Ready For Flynn,Part 3: A Rockstar Romance: Ready For Flynn Series
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Ready For Flynn
Book 3
The Ready For Flynn Series
K. L. Shandwick
Copyright © 2016 K.L. Shandwick
All rights reserved.
The author has asserted their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the copyright holder, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This book is a work of fiction, Names, places, characters, band names and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or names are used within the fictitious setting. Any resemblance to actual person’s living or dead. Band names or locales are entirely coincidental unless quoted as artists.
Acknowledgements
Editor: Amy Donnelly
Cover Design: by Russell Cleary
Photograph: Eric Battershall Photography
Cover Model: Burton Hughes
Beta Readers: Elmarie Pieterse, Sarah Lintott, Emma Moorhead, Lesley Edwards
Proof readers: Lisa Perkins and Kim Gray.
Formatting: Erik Gevers
This book is a work of fiction, Names, places, characters, band names and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or names are used within the fictitious setting. Any resemblance to actual person’s living or dead. Band names or locales are entirely coincidental. All artists quoted are in context of this fictional setting.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1 - No more gigs
Chapter 2 - One last night
Chapter 3 - Alone time
Chapter 4 - Normality
Chapter 5 - My world
Chapter 6 - Stargazing
Chapter 7 - Running off at the mouth
Chapter 8 - Complicated things
Chapter 9 - Insecurities
Chapter 10 - Suspicion and Lies.
Chapter 11 - Making a stand
Chapter 12 - In pieces
Chapter 13 - Pain and sadness
Chapter 14 - Joy and laughter
Chapter 15 - How the coin falls
Chapter 16 - Taking time
Chapter 17 - Making changes
Chapter 18 - The way we were
Chapter 19 - Heartbeat
Chapter 20 - Talk to me baby
Chapter 21 - Now I know you
Chapter 22 - In the zone
Chapter 23 - Dare to tread
Chapter 24 - Jonah
Chapter 25 - Getting tough
Chapter 26 - Belonging
Chapter 27 - Emotions run high
Chapter 28 - Struggles
Chapter 29 - Beautiful
Chapter 30 - Nepotism
Chapter 31 - Nervous wreck
Chapter 32 - Words are all I have
Chapter 33 - Why?
Chapter 34 - Cruel to be kind
Chapter 35 - Ready for Flynn
Epilogue - Five years later
Other Titles by K.L. Shandwick
About K.L. Shandwick
Dedication
This book is dedicated to Margaret, my mother. As I write this it is almost twenty years to the day since you passed. Your strength and humor lifted me, your care, love, and patience, grounded me. Your heart and soul were the purest I’ve ever known.
You once told me that life wasn’t easy but if I lived it honestly it would be worth it. You were right. It is. Thank you for your wisdom and love. Twenty years later I still miss you every day. In writing this story I took myself on an emotional journey and tapped into those feelings of losing someone so special.
Prologue
Flynn
There has always been something about the roar of the crowd as the last note dies in the air that has always given me goosebumps. Nothing compares to standing elevated above the masses with my band, relishing in the knowledge we have met the expectations of our fans. Whenever I heard that awesome noise swelling toward us like some massive sound wave it reminded me what a privileged position I had.
That almost palpable electrically charged buzz that’s produced by a sweat-soaked, endorphin-fueled horde of music lovers has never failed to give me the biggest high. It always took my appreciation for the work I do to a new level. It choked me every time, and each performance has always brought something to the gig which has inspired me to do even better the next time around.
Watching the delight turn to deflation on the faces of our fans at the end of a gig always made my chest tighten and my gut feel heavy with sadness that we couldn’t do more. My loyalty to them was as strong as theirs was to me. I prayed I’d never let them down almost as much as I thanked God for bringing my girl Valerie into my life. If it hadn’t been for her faith in me and her networking and business sense, I dread to think what would have happened to me as a musician.
Every day I wake and she lies naked beside me, still deep in her peaceful, sleeping state, I wallow in the luxury of watching her, and my heart still squeezes with a potent concoction of desire and the need to touch only love brings. I wondered daily what I’d done to deserve such a lucky break in life. Her beauty, composure and clarity of thought set her apart from any other person I’d ever known.
It’s hard to imagine how much we’ve packed into the past three years since we finally got together. Valerie has been my saving grace, my best friend, my lover, the mother of my child, and lastly, my bossy, sassy, manager. She became everything I ever wanted in my life, and nothing like the life I thought I’d been destined for before I’d met her. Our timing was off and in the beginning, I had to walk away from the way she made me feel for the reasons I’ve already given, but apart from those, Valerie was too pure for a bad boy like me.
