Take It Out On Me

Chapter 23

"Keith!" Braelyn was running, trying to catch up to the Irishman. He didn't appear to hear her though, he kept on at his quick pace. It didn't take long for Braelyn to realize that he was listening to music, when she caught a glimpse of the wires from his head phones. His blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail as he took his before show run. He always went for a run before shows to calm his nerves, and to get his adrenaline up.

Braelyn picked up her pace to try and catch Keith. She was catching up to the Irishman when he stopped abruptly and she ran into him, knocking her down onto her butt. Keith turned around and seen her sitting on the ground. He pulled the earbuds out of his ears and offered her his hand.

"If you wanted to run with me, you should've just said so," Keith laughed as he pulled her to her feet. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah, one second." Braelyn had her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Sorry, out of shape. It's been a while since I was able to go running like that."

"Are ye gonna live?" Keith laughed some more as he handed her his bottle of water. "Take a drink, it'll help." Braelyn took a few gulps of the water before facing Keith again.

"Tyler needs you to help him with something. He said you had a few ideas, but he wasn't quite sure where they were supposed to go? He said you would understand what he meant." Braelyn took a deep breath. She made a mental note to start working out again as soon as possible.

Keith reached into the pocket of his running shorts and pulled out a piece of paper. "Give this to Tyler. It has all the answers to his questions. Even though he really didn't need help. I think he's just unsure because this means so much to him."

"What is it you are helping him with?"

"Dat is a secret, dat I can't even tell me own mother," Keith's accent flowed into Braelyn's ears making her smile. She hated it when Keith did that. He'd been doing it all day just to annoy her. He'd say certain words that accentuated his accent, so that is was even more noticeable. She had always loved the Irish accent, but Keith was beginning to make her hate it.

"Ok, you know what?"

"What?"

"You're kicked out of the next few shows, go home to Ireland." Braelyn turned and stomped away.

As soon as Braelyn's back was turned Keith yelled to her. "I technically live in LA right now."

Braelyn raised her arm and gave Keith the middle finger as she was walking away, a smile appearing on her lips. She had technically only known Keith for a day, but he was beginning to feel like a brother to her. Braelyn walked back to the bus and gave the paper to Tyler.

"Keith said everything you need is on that paper. What are you guys up to anyway?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Tyler put the paper into his song book and set it aside. "Have you been ok lately? You've been acting differently."

"I'm fine Ty." Braelyn tried to hide the lie, but Tyler knew something was up.

"Brae..."

"It's just being on the bus for so long. I guess it's getting to me. I mean should we really have our daughter on the road?"

"You don't have to travel with us. I don't want to make you feel like you have to be on tour with us. If you really want to, you can take Arianna home and I'll see you when I can." Tyler wrapped his arm around Braelyn's shoulders and pulled her against him. Braelyn leaned against Tyler and welcomed his warm embrace. She lay her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"I don't want to leave you, even if it is for a short time." Braelyn stood up and walked to the door. "I'm going to go for a run."

"Show starts in an hour and a half," Tyler yelled after her. He glanced into the pack n' play at his daughter and shook his head. "Your mother really hates sitting still."

"All the way here from Derry, Northern Ireland! Give a warm welcome to Keith Harkin!" The announcer ran off stage as Keith ran onto the stage!

"Thank you all very much! I'm very excited to be playing for you all tonight!" Keith grabbed his guitar, strummed a few chords and stepped back up to the microphone. "This first song is called The End of the Innocence, I hope you like it!" Keith played his songs, getting a good response from the crowd. When he finished the last song, he thanked the crowd and walked off stage. He wished Tyler and Brian good luck before disappearing.

Tyler and Brian watched their band set up, anxiously waiting to run out on stage! Tyler quickly glanced around and didn't see Braelyn. He knew she had decided to stay on the bus with Arianna, but it didn't feel right to be going out on stage without her being there. Finally the stage was set up and the guys quickly said a prayer and ran out onto the stage.

Braelyn sat outside the bus with Arianna, she was hoping to be able to hear the show from where she sat. She couldn't take a baby back stage with all the noise, but sitting there she started to fall asleep. She was exhausted and finding time to relax was getting harder. It seemed every time she tried to relax, Arianna would cry. She loved her daughter, but she missed her free time. She was thinking about taking Arianna to dinner when Keith walked about the bus. She stood up and stretched.

"Are you hungry?" Braelyn asked Keith. He stopped and scooped Arianna up out of the pack and play.

"Yeah." Keith made faces at Arianna, causing Braelyn to burst out laughing.

"What are you doing to my kid?" Braelyn watched as Arianna reached her little hand up and tried to grab ahold of Keith's hair.

"She likes it." Keith obviously didn't see her hand reaching for his hair as he talked with Braelyn. As soon as Arianna's little fingers closed around his hair and pulled a shocked expression came across Keith's face as he grabbed his hair and pried it out of Arianna's grip. "Damn she has a strong grip!"

"Yeah, it hurts when she pulls your hair."

"But she's so little!" Keith set her back down in her pack n' play and turned to Braelyn. "So dinner was what you were asking right?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry and Tyler would kill me if I went out by myself. I'll pay," Braelyn grabbed the stroller and fastened Arianna in. Within a few minutes they were walking down the street to the closest restaurant.

They ate at a good Chinese place, before heading back to the buses. They were laughing and having a great time. One look at the place and Braelyn knew the guys were partying again. She sent Arianna and Keith to the band's bus and she went to investigate what the guys could possibly be up to. She walked onto the bus and stood in the entryway not believing what she was seeing. Tyler was sitting on the couch with a girl on his lap kissing her. Braelyn grabbed a bottle of Jack that was sitting on the table and walked off the bus.

Braelyn sat outside the buses drinking the Jack and tossing stones against the tires. She was half way through the bottle when Keith walked off the bus and noticed her sitting there. He took one look at her and confiscated her Jack. He set it aside and pulled her to her feet.

"Can you walk straight or..." Keith started to ask her, but Braelyn interrupted him. She pressed her lips against his. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she was so hurt that she just didn't care.

a/n: Once again sorry for the delay guys. I work full time and attend college. I am working on the next chapter. Will be ending this story soon. I may have a sequel coming, and I also have another story that I will start writing called Learning to Love. Will post the first chapter of that on here before Christmas!