His Assurance (Assured Distraction Book 3) Read online

  Thia Finn

  His Assurance

  Assured Distraction Series Book Three

  By Thia Finn

  Copyright 2016 Thia Finn

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under the International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

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  Please note that this book is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). It has been made available for your personal use and enjoyment. No permission has been granted to upload this book onto ANY file-sharing websites. Doing so is a violation of federal laws and measures have been taken within this file to track the originator of such shared files, should it be found on piracy sites. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author to produce this content.

  WARNING: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Disclaimer: The material in this book contains graphic language and sexual content and is intended for mature audiences, ages 18 and older.

  Garrison, Prendergast and Lee May. “The One” Coming Up For Air, 2015.

  IBSN13: 978-0-9973407-2-3

  Edited by Chelsea Kuhel/Madison Seidler Editing Services

  Proofreading by Swish Design & Editing

  Book designed and formatted by Swish Design & Editing

  Cover design by Deranged Doctors Designs

  Cover photo model: Will Dixon

  Cover photographer: Reggie Deanching, RplusMphotography.com

  Selection from “The Stable”

  Cover image Copyright 2016

  One hot sizzling night with a beautiful woman in Paris! That’s what Gunner Wallace, Assured Distraction’s drummer, wants to recreate when he finally sees her again in Austin, TX. He plans to pick up exactly where they left off since he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about that night.

  Take your sister and friends to Austin to a music festival! That’s Lola’s mother’s idea for celebrating Journey’s twenty-first birthday. Now Lola's stuck babysitting five wild college girls for a week in Austin. The only perk, the hot drummer Gunner Wallace. Lola never forgot the night they spent together while he was on tour. Now what did she tell him while they were together? If only she could remember.

  Join Assured Distraction on their third adventure of Rock and Roll and Love!

  This book is dedicated to my readers and author friends.

  When I wanted to quit, you lifted me.

  When I needed to breathe, you gave me time.

  When I melted, you gathered the puddle and reformed me.

  When I succeeded, you rejoiced with me.

  Celebrate now, friends. We did it, again.

  And I Thank You.

  Blurb

  Dedication

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Playlist

  Acknowledgments

  Connect With Me Online

  About The Author – Thia Finn

  I was so fucking tired. How did I go this long without sleep? Oh yeah, I let that little redhead from last night keep me awake at Hotel W downtown, but it was well worth it. I opened my front door to my home and looked around. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept here a full night.

  I didn’t bring women here. Ever. This was my home where I could do what I wanted when I wanted and not have to worry about intrusions. The security around the homes in my area was better than our band, Assured Distraction, had.

  I had a love/hate relationship with anonymity since the band lost it all after the epic tour we did with Steele a couple of years ago in Europe. I fucking loved everything about the concerts we do, like the women and the groupies, but sometimes I wanted it all to go away and just leave me the hell alone. I used to be able to go into a bar here in Austin and play a game of pool with my friends. Forget that shit now. Not happening anymore. These chicks could be abso-fucking-lutely crazy sometimes, like when they tried to rip the clothes right off my back. That shit used to do wonders for my ego, but it got old damn fast in my book.

  Changes in the band have happened so quickly. Chandler and KeeMac live together now. With her on keyboard and him the lead singer, they did a lot of the writing done before we ever hit the studio. I was surprised those two hadn’t made it official already since Chandler came from a straight-laced life, but they seemed happy like they were, and she was still young.

  Then there was Ryan and our tour manager, Peri. I fucking loved that girl. She was the best at her job, but when she and Ryan got pregnant with little Tucker, she had to take some time off. We learned to appreciate her then because Gary, one of the sound guys working with us since the beginning, took over. He did a good job, but damn he was not Peri.

  Peri and Ryan almost got two for the price of one since Hayden’s son, Crew, was born just a few weeks before Tuck. Now the two cousins were more like brothers. They all lived at Peri and Ryan’s new house and had a full-time nanny. They also all traveled on their own bus. Since the baby momma, “she who shall not be named” (and no I’m not a Harry Potter nerd, but everyone knows that line) was so far out of the picture, we didn’t even acknowledge she was ever living.

  That left Carter, me, and sometimes Hayden to hold up the confirmed bachelor status and let me say, we did our fucking best to have new girls each and every night while we were on the road. At home, though, I did not partake of groupie sex anymore. I had enough while we were gone to last me a while. Last night was an exception. Carter’s friend had a house party on the lake, and we met a girl there. One look at that hot little body on that lounge chair, and I knew I wanted to get my hands wrapped up in that hair. Before I left this morning, it was wrapped in her hair, around her thighs, around her waist, and just about anywhere else possible. Hence, the reason I was exhausted this morning.

