A/N: Moscow Peace Festival not 100% accurate to real life.
•🗝•
Kelly's POV, August 11th 1989
We were in Russia, had been since yesterday, as expected it was pretty chilly compared to LA but we'd been to plenty of cold places on tour before so, this wasn't too bad. The plane ride here had been something, it wasn't good, it wasn't bad but it certainly wasn't the most pleasant journey, some of the guys from other bands got really high, and started causing shit with each-other as well as coming over to where me and the guys were, flirting with me and Heather, which Tommy and Vince respectively didn't appreciate.
Heather and I eventually got left alone, and Doc managed to get everything under control before a fight could break out, mainly on Tommy's end, Vince would have no doubt thrown some hands but with Alessia around didn't want her to see that so he kept his cool.
Despite that, they did socialise with a few people, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row came over and talked to Vince and myself, with Allie taking a shine to him, I didn't see why though, I didn't see anything particularly nice about Sebastian, he wasn't horrible, he was nice, but you could just tell he was kind of insufferable behind closed doors, he just gave off arrogance, with Vince it was alluring as he knew how to use it properly but with Sebastian for me at least it was just overwhelming.
While Tommy and Heather talked with Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, and Nikki got talking with a few guys from the Scorpions, and Mick mostly kept to himself talking with Emi, though did talk when Richie brought him into his conversation with Tom and Heather, all this was near the end of the flight though, the majority of the time we just kept ourselves occupied and entertained which wasn't exactly difficult.
We then arrived, immediately being swarmed by photographers so I kept Alessia close and shielded to me as much as I could but Vince went out first to avoid attention being on me and Allie, so not that much interest was taken in us, the bands were the main attraction.
Nobody from any of the bands could be bothered to really do any press however no one was given all that much choice in the matter. Me, Emi and Heather actually got talking, with Doc, we were all waiting for everyone, I still didn't like either woman particularly and I'm not sure they liked me either, but we could have civilised conversations, I took that as win.
When everyone finally got assembled again, we went to the hotel we were booked in at, left our luggage then because of time zones, jet lag was definitely nipping at our heels and Doc hadn't scheduled anything for the rest of that day which meant we could just sleep, and we did.
Yesterday then there had been all the press things, the interviews and the press conference, and then everyone had to go to the venue they were playing to get a feel for it, and each band had some time to figure out what to do with the space and we're allowed to run through two of their songs so they could trial it out, but the weird thing was, nobody was allowed to watch the other bands run throughs, and that set some alarm bells ringing in my head for some reason and made the other guys suspicious too, but we said nothing.
It was busy as hell yesterday, and today there was no break either, we'd been up early, gone to the arena as a group, hung out, the guys had got changed, then done last minute soundcheck which each band had to do before the festival began and we all were just sat in the dressing room we'd been given, listening to the last few sound checks as the Crüe were one of the first to do it.
I was sat chatting with Mick, with Allie while Nikki and Vince nattered away, it was this way for a little bit until Doc entered the doorway and said "Kelly, can we talk for a minute?"
Him singling me out was weird, and everyone else thought so too, all eyes moved to Doc looking confused "The hell you need to talk to my wife for?" Vince questioned bluntly.
"You don't need to know, you don't own her."
"I know that." The singer replied sternly.
"Then let me talk to her. Kelly, if you please." Doc nodded out into the corridor he'd just come from.
I gently pushed Alessia off my lap where she's been sat this entire time, giving her a small smile "I'll be back soon, baby."
Vin didn't look happy with Doc, I'm not sure what Vince thought Doc's intentions were but I could understand to an extent some of what he's thinking, I'm not in the band, why the hell does he need to talk to me?
I didn't voice that question though until he'd pulled me right down the corridor, all the way to near to where the main backstage area was, people were running around and you could hear the noise of the crowd faintly as they filled up the outside space "What's this about?"
"I know this is probably strange for you, but it's important I talk to you."
"Why is it? What's so important you can't tell them off the bat?"
"Cause they'll lose their shit. I'm cutting their setlist down by three songs, they can choose which ones to cut, but Bon Jovi and the Scorpions have the extended setlist and only them."
"You're doing what?" I gape, not quite believing what I just heard "You do realise you brought them here by telling them they were the headlining act?"
"Actually, I said co-headlining."
"So, shouldn't they get the same amount of songs as Ozzy, the Scorpions or Bon Jovi?"
