by Sian Ceinwen
Heather laughed, “Sounds pretty okay, to me!”
“I wanted to say thank you,” Maddy said in response, “I know that this whole thing was your idea.”
Heather smiled at her, “No worries. I did a lot of thinking after we talked, and I really hope that this actually improves your quality of life a bit.”
“It sure as shit can’t make it worse!” Maddy cringed.
It wasn’t long before Heather was sitting on their sofa, her hand held in Harrison’s as they talked to the host. The plan was that they would be interviewed first, then Maddy would join them later.
“Thank you for doing this interview, I’m honored you chose me,” Carol said with a smile.
“You’re welcome,” Harrison replied, “would you believe me if I told you that you were the only person who wanted to interview us?”
Carol gave a good-natured laugh, “No, I really wouldn’t, Harrison. Heather, I suppose we should start with the most obvious question here. We can all see that you’re wearing your engagement ring again, is the wedding back on?”
“Yes, it is.” Heather smiled and couldn’t resist looking up at Harrison.
It had been a stressful week, but they’d been relieved to find out that Michael had only sustained minor injuries, and he was back on duty now. Harrison had been discharged from the hospital on Monday, and they’d even had very careful sex yesterday. Both of them had been horny as hell, but Heather was terrified of damaging his healing ribs.
“Was it ever really off?” Carol asked.
“I have a ton of lost deposits that say yes,” Heather told her with a wry grin.
“What about the rumors of an affair between yourself and Sebastian Fox?”
Carol had discussed this with them prior to filming. They’d agreed that this was the time to address the rumors that were still raging about Sebastian.
“Sebastian and I are just really good friends. We’ve been friends for thirteen years; he is absolutely one of my favorite people on the face of the planet, but we’ve never been anything more than that. Harrison has only ever been the one for me,” he squeezed her hand as she said it.
“So, America’s favorite couple called it quits. You’ve been together for a long time, how was that for you, Harrison?” Carol looked at him as she asked the question.
“Terrible,” his face fell as he said it, “Heather is the only woman I’ve ever loved. I’d made a terrible mistake, something I would never have done, normally, and we did try to get through it, but it was too hard to get past at the time.”
“Let’s talk about what happened,” she sounded curious, “there’s been a lot of speculation about that night, from the time it happened, through to the press conference that was given by the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, Aaron Hamilton, and your manager, Cooper Powell. Even now, it seems as though we don’t have the full story. What can you tell us about that, Harrison?”
They’d had a two-hour-long meeting with lawyers at Cooper’s office yesterday, and Aaron Hamilton had dialed in from California. They couldn’t specify who had drugged the group, for what reason, or how they’d done it, but they could give the general details surrounding what had happened. Heather assumed that Maddy had been briefed to the same effect.
“Obviously,” Harrison began, “there is a current criminal case regarding this, so we can’t be quite as open as we’d like. What I can say is that Cruise Control was specifically targeted at the Cancer Society event. We were given MDMA—a drug that is commonly referred to as ecstasy.”
“So, this was the Willful Poisoning charge that has been made?” She looked thoughtful.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“And it was everyone who was sitting at your table, correct?” Carol asked, and Harrison nodded his confirmation, “I see. So, that would have included Miss Turner?”
“That’s right,” Heather replied, “Maddy was as much a victim as anyone else at that table.”
Carol looked at her with interest as Heather spoke up, “You seem quite defensive of a woman who slept with your fiancé, Heather.”
“I’m not going to lie, I was very angry in the beginning, but I always knew that Maddy was a victim,” Heather looked up at Harrison and immediately, any tension she was feeling seeped away, she looked back at Carol as she continued “I am the lucky woman whose fiancé cheated on her but also had a very good excuse for it. It was tough because I still had all of those feelings associated with being cheated on, but at the same time, how do you get to be angry at someone who has been the victim of a crime that caused them to do it?”
The interview continued on, with Carol running through their time apart and Harrison answering a lot of questions about how much he’d been drinking. Then they got Maddy out to sit on the sofa with Heather and Harrison.
“Madeline, thank you for joining us,” Carol said kindly, “you’ve been painted by a lot of people as the scarlet woman—the person who broke up the golden couple, how has that been for you?”
She could feel Maddy bristling next to her as she said, “Well, it hasn’t been great, Carol!” and Heather had to stifle a laugh.
“No, I suppose it wouldn’t have been. Heather has been very defensive of you throughout our interview”—Maddy looked at Heather and gave her an appreciative smile—“what are your feelings toward her now?
“I don’t think we’re ever going to be best friends, but I’d like to think that there are no hard feelings between us.”
“That’s correct. Maddy and I sat down and talked things through one night, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank her enough for being willing to do that. Hearing from her how it felt to be drugged and then do something you would never do while sober, only to face the violation of someone spreading your naked picture all over the internet…how could you hate a woman who had suffered all of that? Even if she did sleep with your fiancé!” Heather shrugged.
