Diamonds Are Forever (14 page)

By the time Zoe was done with her, Gemma could hardly recognize herself.  Over the past years as a performer, she had taken on many personas.  Being a fan of haute couture, most of them were more structured and thought out, neatly put together to create specific looks.  Even when she wasn’t on stage, she had a similar taste.

Only after seeing her reflection did she realize that her look over the course of the years had been largely “girl-next-door,” as Zoe had put it.  Being in the fashion industry, she thought she had a decent grasp of “sexy.”  Her lavender catsuit that she had worn when she met Tyler – that was undoubtedly sexy.  The Thierry Marc photo shoot that she had done with Damian – that was sexy.  It’s not like Gemma didn’t know
sexy –
she had created and lived it for years.

But dressed in the plain white tank top over the black leather jeans, she was the simple but undeniable sort of sexy that came so naturally to girls like Zoe or Madison or Aubrey.  It was the kind of ensemble that basically shouted “I don’t
need
to wear anything fancy because sexy is just
in
me.”  And it was definitely a new feeling for Gemma.  With her wavy hair straightened, her brown locks were glossy and long, nearly reaching her waist.  As far as makeup went, Zoe had gone for simple as well, using a charcoal shadow to give Gemma smoky eyes and a light peach lipstick for nude lips.

“I did good,” Zoe commended herself, nodding at Gemma’s reflection.

“You don’t think it’s weird that I never dress like this and I’ll be walking into Damian’s place looking this way?” Gemma asked.  She was looking for
some
reason to be insecure about what she was about to do, even despite the fact that she kind of felt…
good
in the outfit.

Zoe shook her head of wild hair, seeming to read the confidence in Gemma’s expression despite her skeptical words.  “Girl.  Not if you own it.”

~

It’d been awhile since Gemma had seen this much attention.  Or maybe it was the first time she’d seen this particularly male-heavy kind of attention.

A surprising amount of people filled the three floors of Damian’s unfurnished Brooklyn home.  Gemma looked around to see players from the Knicks, Giants, and Jets dancing alongside faces she didn’t know.  She could see the way every man in the room was looking at her, their eyes trailing from whatever had previously held their attention to Gemma’s leather-bound legs striding through the house.  Gavin didn’t approve.

“Jesus, Zo.  This is so disturbing.  I hate it,” he said, shaking his head with a grave expression.  Gemma laughed as Zoe beamed, hanging on Gavin’s stiff neck, looking into his eyes as they refused to meet hers.

“Then that means I did a bang-up job because you’re not supposed to like it, broski,” she grinned.  “Come on, don’t be mad.  Look at me.”

Gavin did as he was told but he faced Zoe with a deep frown between his brows.  “Now I have to spend the entire night looking after her.”

“No you don’t, Buzzkill Bob,” Zoe groaned, flashing Gemma an apologetic look.  “Don’t worry, not gonna happen,” she mouthed, though Gavin could easily read her berry-stained lips.

“Really, now.  And what makes you so sure?”

“I dunno,” Zoe said with feigned innocence as she shrugged off her cropped motorcycle jacket, holding it in her hand and standing before Gavin in just her skintight mini-dress.  Fluttering her lashes, she suddenly covered her mouth with a dainty hand.  “Oh my
goodness
, is that star shooting guard of the Brooklyn Nets,
Dante Gibson
, over there? With a bunch of friends who I’m pretty sure were perving on me before? I
have
to go get his autograph,” Zoe said, mischief twinkling in her eyes before flouncing off in Dante’s direction, looking over her shoulder and daring Gavin not to follow her.  Gemma watched Gavin shake his head and laugh, letting himself watch Zoe’s saunter from the back before downing the last of his drink.

“Alright, I’m going over there,” he told Gemma.

“I know you are.” 

He laughed.  “She’s the worst,” he said, fully charmed despite his words.

“Don’t I know it,” Gemma snorted.  “But somehow, that makes her a good friend.”

Gavin shrugged, trying to frown at Zoe as she peeked over at him from across the room, surrounded by a group of guys who looked up to see what Zoe was looking out.  Their attention went quickly from Gavin to Gemma.  Groaning, Gavin turned to her, plucking the lapel of his blazer.  “Any chance you’d wear this?”

“Nope.”

