by Sian Ceinwen
A CRUISE CONTROL NOVEL
SIN CEINWEN
Copyright © 2020 by Sian Ceinwen
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
ISBN: 978-0-6483621-6-6 (Mobi)
Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.
Front cover image by Mark Reid at authorpackages.com.
Book design by Lorna Reid at authorpackages.com.
This book is dedicated to Ally, for staying with me through the ups and downs of writing it. Thank you for all of the long nights spent in discussion about Harrison and Heather…and mostly, Sebastian. Never say never.
Table of Contents
~JUNE~
Chapter 1
GOSSIP, GIRL
Chapter 2
A RED CARPET AFFAIR
~JULY~
Chapter 3
NOT EVEN YOKO
Chapter 4
HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO ORGANIZE A WEDDING?
~AUGUST~
Chapter 5
A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Chapter 6
RAISE A GLASS
~SEPTEMBER~
Chapter 7
FASHION IS AN ISLAND
Chapter 8
KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN
Chapter 9
LIGHTS, CAMERA, WHY THE HELL DID I DO THIS?
~OCTOBER~
Chapter 10
THANK FUCK IT’S FRIDAY!
Chapter 11
SREĆAN TRIDESETI ROĐENDAN, HAIDEN
Chapter 12
LIVE FROM NEW YORK…
~NOVEMBER~
Chapter 13
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
Chapter 14
CONTRA CONSILIUM MEDICINAE
~DECEMBER~
Chapter 15
A THOUSAND WORDS
Chapter 16
AFTER TEN A.M.
~JANUARY~
Chapter 17
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS
Chapter 18
CHAPTER NEVER REVISITED
Chapter 19
TRUTH HURTS
~FEBRUARY~
Chapter 20
ONE MILLION DOLLARS
Chapter 21
AARON, AARON HAMILTON
~MARCH~
Chapter 22
DIRTY THIRTY
Chapter 23
THE FINAL HURDLE
Chapter 24
SWEET DREAMS
~APRIL~
Chapter 25
THE PRIMEST OF TIMES
Chapter 26
SUPER FUN HAPPY PARTY TIME
~MAY~
Chapter 27
THE WEDDING
EPILOGUE
SNEAK PEEK FOR THE BABY
SNEAK PEEK FOR HARRISON’S WEDDING
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
~JUNE~
HARRISON FLETCHER TURNS 30!
Our favorite bass guitarist is turning the big 3-0 on the 6th, and if you can get yourself an invitation to his party, you’ll be lucky. Rumor has it that everyone who’s anyone is going to be there! Gabriel, Sebastian, and Hayden, the other three members of Cruise Control, are a given, but who else will come to celebrate? We’re pretty confident that the guest list will include April Conway, who is a close friend of the band and sang a duet with Gabriel on their last album.
Inside sources tell us that the party will be wildly extravagant, and Harrison’s longtime girlfriend, Heather, has gone all out for her man’s big day. Who knows how she finds the time, we’re pretty sure she’s busy preparing Serenity’s collection for the fashion line’s upcoming debut at New York Fashion Week!
Anyway, happy birthday, Harrison! If you need anyone to come and celebrate with you, we’re free!
Chapter 1
GOSSIP, GIRL
DESPITE HERSELF, HEATHER YORK was nervous. She was well and truly used to events like the one she was going to tonight. It would be full of the rich and famous, no doubt. Her boyfriend, Harrison, was turning thirty today, and he happened to be a member of the world’s biggest rock band, Cruise Control. Somehow, his management team had convinced them that throwing a massive party would be a brilliant way to celebrate, as well as being good publicity for the band.
Heather loved a good party as much as the next person, but Harrison was very different from her. She’d started out planning something far more low-key for him, but at some point, this whole evening had gotten out of Heather’s control. His team had taken over the entire thing, including the guest list, so Heather didn’t even really know who would be there now. At least she’d managed to book her favorite stylists, Tristan and Jessica, to do her hair and makeup for tonight, and they were in fine form.
“How do you guys do it?” She asked them, amazed as always at the transformation they were performing on her.
“Lots of practice,” Jessica replied with a smile.
“So, I have to ask, Heather, is it true?” Tristan looked embarrassed about his question.
Heather immediately knew what he was talking about; the news had broken a week ago that Cruise Control’s lead singer, Gabriel Knight, had broken up with his girlfriend, Elena Kass, after she was spotted kissing another man at a party.
“Yeah, they’ve broken up.” Heather shrugged.
“She cheated on him? I always thought she was so nice!” Jessica seemed surprised.
Heather was uncomfortable with gossiping. Gabriel was one of her closest friends, and she didn’t want to be the one spreading his news.
“No, it was mutual. They broke up a few days before those pictures were taken.”
What she didn’t tell them was that they’d mostly broken up because Gabriel had been pining after his ex-girlfriend. Heather sighed involuntarily as Ariana Chamberlain came into her memory. Both Tristan and Jessica had met Ariana once before—they’d done her hair and makeup before the 2018 Grammys, where the band had won so many awards that people still joked about it two years later.
