Warnings: Discussions of physical violence, implications of abuse, Beau continues to be a jerk, angst

Word Count: 3049

Authors' Note: We hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

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November 2012 - Towards the End of the Regional at Best Tour

You pulled the hood of your sweatshirt up over your head as you walked out the back door of the venue. Beau had texted you a few minutes ago saying that he was trying to find parking and would be outside shortly. After finishing up helping out with sound equipment - which, once again, was mostly dealt with by a yelling Tyler - you headed out to collect your boyfriend.

"There she is!" you heard a familiar voice call. You turned towards the source of the noise to see Beau walking towards you, jean jacket and all.

"Beau!" you grinned. He picked up his pace, quickly closing the gap between the two of you.

He barely managed to get out an "I've missed you" before his lips were on yours, kissing you deeply. You wrapped your arms around him, stealing his body heat from being in a warm car all afternoon.

"How was the drive?" you asked.

"Not too bad. I would have driven much longer if it meant seeing you."

You pressed another quick peck to his lips before lacing your fingers together and leading him inside. As much as you wanted to stay and chat with him somewhere quiet, there were still a million things for you to do before the show began.

"Is this what it's always like?" Beau asked as you led him towards the stage. A few people had already come up to you and asked you questions.

"Yep, almost every night of the week."

Tyler was still on stage, sorting out a number of cords that were criss-crossed over the floor. He looked up when he heard you enter the room.

"Y/N," he grinned. "How are things?"

"Great," you returned his smile. "Tyler, this is my boyfriend: Beau. Beau, this is the other guy in the band: Tyler."

"And by 'other guy in the band', you mean lead singer, right?" Tyler laughed as he walked over to shake Beau's hand.

Beau returned the handshake, but used his other hand to wrap around you and pull you completely into his side. You wiggled your arm free so that you would actually be able to keep marking things off on your checklist.

"Nice to meet you," Beau said, giving Tyler an icy stare.

You watched Tyler's eyes shift to you for a moment, then return to Beau. His mouth curled up into an apprehensive half-smile.

"You too."

"We're doing wardrobe in twenty minutes, Ty. Be ready."

Beau's fingers dug a little tighter into your hip at the use of Tyler's nickname. You made a mental note to use his full name for the rest of the night.

"Hey, I think Josh was looking for you. He's out towards the front of the venue."

"Alright, thanks for letting me know Ty... ler. I'll go find him."

Tyler hopped back up on stage and you headed off to see what Josh needed. Beau kept an arm wrapped around your waist, even though it made it ten times more difficult for the two of you to navigate through the tables that were dotted around the room.

Sure enough, Josh was standing with one of the crew members just inside the front door. His face lit up when he saw you, then immediately fell again when he spotted Beau.

Beau's eyes honed in on Josh and you could instantly tell that he felt threatened, by the way that he dug his fingers into your side once again. You didn't understand what his problem was and why he was always so controlling with you... especially around other men. Maybe he had a reason to feel threatened by Josh? Who knew? But, there was no reason that you were seeing in that moment.

"Hey, Josh! Tyler said that you were looking for me?" you said, surprised that you remembered to call him by his full name and not his nickname around Beau.

Clearing his throat and putting on a fake smile for you and your boyfriend, he nodded his head and rubbed the back of his neck a bit. "Yeah, I was actually wondering if you would be able to go back to the van and bring me back my other pair of drumsticks? I picked up my old ones. They should still be by my bag."

"Yeah, sure, Josh! I'll go right no-"

"Wait, wait, wait...," Beau interrupted you mid-sentence and raised a hand up, glaring over to Josh. "Your legs fucking work, man. You can do it."

You and Josh both stared at Beau in disbelief for a few moments.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm kind of in the middle of something, man. Not to mention that we literally pay her to do things for us. It's her job," Josh responded sarcastically, which almost made you smirk. But, you knew better. This quip only made Beau angrier and he shoved you behind him as if he were squaring up to beat Josh down, but got in his face instead.

"Why don't you bring that cockiness outside and I can mess that pretty boy face up?!" he yelled and Josh glared, not once backing down to the challenge.

"You won't even be able to get a punch in!" Josh yelled back and then, out of nowhere, Tyler forced himself in between the two and held Josh back while you frantically grabbed on Beau's arm to pull him in the other direction.

"Beau! Stop! Let's take a breather and go over here. Come on!" Tugging him away, he finally followed you with a red face and looked back over his shoulder every so often before wrapping his arms around you while he knew Josh was watching.

You chanced a look over your shoulder to see how Josh was doing. Tyler had his arms on his shoulders and you could see the way Josh's chest was heaving. He was saying something to Tyler, but you were too far to make it out and reading lips had never been a talent of yours. With a sigh, you turned back around.

