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: 978-0-6483621-1-1 (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 the All-American Rejects, who wrote a song that brought these characters to life in my head.
It’s also dedicated to Becky, my first fan, who waited seven years to find out the ending and begged me to write it for her to read. I hope that you and Chris are very happy together!
The First Song
Ariana was getting ready to go to a charity event with her aunt. It was for a good cause—a local children’s hospital—but she wasn’t a fan of these things. The evening would be filled with rich people throwing around their money and pretending to be philanthropic while claiming massive tax deductions for their donations.
Her uncle was out of town, and her parents were busy, so Aunt Susan had begged her to come along. Their children were all in their teens and uninterested in boring charity events. Ariana was adult enough to at least make it through the night without falling asleep during the speeches.
She put on a knee-length silver silk cocktail dress and some matching silver heels. It wasn’t an outfit she would generally be comfortable wearing, but her aunt had gifted it to her to wear as a thank you for accompanying her. Ariana was sure her aunt knew that her wardrobe wasn’t filled with designer labels, and it was a nice gesture to help her feel more comfortable attending tonight.
Even so, as she left the house and got into her waiting aunt’s car, she found herself wishing more than anything that she could’ve just stayed home instead.
Her aunt left her side early in the evening to circulate the room, while Ariana got herself a glass of wine. She socialized a bit herself—there were some minor celebrities here—but they didn’t overly faze Ariana. She’d never been one to fawn over people just because they had talent and the luck to be famous.
Later in the night, Cruise Control took to the stage for a short set. Ariana was amused because there was no way that her cousins would have passed on coming if they had known the band would be performing. She had been a fan of Cruise Control since she first heard their music online and was pleased to get a chance to see them perform live.
After the set was over, Ariana happened to walk past Gabriel Knight, Cruise Control’s lead singer and Sebastian Fox, the band’s lead guitarist. They were talking to a group of society ladies, her aunt, among them. Aunt Susan pulled her over to introduce her to them. Ariana had seen the ladies fawning over the band and hadn’t particularly wanted to join the conversation.
“Ariana, have you met Sebastian and Gabriel from Cruise Control?” her aunt asked her before turning away abruptly without another word in order to speak to the mayor of the city.
“No, I haven’t. It’s nice to meet you.”
She held out her hand and shook Gabriel’s. Ariana felt electricity shoot through her body when they touched, and her pulse raced.
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Ariana,” Gabriel replied.
Gabriel had shoulder-length blond hair and ice-blue eyes. He was well built, and the t-shirt he was wearing clearly showed his well-defined muscles. As he looked into her eyes, Ariana thought despite herself that she might just melt into a puddle there and then.
This was the one band she really was dumbstruck to be meeting. She’d been playing their album, Cards Have Been Dealt, almost constantly since it had come out.
“What a gorgeous piece of ass,” Sebastian slurred at her.
“Excuse me?” she exclaimed indignantly.
“She certainly isn’t bad to look at.” Gabriel winked at her, and Ariana frowned.
“I wouldn’t mind doing more than looking,” Sebastian said, leaning towards her and stroking her arm.
Sebastian was equally as good-looking as Gabriel, the dark-haired counterpart to his bandmate with the same blue eyes. He was incredibly attractive, but he was leering at Ariana as he looked her up and down.
“I can actually hear you, you know!” Ariana was disgusted.
“Cheer up. We’re just joking,” Sebastian said, rolling his eyes and letting his arm drop to his side as it became apparent she wasn’t interested in his advances.
“Are you? Well, I’m not laughing.” She glared at him.
They both reeked of alcohol, and she was disappointed that they were acting this way. Sure, they were gorgeous, and she loved their music, but their attitude was just the same as any other celebrity. Entitled. She had never been interested in that kind of person, fame, or no fame.
“If you’ll just excuse me, I see someone I need to speak to,” Ariana lied, and was grateful to be walking away from them.
She made her way towards the exit and found herself wanting to get some fresh air. It was such a shame to discover that Cruise Control was like that; she couldn’t help but think that it was never a good idea to meet your heroes.
Still feeling disillusioned, she left the ballroom and walked out into the garden, which was nothing short of artistic. There were beautiful flowers spreading across the ground with a marble path down to a grassed area. Ariana removed her heels and held them in one hand, allowing the cool marble to soothe her feet as she walked down the path. She reached the grass and enjoyed the feeling of the earth beneath her.
As she strolled along the grass, Ariana began thinking. She was so confused about what to do with her life. She had not long ago finished her business degree and was still at that awkward point where she didn’t have much work experience but had to begin a career that she wasn’t even sure about. She’d been applying for jobs, but nothing was really panning out, so she’d been working as a temp doing several different admin roles in the hopes that something would come along soon.