"No. Look, I don't want to them to think it's personal, because it's not but the Scorpions and Bon Jovi are more... how do I put it... audience friendly. Ozzy and The Scorpions have been around for nearly twenty years, I had to give them a spotlight, and I owe the Scorpions one anyways, and Bon Jovi they're music is more widely enjoyable, I think it's what people will be more invested in and I have to make this as good as it can be, Bon Jovi are huge right now and they've never had a chance like this before, Mötley Crüe have their stripes, I have to give Bon Jovi the spotlight. It's not just about the Crüe, Kelly."
"I know it's not, I never said it was. I understand you giving Bon Jovi a chance at a performance like this but you lied, and you can't just expect them to be okay with that. They won't be."
"I know, and I know exactly how they're going to react, which is why I need your help."
I cross my arms over my chest and raise an eyebrow "My help, how exactly?"
"I want you to tell them... if I say it they'll kick off and I don't want that, not here. They won't get that way if they hear it from you, they'll still want to kill me but as long as they go out and perform, I don't care, I'll deal with them later. Can you please?"
"No. I won't, I'm not going to tell them your bullshit. Tell them yourself."
"Please?" Doc pleaded.
"No!" I exclaimed "What part of 'no' don't you understand? It's not my job. I didn't lie to them, you did."
"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell them the whole truth to make sure they came, if I told them that Bon Jovi were going to get all the things I told them they can't have and were the band I wanted to feature the most they never would have come here."
That made me furrow my eyebrows "What do you mean 'going to get all the things I told them they can't have '?"
The man sighed "I've allowed Bon Jovi pyrotechnics."
I scoffed then said "You really think their music is pyro worthy? It's good, don't get me wrong but it's not exactly what I'd call heavy metal. You really enjoy fucking the guys over don't you? I've always given you the benefit of the doubt but they're right, you really just use them when it's convenient to you, it wasn't always like that but that's what you're doing right now. I know they put you through shit in the past but you can't do stuff like this to them. It's not fair."
"It's done, I can't do anything about it now. It's a lot to ask, I understand but can you please talk to them for me?" Doc asked.
"Why do you want me to do your dirty work? You're gonna make a mess, so you clean it. It's not my responsibility. I don't agree with you, so why would I help you? You lied to them, simple as that. There's no changing it. So go, tell them but it won't go down well."
"I know you don't like me, I know none of you like me but I'm not the bad guy here."
"From where I'm stood, that's exactly what you are." I spoke with a bitter bite in my voice "Good luck, you're gonna need it... and I'd tell them now if I were you."
Then I walked off, spying Doug the other end of the backstage, I went over to him, finding him almost a relief compared to Doc, I wanted to ask him though if he knew what Doc was planning, and as I asked Doug the question I watch Doc walk off disgruntled back towards the dressing room the guys were hanging out in.
For the next ten or fifteen minutes, Doug started telling me that he knew Doc's plan and tried to talk him out of it for months until he just gave up, and he couldn't stand up to Doc as Doc employed him, he had to do whatever he said or risk getting fired.
I felt for Doug really I did, he rarely agrees with Doc like the rest of us but Doc has him by the balls stopping him from having his own opinions outside of what the other man wants.
We spent the entire time bitching about Doc, and we would have gone on way longer but out the side of my eye I saw Nikki suddenly cross the backstage, then disappear from sight looking more than a little pissed, I rolled my eyes at Doc's actions figuring he'd told them and I really wanted to punch him in the face, I excused myself from Doug after there was a gap in the conversation telling him I suspected Doc had told them, and that I wanted to go see if Vince is okay.
I made my way back towards the dressing room, entering to only find Vince inside, pacing, everyone else had gone missing "Everything okay?"
At the sound of my voice he abruptly stopped moving and looks at me "Nothing about this is okay. Doc is a piece of shit. He told us half of the truth then sprung on us a couple of hours or so before we're meant to go on stage that we have to fucking cut three of the songs from our setlist, what kind of manager does that? He's not meant to pick favourites, he's meant to delegate, be fair. This, this is not fucking fair."
I was nodding along with him as he rambled and then I just had to ask where everybody went, because if everyone stormed off, why did Vince stay? I did want to see if the others were okay too, I understand they all must be feeling the same sense of betrayal "I know it's not but where's Mick and Tommy?"
"Mick left, Tommy's gone to find Nikki." Vince snapped before ranting a little more "I mean, Doc thinks we're just here to make money for him but we're not, how dare he fucking lie to us to get us here, he could have just been fucking honest with us, I'm fed up of fucking listening to every bullshit word he says, he thinks he can just lie to us without consequence, but that fucker won't know what's hit him cause he ain't getting away with this."