The next day, though, Ariana had walked out on them without saying goodbye to anyone but Gabriel and Sebastian. This still hurt Heather. She understood Gabriel, of course, but while she loved Sebastian, it was she who had been Ariana’s best friend. Sure, Sebastian was the one who went down to her hotel room to confront her that day, but Heather had called and sent messages for two weeks straight with no reply before Gabriel asked her to stop and give Ariana some space.
It had been so hard for the remainder of that tour. Gabriel could barely function enough to perform, do the interviews they were required to do, or attend any events. Heather had been devastated as well; it had been awful. She hadn’t realized how much she’d come to rely on Ariana’s presence in her daily life until it was no longer there. Harrison had been an incredible source of support for her, though. He’d been her rock. Eventually, life had returned to some semblance of normality for them all.
That was, of course, until the last night of their most recent tour. As part of his grieving process, Gabriel had written an album called Heart Wide Open that was pretty amazing and had garnered the band their second Album of the Year Grammy Award this year. Cruise Control always started and ended their tours in their hometown of Chicago. Everyone had been shocked when Ariana showed up at the meet and greet after the final show of the tour.
<
br /> None of them were particularly clear on the details of what had happened, but he and Elena had done some counseling. They were still dating for a while after, but everyone in the band could tell it was strained between them. Next thing you know, Elena was out kissing some stranger, and Gabriel was assuring them that he was fine with it because they’d split up, and he was back with Ariana. She supposed that Ariana would be at the party tonight. Perhaps that was a part of her nerves.
Heather wasn’t sure she wanted to see Ariana again. She loved Gabriel, but she thought he was making a big mistake by letting her back into his life. Thank goodness the band wasn’t touring at the moment—aside from events like tonight, Heather wouldn’t have to see Ariana that much.
At that moment, Tristan and Jessica finished up what they were doing and spun Heather to look in the mirror and admire their handiwork. As usual, they had done a fantastic job. Her hair was in a beautiful updo with a braided headband, and her makeup featured smoky eye shadow and bright pink lipstick.
“I love it, darlings. You’re absolute miracle workers.” Heather smiled at them both.
“Thanks, babe.” Tristan grinned.
He gave her a hug, and Jessica followed suit before they exchanged goodbyes and left her home. Heather headed out of the living area and walked into their bedroom to find Harrison relaxing on their bed, his hair wet but wearing only a towel around his waist and looking at his phone. He looked up as she entered the room.
“Hey there, angel,” he said, and she could see the desire in his eyes.
“Hi honey, you haven’t started getting ready yet?”
He dropped his phone next to him, got up from the bed, came over to her, and slipped his arms around her waist.
“We’ve got plenty of time before we have to leave,” he whispered in her ear before nipping her ear lobe with his teeth.
“Mmmmm,” she replied, “except that we don’t. We have to leave in about thirty minutes, as much as I would love to stay here and fuck you silly.”
He grinned wickedly at her and let her go.
“Okay, we’ll go to this party, then I’ll come back here, and I’ll unwrap my present.”
He ran his gaze over her body, and she felt herself getting aroused. Ten years and he still had the ability to make her dizzy with longing. Particularly when she knew that it would be many hours before she would get to scratch this itch.
She stepped forward so that they were close again, reached between them, and slipped her hand under his towel. She looked in his eyes as she did so and heard him groan as she placed her hand over his growing erection. Slowly rubbing it up and down, she felt him become completely hard.
“I promise,” she said, continuing to rub him and looking into his eyes, “to give you the best birthday present ever when we get home.”
As she continued to stroke him, he reached into her robe to start playing with her breasts. Heather was wet now and thought that it didn’t really matter if they were a little bit late, then Harrison’s phone alarm started going off.
“Sorry, angel. We’ll have to continue this later. That alarm is to let me know that the car will be here in exactly thirty minutes.”
He removed his hand from her robe; she sighed and dropped her hand as he pulled her close for a hug and kissed her neck. Harrison was a stickler for timing; he’d never really stand for arriving somewhere late, even if the reason was for them to have sex.
She followed him into their walk-in closet. He dropped his towel in the laundry hamper, and Heather had a chance to approve of his toned ass before he began pulling on underwear and the tuxedo that he was wearing that night. She smirked as she noticed that he was still semi-hard.
Heather pulled off the robe she was wearing to reveal the lingerie that she’d had on underneath it. Harrison caught sight of her, and his eyes went dark appreciatively.
“I know that look, honey, we don’t have time.”
“Happy birthday to me.” He pulled a sad face, and she laughed.
Heather grabbed the glittery, pastel, rainbow dress that she’d designed specifically for tonight. It had taken her hours of drawing and sewing, but she was incredibly pleased with the result. It had a long sleeve on her left arm but was asymmetrically off the shoulder on her right side. It was flared slightly and stopped about two inches above her knee. She unzipped it carefully, stepped into it and pulled it up before walking over to Harrison and turning her back to him.
