee on his chin. "You boys remember the old Elmwood tunnel?" He asked.

"Yeah, the one by Molly's creek?" Frankie snickered a bit. "I took this chick up there once, scared the shit out of her. She tried to convince me that she saw something floating in the mist but I never seen anything."

"It's a load of crap." Don rolled his eyes. "I've never believed in ghosts and shit like that. They say some girl was murdered there but who knows for sure, it's just an urban legend."