"I know him changing your setlist is a bitch but-"
"How do you know what he did?" Vin then asked sharply "Did you know? Because if you knew and didn't tell us, if you didn't tell me-"
"I didn't know until ten minutes before you did. It's what Doc wanted to talk to me about, he came to me saying what he was going to do, he wasn't even going to tell you himself he wanted me to tell you but I said that it was his problem, his responsibility and I wasn't going to do his dirty work for him. I'd have told you but he said he'd do it himself like I wanted, and evidently he did. I don't agree with him, with what he did, it's disrespectful to you and you deserve better, okay? I would have told you myself if he wouldn't have said anything then and there."
The vocalist accepts my explanation but didn't look any less pissed off "So, you also know who he favoured over us?"
"Primarily Bon Jovi... I'm not siding with him at all when I say this, don't take it that way... but I can see why he's done it, they're pretty big names right now, the most popular out of all of you... and I think it just makes him look better focusing on them. He wants them to be front and centre because they're in the mainstream, their music doesn't just attract people from rock, they attract all the people who buy pop music too."
"But this isn't a pop festival, it's meant to be heavy metal. Bon Jovi are not heavy metal and it's complete shit. He always intended to showcase his new band of golden boys, he has no faith in us at all. Y'know, a long time ago he used to believe in us like he believes in Bon Jovi, that's what pisses me off. He doesn't respect us, that's clear as fucking day. We've just been pushed to the side, like we're not important anymore, after all the shit he did to get us straight, he thinks Bon Jovi are better than us, that everyone here is better than us."
"He didn't say that."
"He doesn't need too. That's what he means, he thinks they're more capable, that Jon and his band of dick munchers are the new fresh band he can market at young girls to fawn over, they're 'safer' than we are, which means they're more easily monetised in the main steam, they're not a risk. They're guaranteed to make money. And that's all that fucker cares about."
"That may be true but you're still a massive act in this festival, it's not like he's cut you completely or anything, he still has some form of faith in you."
"You taking his side?" The singer growls.
"No, you know that's not what I'm doing, he lied to you and did a shitty thing but getting pissed off isn't helping anyone or anything. You're still a huge act in this with a pretty lengthy set list... you can still kick ass."
"He still lied. That's not acceptable. He doesn't have faith in us, the only reason we're here is to fill up a slot, we might be successful but he has more faith in Bon Jovi than he ever had in us. He treats them better, Jon said he gives them everything they want even if he can be kind of a dickhead, they still haven't had half the issues we've had with him, what the hell does that tell you?"
"I see all the issues that you're talking about, but you're going to perform this set and own it. You deserve to be here, more than anyone else here does. You've earned it, you've worked so hard to get clean and now you're going to show it's paid off, to hell with Doc."
Vince shook his head as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair "I wish it was that simple but it's not. He needs to go, and he needs to go fast. We're meant to be one of the headlining bands here and we aren't even given anything to show that. Every show we play we have some kind of pyrotechnics, but Doc's snubbed us of that too. Maybe him not giving us any pyro should have been a clue that he was playing us. I wanna know why he didn't give us what he gave Bon Jovi. We're a better damn band, so I just wanna know why."
"Hey." I said, taking a couple of steps over to the man and took one of Vin's hands into mine causing him to look at me "Worry about all that later. You go out there and fucking end everybody else here, you go onto that stage and give Doc the biggest middle finger you can by being the best fucking act playing. You guys have never needed anything fancy to be the best and this is no different. Doc might have a more faith in other bands but you guys are the best and I know that. He doesn't matter, okay? I have faith in you guys and I know you're going to put everyone else to shame."
Vince looked into my eyes and I smiled assuringly, kissing him, when we pulled back from each other, my husband rested his forehead against mine "Your faith in us is the only thing that matters to me anyway."
"Good, cause that's exactly how it should be. Go find the others, have a chat, get your shit together and own this like I know you can." I say, stepping back from Vin and passing him the very American jacket he'd chosen to wear today "Now, take you flagged up, patriotic ass and go find everybody else."
"That's easier said than done."
"Didn't you say Tom went to find Nikki? You'll probably find them together. I'm coming with you, let's go. Where's Allie by the way?"
"Mick took her, don't worry. He took her out when Nikki blew up on Doc, just before me and Tommy joined in."
"As long as you know where she is." I nod, as I took one of my husbands hands into mine, entwining our fingers while we went to locate all the others "I saw Nikki storming off, I'd have followed him but wanted to find you first."
"Nikki was the most pissed, I wasn't all that surprised honestly, neither was Mick. Tom took it badly but left it eventually to go after Nikki. That left me here and Doc used his few braincells to choose it was best to leave. It's not over though, I don't know about the others, I'm confronting Doc after this and getting some answers, and for once in his life he better be fucking honest about it."
