Part 5: In which all hell breaks loose......
TOMMY'S POV
Shit, dude! If looks could kill, Ashten would have been dead and buried.
Nikki fixed a glare on her and growled in disbelief. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"
"I'm pretty sure there is nothing wrong with your ears. You heard me."
Nikki jumped out of his chair but didn't make any movement toward her. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"No, fuck you! Who do you think you are?" Ashten snapped, enraged. All I can say is if she came to battle, she was in for one. "I'm sick and tired of all of this bull shit! I don't know what your fucking problem with me is, but I suggest you get over it! You seem to be under the impression you can say anything you want to me! Well, let me tell you something, Mr. Sixx! I'm Tommy's employee! Not yours!"
"Yeah, I'm sure you work very well for him. I'll bet his cock has never been so shiny," Nikki replied, folding his arms.
Ashten nodded her head and smiled a shitty little grin. "Oh, so that's what this is about. You think I'm just some gold digging slut just hoping Tommy will fall in love with me and support me, right?"
"It crossed my mind."
"You have any proof of this?"
Nikki rolled his eyes. "Sweetheart, I've seen your kind before. You think you have everyone fooled with the sweet, cool, hot chick routine, but I can see right through you. You are nothing but a trashy, gold digging, Gucci wearing whore, just waiting for your shot at a rock star. It's nothing new to us, baby. We've been surrounded by opportunistic white trash our whole lives. We're all use to it."
"That certainly seems to be YOUR type of girl." Ashten continued to smile.
"Don't bring my wife into this." Nikki warned.
I had told Ashten about some of the marital problems Nikki and Donna were going through. Lately the tabloids had been painting a less than flattering picture of Donna. Some of them even claimed she was a former prostitute.
"I wasn't even thinking about your wife. Interesting that you did, don't ya think?" Ashten, knowing she had pushed the wrong button, continued to go for the jugular. "You know, Nikki, maybe if you could control your own life you wouldn't be so worried about mine."
That's something you don't say to Nikki Sixx. Even as joke. On a GOOD day. He lunged towards her, grabbed her by the arm and backed her up against the wall, his face right in hers.
"Listen to me you little bitch," he said in a low growl, his grip tightening on her wrist, "my life is none of your business so keep your little comments to yourself."
"Fine," Ashten replied, not even moving. She didn't even look the least bit intimidated. "I would appreciate the same consideration."
"Fine," Nikki replied.
"Excellent. Are you gonna let go of my arm?"
"Do you think you can control yourself?" Nikki stared straight into her eyes, their faces inches apart.
"I'll stop shaking when you do," she replied. In spite of himself, Nikki's mouth actually almost curved into a smile. He held on for just another moment and finally loosened his grip on her arm.
"Get the hell out of here."
"With pleasure," Ashten replied jerking her arm away. She stormed out of the booth, slamming the door behind her.
ASHTEN'S POV
I don't even remember the walk back to the car. The next thing I knew Stella and I were driving down Sunset and she kept looking at me wondering what the fuck had just happened.
"What makes you think something happened?" I asked after she asked me for the hundredth time.
"Seriously, Ash? Come on, your face is red. You look like you've been sweating and you've been breathing hard since you got back in the car."
"Just another run in with Satan Sixx, that's all."
"Oh," Stella replied, focusing back on the road. "I guess that would explain why your nipples are hard."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I shot back.
"It means it turned you on."
"It DID NOT," I exclaimed, outraged. I looked down at my chest, and she was right, they were hard. I hadn't even noticed. "Did it ever occur to you that the building was cold?"
"Yeah, and you've been away from the building for about ten minutes now. Let's not forget that its ninety degrees out here." Stella laughed. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't mind a heated moment with Nikki, myself."
I rolled my eyes in her direction. "Be my guest. Can we drop this?"
"Fine."
That was the last we spoke of it. The problem was Stella was right. I may not have noticed my chest but I did notice that when Nikki touched me it sent this heat through my body and I still felt it. Everywhere.
________________________________________
ASHTEN'S POV
"I should have kicked him in the balls," I stated as I pounded my third shot of Patron. After the incident at the studio Stella and I decided we were in desperate need of a drink. At least I was in need of one, or maybe five. So we ran home, changed, and hightailed it to the nearest bar which happened to be a Mexican restaurant. I gave her all of the full details of my exchange with Nikki. I had just finished the part about him calling me a bitch.
"Yeah, you could have. But, there's a pretty good chance you would have lost your job if you did," she replied, munching on a guacamole smeared tortilla chip. "Man, this guacamole is terrific. It's so fresh!"
"I know," I agreed, sipping on my frozen jumbo margarita. "The drinks are insane, too. Do you really think Tommy would've fired me?"
Stella shrugged. "I doubt it, but you never know. Those two are pretty tight."
"It is quite the Bromance." I sat back in my chair and stirred my drink with my straw. "I don't know. Somehow I don't see Tommy letting Nikki have that much control of his life. I mean, he writes all of the Crüe's music and plans all of the tours and all of that, but ya gotta draw the line somewhere, right?"
"Mmmhmm," Stella agreed, crunching on another chip. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you were in any kind of deep shit I'm sure Tommy would have called or sent you a text or something."
