What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 7)

by Lexi Buchanan

  “So who’s Ethan Rock?”

  I frowned at her. “It took you long enough to ask.”

  “You still haven’t answered.”

  “Ethan Rock was the school jock, aka school asshole, who tried to get to third base in my tree house. It was cut short by my dad calling me,” I giggled. “I kneed him in the junk. He ended up rolling all over the floor in his shorts while I tried to hold a conversation with my dad without laughing. Ethan never spoke to me again.”

  “Oh my God. How old were you?”

  “Sweet sixteen,” I replied, starting to feel the effects of drinking nearly two bottles of wine with Callie.

  “Nothing sweet about what you nearly did.” We fell into each other laughing.

  After picking ourselves up from the floor, I walked into the kitchen for more wine and the cake I’d brought home with me from work.

  “Here, share this with me.” I passed Callie a slice before sitting back down beside her.

  “Why didn’t I get the job in the cake shop instead of the dry cleaners?”

  “Because you have a sweet tooth. You’re skinny now; if you’d taken the job with the cakes you wouldn’t be able to walk through the door,” I teased my sulking friend.

  “I thought you were my friend.”

  “I am. That’s why I work in the cake shop and you don’t,” I laughed.

  We both hated our jobs, which we considered slave labor, although I did have the slightly better one in the cake shop. Unfortunately today had been my last day. The cake shop was on campus, and only opened during the college semesters, whereas the dry cleaners where Callie worked was open twenty-four-seven, much to Callie’s constant dismay.

  “Before you get too drunk to think, I want to know what’s going on between you and Liam… and don’t tell me nothing.”

  I digested Callie’s question. How could I answer when, in actual fact, I had no idea? Over the past six months we’d been on a few dates and to the movies once or twice, but there was something missing. In honesty, I think if I hadn’t been so busy with my studies I would have said something to him, about the lack of closeness between us. He hadn’t even kissed me, other than a peck on the cheek. Liam was good company and rather entertaining so I’d just gone along with him as his ‘girlfriend’.

  Callie was staring at me with the patience of a saint. Her long legs rested beside mine on the coffee table and she was slouched on the couch. Her eyes half closed in a lazy manner; blonde hair falling in disarray from the ‘up do’ she had going on from the morning.

  “Liam is good looking, but he hasn’t tried to get into my pants; not even once. He’s kissed me, kind of, but no other touching…” I hesitated before blurting out, “I’m going home with him this summer.”

  Callie choked on the swallow of wine she’d just taken, the red liquid staining her white top as her eyes widened in shock. “Are you crazy?”

  “Probably,” I groaned.

  Callie dabbed at her shirt as she stared at me looking flabbergasted.

  “Look, you know I don’t want to go home.” I numbered out the reasons on my fingers. “All the summer jobs around here have already been taken. You’re going away with your family, and I don’t want to touch my savings. I can use some, but the majority I want to save; you know that.”

  I avoided her gaze as I reaffirmed all my reasons for going. “Liam said his parents want him to bring me home. He also said, I’ll have my own room, and I do like him, but as a friend. To be honest I think that’s what he wants, although he keeps referring to me as his girlfriend.” I frowned.

  “This can only end in disaster.” Callie sat up, her gaze serious, “What are you going to do if this is all a ruse to finally get in your panties? Because I can tell you’re not into him like that; though I doubt you ever were to begin with,” Callie finished, truth ringing in her words.

  “Then I’ll deal with it, if, or when that happens,” I muttered.

  Callie’s hard gaze bore into me, making me shift uncomfortably under it before she stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. “I need to get some sleep and don’t forget we’re going shopping in the morning,” she reminded me as she struggled up from the sofa and stumbled into her room.

  Despite her warnings, I was looking forward to going home with Liam, although I was a bit apprehensive about meeting his parents. Hopefully I’d meet a HOT cowboy there. They had cowboys in Alabama, right?

  I pulled myself up from the sofa and headed to my room where I collapsed on top of my bed. I was so tired.

