Red Hot ~Nikki Sixx

Part 29: Ashten Montgomery, M.D.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" 

Tommy rolled his eyes as if the answer were obvious. "Dude.  She's on the rag."

"Ah," Nikki nodded in understanding.  He already knew that.  In fact, he had those "evil" days marked in red on his calendar.  Sure enough, just as soon as the thought ran through his mind he received a reminder alert on his phone.  Danger.

Both men looked up in alarm as the bus door opened and Ashten emerged, moving slowly down the stairs to join them on the curb.  She was in a baggy green Notre Dame t-shirt and black yoga pants with her hair pulled back in a lazy low ponytail.  She was disheveled, pale, and even with sunglasses on the fatigue in her eyes was clear.   She sighed at the two of them and threw her satchel over her shoulder before grabbing her coffee from Tommy.  She took a sip and managed to mutter a quiet thanks to him, clearly feeling like complete hell.

"Jesus Christ, have you slept at all?" Nikki inquired noticing she looked like she felt lousy. 

"Good god, man. Don't anger it." Tommy muttered, taking a sip of his coffee and keeping his stare on Ashten as if she were a tiger ready to pounce.

"No. I have not slept," Ashten replied slowly, her throat slightly hoarse and voice at almost a whisper.  "It's kind of hard to sleep when SOMEone won't shut up."

Tommy rolled his eyes and took a drag from his cigarette.  Ashten sipped her coffee and turned her head to look at him.  "Ya know, no one needs to hear your drunken rendition of "SexyBack" at 5AM. 

"What?" Nikki snorted out a laugh and wondered what exactly happened on that bus.

Ashten turned to him and nodded.  "Believe me, it was a real treat. Especially when its already impossible to get comfortable because your body is achy and swollen.

Nikki nodded, still chuckling.  Must be day two.  The worst one for her.  Ashten is pretty even keel and not much of a whiner or crier so he knew she was miserable if she was bitching the way she was.  He also knew it was better to just not engage unless spoken to first. 

However, Tommy just couldn't seem to help himself.

"Please. How bad could it possibly be?"  Tommy scoffed and Nikki simply winced at the stupidity of the question.

Ashten took a long sip of her coffee and pursed her lips.  She opened her mouth to say something but quickly stopped herself, instead opting to ignore him as she tried to stomp her way to the hotel entrance only to collide with Tommy's large frame.

"Get out of my way you big fucking tree!"

"What the hell did I do?" He huffed after he stepped aside and let her pass.

Nikki shook his head and continued to laugh.  "I don't know man, but don't do it again."

"Where are you going?" Tommy called after her.

"Where do you think I'm going, Tommy?"  Ashten snapped and turned around, her arms whirling around her for emphasis.  "I'm going to check you in.  Isn't that kind of what I do at every single hotel we go to?"

Tommy snorted as the two men followed her into the lobby. "You know maybe you should wear one of Sixx's rosaries for a while.  Might help exorcise the demons."

Ashten simply replied with her middle finger and made her way to the front desk. 

Ashten's POV

We checked in and I closed my hotel room door, turning the TV on to a Friends marathon before flopping down on the bed to bask in the absolute silence.  Well, maybe not COMPLETE silence. The TV was on and Nikki was in the room next to mine. I could hear him moving around.  I don't think the word quiet is even in his vocabulary.  When I heard him close his door all I could think was how he would make a terrible cat burglar and a horrible ninja.  Tommy would be even worse.  Luckily, his room was on an entirely different floor, something I tried to make sure of at every hotel.  That way he would be less likely to see Nikki and I playing musical beds. At that moment, I didn't even care if he did.  The only thing I wanted out of life was a nap, a hot bath and a bacon cheeseburger with steak fries and a sweet tea. And maybe some cheesecake but definitely the sweet tea.  I think it is every southern girl's go to comfort drink.  The sugar and caffeine would certainly help my headache but a good glass of sweet tea wouldn't be easy to find above the Mason Dixon line so I didn't get my hopes up.