Red Hot ~Nikki Sixx

Part 1: In the Beginning

Author's note:  This takes place in 2007 around the time The Heroin Diaries was released.

Part 1: In which we meet our heroine and Tommy makes a proposition.

"Shit!" I grumbled and stomped my Prada heel on the floorboard of my car after dropping my much-needed iced mocha all over the passenger seat. Of course, the skinny latte I purchased for my shrew of a boss was still intact. Figures. I checked to make sure none of the delicious liquid I wished to God I was enjoying did not make its' way onto my white short sleeved top or black capris. Somehow, I managed to avoid any spillage and everything was as it should be. I was already running behind and the last thing I needed was to have to go back home and change. God forbid I show up to work with a hair out of place much less coffee stains all over my clothes.

Nevertheless, what can you expect when you are the personal assistant to a photographer? Well, not just ANY photographer. Claudia D'Angelo was THE go to photographer in Hollywood and anyone who was anyone went to her for his or her photo spreads. She insisted that her employees always look perfect because we "represented" her and "image is everything". Whatever. I couldn't care less about image. But as long as I was getting the bills paid I could deal with her nit picking and constant reminders that she only hired me because I was "just another pretty face". Besides, I got to meet a lot of really cool people in the past few years. The perks weren't bad either. We got tons of freebees from designers, hence the Prada heels I was wearing. The gig wasn't all that bad.

Unfortunately now, because of the spilled coffee, I was going to be about thirty seconds late walking through the office door. That pretty much guaranteed an ass chewing upon my arrival. Never mind the fact I got up two hours earlier than normal to take Claudia's dog to the vet, pick up her dry cleaning, and run to Starbucks because she just HAD to have once of their cherry scones. None of it would matter. Nothing I did for that woman would ever be enough. I groaned when I finally pulled into the studio parking lot. I grabbed my laptop bag, the coffee, the dry cleaning, and hauled ass.

After waiting for the elevator for what seemed like an eternity, I hopped on and rode the four floors up wondering if it would have been quicker just to take the stairs. The door opened, I checked my watch and flew out the door. I made it about three steps before I ran into something that felt like a skinny and fleshy tree. The laptop bag hit the ground, the dry cleaning went flying, but I somehow managed to hold the coffee up in the air while my butt got familiar with the marble floor. I looked up only to see a grinning Tommy Lee staring back at me.

"Nice save," he said, extending his hand to help me up. "You're late."

"No shit," I replied, smiling back. I picked up the laptop and Tommy handed me the dry cleaning. I nodded towards the office door. "Have you been in there yet?

"No, I'm early.  I'm gonna go downstairs and have a smoke."

"K," I quickly turned and kept running as Tommy made his way onto the elevator. I mentally smacked myself when I realized I totally forgot Tommy had an appointment that day to arrange a photo shoot. You would think someone who grew up on the Crüe would remember something that important. I was suddenly excited. I hadn't met the rest of the band but Claudia had been doing work for Tommy for years and I really liked him. He was funny and always very kind to me.

I charged through the door, set down the laptop on my desk, and immediately ran through the office suite to knock on Claudia's closed door.

"Enter," was the reply I got.

I rolled my eyes before opening the door and entering.

"Good Morning, Claudia." I put on my award winning fake smile and did a pretty damn good job considering I was lacking caffeine. I placed her latte and scone on her desk and sat down in the chair opposite her.