"True," I nodded in agreement. No sooner had the words escaped my lips when my phone chimed signalling I received a text. I looked down at the screen.
Tommy-Where are you
Me-Mi Amigo's
Tommy-We'll be there in five.
"Speak of the devil," I told Stella. "He's coming here."
"Right now?"
"He said they'd be here in five minutes."
"They?" Stella pulled her auburn hair into a pony tail. "They who?"
"I don't know," I shrugged, "Probably a girl, or maybe Brandon and Dylan."
"I don't think so." Stella looked into the mirrored wall behind the bar and nodded towards the front door. I love those walls because you can see who is behind you without having to turn around. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, Stella was right. It wasn't either one of Tommy's boys. It was the one, the only, Satan Sixx.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I said, looking up to the heavens. "Why did he bring him here?"
"Beats me. Maybe he wants you two to kiss and make up."
I snorted, immediately wishing I hadn't because I could feel my nostrils start to burn from the sour mix in the margaritas. The two of them stood at the door looking as if they were waiting on a table. Good, I thought, they won't be sitting at the bar. They were talking to the hostess when Nikki looked up and saw me looking at him through the mirror. I looked away quickly, hopefully giving the impression that I didn't give a fuck whether he lived or died. He leaned over and mumbled something to Tommy and then went off somewhere. I would presume he went looking for the bathroom. Tommy looked up, saw me, and walked over.
"What's up, my ladies?" Tommy stood between our chairs and put an arm around each of us.
"Happy hour," I replied, taking the final sip of my now empty glass. "What brings you here?"
"Hunger," Tommy motioned for the bartender's attention. He ordered another round for me and Stella in addition to the ones he ordered for he and Nikki. He raised his shot of Patron to us and then tipped it back. "That's good stuff. Now, girls, we need to talk some business."
"Business?" Stella questioned and raised her eyebrow at me.
I chuckled to myself and sipped my new drink. I could feel the heat rushing to my face signalling I was starting to catch a buzz. I cocked my eyebrow and turned to Tommy.
"Let me guess. Nikki thought of something super insulting to say to me and the two of you just had to rush right down here and tell me."
Tommy sipped his margarita and looked at me in shock. "You're a mean drunk."
"I'm not drunk, " I sighed and felt like a tool for acting like a child. "I'm sorry. I know he's your friend and because of that I have to deal with him. I was just hoping I would be without his services for at least the rest of this evening."
Tommy clenched his teeth and took a breath. "Well, that's part of the reason I'm here." He scratched the back of his head and looked like he definitely didn't want to say what he was about to say. "Nikki and Donna separated this morning and I kinda told him it was cool if he crashed at my place for a while until they figure out what they're gonna do."
I felt my jaw drop as I made eye contact with Stella. "You didn't."
He nodded. "Yeah."
My stomach lurched and it was all I could do to keep from vomiting tequila all over the bar. Was he serious?! The man who was currently making my life a living hell was MOVING IN?????!!!
I sighed deeply and knew I had the most horrified expression on my face as Tommy assured me it was all good. He said he and Nikki had a conversation about what occurred that afternoon and it was not to happen again. Apparently, Nikki had agreed to get off my back. What I really was curious about was why he was on it in the first place. I knew he told me he thought I was a gold digger, but he didn't even know me. So what was up with all the snap judgment?
"Fine," I nodded in agreement when Stella told Tommy she didn't have a problem with it. Was I supposed to say? It's not like I had any choice in the matter.
"What are we talking about?"
I heard Nikki's voice and whipped around to face the bar when Tommy replied. "Nothing, bro. Just telling the girls about you crashing with all of us for awhile."
"Great," Nikki muttered as he pounded his drink in one gulp. I glanced at him in the mirror and noticed a mixture of guilt and embarrassment cloud his face. I actually almost felt sorry for the bastard. Our eyes met, once again, in the mirror and I quickly looked away.
He strolled over to the chair next to mine. "Do you mind?"
I shrugged and motioned to the chair. "I've had worse for company, I guess."
Nikki looked as stiff as a board as he sat. Tommy and Stella ordered some more drinks and babbled on about something while the silence between me and Nikki was deafening. He finally sighed and motioned to my drink. "Can I get you a second?
"You could have if you'd have been here an hour ago," I replied, taking a sip.
I swear to God I almost died when he actually cracked a smile. Keep in mind the man hadn't looked at me since he sat down. "Rough day?"
"I've had better."
"I guess I was kind of a dick."
"Kind of?" I replied, both of us still not looking at each other.
Nikki rolled his eyes in the usual jackass manner he is so good at and I guess he just couldn't help himself because he started with the condescending tone I loved so much.
"Look, I'm trying to apologize here, so do you think you could shut your mouth and we could call a truce long enough for me to have a drink.?"
That did it for me. I felt my blood start to boil and, in that moment, I didn't care if Tommy fired me or not. I stood up off of my stool so fast it went crashing to the ground.
"You want to have a drink? Fine." I picked mine up and threw it in his lap. "Have mine, Fuckhead." I smiled sweetly and stormed off.