Might As Well Be On Mars // Motley Crue

Round And Round

November 13, 1983

Mick wasn't convinced. He hadn't been the night before, when Zutaut found him at a nearby bar and told him Evie's version of events. He hadn't been convinced when he saw her at the urgent care, her face bruised and her right wrist wrapped in an ice pack. And he still wasn't convinced now, on the band's first day off on the tour.

Mick was convinced that it was Tommy who had done the damage, or else the drummer wouldn't have been demoted to the roadie's bus for the ride to Bristol, mostly for his own protection. But both Zutaut's shitty lying skills and his background knowledge of Tommy and his anger issues told Mick that the reason he had been given was bullshit. Not even Tommy would beat up a young woman just because she failed to tell him about seeing his girlfriend cheating.

There had to be another reason, but Mick wasn't quite sure what it could be. He genuinely had no clue until earlier this morning, when Doc McGhee stopped by to tell him about finding Evie in Tommy's room the day before. That was a pretty damn important piece of the puzzle, but it disturbed Mick to try to pick out the details from that little bit of information.

Luckily, since there was no show today, Evie and Mick had little reason to interact with the other members of the band. They had gotten on the bus not long after Evie's hospital trip and then arrived at the hotel in the early hours of the morning. Mick didn't even talk to Nikki (though he did notice that Nikki looked like he had been beat up again ) before they both fell asleep in their room, and the bassist was still passed out when Mick got up to take Evie out for lunch and shopping.

Their day out convinced Mick that he should leave alone the previous night's events. First of all, Evie was an adult and if she wanted Mick to know about the situation, she would tell him herself. As of right now, it appeared she didn't want to discuss it. At all. Second, if Mick thought too hard about the reality of the situation, he might leave the band or murder Tommy, neither of which would be good for his and Evie's future wellbeing.

From that day forward, he never asked about what happened and she never told him.

It was so refreshing that Mick didn't pester her about the night before that by the end of the day, Evie had almost forgotten what happened. For the last forty five minutes, she had been sitting in the hotel lobby, alternating between a book she brought from home and a book she got from a secondhand store that she and Mick went to earlier that day.

It was a little after eleven p.m when she was startled by a hand on the book she placed on the coffee table. She jumped a little and sat forward. She looked up to find Nikki smiling down at her.

"Hey," he mumbled. He sat down in the chair next to her and opened to the first page.

Evie watched him intently for a few moments, but Nikki didn't acknowledge her. When he flipped to the next page, Evie sat back and went back to reading.

It was probably ten minutes before Nikki said something.

"Haven't you read this one before?"

Evie perked up and looked at the cover. She shook her head.

"I thought I remembered seeing it on your bookshelf. Back in the day."

"Probably. That's what readers do, isn't it? Just buy a bunch of books, and then don't read them until two years later."

Nikki smiled weakly, then went back to pretending to read. Finally, a few minutes later, he sighed and closed the book.

"I'm sorry," he said, barely above a whisper.