Both personally and professionally, my life is so far removed from the day our son Liam was born prematurely, to where we are now. There have been tons of ‘firsts’ for us in the past couple of years. Valerie’s twenty-first birthday, Liam’s first birthday, our first Christmas as a family, and we attended our first wedding together for Craig and Simone. We also built and moved into our first family home.
All of those had been personal milestones, and if those hadn’t been enough on a professional level, RedA gained their first Grammy award as best newcomers for a rock band. We’d also just returned from our first overseas European tour, and to top that off we had a platinum album.
Our new life had become all about balance. During the tour, Valerie’s Mom had stepped in as a nanny to Liam so Valerie could be efficient at taking care of the business end for the band, and since then we’ve found a comfortable separation between my fame and our private lives.
I’m never going to say the past three years have been a breeze, but I wouldn’t swap one second of it because they were spent with Valerie. There hasn’t been a day that has passed where I’ve wanted to be anywhere else. I loved my life. There aren’t many people as fortunate as me that get to spend most of their time doing exactly what they wanted for a living. I also realized that I was exceptionally fortunate that the love of my life was living that dream on both a professional and personal level right alongside me.
In the time RedA has been together as a band, we’ve been productive and successful. We’ve achieved
the global recognition and popularity that Valerie predicted, in ways beyond anything even she had imagined she’s admitted. During that time, I watched Valerie develop her skills of negotiation at an incredible rate and the world quickly became our oyster.
Valerie was still in her early twenties but had gained a reputation for being one of the best band managers in the business. There were many in her same position for a lot longer than she’d been alive that had never quite managed to achieve what she had.
Our band worked well together and had become a pretty tight group, and while there was definitely a pecking order we became co-dependent on each other. We’ve worked through a lot.
Lexi, our bass player had a pretty rocky start in the beginning. It had taken time for her to accept that my only interest in her was as a band member. Once she’d accepted that she’d found a steady boyfriend in one of the sound guys in the crew.
The surprise for me was Jonah. He’d also disclosed he was related to one of the guys in the band I’d left behind and that he’d set out with the intention to ruin me. After a while, he came clean and we let him stay.
Earning my trust hadn’t been easy for him, but he’d done his job, and I accepted that he was a talented drummer and an essential member of the band. In his private time, if there is such a thing in the world of a rock band member, he’d become a man-whore who relished the limelight. After-parties were his thing, and he’d had affairs with a string of wannabe celebrities and fame chasers during the previous couple of years.
Since he’d still managed to do his job and hadn’t caused problems for the band we’d figured he was entitled to live his life how he chose. It wasn’t our business as long as it didn’t affect the name of the band.
Valerie was amazing. How she juggled everything was an enigma. Every mail shot that went out had up-to-date pictures of us guys in the band. She still managed her own business by doing monthly photo shoots and provided all our official press images herself. We had taken on a new alternative rock band to our record label after they had supported us previously, and Valerie had done all their publicity shots as well.
So the band and the businesses went from strength to strength, and apart from running RedA, Valerie still found time to be the best mother to our son, Liam. And for me, that instant love a father has when he holds his child for the first time had grown inside with each passing month of his development, and with each new milestone he achieved.
I never thought I’d have the capacity in my heart to love another person with how much I loved Valerie, but I learned I had. Smart, funny, and the best natured child we could have wished for, he appeared to have inherited the best bits of the both of us.
For the most part, we had little to complain about apart from the occasional rogue fan that wanted to hurt Valerie for being with me. That threat was always real, and Lee worried about her security. Given that he was paid to ensure we stayed safe, I always gave due consideration to anything he suggested. My family was my world, and although it was my primal instinct to want to take care of them myself, I wasn’t stupid enough to think that I could do that on my own; whatever Lee asked of us, Valerie and I tried to follow to the letter.
Before Liam was born we had already put some security in place for Valerie, but once he’d arrived, we had a whole family consultation about where we should live to offer the best privacy and convenience for all of us because there were always people who took things to extremes and Lee was smart enough to realize that extended to anyone related to us.
The cabin on the Darsin family property we’d shared as a couple had been perfect for our needs before the baby, but it was too small for us as a family. When Alan, her dad, offered us the chance to build on his land it had made sense. It kept our security contained, and it was ideal for the studio when we were in Iowa. As we still had to share our time between there and our house in Chicago, it seemed the best solution. Within a week of that decision, plans were drawn for another house, ten acres from the studio this time, which gave us infinitely more privacy as our family home.
When Lee suggested a male nanny for Liam, I have to say I balked. The thought of another man taking care of my child didn’t make sense at the time. Valerie already had Rita, who was her security detail, and they just looked like two friends when they walked around together. Rita was great and blended in perfectly, but I had to concede she wouldn’t have been able to take care of both her and Liam if there had been an issue.
