by Sian Ceinwen
“Thanks, I think? Harrison is my world; I love that man to death…and the crazy, hot sex is definitely an added bonus.” She smirked at her friend.
“I can imagine. Okay, another thing I’ve been dying to ask—”
“Oh, I see how it is, you’re just friends with me so you can find out all the secrets of the inner workings of Cruise Control!” Heather interrupted her and feigned indignation.
Ally laughed as she continued “—well, kind of. Like, what the fuck is up with you and Sebastian? You’re literally about to imply to the world that you would call off your wedding to run away with him, and Harrison is fine with that? I know you had a huge hand in making that sketch as funny as it is, so what the hell is the deal?”
“Okay, so Seb’s just been like that for as long as I can remember. He used to make similar jokes to Ariana, and he’s just flirty as hell but not serious about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts on you, soon.
“Ever since people started this rumor that we’re having an affair, we’ve just leaned into that because if you don’t laugh about the dumb shit people say, you’ll cry. As for Harrison being fine with that,” Heather smirked, “trust me when I say that Harrison has nothing to be concerned about, which is why he isn’t. That man can practically make me come with one look, no way I’d ever trade that in for Sebastian Fox.”
Heather twisted her engagement ring around on her finger as she was explaining this. She wished more than ever that Harrison were here with her. Her world was always off-kilter when they were apart.
Ally laughed at what she’d said. “I get that vibe from Harrison. He’s normally so quiet and reserved, but when he was drunk, and we were playing poker, I was kind of shocked by the way he practically molested you in front of us!”
“See? You are making your way into the inner circle. That’s pretty much spot-on for what Harrison is like. Once he’s comfortable with you, you’ll see a totally different side of him. We like you, darling.” Heather winked at her.
One of the assistants came to get Heather. Telling her that it was ten minutes until showtime, and they needed her on set. She put her plate down on the table, took a sip of one of the glasses of water there, and both women followed him back out in front of the audience.
The show went off without a hitch, Heather hit all her cues, and the wedding sketch got even more laughs than it did the first time with the changes they’d made to it. When the show ended, Heather was on a massive high; she understood why the guys were always so amped when they came offstage. There was adrenalin pumping through her body, and she had so much energy that she didn’t know what to do with it all.
Ally and April both gave her a massive hug, and so did a lot of the cast and crew. They were headed out to a club for the after-party, soon. She expected that the charity event the guys were at should be either over or finishing soon, so she sent Harrison a text.
OMG honey, it was AMAZING! I loved it so much! Call me!
The rest of the night passed in a blur. They got completely drunk and had a blast with the cast of Saturday Night Live, she checked her phone and noticed that Harrison hadn’t replied to her text, so she called him, but it went to voicemail and she left him a message.
“Honeeeeeeey! I miss you! I want to fuck you! I want to scream your name while I come light a freight train…wait, like a freight train,” she said, while both Ally and April laughed next to her, listening in, “anyway. Call me!”
She also sent a text to Sebastian.
Seb yoou sexy fucker. I bet your fucking some chick’s brains out right now! I hopeb you’re using a confom!!!!!!!!!!
Heather left the party sometime around three in the morning amidst people begging her to stay.
“I can’t,” she laughed, “I have a flight back to Chicago at nine. As it is, I’m going to be wrecked!”
She gave Ally a hug, promising to see her soon, and told April to call her so they could organize to catch up some time back home in Chicago. Then, Callum appeared, ready to escort her back to her hotel.
“You’re like a ninja, the way you appear and disappear out of nowhere,” she laughed as they headed toward the exit of the club.
“That’s my job, Miss York!” He smiled at her.
She stumbled slightly, walking up the stairs to the exit, and Callum grabbed her arm quickly to steady her.
“You might need to wake me up in the morning.” Now that she was moving, she noticed that she was drunker than she’d thought she was. She was very unsteady on her feet and was slurring her words slightly, “Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to want to get up in less than three hours’ time to make my flight.” She cringed at the thought.
“I’ve got your back.” He grinned.
She checked her phone and noticed that neither Harrison or Sebastian had replied to her messages, so she texted both again, then put her phone away as they made their way outside and through The Gauntlet, with Callum guiding her directly into a waiting limousine. This man was worth his weight in gold, she thought as they headed back to her hotel.
It had been an epic night, but tomorrow’s flight back to Chicago would be hell. Oh well, she’d be home, and with Harrison, before she knew it and Gabriel was right, she had no regrets about coming to do Saturday Night Live instead of going to the event with them.
~NOVEMBER~
CRUISE CONTROL CHEATING SCANDAL!
We can NOT believe what we are seeing! We considered, carefully, whether or not we should run this story, but we have verified the authenticity of this picture, and it is legitimate. Harrison Fletcher in bed with an unknown brunette woman that is clearly NOT his fiancée, Heather York!
There have been rumors for some time now that there was trouble in paradise between Harrison and Heather, but we assumed all was well even though they haven’t been seen in public together since September.
