His Assurance (Assured Distraction Book 3) (7 page)

I rolled out of bed with the sun peeking over the hills behind my house. September in Austin was always a mystery when it came to weather. It could be hot as hell or already working on a brisk fall. I needed to get back to the gym and going when it was scorching outside made things worse. I started going to the fucking gym, a place I loved to hate, before the last tour. Working out was a necessary evil to maintain bodies that drove our female fans wild. Before we left on the last tour, I made it a habit. I needed to get back to it as soon as possible. Otherwise, I would turn into a couch potato permanently attached to the latest gaming phenomenon. I was determined to stave off that bad habit.

I walked in sweating from the workout, and saw a message waiting on my phone. Carter wanted to remind me that he was going to have friends over, and he knew I was always down for a party. This fuckwit threw parties for any reason. Hell, usually he didn’t need a reason.

What we needed to concentrate on was getting back into the studio and working on refining the new music we’d written, while we were on the last tour. That’s where we did most of our writing because we were stuck on that fucking bus for long hours. Our platinum albums all came from bad-ass music written while we were on the road, and I knew this one was going to be just as good as the last.

When we rolled down the road with everyone’s undivided attention, and Chandler, KeeMac, and Ryan pulled out their acoustics, we got the best music written and for damn sure the best lyrics. They even let Carter and me help with the lyrics. One of the songs on the last CD was all me on lyrics. It’s had a lot of downloads on iTunes and was used in the sets for the live shows.

I’m good with lyrics but not worth a shit at writing music. I had tried, and it was just not in me to get music on paper. Guess that was why I was the drummer. Maybe I should have considered going to college and learning all of that before I joined the band. Back in the studio, though, we added the magic to it. By the time we laid down the tracks, the music was phenomenal, and our fans fucking loved it.

I noticed as I drove home from the gym the promoters had started moving some equipment in to get the festival up and running. We agreed to play on Saturday night of the first weekend on one of the two big stages, which was another reason we needed to get some of that new music down. We had talked about trying some out on the crowd. The people at the festival will like whatever we did, so we planned to play some old and new stuff. Some of them would prefer we only play our old music, but we needed to expose them to new sounds to get them fired up for the next CD.

Peri had already started booking our next big tour. It would be four fucking months back on the bus, but this shit was what we chose, and the minute we stepped on stage and heard the roar of the crowd, we were always glad we did.

My body needed the workout, and I was glad I bit the bullet and did it. I knew I would be sore from taking off a few days. When I walked back in the house, my phone was chiming, and it was a text from the very person I was dying to speak to. Thank Fuck.

Lola:
Hey you. Got a message to get in touch

I was a little nervous to start this conversation. I wanted to see her so damn badly and the sooner, the better.

Gunner:
Finally. I thought you might have forgotten me

Lola:
Uh, no. How could I do that

Gunner:
So how’s life

Lola:
Wellllll, I’m not in Paris anymore

Gunner:
WTF. Where are you

Lola:
Would you believe it… Houston

You gotta be shittin me. She stayed here in Texas after the plane fiasco? I started pacing around the room. How quickly could I get down there to see her
? Okay, Gun. Chill.
Don’t sound that eager, but damn, I was stoked now that I knew she was so close.

Gunner:
Great. That’s even better. For how long? When can I see you

I hit send before I thought too hard about it. So much for not sounding like I was ready to stalk her in person.

Lola:
I’m living here now and I’m coming to Austin in a couple of weeks to ACL

This fucking day got better by the minute. I stood in my kitchen dripping wet from the gym and grinning as though a photographer was doing a solo piece on me. All I could think about was getting to see her. It had been well over a year since we spent the night together, and I still remembered every single minute of the fun we had.

Gunner:
That’s outstanding. We’re playing on the first weekend. I’ll get you some VIP passes. Are you coming alone

Lola:
I wish. Bringing my sister and friends for her 21
st

Okay, that could be a potential problem.

Gunner:
Yeah? How long you staying

Lola:
Maybe two weeks in a lake house for their break from uni

Gunner:
Sounds fun. Think we’ll have time to see each other? What the hell’s uni

Yeah, that was desperate but shit, I wanted to spend time with her.

Lola:
I’ll make time to see you while I’m there. They’re big girls and can take care of themselves. Uni=university (sorry Euro-speak)

Thank fuck! She wanted to see me, too. I had to do some thinking. I needed a plan for when she was here for two weeks.

Gunner:
I like the way that sounds. (us, not Euro-speak) Let’s makes some plans

Lola:
Works for me

When my phone started ringing, I assumed it was her, but then the screen read KeeMac. Disappointment.

“’Sup?” I answered.

“Hey, we need to get in the studio this week. You available?” KeeMac was always the first to get us back together. We never appointed a spokesperson for AD, but he took on the role since he’s the lead singer.

