Fast Lane - Kristen Ashley Page 0,24

sign shares it’s well over a mile above sea level.

The drive from the city is at least fifteen minutes, maybe twenty.

The road to the property is dirt, very steep grade.

Property can be seen from the dirt road through trees, but the lane direct to the property leads around to the back.

Cabin is built into the mountain.

Lane and a large area are carved out of the farther elevation of the mountain and includes a large, double cab, silver GMC Sierra and a red Jeep Cherokee.

Stairs down to the door that is used as entry but is not the front of house.

Small area carved out to the side of the stairs where there’s a deck covered in rugs and boho-style outdoor furniture with a number of pillows and throws. The area carved out of the mountain is set with braces in which shelves are built, carrying a variety of pots filled with trailing green plants. Flying awnings cover this area.

The door is opened before I arrive.

Lyla is still blond, and even though now fifty-one years old, her face is unlined.

Her famously curvy body is clothed in wide-legged, Carolina-blue lounge pants, a white tee with a deep V-neck and a long, cream duster cardigan.

Her feet are in pink UGGs.

She has diamond studs in her ears. The diamonds are large, but not ostentatious.

And she has a necklace that is a cursive word with another diamond at the end of it sitting at the base of her throat.

The word is: Lynie.

Lyla:

[Off tape]

Can you start with why you’ve decided to speak with me? You’re famously silent on all subjects.

A lot of people have a lot of things to say about my life.

I figure it’s time to set the record straight.

Lyla:

[Off tape]

I have a number of questions, but with Jesse, he’s told the story from beginning to end. I’d like to ask you to do the same. But can you start in Chicago?

[Turns head to look out the window]

Chicago.

You’d been brought by Tom Mancosa to—

[Turns head back]

I remember Chicago.

[Shakes head]

[Whispering] Preacher.

I ran out.

I don’t know what I expected.

Amber got their album. She listened to it. She was livid. So angry.

She and Jen talked about whether to tell me, make me listen, but then they heard “Give Then Take” on the radio and they decided I’d hear it eventually and it would be better for them to tell me and be around when I heard it.

And they were around when I heard it.

So, I don’t know what I expected, because obviously, he’d gotten it wrong.

And he was very, very angry.

It was Jen’s idea to go up to Chicago.

Not with me.

Her and Amber, to find their way backstage and give him a piece of their mind.

I talked them down.

But then, the idea of going to Chicago for their show was in my head.

The Mustangs weren’t coming down to Indy, you see. Not on that leg. They were going east and would hit Indy on the swing back west. Which wouldn’t be for months.

I honestly didn’t think I’d get backstage.

I had no idea how I managed to get that far.

It was my first indication of just how powerful a pair of tits and a thick head of hair could be.

Especially when it came to anyone who had anything to do with rock ’n’ roll.

I should have left, when they refused to let me in their dressing room.

I also don’t know why I stuck around to watch them walk to their bus.

Maybe I just wanted to see Preacher in that place.

He’d made it, or he was making it, I knew how very much it meant to him to do that, and I was hurt.

But I was glad for him.

And then when Tommy came to me and said Preacher wanted to talk to me, I should have walked away.

And when we were in the back of that limo and I could tell we were wasting time, driving around, I should have asked them to take me to the train station or just asked them to drop me off right where we were so I could grab a taxi or find my way to the L.

There were a lot of “should ofs” in my time with Preacher McCade.

But I didn’t do any of that.

I went with Tom to the hotel.

I rode up the elevator with him.

And I walked into that room and saw Preacher with those girls.

Then I ran away.

“Lyla! Goddammit! Lyla!”

Okay, all right.

Walk fast.

There were taxis on the street in big cities.

Walk fast to the street and get a taxi.

Wait, there were