When Love and Hate Collide | Joe Elliott x Reader

Chapter 6

Sav looked at his friend. The oldest friend that he still spoke to. A part of him couldn't help but be slightly angry at Joe for treating their poor assistant so badly that she would consider leaving the tour. But the other part of him cared for the older man and he knew that he was struggling.

"It wasn't a date." Sav told him, not breaking eye contact.

"You looked pretty cosy to me." Joe replied, feeling that anger rise up in him again.

"I was being a friend."

"You don't even know her that well."

"Look not that it is any of your business, but she was upset and needed someone to talk to. I was just the first person there alright." Sav too could feel frustration build up.

"Sure you were."

"I'm not arguing about this in the corridor."

Before anymore could be said, Phil poked his head out of his room, "Would you too keep it down? Joe, I thought you were taking a walk?" He questioned, baffled by the fact that two of his band mates were arguing like children in the hall.

"I did, I just got back in time to see Sav after his little date." Joe spat, glaring at Sav.

"It wasn't a date!" Sav almost yelled at him, Mindful that the girl they were somewhat arguing about was only a few doors down the hall. Having enough of this, Phil forced the two grown men into his room and shut the door. Y/N or any other guest for that matter, didn't need to hear this.

"Joe, why does it matter if Sav was on a date with Y/N?" Phil asked him, kind of feeling like a mother telling off her sons.

"It wasn't a date." Sav said for the third time, earning a look from Phil. He was promptly ignored as Phil turned back to Joe.

"Well?"

"It doesn't matter, apart from the fact that she is the staff. Why would you take her out when she works for us?"

"One, she works for Mal, not us, and two, she needed a friend because a certain someone," Sav directed that last word towards Joe in an almost vicious manner, "couldn't play nice for a few hours. I mean honestly what has she even done to you?"

Joe didn't answer Sav, for the same reason he couldn't answer Phil earlier that evening. Y/N hadn't done anything to him. In fact, the young assistant had been nothing but pleasant. But Joe could not let her near him.

"You need to start being nice to her, Joe." Sav told him, a gentler tone taking over as he thought of what the girl had just told him not even two hours ago. Joe just shook his head at this. He knew that he needed to be nicer to her. This isn't who he was. This is what his marriage had turned him into and he didn't like it.

"Fine I'll be civil to her, but that's the best you're getting." With that, Joe walked out of Phil's room, leaving his two friends, to make his way back to his room.

Phil then looked at Sav. "Mind telling me what actually happened on your 'not-a-date' tonight?" he asked him.

"She had a disagreement with Joe earlier and she was upset by it. I took her for a coffee to calm her down because she was going to walk the streets on her own. You and I both know that that isn't safe. Anyway, she told me that after the first leg of the tour, she has to decide if she wants to stay or not."

"What do you mean?" Phil questioned him.

Sighing, Sav looked up at him. "Malvin has told her that if the job is not for her then she is free of her contract after the first leg. I mean, this is how she pays her bills and rent. As much as Joe has his own problems going on now, this is Y/N's job and home we are talking about here. This pays well enough to cover everything but another job might not." Sav trailed off.

"So if Joe pushes her out then that will affect her more than just this job?" Phil continued causing Sav to nod his head.

"I have no doubts that she is a capable woman and that if she did leave then I am sure she'll be alright, but is that a risk worth taking purely because Joe had decided he doesn't like her without even giving a reason?" Sav stopped for a second, debating on whether to tell his bandmate what Y/N had told him earlier. Deciding it would be best and that Phil wouldn't tell anyone else Sav looked directly at Phil again. "He told her that he would never let her get close to him."

Phil looked shocked for a moment before piecing everything together. "He fancies her." He blurted out.

"What?"

"Joe fancies Y/N. That's why he's pushing her away. I figured out earlier that he was comparing Y/N to Karla, well all women to Karla, and he told her that he wouldn't let her close. He also was furious that you went on a 'date' with her." Phil used his fingers as air quotes around the word date, "He likes her."

Sav nodded along to Phil's conclusion. Both men were glad that they had finally figured out what was wrong. The only problem was that Joe would never admit to liking Y/N. In fact, if he had it his way, he would deny it for the rest of his life.

Both Phil and Sav knew that they could not let Y/N leave the tour. The young woman might be the only way to help their friend out of the mess that his ex-wife left him in and if she left now, then they didn't know if Joe would ever learn to trust women again.

"We have to tell Viv and Rick." Phil pointed out, Sav agreeing with him. All the band mates needed to be aware. "I'll go get them, I don't care how late it is." Phil then left the room going straight towards Viv's and then Rick's rooms. It was only then that Sav realised it was past 1am. Sighing to himself, Sav couldn't believe what was going on. They were all supposed to be adults, not gossiping like teenagers and playing matchmaker,at one in the morning. Well, it was a bit more serious than that but it's what it felt like.

Phil came back with a tired Vivian and a grumpy looking Rick. Phil quickly filled them in on everything.

"So why couldn't this wait until morning?" Rick questioned.

"Because, the sooner we told you the better, Y/N might leave the tour at the end of the first leg if Joe doesn't pull himself together." Sav informed them.

Both Rick and Viv were shocked. They both liked Y/N quite a lot and the idea that she might leave, leaving them with a replacement that they might not get on with at all, worried them.

"What do you mean?" Rick asked, looking between Phil and Sav. Phil explained what Y/N had told Sav.

"The chances are that she might not leave, but if she does it will be for Joe's benefit, she doesn't want to make him uncomfortable." Sav explained further, making the rest of them like Y/N even more.

Nodding their head both agreed to do everything they couldn't to prevent Joe's hostility towards Y/N, at least until he pulled his head out of his backside so that he could realise the truth.

They all dispersed after that, knowing that they had to get up in the morning.

The only thing Sav wasn't aware of was that Y/N had heard his and Joe's disagreement and Joe's anger had started to confirm Y/N's decision. She knew she had time to think about it yet but made a mental note. She wasn't going to stay where she wasn't wanted.