Wild Side || N.S.

★ forty one ★

     Before making our way back to the hotel to deal with the guaranteed shit show that was waiting on us, Nikki and I decided to roam the streets a little while longer. Today was an off day anyway and we didn't have to check into our hotels until midnight tonight.

"I think I saw a record store a little farther down if you wanna go check that out" Nikki offered, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles as his grip on my hand tightened slightly. It was a rather cold and gloomy day so while I knew it wasn't just the two of us walking around outside, it sure did feel that way.

I went to answer Nikki but couldn't. A building had caught my eye and I couldn't look away.

"Ria?" my staring had caught Nikki's attention. He looked at me oddly and looked in the direction that I was. "you wanna go look around?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"Yeah" I nodded with a small smile.

We headed into the animal shelter together, Nikki opening the door for me. I smiled up at him thankfully and we walked in to find various different rooms and cages filled with animals.

I took in my surroundings and explored a little. I heard Nikki talking with a few of the employees and while I wanted to join in on the conversation, I was too busy being gravitated towards what appeared to be a lab, maybe? Its body was a fur coat of black and white, it made the dog appear to have spots. Once I examined the label on the cage the dog was taking refuge in, I discovered that the dog is a German short-haired pointer. Hmm.

It stared up at me with big hopeful brown eyes.

"Do you wanna look at that one?" Nikki asked, coming up behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Yes please" I smiled, making him smile and kiss me on the cheek.

"You two can go on into that play room over there and we will bring the dog in right after you" the petite older woman who's name tag read 'Tara' offered with a smile.

"Thank you" I smiled making her nod and head off to grab the beautiful dog.

"You didn't even bat an eye at the other dogs in here. What's up with that?" Nikki asked me softly. He knew how much I love dogs, literally ALL dogs.

"I don't know. Something just kinda gravitated me towards that one" I pointed as I saw the lady coming back with a timid looking hound in tow.

"So this one was just recently dropped off at our shelter one night in the pouring rain. We haven't given him a name yet and he is very, very shy. I think he may have been abused by his previous owner" the lady said sympathetically.

I felt myself frowning at her words and I looked over to see Nikki shake his head in disapproval. I raised my eyebrow at him and he smiled back softly. Something told me that we weren't leaving without this dog.

Very slowly, I crouched down to the ground and held my hand out for the dog. He stared at me with his big sad eyes but I stayed where I was. "C'mere boy" I smiled softly, waiting for the dog to come to me when he was ready.

I guess he finally sensed that I wasn't gonna hurt him because he scampered over to me at a pace quicker than I expected because the next thing I knew, I was knocked over on my ass by this big dog.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud, Nikki joining in as well. "Are you okay?" he asked through his laughter.

"Hell yeah. Can we get this one?" I asked, giggling as the dog licked my face, his tail wagging like crazy.

"It'd be a crime if we didn't. Look at him, he loves ya" Nikki chuckled, heading off with the employee to pay for the dog, as I continued to play with him.

"Hey boy. You're a cutie, aren't you?" I chuckled, rubbing his belly as he rolled over on the floor. I noticed that my voice had gone up a pitch or two. I sounded like one of those annoying ass middle-aged women talking to a baby. Meh.

"Well I don't know what happened to you in your past; but we're gonna leave it there, okay? Cause you got me now. And Nikki. That guy with the ridiculous hair that was just here. And we're not leaving you. Well, sometimes. But that's for work. Is anything that I'm saying making any sort of sense to you?" I rambled on to this dog who just stared at me. Once I finished talking, he sat up and licked my nose. I scrunched it on instinct and let out a giggle. "I'll take that as a yes"

"I hope you two aren't gossiping too much about me" Nikki smirked as he walked back into the room, papers hanging out of his coat pocket and a leash in his hand.

"Not everything is about you, Sixx" I rolled my eyes playfully making him stick his tongue out at me.

"All right well this boy right here is ours. All he needs is a name." Nikki smiled, taking my hand to help me stand back up.

"Hmmmm.... any thoughts?" I asked, staring at him. I could see that he had in fact already thought of a name.

"Whisky?" he replied, making me smile softly.

"Whisky?" I asked, turning to the dog who in return had his tongue sticking out of his mouth slightly and wagged his tail enthusiastically. "Whisky." I concluded with a nod making Nikki laugh.

"Perfect," he pulled me in by my waist and kissed me softly. When we pulled away he spoke. "I called Doc to let him know about our new boy here. He's gonna see what he can do about getting us a room that can accommodate Whisky since it's our last show. Then we can take him home. Oh, and are you coming to the album launch party tomorrow night?" he asked, as we left the shelter, once Whisky had the leash securely around him. We waved goodbye to the employees.

"Okay and yeah, I should be able to. Can we get someone to watch Whisky for the night?" I asked.

"I'll take care of it, okay?" he smiled making me smile right back.

"Okay. Thank you so much for getting me a dog." I kissed him softly.

"Yeah well, I know you've been wanting one for a while now. Maybe Whisky will help me keep you around longer" he winked making me laugh and smack him playfully.

. . .

A/N: Hi, I am so sorry it took me longer than I hoped to update this story but I just spent the entire weekend with the guy that I am crazy about and he kinda had my undivided attention so I AM SORRY OKAY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME BABES.

Did we like the fluff? I liked it, tbh. But drama is coming. So prepare yourself mentally I guess. Oops.

So like 43k reads? What the fuck?! I love you all so much. Thanks for the love & feedback, you guys are incredible! ~