Assure Her (Assured Distraction Book 1) Read Free Page B

herself.
    “Why would you buy me something like this? It’s so expensive,” Chandler asked, running her hands reverently over the smooth glossy wood.
    “Because Chandler, sweetheart, we want you to have the best money can buy to pursue your career.” Her father had told her when she’d opened the custom Strat after one of her performances in college. They had attended a performance where she played a guitar solo that completely impressed them.
    “ We had no idea until we heard you play how much you had honed your skills on the guitar. You have amazed us, once again, with all of your accomplishments. You should take the time to inform us of your achievements more often, dear,” her mother added. Giving such an expensive gift for just one solo was something only her parents would do, if for no other reason than for others to see how generous they were with her . It made her feel self-conscious.
    Chandler couldn’t have cared less what others thought and took the gift back to her apartment where she promptly stored it under the bed. There it stayed until the day she packed everything into her moving van; she didn’t want to feed their egos by flashing that thing around campus. But once she could actually bring herself to look passed the idea that it was a showy piece of musical artwork, she finally pulled it out to play it, if only in the privacy of her own place. From the first moment she strummed across the strings, she was in love .
    Addressing it lovingly again, like it was human, she whispered, “You know you’re my favorite, baby.”
    Wandering into the studio at 13 Recordings was a little surreal to her. Platinum albums lined the walls from the label’s signed bands, past and present. She had seen these sort of plaques before but never in a professional recording studio where she was about to audition, and certainly not since she had come home to Texas.
    The black-haired woman sitting behind the reception desk left Chandler trying not to gawk at the striking beauty. Her heavily-tatted 50’s pinup girl-look was working for her, all the way down to her vintage style polka-dot dress. Deep red lips turned up in an infectious smile that, set against her lily-white skin, lit-up the room like a thousand-watt light bulb. Chandler, half-stunned, couldn’t help but return it as she wondered if the girl’s skin ever saw the light of day in Austin. This city was hot as hell, like over one-hundred-degrees-hot on a daily basis in the summer. Covering up wasn’t an option, so Chandler was sure this girl didn’t venture outdoors in daylight.
    “You look a little lost,” Red Lips offered.
    “Yeah, I don’t think I am. I’m here to audition with Assured Distraction.”
    The look Chandler received was almost comical as the receptionist’s dark eyes grew bigger then roamed down Chandler’s body and back up before they landed squarely back on her face. She really was a Betty, personified.
    “Yeah, right. Did someone actually line-up this audition, or did you read they might be looking for someone?” Betty’s body language made plain that the first impression Chandler was going for when she’d chosen her clothes for the audition may have missed the mark.
    Chandler had auditioned so many times in her life she could do it blindfolded and blow the audience away every time. Her all-black outfit, from starched blouse and knee-length skirt, to her charcoal hair pulled back into a tight, neat bun had been perfect for all of her auditions before. She wore just a little mascara so that her aqua-blue eyes stood out and some light pink lip gloss so her lips wouldn’t be dry. When she got nervous, she tended to run her tongue over her lips often and that could be distracting during an audition.
    “So, let me check-in with a few people before I send you back to the wolves. Have a seat over there, please.” She pointed to the bank of chairs in the corner of the lobby.
    “The wolves?”
    “Yeah, ‘cause they are going to eat