“Fine.  Just don’t make me punch any of my clients tonight, okay?” he said before slow jogging over to Zoe and sweeping her away from her forming crowd of admirers.  Gemma laughed just as a voice squealed behind her.

“Oh my
God,
girl, are you kidding me?” A small hand smacked Gemma’s butt before she could turn around.  When she did, she saw Azura stood there, fully admiring her look.  “You look fucking
awesome. 
I mean, you’re always hot, but
damn girl.
”

“Thanks,” Gemma smiled. 
Now I just need Damian to react the same way,
she thought as her eyes focused on Azura’s ensemble.

She was wearing a homemade blue t-shirt.  Splattered on the front was an orange number and
Evans
written across her chest.  Gemma bit the inside of her lip.  She had wondered if perhaps Damian had turned her down not just because she was drunk, not just because she was
embarrassing,
but because he was perhaps pursuing a relationship with Azura and didn’t realize he was leading Gemma on.  They may not be dating, but it didn’t mean that there wasn’t the intent.  This was at least what Gemma had theorized in the past few days.  She couldn’t confirm it though – not with Damian, at least.  She didn’t want to ask him after what happened the last time they met.

But she did feel strangely comfortable around Azura – perhaps because Azura obviously felt strangely comfortable around her.  “I have a question,” Gemma yelled over the music.

“What’s up!” Azura said, flipping her bright red hair aside and leaning her ear in.

 “You and Damian?” she asked.  Azura quickly snapped up, scrunching up her face.  “Have you two ever… or are you guys trying to…”

“Ever what?” she yelled.  “Trying what? Dating? Having sex?”

“Um, yes, those things.”

“
Hell
, no!” Azura laughed.  “We’re friends. 
Just
friends and always have been
just
friends.”

“Really?” Gemma said, pressing her lips together as she gave it some thought. 
Well then, I guess I was just rejected, plain and simple.

“Yeah, really.  I’m like his fairy godmother,” Azura said, laying a small hand over her heart.  Gemma furrowed her brows, confused by what that meant.  Azura shook her head.  “It’s not sexual.  I mean, he and I are
just
friends, like I said.  And I thought you knew! Why you asking?” Azura asked, smirking with a knowing glance.  Gemma smiled, shrugging.  “Oh shut up, girl.  I know what you thinkin’. 
Go for it.
”  Gemma laughed, looking around her to see if Gavin or Zoe had heard.  Instead, she spotted the two already at a distance, saying hi to some friends.

“I tried,” Gemma said.

“If you did, you didn’t try hard enough,” Azura replied.  “You gotta be obvious.”

“I
was
obvious.  I couldn’t
be
more obvious,” Gemma said.  “And he turned me down.”

Azura flashed her an unreadable look.  “Uh-uh,” she shook her head.  “No fucking way.”

“Why ‘no fucking way’?” Gemma asked.

“Ugh, that boy,” Azura said, continuing to shake her head in disgust as she looked around the room.  “I don’t get him.  Where is he now, anyway?”

“Neither do I,” Gemma said.  “But what are you referring to?” She watched as Azura crossed her arms, straining her tiny frame to look over the people around her.  “Is there something I should know?”

“Maybe,” Azura said.  “But I’ve been trying to learn to keep my fat mouth shut.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll let him tell you himself,” she shrugged.  “But I’m not so sure you need him tellin’ you anything, right?” Azura raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.

“I…” Gemma’s mouth hung open, staring at Azura in hopes of finding some sort of clue as to what she was hinting at.  She hoped they were on the same page – hoped that her cryptic tone meant there was still hope for her.

“Ah, shit,” Azura said, slumping her shoulders.  “I see him.  This shit again.”  She walked towards the back of the house where the open French doors led to the backyard.  In the trees were strings of globe lights, illuminating the greenery that surrounded the yard.  Gemma followed her, only to see what Azura was cursing at.

Damian was sitting back on a lawn chair, a beer in hand.  Sitting on his lap was Clara Zavala.  Gemma frowned at the image.  Clara ran her hand over Damian’s hair as he talked to a teammate sitting beside him.  She looked quite comfortable, as if she regularly used Damian as a lounge chair.  Azura took Gemma by the hand, leading her into the backyard.

“Hey, boys,” Azura said.

“Hey,” Damian and his teammate said in unison, looking up.  Gemma caught Damian’s gaze for a moment before he looked back towards his teammate.

Seriously?

