When I Wasn't Looking...

By Heather Mar-Gerrison

“Ohhh, hell.” In a bit of a panic, I grabbed my beanie hat and pulled on my trusty Converses. Now really wasn’t the best time for getting caught by the paparazzi. Well, let’s face it, no time was a good time – but Friday night after a long day filming and I really didn’t want to face anyone at all never mind the dreaded paparazzi... They were absolute parasites and they couldn’t wait to drag the whole sorry story of my love life through the mud – making out everything had been a total disaster from beginning to end... And it hadn’t been. Not all of it. I was sure some of it had been good. Surely, I wasn’t so utterly delusional that I’d believed it was something it wasn’t... We did have some good times... in the beginning at least. Before I realised he’d slept with half of the cast of almost every soap and drama he’d starred in and produced... Yeah, not cool.
Nathan McGregor is one of Hollywood's up-and-coming stars. He's dating one of the established stars and producer, Patrick Woods. The public adore them and have named them 'PatNat' and everything in the garden is rosy...
That is until Fiona, one of the makeup artists pulls him to one side and tells him that Patrick is a creep who is sleeping with other people behind his back and pretty much forcing himself on the younger stars...
Nathan confronts Patrick, who doesn't deny it, tells him to grow up and makes him feel stupid. Suddenly it's all over - and the paparazzi want their scoop...
Thankfully, Nathan's on location in the UK when the story breaks, which on the one hand is disastrous at the UK press are ten times worse than anywhere else, but on the other, he's able to flee to the safety of his sister's house - only trouble is, she's moved house and thanks to a dodgy Satnav, he takes the wrong turn...

Jermaine is a lonely full-time child-minder with a penchant for the daytime TV soap, Honeysuckle Avenue, and is secretly in love with the Nathan McGregor, his favourite actor from the show.
When his celebrity crush knocks on his door one Friday night, he can't believe his eyes. When his celebrity crush develops a crush all of his own, passions ignite and they embark on a whirlwind romance that surprises them both. Only trouble is, Nathan's life is in Hollywood - and Jermaine's is in a village in middle England... Can their love for each other survive their separation or is their romance dead in the water before it's even had time to flourish?
This is the second book in the 'Behind the Scenes' series. it can be read as a standalone and does not have a cliffhanger ending.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heather Mar-Gerrison
• Release date: Feb 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463084106

Heather Mar-Gerrison

I love to write M/M romance and as a sucker for a HEA, you're guaranteed one in my books. #happyheatherafters

Book preview

When I wasn’t looking....

(Behind the scenes #2)

Heather Mar-Gerrison

Smashwords Edition

Heather Mar-Gerrison Copyright 2020

Revised Edition 2022

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work.

Prologue

Nathan

"Ohhh, fuck." In a bit of a panic, I grabbed my beanie hat and pulled on my trusty Converses. Now really wasn’t the best time for getting caught by the paparazzi. Well, let’s face it, no time was a good time – but Friday night after a long day filming and I really didn’t want to face anyone at all never mind the dreaded paparazzi... They were absolute parasites and they couldn’t wait to drag the whole sorry story of my love life through the mud – making out everything had been a total disaster from beginning to end... And it hadn’t been. Not all of it. I was sure some of it had been good. Surely, I wasn’t so utterly delusional that I’d believed it was something it wasn’t… We did have some good times... in the beginning at least. Before I realised he’d slept with half of the cast of almost every soap and drama he’d starred in and produced... Yeah, not cool.

See, I was an actor. And a reasonably good one too... My American accent was so good, hardly anyone knew I was actually from a small village in the heart of England and I got picked for roles over real Americans, which, without a doubt pissed them off but what could I do about that?

I was more than just reasonably good actually if I allowed myself a little praise every now and again – something that Patrick had never liked to indulge me in. Looking back, that might have had more to do with the fact that I had won Best Male Actor twice to his once... along with my Best Newcomer – that one really rankled him, since I’d got it when I was a fresh-faced seventeen-year-old and a brand-new arrival from England... Oh, and let us not forget my Best Comedy Performance for the movie I’d done last year. He’d tried to hide it but it was obvious that he was as jealous as hell about that one.

