Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985)

THE HIDDEN GEM SHORT STORY COLLECTION

India Lee

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 India Lee Books

All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents are either products of the
author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual events or people, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

Table of Contents

Zoe: A Little Over a Year Since Every
Pearl Has Its Oyster

Tyler: A Little Over a Year Since
Every Pearl Has Its Oyster

Harper: About a Year and a Half Years
Since Every Pearl Has Its Oyster

Madison: About a Year and a Half
Years Since Every Pearl Has Its Oyster

Damian: A Little Over Two Years Since
Every Pearl Has Its Oyster

Gavin: About Two and a Half Years
Since Every Pearl Has Its Oyster

ZOE

L.A was where most of Zoe’s boys were,
though technically, she no longer lived there.

Her house had been officially sold a month
ago since she barely spent time in it anymore. But Los Angeles was
still her favorite city of hookups past. She had had the most
there, having lived in Los Feliz between the ages of thirteen and
twenty-one. The town had seen her through some of the best fun
she’d ever had and definitely the most boys she’d ever kissed.

Seventeen was the age at
which that list truly began to build – with guys she’d actually
made out with as well as ones whom she’d been building sexual
tension with for long enough that the hookup was somewhere on the
horizon. Early on, they were mostly her cute
Outta This World
guest stars. It
wasn’t until around eighteen that Zoe started dating the L.A area
athletes – baseball guys with the occasional soccer player thrown
into the mix. The list didn’t begin to diversify until she reached
her twenties, when she began to look outside the usual film and
sports categories that the starlets her age so often lost
themselves in. As it turned out, boys in the restaurant business
were Zoe’s favorite kind to go on dates with – chefs in particular.
They had good taste and knew how to treat a lady but for the most
part, they were crass with wild sides that Zoe happily identified
with.

Scrolling through her contacts in her hotel
room, she tried to decide on which one of her restaurant boys she
felt like getting dinner and drinks with tonight.

She could go with Drew, who had introduced
himself to her mid-meal about a year ago. It was at her favorite
sushi bar on La Cienaga, where he was apparently head chef. She
could definitely go for cooking with him in the massive industrial
kitchen after hours and letting him warm her in the walk-in wine
fridge, where they always picked at least two bottles for the
night.

Or she could go with Gabriel, the head
mixologist at Léon Cocina. On top of recipes for the strongest,
most delectable cocktails, he had just about the sexiest, most
indistinguishable accent in the world.

Her ex-costar and ex-boyfriend, Marco, had
also texted but she’d sworn him off ages ago – he had just been a
bad habit from her teen years and habit wasn’t Zoe’s thing. She
needed variety and constant change. That was the lifestyle she
thrived in and knew best, having broken into Hollywood at such a
young age. She was always on the move, being shuffled from one set
or interview to the next, always meeting new people and seeing new
places. This particular week, she was in L.A for just a few days
and only to shoot an interview about the reprisal of her role as a
Bond girl. Twelve hours ago, she had been in Barcelona and in
thirty-six, she would be in Prague, where she’d continue promoting
the film before going off to London.

It was that kind of schedule that forced her
to have a boy on call for whichever city she was in for the week,
assuming she had a day or two off to spend with them. It wasn’t as
if she necessarily slept with each one, or even made out with them.
It was just the perfect excuse to hang with a cute boy and then
bail. Quality time, she had long decided, was reserved for
girlfriends like Gemma and Harper. Her most treasured and
longstanding relationships were the ones she shared with her best
friends. Boys were meant for entertainment. It sounded horrible but
that was the conclusion she’d come to after years of never getting
it right with even one.

Though she’d come pretty close with
Gavin.

But in the end – though she’d actually,
foolishly thought that they would last – it didn’t work out. Her
schedule hadn’t quite worked with him. Simply explained, he was
going through a rough period and he needed her around more. But she
was filming the Bond sequel, so after trying to make it work long
distance for nearly a year-and-a-half, he dumped her. And she
pretended that it didn’t crush her for a month, especially when
hanging out with Gemma, who constantly felt the need to apologize
for her brother.

She also pretended that a month-and-a-half
later, she didn’t still get giddy around 10PM, when she and Gavin
used to have their Skype dates, because that was totally
embarrassing for multiple reasons. First off, it shouldn’t have
taken her body so long to adjust to the fact that she would no
longer have those nightly catch-ups. Also, it meant that a boy had
actually screwed with her head, which was crazy. She was Zoe
Mercury. She screwed with boys’ heads. Never intentionally, but
that was just what she did.

“
You’re a heartbreaker,”
Marco had always said. “You have a boy in every port.”

“
It’s not like we’re in
relationships. They know it’s just dinner and conversation and if
they’re lucky, a little more. I’m a busy girl. The boys know the
deal,” Zoe had defended herself.

“
Yeah. You give the guy
the most exciting twenty-four hours of his year and then you skip
town,” Marco had laughed.

That wasn’t exactly true –
the part about going a full year without calling, at least. Though
she did kind of have a tendency to avoid seeing the same boy in too
close of a time frame. She didn’t want to give him the wrong
message, like they were dating. Because they weren’t. They were all
just a part of her “Zoe Rotation,” as Marco called it. Again, it
sounded horrible but that was just how it was. Aside from being
unable to because of work, there was really no point in investing
all that much time in one guy. As seen from her past relationships
and her best friends’ relationships, true love didn’t
actually
exist.
Right?