  On the last tour to Europe, I did meet a sweet little chéri in Paris, and I would have loved to continue hitting that for at least a few weeks, but with a tour, relationships didn’t work out. I knew when I left her it wouldn’t but I hated to tell her that after spending one outstanding night having her every which way I could. She was down for whatever I threw at her, and I did love a woman who was willing to climb Mt. Everest for an adventure.

  I thought of her sometimes because that chick was smokin’ hot and had a body
to write songs about, but I knew nothing would ever come of it. We talked and iMessaged some for a while like we said we would, but it died off pretty quickly when we both got busy. I knew that made me a douche, but I wouldn’t want to get her hopes up only to let her down time after time. I was not a completely bad guy. A relationship with a woman didn’t sound all that bad to me, but this life was too hard to make them work. Hell, I didn’t know if I could do what KeeMac and Ryan do, but then I had never been in love, so who the fuck knew.

  I took a shower and toweled off, walked back into my bedroom, flipped the TV on with the remote, and fuck me if the one person I was just thinking about wasn’t on my television. What the hell?

  “This is all a misunderstanding,” I said into the microphone shoved in my face. “I’ll be proven innocent in all of this, and then I can move on with my life.” My lawyer, Mr. Willis, took over the news conference relieving me of the problem. I hated when the vultures got that near me.

  “Miss Reitzell will not be making a statement at this time. She is innocent of these bogus charges. That is all at this time.” Mr. Willis wrapped his arm around my shoulder and led me to the waiting car. Thank God. I was so tired already, and it had just begun.

  When I came home to the U.S., I didn’t think there would be any problems, but being on the steps of the courthouse in downtown Houston, Texas, proved how wrong I was. I haven’t been back to the States in a couple of years.

  Since my father was a senator in the French Parliament, the media had blown this out of proportion. He was going to be furious with me for drawing attention to myself. It was something I promised a long time ago I would never do again.

  “Lola, what were you thinking even talking to the media?” my mother asked when I sat down next to her in the front seat of her car.

  “Maybe that I’m innocent, and those people should leave me alone?” I rolled my eyes which I know is childish for my age but dammit, I’m tired and ready to go to bed. Police actually came on the plane and handcuffed me. I was utterly humiliated. The police picked me up from there and took me to Harris County Courthouse downtown.

  “Look maman, I’m exhausted and dirty. I want a bath and my bed, please.” I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat and head rest.

  “I realize that Lola, but why would you get into a fight on a plane? And with a man?”

  “Did anyone even think to stop and ask what that prick did to me to make me want to beat the hell out of him? No, they did not. They are only blowing this out of proportion because of papa, and you know it.”

  “That’s true, but you should have never allowed it to escalate out of control, Lola.”

  “What was I supposed to do, let him rape me right there on the plane? Maybe when my clothes were ripped off, and he was ramming me with his dick, I could convince someone what happened.”

  “Lola, Please, don’t be so vulgar.”

  My mother was outraged by my language? That’s what she was angry about? I couldn’t believe this.

  She made me feel like I was a slut, and I was far from that. I was an educated woman who held an “adult” job for a couple of years now. I moved to France to live with my dad once I graduated from University of Texas’s nursing program. I wanted to get away from Texas for a while, and he begged me to come live with him and take a vacation.

  I loved it at first, but sitting around doing nothing got boring fast with no friends, so I found a job working at the hospital outside of Paris where he lives. I had two outstanding years I’ll never forget, and I had no regrets. I made a lot of friends, and we had monumental times going out and hitting all the best clubs and concerts, but I needed to get on with my life so coming home to the States seemed like the best thing.

  When we arrived home, I gave her my meanest stink eye look and carried my suitcases up to my old room. I thought I was stepping back in time when I walked through the doorway.

  “Maman, you could have gutted my room and started over while I was gone,” I called down to her. I think the sheets are still on the bed from when I left. Sheesh.

  She walked through the door behind me. “Lola, I didn’t want you to think we were getting rid of your room. You weren't kicked out, you went off to college and then your dad’s. You will always have a home here, darling.” She wrapped her arm around my shoulders from the side and pulled me to her.

  “Maman, I’m twenty-five years old. I shouldn’t live here with you.”

  “I know it’s only temporary until you get a place of your own.”

  “Yeah, I need to apply for jobs first thing, but now I have this nightmare hanging over my head.” Sitting down and crying sounded like a great plan. Between being exhausted, interrogated, arrested and finally home, I am emotionally and physically a wreck.

  “So, do you want to talk about what happened now?” she asked, giving me a skeptical look.

