Poison Rose (Sequel to "Good Love")

Fifteen

By the Time Yule rolled around again, Duff'd taken so many trips down to Nashville–both solo and with Susan–that his band was starting to get suspicious. He didn't particularly care what they thought, though, even though he still didn't disclose his relationship with Aerin to them. She'd asked him to keep his mouth shut not just for her sake, but for Bobby's and the twins', as well, and he'd been willing to abide by that. Just like they did, he didn't think it was anyone else's business who he was with in a Romantic sense, considering that the other involved significant others and their kids all knew and were cool with it. In fact, the Silver Fox'd actually taken him aside and said that while he was a pretty private guy outside the band when he was still in Poison, his wife made him look like a total open book in comparison.

        He said that he didn't know all the details, if only 'cuz his wife wouldn't go further than the bare minimum like she did with a lotta things, but she'd a couple traumatic points from her Past that haunted her now. Not only had she pretty much been stalked and tormented by a borderline psycho-stalker ex till the Day she turned eighteen after she'd dumped him, but she'd also been raped when she was seventeen. Aerin wouldn't say much else about the rape part, other than while it was the textbook definition of the word to a T and wasn't particularly violent, it did make her wary of letting her guard down.

        The blonde bassist hadn't been able to stop himself from wincing when Bobby'd told him that about his girlfriend, and now he could understand why they valued their privacy so much. In being an internationally-famous rock star, he no doubt valued whatever privacy he could get, if it meant getting to sleep, fuck, and shit in Peace. With that kinda Past lurking over her head, though, he couldn't really blame his young girlfriend for being so paranoid about her safety–and that wasn't including that of her husband or kids.

        It was under those circumstances that Duff didn't tell the rest of his band where he and his family were going for part of the holidays this Year any more than he'd told them the Year previous. What he didn't realize was that Slash'd gotten curious enough to actually follow them, based on what lil he'd told them and what he remembered from that show in Atlanta. Course, it was prolly better that the quiet lead guitarist be the one to follow the McKagan family, 'cuz while his practically stalking them wouldn't be appreciated by anyone, at least he could keep his mouth shut. Once provided with the reasons why such a request was being made of him, he'd be more than agreeable to helping his blonde band mate hide the Truth from the rest of their band.

        "Hey there, hon!" said blonde chuckled, having let his family in with the key that the Dalls'd given him to their home.

        "'Bout Time y'all go here!" Aerin laughed, herding Zep and Zeph outta the kitchen so their daddy could open the oven door.

        "Daddy Duffy!" said preschoolers squealed as they ran over to glomp his legs.

        "Looks like somebody else missed me, too," he laughed, leaning down to kiss their mother before picking them up.

        "Yesh!" Zep giggled as he wrapped his arms around his neck.

        "Who else didja miss, chu lil rugrats?" Duff asked, grinning.

        "Mama Sue–and Sissies!" Zeph answered as she set her sights on his wife and daughters.

        "Oooh, chu's done growed ups on us since teh last Time we saw chu!" Susan giggled as she took the lil girl from him.

        "We's four naow!" her twin told her proudly, Grace taking him from her dad.

        "Chu ish?" Mae giggled. "Chu's soooo big!"