𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 | ᴋᴜʀᴛ ᴄᴏʙᴀɪɴ

Chapter 1 | Mr Brownstone

 "I used to do a little but a little so the little got more and more"

  Amber was a groupie, she liked to be, and enjoyed the attention of rockstars on herself. In fact, her sick and confused mind distorted her own view of reality, it was more like a need, something that was denied to her, and there she found everything she had always wanted and longed for incessantly during her miserable seventeen years of existence, attention.It wasn't hard to get that, Amber was a pretty girl, her long black hair like coal contrasted with her light green eyes, she had an almost angelic appearance and she knew it very well.

   One night in 1986 in the city of Los Angeles, she decided to give her high school friend's band a chance, Saul, or Slash, as he liked to be called. Her body was, as always, covered in ecstasy, and that used to happen every time, like a drug running through her body, an uncontrollable addiction that never lost its charm. 

  Amber sat at a table in the tiny bar she had joined with the other girls she lived with. Saul was playing a Gibson Les Paul guitar, and maybe at that moment she harbored a slight attraction for him, however, who truly caught her attention in the room was the vocalist, a redhead with a distinctive and slightly raspy voice. The girls beside her; groupies just like her, fluttered and competed eagerly for who would be the first to get his attention, like desperate hungry animals for scraps. It was grotesque, but Amber didn't seem to be any different, her eyes followed every move of the man, recording each of his details, planning a way to have him before the performance ended. The girl felt challenged and would not give up on her own goal. 

  The first part of her plan was to run to the back of the stage. Slash was there and she, as a good friend - or just an acquaintance at that point - since they had drifted apart after school, greeted him.

- Saul - the girl smiled - I can't remember the last time we saw each other.

- I missed you - the curly-haired man returned the smile and hugged her tightly. They had truly spent good years together, so much so that he had taught her how to play the guitar - it's been two years damn it, where have you been? - he laughed.

- Oh, I moved on with life, you know? Things got complicated and I couldn't afford college - she tried to continue pretending to be okay with it - but at least I'm fine. I have a job - it was a lie, and Amber felt bad about it, but she couldn't just say that she sustained herself with the money she extorted from the rockstars she slept with. - I see you managed to move your band forward.

  His eyes lit up.

- We signed with a record label yesterday - he said with his voice thinning from so much excitement. It was like in the old days when any little thing was a reason for joy - I can't believe it, to be honest. - he smiled - you should meet the guys from the band.

- Sure 

  Without hesitation, she nodded and followed him into a small room, where only the vocalist was. His hair was slightly wet with sweat, and it followed the movement of his head when he realized two individuals had entered the room. Immediately his gaze was on Amber, something like curiosity.

- Where's Izzy? Duff? Steve? - Saul exclaimed frustrated. He really wanted to show off the band to the woman.

  Axl rolled his eyes.

- They went after the groupies, obviously - his gaze shifted from his friend to the brunette next to him - you didn't waste any time either, did you?

- Idiot - she scoffed - I see you with a new girl every day, but no. This is my friend - her hand rested on her shoulder - Amber.

  The redhead analyzed her again and smiled.

- Nice to meet you, Amber, I'm Axl - he stood up to shake the girl's hand - are you from here? It amazes me that you're friends with Saul and have never seen him play once.

- No, actually I'm from Aberdeen, but I came with my... - she thought, not wanting to say that she came to live with a group of groupies - friends - she replied, still enchanted by the man's beauty, which seemed not to recognize the city - in Washington, you know?

- Oh, I know, it's that little town near Seattle, right? - he confirmed and the girl nodded

  The two started talking next to Slash. For her, it was easy to keep talking to the almost stranger, he was extremely outgoing , and felt no shame in asking the most bizarre questions on a first encounter between two people. 

  At one moment, Saul had to leave, and that was the moment Amber thought to make a move. The redhead was quicker to flirt shamelessly with the girl, and in a way, it was a relief for her, since she had only been thinking about him since she saw him. That's why it was all too easy for the two to go to his car to have sex. From that day on, Amber started following the band at almost every opportunity she had just to repeat the same process, and for her, even watching the shows was worth it.

  This started to change when Axl admitted his love for the brunette. Amber kind of liked him, their stories were similar, both had an abusive stepfather, a crappy mother, and ran away from all of that. She couldn't tell if she liked him for that reason or not, but that didn't matter to her, even though she had no idea that accepting the relationship and staying in it for two long years would be a stupid decision, quite stupid.

  At first, living in the midst of all that was magical, drugs, sex, shows, and seeing how the band was quickly growing and playing in a different city every week, but when she got home, to his house, things were totally different. Before all of this, it was good to start living with Axl, but after a while, things weren't the same anymore, the redhead started to show himself as what he really were, an aggressive person who did not know how to solve a thing without fighting, and as always, the day they broke up couldn't be different. 

  After returning from a show at a bar, Axl, high and slightly drunk, was his girlfriend's worst nightmare. She had a completely debilitated mental health and couldn't, couldn't continue like that.

- You're a piece of shit - Amber put one of his arms around her neck after the man was simply left at home by his friends. Without help, without anyone, the girl knew that when he regained some of his own consciousness, he would return to his "normal" self.

As expected. When Axl was lying on his own bed, his hand went to the brunette's arm and pulled it violently.

- Do not touch me like that - yelled the girl. She was tired of all of that.- You didn't go to the show - he said with a choked voice, still under the influence of drugs - I know you cheated on me. You brought some bum here and screwed him, didn't you?

  Axl was insecure about Amber having been a groupie. He seemed like a child afraid of being abandoned at all costs, cheating on the girl out of fear of her doing it first and then shifting the blame onto her.

- You know I didn't do anything - she pulled her own arm aggressively - but did you? - she suspected. It was almost a certainty. 

  The already altered redhead got up and pinned the girl against the wall. Amber was scared, completely lost, she tried to struggle, fight against it, but Axl is a man, inevitably stronger than her, and his expression didn't soften, in fact, it was almost frightening the way he looked at her projecting all that he had done, all the blame and fear onto her.His hand squeezed tighter and tighter around his girlfriend's wrists, she couldn't even feel her own hands. This continued until he started yelling at her, which made her burst into tears immediately, as she remembered the abuse she had suffered before becoming an adult. The redhead continued in that manner until he threw her to the ground, making her back hit the cold floor hard, and even then, he still felt the urge to hurt her again. That was enough

  Amber got up and ran out of that house as far and fast as she could. She didn't care about her belongings anymore, she just never wanted to have to go through that again. A large green trash can in an alley in the middle of the street seemed appealing to spend the night, she had no friends, no phone, and nowhere to stay. For a moment, she thought of Saul as a solution, but she would have to deal with Axl apologizing endlessly, and she knew, she was sure she would be weak and accept it.

  That's where she faced a dilemma, either she had to go back to her mother's house in Aberdeen, or stay on the streets, and obviously, after spending a traumatizing, smelly, and disgusting night in the streets of Los Angeles, Amber decided to go back, and the next day she went to a payphone with some change from her pocket and begged the woman to come pick her up.