by India Lee
“He’s with Clara,” Azura confessed. “I don’t know what they’re doing but I’m not sure if I’d go back there if I were you. Seriously.”
Gemma stood her ground. For some reason, the words of warning only solidified her decision to go ahead and see Damian. She had always felt a little more daring in costume, the same way she had in her days as Queen Bee, before her identity was revealed. Though her current costume wasn’t nearly as elaborate, there was a similar energy in her, fueled perhaps by the electric charge of her surroundings but more likely by just how much she was dying to see Damian.
“Go back to your party, Azura,” Gemma said. “I’ll be right back out, I swear.”
“Gem, girl,” Azura’s eyes pleaded with her. “I know we haven’t known each other long but I care about you and I don’t want you to get hurt. Where’s Zoe? Don’t you think she’s looking for you right now?”
“I’ll be right back out,” Gemma repeated, hurrying back towards the end of the mezzanine before Azura could stop her again.
Once she got closer, she slowed her feet to softer steps. Gemma took in a deep breath, walking a big round to the opened portion of the canopy, peering in. For a second, she wasn’t sure if she was actually looking at Damian and Clara. The man’s face was partially obstructed by a headdress shaped like the head of a jackal. He was shirtless with a gold-plated adornment hanging over his shoulders and over his collarbone. It was indeed Clara who was straddling him, the straps of her linen gown pushed down to her waist. She writhed about, arching her back and moving in an overtly sexual manner. She folded her arms above her head, showing off her bare breasts as the man leaned back on his forearms, watching.
With a sudden gust of bravery, Gemma marched up to the ottoman with purpose. The couple within the canopy sensed the sudden movement. Clara turned, meeting Gemma’s eyes.
“Excuse me,” she said, her voice dripping with annoyance. A muscular forearm pushed the curtain back, revealing a familiar pair of lips beneath the headdress. Despite the fact that he had just moments before been enjoying a private striptease, Gemma was relieved to see Damian. She ignored Clara’s refusal to cover herself up and get off of him, even in the presence of another person.
“Damian,” Gemma heard her lips manage to say. Upon hearing his name, he sat up immediately, pushing the headdress off his head. Gemma stood before him, taking him in. He looked different than his usual self, different from even the last time she had seen him in the lobby of his lawyer’s building. He was sporting a five o’clock shadow and his eyes were heavily lined like everyone else at the party, but it wasn’t those details that made him look so different. His eyes were hard and his stare was cold, devoid of the sweetness and warmth she had grown used to over the years. They failed to soften, even after registering who they were looking at.
“Can’t you take a hint?” Clara seethed. “Get the fuck out of here, we were in the middle of something.” Damian placed both hands on Clara’s hips. Clara smiled, as if the gesture had validated her words. But to both her and Gemma’s surprise, Damian hoisted Clara off of his lap and set her aside. He swung his legs out towards the floor, standing as he stared at Gemma.
“What do you want?” he asked, his voice quiet. Gemma let her eyes wander about his body, swallowing as she tried to reconcile how good he looked despite how strangely unfamiliar he felt.
“Just you,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “Just to look at you.” She took a step closer to him, marveling at her own words and actions when she suddenly felt so afraid. Gemma stopped, leaving a foot of space between them.
“Damian,” Clara said, slipping her arms around his waist from behind and pressing her bare breasts against his back. Gemma watched as Clara let her fingers slip down the V of his hips and into the front of his linen. He flinched, gritting his teeth as he pulled her arms away from him. He took another step towards Gemma, keeping his eyes locked on her. She breathed as evenly as she could despite the intensity between them. She kept her eyes locked on his, willing him to keep ignoring Clara, to instead put his hands on her.
It seemed to work.
With a sudden motion, Damian had slipped a single arm around Gemma’s waist, hoisting her up into his body. Exhaling hard, she locked her ankles behind him, letting him carry her silently away from Clara. Her heart swelled, overjoyed just to be touching him. She leaned her head in the crook of his neck as he carried her into the dark wings at the end of the mezzanine. Suddenly, she was up against the cold marble wall. Damian pressed his hot mouth to her lips, parting them with his tongue. She gasped, feeling his free hand wander up her dress and into the lace of her underwear.
“Damian,” she panted, feeling his fingers delve deeper. Gemma’s grip tightened around his neck as his lips continued to crush against hers, interrupting whatever words she had planned to say. She tilted her head back against the wall, groaning in pleasure against his mouth, closing her eyes as he pinned her there with his hips, his hands otherwise engaged. Feeling their touch all over her body, Gemma tore away from his kiss, letting her mouth fall open to give a moan that drew a deep growl from the bottom of his throat. The sound alone made Gemma lock her legs tighter around Damian. She repeated his name, gasping for air as she lowered her hands to the cloth he wore below his hips, tugging at it with desperation.
And suddenly, he stopped. Gemma felt him move away, his hands holding her hips gently as he stepped back and lowered her feet to the ground. She was still gasping for air as she opened her eyes. She watched as he stood there, his feet locked in place as he swallowed, surveying the image of Gemma standing there, her chest heaving in her disheveled muslin gown. In the dark, she could see that Damian’s gaze had softened, looking almost like himself for the first time all night. He was panting himself, doing his best to control his breath as he watched her.