  Chapter Two

  Thalia

  Both Callie and I were still suffering the effects from last night’s wine drinking; Callie had been sick and I’d woken up with drums beating in my head. I’d taken some painkillers about an hour ago so the drum in my head had dimmed enough that I’d stopped feeling sick, which was just as well because we were in one of Callie’s favorite stores trying on dresses.

  I’d bought a pair of cowgirl boots about six months ago on a trip home with Callie to Texas for her parent’s thirtieth wedding anniversary, and I loved them. They were authentic cowgirl boots from Allen’s Boots in Austin, in soft, light brown leather. Deep brown, embroidered poppies decorated the boots making them the perfect accessory for any event. They’d set me back a bit, but I’d always wanted a pair and they were so worth it.

  All I wanted were some dresses to wear them with. You see, I had it in my head that I was going to fall head over heels in love with a cowboy, but I’d worked out that ‘said cowboy’ had to fall in love with me too, hence the dresses to go with the boots. I mean what guy could resist a woman in cowgirl boots and a short dress? Flashing naked thighs!

  As I wiggled into the third dress, music started blaring from somewhere close by. Oh my God! Where the hell was that racket coming from? My head was about to explode.

  I could hear Callie groaning in the changing room beside mine. “Thalia, answer your goddamn phone,” she shouted.

  It was me? Shit. My fogged brain hadn’t registered the fact. I grabbed my jeans from the floor where I’d thrown them in my haste to try on the white lacy dress, and quickly retrieved my iPhone from the back pocket. My stomach rolled with nausea, so after taking some deep breaths, I answered, which cut off one of my favorite songs, ‘Here Without You’ by Three Doors Down.

  “Hello,” I answered, sliding to the floor, shutting my eyes, praying that everything stopped spinning.

  “Thalia, dear. Is that you?”

  “Mom,” I groaned, just what I needed, a lecture when I was still feeling the effects of too much red wine from the night before. “Yes, it’s me.”

  “I just wanted to know when you’re going to arrive home for the summer. We need to make plans.”

  “Ah… Mom, about that.” I took a deep breath, mentally bracing myself. “I’m not going to be coming home. I’ve been invited to a friend’s home in Alabama for the summer. So, having never been to Alabama before, I’ve accepted. I mean it’s not as though you and Dad will be there all the time, you both usually head out on a cruise.” I crossed my fingers.

  “Well! Do we know this person who you prefer over your own parents?”

  Ugh. Why did she always have to make me feel guilty? “No you don’t know him.” The silence on the phone was icy. I sighed before continuing, “His name is Liam. His father has a law firm which he jointly owns with another guy, so totally trustworthy.”

  “Now Thalia, lawyers are not trustworthy, they’re sharks.”

  Here we go again. All because one lawyer swindled Mom and Dad out of a load of money, they’re all sharks!

  “Mom, I don’t want to argue. His parents are already expecting me, and I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. I’ll come and visit before I head back here to school, okay?”

  “Look after yourself, Thalia. I’ll email you our schedule. Please make sure you email your contact details for Alabama.” She hung up.

  I rested my head against the wall of the changing room staring at th
e phone. No goodbye, the guilt trip had been minor for my mom. Sighing in relief, I realized the spinning in my head had stopped, and I felt much better having spoken to my mom, a conversation that I’d been putting off.

  “Thalia, you alive in there?” Callie banged on the door.

  “Yeah! Give me a minute.” I removed the dress and decided to take all five, even though I’d only tried on three of them. There was a mixture of colors: white, cream, pale lemon, pale green and pale lilac. Yeah, I liked pale colors.

  My jeans were in a heap on the floor so I picked them up, shook them out before I wiggled back into them. I gathered the dresses together and left the changing rooms in search of Callie. As it turned out I didn’t have far to look. She stood talking to Liam outside the door to the changing rooms.

  “Hey, Thalia.” He leaned forward, kissing me on the cheek. “Let me take those. You both finished here? I thought I’d take you and Callie to lunch.”

