Do You Still Love Me Like You Used To?

Part 1

3 A.M

(Reader POV)

You looked out the cab window as it sped down the street toward your father's home as the guilt and exhaustion swept over you with the events that had taken place over the last three days. You needed to come back to take care of everything regarding your dad's funeral and the house. Your dad had no organization skills or any money, and there was only one person that would be able to help in that small hick town that you were trying to avoid at all cost.

You looked down at your watch, seeing it was almost nine am, and your mind drifted to Tommy. Paul had told you he would sit down and talk to the guitarist and lay down the rules for right now. In your gut, you knew that Tommy was probably beyond pissed, and a second chance would never come through.

"Ma'am? We are here," the driver announced.

"Thank you," you said, pulling a few bills from your wallet and handing it to him.

You grabbed your suitcase and exited the cab, standing in the driveway of the house that brought more pain than most people could dream of. Waving to the cab driver and heading toward the front door, you let out a sigh. You unlocked the door, getting hit with the smell of cigarettes, stale alcohol, and the sound of the T.V. blaring. Kicking the door shut behind you and walking toward the televisions, you shut it off, already feeling a headache building up. Between the fight with Tommy, jet lag, and the house's condition, everything became more than overwhelming.

"You couldn't have made this any easier, could you, Pops? You sighed out loud and tossed your bag into a chair.

You reached into your suitcase and pulled out a hair tie, quickly throwing your hair up into a messy bun to keep it out of your face as you began to clean the living room. You shook your head as you began clearing out the trash cluttering the living room. Silently cursing the man under your breath at the same time for living in a pigsty for the last month.

Ten trash bags later, the living room finally looked almost livable again. However, you knew you were nowhere close to finishing. You wished you could call Tara for help, but you knew there was probably going to be a big chance that she may not speak to you for a while with the break-up with the guitarist. You started pulling the bags through the kitchen and into the garage, finding a bigger mess waiting for you there as well.

"How in the hell did we live like this?" You groaned, throwing the last bag into the garage.

You wiped the sweat off of your forehead. You walked toward the refrigerator, hoping that there would be something non-alcoholic in there for you to drink. Grabbing water with one hand, you pulled your phone out of your pocket and headed to the table to catch your breath. You began to type a message to Paul and Doc both to let them know you had made it back in one piece when an envelope with your name scribbled across it caught your eye. Sitting your phone down, you picked up the long envelope and stared at it, debating instead or not you wanted to read any possible bad news.

"Fuck it, I need sleep to deal with whatever mess is inside that letter" you mumbled and pushed away from the table.

You grabbed your back off the couch and headed toward your old bedroom, and laid down, sleep taking over your body within minutes.

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(Tommy POV)

Tommy glared at his best friend, trying to process everything Paul had just laid on him. You had just up and left with no word to the guitarist, straight back to the place where Tommy knew you were even more unsafe. He felt his stomach start to turn again. Tommy wasn't sure if it was from the thought that he may never see you again or from the many ninety-nine-cent margaritas he had consumed to get his head straight.

"Why, the fuck Paul, would you do that to me? She could have just gotten another hotel room and cooled off! Y/N could have come and talked to me just like this! Yet you just let her up and leave me" Tommy yelled and pointed at Paul.

"Tommy, she had another room and waited for me to get here so we could talk. I tried to convince her that this was just a one-off situation, but she still wanted to go home. Y/N had stuff she had to do for her father," The singer said, grabbing the guitarist's shoulders.

"She's not safe there. Just because her dad's gone doesn't mean that Kevin won't hurt again. Call Doc and have him get me on the next flight out of here," Tommy said, pushing the singer's hands off of him.

"No," Paul replied firmly.

Tommy felt his anger toward the singer rise to a higher level, even he was a tad scared. The two men stared at each other for a few moments as Tommy squeezed his fist, trying to resist the urge to punch Paul straight in the jaw. Finally, Paul cleared his throat and crossed his arms in front of him.

"You can be pissed at me, that's fine, but you know if Erin called you upset as Y/N did me, you would have done the same as I did. Am I wrong?" Paul asked

"I don't think this would have ever happened between you two, but yeah, you're right," Tommy sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I don't think it's over, but give it a month and make sure this is what you want to continue with. Tara, I'm sure will keep you in the loop, and I'll check in on Y/N too" The singer said, walking toward the door.

"Where the hell are you going?" The guitarist asked

"To bed, fuck head! I've been driving for hours. Be ready by three because you and I are driving back out to California for that meeting," The singer replied, shutting the door without another word.

Tommy sank down on the bed and putting his head in his hands as the tears streamed down his face. Everything had gone exactly the way he had fought so hard for it not to go. The guitarist grabbed his cell phone off the table and looked through pictures of the two of you last month before moving to his contacts and debating to send you a text to change your mind. He played back over in his mind what Paul had said over giving you space to settle everything with your father. Shaking his head, Tommy pushed in another number and waited. After a few minutes, a raspy voice came across the line.

"Eric, I know it's early in the morning, but I really need you and tara right now, please," Tommy sobbed into the phone.