by Sian Ceinwen
Heather was mildly disappointed by this. Even though she’d been telling herself that she wouldn’t get all of her favorites back, there was part of her that had hoped she would. Ally could see the disappointment in her face and laughed.
“You don’t have to look like someone kicked your cat, Heather! I’ve been in this business for a long time. Please trust me when I say that this kind of response is unusual for a debut designer. Normally, I’d be telling you that you managed to get back fifteen out of the twenty-five girls you wanted.”
“Really? Do you think it’s just because of Harrison?” Heather chewed her lip and voiced the concern that still crept around in the back of her brain.
Sometimes she wondered who she was, outside of Cruise Control. She was working hard on Serenity, but a part of her felt as though she only had the success that she had because of Harrison. Heather wondered if anyone would ever see her as her own person.
“Do you want my honest opinion? Or do you want some fluffy bullshit?” Ally gave her a wry smile, and Heather laughed.
“Honest opinion. Never, ever do I want fluffy bullshit!”
“Okay, well, yes. I think part of the buzz around you is because of who you are. Cruise Control are gods, and you’re from that world, making you a demi-god, I guess. What you create, though? That’s all you. The only benefit it’s given you is the ability to get noticed. If what you’d designed was anything less than amazing, no amount of public intrigue in the world would help make up for it.”
“You’re too kind, darling.” Heather smiled at her.
“It’s the honest truth. I think you’re going to be big. You’re talented, and when it’s combined with an ability to get noticed, that can lead to something that’s next level. I’m pretty excited to be getting in on the ground floor.”
Their conversation ended as Emma started bringing the models in. They saw them one at a time now, and Heather did get to ask more questions. They would try on one or sometimes two of her designs that Heather felt might suit them and then would go on their way again.
Ally was right. There were only one or two of their previous favorite models that didn’t blow Heather away today. However, there were quite a few models that she’d been lukewarm about yesterday, that sparkled like diamonds once they were given a chance to wear her clothes and show them more of their personality.
At the end of the day, they had a list of forty-seven models that they would be more than happy to have in her show.
“So, now we have too many? I really didn’t think this would be our problem!” Heather laughed.
“Me, either,” Ally replied.
There were three piles of photographs in front of Ally. One had the forty models they were going to hire; another had the seven models whose agencies they were going to keep on notice in case of a no-show on the day and a final pile with the rest of the models.
It had been another long day. Heather said goodbye to Ally and Emma, then slowly started moving around the room to carefully pack up the clothes hanging on the racks. She had photos of all the models they were hiring and began to pin these to the outfits she wanted them to wear whenever she came across one that she knew would be perfect for them.
Once everything was packed away, she left the carefully boxed up clothes where they were. The hotel staff would hand them off to the courier company tomorrow so they could make their way back to Chicago. It was late when she made her way back up to her suite. It had been a long and very productive weekend, but she was tired and was more than ready to go home.
Chapter 6
RAISE A GLASS
HARRISON HAD HEATHER’S HAND in his as they walked into the room where their engagement party was being held. They had been delayed during The Gauntlet, so they were arriving later than expected. Fashion Week was a little over two weeks away, and people were desperate to know what she had planned.
The room looked stunning, and Heather was pleased. The whole place was filled with guests wearing either black or white outfits. All of the decorations were in the same theme; the stark black against the white meant all of the embellishments in them stood out. The venue had even managed to find black plates and cutlery for the event.
People cheered as they entered the room, and their DJ for the evening lowered the volume of the music to announce their arrival. There were twenty round tables, spaced evenly around the outside of the room to create a dance floor in the middle, all with white tablecloths and centerpieces of black candles carved with intricate floral patterns. People were already dancing; Heather could see Sebastian and Hayden dancing amongst them. Hayden was dancing with Tristan, and she gave them both a wave. Tristan was so awesome; it would be great if they got together. Sebastian was dancing with her cousin, Nikki, and Heather cringed. Dammit, he would eat her alive, and she liked her cousin. She’d talk to him later.
Heather and Harrison greeted guests as they crossed the large room before stopping at the table next to their own. Harrison’s parents and her mom were sitting at this table, along with their grandparents, and they greeted them all before continuing to their table. Heather sought out the seat that had her name on a place card; she was going to be sitting in between Harrison and Sebastian. There was an empty chair next to Sebastian’s seat, and Heather frowned. It had been intended for Sebastian’s theoretical date, who didn’t seem to be in attendance.
Next to the empty chair was a woman with a friendly smile and long, brown hair. Hayden’s sister, Vanessa, had come with him tonight. Heather was pleased to see her, and she stood up to give Heather a hug.
“Vanessa, I’m so glad you could come! Alex is at home with the kids, I guess?”
“Yup, Mama needs a night out.” She laughed. “Congratulations, guys.”
“Thanks, oh, don’t get up!”
Heather turned to her brother Jake’s wife, Chloe, who was sitting next to Vanessa and had started to stand to give Heather a hug. Heather leaned down to hug her instead, as Chloe was heavily pregnant.
“Congratulations, Heather! I’m so sorry I missed your birthday, Harrison.”
“Not a problem, Chloe. I completely understood.” He gave her a warm smile.