"You have every right."
"If it were up to solely me, I'd have fired his ass by now, but I can't, it's Nikki's say. And I'm surprised as hell he hasn't done it."
"I'm sure he will, you all deserve better than him."
"Who'd we replace him with is what we've got to consider though." Vinnie huffed, and I left it a few seconds before replying, giving my reply as we reached the area I'd been only minutes ago with Doug.
And Doug was still here, a little further away but now he had Alessia with him so I quizzically say "I thought you said Mick had Alessia?"
"He did."
"Then why is she with Doug?" I asked making him follow my gaze.
Vince shrugged with a furrowed brow "I don't know."
I didn't reply, we just went over to the manager, Allie spotted us first though and grinned "Hi, Mommy. Hi, Daddy."
"Hey, sweetheart. What happened to Uncle Mick?" Vin asked the little girl.
"Doc found him... wanted him for something, so I got brought over here to stay with Doug. Why are you all angry with Doc? And why don't you like him? I do, he's funny."
"Adult things, Allie... but just because we don't like him doesn't mean you can't."
"Being an adult must suck, all adult things make you miserable."
"That's annoyingly accurate. You don't wanna grow up, it's really not as fun as it seems." Vince mutters then looking at Doug "We were gonna go find the others, should we?"
"Leave them. They'll turn up."
"And if they don't?"
"They will, you guys even if you wanted too, wouldn't pull out of a performance even if it was to give a middle finger to Doc, y'all care about your fans too much." Yeah, Doug was right about that, they'd never just abandon a performance, no matter how pissed at Doc they may be, they weren't like that.
For the rest of the time until the guys went on stage, we stayed put, hanging out with Doug eventually watching the different bands going on stage enjoying their performances, the Crüe were forth in the running so by the time things were being set up for them, we were really started to worry about where the actual fuck everyone else was.
It was about ten minutes before the Crüe were due to take the stage, Vince was just using a compact mirror he'd borrowed off me to check himself out in, then closed it, passing it back to me asking for my opinion "How do I look?"
"Beautiful." I replied, placing some of the man's very fluffed up hair behind one of his ears "Like you always do."
"That's never the reply I want, y'know?" Vince scolds lightly.
"It's all I'm going to give you, it's true, you're beautiful. Allie agrees with me."
That evokes a raised eyebrow as he looked at Alessia "Do you?"
"Yes, you're pretty like a Disney princess."
"Great, nice to know what you two think of me, I hope nobody hears you say that."
"Why? Daddy, it'd be awesome to be a Disney princess."
"Yeah, exactly, why wouldn't you wanna be a Disney princess, it'd be awesome." I tease, having to back up Alessia, and it's not like she was wrong- but my remark got me an eye roll in return and when he went to reply but got stopped in his tracks as Tommy and Mick came over, and I was glad to see them.
"Mind if we crash your party, slash, family gathering." Tommy beamed while throwing his arm around Mick who looked displeased at the contact but never voiced it.
"Do we have a choice?" Vinnie gripes.
Alessia gave a exaggerated sigh, and gave Vince her best 'really bitch?' look, before looking at Tommy "Ignore him, Tommy. Daddy's just grumpy today."
"I'm not grumpy!" The blonde argues as Mick smiled, silently laughing and Tommy was just smirking.
"Sure about that, dude?"
"Yeah, pretty sure. If you wanna see how not grumpy I am, carry on the way you are and you'll find out. Did you find Nikki? I see you found Mick."
"I found him, he's talking to his bass technician, venting to him I think, either that or he'll go on a Doc murder mission and I'm near tempted to join him but don't wanna get get caught by the cops over here and thrown into the gulag." Tommy half joked "Plus, Heather would kill me herself if I did something like that."
I hum in agreement "She would. Where even is she?"
"Still talking to Richie Sambora. I saw them."
"And you're okay with that?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? She's on TV, everyone wants to know about her."
I didn't want to say it but on the plane over here I saw the way Richie looked at Heather and I saw the way Heather looked at Richie a couple of times, if I were Tommy, I'd certainly be careful especially given the fact that marriage was on the rocks anyways.
"Hmm. You guys all set to go out there?"
"You betcha." The younger drummer nods "We're gonna prove Doc wrong."
"I know you are... you guys always do." I said, as it was true, they always gave everything they had when they felt they had something to prove.
I knew they'd kill this performance, and as I said to Vince, I had faith in them, I believed in them and no matter what, I always would, even if everyone around them didn't.
