Rocket Queen

chapter eight -- axl

"Axl you can't just tell a girl — a girl that you're not even dating, by the way — to quit her job. It's a dick move." Slash shakes his head at me in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, did you see what I saw last night? She's not going back there."

"Wait, what happened again?" Duff asks.

I roll my eyes at him. He must have gotten so wasted last night that he forgot. "A customer at the shitty ass hole-in-the-wall strip club Stacy works at tried to rape her."

Duff's eyes go wide. "Oh FUCK no!" He cries. "Slash, come on, she can't keep working there!"

"I get what you're saying, it's just that Stacy isn't exactly the type of girl that likes being ordered around."

"You'd be surprised," I mumble to myself, remembering a few times that she didn't seem to mind being told what to do so much. "I have to at least try to talk to her. I can't just stand here and let her get hurt!"

Izzy sighs. "Axl, man, we all care about her and obviously none of us want her to get hurt but it's not any of our place to say where she can and can't work."

I shake my head angrily. Every time I close my eyes I can see her pressed against a wall, afraid and desperate and hopeless. And with every breath I wish I hadn't let that asshole that hurt her walk away alive. "I don't care, I'm not letting her go back." I repeat.

Izzy shrugs. "Whatever man," he says. "But don't be surprised if she bites your fucking head off."

I all but storm out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and to my room where Stacy is still sound asleep, curled into a ball under the blankets. My heart softens a little when I see her; she looks peaceful like this, and for a moment I reconsider having this fight right now, but I know that it's necessary. I walk over to her, sitting down on the side of the bed, and gently shake her awake.

"Hey, Stacy, I need to talk to you," I say softly, not wanting to startle her.

She stirs awake and blinks a few times, her brown doe eyes meeting mine. "Hi, Ax," she murmurs, smiling a little. "What's up?"

I take a deep breath before speaking. "You have to quit your job. I don't want you to go back there."

She blinks again. And then she laughs. "What the fuck are you talking about?" She says.

"I'm serious. You're not going back to that place."

She looks at me, her eyes narrowing as she sits up. "Axl. I need my job. I can't just quit, I need the money."

"Stacy, someone tried to rape you!"

She sighs, squeezing her eyes shut tight. "I am well fucking aware of that," she says, her tone lace with venom. "But if I have to choose between going back to that shitty strip club or back to my dads house in Wisconsin, it is a very easy decision." I can't go back there Axl, and I can't stay in LA if I lose my job, so at least until the Pink Pony is back in business, I'm not quitting."

She gets up out of bed and starts walking away, but I reach out and grab onto her wrist. "Stacy, come on! You can't be serious!"

She whirls around, glaring at me sharply. "No, you can't be serious!" she cries. "I CAN'T LOSE MY JOB AXL!! I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO ME, I CAN'T GO BACK HOME!!!"

For a moment, I'm stunned. I've never heard her yell before. But then I shake myself out of it. I am not losing this fight. "I CAN'T JUST STAND BY AND LET YOU PUT YOURSELF IN DANGER!!" I yell back.

"IT'S NOT YOUR DECISION TO MAKE!"

I'm getting angrier by the second. Why can't she see that I care about her and I don't want anything bad to happen? Why can't she just listen? Stacy twists her hand out of my grasp and storms away, out of the room and down the stairs. I follow her back to the kitchen where the rest of the guys are still sitting around. I can tell by the collective look on their faces that they've heard everything. She flings open the fridge, grabs a beer, and downs it in a matter of seconds.