Paradise City Chapter The Eight
Title: Paradise City Chapter The Eighth
Author: Screamer06
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Notes:
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Disclaimer: I neither know nor am I personally associated with the characters in this work of fiction. No monies were made and this is purely for entertainment purposes.
“Slash, Slash.” Duff patted Slash on knee in rapid, annoying fashion. Slash tutted and looked up;
“What the hell Duff I was on a roll there?” he asked with his palms facing upward, arms spread wide.
“Dude, have you seen the telly?”
Slash looked puzzled, he was sure that Duff has already seen the new telly. Duff was now pulling him off the stool he only partly perched on. Knowing there was no way he was going to be able to continue without indulging Duff in whatever craze had swept him up for the moment.
Pogs, gadgets, slinkeys, tamagotchi (which Duff got for the girls, honest) and now the telly that lights up at the sides. Bless him and his.....Oh dear Lord....
Prancing up and down the stage, not quite with his father’s commanding ownership was the boy he’d seen in vastly different circumstance. Instead of lying there a twisted, crumpled heap on the floor he was singing, smiling, and laughing with the new Guns. Axl Rose of the 80’s meets modern day and the crowd was lapping it up.
The image stilled and the toothy reporter appeared;
“It was a surprising turn of events today as Guns N Roses started a long awaited tour. It wasn’t Axl Rose who took the stage this afternoon but a young man who turns out to be his son. Could this explain Axl’s long absence from the music scene? More on this at a later date.”
Slash switched the telly off, it left a static tingle in the air that made the hairs on his arms stand up.
“Axl had a kid dude.” Duff usefully pointed out without turning around.
“Yeah I know.” Slash put the remote down on a small, carved table and went back to his guitar. Duff sat there for a moment frowning;
“Wait.” He got up and spun round, following Slash with a few of his long strides, “How come you know?”
“I don’t know him, as such, I’ve seen him...sort of, I was on my way to pick the kids up...”
X X X
Axcelise ran off the stage, his face wet with sweat and his heart racing;
“I did it Izzy, I did it, did you see, I was up there and everybody was singing along and the lights were in my face...” Axcelise almost squealed at him, bouncing on his toes and holding Izzys shoulders with damp hands. He was breathless and excited, he couldn’t stand still. His eyes shone and the smile never left his face. To Izzy the moment could not have been more perfect and Axcelise had never looked more beautiful. Instead he smiled, “I saw everything, your Dad would be so proud of you!”
That stopped the bouncing, “Have you spoken to the hospital?”
“Yup everything’s fine, they just want to run some tests but I guess he’ll call tomorrow morning to make sure you haven’t burned the house down.” He was relieved to see Axcelise smile that bright happy smile that was just his. He noticed Axcelise look over his shoulder and turned around.
“Hi.” Said a shy, soft voice.
“Hi.” Axcelises smile softened as he saw that peppy little blonde from the conference.
“I, ugh, I followed your car.” She said by way of explanation.
“Oh, okay...want something to eat?”
“Sure, that would be great.” She beamed at him. Axcelise walked beside her, Izzy stared on.
Forgotten.
X
The next day Axcelise was on a plane back home. He was met by a burly looking security guard who, speaking frankly, scared Axcelise more than made him feel protected. It was only when he stepped outside the airport he realised why he had security. Fans shouted and screamed and rushed at him, the guard stood protectively at the side of him. Axcelise looked about him, there was nobody else, they were all here for him, Him! Not his father but him...he beamed. Books and papers where thrust at him, he signed them gladly asking spellings of names and occasionally gifting kisses. Digital cameras where flashed and mobile phones recorded his every move. It took him a long time to get to the waiting car with the impatient driver.
Screw them, he was Axcelise Rose...Valentine. He frowned as he thought of his last name. The big man didn’t get in the car with him. Instead he got told to “have a good day sir” before the door was shut and the driver made his way to his father’s house.
His mobile beeped in his pocket. Smiling, the text was from Rebecca, the perky little blonde that followed the car. After hours of talking and laughing they agreed to exchange numbers and keep in touch. Her text gave him a flutter of excitement; he didn’t have any friends really...not proper ones.
They had talked long through the night and into the early hours of the morning and the lack of sleep was showing in his face. He answered the text; she was merely enquiring whether or not he got home okay. Nothing special but he liked the thought that she cared.
He leaned back in the warm car and let the engine lull him into a light doze.
