Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985) (24 page)

“I like the sound of that,” Damian
smiled.

“Yes,” Vlad nodded, happily returning the
smile. He pulled a glass of an indeterminate drink out for a toast.
Damian raised his glass and watched as Vlad took a swig before
turning back to him. “Also. I bring you girls.”

“What?” Damian said, his smile dropping as
he stepped back. He wasn’t so naïve to believe that it was going to
be a night out with just the guys, but he was also wary of Vlad’s
announcement. The last thing he wanted was to extend his erroneous
reputation with this night out. All he wanted to do was relax and
unwind with the team.

“I said,” Vlad yelled. “I bring you girls!”
He gestured behind him where the door to their suite was still
open. A stream of about a dozen girls came through, all dressed to
impress.

“Oh man,” Damian breathed, forcing a
thankful smile for Vlad who looked back at him with two eager
thumbs up. The girls quickly dispersed, moving around the space as
if they had choreographed it. Though they scattered and cozied up
to his various teammates, Damian couldn’t help but notice that most
of their eyes were on him. Vlad shoved him back onto the large,
tufted suede bench that ran down the middle of the room. Within
milliseconds, a girl was sitting beside him. He suddenly wished he
weren’t so drunk.

“Hey there,” she said, leaning into Damian
with a surprising confidence. She wore a skintight halter dress,
silver with a subtle leopard print. Her jet-black hair was long and
impossibly straight, cascading over her shoulders like a silky
curtain. “I’m Lacey.”

“I’m Damian,” he replied. Lacey giggled,
throwing her hair back and leaning even closer, revealing her
abundant cleavage. Damian averted his eyes, his lips crimped.

“Shut up, you’re so cute,” Lacey said. “As
if you need to introduce yourself.”

“Right,” Damian let out an uncomfortable
laugh, backing away as much as he could get away with. Not that
this deterred Lacey. She just leaned in some more.

“I’ve been dying to meet you, Damian. I’m
from the Bay Area and I tried for years to get your attention,” she
started. Damian was surprised by her candor. “But you had that
girlfriend and then you were dating Queen Bee or something – does
anyone still call her that? Ugh, I can be so outdated. I must be
getting old.”

“Ha,” Damian said, not knowing what else to
say in response. Lacey stared at him expectantly, as if that wasn’t
the answer she was looking for. Damian took in a deep breath,
shaking his head. “I mean, what’re you? Like twenty? How’d you even
get into this place?” He hoped to God she wasn’t under twenty.

“I’m twenty-
six
, silly,” she
whispered. “I know. I’m
so
much older than you.”

“Not
that
much, really.”

“Oh my God, you’re too kind!” Lacey
squealed, hitting him playfully on the shoulder.

“Right,” Damian laughed. “So what are you
doing in New Orleans?”

“I came here for school. I’m studying for my
biomedical sciences masters at Tulane. It’ll be my second
masters.”

Damian’s eyebrows raised a little more than
he would have liked. As surprised as he was, he didn’t want it to
show. Thankfully, Lacey laughed instead of taking offense.

“I’m sorry,” Damian shook his head. “Delayed
reaction.”

“It’s okay, I know what you were thinking,”
she said. “People think pretty girls can’t be smart or
something.”

“That’s not true,” Damian replied. “At least
not for me. I’ve known a lot of very intelligent, very beautiful
women.”

“But you didn’t think I was one of them,”
Lacey said, arching an eyebrow.

“I didn’t say that, not at all,” Damian
said. “But I am sorry. For, you know, looking surprised.”

“Make it up to me,” Lacey said, sitting up
straight as she kept her eyes on him.

“How…” He replied before he could think it
through. He remembered now why he rarely allowed himself to get
drunk. Instead of answering, Lacey grabbed the lapels of his blazer
and pulled him into her. She planted her lips onto his, kissing him
deeply. He could hear his teammates cheering and laughing,
undoubtedly tickled to see that he was going all out on his first
night out in some time.
Fine, then,
he thought. He put his
hand on the back of Lacey’s neck, pulling her in closer and kissing
her back.

Suddenly, he felt two large hands grab him
from behind and pull him to his feet. He looked up to see Chris and
Vlad directing him to a curtained corner of the balcony. Vlad held
back the heavy velvet curtains. They smelled of alcohol and smoke.
He pushed Damian in playfully, laughing as he took Lacey by the
hand and swung her in as well.