She wandered down to an absolutely gorgeous pool. Crystalline blue and illuminated with round lights at the sides, it looked incredibly inviting. She sat down at the edge and placed her shoes beside her, dipping her legs into the water. She had been there about half an hour and was relaxing, resting back on her arms, kicking her legs slowly through the cool water with her eyes closed when a deep, sensual voice startled her.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
Her eyes flew open at once, and she looked up to see Gabriel standing above her. Their eyes met, and she felt her pulse rate increase. She worked to control her breathing as she replied to his question.
“It’s a free country,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
He stooped to pull off his shoes and socks, then rolled up the legs of his jeans before sitting beside her with his feet in the water. There was silence for a few minutes. Ariana was unsure how to break it, or what to say to the beautiful man next to her.
They had absolutely nothing in common; he was a certifiable rock star, and she was just a college graduate with no life plan. Those women at the party had been hanging on
his and Sebastian’s every word. She wondered why he was even bothering with her.
“I’m sorry,” he said simply, breaking the silence between them.
“It’s fine,” Ariana replied just as simply.
“Sebastian can be a bit of a dickhead, sometimes.” Gabriel smiled at her. “Sorry about him. I like to think I’m a good guy, though, even when I’ve had a few.”
“Hey, it’s your life. You don’t have to answer to me,” Ariana told him, shrugging.
“I know that. It’s just that I’ve sobered up a bit since we last spoke, and I’ve been trying to find you to apologize. So what are you doing out here on your own? The party’s inside!” He grinned at her, and she grinned back.
“I’m not much of a party girl. What about you? Shouldn’t you be inside, chatting to some of your groupies?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Groupies? Hmm, I’m not much for groupies. I prefer someone I can talk to.”
The silence was more awkward this time, and Ariana didn’t really know how to break it. She wasn’t sure if he was flirting with her or not.
“Or—” he paused for effect “—someone I can’t talk to.”
This time she laughed, and he laughed along with her.
“I’m sorry, I have to be honest; I don’t quite know what to say to you.”
She couldn’t look at him and instead stared across at the water feature at the other end of the pool.
“Why is that, Ariana?” he asked her.
She privately thought that she could listen to him say her name over and over for the rest of her life and be a happy woman. It took her a second to form a response.
“I’ve been a fan of Cruise Control since you guys first appeared online. It’s all well and good when you’re a fantasy, but it’s bizarre actually meeting you.”
The water falling down off the rocks was mesmerizing, but she shot a quick glance in his direction to find him looking at her and quickly looked away again as he said his next words.
“You fantasize about me?” he asked with a slight smirk.
Now she definitely couldn’t look at him.
“Not like that, you know what I mean!” she protested.
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t, but I’d really like you to elaborate either way.” She could hear that he was still smirking as he said it.
“I mean that when you’re on TV or the radio, you’re just some imaginary person, kind of like a character in a movie or a show but here you’re real, and I know so much about you, it’s just bizarre.” She shrugged at him.
“You didn’t seem bothered by any of the other celebrities in there,” he said, looking confused.
“They don’t matter to me,” she replied without thinking.
“And I do?” The air between them became tense.
“I’m not explaining this right.”
Ariana was frustrated, the conversation wasn’t going how she wanted it to, and she felt like she was making a fool of herself. He was too close to her; she could feel his muscled arm against her slender one. His thigh was touching hers, and, as their feet swung back and forth through the water, every now and again, they, too, would touch.
She couldn’t concentrate; her mind was as much of a mess as her life right now. Ariana stood, walked over to the deck chairs, and reclined on one of them. Gabriel followed and relaxed on the one next to hers. With some space between them, she began to gather her thoughts.
“I’m a stranger to you, right?” she asked him.
“Sure,” he agreed.
“But you’re not a stranger to me. I know so much about you. I’ve watched you on television, I’ve read about you online, I’ve listened to your music. I would say that I could recognize your voice with my eyes closed, and yet, we’re strangers. To meet someone that you know so intimately face to face is weird. Can you see where I’m coming from?”
She turned her face to look at him and found herself looking into his incredible blue eyes.
“I’m just a man,” he told her in a scolding voice, “I’m a man like any other man. I eat, I sleep, I shit, and I sure as hell find beautiful women attractive. Yes, I’m a musician, and I love my job. Not many people get paid to do what they love, and I happen to be one of them, but that’s just a part of me, it isn’t all of me.”
“I’m sorry for pre-judging you.” Ariana felt abashed. “It’s hard not to, and I guess the same way you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you probably shouldn’t judge a rock star by his reputation.”
