The Cost Of Winning

ASHLEY'S POV :

"Wook, it the ceweal birdie!" Bren squeals as we walk through the aviary. I turn my head, and see that she's pointing to a toucan perched on a large branch several feet away.

"Yes, cutie, it's called a toucan," I tell her, and she giggles and peeks around the front of the stroller that Ryan is pushing, with the twins inside.

"Haywee, Abby, does you sees the tincan?" she asks, pointing toward the bird to draw their attention to it. Both of the twins have developed a fascination with birds, giggling and reaching whenever they see one, so when we were all planning the trip, and saw the listing for this place, Miki and Ryan decided to bring them here for their birthday.

"Hi!" Abby shrieks as she sees the bird, and Haylee reaches out both arms, moving her hands in a grasping motion. Miki and Fi are both taking pictures, while Ryan and I push the strollers, and Ian sits quietly, just taking everything in.

We make our way through, letting the kids look at all of the different exotic birds, and telling Bren the names of the ones that she doesn't know. We stop in at the gift shop, and let Bren pick out a shirt for herself, and one for Ian, and when we see a display of stuffed birds we call Miki and Ryan over. "Get the girls out of the stroller, and let them pick out a bird. That will be our birthday present to them," I say.

They carry Abby and Haylee to the pile, and Haylee instantly gloms onto a stuffed macaw, clutching it like a life preserver and babbling to it. Abby, who seems to be the more laid-back of the two, picks up and drops several, before latching onto a peacock and giving it her version of a kiss. "Well, I guess they've made up their minds," Fi says, as she takes another picture, since Miki and Ryan both have their hands full.

We go to the register, and as I'm handing the cashier my card, my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket, and see Andy's number. "Hey, dude," I answer.
'
"Hey, Ash. What time are you all gonna be here?" he questions. "We're on at four-thirty, and we have to do soundcheck before that."

"Chill, man, it's only eleven," I reply. "We're getting ready to leave the aviary and head back to the hotel. I'm gonna grab a change of clothes, and we'll be on our way."

"Okay, see ya soon," he says, and ends the call.

"Andy freaking out already?" Fi inquires. "That boy really needs to learn how to relax a little more."

"We've all been telling him that for years."

We head back to the hotel, drop off our bags, and I get my stage gear together while everyone else puts on their concert shirts. Heading downstairs to get a cab, we all pile in, tell the driver where we need to go, and he lets us out by the back gate, so we can get to the dressing room area without being swarmed by fans. I drop my clothes in our dressing room, let Jon know I'm here, and join back up with Fi and the others, to show them around the festival.

We stroll around for a little bit, checking out some of the merch stands, and grabbing some food, eventually winding up near the area where they've set up some rides. I know Fi isn't into most of these, because they usually make her nauseous, so I ask Bren, "Do you want to go on the swings with me, cutie?"

She watches for a second, then shakes her head so hard that her hair is bouncing off of her nose. "No! Not goin' there, theys too much tall, and goes much fastly. Don't wanna."

Then I hear a familiar voice call out, "Ashley Purdy! You didn't think that you were going to get away without saying hello, did you?" I turn, and see my friend Dani standing behind me, and she flings her arms around me before I can even open my mouth.

Everyone else looks a bit startled as I return the hug, and then I back up a bit and say, "Hey there, Dani, it's good to see you. How have you been?"

"Marvelous, as always," she responds with a smile. "And a little birdie told me that you actually got married. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Well, now you have," I tell her. "C'mon, and I'll introduce you to everybody."

I slide my arm around Fi's waist, pulling her forward, and say, "Babe, this is Dani Divine. She's a model, and an old friend. Dani, this is my wife, Fianna."

Fi smiles, and says, "It's nice to meet you, Dani."

"It's lovely to meet you, too. And just look at this little fellow! How cute is he?"

I introduce her to Bren, Miki, Ryan, and the twins, and notice that Bren is staring at her, seeming to be fascinated. Finally, she says, "Me wikes yours hair. Mommy won'ts wet me play colors wif my's hair."

"Thank you, sweetheart. And your mummy won't let you do this to your hair yet because the stuff that makes these colors aren't good for little ones, love," Dani tells her. "Besides, your hair is beautiful as it is."

Then she points to Dani's lip ring, and inquires, "Don'ts that hurt you's mouf?"

Dani chuckles, and says, "Well, it did a bit when I first got it, but not anymore. Do you remember when you got your ears pierced, sweetie?" Bren nods, and Dani explains, "Well, they don't hurt anymore, right? It's sort of like that."

Then she turns back to Fianna, and says, "I was hoping that I might ask you a bit of a favor. My boyfriend was supposed to meet me here, but he got held up at work, and I really wanted to go on the swings. I hate going alone, so would you mind terribly if I borrow Ash for a few minutes?"

"No, if he's cool with it, so am I," is Fi's response. "He was talking about going on himself, but none of us are quite feeling it, so this solves both of your problems."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" I ask.

She gives me a kiss, and says, "Why should I mind if you catch up with your friends? I trust you, so go have your ride. But if you make yourself sick, you get to deal with Jon and the guys yourself."

I get on the swings with Dani, while Fi and the rest of the group watch, and decide to do some video while we're waiting for the ride to start, which she posts to her social media. It finally starts, and we enjoy the ride, and join back up with the others when it's done. Dani walks around with us for awhile, and then Ryan says, "Hey, Ash, isn't that Jake over there?"

I look in the direction he's pointing, and see Jake and Inna standing not far away, so I yell out to them. Inna looks up and sees us, and grabs Jake's hand, dragging him over to join us. As he gets closer, he announces, "Jon just told us that some new webzine wants to get a quick interview before our set, so our schedule just got a little tighter."

