Book 4: My Hands Are Tied (Axl Rose FanFic)

Ch. 14: Liar

"He used to be one of those guys who, if he even thought someone was looking at him weird, would just haul off and smack 'em. And sometimes, y'know, the people he went for weren't even looking at him." -Izzy

Now that we were together, nothing else felt like it mattered much anymore. The band would've been great if I had a solid future with Bernie; it would've meant financial stability for our future home, and eventually our future family. But, as things stood now, Bernie's time on this Earth was limited, and so spending our time together became my top priority. Unfortunately for the band, wrangling me to shows on time became even more of a hassle. I was waking up earlier to try and catch Bernie on her way to work, and so I was napping a lot more and struggling to get myself ready in time to go onstage.

The glaring was becoming a lot more frequent from every corner of the room whenever I'd finally make it backstage, and Steven and I even got into it at one point when tensions eventually boiled over. But whatever. I wanted to do what I wanted to do, and all I wanted to do was to see my girlfriend.

All this to say that I hadn't gotten to officially take Bernie out on a real date since the day that we had become a couple, and so I found myself loitering outside of the police station at the ass crack of dawn one weekday morning, somewhat prepared to invite her out for a night on the town. I was still hungover from our show the night before, my hair was a rat's nest on my head, and my sun glasses (thank God) easily fought off the early morning rays of sunshine that had managed to pierce through the smog that hung over LA. I stared up at the clouds of pollution as they lingered lazily over me. It was like looking into a mirror.

I didn't know how long I would be waiting here. I knew already that Bernie was definitely in the building by now, but I had no idea what a cop's schedule might look like, let alone Bernie's in particular, but I at least knew that she had to leave for lunch some time.

I picked the fattest, shadiest looking palm tree and planted myself under it. I was fully prepared to camp out all day-and all night-if need be. If I got arrested for loitering out here, even better. Then I'd be hauled inside the station, in the A/C, and probably not too far away from Bernie or Brett. One of them would feel obligated to come and check on me if I ended up in a cell....probably.

And so, I sat in silence, arms crossed over my chest as I dozed in the shade. The smog began to fade as the convection process worked its magic, making way for the signature Cali sun to light up the sky. It only proved to make me feel sleepier. It was still early enough that the heat didn't feel oppressive, but more so felt like a warm blanket on my shoulders. The drone of nearby traffic helped to act as white noise, making me struggle not to drift off completely. My mind began to be carried away into the sounds.

A kick of my boot roused me awake. My eyes popped open, and I could see someone in a blue uniform standing over me. For a second, my heart fluttered in that familiar, ridiculous way it always seemed to whenever I was around Bernie. But then, I looked up and saw that it wasn't Bernie at all. It wasn't Brett either. Rather, it was some other hulking ape of a man glaring down at me with a bushy mustache that didn't quite fit the rest of his baby face.

We glared at each other for a moment, and in that brief moment, I had found the perfect amount of time needed to get even more pissed off.

"Who the hell're you?" I finally asked, annoyed that he had interrupted my kind-of-nap.

"I could ask you the same," he replied, his tone was stern. "Are you waiting for someone here? Or trying to make a report? We're open if you'd like to come in-"

"Nah, I'm cool here." I hoped that that was enough to shut down this stupid conversation and make him go on his way, but his shadow continued to loom over me, overlapping with the palm tree shadow that was starting to grow thinner the closer to noon we got.