Diamonds Are Forever (19 page)

“Wait,” Gemma exhaled.  “Just…” Surprisingly, her words stopped Damian in his tracks.  He rolled over, lying next to her with his hands pressed to his face.  Gemma sat up, detecting a slight smile despite his clear frustration.  She tried to pull his hands from his eyes, but he wouldn’t relent.  She rested a hand on his stomach, causing him to practically jump.  Damian pushed her hand off, laughing.

“I need a second,” he said, his eyes still shut.  “Where we’re not touching and I’m not looking at you.  And then I’ll say bye and let you go and I’ll stay for the party, okay?”

“Okay,” she nodded, even though he still wouldn’t look at her.  Gemma stood, giving him some space.  She brushed her hair back, trying to shake her own desire for him at that moment. 
You don’t want your first time with him to be like this anyway, right?
“Are you mad at me?” she dared to ask, breaking the short silence between them.

“No,” Damian said, peeking out between his fingers and shooting her a smile.  “I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”

“I know I’m being indecisive and annoying and sending mixed signals.  I know I’m like a big grab bag of every irritating girly thing in the world right now.  I would understand if you were mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you,” he reiterated.  “I’m just trying not to die right now.”

“Oh my God, stop.”  Gemma groaned her laugh.  “You’re making me feel worse.”  He laughed with her, sitting up and shaking his head as he leaned his elbows onto his knees.

“I’m good now,” he said, peering up at her.  “Let’s say bye.”  Damian leaned his head against his folded arms, hiding his lips.  He looked almost shy as she made his way back towards him.

“Bye, then,” she said, kissing him on the cheek.  He squeezed his eyes shut.  “And thank you for being so understanding.  And dealing with my craziness for as long as you have.”  She pulled away, watching as his eyes fluttered back open.

“I’d walk  you out,” Damian started.  “But…”

“I know,” Gemma blushed, shaking her head.  “Don’t worry about it.”  She backed out towards the entrance of the cabana as he waved goodbye, his head still resting in his folded arms as he watched her.  She realized then that she didn’t really want to leave, that she wanted nothing more than to be with him, do
everything
with him.  But in that moment, she wasn’t sure whether she needed to laugh, cry, or scream into a pillow over her haywire emotions.  She felt overwhelmed and confused and it was probably best to be alone.

NSFW PHOTOS FROM DAMIAN EVANS’ OFFICIAL WELCOME PARTY

The Durt

August 10
^th
 

Oh my God, why weren’t we there?

Considering what we heard about his scandalous housewarming bash, it comes as no surprise to us that Damian Evans and his rock hard body decided to throw a celebration party at Bay, the rooftop club on the top of The Strathorne best known for its “European” infinity pool.  According to these NSFW pictures, “European,” in this case, is code for “get as naked as you’re comfortable with as long as you have a smoking hot body and a pro baller to physically attach yourself to.”

Sources say that New York’s star athletes were all in attendance at Evans’ steamy pool party, and that reported girlfriend, Clara Zavala, splashed around mostly naked for the duration of the night (we have an exclusive slideshow for you that we think you’d like to take a look at, in the privacy of your own home, of course).

Ladies, you’ll be as disappointed as we were to know that Evans did
not
strip down past his swimsuit.  But do enjoy all the images of him shirtless and soaking wet.  We know we did.

Gemma knelt on the cold cement floor of her studio, staring at her phone and willing it to buzz with a new text message.  Since that night at Bay, she and Damian had exchanged a couple of texts, carrying on just about as normally as they could.  It wasn’t until Gemma suggested that the two meet up again for dinner that Damian’s replies suddenly stopped.

“Leather pants?” Tyler stepped out of the dressing room towards Gemma where she was kneeling at Azura’s feet, doing a final fitting on one of the outfits.  At their last dinner, Azura had decided that everyone would be wearing leather, but “not in a way that’s dominatrix or cowboy or biker or any of that stereotypical shit.”

“You should be happy you only have one outfit for your set,” Gemma laughed.  “I’m still wondering how I’m going to get Azura in and out of every leather look she has for the performance.”

