Every Pearl Has Its Oyster (3 page)

Though Tyler couldn’t go, Gemma found herself still giddily excited for the trip. Besides, they had spent every waking moment since the incident together, whether it was by choice or for legal obligations, like the court hearings. It was probably time to start doing things individually again, and the beach retreat was a good start. She and Gavin had found a six-bedroom, oceanfront estate to rent in the very private Malibu Colony. With the abundance of large, plush couches, it would be more than enough space for them as well as Zoe, Harper, Leah, Kate, Damian, Nicki, and Josh, Damian’s Warriors teammate. It would be like a big party filled with only her favorite people.

“Babe?” Tyler’s yawning voice came from the bed. Gemma stepped out of the walk-in closet to see him propping himself up against the headboard. She let herself lean against the closet doorframe as he rubbed his bleary eyes, her own admiring his adorable morning hair – and, of course, his shirtless body.

“I’m sorry if I woke you,” Gemma finally said, walking over to his bedside and giving him a kiss on the lips. “I just wanted to get packing done so I could make us some breakfast before leaving.”

“Mm,” Tyler let out a low rumble as he pulled Gemma into bed with him. She giggled, letting him roll on top of her and plant groggy kisses along her neck and shoulders. “Forget breakfast. And packing. I’m not gonna see you for a week.”

“Yes, and?”

Tyler frowned as he pulled down the strap of her tank top. “And this bed is going feel really empty for a long time,” he said. “So we need to spend as much time as we can in it before you leave.”

“But I’m packing,” Gemma protested, waving the swimsuit she’d been holding in the air. As she tried to wiggle away, Tyler held her in place with one strong arm.

“Hold on a second,” he laughed, plucking the bikini top from her fingers. He dangled it in the air, squinting at the tiny black triangles. “What is this?”

“A thing called a swimsuit?” Gemma answered. “You’ve seen it before. I wore it when we were in Turks and Caicos.”

Tyler cocked his head as he tried to recall. When he did, a smile spread across his lips. “I remember. You looked amazing in it,” he murmured, pulling her in to plant a kiss on the top of her head. But quickly, he frowned again. “There are going to be other guys at this trip though.”

Gemma gave him a look. “Yeah, my brother,” she snorted. “And Damian and the security guys. People you know.”

Tyler persisted with his frown. “What?” Gemma groaned. She suspected his concern was with Damian, but she wasn’t sure if she should legitimize the concern by addressing it. Dumb tabloids, she thought bitterly. It was their fault. They wouldn’t stop running stories that pitted Tyler against Damian for the prize of her affections. It was hard to ignore them even when from the beginning, they were all trained to pretend the tabloids didn’t exist.

But they did and Gemma had a feeling that Tyler was finally letting them get to him. “Well. Damian’s bringing Nicki,” she pretended to offer randomly.

“Okay,” Tyler said. He paused. “Why are you telling me about Damian?” he asked. Gemma groaned inwardly. Because I know you’re thinking about him, she wanted to answer, but didn’t. After a brief silence, Tyler cleared his throat. “Anyway, I was thinking of sending Mike down there with you,” he said casually, referring to his bodyguard of over four years. “To help Andro keep an eye on things.”

Gemma narrowed her eyes. Mike’s relationship to Tyler was like that of a brother. When Gemma first met him, he’d been going against Tyler’s management by helping him escape his own film premiere. They were beyond best friends at this point – they had each other’s backs and more importantly, told each other everything. Gemma could only assume why Tyler might want Mike at her vacation.

“I don’t need your security guy keeping an eye on me, Tyler, I’ve got my own keeping an eye on me. Unfortunately.”

“I just figure the safer the better.” Tyler shrugged. Off Gemma’s dry look, he relented. “Alright,” he laughed. “Then just keep me posted. Call me when you’re there. Let me know that there aren’t any shady characters getting too close to you.”

“I’d shake their hands if they could get past my security these days, because that would be impressive,” Gemma snorted. “And then I’d run.”

Tyler didn’t respond. Gemma peered at his stone face. She should know by now not to joke about anything stalker-related – he never seemed to find the topic funny. He’d always just fall silent while his expression grew cloudy, his honey brown eyes occupied with thought. Seeing him so serious would be kind of hot if it weren’t for the fact that he was essentially thinking about Elizabeth.

