Ashten's POV
After Nikki and I'd fallen asleep at dawn, we'd awoken around 11:00AM to the sound of a text message announcing we would be in Chicago until further notice. No surprise considering there was almost three feet of snow/ice on the ground and the flakes were still falling from the sky. The weather report said it was supposed to finally taper off around midafternoon but we still were not going anywhere at least until the next day.
This is why I don't live in the Midwest. Eight months of winter that actually starts before Thanksgiving? No thanks. I had enough of that crap while I was in school.
Anyway, we were still at the Ritz-Carlton for at least another night and, once we got out of bed, my cabin fever infected boyfriend informed me he wanted to go out and shoot some pictures while it was still snowing. Something about how great snow looks in black and white and the contrast would be rad and blah blah blah. I stopped listening when I saw the temperature was sitting at about five degrees. There was nothing he could say that would convince me going outside in the arctic chill was a good idea.
Nevertheless, as we all know, once Nikki Sixx has set his mind to anything trying to talk him out of it is nothing but an exercise in futility. If he wanted to turn into a Sixx-sicle that was his choice.
Anyway, he took off so Jozie and I headed down to the gym and then to the bistro downstairs to catch a late brunch/early lunch. Turns out on Sundays the place has bottomless pitchers of Bloody Mary's and Mimosas. Due to that, naturally, neither of us were surprised to find Tommy, DJ, and James parked at a table surrounded by pitchers. The true astonishment was they were playing a board game. Clearly, being in this hotel for two days had caused staggering levels of boredom.
"Alright, here it is. For real this time." Tommy cleared his throat for his big announcement. "It was Colonel Mustard with the rope in the hallway."
"Nope." DJ shuffled through his cards and showed one to Tommy, proving him wrong.
"Fuck you, Ashba." Tommy grumbled.
"Starting to get ugly," Jozie murmured sarcastically, flipping through the pages of a Playboy magazine one of the boys had discarded.
I let out a snort watching the three of them relive their childhoods over a game of Clue. Jozie and I sat at the table late in the game but from what I could gather Tommy had made his third guess and still had not cracked the case. I figured he would take one more shot before he stood up, flipped the board, and stomped off in a huff. While I awaited the inevitable tantrum, I figured I would make myself useful and crack open Tommy's laptop to get his household bills paid for the month. Much to my chagrin, the dinosaur of a computer was still trying to boot up five minutes later.
"Tommy, this thing is a piece of shit." I complained, sipping my coffee.
"I know. We need to get me a new one when we get home." Tommy fired up a cigarette and took a drag. "Do me a favor and back up that hard drive. That things probably gonna blow any time now."
"K." I nodded and fished the external hard drive from his computer bag.
"Anyone know where Sixx is?" James asked as he rolled the dice.
"Yeah, he said something about going out to do some shooting," DJ took a drink from his Bloody Mary.
"He's been gone awhile," Tommy added.
I looked at the clock on the laptop once the home screen finally booted up. It was almost one and Nikki had been gone nearly two hours. Two hours out in the freezing cold.
Much longer and he will end up with frost bite. Or hypothermia. I let out a deep sigh and chewed on my bottom lip.
"Sixx is big boy. I'm sure he's ok." Jozie offered. She met my eyes and gave me a wink in understanding, clearly sensing my concern. She flipped the page in the magazine and her eyebrows shot up. "Holy shit! Speaking of Nikki."
"What?" I frowned.
"Who is the hooker hanging on him in this picture?" Jozie gave me a sly grin. My eyes, as well as those of all three boys shot up as she slapped the magazine on the table for all to see.
I craned my neck to look at the page and felt a flush, as well as a shy smile, run across my face. Staring back at me was a black and white ad for Royal Underground with a photo of Nikki and me. It was a shot of the two of us facing the camera, smirking, me topless with his arms around my chest, and my hand grasping the rosary beads on his neck. "That would be me, asshole."
"Shut up, let me see!" Tommy scooted over to look. He scanned the shot and flipped the page to find a second photo. This one had me facing Nikki instead of the camera so the back of my leather pants were on full display. "Dude, these came out amazing!"
"When did you do these?" Jozie asked.
"June," I answered, a bit taken aback but still grinning as my insides started going all gooey. Those pictures captured the moment when Nikki and me became "us".
Had it really been five months already? Damn.
"You make Sixx look good," James commented over Tommy's shoulder.
"Like that's a hard thing to do." I quietly replied.
Tommy must have heard me because he met my eyes with an unreadable look and then focused his eyes over my shoulder. "Speak of the fuckin devil."
I turned around and almost didn't recognize him as he walked towards us. However, buried somewhere under a black wool hat, and layers upon layers of clothing as well as a large black coat was Nikki. I could feel the cold coming off of him from two feet away.
"Is that coffee?" He slid into the seat next to mine rubbing his gloved hands together and nodding at the carafe on the table.
"Yeah," DJ responded.
"Good. Pour it on me." Nikki loosened his scarf, still breathless from the bitter cold outside. He nodded thanks at me when I poured and handed him a full mug of coffee.
"Cold enough out there for ya, Sixx?" I smirked back at him as I recalled his words. It's not that cold out there. I can take it. Stubborn ass.
"It's fine, "he muttered while he sipped his coffee. His eyes moved from mine down to the still open magazine on the table and he flinched a bit when he saw himself looking back at him. "What's that?"
