by Sian Ceinwen
He was looking at her in a way that reminded her of how Gabriel had looked at Ariana as they’d walked downstairs in their bikinis at Galena. She remembered thinking that Harrison would have looked at her that way if he had been there, and she had been right.
Heather could never have imagined that weekend that she would have ended up marrying Harrison exactly on schedule. That she would be here, with him in this beautiful place right now to celebrate their marriage.
“Having fun, angel?” Harrison asked her, as he dropped down on the sun lounger next to hers.
“Well, I’m certainly enjoying the view, that’s for sure,” she smirked at him as her eyes flickered to his crotch, “is there anything special that you’d like for your birthday, husband?”
Harrison laughed, and it was a laugh that was filled with sexual promises for Heather.
“Come here, angel.”
SNEAK PEEK FOR THE BABY
LITA CICCONE WAS BUSY coding a video game for her employer, Silicon Street. She’d come across a bug and was trying to find out how to fix it when her phone started buzzing on her desk. She frowned and answered it, vaguely recognizing it as being a Chicago phone number as she did so.
“Hello?”
“Hi, am I speaking to Miss Lolita Ciccone?” the woman on the other end of the phone asked.
“Yes, this is Lita.”
“Oh, Miss Ciccone, excellent. My name is Stephanie Jennings, and I’m calling from the office of Cooper Powell,” Lita’s mouth dropped open in shock. Cooper Powell was the manager of her favorite band, Cruise Control, “I’m calling you to congratulate you on winning the competition you entered for a night out with the band!”
“Are you serious? Is this a joke?” Lita couldn’t believe what she was hearing right now.
Stephanie laughed, “No, definitely not a joke! Now, the prize includes flights to Chicago as well as a hotel room for two people while you’re here, inclusive of airport transfers. You will need to fly from Seattle on a Friday and out from Chicago on a Sunday.
“On Saturday night, you and your friend will be treated to a night out with Cruise Control. We have two available weekends to do this. One is the weekend of the twenty-sixth of June, and the other is the weekend of the third of July. You don’t need to answer immediately, and I’ll be putting all of this in an email to you. I just call because people tend to miss emails or think that they’re a scam.”
Suddenly, Lita was suspicious, “Is this a scam?”
“Feel free to hang up now, look up the phone number for Powell Management and call me back,” Stephanie laughed.
“You sound very honest, but I think I will do that,” Lita said, not caring that she sounded rude.
“No worries, talk to you soon!” Stephanie said.
Lita hung up the call and did exactly as Stephanie had asked. There was the number from the top of the search results, and sure enough, it was the one that had just called her. The excitement started to build in Lita; holy hell, she might actually be getting to meet Cruise Control!
She called the number, and it answered on the second ring, “Hello, Powell Management, how can I help you?”
“Hi, I’d like to speak to Stephanie, please?”
“Oh, yes, that’s me! Is this Lita? I thought it might be you, but I couldn’t be sure,” Stephanie laughed.
“Yes, it is. Sorry I didn’t believe you; it just sounded too good to be true.”
“Completely understandable. Anyway, as I was saying, I’ll be sending this all to you in an email. If you can reply back as quickly as possible with your chosen weekend and the name of the person you’ll be traveling with, I can get it all booked for you,”
They ended their call shortly after that, and Lita sat back in her chair in complete shock. She remembered entering that competition on a whim. She’d been bored and had been looking at Cruise Control’s website for more information about Games We Play when she’d seen it.
She’d been a fan of theirs for years and had seen them in concert on both the Cards Have Been Dealt and Heart Wide Open tours. Lita had streamed Games We Play the minute it had been released on Spotify and knew all of the lyrics off by heart already. She had a real affinity for learning song lyrics and never felt like she could really enjoy a song properly until she could sing along word for word.
The first day, she’d listened repeatedly while reading the lyrics. Every song spoke to her in some way or another—that was what she loved about their music. It felt purposeful, not like it was just something random that had been thrown together.
It didn’t hurt that every single member of the band was absolutely to die for, either. Harrison Fletcher had just gotten married to his longtime girlfriend, Heather York. Gabriel Knight had been with his fiancé, Ariana, for over a year now. So that left Sebastian Fox and Hayden Vega, and there were rumors amongst the fan base that Hayden was seeing someone on the down-low.
Not that Lita thought she had a shot in a million years with any of the members of Cruise Control, even knowing that she was going to get to meet them now, but she’d had the biggest crush on Hayden for the longest time. He seemed really sweet and lovely in interviews, and she wished there was a guy like that for her in real life.
Sebastian, meanwhile, was the kind of guy that she wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Lita didn’t think she’d ever seen a picture of him with the same woman twice. If the rumors were to be believed, he slept with an abhorrent number of women, particularly fans. A lot of who got a weird kind of glory in the fanbase for having done it.
It was insane that Lita was finally going to get to meet them. She pulled out her phone and texted her best friend, Becky.
Hey, what are you up to on the 26th of June?
Becky didn’t take long to reply to her text.
