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"What? What... who?" Jim asked dumbly from beside her, clearly confused.
Mel wanted to answer him, tried her best to answer him, but panic overtook her and her breath was suddenly short and coming in small gasps.
"T-tell h-him," she managed at Mick, nodding slowly as she tried to catch her breath and quell some of the panic in her chest. Mick looked at her questioningly, making sure she knew what she was saying. She nodded.
"Mel was raped right before tour started," Mick said quietly, and though she wasn't looking at him, Mel could feel Jim react to the statement. He tensed, his fingers seemingly instinctively tightening around hers protectively and breath escaped his lips in a surprised almost-gasp.
"And he... the bastard's here?" Jim asked, his voice sounding angrier than Mel ever remembered hearing it. Jim was usually one of the most level-headed members of the band; he didn't have much of a temper and usually kept himself out of any of the more serious arguments or drama that broke out sometimes. Mel wasn't sure she'd ever really heard him genuinely angry at all.
She nodded.
"You're sure it was him?" Mick asked, his tone cautious. She nodded again.
"P-positive. He... he was calling my n-name," she whispered, and both Jim and her brother leaned closer to her to hear her.
"I'll fucking kill him," Mick said again, standing from where he was kneeling in front of her and taking up a steady rhythm of pacing across the room.
"No you won't. I don't even know how to find him again. I don't fucking want to find him again," Mel said, able to get coherent words out for the first time but still feeling shaky and uneasy.
Mick didn't answer her at first, just kept pacing back and forth, his boots seeming like they were sure to wear a hole in the floor.
"Mel-," Jim started to say something, but she snapped her gaze to him fiercely, shutting him up immediately. She loved that both of them seemed to want to protect her and get revenge for her, she really did, but it wasn't worth it. He wasn't worth it. Besides, she really wasn't sure she'd be able to find him again anyway.
"You don't go anywhere - and I mean absolutely fucking anywhere - without someone tonight, Melanie. One of us, someone on the crew, someone. Someone you trust. I mean, you're taking a piss and you've got an escort. Understood?" Mick asked her a few moments later, turning back to face her. He still looked angry, but his gaze was steady. She nodded.
"Understood."
"Good. And if you fucking see him, you tell me. I won't seek him out, but if he shows his face I'll get one of Clown's bats and introduce it to him real good and personal, which is less than he deserves. Understood?" he asked again. She nodded again.
"Understood."
Mick sighed, shaking his head and turning away from her again. Mel was just vaguely wondering what he was thinking when Joey stepped into the room and started to ask Mel for the sticks that were still in the pocket of the hoodie she was wearing. He stopped short, though, looking at her face and moving to kneel in front of her where Mick had been moments before.
"Are you okay?" he asked her quietly, and immediately Mel felt herself slipping into that safe little bubble she'd created with him, the one that usually didn't exist outside of her bunk on the bus. In that moment, though, both Jim and Mick faded away and it was just her and Joey.
She sighed, nodding and leaning forward so that their foreheads were pressed against each other. He didn't have his mask on yet, but he did have greasepaint around his eyes that would undoubtedly transfer to her own face one way or another, but it didn't matter. She just wanted to be close to him.
"What happened?" Joey whispered gently, his blue eyes a blur in front of her but somehow still completely comforting.
"I was walking in with Jim and, uh... he's here," Mel whispered, not knowing what else to call him. She didn't know his name, didn't care to know his name. It took Joey the same few moments to figure out what she was talking about that it had taken Mick and she watched as realization flooded his features.
"He... what? Him, like... him?" he asked, and she nodded against him.
"Yeah."
"Jesus Christ. I'm so fucking sorry, Buzz," he said, closing his eyes. She closed hers too, taking a couple of deep breaths with him.
"It's okay. I just... I need to do my shit, get your kit set up and check everything. It's okay. I'm okay," she told him, trying to convince herself just as much as him.
"Okay. I'll come with you," he said, and she nodded again.
"Okay."
He stood, reaching for her hands. She gave them to him and he helped pull her up to a standing position and put his hand on her shoulder, steadying her. She glanced between Mick and Jim, both of whom seemed surprised at her and Joey's closeness. Neither of them said anything, but she had a sneaking suspicion she'd get an earful from Mick later.
"Jim, go with Mel for a second, will you?" Mick asked, and Jim nodded and stood, taking Joey's place at her side as Joey stepped toward Mick. Mel gave her brother a warning look and he shook his head to indicate he wasn't going to - in Joey's words - "snap him in half" or anything.
Mel and Jim stepped out into the hallway and leaned against one of the walls. She could tell that Jim was just itching to question her about Joey so she beat him to it.
"Nothing's going on between us. He just... he makes me feel safe and sane in a way I haven't in a while," she told him and he nodded casually.
"I didn't say anything," he said, smirking at her just as Joey stepped out of the dressing room.
"C'mon, let's go work on my kit," he told her and she nodded, falling in step with him.
"What did he say to you?" she asked him as soon as they were out of Jim's earshot. Joey shrugged.
"He told me to keep you safe and that if we find the motherfucker we're going to kill him. I agreed to both," he said, making her shake her head and roll her eyes. She'd known that Mick sort-of agreeing to leave it alone wouldn't last long.