“Look at this beginning of a beautiful
friendship! And all because of me, I feel such honor for this
moment,” Vlad yelled. “Enjoy your beautiful friendship!” He let go
of the curtains, allowing them to fall together and enclose Damian
and Lacey in the tiny corner. Damian looked around, though there
wasn’t much to see. It was only about twelve square feet of space
with a single, dirty ottoman in the corner. A mirror lined the wall
behind it. It looked like a shady fitting room. Damian could only
imagine what the club owners had in mind when they built it in.

“Not fancy enough for you?” Lacey teased.
“We don’t need anything fancy.” She put a hand to his chest,
running her hands down the muscular ridges of his torso before
giving him a quick push. He fell backwards onto the ottoman.
I’m
never drinking this much again.

Lacey climbed on top of him. He swallowed
hard as she drew closer. She kissed him fiercely, running her
fingernails down the front of his shirt. Damian knew that doing
something like this was nothing new to his teammates, but he had
never found anything appealing with hooking up with a stranger at a
club with nothing but a curtain separating him from the public. But
as unsure of what he was doing, Damian didn’t stop Lacey. He could
smell her perfume on her neck, something with lavender and vanilla.
He closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the corner,
taking a deep breath. Something about the combination felt
familiar.

“What’s wrong?” Lacey said, actually
sounding concerned. Damian kept his eyes closed, furrowing his
brows at the question. He actually felt strangely relaxed.

“I’m a little tired, I’m sorry,” Damian
said. “But nothing’s wrong.” A small smile crept up on his lips.
Lacey’s voice was warm and kind of sweet when she wasn’t in vixen
mode.

“You don’t like what you see?” Lacey joked,
sounding more teasing than upset.

“I liked it just fine,” Damian laughed, his
eyes still shut peacefully in his suddenly calm state. “But you
don’t need me to tell you that.” He reached his arms around her
waist, pulling her body into his. She took it as a cue to kiss him
again. He kissed her back, inhaling the intoxicating scent that
came off her soft skin. Her hair fell around them, closing them in
even more.

Damian fluttered his eyes open, finding
himself in the darkness that her curtain of hair created. Lacey
opened her eyes as well, leaning her forehead against his as she
drew her lips back. He reached up to cup her face in his hands. The
mischievous glint in her gaze was gone, replaced by her fleeting
reflection of the moment. Damian could see the color of them now –
an emerald green.

She held his gaze as she slipped her fingers
into the top of his jeans. He bit his lip, debating if he should
let her continue. He was conflicted. A part of him wanted to throw
all caution to the wind and step outside of himself for once but
another part of him knew how much he’d hate himself for it the next
day.

“Let me take care of you,” she whispered.
Damian nodded, not knowing how else to react. He was suddenly
undeniably attracted to her, but everything about it felt wrong. It
wasn’t who she was, how drunk he was, where they were, or the fact
that they had just met. None of those things were Damian’s
preference, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t the reason he felt
so troubled. But despite the troubled feeling, he also felt like he
needed someone else to take the reins, at least for a little bit.
Leaning back, he watched as she undid the button of his jeans,
unzipping him with a teasing smile.

“Excuse me,” a muffled voice called from
outside the curtained corner. Damian’s eyes snapped open just in
time to see the curtains get pulled back. Lacey jumped up and away
from Damian, leaving him sitting on the ottoman with his fly down.
Luckily, the figure before them did a good job at concealing what
was going on inside.

“Azura,” he exhaled. “What are you doing
here?”

“Catching you with your pants down,” she
replied, a hint of a smile on her lips.

“They’re not
down
,” Damian retorted.
“Just, well…” He stood up, looking down at his unzipped pants. He
shook his head, turning away as he zipped himself up.

“Girl,” Azura said, nodding in Lacey’s
direction. “Get out. I’m next on the list.”

“What?” Lacey blinked, looking confused
rather than angry.

“There’s a wait list for this boy, get your
ass to the end of the line.”

“Azura. Please.” Damian glared at her. “Stop
with this
list
thing.”