"You need to quit, Y/N. They're asking too much of you."

You rolled your shoulders a little, trying to get Beau to loosen his grip. His fingers remained digging into you, which was uncomfortable even though the thick material of your sweatshirt.

"Beau, Josh was right. It's my job to do those little tasks for them."

Beau stopped walking and stepped in front of you, blocking your path to the back of the venue. You stopped just in time to avoid running straight into his chest.

"Don't tell me you're taking his side here," he said through gritted teeth. "Nobody gets to boss you around like that."

Except you.

"He's my boss, Beau," you said, keeping your voice as steady and calm as possible. "I'm not taking his side. You're right, it sucks that I have to walk all over the place, but that's what they're paying me to do."

You took a deep breath and brushed past him, knowing that he would follow. Even if Beau was trying to start an argument, you weren't going to let it get in the way of your tasks. The last few months on the job had made you exceptional at multitasking.

"I don't like that guy, Y/N. I'm telling you-"

"I know, lovey, but you're not the one that has to be around him all the time. Josh is my boss and our relationship is strictly professional."

Beau muttered something to himself, but the sound of the back door creaking open and the following howl of the wind made it inaudible. You grabbed the van keys from your pocket and retrieved Josh's extra pair of drumsticks from his bag.

"How'd you know that was his bag?" Beau asked, watching carefully over your shoulder.

"I've seen him carrying it around every day for the last three months, you kinda pick up on those things."

Beau reached out to catch your wrist, "Hey, don't get snappy with me after I just defended you in there."

You pressed your lips together and held back the words that were on the tip of your tongue. Instead, you gathered up the drumsticks and your clipboard and shut the trunk.

"Come on, let's get inside before this wind gets much worse."

Beau let go of your wrist and you offered him your hand, which he was happy to intertwine his own fingers with. Together, you walked inside. You were thankful for the warmth and protection from the wind.

"Take these to Josh," you said, passing the drumsticks off to the first crew member you found. You knew better than to bring them to him yourself with Beau tagging along behind you. "And if he's with Tyler, don't interrupt them."

The crew member nodded and hurried off with drumsticks in hand. Beau stepped forward and fully wrapped his arms around you from behind, resting his head on your shoulder.

"I like this bossy side of you," he whispered, letting his lips ghost over your ear.

"Thanks, Beau," you said, checking a couple things on your clipboard.

"There she is!" Tyler said, suddenly appearing at the other side of the room.

Beau pulled his head away from your shoulder, but kept his arms around you, no doubt to establish dominance. Tyler didn't really seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't care.

"Hey, Tyler. Here for wardrobe?"

"That I am," he said, flipping the water bottle that he had in his hand around a few times.

"Beau, I'm going to need you to wait here. You can just chill at one of the tables and I'll come get you when we're done."

"I'll come with," he said, pressing himself a little further into you.

"Lovey, it's not that I don't want you there, but there are rules."

Beau looked to Tyler, as if asking for confirmation.

"She's right, man, though I must say that I'm flattered you want to see me half-naked."

Tyler caught your eye, and you gave him a little headshake to indicate his teasing shouldn't go any further. You couldn't see Beau's face, but the way that he was holding on to you was sending you all the message that you needed to know. Tyler's mouth simply curled up into a subtle smirk; no doubt this was his way of getting revenge for Josh.

"It won't be more than five minutes, Beau. I'll be back as soon as we're done."

"And I bet you'll be helping that other asshole get undressed, too," he added, though his grip was slowly loosening.

"Dressed, actually, but yes. It's part of my job."

You turned and pressed a kiss to his cheek before following Tyler to whatever backstage corner had been dictated today's dressing room. Tyler had already stripped his shirt off before you had a chance to hold up the blanket to conceal him.

"Woah there, Ty," you said, relieved to be able to use his nickname again. "Give me a moment to avert my eyes."

"You like it," he laughed.

You snorted in response and took your time looking at the various posters on the wall.

"Can I ask you something serious?" you asked.

"I mean, I'm half-naked, but go for it."

"Is Josh doing ok? Beau really riled him up and I wanted to check in on him, but, well, you know."

"Yeah, he's ok. It took awhile to calm him down, but we got him there."

You dropped your voice, "I'm really sorry that I brought him here. I didn't know he was going to act like this. I would have made him stay home."

"Y/N, it isn't your fault. Him and Josh don't get along and now we know for the future."

"You're right."

Tyler pushed the blanket down, revealing him in his concert outfit. For tonight, it was a plain t-shirt over a pair of brightly colored jeans.