Nothing planned. Why?
Want to come meet Cruise Control with me in Chicago?
Her phone immediately started ringing, to Lita’s complete non-surprise, and she answered the phone with a laugh, “Yo, bitch. So, you coming to the mid-west with me or not?”
“Lolita Serafina Ciccone, you can not just ask me that as if it isn’t the coolest and most insane thing ever! How the hell did you get this?” Becky sounded like she was as shocked as Lita had been when she’d been told.
“I entered a competition on their website last month and, apparently, I won! So, are you coming or not? Because I bet I could find someone else to go with me if you’re not interested…” Lita trailed off ominously.
This threat was enough to spur Becky into action, “Yes! Oh my god, yes! A million times, yes!”
Lita hung up the phone and checked her email. Sure enough, there was a very official-looking email from Stephanie laying out the details of the possible weekends. She replied with haste, telling her that the weekend of the twenty-sixth of June would work best for her and thanking her again for her patience with Lita thinking it was a scam.
As she hit send on her email, Lita couldn’t believe her luck. She was going to get to meet her favorite band. The twenty-sixth of June was going to be epic.
SNEAK PEEK FOR HARRISON’S WEDDING
IT’S SUNDAY MORNING, AND I’m stretched out on the chaise section of our sofa. I’m playing a race car game on the PlayStation. My girlfriend, Heather York, is lying on her back with her head in my lap, using it as a pillow. She’s scrolling through Instagram on her phone. This is a pretty normal Sunday morning for us if we don’t have anywhere to be.
My girlfriend is the most beautiful woman in the world, and I’m lucky as hell to have her. I finish the race and come in fourth, which is annoying because I needed to place in order to open the next track. I look down at Heather, but she’s distracted with whatever the latest happenings are in her social media feed.
I smile at her and stroke her cheek gently before looking back at the TV. I can feel her smile when I do it.
“I love you, honey,” she tells me and turns her face to kiss the
palm of my hand.
“Love you, too, angel.”
I pick up the controller to start another race when Heather gasps.
“What’s wrong?”
“Elena was kissing some random at a club last night.”
“What the hell?” I’m confused and also angry at the news.
Elena is the girlfriend of one of my best friends, Gabriel. He’s the lead singer of the band I’m in, Cruise Control. They’ve been having some trouble lately, but I didn’t think that she would cheat on him. Heather shows me the picture, and it’s definitely Elena kissing a man that is absolutely not Gabriel.
I grab my phone and send a text to Gabriel.
Dude, we saw the pics of Elena. Are you okay?
My phone starts buzzing almost immediately, and I’m not surprised by the name displayed on it, ‘Gabriel Knight.’
“Hey, there, Harrison Fletcher,” Gabriel says dramatically when I answer his call.
“You don’t sound like you’re upset by the news. Have you seen the pics?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I have,” his tone sobers, and he adds, “I feel bad about Elena.”
I’m confused. “What do you mean, ‘you feel bad about Elena.’ Didn’t she cheat on you?”
Heather has given up on her phone and is paying avid attention to our conversation, now. She’s signaling to me to put him on speaker, and I shake my head at her.
“No, she didn’t. Is Heather there?” Gabriel asks me.
“Yeah, she is.”
“You might as well put me on speaker. I know you’ll tell her everything, anyway.” He laughs.
I mean…he’s not wrong. I would tell Heather everything he said to me. I put him on speaker and tell him that I’ve done it.
“Hey, Heather. You having a good weekend?”
“Better than you, I would’ve thought,” she tells him. “Why are you not crying into your Cheerios about those pictures, Gabriel Knight?”
Heather has narrowed her eyes, and I’ve realized what she’s thinking. Oh. This makes complete sense. Gabriel sounds happy. Happier than I’ve heard him sound in two years.
“Elena and I broke up a couple of days ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Heather asks him.
“Do you need to know everything that happens in my life, Heather?”
“Maybe. So, you’re obviously completely and utterly heartbroken about it, I can tell.”
I raise an eyebrow at her and give a small shake of my head. Her tone seems fine, but I can hear the bitchiness behind what she’s saying.
Gabriel just laughs, though. “Okay, well yeah. I’m fine with it and with those pictures. Elena can kiss whoever she wants because Ariana and I are back together.”
Heather hisses quietly under her breath, and I cough to cover it. There’s silence for a moment, and I realize that I should say something.
“That’s awesome, dude. I’m happy for you.”
Heather’s eyebrows raise, and I shrug at her. What am I meant to say? Okay, so he’s back with the girl who broke his heart two years ago. I can’t say that I didn’t expect this to happen from the moment she showed up at our concert a few months ago.
“Thanks, Harrison. It’s just…” he pauses for a few seconds, “…I’m just so fucking happy, guys. I can’t believe she’s back in my life. I’m kind of in shock, to be honest. But yeah. That’s the deal. So, no, Elena didn’t cheat, and to answer your text, Harrison, I’m more than okay. I feel like I’m fucking flying.”
