Fast Lane - Kristen Ashley Page 0,58

a frenzy around them.

And that is not her vibe.

His either, obviously.

Looking back, I wish she was on that tour with us, start to finish, and then all the ones after.

Because when she was, the one-two tag team of Preach lookin’ after the band in his way, and Lyla doing it hers, with Tom’s overlording…

[Laughs]

I think, maybe…

I might be wrong, but I think if she was all in instead of in and out, things woulda gone different.

[Off tape]

Why do you feel this way?

First, because Lyla didn’t put up with any shit from women.

Not when it came to the band.

And in some cases, it’s gotta be a woman who takes care a’ shit like that, you know what I’m sayin’?

She could sniff out a loser or a user faster ’n snot, and she had no problem weeding them out.

She also did not delay in doing that.

And she got such a reputation with it, the vast majority of the time, women didn’t try to dick us over.

But also, with that and with her around…

You just don’t be a bitch or an asshole around a woman like that.

I mean that both ways.

The women we had, they looked up to Lyla and for the most part, she showed them the way.

And us guys, we never wanted to disappoint her, so she showed us the way too.

Second, Lyla has no interest in it, and I’ve noted repeatedly Preacher is protective as fuck, and you do a lot of press on tour. Every city, it’s more reporters or photo ops or radio shows.

Tom set it up so if we did interviews, it was not in band space. No one ever had all access, and after the String thing, it was very rare they got close to the band in any area that was considered personal, like our dressing room.

Tom made the label hire space or get another suite and that’s how we did interviews.

This way, we could keep them far away from Lyla.

And this meant, because everyone mostly wanted to talk to Preacher, okay, she was with the band, with him.

Taking care of the band.

Taking care of him.

But Preach bogged down with reporters?

That means she’s with the band.

And Lyla has to be taking care of somebody.

Lyla left to her own devices is not good.

Taking care of somebody, she’s Audie’s, Lynie’s, her mom’s…

That’s her heart.

That’s her soul.

We didn’t know it then, but she has to be stuck in, up to her neck, doing something she cares deeply about for someone she cares deeply about.

Yeah, we didn’t know it then.

[Quieter] But we know it now.

I guess everyone knows that now.

Once, once, a roadie pulls out some smack and suggests it to Dave.

And Dave was Dave.

He’d try anything.

Preacher is off talking to some magazine, but Lyla sees that shit and she’s on getting Tommy there so fast, the world stopped spinning.

That roadie was gone, and after that, I don’t know, but it could be Tom had everyone who came anywhere near us frisked so no heroin would get close to the band.

[Chuckles]

Now, Lyla also did her first toots of coke from Dave’s spoon when Preacher was somewhere else, and we’ll just say, when Preach found out, he was not a happy man.

But we were all frosted half the time, including Preacher, so as much as it sucks to say, that was probably inevitable.

Still…

[Taps fingers restlessly on armchair]

I think, as long as he could, Preach tried to stay true to what he promised Audie, taking care of her, looking out for her.

Holding on, in the end, by his fingernails.

And then he let go.

Worse, she did too.

But by then, she really had no choice.

We get off that tour and we’re beat, but we gotta get into the studio.

So, we do, and I remember us all sitting around Lyla and Preacher’s living room, shuffling through bits of paper that have lyrics or music written on them, trying to pick which ones we’re going to put on the next album.

Lyla’s on the phone with Amber talking about how a gig she got working with a youth center went bust because she was found out and some reporters and paparazzi were sniffing around, and that very day, she had to quit.

And she says, “I like yesterday better than today. But I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

And that’s just Lyla.

Her mom dies and within a few years her grandparents are dead.

She’s deep in love with a man she barely sees.

She’s twenty-five years old and the degree she earned is useless, her career is up in smoke, but