She reached forward, touching his chest with her hands. He flinched at the contact but he didn’t back away. He simply watched as she let her hands drop, dragging them down his abs before slipping into the linen and pulling him towards her.
“Stop thinking,” she breathed. “Just – ”
Her sentence cut off. Suddenly, his hands were on her again, gripping her hips as he buried his face into her neck. But just as she closed her eyes, ready to feel him again, she heard him inhale sharply and pull away. Lashes fluttering, Gemma opened her eyes to see Damian pressing his palms against the wall on both sides of her, looking desperate to steady himself. Letting go of a long breath, he leaned his forehead gently against hers, in that familiar way he always had. But she could feel him losing his own battle to stay calm. Damian squeezed his eyes shut as he bit his lip. Gemma put a hand to his cheek, tilting his face up to look him in the eyes. She could see them flickering as they opened, struggling for restraint.
And as suddenly as it had all happened, Damian turned away from her, leaving her alone in the dark.
DAMIAN EVANS: NOT EXACTLY THE MARRIAGE TYPE
Celeb-o-Matic
December 18th
Damian Evans is at it again.
Despite arriving at Azura’s Ancient History launch party with sex kitten, Clara Zavala, the NBA hottie was photographed leaving with someone else.
Talk about player efficiency.
THE CITY’S ALLURE AND THE ATHLETES IT DESTROYS
The Post-Up
December 20th
For decades, New York has been known to attract and zap the young and the hopeful with the efficiency of the highest-grade fly zapper. Frank Sinatra famously sang that if you could make it there, you’d make it anywhere.
The thing is, not a whole lot of people do make it here. But the starry-eyed seem to ignore that fact.
Besides, even when you’ve technically made it, there are a thousand factors that are waiting to tear you down in this town. This has been seen repeatedly in the athletes who excelled with old teams, only to hit a wall upon facing the challenges of the city’s twenty-four-hour lifestyle. Even those from Los Angeles or Chicago ar
rive in New York and get lost in indulgence, the accessibility to just about everything they could wish for, at any hour they wish it.
Though highly paid and well-known, these young athletes are hardly immune from the allure. Nor are they exceptions to being swallowed whole. Is it possible that this reason alone is behind how little our city’s teams seem to succeed? Or am I grasping at straws as your typical, bitter, New York sports fan?
It’s probably a little bit of both.
Chapter 13
Zoe had managed to pull Gemma away from Metropolis and into the privacy of an ordered town car just before the tears started. Once they did, it was hard to stop. She sobbed into Zoe’s gauzy, muslin-draped shoulder, feeling so many different things that it was hard to pinpoint exactly what was bothering her most.
He had clearly still wanted her in that moment – after all, he had chosen Gemma’s attentions over Clara’s. She figured there had to be emotions involved that went beyond anything sexual if he had so decidedly gone for her. But Damian was nearly unrecognizable in his lust and despite enjoying that side of him, she wasn’t prepared to encounter him that way. She was hoping for a conversation, the one that she wished she had had when he so quickly ended not only their relationship, but their friendship.
But in his arms, with his hands on her, with his lips exploring her skin, Gemma would have been fine not talking. She would have been fine just letting him ravage her the way she knew he wanted to. He had gotten her so worked up that she wanted the same, nearly forgetting what it was that she wanted to discuss with him.
And then he left her again.
She didn’t like not having some idea of what was going through his head. She wondered if he knew what she was thinking, if he even cared. She wondered how it was possible for him to become so totally different in such little time. She wondered if Azura was lying about how much she knew. Gemma knew they were close. She knew he was more likely to disclose things to Azura than Gavin, since Gavin was her brother.
And the next morning, she had her answer. Azura had texted her surprisingly early, considering her party had allegedly wrapped just hours before. She asked Gemma to meet her at her hotel room, back in one of Metropolis’s tower.
Returning to the location was the last thing Gemma wanted to do. She didn’t want to relive another one of her awkward moments shared with Damian, especially when the wound was so fresh. But when she had walked into the lobby, the scene was markedly different than the one that she had left hours before. The sweet, spicy scent was replaced with the minty citrus of freshly cleaned surfaces. A live orchestra played on the mezzanine and hotel guests were dressed in cashmere suits and dresses, having brunch at tables set around the fountain. She was impressed by the quick transition, even wondering for a moment if she had walked into the wrong building.
When Gemma arrived, Azura had answered the door in a plush white robe. She looked years younger without her makeup and her red hair pulled back into a ponytail. To her surprise, Azura looked strangely dewy and refreshed, as if she hadn’t just come from hosting a wild party not so long ago.
“I didn’t have a single drink,” Azura explained, as if she knew what Gemma was thinking. “And I haven’t had a chance to sleep yet. I look better when I just power through the next day instead of getting an hour or two.”
“You must be exhausted,” Gemma said.