  Liam took the bundle of dresses from me so I took his arm and let him lead me to the check out. “Lunch would be great, now that my hangover has more or less disappeared.”

  “Hangover? I thought you said you were staying in last night,” Liam queried.

  “Girl’s wine night at our apartment,” I replied.

  “Okay. You buying all these?” Liam asked, placing them onto the cashier desk.

  “Yeah. I don’t have that many dresses, so I figured I’d add to my wardrobe as I’m going home with you.” I handed my charge card over to the sales assistant and turned to Callie. “What happened to the dress you had?”

  “I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to leave you two. I have some things to do before I head in to work in a couple of hours.” Callie started to back away from us.

  “You sure?”

  “Positive. I’d probably puke anyway.” She turned and headed out the store.

  Liam took hold of the bags with my dresses and ushered me out of the store to a new café that had opened across the road.

  I had slight misgivings about going home with Liam this summer. He…us…confused me. Was I his girlfriend or just a friend? He was gorgeous in so many ways. Tall, slim but still athletic and his blonde hair and blue eyes gave him the appearance of the All American Boy. All the girls on campus wanted his attention, but for some reason he was interested in me.

  As I admitted to Callie last night, we hadn’t gotten to the hot and sweaty part of dating yet, and I wasn’t too sure I wanted to. We got along fairly well, but I didn’t get all hot and bothered in his presence. No tingles or wet panties. Even walking beside him, all I felt was the warmth of friendship.

  Standing outside the Italian café in the sweltering heat we scanned the menu in the hopes that they had something worth eating. “Aha.” I slid my finger past the list of sandwiches and brought it to rest on the lasagna and garlic bread – just what I wanted.

  Liam glanced over my finger and grinned, “You are feeling better if you’re looking at that.”

  “I’m hungry now. What about you?” I grinned.

  “I think I’ll have the same. Come on, let’s go and order.”

  Liam opened the door for me and we stepped into the dim interior. A maître’d cleared his throat before he led us to the terrace out back, sitting us in the shade.

  We placed our order with the server and sat back to relax while I let the breeze cool my skin. The café hadn’t been open long, so everything still looked new and fresh. Our table was beside the garden, which had a manmade stream flowing through, with brightly colored flowers along both sides of the embankment. How they’d managed to create a beautiful garden oasis in the middle of the city was beyond me.

  I glanced at Liam. “Will you tell me more about your family? What to expect?”

  He laughed. “It might scare you off if I do.”

  “They can’t be as bad as my parents.”

  “Not really. I guess.” Liam knew all about my parents. He took a sip of his water and peered at me, his blue eyes sparkling in mirth. He was obviously enjoying this. “Okay. My father is a lawyer and has his own law practice, which he jointly owns with an old friend of his, Lewis. My older brother, Jack is engaged to marry Lewis’ daughter, Mia.”

  “I didn’t know you had a brother.” Surprise turned to confusion. Why hadn’t he told me before? We’d had the sibling conversation during one of our earlier dates; if that’s what you’d call them, and he never mentioned a brother.

  “Yeah. They’re getting married over the summer, Jack’s twenty-five, and studying to be a lawyer. He’s been groomed since we were kids to take our father’s place at the law firm. Dad wants him to settle into life as a family lawyer, whereas Jack has always held a fascination in criminal law. He’s the golden boy because he’s studying law,” he sneered.

  “I take it you don’t get along too well with him?”

  “We get along well enough or at least we used to do. He seems angry all the time.”

  God, did I want to head to Alabama? Yeah, I did – one word – cowboys. Besides, I liked weddings, I’d had the pleasure of being a bridesmaid at twelve weddings in my twenty-one years, so it would be fun to go to one in Alabama.

  “Thalia, let’s eat and talk about something else. My stomach can’t take anymore talk about my family.”

  Chapter Three

  Thalia

  In the process of trying to pull my skinny jeans up my legs, Callie came barging into my room with a brush stuck in her hair. The ‘stuck brush’ happened nearly every time we were getting ready to go out, often because she was trying to multi task. Multi tasking wasn’t exactly something Callie was capable of, probably why she was a bit hit-and-miss with cooking.