“Anyway,” Gemma said, putting a hand over his and shaking a little to wake him from his thoughts. She bit her lip back and ran a fingertip down the deep line that stretched between his abs. “I have an hour before I have to leave,” she said. Tyler’s gaze followed her hands before fluttering up to Gemma’s coquettish face. He recognized the look in her eye and in an instant, seemed to forget what they’d been talking about, or that they were even talking at all. It’s just too easy, Gemma giggled inwardly as his hand slipped beneath her tank top while hers located the elastic band of his boxers. Within seconds, it was a familiar scene in their bedroom with articles of clothing strewn about the bed and the sheets tangled into a mess. They’d forgotten to shut the door, but Gemma was sure that Andro had escaped to the furthest room possible by now. He knew the drill by now.

~

“Ugh, chili lime Cheetos are the best,” Gemma groaned to no one in particular as she plucked a bag off the shelf and then another.

There was something hugely satisfying about stopping at a gas station on the way to the beach house just to buy a few snacks. If the tomboyish girl behind the counter recognized Gemma, she didn’t let on to it. If anything, she seemed more distracted by three-hundred-pound Andro, who stood stonily behind Gemma the entire time. He was back from his vacation and sterner than ever, which was saying something.

Had it not been for him, the convenience store perusing would’ve been even better. Gemma wore a light sundress, flip flops, Ray-Bans and her hair in a messy bun. No one recognized her or Tyler’s old black Mercedes in which she and Andro were driving. It practically made her want to just hang out in there and flip through magazines while snacking on Cheetos and Twix bars. After months of being indoors, preparing for court hearings and being trained on how to speak to the media again, it was nice to finally be out and just doing nothing.

By the time Gemma arrived at the beach house, everyone else was already out on the terrace and drinking beers around the fire pit. It was a scene that made her smile – Leah already flirting with Damian’s teammate, Josh, while Kate giggled with Harper, whose lap Zoe was lying across while playing cribbage with Gavin against Damian and Nicki. Empty beer bottles lined the floor in heart formations, which Gemma guessed Kate was responsible for.

“Bee’s here!” Zoe squealed when Gemma stepped onto the terrace. She flew up from her seat to greet her, knocking over all the cribbage pieces as her tie-dyed dress flew colorfully behind her. Gemma smiled as she watched Gavin’s googly eyes follow her as if spellbound, though he narrowed them and made an ugly face at Gemma when he spotted her watching. “Time to bust out the hard alcohol!” Zoe declared, kicking off the day of relaxing in the sun with pitchers of grapefruit margaritas and white sangria. Though the boys were initially hesitant of what Gavin called “painfully girly” drinks, they soon overcame their fears. Damian even gulped down two full glasses of the cocktails after a grueling game of one-on-two against Gavin and Josh – which he won.

“Rematch!” Gavin shouted. “Should be an even playing field since you’re all drunk now.”

Damian laughed, pulling up his Warriors t-shirt to wipe the sweat from his brow. The girls all looked skywards in order to not stare in front of Nicki. “No, I’m picking a teammate this time around,” he said, lifting an eyebrow at Nicki, who shook her head “no” but quickly changed her mind when Damian then asked Gemma to play.

“Awkward,” Zoe sang under her breath. She and Gemma watched Nicki trot off to follow Damian, but only to give a few seconds of effort on the court before dragging her feet and essentially forcing him to play one-on-two again. She eventually opted to sit on the sidelines and watch, taking the occasional photo of Damian with her Nikon camera. “So, I see that girl’s still clingy as ever,” Zoe said, popping a slice of wine-drenched peach into her mouth.

Gemma shrugged. “They’ve been a couple for a long time,” she said, though she wasn’t quite sure what her argument was or if she even believed it. She just felt the need to be nice to Nicki, especially after the contentious relationship they had shared earlier that year.

“Well. Please slap me in the face if I ever turn into that kind of girlfriend, kay? As hard as you want,” Zoe said, putting on her sunglasses and laying back in her chaise.

“Will do,” Gemma said, gazing out towards the basketball court. Nicki was pulling Damian away from the game by his shirt. While she showed him the pictures she’d taken, Gavin and Josh stood around idly, staring at Nicki and then exchanging looks with each other. As Gemma reassured herself that she was most certainly not that kind of girlfriend, her phone buzzed with a text. It was Tyler. Hey babe. How’s it going? What are you guys up to?