X
The winding roads leading to the house made Axcelises relaxed head rock from side to side, waking him gently so he slowly became aware of the light penetrating his closed lids creating a red haze, his ears recognised the sound of the engine, a gear change. He felt the breeze on his face from the open window and he opened his eyes and stretched. The driver opened the window so he could swipe the security card that opened the gates.
There were a few people loitering outside the house sitting on the low wall. They didn’t stand up but looked directly at the car. Axcelise smiled at them brightly and waved but they could only see their own reflection in the tint of the window and didn’t react. A little disappointed that they didn’t wave back Axcelise slipped out of the open door as the gates closed. He walked up to the iconic front door and found it was unlocked. That meant...
“Beta! Here I am!” He called cheerfully.
“There you are!” She called back opening her arms to welcome him like she did every day. He had missed her for the time he was away. The dog bounded up, her tongue hanging out and tail wagging she jumped up as Axcelise rubbed her ears and scratched her head.
“I had a phone call from your daddy just before you came.” She explained rubbing her hands with a tea towel and wandering back into the kitchen. Axcelise followed her and the Dog padded back out into the garden. “He’s fine the Doctors said he was just over doing it and needs to rest, so he’s gone to a Yoga Retreat for a while.”
“Yup sounds like him, so does that mean that I can have....”
“No,” he was cut off, “You can’t have ice cream for every meal.”
Axcelise looked down in mock disappointment and fingered the rose tattoo on the inside of his wrist, he’d been doing that a lot lately.
X
“So Axl had, well has a son.” Duff said looking down, then suddenly up at Slash.
“Yeah, that boy couldn’t belong to anybody else.”
“And you ran said son over?”
“Yeah.” Slash nibbled at his thumb and lowered his eyes to the floor while Duff thought about this new situation.
“How is it you’re not in jail right now?”
Slash merely shrugged. Now that he thought about it, why wasn’t he? Axl should be jumping all over this in court right now. It was almost liked he liked taking people to court.
“Got a bit of a wonky smile though.” Duff said as a picture of Axcelise flashed up on the screen.
“Yeah, that was again my fault...you know....the car thing.” Slash mumbled through biting his nails.
“Jeeze, how the hell is Axl not kicking you arse, then, like, eating it?!”
“Shut up Duff, I feel bad enough as it is, I sent flowers and everything.”
That did, in fact, shut Duff up.
“I even invited him out for coffee or something, just to say sorry properly, if that was one of my boys I would be broken.”
“What makes you think he’s not broken.”
“It's Axl, he’s still the hardest motherfucker I know.”
Slash stood up and turned around heading back to the home studio.
X
“Now can I have ice cream?” Axcelise begged. Beta looked over at his plate, it was nearly empty save a bit of lonely looking potato.
“Yes, go on then.”
As he tucked in to a bowl of ice cream as big as his head the phone rang. He ignored it knowing Beta would answer. By the sound of her greeting he guessed correctly it was a father. He began to paw at her incessantly until she handed over the handset;
“Hi Dad!”
He heard his father’s throaty chuckle and felt a pang for him. Axcelise had not left Axls side since his dad bought him home from the hospital and decided to stay there.
“Hello Sporn, you got back home okay then.”
“Yeah I did, there were people wanting to talk to me and have me sign stuff.”
“They’ll do that, try not to go out on your own. I think Izzy will be coming back in a couple of days, he might come in and check up on you.”
“I don’t need checking up on.” he said, frowning.
“Okay, Izzy will be back to make sure my house is still there.” That chuckle again.
“Fair enough I suppose.”
“Behave, I’ll be home in a couple of weeks.”
“I love you dad.”
But the phone had gone dead. Axcelise shrugged and went back to the table where his ice cream was fast melting. Waiting for him was a text;
Hi, I’m in town for a bit, you want coffee? X
It was her! He grinned and sent a reply flying along to be received seconds later;
“Sure, you know where the house is?” A x
“I’ll find ya, see you fri?”
“Fri. A x”
It was still strange not seeing his dads bleary face first thing in the morning. Axcelise wandered how all those late nights hadn’t caught up with him sooner. After breakfast he mooched about and poked in some drawers and realised he felt lonely. He text his cousin but Ian had band practise with the new “Axl” and couldn’t come up. He didn’t say congratulations or anything, he wanted his family to be proud of him, he’d been on stage!
Beta had left with a note saying that Axcelise had dinner in the freezer, all he had to do was put it in the microwave. He played with the dogs, he cleaned out his rats, he went for a swim and mooched.
An alarm pulsed through the house. Making Axcelise jump out of his light doze. He checked the oven, the bedrooms and even outside and could find nothing. It wasn’t the fire alarm. He called Beta to ask her what the noise was. She told him, as calmly as she could that he should lock all the doors and windows, to stay in the house and she would be there as soon as she could.