  “Not really, but I want you to know the true story. At first, I sat down on the plane and promptly went to sleep. I had taken a pill at the airport just before we boarded so that I would sleep on the plane. I woke up and found Mr. Tall, Dark, and Muscular sitting next to me, and he was wide-awake. I tried to turn the other way, but he apparently thought awake meant talk, so he started the whole let’s be friends by way of asking me questions.”

  Thinking back on it now, I should have excused myself to the restroom via the flight attendant so she could find me another seat. The way he was looking at me the entire time was creepy with a side of lecher thrown in.

  “I was polite and made small talk because I knew the flight lasted for a several more hours. He had been drinking, and when he asked if I wanted a glass of wine, I should have said no, but I thought maybe it would put him to sleep, and I could get on with my nap. It wasn’t long until I had to pee, so I asked him to let me out to go.

  “At first, he was like, ‘I think you have to wait. There’s a line.’ So I did, and we had another glass. I had to go badly by then, so I stood up and tried to climb over him. He put his hands on my waist and lifted me out since he wasn’t nice enough to stand up and let me pass.”

  “You let him put his hands on you?”

  “He did it so fast; I didn’t have time to object really, Mom.”

  “You should have told the attendants right then, Lola.”

  “I know, right, but I had to pee badly, so I went to the restroom and locked the door behind me. When I opened it to go back to my seat, he was standing there and pushed me in, turned, and locked the door. I asked him what the hell he was doing, and he gave me this smirky-looking grin like I was supposed to be okay with what was going on.”

  “Oh, Lola, did you start screaming?”

  “No, Mother. We were at thirty thousand feet over the Atlantic. What good would that have done? I wanted to get out of there without causing any more problems. Unfortunately, he had other ideas. He said he knew I was waiting for him to join me so we could both become members of the mile high club, but he suspected I was already a member. Can you believe that shit? He didn’t know me two hours before that, and he had me all figured out.”

  “Second clue, Lola. You should have been screaming by now.”

  “I know, but I just wanted to go to my seat and sleep. I had that pill and several glasses of wine, remember? With all of zero feet of space in that restroom, I told him to move away from the door and let me out, and get this; he starts laughing at me. Well, that pissed me off, so now I’m raising my voice and told him to get the hell out of my way.”

  Mother nodded her head like she understands the situation.

  “I was like, ‘Dude, move your ass, and let me out.’ That made him mad because he put his hand over my mouth and tried to shut me up. My mild claustrophobia kicked in, and that tiny airplane restroom was getting smaller by the second with him doing that, so I opened my mouth under his hands, and I bit until there was a coppery taste in my mouth. I knew blood was dripping from his fingers, and he jerked his hand away. When he drew back to hit me, I beat him to th
e punch, and I launched an uppercut hit to his jaw because space was so tight I couldn’t do a right hook like in kickboxing.”

  “Oh, Lola, you didn’t. You threw the first punch, on the man’s face?”

  “I sure as hell did. What was I supposed to do? He staggered back a little from the punch because he was looking at his finger-bite when I hit him. Now I had enough room to get a good swing and punched him right in the nose like the self-defense teacher taught us to. I got a great shot at it, too. He bled like a stuck pig. So now he’s bleeding from his hand and his nose, and it’s all down the front of him.”

  “Yes, I can see it now. Blood everywhere. So what happened next?”

  “I guess one of us was screaming like a little girl because the flight attendant is banging on the door telling us to unlock it. Next thing I knew, it popped open. I guess they had a key or something in case people get locked in. Anyway, he bends and turns around, and when he does blood drips everywhere. The attendant starts yelling, and I was kinda worked up over the whole thing, trying to claw my way out of the restroom to some fresh air when an Air Marshal came up with his gun drawn yelling at me to get down on the floor.

  “I told him I didn’t do anything and that this jerkoff tried to rape me. The Marshal looks at me like I’ve lost my mind and yells it again. I know I should have done what he said, but that floor was nasty, and I hadn’t done anything wrong. Mr. Muscles pipes up and says I attacked him when he mistakenly thought the restroom was unoccupied. He gave the Marshal this ‘I’m so injured and innocent look,’ so the Marshall grabs me and tries to push me down to restrain me. Well, that pissed me off, and I was sort of fighting him back, so two men sitting in the front row jumped in and helped him hold me down to put handcuffs on me. Me! I hadn’t even done anything, and I get the handcuffs! He lets Mr. Muscles go back to his seat, and the attendant takes the first aid kit and starts cleaning him up while he looks at her with this ‘oh poor me’ look which she was totally getting into.”