“Let’s talk about that,” Carol looked directly at Maddy, “in your words, Madeline, what was that night like for you?”
They proceeded to run through the events of the night from Maddy’s perspective, with a lot less detail than she’d given Heather when they talked it through. Eventually, they neared the end of the interview, and Carol turned to Harrison.
“Harrison, your fans have been very protective of you during all of this, do you have a message for them?”
“Yes,” he smiled down at Heather, and she felt her heart race as she looked in his eyes. He looked back up at Carol before replying, “I guess, if I were to tell them anything, it would be that I’m okay. Heather and I are okay. That Maddy is not to blame for anything that happened and, honestly? That even if I had cheated in the traditional sense, it still wouldn’t have been Maddy’s fault.
“I would ask them to please let Maddy live her life in peace. Please don’t attack her on my behalf. I don’t want that, and Heather doesn’t want that. Save your anger for the people who did this to all of us,” he looked over at Maddy and smiled at her, as well, “I’m sorry that you’ve had to go through this, Maddy.”
“Thank you, Harrison, that means a lot to me,” she smiled back.
“Well, thank you all for coming today and being so open and honest with me. I really appreciate it. What you’ve all been through must have been incredibly tough. Let this be a reminder to us all that things aren’t always the way that they appear on face value. Best of luck with your wedding, Harrison and Heather; I’m sure it will be absolutely beautiful, and we look forward to hearing Games We Play when it’s released next week, Harrison.”
Then, the interview was over. They’d been warned in advance that the cameras would stay rolling to capture some behind the scenes after the interview footage as Carol thanked them profusely. Heather told her how pleased she was with how delicately she’d handled their interview, and that it was a massive relief to know that the world would soon know the truth because they got to speak it themselves.<
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The crew was still working in their apartment to set it back to normal, matching everything against pictures that had been taken prior to changing anything, so they knew where everything needed to be put in order to go back to where it had been.
“Would you like to join us for a coffee out on the balcony, Maddy?” Heather asked her.
“Sure, that would be nice.”
Harrison made them all coffees, and they headed out onto the balcony together, sitting down at a table and chairs out there.
“That wasn’t too bad,” Maddy was the first one to speak.
“It really wasn’t,” Heather agreed, “I do hope that it has a positive effect on your life, Maddy.”
“Even if it doesn’t, the money will make up for it,” she gave a dry laugh, “I can’t believe that you guys did that for me.”
“It’s the least that we could do,” Harrison said gently, “I really am sorry for what happened, Maddy.”
“Don’t be. It happened, and none of us can change that. If I could go back in time and not drink that wine, I would. I’ve spent so long dwelling on that, but since I talked to Heather, I’ve realized that there’s no point in doing that. I’ll just end up bitter as hell if I do. I have a therapy session booked for next week,” she smiled at Heather.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
They each finished up their coffees, hugged Maddy, and she left their apartment. It took a few hours for the crew to reset the place to normal, but eventually, they went as well, and it was finally just Heather and Harrison, alone at last.
“Come here, angel,” he said to her as she closed the door behind the last of the crew leaving their apartment.
He was sitting carefully propped up on the chaise section of their sofa after taking another of his strong painkillers once their interview was over. The doctors had barred him from flying, so the rest of the guys had stepped up for promotional events for Games We Play, and Harrison didn’t have any obligations until the release party on her birthday next Friday. This interview was the only press event he had until then.
Heather joined him on the chaise, careful not to put too much pressure on his chest, and wrapped her arms low around his waist to avoid his ribs. He closed his eyes and rested his head on hers. They sat together in silence for some time. Everything in their world was finally where it needed to be.
“Angel, I’ve been thinking…”
“Do I want to know?” she asked him with a laugh.
“I wanted to know if you still want to get married on the ninth of May?” he asked her.
They had picked that date because it was her father’s birthday. She’d loved her dad so much, and this way, it felt like he would get to be a part of their special day.
Heather pulled back from him and looked up into his face, “Are you serious?” He nodded. “You want to get married next month?”
“I do, angel. I know what that date means to you, and I don’t want to wait another year to call you my wife.”
“Harrison James Fletcher, you dated me for ten years, and now you suddenly can’t possibly wait another year to get married?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
He laughed at her outrage, “Well, yes, that was dumb. I should’ve proposed to you long before I did. I was happy just having you in my life; I didn’t need a ring or a piece of paper to prove our love.”
“For the record, neither did I!” she grinned.
“Then Gabriel got back together with Ariana. He was so happy, and it made me really assess what you and I had. It made me realize that I did want to be able to call you my wife, because having seen what Gabriel went through, I knew that I didn’t want to spend a day of my life without you in it.
“I was so happy when you said yes. I couldn’t wait to stand up in front of the world and swear to our love. Then all that other shit happened, and I did have to live my life without you in it. I just feel like we’ve been through so much since then and they already took five months from us, I don’t want them to take our wedding date as well.”