Cruise Control was at the Cancer Society charity event in Beverly Hills last night, also their first appearance in public together since September. Heather was noticeably absent, due to the fact that she was hosting Saturday Night Live last night.
She was spotted going wild at the after-party, and we thought she was just celebrating the show being a huge success, but maybe that sketch about leaving Harrison at the altar had more basis in truth than we thought? Have they broken up? Who cheated first?
More to come.
Chapter 13
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
HEATHER’S HEAD WAS ABSOLUTELY pounding as Callum knocked on her bedroom door. She felt like she was going to puke, and she couldn’t figure out what was going on. He knocked again, and she rolled onto her back, throwing her arm over her eyes as she did so. It was too bright; she hadn’t closed the curtains when she collapsed into her bed last night. She was still wearing the outfit she’d worn to the club.
“Come in,” she groaned with a croaky voice.
“Sorry for the intrusion, Miss York,” Callum said with hesitation, “I had to use my key to get in. I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer. It’s already six-thirty, and I was fairly certain that you wouldn’t have packed your bags last night when we got back to the hotel.”
“Ah, fuck. You’re right.”
Why the hell had she thought this would be a good idea. Harrison was in Los Angeles and wouldn’t be getting back to Chicago until early this evening; there was absolutely no need for her to fly home this early. She reminded herself that arriving in Chicago at eleven in the morning meant that Callum could take her home and at least get a portion of the weekend to himself.
It was this thought that caused her to force herself to a sitting position with another groan. She should’ve stopped drinking about three drinks before she did last night.
“I brought you these.” Callum handed her a glass of water and some Aspirin.
“God, you’re a fucking lifesaver. Thank you!”
She swallowed the pills and prayed they would kick in quickly as s
he fought off a wave of nausea that was caused just by getting out of the bed. Callum kindly offered to do her packing for her.
“You don’t have to do that!” she protested.
“I think I kind of do.” He gave her a wry grin.
“You’re going above and beyond the call of duty. I think I love you.” She relaxed back on the pillows and drank some more of the water as she directed him to all the places that she’d put her things in the large room.
When she finished the glass, she took an outfit and some underwear into the bathroom, showered quickly while fighting off the urge to puke everywhere, and got dressed, coming out of the bathroom to find Callum putting one her lace thongs into her suitcase along with the rest of her clothing.
Heather felt so sick right now that she could barely muster up the energy to be embarrassed by his handling of her unmentionables. She would have to talk to Harrison about paying him some kind of bonus. This really was well out of the realm of his job description.
Room service arrived about twenty minutes after Callum had, and he told her that he’d taken the liberty of ordering her breakfast, as well. She couldn’t be more grateful as she ate the greasy bacon and fried eggs. The painkillers were kicking in now, and her head was pounding slightly less than it had been before. Her stomach was still roiling, but the food was good.
By the time that Callum was doing a final check of the room to make sure that nothing had been left behind, she felt a little closer to human. They made their way downstairs and checked out of the hotel; there were only two reporters here in time to catch her departure.
She told them how happy she was with the Saturday Night Live performance but was glad she had her dark glasses on so their pictures wouldn’t show just how awful she looked right now. They got into a limousine that was waiting for them and headed to JFK airport. When they got to O’Hare, they’d take the black SUV to get home.
Heather pulled out her phone and frowned at it; she still didn’t have any reply to her texts from last night. It was only four in the morning in Los Angeles, but she would’ve expected some kind of contact overnight. She sent Harrison a text.
Hi honey. Everything okay? Call me ASAP. I’m worried!
It wasn’t like Sebastian to not reply to her, either. So, she sent him a text as well, cringing at the obviously drunken text she’d sent him last night.
Hi, darling. No reply from you or Harrison? That’s unusual. Just how fucked up did you get last night?
She tried to push her concerns aside, sure they’d never failed to respond to her texts or calls before, but they were all together, nothing bad could have happened. If anything really bad had happened, those reporters surely would’ve told her about it. They’d love to get her in person reaction to the news of some kind of Cruise Control drama.
All the same, she was worried, “Cal, have you heard anything from Harrison?”
“Sorry, Miss York, no. Why?”
“He hasn’t contacted me since last night. That’s not normal. I’m sure it’s fine, though,” she shrugged.
That nagging feeling wouldn’t go away; it followed her through another set of reporters that were waiting at JFK. She was fairly certain they just hung out there twenty-four hours a day to catch any celebrities that were coming or going. Once again, Callum was a lifesaver and kept them away. They checked in and made their way to the first-class lounge, killing time there in the quiet luxury until their flight was ready to board.
There was still no word from any of the band, so Heather called Harrison, but it went to voicemail.
“Harrison, I’m getting really worried now. I’m about to get on the plane, so I guess I’ll call you when I land in Chicago. Please send me a text or something, though. I’m freaking out. I love you.”
On a whim, she called Sarah, on the off chance that she’d been in contact with Harrison.
“Hi Sarah, has Harrison called you today?” she asked her as soon as she answered.
“Heather? What? No, Harry hasn’t called me. Isn’t he in Los Angeles?”