“I know you found some way to make it all work,” Azura said, looking down at Gemma as she pinned the hem of a peach chiffon skirt she had made to go with a leather, quilted bustier.  “You being all talented and shit.”  Azura made kissy faces as she winked at Gemma.  She smiled, knowing Azura was more than pleased with the looks.

“Am I getting adjustments too or is this just how it’s going to be?” Tyler laughed.

“What, why you acting like you never put on a pair of leather pants before?” Azura asked.  “You have been in this damned industry far too long to have
never
worn a pair of leather pants.”

“For your information, I actually haven’t,” Tyler said, crossing his arms.  “It would have been a lifelong achievement if you didn’t think it’d be such a good idea.  And to be honest, when you said incorporate some leather, I thought Gemma was going to make me a bomber jacket or something.  Not pants.”

“Just admit you like the pants,” Gemma teased.  “And come on, I did a good job – right Azura?” Azura nodded, studying Tyler’s outfit.  To be honest, Gemma had originally designed the pants for Azura, but the distressed grey leather ended up pairing perfectly with the black graphic tee that she had already prepared for Tyler.  The shirt was somewhat inspired by Azura’s makeshift top that she wore to Damian’s housewarming party.

“I mean, I guess I do like them,” he shrugged, checking himself out in the mirror.  He laughed.  “I don’t want to like them, though.”

“What? Why?” Gemma snorted, noting what normal conversation they were having and silently congratulating herself for that.

Tyler shrugged.  “Leather’s always seemed a bit too crazy for my taste,” he replied, turning back towards them.

“Yeah, but it’s not like you’re wearing that shiny, tight leather,” Azura said.  “This is the classy shit,” she said just as a quick knock came at the doorway.  They all turned at the same time to see an awestruck Sophie as she stepped into Gemma’s studio.  She looked a little more comfortable with everyone than she had at the Gotham Ball and at their wardrobe meeting at Lilac.

She had come in a little after Azura’s arrival, holding an armful of wedding magazines and looking just a little bit flustered.  Fortunately, she was the type of girl who seemed to pull off that slightly ruffled look and still manage to look adorable.  Gemma did have to say so.

“Hi everyone!” she said, taking a seat beside Gemma and wiping a small bead of sweat off her brow.

“You’re empty-handed,” Tyler smiled.  “Weren’t you supposed to be shopping?”

“I was,” Sophie said, bright and breathless as she looked over at Gemma.  “But I’m terrible at shopping, I learned that today.”

“What girl is terrible at shopping?” Azura laughed.

“The type that didn’t realize just how un-girly she was until she got engaged,” Tyler answered for Sophie.  He walked over, bending over to kiss her on top of the head.  Gemma watched them, hardly bothering to be discreet.

“Are those leather pants?” Sophie asked, running her hand down his calf.

“Yes,” everyone else said in unison.

“I like them on you,” Sophie said, looking up at Tyler.  Her eyes were wide and honest as she kept her gaze on him.

“Thank you,” Tyler smiled, his shoulders seeming to relax.  “Alright, well.  Guess I’m good to go then, right?”

“Yep,” Gemma said, taking away the pin that she had pressed between her lips and securing the last bit of hemming.  “You’re all set, and I just have a little more to go with you, Azura.”  Tyler disappeared into the dressing room before quickly returning in his own pair of jeans.

“I’ll see you girls in Vegas,” Tyler said, leaning in to give Azura and Gemma kisses goodbye.  He reached down to help Sophie to her feet, pulling her tired body into his arms and walking her back out of the studio.  Just when they were almost out of view, Tyler went in for a big kiss.  Gemma could hear Sophie’s laugh echo as they walked out.  She had forced herself to watch the entire exchange as a test.  Considering the genuine little smile on her face, she would say that she passed.  As far as she could tell, she was fine with Tyler. 
And
Sophie. 
Interesting
.

“So,” Azura said after Tyler and Sophie were officially gone.  She lowered her voice.  “We’re finally alone.”  Gemma laughed, knowing Azura mustered up everything in her being to sound as predatory as possible.

