"So, we're going back to L.A. soon," Slash said as he softly ran his fingers up and down my arm.

"Already?"

"Yeah. Just for a break, though. We'll get to see Clyde again," he said happily, referring to his snake.

"Good, because I haven't seen any reptiles in a long time and I kind of miss him," I jokingly mumbled into the pillow.

"I miss him, too. He might even miss us, you never know."

"I doubt he cares as long as he's being fed," I said with a laugh.

"Probably not. But he's cool. Hopefully he didn't die at Yvonne's," he mused, referring to the fact that he had to leave his pet at his ex-girlfriend's house.

"Yeah."

"Hey, what time is it?" he asked me after a moment.

"Uh," I glanced over at the clock, "four A.M.."

"Ugh... Shit."

"What?"

"They want us all packed onto the bus at, like, quarter after nine."

"Seriously? Fuck that," I grumbled.

"I know, but we have to be up by then or they'll leave us."

"Do you think all of us being awake that early is realistic?" I asked with a sigh.

"Nope," he replied simply.

"I don't either."

°°°°°°

"Come on, baby, we're late," Slash said urgently, gently shaking me awake.

"What?"

"We're late; we have to get on the bus," he said as he climbed out of bed.

"It's too early," I whined.

"I know, but we have to go."

"At least your ass is a nice sight to wake up to," I joked, watching him pull on his leather pants.

"Yours would be a better one," he said, winking at.

"Oh yeah?" I asked as I sat up with a soft laugh,already feeling my sarcastic nature seeping in.

"Definitely," he confirmed, bending over to dig through a suitcase.

It was at about that moment when all of the pain kicked in, and my body ached all over, making my stomach churn; the fall down the stage stairs no doubt fucked me up, and the rough sex that Slash and I had the night before probably didn't help at all.

"God, look at all of these bruises," I mumbled, observing all of the little purple-blue spots that appeared over night. "And this one," I said a little louder, "is definitely from you."

"Me?" he asked innocently, standing up straight as he walked over to look.

"It fits your fingers," I said, placing his hand on my thigh, where everything lined up.

"Oops," he said, his voice soft as he gently brushed his fingers over the marks. "I'm sorry," he said, pushing my hair back from my face, pecking me on the cheek.

"We're lucky we have the fall as an excuse," I mumbled, observing another set of light bruises on my arm that also matched up with where his fingertips would have dug into the soft flesh.

"It was an accident," he said, leaning in and kissing my neck. "Shit..."

"What?"

"Nothing," he said a little too quickly.

"What happened?"

"Uh, nothing," he repeated. At that moment, he tilted his head back as he stretched, and I felt the color drain from my face when I noticed what I had done to the side of his neck.

"Um, I don't know how to tell you this, but-"

"Let me guess, love bite?" he predicted.

"Love bite...s," I said with a solemn nod.

"Yeahhh. We're in the same boat then," he said, shifting his hair out of his eyes.

"Fuck. Sorry," I said, rubbing a bruise on my shoulder.

"It's okay. Oh, and uh, that one was also my bad," he said, pointing to the bruise I was just touching.

"Another one?"

"Well, it's- it's not a bruise, and it's less of a hickey, and, uh, more of an actual bite mark," he said nervously.

"Wait, seriously?" I asked, feeling it again.

"Yeah. There's an impression of my teeth," he said, lightly tracing the mark with his finger.

"Dude."

I just shot him a look that said, 'what the fuck,' but in reality, I actually thought it was kind of hot... But hiding all of this from everyone was going to be a challenge.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"It's alright. I just have to figure out how to cover them, I guess," I said, looking around for a shirt or a sweater.

"Can you? I mean, those are pretty dark."

"What, like purple?"

"No- well, yeah, but I mean they're really dark considering how light your skin is," he said, running a bit of my messy hair through his fingers. "You're so pale and... soft," he mumbled as he lightly brushed his fingers over my skin. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "We're late, shit!" he said, jumping up, remembering that we were running behind.

"Shit," I said, moving so that my feet could touch the floor, even though my knee was absolutely fucked.

"Here," he said, handing me one of my shirts.

"Thank you," I said as I went to pull it on, soon realizing what was missing. "Wait, bra?"

"I don't know where it is," he said as he flipped the blankets out of the way, trying to find it.

"The one time I can't find a bra, and you hand me the only see through shirt that I own," I said with a laugh.

"Well, I'd like to let you wear mine, but I think that might be a dead give away."

"Fair enough," I mumbled, shrugging as I pulled the peach colored shirt over my head.

"Y'know, it's a weird way to think of it, but I feel like if you wear my shirt, it really gets the point across that you're with me, like... it's a sign," he mumbled to himself before turning around to face me. "Oh, fuck. Please wear stuff like that all the time," he moaned, stopping dead in his tracks.

"If you are nice to me I might," I said playfully. "Can you hand me some panties, please?"

"Sure thing," he said slowly, tossing me a pair of lacy purple underwear.

"You can't find the bra, but managed to find the matching underwear?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I like big boobs; maybe I enjoy yours being on display," he said, handing me a random pair of spandex leggings.

"Yeah, I'm sure the other guys will, too," I said sarcastically.

"Oh they will," he assured. "Well, your brother won't, but who cares."

"He does- and so so I," I said as I carefully slid my pants up over my knee.

"How's your knee? Bad?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's really swollen."

"Fuck. I'm sorry, princess."

"What's with this 'princess' stuff?" I asked.

"I dunno, I guess I just haven't thought of anything better," he said with a shrug, watching me as I carefully stood up as I continued to look for my bra, which, after a minute, he found and handed to me.

"Thank you."

"No problem. I'm a little sad about it, though," he said, pouting slightly.

"You get to see them more than anyone else does," I pointed out as I peeled off my shirt once more so that I could put my bra on.

"Well, yeah, but still."

"Relax; you might even see them later."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Well, then that's good. What's the time?"

"Uh, three after ten."

"Fuck, we're so late! Do you need me to carry you?"

"I think I'll be okay," I said, slipping on my boots.

"Alright. I'm going to run the stuff down really quick, and I'll be back to help you just in case, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you," I said, watching him rush out of the door with our suitcases.

He was being so nice to me, and I couldn't help but smile as I watched him hurry out of the room. Due to the fact that everything was going so well, I was becoming increasingly paranoid; what would our next fall out be like? That fight would probably make the bus explode around us, killing everyone within a ten mile radius.

As of right now, everything was fantastic, and I hoped it wasn't just because we had finally let out some tension by having sex. Granted after we did it the first time, everything seemed way less angry between us; we could breathe in the same room without wanting to kill each other. The date we had back at the beach had just been a lucky break for us, and we happened to get along, but now, it seemed like more than that.

As I limped around the room, doing a once over, I noticed that Slash had left his leather jacket on the back of a chair. Grabbing that and whatever had been left in last night's bottle of Jack, I hobbled over to the door, almost being hit by said door when he returned.

"Oh, thanks," he said, taking and putting on his jacket. "So, they're pissed, but we're good. And they think I snagged a chick after the show," he said, rolling his eyes as he referred to his neck.

"Now I just need to think of an excuse," I mumbled. "Maybe I'll blame Nikki," I joked.

"That's not a bad idea... you could try that."

"I might if they ask," I said, thinking.

"Do we have everything?"

"Yeah. We're good."

"Okay, come on," he said as he helped me jump up so that he could carry me on his back.