Chloe had been at home, sick, during his birthday party. Her morning sickness had continued well into the second trimester.
“I was bummed I couldn’t come; Jake told me it was awesome. I’m so sad I missed the proposal, too!”
Heather had moved on to hug her brother now; he was sitting next to his wife and gave Heather a huge grin.
“Congratulations, sis! I’m so happy for you guys.”
“Thanks, Jake, I’m pretty happy, too!”
Then she’d reached them. Ariana was sitting next to her brother, and Gabriel was seated next to Harrison tonight. She hadn’t seen them since they’d been at Sebastian’s. Harrison had caught up with them on multiple occasions, and even Sebastian had seen them several times, often keeping Heather updated via text and always complaining to her that she should be there, too.
It had caused some strain between her and Harrison when they had been organizing the seating plan for tonight. They had to be at the same table, that was without question, but Heather had been adamant that there was no scenario where she wanted Ariana to be seated next to her. She had also insisted that Ariana wasn’t to be seated next to Sebastian, either, because she wanted tonight to be a good night with little to no drama if she could help it.
“Hello Gabriel and Ariana, I’m glad you two could come.” She forced a smile onto her face.
There was an obvious tension between them, and Gabriel frowned at Heather before opening his mouth to say something, but Ariana spoke before he could.
“Thank you for inviting us, Heather,” Ariana said politely. “We’re happy to be here to celebrate with you. Aren’t we, Gabriel?”
Ariana and Gabriel looked at each other, and Heather saw something pass between them. It was some kind of unspoken message that caused Gabriel’s po
sture to relax, and Heather hadn’t even noticed how tense he had been until this happened.
“Yes, of course, we are.” He smiled now.
“Well, we’re stoked that you guys came.” Harrison gave them a friendly smile and leaned down to hug Ariana.
Heather moved over to her seat, and Harrison took his place next to her. They chatted with the guests at the table, and Heather started to relax. Harrison had his arm resting casually on the back of her chair and was softly stroking the exposed skin of her back. She found it incredibly arousing and, for a second, lost track of the conversation at the table as she focused on the feeling of his hand tracing a pattern back and forth on her.
“Your dress looks amazing, Heather!” Vanessa complimented her.
Heather blinked for a second while her brain caught up and processed the comment, then she smiled her appreciation at Vanessa. She had worn one of her own designs tonight, something she had made specifically for this evening. It was made from soft, white satin and was fitted tightly at the top with a plunging back and hugged the curves over her ass before flaring out from her upper thighs. Heather had hand sewn the black, floral embellishments onto the dress herself. She’d felt guilty spending so much time on it this close to Fashion Week, but tonight was important to her, and she wanted it to be just as perfect as she wanted her show to be.
“I wish I could pull off wearing something like that!” Chloe laughed.
“You’re pregnant, darling. In a few weeks, you’ll have the baby, and you can wear anything you want,” Heather assured her.
“Ignore Heather,” Vanessa interjected, “she doesn’t know anything, I didn’t get back to my pre-baby weight for over a year, just in time to get pregnant with baby number two!”
“Is it really like that?” Heather asked, laughing. “I always thought that once the baby was out, you just went back to normal!”
“Maybe for some women, but definitely not for me! As for wearing whatever you want, well sure, as long as you’re fine with it getting puked or pooped on by the tiny human that you’ve just pushed out of your chacha.”
“What have I done?!” Chloe looked absolutely horrified, and everyone at the table laughed.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, though, of course.” Vanessa gave her a reassuring smile. “I take it back; ignore me and listen to Heather!”
The DJ changed the music to something quiet and classical, announcing that their entrées would be served soon and asked the dancers to return to their tables.
Hayden and Sebastian appeared shortly after that. They both looked mildly out of breath and had obviously been enjoying themselves on the dance floor.
“Hi, guys,” Harrison said as they approached.
“Hey, Harrison, hey, Heather! Congratulations, again,” Hayden said, giving them each a quick hug before sitting down next to his sister.
“Thanks.” Heather smiled at him.
“Hi, Harrison,” Sebastian said, throwing an arm around his shoulders.
“Hey, Seb. Having fun?” Harrison asked him.
“Heaps, I was dancing with the hottest chick I’ve seen in a while!” he announced.
“Yes, about that, could you try not to break my cousin’s heart, please?” Heather told him in a mock stern tone.
Sebastian looked at her for a second, then threw back his head and laughed as he pulled her up from her seat to hug her.
“Those fucking York genes must be pretty amazing,” he announced to them all, still laughing as he and Heather took their seats. “I should’ve known someone that hot would be related to you.”
The waiter arrived at their table, so they could all pick what they wanted for their appetizers from the options on the menu.
“Sebastian, I can’t help but notice the empty seat next to you. What happened there?” Heather raised her eyebrow at him as she asked this.
“Well, I was going to bring someone, but then I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea, you know? I mean, if I start bringing girls to engagement parties and weddings, they’re going to start thinking those things are a good life choice.”
Heather had a look around the table and saw zero surprise at his announcement; everyone here had been exposed to this lecture from Sebastian at one point or another. She was mildly annoyed that he’d wasted an invite, though.
