His Assurance (Assured Distraction Book 3) (12 page)

I never realized how difficult it was for five college girls to get dressed and ready to go for the evening until that evening. Between hair, make-up, and clothes, five bedrooms looked like an H&M dressing rooms after a one-day sale.

“My God, Journey, it’s a festival, not the damn prom,” I said as she curled her hair.

“We have to go looking good. Who knows who we will see? Do you think Gunner will get us backstage?”

“If he said he would, I’m sure he will do his best to make it happen. I know we have VIP tickets because he’s got wristbands for you all for both weekends.”

“Where is he, anyway?”

“He’s downstairs playing video games on the big screen.” Men, they never grew tired of playing games.

“Well, I hope you didn’t let us interrupt your little party in the pool today. Honestly, though, that was disgusting to watch, Lola. I mean, I realize you like the guy a lot, but we do not get off on watching how much,” Journey finished the statement as Ivy walked through the door, and I suppose she felt the need to join in on the conversation.

“Yeah, I agree. Unless…you would consider a threesome, and then I would be happy to join in. You know I’ve been reading about the band online, and apparently he and Carter are fairly famous for their escapades with several women at once,” she said all of this with a straight face while she worked with the curls in her hair.

“Let me assure you; I will never be sharing him with any of y’all or anyone else as long as we are together. What he chooses to do when he’s out on the road is all on him, but while I’m here, that won’t be the issue.” I needed to talk seriously with Gunner about this. We hadn’t said anything about seeing each other exclusively for the time I was here. I assumed that was the way it would be since he was so excited about me coming up. I knew I needed more clarification because I was not into sharing, ever.

I had put off my confession about our time in Paris, too. He hadn’t pushed the subject of the little white lies I told him when we were together there, but I owed him that much. I guess I needed to make time for that talk.

Journey turned from the mirror and looked at me. “What are you talking about? Have you seen the way the guy looks at you? It’s not the look of a guy who’s going on the prowl for other women.”

“It may not be right now, but he’ll be tired of me after these two weeks, and we’ll end up going our separate ways. Besides, I have to find a job, and who knows where I’ll land the one I want.”

“Oh, please, Lola. The guy is totally into you. He’s not going to be over you that fast.”

“He’s not looking for a long-term girlfriend. I know the way this works. They travel more months than they are home, and it’s a new girl every night. After we were together in Paris, I only heard from him a handful of times, and then it stopped. I’m sure he found plenty more beautiful women at every venue in Europe, and they’ve been on another tour in the U.S. since then.” The idea behind it made me sick to my stomach, but I knew what I was getting into even if he was the one to reach out to me before I got here. The truth was I wasn’t looking for a long-term boyfriend either. I didn’t know where I was going to settle down. I might not even be in Texas. I could go anywhere and be a nurse.

“That’s enough of my love life. I’m not going to let this ruin the two weeks I have with him. Let’s get going and see what the five of y’all can scare up at ACL. I’m sure the park is crawling with hot guys just waiting to meet you all, or maybe you’ll find your own rock star to share the week with. Did y’all hear Gunner say most of these bands find other gigs in the area since many of them play both weekends?”

“I knew that, but I don’t know if the rest of them do,” Journey added. “I’ll have to be sure to tell the other three.”

“Yeah, I think I want a different one every night, though. I might not ever have this chance again. I’ll play the good groupie for a week.” Ivy gave her eye makeup a final once over and walked out of the room.

“Do you really think she’ll do the whole band groupie thing, Journey? That’s kind of nasty.”

“You never know with her. She likes men… a lot of them. She’s gotten around quite a bit on campus.” Since the girls all attended the same university, I thought Journey and the others probably knew the truth about her.

“I hope she takes a lot of precautions then.” After watching what those groupies were doing that night with Assured Distraction backstage, I was afraid for her.

“She’s a grown woman and has been taking care of herself for a long time. I’m sure she can handle whatever these guys throw at her, Lola. Don’t worry about her. Worry about having your own good time with that sexy guy who wants you.” She smiled at me in the mirror.

“He is very sexy. I think I’ll find him and see just how much while we wait on y’all,” I said to her as I walked out of the room.

“You’re the nasty one.” She threw the brush at me and hit the wall by the door as I rushed through it.

I found him engrossed in some war game sitting on a big, round comfy oversized chair. As I crawled up beside him, he scooted over to make room for me but never took his eyes off the screen. I watched him while he moved his arms around and yelled obscenities at it as though that was going to make him a better shot against the other army.

