Fast Lane

Fast Lane

Copyright © 2019 by Kristen Ashley

Cover Art by:

Asha Hossain Design

Interior Design & Formatting by:

Christine Borgford

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

FAST LANE

Dedication

Encouragement

Acknowledgments

The Story

THE 80s

Nicky and Ricky

Tommy Mancosa

Lyla

The Roadmasters

Chicago

The Cabin

The Reunion

Josh and Bobby

Christmas

DuShawn

THE 90s

The Blur

Young and Beautiful

The Tour

Trelane

The Fast Lane

Bobby McGee

Seattle

Portland

Los Angeles

Aftermath

THE AUGHTS

The Bar

Charity Gig

The Boys

China

Jesse

The CD

THEN

The Interim

NOW

The Family

About the Author

Books by Kristen Ashley

Connect with Kristen Ashley

Dedication

To two people who have gone quietly into the goodnight.

Gram and Gramps.

Thanks, Gramps, for “saving” me from that turtle.

Encouragement

WHERE

The maturity and professionalism I read in Lily Guthrie’s articles,

that her proud momma and my friend Shayr shared with me,

were the inspiration behind my out-of-scene character of the interviewer.

So, for Lily I’ll just say…

You’ve got this.

Follow your star.

Acknowledgments

Many moons ago, I had the occasion to really listen to the song “Life in the Fast Lane” by The Eagles.

I’d heard it before, tons of times.

But on that listen, something struck me.

Being a romantic at heart, a romance novelist and addicted to romance for as long as I can remember, that song captured me as lyrics often do. Especially if a love story is told. Any kind of love story. Even the ones without happy endings.

Maybe especially ones without happy endings.

So much said in a few spare lines. So many emotions welling. And as is the magic of music, on each new listen, it happens again like you’d never heard that song before.

I became obsessed with it, inspired by this cautionary tale, and determined to find the right story that would fit that inspiration.

It was something I thought I’d fiddle with “someday,” which is where a great number of my ideas or inspirations are relegated.

Then I read Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones and the Six.

I have never, in my life, put down a book because I was loving it so much, I had to draw it out for as long as I could. And then, weeks later, I picked it up, only begrudgingly, because I knew opening that book again would mean finishing it, and I never wanted it to end.