“What?” she said.

“Girl, don’t ‘what’ me.  We have like, a thousand things to talk about.”

“Is one to one-thousand all questions about Damian?”

“
No,
” Azura said with defiance.  “Question one would be, ‘So you and Tyler Chase are totally cool?’ Question two through nine-hundred and ninety-nine would be, ‘What’s going on with you and Damian?’ And question one-thousand is, ‘How thirsty is that bitch, Clara?’”

Gemma laughed.  “Alright, well, the answer one would be, ‘guess so.’  The answer to two through nine-hundred and ninety-nine would be, ‘no clue,’ and the answer to three, I guess, would be, ‘super-thirsty.’”

“Some women, right?” Azura shook her head.  “Full disclosure, I may have thrown myself at Damian when we first met, but I had just a little more dignity than that bitch.”

“You did?” Gemma’s mouth dropped in amusement.  “You were into him at some point?”

“I was friends with Aubrey and coming off a bad breakup and I just wanted to be with a nice boy for once, you know what I mean? I don’t know that I was really into him
like that.
”

“But you guys never ended up doing anything?”

“Nah.”

“Was he single at the time?” Gemma asked.  “Because even as a straight girl, I’m having trouble understanding how anyone could turn you down.”

“He was technically, physically single,” Azura said.  “But after getting to know him, I’m pretty sure he’s been mentally dating you this whole time.”

“Really.”  Gemma’s eyes widened.  She wasn’t sure she ever got that vibe from him.  They had always been close friends and she couldn’t deny the fact that Damian loved and cared for her a great deal – but like Azura said, he was just a good guy.  He had always been that way.  Gemma didn’t expect anything less from him.  “Why do you say that?”

“He may have dated other women since he dated you, but he doesn’t talk about any of them the way he talks about you.  Someone mentions your name and he’s suddenly all like shiny anime eyes, I swear.”

“Then
why
have we started out so weird? I feel like with our history it should have just been easy to jump back in if we ever decided to be romantically involved again, and yet it’s just been so shaky and strange.  I don’t know how to act around him and I kind of hate that.”

“That happens when you put two careful and responsible people together,” Azura said.  “I mean I don’t know for sure because as a person who
isn’t
careful or responsible, I will never be a part of that kind of relationship.  But let me see if I can think of something similar,” Azura said, holding up her hand.  “Call me selfish but I gotta relate this to me or I don’t understand shit.”

“That’s fine,” Gemma laughed.

“Okay, I got this friend.  He and I go way,
way
back.  Way back like middle school shit.  His name’s Eugene – can you believe it? We just mostly called him Gene.  Anyway.  We went to school together back in Cali and if you think Damian Evans is good at resisting me, you haven’t met
this
boy.  He’s a shy guy so shit’s already tough there and he’s only liked me twice in my life – once when we were thirteen, the second time is hopefully now.  Anyway, he just got divorced – he got married like two years ago and I skipped the wedding and cried my face off and didn’t come out of my house for days because I’ve liked him my whole damn life.  And you know what, I ended up writing this
entire
album – my current one – about him.”  Azura smiled as she watched the ends of Gemma’s lips curve.  “Yeah, yeah, I know.  Anyway, the album’s called
Ancient History
because that was my way of saying goodbye to whatever chance we ever had of getting together – and now he’s divorced! Like, we have a chance again! I thought I made peace with it and here I am doing this dance again.  Now, you know me, I’m full on crazy.  But Eugene knew me when I wasn’t.  He knew me as that good little girl he went to church with.  And so when I’m around him, I feel like that good little girl again and I think too much instead of making a move.  And I
know
that man likes me right now, but
he
won’t make a move.  So now we’re just kind of sitting there.  Nobody doing shit, nobody getting shit.”

“So you’re saying Damian’s Eugene in this story?”

“No, Damian’s
me
in this story,” Azura clarified.  “He’s the one who wants to be that friend you’ve always had because he knows how much you need that side of him.  But at the same time, he wants to throw you up against a wall and have his way with you.  You know?”