Within 25 minutes, we had arrived at the hotel. Tommy, Vince, and Mick had already grabbed a couple suitcases and headed up to check into their rooms. 

As I headed out of the Mötley bus, I noticed an unfamiliar man smoking a cigarette at the other end of the parking lot. I knew he had to be one of the Guns N' Roses guys; he was standing by a bus that wasn't with us earlier, and they were supposed to be here any time now. I figured Nikki would be fine as long as I didn't go on the bus alone with them, so I made my way over to say hello.

"I'll just go over, introduce myself, and go back to the hotel room," I thought. "No harm done."

As I crossed the parking lot, I could see the man much better. He was wearing snug leather pants, a ripped up black shirt, and ash colored cowboy boots, but what stood out the most was his hair; it looked like smooth, melted copper, and it stood out against the bandana he wore. It was such a beautiful color! I was so used to seeing bleached blonde or black and brown hair that it was almost strange to me.

He turned at the sound of my shoes on the pavement and smiled, blowing out the last bit of smoke.

"You're kinda sneaky," he mumbled, surprising me with a deep, smooth voice. "Usually I'd've heard you comin'."

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to sneak up on you," I said softly. "I just wanted to know if you're with Guns N' Roses."

He smiled once again as he tossed his cigarette butt on the ground in front of him, crushing it with the heel of his boot. He had an alluring smile, but it didn't give me butterflies like Nikki's; it was a different feeling. At least I could see that he seemed to be amused by my presence, rather than annoyed, which made me feel a little better.

"I am; I'm the singer, Axl. Axl Rose," he introduced himself, holding out his hand. I smiled and gladly shook it.

"Sadie Parker."

"So... are you with the guys in Mötley Crüe? I thought I saw you come from their bus."

"Yeah, um, I've known the guys for a long time. I always go on tour with them."

"That's rad. Are you a girlfriend or..."

I laughed. Was I? Nikki and I weren't an official thing. He never asked me; I was just referred to as being "Nikki's."

"Sort of," I mumbled. I could feel a light blush creep onto my cheeks.

That had to be the dumbest answer ever. Of all the things I could have said, I went with "sort of?" God.

He smiled mischievously. Axl was honestly pretty attractive. He had perched his sunglasses on the top of his head, revealing glittering, light green eyes.

"I'm not a groupie, " I sneered. Most of the guys are like family to me."

Except Nikki.

"Then I won't ask. I guess I'll figure it out eventually," he said with a chuckle.

"It's just a weird, sort of complicated relationship. Nothing official."

"Ah, I see. Well, Sadie, would you like to meet the rest of the boys? You'd probably like 'em," he said, holding an arm out towards the bus.

I shouldn't... Nikki will kill me... oh who cares! He's asleep and Axl seems nice- live a little. You have the rest of the tour to get to know them and be friends, might as well start now.

"Sure. Why not?" I said, turning towards the bus.

"Sadie!" A sharp voice cut through the parking lot.

I froze and the smile dropped from my face.

God dammit. The one time I try to break the 'rules.'

I faked a smile and spun around to see Nikki, who had his arms crossed over his chest and was clearly irked.

"What's up Nikki?" I asked innocently.

"You know exactly," he said, furrowing his brow. "Glad to see you made it, Axl," he shouted, not looking away from me. "I see that you've met our Sadie."

"Yeah, we just rolled in about fifteen minutes ago, and I saw her come out of your bus," Axl explained, resting a hand on his hip.

"Right," I said curtly, taking Nikki's visual queues. "Well, Axl, it was nice to meet you. Maybe some other time," I suggested with a faint smile.

"Yeah, no worries. Maybe before the show or something. See ya around," he said with a nod as  he turned and disappeared into his bus.

Shit, was this going to suck.

"Thanks, Nikki. Ruining possible friendships since eighty-one," I muttered, walking past him.

"Sadie, you know why we do this."

"I don't care."

I just wanted to drop the conversation there, but I knew that that wouldn't happen; Nikki wanted to pick a fight and he was gonna get one.

"You told me you'd be at the bus-"

"And I was."

"Really? When I told you you could go, I didn't mean you could go to their bus."

"Funny, I didn't know I needed your permission," I said indifferently.

"Yes, you fucking do. Stop pretending you-"

I whirled around, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Wait until we're in the hotel room. I don't think anyone wants to hear you bitch right now."

His mouth snapped shut and his emerald eyes narrowed as we continued to our hotel room. This was probably going to get ugly; I was done with his stupid rules and he was going to know it. In a matter of minutes, our day will have gone from peaceful to full on anarchy, and I was reluctantly ready for it.

°°°°°°

We stormed into the hotel room, in an angry frenzy like we had a few days before. Nikki slammed the door behind himself and threw his jacket into the nearest chair, angrily fluffing his hair.

"Why can't you ever listen?" he asked. "Why don't you understand that I tell you these things for a reason?" he asked as he continued to run his hands through his thick, shaggy, black hair.

"Nothing happened, Nikki, I was fine, as you could have seen! Axl was just being nice; he just wanted to introduce me to the rest of the band and-"

"No, Sadie, I don't wanna hear it. We made rules and you can't seem to follow them. They are for your safety. We hardly know those guys yet, how do we know you're not in potential danger?"