He did as he was told and went to the door where the key pad was blinking in time with the noise. He keyed in the correct code and the noise stopped. He limped up to the study and went through the cameras.
He saw her, walking aimlessly about the front garden. And zoomed in. Fuzzy, but in colour he watched her wrap her arms about herself and cry. He gasped, and ran.
Ignoring the potential danger he unlocked the door. He went down to the weeping women.
X
As she saw him her weeping turned the wails and she stumbled, her legs weak from lack of exercise and blinded by tears. He saved her the trouble and went to her. She continued to wail and hold him close, rocking him and stroking his hair. He turned his head and whispered to her;
“Don’t cry mama.”
She laughed and wiped her eyes with her dirty hand leaving streaks across her face.
“Oh you sound like a Yank!” she clapped him on the back and pulled him close again, knocking the breath out of him, “And you found your daddy, huh, what did I tell you all these years. Where is he I want to see him and we can be a family.” Her garbled conversation brought tears to his eyes.
He had wanted to ask Axl about his mother not long after the accident but couldn’t find a way to do it. Axcelise knew she wasn’t well and he knew she was in a care facility somewhere throughout his recovery and didn’t think he would like to see her again.
“My boy my baby boy, my angel, such a man such a man,” She chanted as she rocked him and patted his back.
He drinak his tea hThe gates opened and Beta pulled into the drive way. Usually the alarms went off if somebody tried to enter the perimeter and the fact that there was a stranger holding Axcelise possessively alarmed her. She started towards them to ensure Axclises’ safety, Beta was after all, and mother though she never held Axcelise, birthed nor breast-fed him as far as she was concerned he was her own and a mothers instinct was to fight for what is hers.
Axcelise was swung round and his mother starting to scream; “NO, YOU CAN’T TAKE HIM AWAY! NO!”
Axcelise started to struggle out of her hold, he pushed against her. But she was a mother and was fighting for what was hers. “NO, HE’S MINE, NO!” she tried to walk away but only got a few stumbling steps and Axcelise tripped over his own bare feet. Beta was trying to release him from the strangle hold. Righting himself he held up a hand and gently pushed Beta away. All the while saying “Mama it’s okay, mama your hurting me, it’s okay, it’s okay.” He chanted over and over until Beta took the hint and stepped back with her hands up.
“’You’re hurting him Lady.” Beta said loud enough to be heard over the crazed women’s yells.
His mother held his face in both hands, “Am I hurting you my baby, I love you, I love you.” She kissed him all over his face all trace of her crazed temper gone. Axclise thought fast, searching her eyes.
“Mother this is Beta, she thought you were hurting me.” His mother scowled at Beta;
“HOW DARE YOU SAY THOSE THINGS!” She screamed suddenly, then in a hissed whisper, “I would never hurt him, you hurt him and I hate you.” Fearing another outburst Axcelise turned his mothers ridged body towards him.
“No mom, I mean mum, she keeps the house nice for me and she cooks and does the washing.”
“Oh I see.” His mother laughed then, a relaxed genuine sound, “She’s a maid.”
Beta felt herself tense, she was more than a maid and cleaner but a warning glance from Axcelise meant he had the situation under control. He laughed with the women, “Yeah mum a maid, why don’t you come sit on the lawn with me and have some tea, dad will get such a surprise!” he beamed and held her hands feigning excitement but knowing his father won’t be coming home for a couple of weeks.
“Oh that will be nice.” She said looking like she was in a dream her movements slow and her smile deluded.
Axcelise got up and went to Beta talking to her quietly he asked that she call the care facility his mother was registered with and actually bring some tea. It will keep her from running off or something. He didn’t want any fuss or her being put in a straight jacket or anything like that. She agreed to the hurried plan and walked into the house looking back more than once.
X
He watched the car pull back out the drive. His mother was unconscious in the back. They had shot her with a tranquiliser. It was all very quick and business like. They had merely drove up. Axcelise kept his mother engaged in conversation and they had shot her with the drug like some animal. She had slumped forward, spilling tea down herself and her son as he caught her limp form.
Right now he sat there, mesmerised, until the gates were closed and the dust settled in the drive way. He realised the birds were singing and the dog was sitting patiently waiting for a cuddle. He ruffled her ears and went back into the house.
“Are you okay?” Beta asked quietly.