"Which one is it?" Dani asks. "There are several new ones, and most of them are all right, but there are a couple that are simply garbage."

"I pulled them up on my phone a little while ago, let me show you," Inna replies. She taps on the screen, and the smile drops off of her face almost immediately. "Oh, no," she mumbles.

"What's the problem, babe?" Jake asks.
She passes her phone to him, and he starts scowling. "They can't be serious with this crap!" he growls, passing the phone back to Inna and whipping out his own. "I'm calling Jon right now and telling him he can either cancel the damn interview, or do it without me. I'm not dealing with people like this anymore."

We all must look confused, because Inna gives me sort of a sheepish look and hands me her phone, saying, "You might need to take a look at this, Ash."

I glance at the screen, and instantly feel my blood starting to boil, because I'm looking at a still clip of the video we took on the swings less than an hour ago, with the words "Ashley Purdy Marriage Already On The Rocks? Black Veil Brides Bassist Spotted Getting Hot And Heavy With Fetish Model While Young Wife Waits Stateside." It goes on to say that the "reporter" will be doing a broadcast with more details in about ten minutes, and tells everyone where to go if they want to be there.

"When the hell were we getting 'hot and heavy', can someone explain that to me?" I fume, as I give Inna her phone back. "And how is Fi 'waiting Stateside' when she's standing right next to me? With both of my kids, yet!"

"Excellent questions. What do you say we go get them answered?" Fi returns, and her tone makes everybody turn to look at her. As soon as I see her face, I realize that she's totally furious, which isn't something that happens very often. The last time I saw her look like that was the night we broke up, so I get the idea that this might get interesting.

"Can anybody show me where this place is?" she asks, and Dani steps up and links her arm with Fi's.

"Just come with me, I'll get you there," she announces. "I've got a few words I'd like to share with this wanker myself."

Inna takes Ian from Fi and carries him, and I pick Bren up so we can actually keep up with with our pair of incredibly pissed-off women. They basically power-walk through the crowd until we reach the spot where the so-called reporter has set up his booth, and people are already gathering, as he starts his spiel. But before he finishes his first sentence, Dani walks over to him, and says, "Hello then. I thought maybe I should be here, since I seem to be your topic of conversation this afternoon."

He turns, and gives her an eager look. "Does that mean that you're going to give us the scoop on your relationship with Ashley, Ms. Divine? How long have you been seeing each other?" he fires off, almost tripping over his words. "Aren't you concerned that his wife might see the photos of you together? Or have they already separated?"

"If you'll shut your yap for just a bloody minute, and let me get a word in, I'll tell you exactly what you need to know," she retorts. "But the first thing I'd like to do is let your audience meet a lovely new friend of mine. Why don't you come on up and join me here, doll?"

We can hear the crowd practically start buzzing when Fi comes forward to stand next to Dani, and it's obvious that the reporter is startled to see her here. "Why don't you introduce yourself, in case there's anybody who doesn't recognize you," Dani encourages her.

"Thanks, I think I will," Fi answers. "For anyone who doesn't know, my name is Fianna Purdy, and I'm Ashley's wife. You know, the one who's sitting back home in Nashville while my husband is carrying on with another woman, and being a big enough idiot to let her post it to social media, because I'd never see it there, of course."

The sarcasm in her voice is so thick that you could almost slice it, and he actually flinches as she stares at him. He starts to say something, but she rolls right over him, saying, "Y'know, it's idiots like you that give the press such a bad reputation. Your kind of sloppy, irresponsible crap is why no one feels like they can be sure of anything they hear or read, because nobody can be sure whether a single damn word is accurate, or if it's just this kind of clickbait junk being spewed out just to pull in ratings. So, to make things clear to all of your viewers, I've been here with Ash the whole time, and so have both of our kids, because yesterday was our daughter's fourth birthday. And I was standing right at the bottom of the swings while they were riding, and there was absolutely nothing inappropriate going on. And if you continue to insinuate that there was, I will sue your sorry ass so hard that no one in their right mind will ever hire you again. Do I make myself clear?"

Before he can even think about answering, Dani jumps back in, and announces, "Not to mention that I have a relationship of my own that you could have ruined for me, So as soon as we're done here, I'll be contacting everyone I can think of to strongly recommend that they have nothing to do with your trashy little magazine, and if we're lucky, it'll go right down the crapper, just like your 'journalistic integrity'."

The crowd starts clapping and cheering, and I see dozens of them with their phones out, recording everything, so even if he manages to delete what his cameras recorded, people are still going to see it. He starts grabbing for his mic, trying to grab the crowd again, but a big, bearded guy comes stomping up and basically rips it out of his hand, and everybody hears him essentially bellow, "Are you trying to bankrupt me, you worthless fucking moron? Thanks to you, every single band we had lined up for tonight has canceled on us. Fucking Sharon Osbourne has even posted on bloody Twitter that they've blacklisted us for life, because we can't be trusted to put out the bloody truth! Pack up and take your arse home, you twink, you've done enough damage for one day. I'm sorry I ever hired you, just because you're my brother, doesn't mean I'm going to let you ruin my business."

The big guy storms off, and the other one starts trying to gather up his equipment, while avoiding the assorted items that the crowd has started chucking at him. Fi and Dani come back over, getting hugs and high-fives from everybody, and I grab Fi and give her a big kiss. "You were really somethin' up there, babe. Remind me not to piss you off again, okay?"

She laughs, and as she reaches over to take Ian back from Inna, Jake looks at his phone and yells, "Shit! We're late for soundcheck, Ash! We've gotta move!"

He dashes off, with the rest of us scrambling along behind him. And as we're jogging through the crowd, I glance back at everybody and tell them, "Welcome to life on the road, everyone. Never a dull moment"

Notes