“What? Like it’s not the truth? I’m just
being realistic here. I keep up with the news. I know what it takes
to get to you.”

“No you don’t,” Damian said. He sighed,
feeling the onslaught of his sudden sobriety. He stood there for a
moment, feeling a bit embarrassed as he looked at Lacey and Azura.
Finally, he walked around the two girls, exiting to the main part
of the balcony where his teammates looked on, seemingly
disappointed.

“Where ya goin’?” Josh asked, taking his arm
from the waist of a pretty blonde. He used his freed hands to grab
a glass of what Damian hoped was water, handing it to him. “Pretty
crazy, huh? Azura crashing the party. And she’s crazy hot,
huh?”

“Yeah,” he said, taking a careful sip from
the glass Josh had handed him. It was indeed just water. Josh shook
his head, sensing Damian’s sudden apprehension of everything around
him.

“Hey, I’m sorry. If you felt pressured or
something. We just wanted you to have a good time. We know you’ve
had a lot on your mind. Also, we had nothing to do with Azura
showing up. It would have been really cool if she wasn’t here to
cockblock. No idea that was gonna happen, I swear.”

“No, it’s fine,” Damian said, downing the
water. The iciness soothed the burning in his throat. “I wanted to
come out. Just in a weird mood, man. I’m sorry.”

“
I’m
sorry, man,” Josh shook his
head. “I swear we just wanted you to loosen up and enjoy yourself.
And have fun together. Especially because we don’t even know if we
have you again… next season…” Josh gritted his teeth together,
looking immediately regretful of his words. Damian rubbed his face
in his hands.

“Alright,” he sighed. “I know.”

“How are you getting back?”

“Walking, I guess.”

“You’re going to be stopped by
everyone
. And the people on Bourbon right now are way too
drunk to censor themselves,” Josh said, holding Damian by the arm.
“I’ll go back with you. We’ll call a car. Sound good?”

“Yeah.”

~

“You seemed to like her though, that girl,”
Josh said, breaking the silence in the back of the towncar. Their
hotel was just three blocks away, but they wanted to avoid braving
the pedestrian traffic. Damian looked out into the raucous crowds,
bleary-eyed.

“I guess,” he replied. “She kind of reminded
me of someone.”

“Oh yeah?” Josh said, turning away from the
partiers outside his window as they sat at the red light. “Do I
know her?”

“Yeah,” Damian said.

“Nicki?”

“No.”

“Your mom?”

“What?” Damian laughed, covering his eyes as
he leaned back against the headrest. “What is wrong with you,
man?”

“So. Gemma, then,” Josh nodded. Damian
didn’t reply. “You haven’t talked about her in awhile.”

“What’s there to talk about.”

“What’s going on, man?” Josh asked, looking
stone cold serious despite his blatant fight against his tipsiness.
“I know we fucked up bad back at the club but we just wanted to
help, you know? We hate seeing you like this.” The car pulled into
the circular entrance of their hotel. Josh leaned into the front
seat and handed the driver several twenties too many. “Just give us
a minute, ‘kay man? Thanks.” He turned his attention back on
Damian.

“I don’t know where to go next year,” Damian
sighed. He’d rather talk about what team he was choosing than
Gemma. It was the lesser of two evils. “But no one believes
me.”

“I think you’re kidding yourself,” Josh
blurted out. Damian squinted at him. He was sick of hearing these
same phrases from the people closest to him. But he wasn’t so
delusional that he believed it all to be a coincidence. “The team
thinks you want to head to New York because that was your team
growing up and it’s totally natural to want to play for them. God
knows I’d play for The Heat if they’d have me. I wouldn’t give it a
second thought. They think you won’t say anything because you feel
bad about leaving us behind. Because a lot of us know that when you
leave, a bunch of us are probably going to go too. It won’t be the
same team. And they think you feel bad about being responsible for
that.”

“They’re not wrong. But that’s only if I had
already decided to go to New York, which I haven’t. I’m not some
little kid anymore. I’m not gonna let my old fanboy self make this
decision.”

“That’s just what the rest of the team
thinks.
I
think the real reason you’re not just coming out
and saying that you want to go to New York is because you know that
Gemma’s there. And it’s probably easier to deal with the fact that
you two are
still
just
friends if you’re not in the
same city.”