Since I didn’t have a clue exactly what he was doing, I decided to do a little moving around myself. Only I wanted to spend my time moving around him. I slid my bare foot to his and moved it up his leg that stuck out from his shorts while I walked my fingernails over the colorful tattoos on his arm. I found a red dragon with claws that I hadn’t seen before. I traced the sharp talons lightly with my nails, and I caught his body as it responded with a light shiver.

“Sorry, am I bothering you?” I looked up with my most innocent look, hoping to capture his attention.

“No, not at all.” He still never took his eyes off the screen.

Obviously, I wasn’t doing something right. He yelled at one of his fellow warriors on the screen who caused him to lose a life or something because he ranted about having burned a life for no reason. I slid my toes lightly up and down his leg while I continued stroking his beautiful arm. The oriental tattoos fascinated me. I had to remember to ask him about them later. Not getting the attention I was seeking with my nails, I decided to up the stakes a little with my mouth.

I leaned into his arm, making sure my breasts were divided over his forearm and started up his bicep with little kisses. I swirled my tongue over some of the lines, leaving warm wet patches as I worked my way to his shoulder. I went ever so slowly, and by the time I got to the top, I realized he wasn’t moving anymore. Without taking my lips off him, I looked up to his face and found him watching my every move. When our eyes met, he drilled me an emerald green look so intense I didn’t know whether to move again or not.

Before I could leave another kiss or touch my tongue to his hot skin, he flipped me over and captured me under him, devouring my lips with his own. The kiss was intense and spoke of the carnal plans he intended for me. His khaki-covered thigh wedged between my bare ones since my shorts rode up in the move. Without ending the kiss, he slid his hand up my tank top and lightly pinched my hardened nipple causing a moan to escape into his mouth. The sound seemed to push him to want more, and he moved his thigh against me harder, rubbing back and forth at the apex.

“A-hem!” Little laughs came from the doorway of the den. “If you two are through dry humping on the loveseat, I think we are ready to go.”

Gunner stopped the kiss immediately and put his head down beside mine to hide my obvious embarrassment. He slowly removed his hand from my tank which happened to be on the side they were standing, and whispered in my ear, “Sorry I guess I got carried away but know this, we will finish later, alone.” He rolled off me with his hard dick pushing at the front of his shorts. There was no way to hide it, so he didn’t even try.

The girls stood there staring like they had never seen a hard-on before, and I wanted to crawl under the big chair. He might not care that they saw how big he was, but I was dying. I couldn’t get any words out of my mouth, and even if I could, what would I say?

Ivy topped off the situation. “Nice wood, big guy. Too bad you have to waste it.” She turned and started for the front door while the others laughed and followed her out. “We’ll see y’all in the car.”

When the last one shut the door behind her, I turned over and screamed into the cushion. I don’t know if it was from the embarrassment or the sexual frustration that I would suffer for the rest of the evening in the park.

“Uh, I guess we should go.” He walked to the door while I stood and slid on my sandals.

I looked up at him, “I’m sorry. I should have known better.”

He grabbed me, pulled me to him and wrapped me in a hug with those arms I so enjoyed just minutes before. He kissed my forehead. “No need to apologize. They’re jealous because they know you’re getting some tonight, and they probably aren’t.”

I had to laugh since I knew he was damn right about one of those.

Gunner drove the Infiniti since we had a VIP parking pass to get behind the scenes. A crowd formed around the usual ACL signs, and the music lovers migrated through the scanners and security at a steady pace. Of course the scalpers, with their questionable armbands, openly hawked or offered to buy from every person who passed them. Since 75,000 people were expected to attend the two-weekend event, everyone assumed there would be throngs of music lovers at every turn around Zilker Park.

“I read that cell service was impossible in here,” Abbie offered as we stepped from the car. “I can see why now.”

“Yeah, you might have to step away from the hoards of people if you expect to get a call,” Gunner told everyone. “Texts usually work okay.” He looked at the girls, and I could tell he was trying to decide what to do. “So girls, do y’all want to go have some fun and meet us later? I’m sure the bands we want to hear might be different from the ones you are dying to see.”

“Absolutely. You two go have fun; we’ll meet up later,” Journey said. We each had our schedules on our phones. With so many great bands playing, it was hard to make a perfect schedule. We knew we would only see bits and pieces of shows to catch all of our favorites.

“With these VIP bands, you can go right to the front so that will be easier to see several in one time slot,” Hunter said as he handed them each an armband and reminded them not to take them off while they were there. “There’s also a lounge for VIP to eat and hang out.” He pointed the direction they needed to go for it.