Love Me Tender (W. Axl Rose) (Izzy Stradlin)

Chapter Twenty-Three

I stood at the side of the enormous stage, the stadium was filled with a roaring audience, all cheering on for the next performance. Guns N' Roses were finally up. I had Nathaniel held against me in a strap, his face against my chest because at first he was in shock. He also had on a pair of earmuffs that were designed to block out the noise, I knew all too well that the noise would be too damaging to his ears. Nathaniel was quite sensitive to very loud noises and it upset him. As he contently laid against my chest in the sling, he watched around at his surroundings from the side, not as afraid as he was previously, that wasn't until I realised he could see Axl slowly wandering towards us.

He was dressed in all white, white leather jacket, white pants that were tight enough to see more of an outline of his 'package', but could also look more like a pair of white stockings. He stood in big black combo boots, his hair straightened out almost perfectly with a side fringe. Somehow he looked flawless, he always did.

"Ethel." Axl speaks, stopping a good five metres away. The way he spoke my name, it just somehow rolled off his tongue smoothly. "I've been wanting to introduce you to a new member of the band, I didn't want you to know earlier." He manages to say over the crowds screams. Staring at him in surprise, I nodded my head before making my way over to him. As soon as I was stood closely to Axl, Axl's hand gently brushed against my back as he lead me into a small enclosed room where the rest of the members were. They were all having a seat together with red plastic cups, drinking, although Slash was being specifically attended to by another man who seemed to be doing something to his face and hat. Makeup? Well I never expected that.

"Hey Dizz, this is who I've been telling you all about." Axl speaks up catching the attention of the man who was talking and mucking around with Duff. The dark haired man stopped mucking about, excused himself from the seat and approached us. He stood a few inches taller than Axl and myself and was covered in quite a few tattoos on his fair coloured skin.

"Dizzy, this is my girl Ethel and my son Nathaniel." Axl introduced, his arm never removing from around my waist.

"I've heard a lot about you." Dizzy exclaimed with a smirk. "You're all he's talked about in the past how long- I don't even know. But the names Darren, but people all know me as Dizzy Reed." He holds his hand out, gesturing to shake hands. Doing the same, I grabbed ahold of Dizzy's hand and shook it gently.

"It's nice to meet you, and you have, have you?" I asked in surprise. Axl was talking about me to his friends? Well either that was a great thing or something really bad.

"Oh yeah, can't fucking shut him up." Dizzy smirked, flickering his attention to an embarrassed looking Axl. "All he talks about is you and the lil' one." Dizzy noted, gently reaching out and patting Nathaniel's head.

"Hey man, you didn't have to tell the whole world." Axl whisper shouts, obviously not intentionally meaning for me to hear. Well, I guess he simply didn't realise I could actually hear him.

"Ax, my man. The whole world already knows, they can hear you blabbering on." Dizzy teases. I couldn't quite keep myself calm, I had to laugh alongside Dizzy. There was no lie, Axl was one to talk that's for sure.

"Piss off man." Axl murmurs, his cheeks bright pink.

"Chill man, I'm just getting a reaction outta you." Dizzy reached over and laid his hand on Axl's shoulder. Axl shrugged it off before holding a fake smile towards Dizzy. I wasn't quite sure if Dizzy realised that it was, but to me it stood out like red flags.

"How about you go and get yourself prepared Dizzy?" Axl speaks slowly, trying to get rid of him without saying too much or getting too snarly.

"Uh-" Dizzy grunted, now seeing that Axl hadn't seen the funny side. Dizzy stood for moments long simply glancing at Axl who was staring back, the way Axl seemed to be staring back upon his band member was a surprise. The look that was in his eyes, it wasn't like anything I had really saw from him. It was an arrogant, power-strived glare, something that could startle Dizzy off.