“I got coffee,” Azura shrugged, pouring Gemma a mug as well. “And I wanted to say a proper goodbye to you before starting the tour. You kind of ran off on me last night.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Gemma replied, quietly. She knew her eyes were still swollen from crying and she had done little to cover the mess before she left the house.
“I got an idea of what happened from fuckin’ Clara Zavala of all people. I didn’t even want her at my party, but she was Damian’s plus one.”
“Are they together?” Gemma asked.
“I don’t know,” Azura sighed. “I’m sorry, I really don’t. But she did say some thing about you cockblocking her, called you some names, then tried to pick a fight with me. So I called her a bunch of names back for you and threw her the fuck out. Then I went back to look for you and Damian and you two weren’t there anymore. But I did find him, eventually.”
“Where?”
“Sitting at the bar alone, waiting for me so he could say bye. He was lookin’ rough. He said he wasn’t feeling great and he needed to leave.”
“Did he tell you what happened?”
“No,” Azura said, frowning. “But I figured it out. There was lipstick on him – your color. Plus, his costume didn’t look quite right anymore and he had that look on his face that guys have when they’ve been, you know. Shortchanged.”
“I wasn’t the one who stopped…”
“No, I know it wasn’t you,” Azura said, shaking her hands in front of her. Her voice was unusually quiet, almost soothing. “And that’s not what I meant, you know that. I’m just saying, I knew you guys probably started something up without finishing it, like you two have a habit of doing. But damn, Gem. He looked bad.”
Gemma’s frown deepened. “Bad like how?”
“Like exhausted, completely zapped of energy. Like nothing I’d ever seen from him before. Not after a day-long practice, not after a long stretch of away games. It was like a light went out in him.”
“Why do you think that happened? Was it because of me?”
“Not ‘cause of what you did last night. Not the whole… confronting him and getting him all worked up. It wasn’t ‘cause of that.”
“But it’s still on me?” Gemma asked. “How, then?”
Azura chewed her lip, winding and unwinding a red lock of hair from her finger as she eyed Gemma. “The very first night I met Damian, he mentioned you,” she explained. “I mean, not even just mentioned. The first night I met him, I got a crash course on everything Gemma Hunter… which was interesting because before that, all I knew about you was from the gossip rags. But what was even more interesting was how clearly in love that boy was with you.”
Gemma blinked. “When did you two meet?”
“Officially, just a few months back. We got close fast. I knew we were going to.”
“You thought he was already ‘in love’ with me that long ago?”
“No, honey,” Azura shook her head. “He has not fallen out of love with you since the first time he fell in. And I think you would know better than me when that was.”
“I mean…” Gemma thought, rolling back into her head. It would have been in high school, but that just seemed too far back.
“Okay, look,” Azura said. “I think I need to ask something.”
“Go ahead.”
“I know you miss him like crazy and you just want to be with him, I know that. But you see how much he’s killin’ it right now? With his team? With everything?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, well he needs his focus and energy to keep doing that.”
“I know,” Gemma replied, not sure if she liked where Azura was going.
“I’m only asking this because I’ve gotten to know him so well and I really care for him and I know you do too. I’ve been thinking, I keep saying I don’t get that boy but I think he must’ve ended things with you for a reason. He probably thought things were getting too hard and he was losing himself, which he can’t do right now. He’s got an entire city riding on his shoulders and he needs to be there for them.”
“And I want to be there for him through it all. I want to be his support. I want to be that friend he always was for me.”
“Then have some respect for him.”
“What are you saying, exactly?” Gemma asked, rising from her seat. “I feel like you’ve been implying something this whole time so just get to it.” She glared at Azura, who remained seated, looking up at her with wide eyes.
“Girl, you know I’m not the implying type. I say what I mean and I’m just telling you to take a page from his book and give him the same
respect he gave you all those years he was in love with you but didn’t touch you. He watched you love other people and he kept his feelings to himself because he knew you weren’t ready for him. He respected you by keeping his distance and that was how he was able to be that support for you this whole time.”
Gemma’s mouth opened and closed without sound for a moment. “But… he won’t even see me now. He won’t talk to me. How am I supposed to be anything to him?”
“By not seeing him. By not contacting him anymore so he can go on with his life and do his thing and get to himself for once. He didn’t think he could handle being just friends with you anymore so he ended it. So that’s no longer an option because the way he sees it is he put himself out there to you and in his eyes, you didn’t feel the same way.”
“But I did,” Gemma said. “The whole marriage thing messed everything up, I know, but that wasn’t any indication of how much I care for him.”
“He doesn’t know that. He’s spent your whole friendship thinking this would never happen. As sensitive and sweet as he is, he’s still a boy at the end of the day and sometimes they need to get hit over the head with whatever message you have for them.”
“So why can’t I say something now?”
“Because you missed the wave, girl,” Azura replied with a frown. “It came and went and now this one’s too dangerous to ride. He can’t afford to not be in control of himself right now. He’s been standing strong all these years, but even the strongest eventually break. If you’re his weakness, then you gotta stay away right now. Give him his space.”