“I thought the same thing. I know we are gonna to want to do some of that new music at ACL, but it’s still raw and needs work. Just text me what and when. I’ll be there.” I wanted to get back to my texting with Lola.

“Great. I’ll let ya know but plan on it being this week. I need to talk to the others still.”

“Cool. Later,” I ended the call.

Lola:
Where’d you go

Gunner:
Talking to KeeMac about studio time

Lola:
So, we are coming up on the Thurs before the festival starts on Friday. I haven’t been in years. Bet it’s huge

Gunner:
We played small stages early in the day before 13 Recordings signed us. That’s the last time I went

Lola:
OK, you’ll find out about tickets and let me know ASAP

Gunner:
Will do. Hey, glad you messaged me

Real smooth, Gunner
. She was probably thinking what a loser.

Lola:
Glad you reached out after all this time. Now you have my number here. I’ll be waiting to hear from you

Gunner:
I’ll probably call if that’s OK

Damn, what was I, twelve? May I please have your permission to call? Maybe I should have asked her dad instead.

Lola:
Sounds great. Soon, promise? :)

Okay, I liked that comment a lot better. Maybe she had been thinking about me some.

Gunner:
Promise

No way would I add an emoji. I wasn’t that desperate, or wait maybe I was…I added a fingers crossed emoji. She had already reduced me to fucking emojis. I thought to myself, I am so in trouble.

“Dude, where is your head today?” KeeMac yelled.

“Hell if I know. I can’t concentrate on shit when Lola’s going to be here in a few hours.” I needed to get my mind straight.

“Well, the rest of us would like to get this new music down sometime in this lifetime, and you’re fucking up the whole rehearsal.” I swatted away the Red Bull can Carter pushed at me. “Get your head in the game, dumbass.”

“Okay, let’s start from the top. If we can get through it one time clean without stopping, maybe we can call it a night and you can do something about getting your head out of your ass,” KeeMac said with a huff.

“Like we haven’t dealt with the same damn thing with you and Chandler always taking breaks? Every time one of you looks at the other, you get a fucking boner for her and stop practice. I don’t know how the hell y’all get through a whole show on stage.”
Ba-da-pow
, I hit my drums. These two have been going at it since she joined the band in what was supposed to be a temporary position for three weeks. So much happened to her in that time that our band family knitted a web around her to get her over family shit. It all worked out for the best. We lost Jacoby to his bitch girlfriend, but we gained Chandler instead. Turned out to be a win-win situation for us all.

KeeMac grabbed his crotch and turned to look at Chandler. “We get through it fine, thanks for asking. That’s why they make closets backstage. Ain’t that right, babe?” I looked at Chandler, and she blushed. She had been around us on our big tours, but she could still turn bright red when we said or did stuff like that. I did it just to see her face light up. It was some funny shit watching that bright color creep up her neck and across her face until she was glowing like a stop sign in car lights.

Ryan spoke up. “Let’s do this. I’ve got places to be. Hayden’s got both boys this afternoon, and Peri and I are going to have the whole fucking house to ourselves the whole damn evening. There are a few locations left to christen in our new house.”

When Krissy walked away and left Hayden with his son, poor kid had nowhere to go to raise the little dude. It was a good thing Peri was a saint because I knew she did not want to take in Krissy’s kid after all the shit she put Peri and Ryan through. What Krissy did was fucked up in my opinion, but Ryan, Peri, and Hayden were doing great with the situation.

Chandler made an awful noise. “That’s TMI, Ryan. We could go all day without knowing that since we’re always at your house. I’ll never look at your couch the same way.” Chandler had the nerve to roll her eyes and make gagging noises. After all the places they’ve had sex on our tour bus and the times we’ve all caught them bare naked running around on it? How could she judge the rest of us?

“Okay, let’s play this last song one more time, and if we can nail it down, we’re done.” KeeMac drew us back, and we finished practice.

Lola was going to be at the house in a few hours. I wanted everything to be perfect for her and the crazy girls while they were here. After our set at the festival on Saturday night, our label planned a big party to celebrate the success of our last CD release which went platinum. An epic party would be perfect for those chicks to have some fun. I had no clue who the label invited, but with all of the extra bands in town for the festival. I knew there would be some people the girls would find exciting to meet and young enough to be perfect for them. Maybe even some of those new bands Cash scouted would attend.

I planned to take Lola home and spend some quality alone time with her. We only had one night in Paris, but believe me; it was a night to remember. I don’t know if those French guys she dated were freaks in bed or not, but she sure was, and I planned to let her bring out that inner freak every chance I got … at least for the next two weeks.

She was the kind of woman my dad always said I needed to find, a lady on the street and a ho in the bed. I used to laugh at him when he said that because I could never, ever picture my mother being that, but he told it to me from the time I was old enough to date girls. “Son, find a respectable woman to bring home to your momma, but if she’s not full of adventure in the bedroom, then ditch her ‘cause you’ll get bored in no time with your short attention span.” After that, he used the “ho in the bed” phrase every damn time I went on a date.