•🗝•
Kelly's POV, later that day
Like expected, the guys smashed their performance even without the pyrotechnics they were robbed of, I watched them with Alessia and she'd never seen so many people in one place before so was in awe of how they could go out there and perform without being nervous about it, and I suppose they would be but this wasn't their first rodeo infront of a sea of people.
They performed their cut down setlist and Nikki gave an extra fuck you to Doc by throwing his bass around at the end of the performance, and smacking it off the ground, then as if to say 'if you want rebellious and not safe for audiences, eat this', then flipped the audience off before leaving to finish off.
They were pretty proud of themselves afterwards, not just for completing their first fully sober performance but for kicking ass despite Doc's lack of belief, speaking of Doc, he looked surprised at how good they'd performed, having no expected it which proved the fact that he had lost belief in their ability, lord knows why, given they'd been more committed to working since getting clean than they had in years but he clearly had.
We discussed the performance for a little while but eventually, I made the choice to take Alessia back to the hotel because it was clear that she was getting a little tired now she'd seen what she wanted too, which was the guys perform, we had been up since five this morning and I think she just needed to sit and watch some TV and maybe have a nap.
I parted ways from the band, getting back to the hotel and watching the festival on TV as it was being broadcast live.
Allie asked me some questions while we watched the performances about who the people in these bands were as she hadn't seen half of them before and I answered her as best as I could, we watched the performances up until Bon Jovi, then about half of the next act when the hotel room door burst open.
Vince stormed into the room and upon laying eyes on him I saw the purely pissed off expression he had on his face, I was about to ask him what was wrong but couldn't because he got words out before I could "Fucking ASSHOLE!" Vince yelled kicking the wall rather hard and I imagine it hurt.
His anger took me by surprise and almost immediately my eyes shifted towards Allie who was no longer paying attention to the TV and instead looking at Vince quickly looking a little, dare I say, scared of Vin because of his actions but because he was so caught up in his own frustration failed to notice this, so I stood up from the bed and tried to talk to my husband and get him to at least compose himself a bit for Alessia's sake.
"Vin, what's the matter?"
"Doc. It's always motherfucking Doc. So, we confronted him about why he lied about the pyro and why he made us change our setlist, and you wanna know what he said? He says he couldn't trust us, he couldn't trust us with the big money show with all the fancy effects anymore, when he's always praised us for the shows we put on, then he said that Bon Jovi are a better band. A better fucking band! Can you fucking believe that?! That just proves what I said, he doesn't have any faith in anything we do, sober or not! He's using us, just to get our fans to watch his stupid festival and I've had fucking enough of him!"
I reached out and placed a hand on his arm softly "And that's okay... but there's nothing you can do at this exact moment, you guys need to think this through and see where you want to go from here."
"I could fucking murder him, maybe that's where to go from here. Ever since he met us he saw us as lesser but we got attention, we got recognition and started making money, then now we've run our course in his eyes, now music's changing he's disregarding us like we're fucking nothing when we're more than his ass will ever be! I'm sick of him judging us and pretending he's any better when he's as bad if not worse than us! He's a two timing, bullshitting piece of shit!"
"I know, you don't need to tell me. I'm on your side, baby, calm down, okay?"
"No, because he fucks us over, Kelly!" Vince yelled looking at me in distain "He fucks us over, he doesn't give a shit what happens to us or how we feel, unless if affects the money he gets, he only sees us as objects, as wage slips and not fucking people and I'm fucking done with it!"
"I know, but please, just calm down. Just leave it for now." I say, near begging as I keep glancing towards Alessia who looks close to tears hearing Vince yell as he rarely ever does it around her.
"Don't you want Doc gone?! Do you want him to walk all over us, do you?! I have every right to be pissed off, don't you fucking dare tell me to leave it!"
"I'm not saying you don't but you need to shut up!" I raise my voice back.
Vince scoffed, not lowering his volume, instead shouting louder "Why?!"
"Because you're scaring Alessia!" I tell him and as soon as I say that, he turned around and saw the expression on our daughters face, the wide eyes she was looking at him with and the tears in them.
Vince sighed remorsefully "Shit." He whispers before muttering "I'm sorry, baby." Quickly, walking toward the girl sitting down next to her, offering her a hug which she accepted, burying her face into Vin's chest and the singer explained "Daddy's just angry but I'm not angry at you, okay? Don't be scared, it's okay. I'm sorry." Placing soft kisses onto the top of her head.
I then sat down on the bed also, but getting up behind Vince and wrapping my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder.
We stayed like this for a little bit, allowing the tension in the blondes body to subside a little, only moving when Alessia fell asleep, Vinnie and I then lay down ourselves being mindful not to wake Allie up.