As much as she disliked celebrity gossip, she’d still read the stories online about Cruise Control. As they’d gotten more successful, there were more and more articles about them. The band apparently liked to party and were at a lot of high-profile events, often seen with other beautiful people around them.
“I have a reputation for a reason,” he said and smiled at her again. “It’s a part of the image. A part of being a successful rock star, but it’s also a façade. I enjoy the perks of my lifestyle for sure, but at the end of the day, I go to sleep like anyone else.”
“In a bed with fifteen hundred thread-count sheets, I’ll bet.” She couldn’t resist teasing him.
“I think you overestimate my celebrity; they’re only eight hundred thread-count. I dream of the day I get to sleep on fifteen hundred thread-count sheets. It’s why I got into this business to begin with, you know.”
They were laughing again, and it was a relaxed, easy silence that fell this time.
“So what do you do for a living?” he asked her.
“I’ve just finished my Bachelor of Business,” she told him.
“What do you plan to do now?”
“It’s funny you should ask, I don’t really know the answer to that question, so I’ve kind of been wondering myself.”
“How old are you?” he asked.
“I’m twenty-two.”
“You’re young; you have plenty of time to figure it out.”
She knew that he was four years older than her. She wondered how much would change in her life in the next four years.
“I know, I just worry that I’ll take the wrong job and find myself stuck there in ten years’ time, hating my life, and thinking about what could have been.”
“God, that’s depressing.” He looked at her, waiting until their gazes met before continuing his line of thought. “That won’t happen to you. I’ve known you for ten minutes, and already I can tell that you’re as smart as you are beautiful—have some faith in yourself.”
Ariana’s heart pounded at his comment; she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks but was unable to look away from him and couldn’t stop herself from seeking further reassurance.
“That doesn’t stop me worrying that I’m going to make a big mistake.”
“Well, for a start, you’re thinking about it. The people who have that life are the ones who never gave it a second thought. They took whatever came along and ran with it. In all fairness, you can’t spend your entire life wondering what’s behind door number three, but if you take the time to look when you have the chance, you might be pleasantly surprised.”
“That’s easy for you to say, isn’t it? You knew what you wanted from your life, and you got it. Why would you bother with door number three?” She wondered.
“I didn’t get where I am without a lot of hard work, Ariana. I also had a lot of knock-backs, and there were times when I thought it would be easier to quit than to keep beating my head against a brick wall.”
“What kept you going?”
“I was passionate about my music and what I wanted to do with it,” he answered, his tone honest.
“Now we reach the crux of the matter. I’m not passionate about anything.”
“Not about anything at all?” There was a teasing note to his voice, and she wondered again if he was flirting with her.
“Well, nothing I can do as a career anyway.” Her voice was full of melancholy as she thought of hours spent writing short stories for herself
and friends in her teens.
“There’s something, though, isn’t there?” He searched her face and said, “I can tell there’s something that you would love to do for a living.”
“If you must know, I’ve always loved creative writing, but it’s a hard market to break into, and getting published is nigh on impossible.” She sighed.
“You need to have more faith in yourself.”
“I wish I could, but I’m practical if nothing else. I’ll probably end up putting my degree to good use in some boring office job. That’s life for most of us, Gabriel.”
He looked into her eyes and frowned.
“You can call me Gabe,” he said, then paused for a second, looking slightly stunned. “I hope for your sake that you’re wrong.”
“Okay, Gabe. Anyway, this conversation is getting depressing.” She cast about in her head for a different topic. “How about this weather?”
“It’s great weather. I could go for a swim, actually.” He laughed.
“Too bad neither of us have swimsuits.”
As his head snapped around to face her, she blushed.
“That is not your invitation to say ‘why don’t we just go nude?’ by the way!” she clarified.
“I would never!” He feigned indignation. “I was merely going to suggest that unless you’re particularly attached to that dress, there’s no reason that we couldn’t swim in what we’re wearing.”
Gabriel waited for her to answer, and she assessed the situation. So far, what she had discovered about Gabriel was that he was smart, funny, incredibly attractive, and liked to have fun.
If she had a bucket list, going swimming late at night in an expensive cocktail dress with a rock star would probably have been on it. On the other hand, the chlorine would ruin the fabric entirely, and her aunt had only just given her this dress. Looking over at Gabriel again, she decided he was worth it.
She stood up, walked to the edge of the pool, raised her arms above her head, and executed a dive into the water, leaving Gabriel sitting on his deck chair. The pool was heated, but it still gave her a bit of a shock as she turned and began to tread water while facing Gabriel, waiting for him to join her.