“Yeah fine.” He replied flatly but stayed where he was, near the open door and lit a cigarette. It was odd seeing him smoke. The breeze lifted his hair and blew the smoke back into his face. He looked older with a cigarette burning in his hand. His usually carefree face was stained with worry. She figured he would come to her when he was ready and left to cook him something nice for dinner.
X
“Right, so...Axl has a son. Who you nearly killed...” Duff went over again.
“Yes Duff.” Slash said with a sigh.
“Wow. Axl’s a father.”
“Axl’s probably a father many times over. He did put it about a bit.” Slash tried to hide the smile but it showed in his voice. Duff sniggered.
“Oh yeah, do you remember when me and you and Axl went to the Rainbow, he hadn’t been in L.A. long and we were teaching him how to pick up chicks and...”
“Yes Duff I remember.”
“...we all staggered home, and just fell in the door, couldn’t wait to get up stairs...”
“Duff I was there.”
“...just fell about laughing and we ended up taking the girls clothes off and wearing them...”
“Duff, could we just get on with it?”
“Oh yeah, sure, where were we?”
X
Izzy waltzed in and called out to Axcelise. There was no answer, he went into his bedroom, not there. He even went into Axl’s bedroom. He wondered if Axcelise had gone out until he heard laughter coming from the garden. Walking through the kitchen, he saw a sight that made him gasp.
There was Axcelise, dripping wet laughing in-between the giant lions Axl still had. Next to him, on a sun lounger, also wet was a girl. It took Izzy a minute to figure out who it was. It was her that made him gasp. It wasn’t some regular girl, it was press. Press in Axl’s house. That same press that Axl had fences, privacy hedges and trees to keep out. Her smile was radiant, her swimming costume stuck to her small, almost childlike body, revealing her little perky breasts.
Oh, how the hell are they going to keep this from Axl. Izzy gave a small cough and the pair turned round. Axcelise looked tired, there were rings under his eyes and they were looking dull, his cheeks were hollowed.
“Hi Izzy!” He chirped, despite his appearance, waving him over revelling a softly downed armpit in the process. Izzy remembered kissing and biting there, high up on the ribs as they expanded and contracted with Axcelises harsh breathing. The sharp tang of deodorant wafting up his nostrils and the salt-sweet taste of fresh sweat. Izzy remembered looking up then, his eyes flickered, he took in Axcelises closed eyes, the soft “O” of his mouth, the red cheeks. He had lived that moment too many times for it to be considered a normal, passing fancy.
“Want some soda?” Axcelise asked getting up without waiting for Izzys answer. Shook out of his memory Izzy mumbled something and followed him into the kitchen, making a point to ignore girl.
“Less?” he asked quietly.
“Huh?” Axcelise answered, concentrating on the fizzy drink he was pouring so as not to spill any.
“You know who she is right?”
“Yeah, ‘course I do, she wouldn’t be here otherwise.” Axcelise replied sucking some sticky cola off his finger.
“She!” Izzy rounded on Axcelise preventing him from walking back into the garden. He was having trouble containing his anger at the young man’s naivety; “Is press Axcelise, Press!” He lowered his tone fearing being overheard and put his hands on Axcelises shoulders; “Press are not your friends, press are hardly people.”
“No,” Axcelise batted Izzy off him, “She is my friend, she doesn’t want anything from me. It was me who invited her up, it was me that suggested lunch and it was me how told her to bring her swimming costume.”
“Ah, so you think your father will be okay with this?” Izzy folded his arms, “Well?” He saw Axcelises eyes flicker and knew he was getting through. He continued more gently, “Axcelise, you are Axl Roses’ son. The press are starving for some news of Axl, any news but this...this is huge.”
Axcelises eyes dropped to the floor as the cat began to wind herself round his legs, purring loudly.
“How do you mean?”
“Axl has a son, he has you and the press want to know everything, trust me Axcelise I’ve been doing this for a long time and it may be exciting now but there is no privacy and that's what you will crave.”
“And how the hell do you think you know me?” Axcelise’s whisper was a hard hiss and his face contorted with anger and he looked just like Axl then, Izzys heart raced and adrenaline pumped through his veins. “I might tell her everything.” Axcelise walked out the room, the conversation was obviously over and Izzy excused himself with a sigh.
X
Axl Rose was off the plane and getting into the waiting car, feeling much more relaxed and content and looking forward to getting back home. His phone bleeped a text;
Awesome stunt dude J
It was Sebastian Bach, long time friend and confident. Axl frowned at the little screen as the car pulled away.
What did I do this time?
No way...
Really, stop running up my bill :P
Well som1s gonna be in shit.
No kidding, come up in an hour.
And Axl Rose seethed all the way home.