I smile and say, “I really am happy for you, Gabriel. Tell Ariana I said hi. We’ll see you sometime soon, no doubt.”
“Yeah, I was going to ask if you’re okay with her coming to your birthday party.”
“Of course. You didn’t even need to ask. She’s more than welcome to come.”
“Thanks, dude. Well, I’ll talk to you guys later. Have a great day!” Gabriel says, then he hangs up.
There is complete silence in our apartment after the call ends. I’m in shock, and I think that Heather is, too. I look down at her, and she looks up at me. I can remember, vividly, how terrible it was when Ariana and Gabriel broke up.
I can understand it; I wouldn’t be able to handle it if Heather and I ever broke up. That concept is so foreign to me, and I frown. No. I don’t ever want to be without Heather. She’s still looking at me, and she’s so beautiful, my angel.
Heather shakes her head. “He’s making a mistake.”
Okay, so she’s feisty and troublesome and says the first thing that comes to her mind, but I love her more than anything or anyone that ever existed. I can’t stop the smile that comes across my face.
“Why the hell are you smiling? This isn’t funny, Harrison.” She frowns.
I smile even wider and have to resist the urge to laugh. I’m going to ask Heather to marry me. We’ve been together for ten years, and I can’t believe I haven’t done it yet. If there’s one thing that I’ve absolutely certain of, it’s that I don’t ever want to be without her.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for the people that supported me along the way.
Mum – You get top billing this time. You are my number-one fan. You’re the person who tells me that my books are a bit of all right. I know that you know I wrote those sexy scenes, and you know that I know that you read them. I love our long arguments, and discussions about my characters, and I’m sorry that I’m writing this acknowledgement to you instead of more of The Baby!
Ally – Oof! You rode this rollercoaster with me, hard. It was a wild ride and I’m glad that I had you with me. This one was definitely a rough ride, and I don’t know if I would’ve survived it if I hadn’t had you living through it and splooshing over Harrison and Sebastian with me.
Daena – I adore you and our writing discussions. I cannot thank you enough for being my sounding board in the middle of the night when all of the Aussies around me are sleeping. Thanks, my gorgeous, insomniac ex-pat, for being available nearly 24/7 for me to talk to.
Divia – Holy crap, you’re amazing. One of the best people I’ve come across in this journey. The fact that you love and believe in my books as much as you do means so much to me. I don’t think that I will ever be able to thank you enough for reaching out to me. I’m still amazed. You. Rock.
Kathy – My favourite one-star reviewer. Goodreads insisted that replying to your review was a bad idea, but I’m so glad that I did. I might have only turned The Album’s review into three stars on its rewrite, but I’m glad you loved this enough to give it five because I don’t think I could ever rewrite it (famous last words, probably!). Thanks for being awesome and a great cheerleader!
Maddy – The most voracious rock star romance reader that I know. I’m so stoked that you like my series. I defer to you for all things rock star romance, your knowledge is wide-ranging and sound.
All my advance readers – Thank you all for taking the time to read my work, give your feedback, and encouraging me to keep writing.
Dana Hopkins – I appreciate the time and effort that you put into editing this book. I might have cut next to nothing because I’m a terrible writer who can’t kill her darlings, but your feedback was helpful in ways I’ll never be able to explain.
Mark and Lorna Reid – I swear, next book is the one where you’ll have oodles of time to do your thing. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart for doing everything you can to make my book as wonderful as if it was your own. You two are the fricking best.
Damien – I always leave you ’til (second) last because you are the backbone of me being able to do this at all. Without you, this wouldn’t be possible at all. Thank you for putting up with an absentee wife who spent five weeks in her own world while writing and only coming up for air to do the bedtime routine. You know I love you for it and, hopefully, the people mentioned below will send you some good wishes when they read this and realise what you sacrifice
for their reading pleasure. ;)
My readers – If you’re reading this, thank you. I hope that you enjoyed this book even a tiny bit as much as I enjoyed it. This one, it means so much to me, I was deeply and emotionally invested in it, and I hope that you were, too. I know, this book is a lot. I like to give people somewhere to escape to, but I’m not sure this book does that. It certainly gives you a place to…feel a lot of feelings that aren’t your own? So there’s that. You’re the best. My readers are the best readers, and that is the hill that I will die on.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Siân Ceinwen lives in Western Australia with her husband and two sons. She grew up with a love of telling or writing stories for her friends to read and enjoy.
The Wedding is the follow-up to her debut novel, The Album, and is the second in four stories about the members of Cruise Control.
If you enjoyed this, please share it with your friends, and please write a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
It would really be appreciated, as this helps more people to discover the book. Reviews assist with the algorithms used by these platforms to display books, so every little bit helps indie authors to get noticed.
You can also join Siân on Facebook or Twitter for all the latest news on the Cruise Control series of novels.
Were you wondering what Gabriel was thinking and feeling the night that he met Ariana? If you’re interested in receiving “The First Song”, which is the first chapter of The Album, from Gabriel’s point of view, you can get a copy of that by subscribing to Sian Ceinwen’s newsletter here.