FicWad

I carefully blended the concealer over my cheek, turning my head to see how light hit it. It would have to do. I pushed the brush into the bottom of my bag, clicking over to the camera set by the pool. The shoot I had today was poolside at a swanky L.A. hotel. I shrugged off my robe, revealing the lacy black lingerie I had underneath. It was rare that I did racy shoots, but I needed the money, and so did Axl. I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for instruction from the crew. I wondered what he was doing, what the rest of the band was doing. Well, most of them were probably doing women and cocaine, I realized, smiling a little. It was the rock and roll way. But it did make me wonder how deep they were all in. I knew that Izzy and Slash were into the harder stuff, which was worrying. I would really prefer to see both of them make it out of L.A. in one piece . . . and it would be a shame to ruin those big brown eyes. My thoughts were interrupted by the photographer’s voice.
“Alright, we’re shooting. First, we’ll do a couple test shots, make sure everything’s going alright, so just look straight into the lens, Erin.”
I gazed into the camera, feeling my hair blowing against my bare waist. “Strike a couple of poses, c’mon,” he told me, changing angles. I widened my stance and lifted my hair off my neck, giving the camera my best sultry stare.
“Love it.” he clicked away, so I held the pose. As he changed angles again though, I saw something over his shoulder out of the corner of my eye. Not taking my eyes away from the camera, I could fuzzily see someone with big dark hair. Changing positions again, I got a better look, and my heart jumped into my throat. What was he doing here? I turned around, gazing over my shoulder at the camera, painfully aware of his presence.
“Alright, the still are coming out a bit funny.” The photographer’s voice tore me away from my stare. “I think it’s the lighting; we’ll see what we can do. Take ten.”
With my stomach tied in knots, I stepped out of the range of the camera, his eyes on me, and my eyes on him. Would he intercept me? Sure enough, he met me halfway, looking distinctly out of place in his boots and black leather.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” he muttered, glancing at the modeling set.
“Sure.” I followed him uncertainly over to the edge of the deck, where he lit a cigarette, watching me the whole time. I crossed my arms over my chest again, distinctly aware of how the black barely covered me. He took a drag before speaking.
“Thanks for coming last night.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss-” He cut me off.
“When we were talking at the bar, I noticed something.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, exhaling the smoke out of the edge of his mouth in a tiny white stream. “What’s that on your face?”
My hand automatically went up to my cheek, but quickly back down, trying to brush it off. But he looked at me knowingly, crushing the cigarette underfoot. He lifted his hand up to the side of my face suddenly, gently running his thumb across my cheekbone. “What’s that, Erin?” I started at the warmth of his touch, staring at him, and he stared back. I blushed, feeling like a schoolgirl at his eyes burning into every inch of me. Not unpleasantly, though. I took a deep breath as his hand fell back to his side.
“It’s nothing.”
“Oh it’s something,” he cut me off again. “We both know it’s something. You had it last night, you have it today. You didn’t have that bruise before the show. So what happened when I wasn’t around?” It was his turn to cross his arms, as if daring me to contradict his evidence. I threw my gaze up to the sky, pretending to be annoyed, but in reality trying to think of an excuse. Nothing came to mind.
“Look, why do you even care?” I changed tactics. I immediately wished I hadn’t though. His eyes flared darkly.
“Why do I care? I care because I know Axl. I care about him. And now I know you, Erin. So I care about you. I know what he’s like. I see your size, and I see his size,” he said, his eyes raking up and down my body again. Oh god. “I know what’s going on.”
What was there to say? I felt like crying, suddenly. Why did he care? It was my business. I loved Axl. I put up with the good and the bad, the gentle and the violent. I loved him. But thinking it and feeling the bruise on my cheek, I felt hollow. Get it together, Erin.
“Don’t worry about it, Slash.” My voice cracked, despite my best efforts to keep it steady.
He stepped forward suddenly, so close it ripped my breath away. He took my face in both of his hands. My temperature seemed to shoot up at his touch, my heart racing in my ears. He stared directly into my eyes.
“But I do worry, Erin. I do, and I’m going to.” He kept gazing at me, and suddenly, I felt myself falling, pitching forward into the pools of endless brown. I couldn’t seem to catch my breath, couldn’t seem to look away. Time seemed to freeze, and he was all I saw.
He let go of my face, hands dropping to his sides, and the world sped up again. I stared at him, and he stared at me, just for a moment. Then he turned away, walking back across the deck. My arms crept up around my shoulders. I watched him turn his head back jerkily and look at me again, almost as if an accident.
“And Erin? Call me Saul.” Then the leather disappeared, and he was gone.