"Nikki, please," I scoffed, "I am a grown woman, I don't need a babysitter."

"You don't know what you need, Sadie! You're not a grown up-"

"I am an adult, Nikki, not your child! I'm not sixteen anymore! You seem to understand this when we're at home, but all of a sudden tour starts and you seem to completely forget."

"This is why, Sadie- this is why I get so irritated with you! No wonder everyone ditched you; you're a pain in the ass that can't follow rules that are made for your own safety!" he screamed. "Your parents treated you the way they did because they knew you'd be like this! They didn't want you because you would have fucked up your life along with theirs," he snarled.

I felt the rage run through my veins. There was no way he was serious; he knew this was dangerous ground, so why was he jumping from one topic to the other like this? What was going on with him all of a sudden?

"That's not even what this is about! We were talking ab-"

"Maybe they would have stuck around if you could have followed their rules, then I would never have had to meet you and I would be spared of your bullshit- you always fucking do this!"

"Oh, right, that's why your dad stuck around- and your mom stayed sober- because they cared so much more than my parents did," I jeered, walking away. "Give me a fucking break! You're no saint and neither were your parents. Fuck off!" I screamed, slamming the bathroom door behind me.

Usually, a closed door between us would discourage him from saying anything else because he knew I wasn't listening. Any other time we had gotten into fights like this, I would just lock myself in another room, lay on the floor, and think. When I'd come out, the chaos would be over and everything would be fine again.

"Oh really? You think this is over? It's just beginning, Sadie!" he yelled through the door.

"What are you going to do, yell through the fucking crack under the door?! Get over it, I'm not having this conversation."

"You wanna fucking bet?!" he screamed.

Seconds later, the door flew open, splintered at the hinges, and fell to the floor, revealing a very pissed off (and yet very sexy) Nikki Sixx.

"What are you doing?! Jesus Christ, Nikki! Now you're gonna have to pay for that, you fucking idiot!" I shouted, noting his darkened dilated eyes.

"That wouldn't have happened if you weren't being such a bitch! Y'know, you're such a liar, you were probably going to go fuck Axl, weren't you? You are the worst- you are an absolute-"

"An absolute what, Nikki?!" I shrieked. "You're out of your fucking mind. You're such an ass, I swear to god!"

I attempted to go around him and walked into the living room area, him trailing closely behind me.

"You're a lying whore," he spat. "I knew it was a bad idea to bring you on this tour with us! You were sleeping with Kelly again, too, weren't you?" he accused, referring to my former boyfriend- and friend- whom was previously on this tour with us until this morning. "You can't seem to stay away from him in the past. I always have to put your fucking pieces back together because of people like him, and you can't even respect me enough to follow the guidelines that we have set in place to protect you from that!"

"I can make my own fucking mistakes, Sixx. I don't need you to tell me how to live my life! This isn't living anymore- not when you have me trapped under your watchful fucking eyes!" I said, completely exasperated. "And for the record, I haven't slept with anyone but you since Kelly was in Faster Pussycat, and that was a long time ago, so lay off!"

"I don't believe you- I don't have a reason to," he yelled, shaking his head with incredulous rage.

I had begun to shake with rage; he called me a bitch, and I can handle that, but on top of that a whore and a liar... too far. Just thinking about how genuine it sounded when he said those words brought angry, burning tears to my eyes.

"When have I given you a reason to not trust me?!"

"About fifteen minutes ago! And don't even start crying; I don't believe it for a damn second."

"Oh, because I wanted to meet the band that would be with us until the end of tour? Wow, how wrong of me!"

"I don't want you sleeping around!"

"I have never slept around! You are the one that has tried to pass me around and share me, and that is disgusting!"

"Well, I guess I just want someone to share my misery!" he sneered. "No one should have to deal with your shit. I am sick to death of you!"

"Then why do you keep me around? You can sleep with any girl you choose and yet you keep me. Why?"

"Because someone has to make sure you stay alive," he said through gritted teeth.

"I don't need you, Nikki. I never have."

A lie.

I've needed him before in the past, but right now, I absolutely did not. I just wanted this fight to be over. I was embarrassed, rage crying, and hurt. It couldn't get any worse.

He began laughing like a madman.

"I don't remember telling any jokes," I said bitterly, narrowing my eyes.

"You're always going to need me!" he responded. "You can't live without me. You're defenseless, pathetic, and you have nothing- no home, no money, no friends. Just think, where would you be without me? Probably dead in an alley- y'know what, maybe that's better. I should have left you in L.A. when I had a chance! In fact," he said, stepping closer to me, "I wish I had never met you at all!"

I drew my arm back and before I even knew what I was doing, I had punched Nikki in the nose as hard as I could. I hadn't even realized that I had actually hit him until he stumbled backwards into a table and stared at me in shock.

"Fuck you, Nikki Sixx!" I screamed.

I could feel my voice going hoarse from screaming and my throat was developing an uncomfortable, burning itch. My eyes were stinging from crying and a dull ache began to move through my hand, but in my eyes, he had earned being knocked to his senses.

Seconds later, the hotel door flew open, halting the growing silence as Nikki's nose began to pour blood.