First Love | James Hetfield

Knock Off Fleetwood Mac

Warning: this chapter contains sexual assault! There will be asterisks (***) where it begins and ends so you can skip.

Beatrice finally rounded everybody up to go out.

"So what is this place?" Lars asked from the middle seat. Annie was crammed in between Kirk and unfortunately... him. Beatrice and Lars took the middle seats while Aurora drove and Cliff sat in the passenger seat.

"It's just a gig some guys are performing at." Aurora said for probably the twelfth time. Lars kept asking because for some reason he has an overwhelming fear of uncomfortable silence.

About three minutes later they arrived at the small corner bar. All of them hurried to get out of the crammed vehicle and get a drink in their hands.

"Beatrice, have you brought us to a speakeasy?"

Everyone got their drinks and hung out around the pool table, but Annie eventually strayed off to see what the deal was with the band that was currently playing. She stood a few feet away from a tall blond who she already knew was James, so she didn't dare walk any closer.

The band was boring to say the least. To put it a little nicer they were like a knockoff Fleetwood Mac without the Stevie Nicks and with a very low budget. The singer was a male with a dark meshy shirt and flared pants and quite frankly, a horrible voice.

He was attractive, though.

Annie found herself staring a little too intensely while he stared back.

James found himself bopping his head along to the drums because they were the only thing that didn't suck. However, he could feel eyes on him and when he shifted his gaze to the singer who.. winked at him..?

He furrowed his brows and cocked his head a little bit before looking behind him. Oh. He felt a sense of relief that he wasn't getting eyed by a male, but also a weirdly tense feeling when he was met with her, staring right back at the singer.

He felt a little weird being the monkey in the middle of their weird staring contest. He approached Cliff at the pool table and took a swig of his beer while he shook his head at the two eye-fucking one another.

"Oh, look at that. She found love in paradise." Cliff said, handing the stick off to Kirk.

Cliff really misreads some situations. He'd find that out later, the hard way.

He furrowed his brows and cocked his head to get a better view of James' eyes. "Dude.." he said, following his line of sight. "You're burning holes in the guys back, what's your deal?"

"Nothing." He said. "He sucks ass." He defended weakly, gulping his drink again.

"Whatever."

After the band's set ended, Annie went off in search of the restroom. She let Bea know where she was going before she walked down a dark, deserted hallway.

She went in the ladies room and did what she had to do before washing her hands and seeing how flushed she looked. "Jesus.." she muttered to herself. Her cheeks had a very rosy tint to them. A stall behind her opened and a woman came out giving her a dirty look like she was insane for talking to herself.

She shrugged it off and left the bathroom. She was about to turn the corner before a voice behind her stopped her. "Hey!"

She turned back to see the singer from the damn band.

"Oh, hey." She smiled, turning around to approach him.

"I saw you looking at me." He smiled smugly. Oh. He was that kind of guy. She chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah, yeah." She said. "You were looking back though." She shrugged.

"I was." He responded, placing a hand just above her shoulder on the wall behind her. She didn't even know this guy but boy, the look in his eyes made her feel some type of way.

"What's your name?" He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

She opened her mouth to respond, but- wait. Should she really tell him? What if he's a psycho killer?

"Laurie." She lied.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

***

As cheesy as that was, she couldn't help but blush and look at the floor. He placed his hand under her chin and slowly lifted her face to meet his eyes.

"So you're gonna be good for me, right?" He asked.

"What?" She asked. Now she was confused.

"You're gonna be quiet." He said as he placed his hand on her waist and slid it down to her ass. "And you're gonna behave."

Okay, well now she wanted to vomit.

"I don't know what you-" she was cut off as the man swiftly grabbed her collar and pushed her hard against the wall. It knocked the wind out of her as she let out a quiet groan.

"Shut up, alright?" His eyes locked with hers. Now the look in his eyes made her feel something she never wanted to feel again. "Just shut up." He said quieter.

"Stop- I don't want-" her breathing picked up. "I don't wanna-" she was cut off again when he grabbed her shirt and ripped the neckline so most of her chest was exposed.

"Please.." she pleaded to no one in particular as she stared up at the ceiling. Her vision was blurry from the tears and horrible memories flooding back into her brain.

"What'd I say?" His breath was hot and could probably light the air on fire with the amount of alcohol in it. "Be quiet."

She really started to panic when he put his hands around her throat firmly.

This is it, she thought. This is where I get raped and die.

She felt the pressure on her neck increase just before his body was yanked from hers. She put her hands to her throat and slid down the wall.

***

Through the blurry tears and hair covering her eyes she could see Cliff's ringed fist fly into the man's jaw.

A few seconds later she was still trembling on the floor but someone was in front of her, brushing the hair away to meet her eyes. "Hey, hey.. it's okay.." Kirk's voice sounded like honey and chamomile tea. "I'm gonna go find Beatrice, okay?" His brown eyes were soft as he looked into her terrified ones.

Next thing she knew, Cliff, Kirk, and the man were gone as she sat with her knees to her chest sobbing. After a minute she heard heavy footsteps and she looked up to see James staring at her from a few feet away.

She didn't know what to do. Just then, all her hatred and abhorrence she felt toward him was gone. She needed someone, and he was right there when nobody else was.

"James." Her voice was quiet and broken. "Please.." a sob came from her throat as she lifted a hand, reaching for him.

He walked away.

And just like that, all the hate was back.

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