I turned the TV down so it was just quiet background noise then we just lay in silence a little, I wanted to give advice to all of them on what to do now but it was hard because it wasn't my band or my career. I was waiting for Vinnie to bring it up, then he did another ten or so minutes later.
"What do we do about Doc?" Vince murmurs into the air as he slowly ran his fingers through Allie's hair, as she continued to sleep on his chest.
"Talk to the other guys when we get back, draw up a battle plan. Maybe it's time to have a clean break."
He nods "Again, it's replacing him though."
"What's wrong with Doug? He's as fed up with Doc as you are... ask him, see if he's up for it. If not ask him to help you find another manager."
"You think he'd take the job?"
"I do, he likes you guys and he's always been the better one of the two anyways. He understands you better. Seriously, ask him, I'm fairly certain he'll say yes."
"Gotta talk to Nikki first but Doug's a possible candidate, it's a good start... plus, I wanna say I'm sorry, I know I've been kind of a bitch today."
"You have every right to be annoyed, Vin, that's okay. I'm just glad you're all realising that Doc's never going to see you in the way he sees other bands, perhaps he resents you for your behaviour in the past or perhaps it is that he thinks you're falling out of favour but you're not. You will prove that too him and make him regret ever thinking otherwise."
"That's all we can hope for, doesn't mean we're going to forgive him or that he gets to keep his job. Oh, actually that's what I've got to tell you, Tommy punched him and told him he's fired." Vince reveals and I looked at him quickly.
"Who, Doc?"
"Yeah."
"Seriously?"
"Uhuh, Tom was alright at first, of course all of us were still a little peeved but stuck around to watch everyone else, and as soon as Bon Jovi got to their set and we all saw their pyro, Tom just went on a rampage. He went to Sebastian, stole the bottle of Vodka he was drinking and just chugged it in sight of Doc, dropped the bottle on the floor said to Seb 'your managers an asshole', went over punched Doc, said he was fired, flipped him off then just left."
"Shit." I state "Do you know where he went?"
"No, not a clue. I'm assuming he came back here but I'm really not sure. He fucked up his sobriety though, not sure it was worth it."
"I'm sure it was just a heat of the moment type thing."
"Probably... obviously, Doc isn't fired yet, Nikki's on the same kinda page as me with the whole, who's gonna replace him thing, but Nikki did want to give him some payback for today so after T-Bone stormed off and the rest of us confronted Doc on why he lied to us, Nik said that we should refuse to go back to the US on the same plane as everyone else, just to make life difficult for him and we all agreed. Nik told Doug and he's going to sort us out another flight."
"And you wonder why he snubs you." I comment sarcastically.
"Be quiet." The man chuckles, elbowing me gently and I was happy to make him smile.
There was certainly some decisions to be made in the future concerning management, they all had to weigh it up and I did believe Doug was the right choice for a replacement, we'll wait and see what Nikki makes of it though but I think we can all agree, Doc's days with the Crüe were numbered.
•🗝•
Kelly's POV, September 1st 1989
'Dr Feelgood' had been released today, making it the fifth album Mötley Crüe had made, or sixth if you count the very first version of 'Too Fast For Love', I couldn't believe how far they'd come from then, and I suspected there'd be another party soon, as I have no doubt still that this will be a number one album.
I say another party because we were attending the album release party right now, everyone was here, all the Crüe's friends were here, which meant a lot of girls tagged along with them, a lot of people from Elektra were here too and of course Doc and Doug.
The guys hadn't really spoken to Doc directly since getting back from Moscow, and then flying back to Canada, he attended the last recording session they had as Doug couldn't but nobody really paid him any mind and since then Doug had been the one to talk to the guys, as Doc realised what happened in Russia wasn't just going away.
He fucked up and now he's paying for it. No, really, the guys had discussed it and they'd all agreed to fire him and ask Doug to fill the position, Doug had been asked and he'd agreed to do it, without Doc knowing. So, all that was left was to fire him, and that fell to Nikki, as he was 'leader' of the band but the others would be there of course.
My parents had chosen to babysit Allie for the evening while we were out, so that was sorted and so far the night has been good, though again, the guys were sober, to them parties lost their flare when there wasn't alcohol or drugs to spice it up, they couldn't not attend however so this was just how it was, they'd have to deal with it.
I do believe Tommy was drinking tonight though, he'd given up on his sobriety after the Moscow incident and I knew that soon they'd all start slipping back into old habits, once one of them falls off, it's only natural they all will. I hoped not, but I wouldn't be surprised, unless Tom can get his shit together.
