One More, Always More {Guns N' Roses}

13. Shooting Directions

1997

Maybe the start of it all was when Steven left the band, or was it when Izzy quit in ’91 because afterwards it seemed the band went downhill until there was only one person standing. Gilby Clarke, the newest rhyme guitarist was the next to be fired from the band. Nicole had really gotton to know Clarke in the time she had stayed with the band in ’91, he was a man with a great personality and found herself enjoying his company more than once during the tour of ‘Use Your Illusion’.

The most heart breaking news, something she never saw coming was Slash quitting the band. She knew the tensions within the group were running up, it was there during their last tour but in 1996 Slash quit the band after an argument with Axl. Nicole was glad to actually find out from the man himself than hearing it over the news, either way Slash didn’t want to talk about it, asking how she was going at the hospital and how her family was going. She was being polite and asked him how Renee and himself were going, she had gotten a positive reply mentioning one or two problems that Renee had with him but was overall happy and he thinking was about writing his own album.

That conversation was back in late ’96, they kept in contact like she did with Izzy who had gotten himself a house on the outskirts of town with Rebecca. Nicole hadn’t heard from Slash for some time, she merely shook it off as the man being busy like she would get with her nightshifts at the hospital. It wasn’t until she received a phone call from Slash’s mother, Ola asking for her assistance not just because she was a qualified nurse but she had a strong friendship with her son. “It’s no problem Ola, let me take a few days off and I’ll come around to see him.” Nicole could hear the woman’s praise for answering her, making Nicole realise that maybe this time wasn’t like the usual shot up.

Nicole stood in front of the classy house, the driveway itself was longer than her house - it appeared Slash had some money in his pockets and decided to spend some of it. She always knew the guys made a fair share of money with playing their music but she couldn’t help the jealously that swam in her stomach as she thought back to her house, the same house she had been in ever since she moved out with Kelly. Pushing her own feelings to the side, Nicole reached forward and pressed the doorbell. When nothing happened, she pressed it once again before checking the side windows and stepping back to see if she could see anything in the second storey. Nothing caught her attention and she blessed Ola for giving her the spare key - she let herself into the house.

Automatically she noticed the large reptile tank that took up half the room, this time she couldn’t help but smile at Slash’s pets. She still wasn’t fond of the snakes though she was happy that Slash had finally set something up that he was happy with, he was always complaining that his reptiles didn’t have enough space to roam.

Secondly, she noticed that the place seemed untouched which worried her because there was no evidence that someone was actually living in the large house that was until she got to the kitchen. A normal person would have dirty dishes in their sink, instead Nicole found patches of the kitchen bench covered in a light white powder – cocaine. Yes, Nicole has had her fair share of it but she never once abused the drug and from the state of the kitchen he was doing just that. More importantly, the broken needle lying in the sink made her heart go into overdrive because he was mixing. 

Searching the first floor of the house, she didn’t find him or Renee so Nicole started back past the reptile tank and up the stairs to the second floor. Most the doors were closed excepted for the last one on the right, she made her way towards it and walked into the room. Unlike the rest of the house, the bedroom seemed to be the cave.

Flicking the lights on, her eyes landed on the half-naked body laid out on the mattress. Once again her heart jumped into her throat when she got no answer at calling his name. Nicole got onto the mattress and pressed her two fingers against his neck, the slow beating of his heart bringing some relief to her as she cursed the mans name. “So God help me, I’m going to rip you a new one when you sober up.” She muttered under her breath as she got off the bed and headed back down stairs.