"That is you and the lady to your left striking a pose for Royal Underground." Jozie beamed at him.
Nikki removed his gloves and picked up the magazine, studying it as a warm, sugary smile cast itself across his lips. I wondered if he had thoughts similar to mine and if the memory of that day was flooding him. He tossed a proud look my way. "It's you and me, kid."
"It is," I smiled back at him, my face heating up from a blush.
"Seriously, Monty those are good shots. Hefner may come knocking on your door for a centerfold." Tommy stated.
"Pfft. Doubtful. And even if he did, I'm not interested."
"Why not?" James inquired, moving his purple play piece around the board. I felt Nikki tense up beside me.
"I'm not a whore."
"Hey! Pam has been in Playboy many times." Tommy defended.
I cocked my eyebrow at him. "My point exactly."
Tommy flipped me the bird while he continued to flip through the magazine. "It's really just a tittie mag. Not like its Hustler. Hustler would want you to show some snatch."
"Pass."
"Well, shit, you're almost naked here......oh shit!" Tommy gasped and his eyes bugged out as he pointed to the shots of Nikki and me. "Sixx! You've seen 'em! AND touched 'em." He motioned to my chest.
"Yeah?" Nikki replied slowly and shot me a side-glance. Where was Tommy going with this?
"Well? Are they real or not?" Tommy requested with a devilish grin.
Nikki smirked and shrugged while shooting me a side-ways grin. "I'll take it to the grave."
"Tommy, there are just some things you may never know." I smirked at him in satisfaction as my phone buzzed. And not a moment too soon. "Ohh, I gotta go. It's Tim Krieg. Wants to give me the updated itinerary."
"God, I hope we go somewhere warm." Jozie whined as I stood up and packed Tommy's laptop to take with me.
"Me too. I'll see you kids later and when I do let's all be talking about something else." I was met with a few giggles and once I got out of Tommy's line of vision, I shot a quick wink at Nikki. As I turned to walk away, I slammed dead into someone's chest. I was going to apologize for not paying attention until I realized who it was.
Derek.
DJ's POV
This guy again?
After Ashten slammed into him, he grabbed her by the arms and gave her a smile. "Baby doll, you ok?"
"Fine," she muttered and brushed him off, heading straight for the elevator.
Derek made no effort to mask the fact that he kept his eyes on her ass the entire time she walked away. As he approached the table and sat down next to Tommy, he let out a breath. "Damn. Where the hell did you find her?"
"Stole her away from her old job." Tommy took his turn rolling the dice and moving his green piece five spaces.
"Nice find," Derek's eyes drifted to the still open magazine on the table. He picked it up with a leer. "Is this our Miss Montgomery?"
"Yep." Nikki popped the P and shot me an irritated glance before he began scrolling through his phone.
"She looks good on you, Sixx. Would look better on me though." Derek sniggered.
Nikki didn't even dignify the statement with a response.
"You got a hard on for Ashten, huh?" Tommy asked his tech.
Derek shrugged. "I wouldn't say that, but if she wanted to sit on my face I wouldn't push her away."
Nikki looked up from his phone and sat back in his chair, his fingers drumming the table as he shot a glare to the oblivious asshole. It was like watching a lion sit back in the grass waiting for a zebra to make the wrong move before pouncing.
Jozie rolled her eyes in disgust at Derek. "Ya know, you keep saying things like that and one day she is gonna beat your ass. And I'm not doing a thing to stop it."
Derek laughed. "She can pound me all she wants. Then I'll pound her and make her see God."
"Easy, dude. Ashten's a good girl." Tommy warned. He may be chill with many things but when it comes to his friends, Tommy doesn't tolerate much disrespect.
"What is she like the Virgin Mary or something?" Derek snorted
"Doesn't fucking matter. You don't get to talk about her like that." Nikki lowly growled, his right hand slowly forming into a fist. I gotta give Sixx an A for effort and patience on this one. Under any normal circumstances, he would have already come across the table and slammed dude's face into the floor. But since he and Ashten were still keeping their relationship from Tommy, Nikki kept himself at bay. Going ballistic on Derek in front of Tommy would have messed things up pretty badly.
Derek held his hands up in defense and stood up. "Fine. I gotta go take a piss."
Tommy stood up as well after emptying the last of his pitcher into a glass. "Right on. I'm grabbing some more Bloody Mary's." He headed off to the bar after taking a headcount of the table.
"I can't believe that dude." I lit up a smoke and took a drag looking over at Nikki who hadn't taken his eyes of the kid. His eyes were laced with corralled rage but he was doing a great job of maintaining.
"Me neither." Jozie agreed.
"I'm not surprised. Not with the way he was coming on to her and getting all handsy with her last night," James stated.
The air in the room thickened with tension. I exchanged glances with Jozie whose eyes widened. She shook her head slightly, confirming what I was afraid of at that moment.
Ashten hadn't told him. Nikki didn't know.
Nikki snapped his glare from Derek to the three of us, his eyes turning dark and infuriated as he slammed his fist on the table.
"I'm sorry, WHAT?!"
A/N
Hey all,
So overwhelmed at the 17K reads. You are all awesome and make me want to be awesome too. This is kind of a short update but necessary for the story. What is Nikki gonna do?????
Luv ya!