“
You look gorgeous as
usual,” Aaron grinned when Zoe climbed into his Yukon in front of
her hotel, where he picked her up twenty minutes after her
text.

Aaron Brewer. Once a Yankee, now a Dodger,
Zoe had first hooked up with him when she was seventeen or eighteen
– whatever year it was that she first met Gemma. Zoe smiled back
because he too looked gorgeous as usual, which was what made up for
the fact that he was one of her backups. Drew was catering some
huge event and Gabriel was out of town and as much as she loved
Nico from the steakhouse on Melrose and Olivier from the one on
Sunset, she’d seen them both too recently and didn’t want to give
off the wrong message. Which meant she had to settle on one of her
old athlete boys.

Once upon a time, Aaron had been one of her
favorites. It was back in New York, before she’d spent too much
time with him – about three dates in less than two months – and
realized that he frequently repeated the same, corny jokes and
tipped servers a horrific twelve percent.

But he was gorgeous. Six foot three with
this perfect all-American smile that made her forget that he was
also prone to asking breathtakingly stupid questions.

“
Where we going?” Zoe
cocked an eyebrow at Aaron’s sleek suit and black skinny tie as she
put on her seat belt. He looked insanely cute in it but she was
wearing a crocheted crop top and jeans, which didn’t quite put her
in the same dress code. Aaron grinned.

“
It’s a
surprise.”

Zoe frowned. “I’m scared.”

“
Don’t be,” he laughed,
putting a hand on her knee and stealing a look at her. His warm
brown eyes were reassuring. “I just missed you is all, so I planned
us a special night.” His words not so much.

“
Oh.” Zoe managed a smile
though she wasn’t sure she wanted to be a part of an elaborately
planned night. The point of these dates was the spontaneity. She
wore jeans and gave short notice for a reason – so her time with
the boy felt as casual as she intended it to be.

Her heart about sank to
her stomach when Aaron’s Yukon pulled up to the famous and majestic
white building downtown. It was a former Baroque cathedral that was
now used for pretty much one thing and one thing only – weddings.
Considering the fanfare surrounding the place, there was one going
on tonight. Unblinking as she stared out her window, Zoe wondered
what would compel Aaron to spring on her the unwanted honor of
being his
plus one
.

“
I was at Terry’s wedding
when you called,” he explained with a big grin, referring to his
former Yankee teammate and now fellow Californian All-Star, Terry
Luna of the San Francisco Giants. “I was his best man today,” he
added, beaming with child-like pride.

Zoe wasn’t sure what to say. “I…
congratulations.”

“
Yeah. It’s a really
beautiful wedding in there,” Aaron said, looking out the window and
scratching his head of wavy brown hair. “Super pretty.”

“
I’m sure.”

“
A lot of my teammates are
in there. My family, too, since me and Terry are like, brothers. We
go way back.” When Zoe said nothing, Aaron nodded for a little bit,
biting back both lips. “Bros for life,” he said, pounding his heart
twice with his fist.

“
That’s very
sweet.”

Aaron smiled. “Yeah. I’m gonna take you
inside and introduce you to my parents.”

“
What?
Why?” Zoe cleared her throat, trying to mask her horror. “I
mean... look at me, dude. I’m so not dressed for a wedding.” She
always dropped “dude” on her boys when they seemed to be getting
too attached. It desexualized them and made them feel
subconsciously more like friends than lovers. But it wasn’t working
on Aaron.

“
Aw man, no one cares, Zo!
It’s all love in there right now,” he said with that big,
unflappable grin of his. “Plus, you’re with me, babe.”

Her smile was more of a
grimace. “Right.”
Damn it,
Zoe
.
Totally
chose the wrong backup tonight
, she cursed
herself inwardly. She had been so close to calling Jace, too. He
was a hotel heir and the owner of a hot lounge called Place but she
opted for Aaron because she recently read that Place got its weird
name for being a rhyme with Jace’s own name and she found that
painfully corny.

“
Ah ha! So
this
is the famous Zoe!”
Ted, the jovial, bald man Aaron introduced as his father brought
her in for an immediate hug. “I’ve heard so much about you,
dear!”

“
You have?” Zoe asked,
unable to hide her surprise.

“
Well, you know. I’ve read
about you in the newspapers,” he said.

“
Ah.”

“
But I
was
talking about her a lot after
she called, wasn’t I, Dad?” Aaron asked. A heavyset woman cut in,
bright eyed as she clasped Zoe’s hands in hers.

“
Yes
, he absolutely
was
, hel
lo
, beautiful girl, I’m
Aaron’s
mom
,
De
na,”
Dena lilted all in one breath.

For the next hour, Aaron
kept his arm around Zoe while they sat at his table, imprisoning
her by his side as Ted and Dena unloaded stories from his
childhood, all the while showing her photos from the Mediterranean
vacation that Aaron had purchased for them, “like the perfect doll
of a son that he is.” They were all on the iPad that Dena had
pulled out of her purse, which she also used to take about six
dozen photos of Aaron and Zoe. It was like a perfect storm of Zoe’s
least favorite things – elaborate dates, vacation stories and
people who used their iPads to take pictures in public.
This is the actual worst
. She knew she was being intolerant but she couldn’t help it.
She would have preferred being alone in her hotel room than sitting
through a stranger’s wedding and meeting the parents of a boy she
wasn’t even dating.