“It’s probably nothing; I just haven’t heard from him since yesterday.” Heather tried to keep the panic out of her voice; there was no sense in Sarah being worried as well.
“No. I haven’t heard from Harry, sorry, love.”
“Okay, no worries,” she lied, since she was definitely very worried, “it’s okay. I’m sure he’ll call me by the time I land in Chicago. Bye, Sarah.”
Harrison’s mom said goodbye, and they hung up the call as Heather’s plane was called for boarding.
“I’m sure Mister Fletcher is fine,” Callum said reassuringly, but Heather thought that even he looked a little nervous.
Heather opened the browser on her phone and searched for ‘Harrison Fletcher’ filtering for news. Nothing. Just pictures and articles from the charity event last night. Well, that was something of a relief. She tried again for ‘Cruise Control’, and it was the same. Okay, she still didn’t know why the fuck no one was contacting her, but nothing bad had happened. The worst-case scenarios in her head of some horrendous car accident or jail time would definitely have been reported on.
They made use of the priority boarding and took their seats near the front of the plane. Heather checked the screen of her phone one last time before she switched it off—it was still blank. She didn’t know if it was her nerves or her hangover, but she had to use the barf bag during the plane’s take-off, and Callum was sympathetic.
Heather tried to relax during the flight, but they were some of the toughest hours of her life. She was definitely going to have a word with Harrison about how he could’ve eased her stress with a simple text. The air hostesses were wonderful; they brought her plenty of water, and she ate a second breakfast of bacon and eggs on the plane.
By the time they landed in Chicago, she was feeling much better, but she still couldn’t wait to hear from Harrison. Callum grabbed her overhead luggage for them, and they got off the plane quickly. Heather switched on her phone as they were walking up the air bridge into the airport at O’Hare. She saw the logo light up, just as she heard someone call her name.
Looking up, she saw a group of people waiting at the gate and frowned. Paparazzi. A lot of paparazzi. She glanced over at Callum, and she could see that his entire body was on alert. This was unusual, to say the least.
“Do you mind taking this?” he asked her as she nodded and took over wheeling her carry-on instead of him doing it for her.
The paparazzi didn’t usually bother coming through security to meet people at the gate. It required a ticket purchase for them to do so. In fact, she didn’t recall anything like this since the whole “Ariel” thing after the Grammys. That was the last time the paparazzi had made this kind of effort to get to any of them; they’d followed the band around for weeks like this. Heather felt completely sick as she walked toward them. Her phone finally switched on, but she didn’t unlock it, just put it back in her pocket and steeled herself for what was to come.
“Heather! What do you have to say about Harrison cheating on you?”
It was the first question that she managed to discern as she was about ten yards away from them. Heather managed to refrain from rolling her eyes, but only just. She kept her calm and kept walking.
“Heather, have you seen the photo?”
They’d reached them now, and she was so thankful that Callum had no carry-on luggage—his hands were free to push back the paparazzi and clear a path for her. Heather realized that, of course, this wasn’t a coincidence. He was very good at what he did.
“What is your comment on Harrison cheating?”
“I have no comment.” She kept her tone cool and calm.
Inside, she was seething. She had no idea what had prompted this kind of bullshit, but whatever it was, she wanted to punch them. Of course, there had been dumb rumors like this before, but nothing that had ever caused the paparazzi to come at her like this.
“So
, you’ve seen the photo, then?” another person asked her.
“I have no comment,” she replied.
They had made their way through the group, now, and were walking away, but the paparazzi were following them, repeating their questions about Harrison cheating on her.
“Do you want to see the photo, Heather?”
What fucking photo? She wondered but didn’t answer. Whatever the hell this was about, it had clearly happened within the last three hours because there was nothing like this in New York. She desperately wanted to pull out her phone and see if Harrison had called her, but she didn’t dare.
They made their way to baggage claim, and for the first time in her life, Heather wished she hadn’t been in first class. Getting off the plane early was great, but there was always a wait for baggage. The group of reporters crowded around her again, but Callum forced them to keep a distance. They were still asking all the same questions about Harrison cheating and some photo.
She kept her face neutral but dared a glance at Callum. Their eyes met, and she tried to convey how worried she was, without giving anything away. Heather doubted she was successful, it’s not like Callum was a mind reader, but he did shout at the group to give her some space, repeating to them that she’d already told them she had no comment to make.
The people around them were looking on with interest, and eventually, the baggage carousel started up. Heather had no idea how they were going to get their luggage; she didn’t want Callum to leave her side, and the group was between them and the carousel. She was pondering this when one reporter sneered and turned his phone to her.
“Just tell us what you think of this picture, Heather.”
Heather’s heart stopped. It was Harrison, her Harrison. Wonderful, sexy Harrison in bed with another woman. The woman was brunette, and it would be clear to anyone looking at this picture that it was not Heather. Harrison was topless, probably naked, given the state of the woman with him. The bedsheets were rumpled and low enough across her body as she lay on him to make it obvious that she was naked too. They were both asleep.