I was very proud of my achievements, but Patrick had somehow managed to make me feel like I’d achieved pretty much nothing and that the character I played in the long running drama Honeysuckle Avenue, which had given me my big break, was total pants in comparison to his grittier, nastier character.

I felt like telling him that he was a crap actor and could only ever play himself – a total and utter bastard. Maybe I would next time I saw him...

It wouldn’t be so bad if we were filming in the US where no one went quite so nuts over celebrities like they did over here – but we were on location in my homeland when the story of Patrick’s infidelity broke and for some unknown reason, this was bigger than big news...

On a whim, I grabbed my car keys and without any particular plan of action – and not even a clean pair of boxer shorts – I took the lift down to the parking lot. Parking lot? Jeez, America really was rubbing off on me – it was a car park around here. I jumped into my car and looking around furtively for any lurking reporters, I edged out of my space and headed for the exit.

The guy on the gate didn’t even look at me as I held up my pass to get the hell out of there and I turned right without incident and so, on a whim, started driving towards the motorway. I was due a few days off and, dammit, I was going to try to get to my sister’s house. It would be good to see her and Dave again. I hadn’t seen them in a couple of years – and the kids would be excited to see me – they always were. She had a spare room that was mine whenever I needed it and I also had a few spare clothes there. I bit my lip as a wave of sadness mixed in with the usual anxiety I suffered whenever I thought about them – my parents – hit me. It was a pity Mum and Dad still hadn’t forgiven me for following my dream – although, I guess it was more my sexual preference, or ‘lifestyle’ that they insisted on calling it, no matter how many times Debbie and I tried to explain that there was no choice in it, was what they hadn’t forgiven me for and likely never would...

Anyway, that was ancient history. I couldn’t beat myself up forever for letting them down by being gay and I wasn’t going to. There was nothing I could do to fix it for them and living away from them for the past few years had taught me that being gay wasn’t actually something to be ashamed of...

My sister, Debbie had moved house a couple of months back and I kind of had a vague idea of where she lived now – as in, I had the address. I’d even been pro-active and programmed it into my hired car’s GPS navigation system. How about that? I felt that I was growing as a person…

The last thing I needed was the paparazzi finding out where a member of my family lived, but still – this was an emergency. I just wanted a little privacy for a change and if I didn’t make a move now, they would be swooping into my hotel and camping right outside my door, just waiting for my resolve to crumble and for me to make some sort of a statement about the breakdown of my relationship. Well, not this time, thanks, guys. Sometimes, one just wanted to nurse one’s broken heart alone...

Easier said than done, I guess. ‘PatNat’ was over – and it was such huge news for the vultures it was actually making the headlines, although that might have been more to do with the unsavoury rumours abound about some of Patrick’s extra-curricular activities which I’ve got to tell you, were really quite alarming and I really didn’t want to believe I’d been involved with someone like that...

*

I’d been driving for about two hours. My GPS navigation tool was kind of old and wasn’t exactly the most reliable of devices but finally the female voice piped up, making me jump, and telling me to take the next left.

Relief washed over me. At last I was going to be able to get a nice cup of tea and a sympathetic, if slightly condescending ear in my sister. She’d never really liked Patrick...

"You can do better than him. She said after she’d first met him, I’m sorry Nate, but he’s kind of creepy – and I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, so absolutely no bareback riding, you hear? I’m sure I’ve heard things about that guy before and I don’t think you should be seeing him."

I’d blustered a load of shit about him being a great guy and that she was full of shit and jealous of the fact that I was dating a rich, handsome guy that had the world at his feet.

"No, she snarked, He’s got you at his feet, sucking his dick. I mean it, Nate – no bareback riding. I’m not having my baby brother risking his beautiful life for someone like that."

I blushed and nodded, Sure. I squeaked. The very idea of going bare now was enough to have me shaking in my boots. I seriously didn’t think I would ever find someone I’d trust enough after learning about all of Patrick’s men – and women – on the side.

What really upset me, though, was the fact that everyone else I worked with knew what he’d been doing and hadn’t thought to tell me... Well, maybe they just didn’t know how to tell me. Or maybe they were all too busy banging him themselves to concern themselves with me...

It was Fiona