Might As Well Be On Mars // Motley Crue

When Your Heart Beats Next to Mine

"Yeah," Nikki raised his glass. "There's so many psychos on a tour like this. Druggies, rapists, murderers, torturers. I don't know what type of people would let their precious daughter anywhere in this vicinity. Right, Mick?"

"Right." Mick narrowed his eyes.

"I mean," Nikki leaned in close to Katherine. "Have you seen what we do to groupies around here? Not Mick, of course. But one time, I saw Tommy put a bunch of gummy bears inside..."

"Nikki!"

He looked over at Evie. "What happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room."

"My bad, my bad." He wrapped an arm around Evie's chair in a way that only came off as predatory after his last few statements.

"Well," Katherine was slightly unsettled. "There are so many rumors about you guys in the media. With all the devil imagery, there's whispers of Satanism and debauchery."

"The media likes to exaggerate," Mick said.

"That's what I figured. Whenever I see some tabloid I just have to think it's not true. But I imagine it gets to you, doesn't it? All these lies being told about you?"

"Definitely," Nikki stretched out the word. "A few weeks ago, some fuckhead wrote to the paper saying I was threatening a groupie into getting an abortion, but it wasn't true at all. It was just her, and she wanted it," he gestured to Evie. "They make shit up then everyone runs with it. Mick wanted to murder me."

"He didn't," Nikki said when everyone only stared at him. "He's a great guy, you know, let me crash at his place for a few months, sleep with his daughter, cheat on his daughter, get back with his daughter. Put up with me when I was on smack and quaaludes, getting arrested all the time, being a pain in the ass. Very forgiving man."

Evie and Mick looked at each other in shocked silence.

"That's great to hear," Katherine smiled.

"Yeah, you won the jackpot with Mick. Forgiving, talented, not to mention rich..." He patted Mick's shoulder.

Evie grabbed Nikki's hand. "Come with me," she mumbled, nodding her head toward the front of the building. Nikki dropped his fork on the ground and let himself be led away.

"I'm...I'm sorry about him," Mick said when they were alone.

"No problem," Katherine shook her head. "He's quite a character, isn't he?"

"Fuckin idiot, more like it. I knew I shouldn't have invited him."

"I really never expected the bassist of Motley Crue to be normal, after all."

Mick nodded. He wasn't that surprised by Nikki's behavior.

"So," Katherine continued. "He knows your daughter?"

Mick took a deep breath in. "You know, I wasn't planning on telling you this for a while. I wanted you two to get to know each other first. But, uh, Evie," He pointed toward her empty seat. "Evie is my daughter. Nikki is her boyfriend."

Katherine didn't know what to say. "Well...that explains her beauty. And they...they make an interesting couple."

"What is wrong with you?"

"What!?" Evie made Nikki sit down on the bench outside the restaurant's doors because she refused to scold someone a foot and a half taller than her.

"What do you mean 'what'? What did I say this morning? 'Don't. Embarrass. My. Father.' And what did you do? Go out there and start talking about my abortion and your drug habit?"