“Can you zip me up, please?”
“Happily.”
He leisurely traced the length of her neck softly with his fingers, and Heather shivered as he continued drawing them down her back to just above where her panties were, and the zip started. He zipped up the dress, kissed her neck softly, and said, “There you go.”
“Thanks,” she said, breathless with desire.
She grabbed a pair of pale pink heels and slipped them on. Assessing her reflection in the full-length mirror in front of her, she decided to add a shimmering, silver clutch to her ensemble. Happy with her outfit, she turned in time to see Harrison standing up from tying his shoes, looking devastatingly handsome.
Even with heels on, standing at six feet and three inches, he was taller than her. His body was muscular, and he filled out his tuxedo beautifully. He had gorgeous, bronze hair, and his chocolate brown eyes seared into hers. She could tell that he, too, was appreciating the view in front of him.
“I’m the luckiest man in the world.” He smiled at her.
“Of course, you are, honey.”
He grinned widely at her, came toward her, and took her hand as they walked back into their bedroom and then out into their living room. He got them each a drink from their bar, and they chatted while they waited for their car to arrive.
“Is Gabriel bringing Ariana tonight?” she asked him.
“I’m pretty sure he is.”
“Have you seen her yet?”
“No, Gabriel was at the meeting we had on Tuesday, and we all went to lunch afterward, but Ariana was at work, of course.”
“I think he’s making a huge mistake. There, I said it. Now you have to stop me from saying it to him tonight.” She cringed at him.
“Heather, he’s happy. Isn’t that enough?”
“Come on, Harrison, have you forgotten what it was like for him? For me?” A pang of hurt struck her unexpectedly as she remembered how badly Ariana had hurt them, “Because I haven’t. I’ve still got all the messages I sent to her in my phone. Message after message that she didn’t bother replying to. I saw where I stood with her two years ago and, fine, whatever, at least I know my place now.”
Harrison put down the glass of whiskey that he was drinking and came over to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. As usual, the sense of homecoming that it gave her was soothing. This was the place in the world that she fit perfectly. With Harrison.
“I haven’t forgotten what it was like, angel. I was sad, too, and I hate to see you upset. I just think that Gabriel is a big boy and he can make his own choices.”
Heather sighed and hugged him tighter. It didn’t matter that Ariana had ditched their friendship; it didn’t matter that Gabriel and Ariana were back together now. All that mattered was that Harrison was here. Through everything in her life, she had him by her side, and that’s what counted.
“Okay, I promise to play nicely.” She smiled up at him.
“That’s all I ask.”
Harrison got a message that their car had arrived. He quickly washed their glasses in the sink at the bar, and they went downstairs to get in the sleek, black limousine that was waiting for them. She settled in beside him, and he placed his arm around her shoulders.
They drove to the event in relative silence, enjoying this peaceful time together before arriving at what was surely going to be an eventful night.
Chapter 2
A RED CARPET AFFAIR
WHEN THEY GOT TO the venue, they were third in a line of li
mousines waiting to drop people off for the party, with one more at the front that was just now pulling away. In front of the entrance was a red carpet, roped off at the sides, behind which paparazzi waited for pictures and videos of the celebrity guests that were arriving. Within their group, they referred to this as running The Gauntlet.
The limousine two cars in front of them pulled forward in line with the red carpet. The driver got out, walked around, and opened the door, through which Gabriel stepped out. He turned back to the car and held out his hand. Heather could see him ask a question, and then a slim, pale arm appeared through the car door, grabbed his hand, and out of the car stepped Ariana. Heather gasped in surprise and turned to Harrison to check that he was seeing the same thing. His look of shock told her that he was.
“Well, that’s something I wasn’t expecting,” Heather announced.
“I’ll be honest, me either.”
When Gabriel and Ariana were together, one of her biggest hang-ups was about not wanting to be seen with him in public. She’d had a real fear of anyone seeing her or getting a photo of them together. Heather had lost count of the number of ways they’d all had to compensate for Ariana’s issues. At the time, she hadn’t minded doing it because Ariana was her friend, and she cared for her deeply. Looking back at it now, Heather resented it but recognized that her opinion was colored by her feelings about the way Ariana had left.
Gabriel and Ariana were making their way up the red carpet, glacially slowly. The media was going bananas, cameras were constantly flashing, and they were both answering the questions being thrown their way from every different direction. Heather couldn’t hear what they were being asked, of course, but she could imagine. It was the first time these two were being seen in public together, and that, combined with Gabriel’s very recent breakup, would make for perfect tabloid fodder for who knew how long.
The car in front of theirs was driving away now, and it was their turn to get out. When their driver opened their door, Heather carefully stepped out and onto the red carpet. Harrison did the same, thanking their driver for his service as he did so, and stood next to Heather, putting his arm around her waist.
