Hidden Gem (21 page)

“I brought it in. Penelope dropped it while we were running.” Tyler said simply.

“These are my street clothes,” Gemma breathed, kneeling next to the duffel bag.
 
“Oh thank God.
 
I have an idea.”
 
She rushed to the door again.
 
“Pen? Can you hear me? Just meet me back at the hotel, I can find a way out.”

Gemma immediately heard Penelope and Armand scuffle about, sounding panicked.
 
She was fairly certain she heard Armand hissing curses.

“No, Bee,” he said sternly.
 
“You are risking your career
and
your safety.
 
I won’t allow it.”

“No, no,” Gemma reassured them.
 
“Tyler brought the duffel bag.
 
I have a plan, and he’s going to help.”
 
Gemma held the duffel to her chest.
 
She couldn’t let Tyler see the street outfit but she was going to need his help out of the catsuit.
 
She eyed the light switch.

“What’s going on?” Tyler asked softly, walking towards her.
 
Gemma kept her back towards him, looking over her shoulder.

“Do you see the zipper pull at the base of my neck?” she asked.
 
“Do you see where it starts?”

“Yes,” Tyler replied, confused.

“Come here,” Gemma commanded.
 
She flicked the light switch off and the room went dark.
 
They could only see each other’s silhouettes.
 
Gemma felt Tyler approach her slowly, cautiously.
 
“I can’t reach it myself. I need you to unzip me.”

She heard Tyler let out a breath upon hearing her words.
 
There was a brief silence before his voice managed to confidently say, “Okay.”

In the darkness, she heard his soft breathing and the warmth of his torso leaning into her back.
 
She could tell he was nervous as he ran his fingers lightly over her shoulders, searching for the zipper.
 
Gemma unpinned the wig from her hair and tossed it to the ground, feeling Tyler’s
breath
on the back of her bare neck.
 
Her own wavy hair came unwinding down her back, spilling over Tyler’s quivering hands as he carefully pulled the zipper down.
 
A rush of cool air hit her and traveled along her skin, ending right below the small of her back.
 
She had forgotten how far down the zipper went.

“That’s as far as it goes,” Tyler murmured.

“Okay.”
 
Gemma kept her back to him as she peeled the upper part of the catsuit off her shoulders and chest.
 
She was concentrating too hard on getting Queen Bee out of the arena to even think about the fact that she stood topless in her
Marlies
Dekkers
bra with Tyler Chase just an inch behind her.
 
She pushed the sleeves down to her elbows before feeling constricted once again.
 
The outfit had taken Penelope and Armand nearly thirty minutes to get on her and she had no idea then how difficult it would be to get out of.
 
She was practically working up a sweat in her attempt to strip it off.

“I need you again,” Gemma panted slightly.
 
“Take the top of the sleeves and pull them down towards my hands.”
 
She felt Tyler’s searching hands reach for her shoulders again, his fingertips touching the top of her bra straps.
 
He ran his hands down until he felt the leather sleeves at her elbow.
 
He carefully peeled the leather down her lithe forearms.
 
She realized this was the first time she had ever been so exposed in front of a boy that wasn’t Armand.

Once the sleeves were off, she pushed the catsuit down over her hips and got it down just above the knees.
 
Even as Queen Bee, she blushed with a bit of embarrassment over what she was about to ask Tyler.

“Tyler…I can’t get it down all the way.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind helping,” he said quickly.
 
He cleared his throat.
 
“I mean, what I meant was…it’s the least I can do for getting you into this mess.”
 
They both laughed, though nervously.

“Ok, so…” Gemma lowered her eyes, feeling Tyler’s body kneel beside her.
 
She waited for a few moments, unsure of where his hands were until she felt them suddenly lay flat on her thigh.
 
He slipped his fingers between the leather and her skin and struggled to pull the skintight material down past her knee.

“I see why they leave this outfit for after the concert,” Tyler said with an attempt at a laugh.
 
Gemma could hear his voice shake with nerves.
 
His hair grazed her thigh as he leaned in to get a better grip on the leather.
 
Even he was beginning to breathe heavily as he struggled with the material.
 
Gemma could feel his panting breaths on her knees while his knuckles grazed the delicate skin of her inner thigh.
 
She consciously breathed slowly and steadily in hopes of calming her racing heart.

Finally, Tyler pulled the leg of the catsuit down to her ankle and Gemma kicked one bare leg out of the outfit.

“I’ll get the other one,” she said hastily.
 
She felt Tyler rush back to his feet.
 
Her heart pounded furiously.
 
She could hear her pulse in her ears as she leaned against the wall, pulling the other leg of the outfit off.

“Are you doing okay?” Tyler asked.
 
Gemma could see his silhouette settle onto the chair by the door.
 
He leaned his elbows on his knees and grasped the back of his neck with his hands.
 
He probably didn’t know that she could see the outline of his nerve-wracked posture.

“Yes, I got it,” she exhaled in relief as she unzipped her duffel bag, pulling out her sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers.
 