“So, we spent hours working out who to invite and cutting people from the list, but left you a plus-one for absolutely no reason?” She rolled her eyes at him.
“Not ‘no reason,’ Heather. Your cousin can sit with me now! Or we can leave it empty, so there’s no one to compete with you for my affection.” He winked at her, a cheeky smile on his face.
“You do know that my sister is getting married to someone else, don’t you?” Jake said from across the table, with a slightly frosty tone to his voice.
He’d told Heather in the past when he’d heard Sebastian make comments like this to her, that it made him uncomfortable. Objectively, she did understand that for normal people, they were inappropriate. It was something that Sebastian had been doing for so long, though, that it had kind of just become one of their running in-jokes in the band. She’d tried to explain to Jake that Sebastian didn’t mean anything by it, but he still didn’t get it.
“She is?” Sebastian raised his eyes in faux surprise and turned to look at her. “Heather, you’re marrying someone that isn’t me? How could you? I’m heartbroken.”
“Yes, she’s marrying me, Sebastian. I’m sorry,” Harrison said as he faked regret, “we didn’t mean it to happen. We just fell in love; we never meant to hurt you!”
“Heather? Tell me this isn’t true!” Sebastian looked back and forth from Harrison to her, dramatically. “It can’t be true.”
“I’m sorry, darling. It is true.” She held her left hand up to show him her ring, as though he’d never seen it before. “I love Harrison, and he loves me. Can’t you just be happy for us?”
“No! You’re the only woman for me. I will never get over this betrayal!” He stood up, pushing his chair back so violently as he did so that it fell over and stormed away from their table toward the bar.
Heather, Harrison, Hayden, and even Gabriel and Ariana all burst into laughter at his theatrics. Guests at other tables were looking over at them quizzically, trying to understand what the fuss was about.
“You guys are assholes,” Jake said to them with a roll of his eyes.
“Aww, sweetie.” Chloe had an amused grin on her face. “Come on. It was pretty funny.”
“Traitor,” Jake said, but was smiling now and leaned over to give his wife a kiss.
Sebastian arrived back at their table with a tumbler of amber liquid as the waiters brought the entrées out to the tables. He picked his chair up off the floor in a fluid motion as he passed it and sat down on it next to Heather again.
“I’m sorry for my outburst, everyone. It’s just hard for me to accept that mine and Heather’s love story is over, you know,” he told the table as he raised his glass to them. “I’ve got alcohol now, though, so I’ll be okay. To Harrison and Heather!”
The rest of the table raised their glasses to the happy couple as well, and all of them took a drink. Heather leaned over to kiss Sebastian on the cheek.
“Now, now, Heather. That kind of behavior is unbecoming of an engaged woman,” he told her, sternly, as he took a bite of his food. “Don’t go giving me ideas that you’re ready to call off the engagement to be with me.”
“My bad.” She leaned over to kiss Harrison thoroughly on the lips, winding her arms around his neck and deepening their kiss as she did so. “Better?” She turned her head to ask Sebastian this when the kiss ended but left her arms around Harrison’s neck.
“Much. I think I get the hint now.” Sebastian laughed, and Heather turned back to the table to start eating her food.
Heather had ordered herself a bruschetta, and the flavors exploded in her mouth when she took a bite. Bruschetta was
one of her favorite appetizers, and she loved it when it was done well, as this one was.
“So, Heather, how are the plans for the wedding going?” Chloe asked her.
“I have barely done anything,” Heather cringed, “we’ve got the major vendors booked, but I’ve been so flat-out with getting ready for Fashion Week and this party that I haven’t even had a second to think about the wedding.”
“Harrison should be helping you.” Hayden shook his finger at Harrison.
“Hey, if you think I haven’t tried, you’d be wrong.” He laughed.
“He is helping,” Heather confirmed, “I just haven’t had time to focus on the wedding itself, yet.”
“What about the bridal party?” Vanessa asked her.
That was an aspect of the wedding that Heather had been mentally avoiding. She had no clue who the hell she would have in her bridal party. Harrison knew. They hadn’t discussed it, but it would one hundred percent consist of Hayden, Gabriel, and Sebastian. She didn’t know which of them he would ask to be the best man, but she was sure it would be one of the three of them. He was an only child, and they were the closest thing he had to brothers.
Heather had no one, and it made her feel awful. She did think she might ask Chloe but was unsure if it would be too hard with a new baby. Other than that, there was no one, and the part of her brain that obsessed over aesthetics needed three bridesmaids to match the number of groomsmen.
“We haven’t really discussed it.” Heather shrugged as nonchalantly as she could.
“You’ll want to organize it soon,” Chloe warned her. “You’ll need time to organize the bridesmaids’ dresses. The bridal shops usually want months of advance notice.”
“Are you not going to design the dresses yourself, Heather?”
Heather was surprised when Ariana finally joined the conversation. She felt, more than saw, the immediate tension from Gabriel, Harrison, and Hayden as they waited for her reply. For fuck’s sake, it’s not like she couldn’t be civilized with the woman. Of course, Heather hadn’t really proved that in recent times. Well, watch this, boys!