But as soon as he looked away, Damian’s eyes snapped back towards her.  “Gemma?” he said, eyebrows raised.  He stood up from his seat, causing Clara to tumble from his lap and onto the grass.  Damian shook his head, bending over to help Clara up.  Azura smirked, turning towards Gemma with a wink.

“Just wonderin’ where you’re keeping the good stuff,” Azura said, grabbing Damian’s beer and inspecting the label.  “You know I don’t drink domestic shit.”  Damian opened the cooler next to his seat as Clara brushed herself off.  He grabbed two cold bottles of Duvel in one hand, snapping off the caps with the other.  Damian handed the drinks to them, tossing the bottle opener back to his teammate.

“When’d you guys get here?” he asked, putting his hands in his back pockets as he rolled back on his heels.  Damian kept his gaze on Azura as he spoke, though his eyes kept flickering towards Gemma.  She couldn’t help but smirk herself.

“Not too long ago,” Azura shrugged.  “But I’m already bored.  Gem and I are gonna go look for something to do, see ya boys.”  She took Gemma’s hand and led her back into the house.  “
Don’t look back
,
”
she hissed at Gemma.

“Okay,” Gemma whispered, doing her best not to.  She was dying to see the look on Damian’s face but she did as she was told.

In the kitchen, Azura introduced Gemma to a friend of Damian’s.  Sebastian Marcos was the Yankees’ baby-faced shortstop and had met Damian at some party a couple years back.  The two shared their recent reputations as “good guys who liked bad girls,” but Sebastian insisted on explaining the rumor away.

“I understand why
Damian
might have that reputation,” Sebastian said, putting a hand to his chest as if he were pledging his honesty.  “But me? Do I look like a guy who can land women the way he does?”

“Boy, you just need to be a pro baller and those bitches don’t care about nothin’ else,” Azura scoffed.  “And don’t talk about Damian like he’s just running around beddin’ crazy chicks all day.  He’s got better things to do.”  She raised an eyebrow at Gemma.

“So then, what are you
really
like?” Gemma asked.  She sat on the kitchen counter facing Sebastian.  She reached forward to touch his tie, laughing at the fact that he was wearing one at all.  Over Sebastian’s shoulder, Azura was nodding in approval.  Before they had gone into the kitchen, Azura had instructed her to get her mind off of Damian for now and flirt with the next cute boy she could find.

“That’s how you play it,” Azura had said.  “If he’s going to let that thirsty bitch get all cozy with him, you gotta go get cozy with some other boys.”

So she did.  Sebastian was cute enough.  He was a little shorter than Damian and dressed more like a stockbroker than an athlete.  But he was also surprisingly polite, despite being receptive to Gemma’s overt flirtation.

“I’m a one-woman man,” he laughed, putting his hands lightly on her thighs.  “Not necessarily because I want to be, but because I only like to deal with one at a time.”

“And who’s your one woman now?” Gemma asked in a surprising purr – surprising because it came out exactly as she had intended.  She looked up to see Azura distracted by another guest.  Without an audience, she was feeling bolder.

“Right now, it looks likes she’s you,” Sebastian replied, leaning in and brushing his lips against her collarbones.  Gemma smirked.  Sebastian was all talk.  She could see right through his game.  The baby face and the little speech about being a one-woman man was all part of his arsenal.  She felt his hands slide down to her knees, parting them slightly so he could get in closer. 
Wow, brazen, aren’t we?

Just as she was about to stop him, she saw Damian walking back into the house.  His eyes found her instantly, his brows furrowing at the sight of her on the counter with Sebastian’s hands on her legs.  Handing his beer to his nearest guest, Damian jumped cleanly over a side table to get in the open kitchen.

“Let’s go dance,” Gemma said hurriedly, hopping off the counter and into Sebastian’s arms.  She let him carry her away from Damian and to the floor by the massive speakers.  Sebastian set her down on her feet, wasting no time, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her into his body.  She faced away from him, leaning into him as they swayed in unison.  She was nearly his height with her four-inch stilettos and she could hear the delight in his breath as they danced.  Gemma closed her eyes, breathing in Sebastian’s cologne as she leaned her head back.  She felt her hips roll sensually down his body as she got into the sexy persona that Zoe and Azura had been encouraging all night.

But suddenly, she felt an arm scoop her up and away from Sebastian’s body.  She opened her eyes, finding herself face to face with Damian.