As she composed a response, Leah and Kate returned to the terrace from the beach, brushing sand off their bronzed bodies. “Ooh, your phone has service?” Leah brightened. “Can I use it to watch that video of – ” she stopped herself. “To… check my email?” she revised her sentence.

Gemma narrowed her eyes and laughed. “To watch what video of what?” she asked.

Leah’s look was incredulous. “Really? Is your Facebook not blowing up with Beauford people talking about it?”

“I deactivated Facebook. What are you talking about?”

Leah and Kate glanced at each other. “Nothing,” Kate decided. Gemma chucked a piece of grapefruit at her.

“Tell me!” she implored.

“Yeah, tell her! I’m curious,” Zoe piped in. She looked to Harper for support but saw that she was passed out in the sun, lathered in SPF with a straw hat covering her face.

Leah gathered her black hair over her shoulder. “Well, it’s nothing really. It’s just that,” she dragged on her sentence as she examined her split ends. “Madison’s all over the Internet. Everyone’s talking about her.”

Just the sound of the name sent a wave of prickly chills up Gemma’s arms. Madison.

It would be a lie to say that she hadn’t wondered what Madison was up to these days, especially after speaking of her during her big speech at the Kick Bullying campaign – the one where she had revealed her name as Gemma Hunter, a former student of Beauford High who’d been tormented by a cruel bully during her junior year. That bully, of course, was Madison. Gemma had almost suspected that Madison would come out and claim credit for being the bully from Queen Bee’s speech, just to gain the attention. She had always been accustomed to having sole possession of the spotlight. Gemma wished she could have seen Madison’s face when she’d heard that she was Queen Bee. That she was dating Tyler Chase, the celebrity whom Madison so adored.

“What’s she doing all over the Internet?” Gemma asked.

“Some video she’s in went viral, but I can’t see what it is because I don’t have any freakin’ service,” Leah said, holding her iPhone in the air. “Does anyone want to lend me their phone to watch this or should we totally just not think about it anymore since Madison’s a raging bitch?”

Gemma managed a laugh. “Well. I’m not going to watch it.”

Leah and Kate eyed each other. “Neither will we,” they both decided. “Happy thoughts only. It’s vacation!” Kate said.

“Exactly,” Zoe clapped her hands. “In fact, let’s all turn off our phones so we don’t get tempted to watch the stupid video.” She plucked hers from the table and, to everyone’s amusement, tossed it over the railing and into the sand. At her pressuring, the rest of the girls followed suit, holding their phones over the sand and mustering the courage to drop them while Zoe poured them margaritas. “Now it’s time to just get drunk off our asses till we pass out like Harpie!” Zoe declared, nodding towards Harper, who was lightly snoring now. And with a toast, the girls surrendered their cell phones and the rest of their night to just kicking back and relaxing.

~

By five-thirty in the morning, Gemma was wide awake. It was an odd time to be up, especially since she’d only gone to bed three hours ago. But she’d had more to drink than usual, and she always seemed to wake up early after drinking a lot. Today, it was a good thing. With the house virtually silent, there was a chance Gemma had caught security literally sleeping. As she tip toed down the stairs, she imagined herself taking a dip alone and then perhaps walking around and joining someone’s volleyball game on the beach.

But to her disappointment, Andro was in fact awake.

“’Morning,” she sighed when she found him leaning against the white marble counter in the kitchen, staring out at the water. “Guess we’re the only early birds,” she said, which felt stupid because Andro wasn’t so much an early bird as her bodyguard who was required to be awake and alert.

“Yup,” was all he said, gazing out at the Malibu waters.

“Not as epic as Croatia, I’m sure,” Gemma said as was bait. Conversation was limited with Andro these days as he was more serious about security than ever, but mentioning his homeland always got him talking.

“Nothing is as epic as Croatia,” he said immediately. She laughed, prepared for the story he was about to tell because he told it at every given opportunity. “You haven’t seen natural beauty until you’ve been there. Dubrovnik? I almost died there when I was nineteen. My brothers made me jump into the water from a fifty-foot cliff and I…”

His words faded as she quietly backed out of the kitchen, to the foyer and out the front door of the house.

Gemma took a deep breath of the crisp air outside. She walked onto the spot of the sidewalk that seemed to be catching most of the sun. The toasty warmth of the rays hitting every inch of her skin made her sigh. Her eyes closed as she stood still in the spot. It was nice to be somewhere, anywhere for a moment and feel completely unwatched. It was a good feeling.