  With my jeans finally up around my hips, I left them unbuttoned to try and untangle the brush. “How do you always manage to get this thing tangled?”

  “Ouch!”

  “Sorry,” I said grinning; my fingers working the mess of hair through the brush.

  “I keep thinking about having it all cut off, but it wouldn’t be me, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know. Just try and remember to concentrate when you’re doing your hair in the future, because one of these days you’re going to end up having to have the brush cut out.”

  Slapping the now free brush into Callie’s hand, I laughed as she jumped up from my bed and ran back into her room.

  Tonight was our last night together until the end of the summer when we came back to our apartment to finish our final year of college. Oh, we’d be on the phone to each other, and maybe try to meet up at some point, but it wasn’t the same. I would miss Callie.

  While I’d been packing my clothes and accessories during the afternoon, I had second thoughts about going home with Liam. I liked him well enough, but after hearing about his family and his brother, I couldn’t shake the lump of worry that had settled in the pit of my stomach.

  “Thalia, you ready.” Callie shouted as she poked her head into my room. “What’s wrong?”

  I inhaled. “Nothing. Come on lets go.” I ushered her through our small apartment, grabbing our jackets and purses on the way out, before she could question me further.

  Once outside, I had to dash to keep up with her. Deciding that the night would go smoother with a few rules, I said, “I’m not drinking too much tonight. I have a long car journey tomorrow, so I don’t want to be puking all the way there. I also wouldn’t put it past Liam to leave me if I get sick in his car.”

  She stopped and turned. A worry line traced its way across her forehead as her gaze bored into me. “I think you’re making a mistake,” her tone was clipped as though she was holding back, “but it’s your decision.” She frowned as I tugged her arm to get her moving again instead of replying right away.

  I loved her like a sister, but I had to make my own decisions. If I didn’t, Callie would end up treating me like a little girl, just like my parents did. “I’m a big girl now.” I smiled to take the challenge out of my tone. “If I’m not happy there then I’ll head
home, or to Texas.”

  “You promise.”

  “Yes Mom,” I laughed, pushing my way through the door of Luke’s as Callie followed me inside.

  Luke’s was a five-minute walk from where we lived, and every Friday night they had a live band. More often than not it was ‘The Leopards’, not sure where that name came from, but they were good. Luke’s always had a full house when they played.

  We pushed our way through the crush of bodies to the bar; the eyes of some college guys tracking us like prey, which I guess single college girls were. I ignored the interested looks. Other college girls might not mind being prey, but Callie and I did. The guys in here knew to leave us alone, but a few couldn’t take no for an answer.

  Callie and I weren’t opposed to being hit on, I mean what girl doesn’t like a hot guy flirting with her, but after putting up with it for nearly three years, it kind of sucked.

  Standing at the bar, I spotted some friends on the dance floor so, after Callie passed me a beer, we headed towards them. We loved to dance and during the past six months had only allowed ourselves to let go once a month, due to the papers we had to get written before the end of the semester, plus, of course, there were our jobs. Our jobs being another reason why I hadn’t been too bothered about Liam’s lack of passion. It had been so long since I’d felt like a normal twenty-one year old.

  “Hey,” Jeff whispered into my ear, his arms wrapping around my waist as he snuggled in against my back. Jeff was harmless and totally not into me. As in, he much preferred someone with a dick! Callie and I were the only ones who knew that because we’d once seen him kissing a guy. We’d basically been in the wrong place at the wrong time. After a bit of a showdown we’d become friends, and now and again I would go out with him and let everyone think we were dating to help him keep his secret. He was a good sounding board and had let me rant about my family and guys, more often than I’d care to admit.

  Jeff pushed me further onto the dance floor with him. Keeping his hands on my hips he started swaying to a slow song that had come on. He was only a couple of inches taller than my five-foot-six frame so he was pretty easy to dance with.