Evie Deal's life is turned upside down when her father's new band takes America by storm. She goes from being a shy girl living in poverty to riding with one of the craziest bands of the 80s, all while trying to manage a rocky relationship with the...
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The next week and a half passed by without much excitement. Mick showed Evie some of the guitar and bass riffs of the album they were working on. So far, her favorite song was "Piece of Your Action." She learned that the bass player, Nikki, wrote the five songs they already had and they were working on writing more. They still needed another five or six songs before they would put out their debut album. In the meantime, they were working on getting live gigs.
The band was practicing in the garage of the Deal home. They would rehearse songs they already wrote, write some new riffs and lyrics, and the men would rummage Mick's kitchen to find (what he assumed) was their only meal of the day. But Mick made sure they were always done and the men had left before Evie got home from school. On the weekend, much to the dismay of the other men, Mick refused to allow them over. They would practice on the weekends eventually, but not until his daughter got to know them better. How Evie would get to know them better, Mick wasn't sure, but he knew it would have to happen at some point.
Mick also wasn't sure how the men were reacting to the news of him having a daughter. He wouldn't trade her for the world, but he had to admit that young rocker guys weren't always the most open to the idea of having a single father in their circle.
There was also the fact that Evie was now in high school. His last serious band, White Horse, had begun when Evie was in elementary school. The guys in that band only ever saw her as a child and within a few months, Mick was completely comfortable with them being around her and in their home.
These guys however, he barely trusted to be left alone in his garage for more than a few minutes at a time. Not because they had malicious intent, but because they were a gang of fucking idiots. He now had to contend with the idea of three attractive young men hanging around his attractive young daughter. He had to ask himself what he would do if the men ever tried anything.
If they hurt her in any way, shape, or form, made her feel uncomfortable, coerced her to do anything, anything at all, he would work like hell to get the offender kicked out of the band, even if the band was never going to come back from it. He may even leave the band himself, if the other two ganged up against him.
But what if Evie wanted to be with one of the guys? The idea made Mick sick, but he knew it was a very real possibility. After all, none of them were more than four or five years older than her. Mick certainly didn't want to encourage that sort of behavior, but he knew kids well enough to know that if he told them they couldn't do something, it made the prospect all that more attractive.
He decided that, for the moment, he was going to leave the subject alone. If he left out the probably ten second encounter (the time Evie got home from school), the guys hadn't even met his daughter. He didn't know how they were going to treat her or if she was going to like them. Mick decided that he was going to wait until the two forces actually interacted before giving them both boundary-establishing talks.
And so far, Mick believed the men sort of forgot about Evie. Other than Tommy (who only asked what school she went to), none of them asked any questions or voiced any concerns after that initial day they practiced in Mick's garage. As for his part, Mick mentioned his daughter a few times in passing, saying things like "I have to pick up my daughter from X place" or "You guys can't come over because my daughter will be home."
Because of this, Mick told himself the guys in the band didn't give one fuck about his daughter, that they had no opinion on her, positive or negative.
That changed on one of the final days of April 1981. Just like most of the days of the previous week and a half, Mötley Crüe was practicing in the garage of the Deal home. When 3 o'clock rolled around, it was time for three of the men to start packing.
"Mick," Tommy said. "Wait here. I'm going to go get something from my car."
When the drummer came back, he was holding two small bags of M&Ms and a stuffed dog. Watching him approach, Mick was more confused than he had ever been in his life. Quietly, Tommy said, "these are for your daughter." A few more moments of confused silence from Mick.
"You said her birthday was tomorrow, right?" Tommy would be embarrassed but not shocked to find out he had just made up the information in his mind. "That's why we can't come over tomorrow, cause you're spending the day with her."
"Oh, yeah," Mick said, taken aback. He grabbed the candy and toy from Tommy.
"I know I don't know her very well," the younger man said, "but I thought I'd get her something anyway."
Mick felt weirdly touched. Any other dad in that situation would probably be defensive, but something about Tommy's childish demeanor disarmed him. "Well, thank you. I'm sure she'll love these."
Tommy smiled and nodded before walking off to gather the last of his things and leave.
The other two band members, who heard the whole encounter, had very different reactions. Vince believed Tommy was an idiot, that he was lucky Mick didn't beat his ass for doing something akin to hitting on his daughter. He scoffed at the situation and silently hoped Tommy wouldn't fuck up the band's stability by fucking Mick's daughter.
Nikki, on the other hand, felt confused and, weirdly, a pang of jealousy. Were Tommy and Mick closer friends than he thought? Was there something going on between Tommy and Evie that he didn't know about? Why did both of those scenarios make him feel envious? He couldn't answer any of those questions, but he would have to interrogate Tommy about it later.
And he did. That night, Nikki called the drummer from the apartment he lived in at 1140 N. Clark St, West Hollywood. He tried to question Tommy without appearing angry or jealous (because he wasn't), but Tommy stuck to the story that he got Evie a gift just because it was a nice thing to do. He claimed he hadn't met her, hadn't talked to her, and didn't talk to Mick any more than Nikki did. He just wanted to get off on the right foot, that was all.
Nikki was dissatisfied with this answer. He believed that there must be something else going on, but in all realness, Tommy wasn't one to lie. So, Nikki hung up.
He looked around his filthy Sunset Strip apartment. How sad and bare it looked; a thin mattress for a bed; a small, nearly empty fridge; a worn down blue couch he found abandoned on the street. No TV, no décor, and, other than his bass, no one to keep him company.
Nikki felt the feelings of loneliness and failure creep up on him. He had been in California for over three years, working his ass off to make his rockstar dreams come true, and this was all he had to show for it.
Nikki reached for the bottle of liquor on his kitchen counter and used it to drown these evil thoughts until he passed out.