My old man was full of useful sayings. Like, don’t date someone you wouldn’t consider marrying ‘cause you never know what might happen. He’d say that just before handing me a new box of condoms. My dad took care of it since he knew I probably would never think of it until it was too late. It was a good thing we had a close relationship when I was growing up.

My parents married at twenty-two and fresh out of college. She was his college sweetheart, and he still chased her around the house all of the time. Their actions were embarrassing when I was in high school, and my friends came over, but they all got used to it. At least my parents still loved each other. They still went at each other like they were horny teenagers, and that was exactly the kind of relationship I wanted if I ever have a wife. He must know what he was talking about when it comes to finding a wife, at least a little bit. (And here I am talking about my mom being a ho, which is wrong on so many levels.)

We managed to get the new music down pretty quickly now that we-as in me-were all on board with other places to be. I hopped on my Fat Boy Harley as soon as we finished. I enjoyed riding around Austin, but I fucking loved riding that hog in the hill country west of Austin. I planned for Lola and me to take a few days and hit the back roads. It was beautiful and quiet with all kinds of great places to stop along the way. The Texas vineyards, romantic inns, and small roadside restaurants dotted the country. It was perfect for getting away with Lola. I didn’t know where my mind was lately, thinking about this romantic shit. Maybe we were on the road too damn long on this last tour.

I pushed the button for my garage door and turned to see an Infiniti rolling in my driveway through the gate. I had to hold myself back because all I wanted to do was run and grab her. I swear I didn’t know what the fuck had gotten into me. I never wanted to be with the same girl twice, but since meeting her in Paris and then reconnecting with her, it was as though I was obsessed with seeing her.

She stepped out of the pearl white SUV and the look that greeted me almost took my breath away. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Her long blonde hair was a mass of soft curls falling down around her. In Paris it was dark, but it was still the kind I wanted to wrap my hands in and pull her to me. I wanted to kiss her until neither of us could breathe. Her gorgeous dark chocolate eyes had gold flecks in them, making it look like they glowed. The color was completely different from the dark depths I stared into in Paris. Damn, I was one lucky guy right this minute because no matter what she had changed, she was still the stunningly beautiful woman I spent one fantastic night enjoying.

I guess I looked like an idiot standing there staring at her because she finally made a noise, and I came to my senses. I moved in to hug her, and she wrapped her arms around me returning the embrace which made me feel even better. I said some lame shit about being happy to see her when what I truly wanted to do was kiss her into tomorrow. “So glad you’re finally here.”

“Yes, me too. It was a long drive with all of the noise in the car.”

I looked over her head and saw the culprits who provided the sound. Beautiful young women stepped out every door. The ones who could get a guy in trouble in a heartbeat. They looked and dressed like they stepped out of a fashion shoot. I logged the thought in my brain to remind Carter what jail bait looked like because it might be living at my house for a few days if I could talk her into staying longer. And these girls were fucking gorgeous. Every single one of them was going to give some poor fucker nothing but trouble in the near future, and Carter didn’t need to be one of them.

He may be my best damn friend and had been my wingman and sometimes partner in our multi-friend sexcapades but this would be a big hell no for him this time. The bad part was the guy couldn’t help himself when it came to beautiful young women. He loved them young, but even he drew the line with underage, thank God. That was something the band did not fucking need to deal with no matter how hard the girls tried to make it happen.

When I told him who was coming today, he started talking about what time he needed to make his grand appearance. I told him to keep his horn dog, dumbass, away from my house even though he had a key and could come in anytime. I suppose I was glad they wouldn’t be staying here for the whole visit.

Lola and I barely pulled apart, and I asked, “So, are all of these girls already twenty-one? I wouldn’t want to have any problem if the paparazzi showed up knowing I was housing a bunch of beautiful underage women. Shit like that leaks quickly, and the outcome isn’t pretty on TMZ. I can see it now. AD’s drummer feeding alcohol to underage females. People will draw all kinds of wrong conclusions.”

I hadn’t let go of her yet. My arm wrapped around her waist as we both stared at the group. If I had my way, I would be touching some part of her body for the next two weeks or longer. God, she was even more beautiful than I remembered.

“Yes, Journey was the last to turn twenty-one, and technically that was yesterday, so no underage girls.”

“That’s good to know, but they look so young still.”

She turned and looked at me with electric gold currents bolting out of her eyes, and I knew I was a goner. I wanted so badly to scoop her up and carry her off to bed but damn it; there were five girls preparing to walk through my door. The look she gave me made me think she might be okay with my idea. I might have misread it, but I felt like she was sending some strong messages through those sparks. I hoped I read them correctly.