Tommy was here with Heather, all of the 'Mötley wives' as were dubbed, were here. We'd seen everyone around but not really spoken to anyone yet, me and Vin had chatted to a couple of the other rockstars that were here, as well as Bob Rock but it was just us again after a little while.
We were minding our own business, chatting when we noticed Nikki approaching us, I smiled as I spotted him "Nikki, hey."
"Hey." He replied "Mind if I join you two sad cases over here?"
"Not at all, dude." Vince announced "Our sad case club is open to all, even to totally lost causes like yourself."
"Gee, thanks. You're not meant to do me like that, you're meant to be my friend."
"You insulted us first."
"That's besides the point. How are you two anyway?"
"Fine, nothing new to report anyway, not much can happen in a week nowadays." Vin says with a smile, taking on a bro hug with Nikki "What about you? Where's Brandi?"
"Hanging out with Heather." The bassist responds and me and Vin give him confused looks to which he nods at "That was my reaction when she said too but, apparently they get on, it's news to me."
"I thought we just tolerated each other, I didn't think we actually were friends." I spoke thoughtfully.
"I know Emi and Heather hate each other, Brandi and Emi have never really spoken, Brandi likes you, as far as I know... not sure where Heather stands on you but I know where you stand on Heather, same as me, him and Mick." Nikki says nodding towards Vince at the 'him', then addresses me again "We should lock you all in a room together then you might get to know each other better."
"Please, no, I'd rather be locked in a room with Doc than be locked in a room with Heather and Emi."
"You might find you like them."
"You do it then, lock yourself in a room with them, maybe you'd like them better too."
The bassist didn't look too pleased with that and looked disgusted "Hell no."
"Then don't expect me too, asshole." I shot back a playful note in my voice "So, how many people have come up to you so far? We've had probably about four."
"I'd say about the same, Christ knows how many it'll be by the end of the night."
"It's expected at events like this that you talk to people, even if it's boring as hell, though saying that, the conversations we've had so far haven't been so bad."
"None of the label guys have found us yet that's probably why." Vinnie interjects "Wait until they do, that'll be fun."
"I've had one of those guys, it seems worse talking to them this time and I wanted to gauge my eyes out enough before. It's hard to sound like I give a shit about what they're saying to me now no alcohol's involved, maybe I should just take a leaf out of Tommy's book and just drink tonight tolerable."
"I wanna do the same thing but better not, tell you what could spice up the evening though, wanna go pour a few glasses of champagne all over Doc? I've been wanting too for probably about an hour, he deserves it. Cause I've seen that slimy fucker around here and I wanna put an end to that and prove to him once and for all, he can't walk all over us without consequences after what he pulled in Russia." Vince suggested and Nikki pulled a face which told me he wasn't all into that idea.
"Nah, man. Tommy will do it with you no doubt but I'm staying out of trouble tonight."
Vince looks at Nikki like he'd just grown a second head or something "You don't want to reign terror? What the fucks happened to you, dude? You've-... you've gone plain and that's a word I never thought I'd use with you."
"Well, suck my dick, Vincent. I'm not stirring shit."
"You were as pissed at Doc as I was!"
"I was but I'm the one who's got to fire him, and I don't want him to have any other reason to hold a grudge, it'll just make it more difficult if I shit on him tonight."
"Don't be such a pussy, Nik."
"Insult me all you want, I'm not doing it. I took one for the team and agreed to kick Doc's ass outta our lives, you're all gonna be there but I'm doing it. So if you wanna get revenge on Doc, go for it but I'm saving myself for when I get to tell him to his face he's gone."
"You can still barrage him with your thoughts, I just wanna do something more interesting. Do it with me, come on man, don't be boring."
"I'm not boring." Nikki defended swiftly.
"Yeah, you are! You've changed bro, you've changed and I'm not sure how I feel about it."
"Would you rather me be locked in my closet, shooting up?" Nik put to the singer and Vince rolled his eyes with a sigh giving Nikki an answer "See? No. So shut the fuck up about me being boring. You were always slightly more mature in troublemaking than me and Tommy anyways, so why are you so hellbent on causing issues?"
"Because it's Doc! Our public enemy number one? Or is everything he's ever done all water under the bridge now?"
"I already told you why I'm not getting involved, I'm not changing my mind. Go ahead and fuck with Doc, but I'm staying out of his line of fire until I fire him."
Vince had the wisdom to give up his pursuit of Nikki here and sighs, relenting "Alright, suit yourself dude, be a dull motherfucker. I'll be back, I'll try and get Tommy on board, he might be more fun than you but if not then I'll just do it myself. Jesus, I'm the only one left with some spirit around here."