She shoved the wig, catsuit and mask in and zipped it up, crossing her fingers that nothing would be ruined.

“Thank you for not hating me,” Tyler said as Gemma got up from the floor.
 
She paused, clutching her jeans and sweatshirt to her chest.
 
She may have been down to her bra and panties, but without her street clothes on, she still felt the remnants of Queen Bee.
 
She walked towards the chair as Tyler stood up.
 
He was about four inches taller than she was without her heels.
 
She could see the faint reflection of a distant street lamp sparkle in his eyes.

Gemma looked down and removed her lavender contact lenses.
 
She looked back up into Tyler’s eyes, detecting a faint smile.

“Green,” he whispered. “Beautiful green eyes.”

“I’ll give you that much,” she said.
 
She wanted to hug him but instead, her hands reached behind his neck and pulled him in towards her.
 
She pressed her lips to his, feeling the softness of his lips as she kissed him.
 
She felt his tense body relax into her embrace, one hand settling down on the bare skin of her back while the other ran along the curve of her narrow waist.
 
He kissed her back sweetly.
 
Gemma could feel his daze as she pulled away.
 
She stepped back, jumping quickly into her jeans and pulling the sweatshirt over her head.
 
She slipped on the sneakers and grabbed her duffel bag, running out the door.

“Don’t come looking for me. You’re never going to find out who I am,” Gemma teased as she ran into the darkness of the downtown streets.

“Well obviously not tonight,” he called after her, laughing.
 
“But maybe someday.”

OH. MY. MOTHER#@%
!ING
. GOD.

3/16 3:02PM EST

posted
by Tara C.

Her Royal Secrecy

By now you all know that Tyler Chase attended Queen Bee’s concert incognito on Friday at the Staples Center.
 
This of course was the concert that occurred a week after the one I attended, where I was hoping to gather clues regarding the Queen’s identity but didn’t see shit as far as excitement or juiciness. As if that weren’t bad enough, I missed Tyler Chase by a
freakin
’ week. Obviously God was punishing me for my endless snark. Of all people, I deserved to be present at a full security meltdown that left Queen Bee and Tyler Chase unprotected amongst a horde of rabid fans (whom I hear were foaming at the mouth and becoming borderline feral). Unlike them, I would’ve prioritized
mystery-solving
over my squealing fangirl compulsions. Which leads me to the question: WHY DID NOBODY AT LEAST SNATCH HER STUPID WIG OFF?

Fans who were present at the fiasco have taken to le
internetz
to report what they saw, and while you’d think this would be a great place to gather clues, a lot of you idiots who weren’t present have begun making up facts which is why Star Magazine is reporting today that Queen Bee is Elle Fanning (Really, Star Magazine?
Really?).

We only have two solid pieces of news that came out of this fiasco. One is a statement that QB’s security has been completely overhauled, which is kinder way of saying that a dozen or so bodyguards are now unemployed. And I’m sure this also means that it’ll be harder to get close to QB now, which is bad news for stalkers (in before the trolls call me a “stalker” myself
 
- IDGAF).

The second, according to fan video footage, is that Queen Bee and Tyler ran off together with some
randos
from her team. So…does this mean that Tyler Chase now knows the identity of Queen Bee? As if we needed more reason to be obsessed with him.

“I could kill you!” Penelope screamed as she sat on the hotel room bed with her arms and legs wrapped around Gemma like a koala.
 
She had been so relieved to see Gemma safe and sound in the suite that she cried for a solid fifteen minutes before calling Armand into the room.
 
He in turn cried even harder.

“I’m
fine
.
 
I totally figured it out, didn’t I? And on top of that, Tyler still has no idea what I look like,” Gemma said, using her Wolford
Lugano
tee shirt to wipe the thick-rimmed glasses that Penelope had fogged up with her tears.
 
Armand lay flat on his back on the ground, a half-empty bottle of cabernet sauvignon in his left hand.

“Gemma, Gemma…” he said slowly, shaking his head.
 
“You almost made me die tonight.
 
If I did not die on my own, I would have died at the hands of this crazy woman here,” he nodded towards Penelope.
 
“Who was throwing ceramic curling irons at the wall.
 
And if
that
didn’t kill me, Mira would have made sure to kill me,
then
she’d have her connections in the afterlife continue to torture me in Heaven.
 
Or maybe the other place.
 
I am sure she knows people there too.”

Penelope cackled. “I don’t know how you got that catsuit off without totally destroying it,” Penelope said as she wiped her tears carefully with her pinky and put her glasses back on.

“Yes,” Armand said, flipping onto his stomach.
 
“I had thought maybe we’d cut you out afterwards and here you are, catsuit fully intact.”
 
He and Penelope exchanged a glance.

“Should we check a certain someone’s Twitter to see what he might have to say about tonight?” Penelope giggled as she grabbed her iPhone excitedly.
 
Armand jumped onto the bed with her as she turned her phone on.

 
“‘Got touchy-feely with royalty today.’
 
Hashtag
, teenage turn-
ons
,” Armand giggled as Gemma smacked him with a pillow.