"Want me to get Mark so we can mic you up?"

"He's busy tonight, it's up to you," Tyler smiled.

You sighed, already not looking forward to having to stick your hands up Tyler's shirt. Tyler grabbed all the equipment from nearby and held it out to you.

"Arms out."

Tyler did as he was told and you got to work running wires along his torso. He made polite conversation about last night's show and tried not to flinch too much if your fingers brushed against a particularly ticklish spot.

"Hey, what the fuck is going on?" Beau's voice scared you so bad that you nearly dropped the mic pack that you were holding. You managed to catch it before it hit the ground, knowing that it would be a costly mistake otherwise. "Why do you have your hands up his shirt? Is there something going on here that you haven't told me about?"

"I'm wiring him up with his mic," you said, turning to show Beau whatever equipment wasn't already attached to Tyler.

"Oh, and I assume this is just another one of your 'tasks', huh?"

"It is, actually," you retorted, never missing a beat in helping Tyler out. "Usually Mark takes it on because, as you can see, it's a bit awkward, but he had other things to do tonight."

"How convenient."

"Besides, Tyler is seeing someone."

You shook your head and tried to ignore Beau, but when he walked over and gripped your forearm, you no longer had a choice. Tyler just barely managed to grab the stuff out of your hands before Beau was pulling you away.

"Beau! You need to stop this. You're preventing me from doing my job," you said.

"I've seen that list, there are other things you can be doing."

"Tyler isn't done getting dressed!"

"Let Josh help him," Beau snarled.

You turned to Tyler, who simply waved you off. Your shoulders dropped, wishing that Tyler would have put up a fight for you to stay. Joking around with him was the most at peace you had felt since Beau's arrival.

At least the show would be starting soon. That would give you a distraction, at least for awhile.

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Somehow, despite all of the hell that Beau had caused, the boys allowed him to stay for the show. Maybe it had been because he was your boyfriend and maybe it had been because, after the spectacle earlier, they were nervous to know how he would treat you after. But, the show went on as it normally did... with one slight difference. Tyler was doing his normal thing on stage, bringing his showman mentality and putting it on full display, but Josh seemed more tense. More angry. Sure, he hit his drums hard every night, but tonight you were scared that he was going to break them.

Making sure not to put too much stock into your feelings and not stare too much at Josh while standing beside Beau, you shook your head and then looked down to your checklist despite it being done.

After the show, you decided to go outside with Beau as it was time for him to head back home.

"I'm going to miss you, Y/N. I know that I was... not a good example of a boyfriend in there today, but it's just because I barely get to see you and I just wanted you all to myself," he mumbled to you as you stood with him out by the backdoor of the venue. There it was again. He was trying to make you feel bad.

"Beau, it's fine. Ok, lovey? I promise. Just get home safe and text me when you make it," you responded softly, resting your hand on his chest before he placed a deep kiss to your lips. Once he pulled away, he nodded to you and sighed.

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too, Beau."

Walking offstage, Josh looked around to find you but you and Beau were nowhere to be found. Maybe that was for the best, because he was feeling like he was about to snap. Sure, Tyler's little pep talk had helped earlier, but your boyfriend kept creeping into his thoughts and it made him just want to lay him out flat on his ass. A nice punch to the face might do him some good. Clenching his jaw, he grabbed his towel and wiped the sweat off of his face before throwing it over his shoulder to grab his water bottle.

A hand rested on his shoulder with a squeeze, causing him to look up to see Tyler there with a small smile. He always knew when Josh needed to have a talk or when something was really bothering him.

"Let's go somewhere and talk for a bit." Josh nodded in agreement and followed him to a quiet corner where none of the crew members had passed by during their tear down process. Sitting on the floor, Josh leaned up against the wall and Tyler sitting cross-legged across from him, it took a moment of silence before something else was said.

"So what's going on, buddy? You know that you can talk to me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Josh mumbled and Tyler just rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on. You need to give me a little more credit than that. Don't think that I didn't notice how hard you were playing your drums tonight. You're pissed and I think that the reason is a four letter name. Beau."

Just hearing his name made Josh's blood boil. A look of disgust now covering his face, he looked down to his lap and started playing with a string that was on his pants.

"She deserves someone so much better than that asshole."

With a nod of his head, Tyler stared across to his friend and rested his elbows atop his thighs.

"And who would be this someone? You?"

"Maybe."

Josh sighed and then ran his fingers through his damp hair, resting his head back against the wall as he stared up to the ceiling. He didn't know what to do or why his emotions were so out of whack whenever you were around. You made his heart beat faster and butterflies always formed in his stomach whenever he saw you or your smile.

"Ty... I really like Y/N."