The singer walked off to find Tom which left me and the bassist alone "I'd join him, you know I would, I just don't want Doc to resent me anymore than he already will."
"I thought the great Nikki Sixx doesn't give a shit what people think of him, least of all Doc McGee."
"I don't care what Doc thinks but I don't want him trying to sabotage us or something going forward because we fired him, just firing him is enough, I don't want to anger him before hand cause I'll get the brunt of it if he kicks off, given I get the final say in everything."
"I'm sure Doc will take it with some dignity, you could trash him as much as he could trash you at the end of the day, even he's not that stupid."
"That's true. Hope that's the case, I'm not really in the mood to argue with him over this, we just want him gone before we go on tour."
"He will be, you still doing it this coming Monday?"
"Yep. Dreading the living shit outta it but it's gotta be done, no backing out."
"He needs to go, he's not good for any of you. He's not putting your best interests first, he's putting himself first and that has to stop. You're doing the right thing for you."
"I know we are." Nikki murmurs putting an arm around my shoulders "Thank you."
"What for?" I wondered perplexed.
"Looking out for us."
"You're my best friends of course I'll look out for you."
"Even Vince? I'm so telling him you put him in the friend zone."
"Don't snitch on me or I'll snitch on you next time you say anything about anyone."
"Alright. Fine. But you have to owe me a favour then."
"And what's that?"
"I get to name the next kid you and Vince have."
"I don't fucking think so, Sixx. I don't trust you with that, name your own fucking kids, you're not naming mine."
"Oh, come on, I'll be nice, I promise. You guys are my best friends I wouldn't fuck you over... not on the first name at least, middle name is something different."
I rolled my eyes with a smirk "Fuck off, Nik."
Some guy then came over a couple of minutes later wanting to talk to Nikki, and while I stood and listened for a while because Nikki gave me a look saying 'please don't leave me', I did eventually leave and wondered around finding Vince and Tommy together laughing before spotting Doc, who looked a little wet and pissed off, grumbling to someone while throwing venomous looks in the singer and drummer's direction, so I'm assuming Vince did what he wanted to do with Tommy's help.
I went over to the pair where they told me all about how their scheme went, while hysterically laughing, Heather joined us at some point for about half an hour when a record label executive came up to us the group, it took another half an hour of mindless talking for that executive to leave, Heather and Tommy then pissed off short while after that, leaving myself and Vince alone again.
Which gave my husband a chance to complain "Sober album release parties are fucking dull." Vince whines "You actually have to listen to all the assholes in suits saying about how much money it's gonna make them and all the other bullshit they think you give a shit about when in reality you couldn't give less of a fuck if you tried."
"Yeah. Baby, Nikki practically said that exact same thing."
"So, it's not a lie and he was right about it being worse sober than when you're drunk. It's way way worse."
"At least you're all here suffering in it together."
"I guess but it still doesn't make it interesting. When can we go home?"
"Not yet, we've only been here for a couple of hours, let's stay for a couple more, it's your album release party, you can't walk out."
"Then what do you propose we do?"
"Talk, we haven't spoke to Mick yet, maybe we can find him. You two can complain together, but before we go find him I wanna say something to you."
"What do you want to say?"
"I want to say, I'm proud of you." I murmured as my lips touched his cheek and Vince grinned.
"As much as I'd love to take all the credit, there are three other people in the band, it's not just me."
"I'm proud of all of you, but you're still the front and centre of the music, so I'm giving you credit. You usually lick every bit of credit up you can get, don't say that sobriety has made you less of an attention whore."
"I don't know, maybe it has."
I had to laugh "You're not, so stop trying to make it seem like it. Your attention whore tendencies are what help make you attractive to me. I wouldn't change it in you."
"Most people would."
"Since when have I ever been 'most people'. If I were most people, you'd never have been with me if I was."
"I'd have fucked you, definitely, but never married you. If you hadn't have intrigued me as much as you did I'd never would have been with you."
"I really hate that you're my type."
"You wish, Kells, you wish."
Everything about this album had masterpiece written all over it, that'll become clear in the next couple of weeks when, not if, it gets to number one then the tour should a nicer experience than the last one when I attend shows. This will mark a huge point in the Crüe's history, they will continue to hit their dreams and keep rising up in the world and I will always be grateful that I had the chance to follow this as it unfolded.
Vince was a phenomenal person, as were all of them, they'd done what few people could even think of, they were special and nothing will ever take that from them, they were going to go down in history, if they weren't already with the other albums they'd made, they certainly are now with this one.
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