Eventually, Lee made me see reason that as Liam got older, he’d be in restrooms and locker rooms, and as Valerie or Rita couldn’t go with him, I reluctantly I agreed to hiring Niven, a thirty-three-year-old, six-foot-three, ex-marine who had taken specialist training courses in close protection.
Niven Campbell had worked for another high-profile celebrity family until their teenage son had refused to accept his protection detail after going off to college. When I met him I wanted to find fault with him. However, after a couple of hours in his company where Lee and I had thrown every scenario we could think of at him, I had to concede he’d impressed me. His credentials were impeccable. After meeting with him I even flew to his previous employers for a face-to-face talk with them about his parenting skills and the kid he took care of. Everything checked out, and he had glowing references.
When he first started working with Liam I was still wary and kept asking myself, What kind of ex-army guy wants to look after a small boy? But there was no doubt that his background checked out and he had glowing references. Lee liked him on sight, but Liam wasn’t his kid. So I put hidden CCTV cameras everywhere I could think of to ensure Liam’s safety, and checked in via the internet every ten minutes on my phone when I could. When I couldn’t, I had Lee do that. Eventually, I relaxed and could tell that Niven had bonded with Liam and was almost as protective of him as I was.
On the road, our crew had grown considerably, and it seemed to me that whenever we were at home everyone was on-hand whenever they were needed. It was like we had our own little compound-thing going on. Valerie had a knack for acquiring people and earlier on had hired two fans who became her apprentices, Alison and Helen. We’d met them when they were young fans who had hitch-hiked across state lines to my place in Chicago.
Valerie’s parents had grown fond of the girls and had also taken an interest in them at that time years before, but had been a little obstinate about them moving onto the site with us. I had difficulty understanding their reluctance for the girls to live nearby, but Valerie understood exactly why they were so concerned. The cabin was usually reserved in our absence for Melanie and Milly.
When we’d found out Melanie, a girl both Martin and I knew from college, had given birth to Martin’s child, we were forced to walk a rocky path together for a while. I had a little history with Melanie and as there had been no DNA testing we’d wondered if Milly was my child. Both Martin and I had been with Melanie at the same time, which was tough on Valerie, but when Melanie agreed to have the paternity test done it had proven that Martin was Milly’s father.
Mel traveled down once a month to stay for a long weekend, and occasionally Valerie’s parents flew up and took care of Milly to give Melanie time with her new man, Alex. It was a great arrangement as it brought new memories of their late son Martin to Valerie’s parents through his daughter Milly.
Valerie had guessed her mom obviously still hadn’t been ready to face what to do with Martin and Adam’s belongings, and as Melanie, Alex and Milly normally stayed in the cabin this was a new stress for her. Milly had begun to talk about her dad, Martin, a lot; asking questions, and she was naturally curious to know about him. She knew it was only a matter of time before she’d want to see his personal things and believed her mom was worried about facing that painful journey again with her.
When we were home, there was never a shortage of babysitters; everyone almost fought to take care of our son, Liam. That honor usually went to Valerie’s Auntie Joan, her mom, or her brother Kayden and hi
s fiancé, Amber. Whenever we were in Iowa, it was deemed our safe place and Niven usually had his vacation time when we were there.
My bandmate and close friend Craig had married his girlfriend Simone last year. They had settled in their place about three miles from our base in Iowa and Craig had maintained his apartment in Chicago as well. Apart from when we made time for each other, we only saw them when we were working, even though we all spoke practically every day.
Like I said, our life was about trying to balance the demands of my highly exposed public image, that fast lane lifestyle Valerie and I lived for at least ten months of the year, and those of being a normal family with our son away from the limelight.
Chapter 1
No more gigs
Flynn
We were all on a high as we stepped out on stage for our last gig of the tour. The noise in the arena went from practically nothing to a steady uprising of appreciation while the floor vibrated beneath us as the low rumble of stamping feet in everything from heavy boots to flip-flops rumbled rhythmically on the floor in unison. Standing in the dark up there on the stage the familiar electrifying atmosphere fuelled our eagerness to entertain cranked up my anticipation for what turned out to be one of the best gigs we’d ever performed.
Five consecutive nights at Wembley Arena was virtually unheard of, and after that one last gig, I knew we’d be flying back to Iowa for a few weeks’ downtime. Apart from a couple of days of engagements, we’d been looking forward to having almost a month of doing nothing. Twenty-seven days off was unheard of for the band, but it was long overdue. I loved what I did for a living, but I loved my family more, and I couldn’t wait to spend some real quality time with Valerie and Liam.
Europe had been fun, but there was something magical about performing in London, walking the stage where so many amazing bands had been in the past. The fans were different there than anywhere else; they seemed to be louder and more demonstrative in their appreciation of our music and an atmosphere like that always made me hard.