Heather looked into his eyes; they had suffered so much this year. Why would she want to put off their wedding for another one? They deserved the love and happiness that they had promised one another back when he proposed in June.
“We’ll never get the wedding venue booking back,” she said slowly, and he grinned.
“So, is that yes, then, angel?”
Heather smiled at him, “It’s completely and utterly insane, but it’s a yes. It’s a yes, even though we will struggle to find vendors, and barely anybody will be able to make it, and we will probably have to get married at a bus stop because all the venues will be booked.
“It’s a yes because I fucking love you, Harrison Fletcher and because the only thing that matters is that you’re there with me, with the people we love when we say ‘I do.’”
He looked like a kid on Christmas morning; such was the delight in his face as she agreed to his proposition. Harrison dropped his lips to hers and kissed her deeply. Their tongues intertwined, and she dropped her hand from his waist down to his crotch, where she could feel him starting to harden.
“Mmmm, angel. We’d better get as much engaged sex in as I can physically manage before we become a boring, old married couple,” he grinned wickedly at her.
“Very good point, honey. We are time-limited, now, before our sex life suddenly becomes shit. I’ve heard that having a wedding ring on your finger decreases your ability to maintain an erection by seventy-three percent,” she said.
“Seventy-three percent, you say?” Harrison asked, and Heather nodded seriously at him, “Well, that does sound problematic. Where did you hear about this?”
“Some study that I read online, I think,” she made a thoughtful face.
“Was this study peer-reviewed, though?”
“Of course!” She feigned outrage, “I only ever pay attention to peer-reviewed studies.”
“Well, in that case,” he laughed and kissed her lips softly, “you’d better come with me quickly, angel. We’re running out of time.”
They made their way to their bedroom. Those days of Heather being unable to enter this place felt like long ago. She had been right when she’d told Zoe that there were far more good memories associated with this apartment than bad ones.
They were also making new good memories on a daily basis, like the way Harrison was looking at her right now. He walked over to stand next to the bed, turned to face her and unzipped his pants, then let them fall to his ankles.
“Come here, angel,” he said, and she walked over to him, “on your knees.”
She grinned at him and dropped to her knees. Heather pulled his underwear down to his ankles as well, taking his semi-erect penis in her mouth. She was exultant in the feeling of him getting harder as she did so, and it wasn’t long before she was moving her mouth back and forth along his length.
Harrison placed his hand on the back of her head and looked down at her as Heather made an effort to touch her nose to his stomach and stay there for a moment before pulling her head back to get some oxygen.
“You’re so fucking sexy, angel,” he groaned down at her, “I will never tire of watching you do this for me.”
Heather removed him from her mouth, ensuring that she licked him from base to tip as she did so, “And I will never tire of doing it for you. I would be a happy woman if I could spend the rest of my life on my knees in front of you.”
“Now, now, angel. If you did that, then I would never be able to return the favor.” He raised an eyebrow at her.
“Fair point,” she laughed.
Heather placed her mouth around him again, working hard to make sure that she took him as far as she could, as often as she could. This was probably her favorite sex act, and he made it so enjoyable with his responses to her as she did.
“Enough, angel,” he told her, eventually, “it’s my turn.”
“No, Harrison,” she said to
him, “you have to be careful because of your ribs.”
He smiled at her, “Let me worry about my ribs. You just take your clothes off, angel.”
She took her clothes off, and he stripped as well before he got her to sit at the end of the bed. He knelt in front of her and placed a hand on either one of her knees before spreading them apart. He proceeded to bring her to orgasm multiple times.
“Harrison,” she panted after the second one, “I can’t take anymore!”
“Yes, you can, and you will, angel,” he gave her an evil grin, “I’m going to eat you until I’m finished, and I’m not finished yet.”
Heather was dizzy and shaking by the time he stood from where he was and instructed her to get onto her hands and knees. He took her from behind, allowing him to stay standing and protect his ribs. She thought that she might collapse by the time he finished deep inside her.
They made their way to the shower where they cleaned off, together. Harrison washed Heather carefully from head to toe, then held her close to him and kissed her deeply as they stood under the spray. When they were finished, they went back to bed and fell into an exhausted sleep.
Chapter 26
SUPER FUN HAPPY PARTY TIME
“WHY THE HELL DID I think that I should plan a wedding in a month?” Heather moaned to Ariana and Ally, as she was pinning up their bridesmaid dresses in Serenity’s office.
It was quiet here today because it was a Saturday, so they had the place to themselves. For the bridesmaid dresses, Heather had gone with a one-shoulder design, with the right shoulder exposed. To offset that, she’d done a thigh split on the left leg with the fabric ruched on the left-hand side of the waist.
Ariana had looked so good in the blush pink dress at Gabriel’s birthday that Heather was going with a blush pink again, but with slightly more peach tones, and both women looked amazing in the dresses.
“Apparently, you’ve got a big thing about specific dates?” Ally asked, “Isn’t that why Harrison insisted that Cruise Control needed to release an album on your birthday?”
Heather laughed, “You’ve got me.”