Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985) (27 page)

And here he was, years later and finally
presented with another chance. He would stop kidding himself and
make the decision that he wanted, that he had
always
wanted.
He would try,
truly
try to tell her everything that had been
on his mind and in his heart. And if he failed, if she turned him
down and he was stuck with a contract that kept him in the same
city as her for years?

He reached for his phone. Opening up his
email, he gazed once again at his draft.

Dear Gemma,

I’m writing because I wanted…

His fingers began flying about on his
screen, suddenly typing words that couldn’t be pieced into a
coherent thought just yesterday. Everything he had wanted to say to
her for years, all the feelings he had worked so hard to suppress,
were suddenly pouring out line after line.

And at the end of the message, he felt a
lulling peace. His heart hummed with quiet relief as he typed out
his signature.
Love, Damian.

He stared at the word, thumb hovering over
the send button.

Love.

Damian rested his head back against his
pillow, looking at those four letters punched out against its
glowing backdrop. He smiled as he shifted his touch to the other
side of the screen.

Delete Draft.

There were some things that were better said
in person.

*****

GAVIN

Wincing at the brightness, Gavin groaned
himself awake. Even behind closed eyelids, he could see the
yellow-white glow of 7AM sunlight. It beat down on his bare skin,
feeling closer than it should for someone lying in bed.

Yeah. You’re not in your bed though, are
you, dumbass?

Gavin let one eye flutter open as the April
breeze swept his body with goosebumps. He didn’t need a look around
to know that he’d once again migrated outside in the middle of the
night.
Because sleepwalking onto a fiftieth floor balcony is
always a good idea. Awesome, dude.
Raking his fingers through
his hair, he yawned, blinking until his green eyes focused.

“Nice.” Bending his knees, he unstuck his
legs from the woven canvas straps of the outdoor chaise. He figured
he’d been sleeping on it since around three or four in the morning.
According to the last girl, that had been approximately when he’d
left his bed. “And the door’s open,” Gavin mumbled to himself,
lifting his stiff neck off the chaise with another groan. Turning,
he confirmed his suspicions of leaving the glass door to his living
room wide open.

Good job
, he nodded before collapsing
back onto the chair, paying no mind to the fact that he was out in
the open and wearing just a pair of charcoal grey boxer briefs.
Stretching out his tight muscles, he cracked a groggy laugh. His
imagination was conjuring up the image of a dozen pigeons having
snuck into his apartment overnight, flapping around in his living
room and presenting some kind of horror movie scenario for the girl
in his bed. He didn’t know a whole lot about her but he knew that
she hated pigeons and her name had something to do with Christmas,
according to the mental note in his head.

And she was a fitness model. Easily the
hottest of the three who had approached his table last night at
Roué. Curves and ballet body aside, she had the type of long,
beachy hair that his knees went instantly weak for. Those winning
features were enough to help him overlook the baby voice that she
too often dipped into. The cartoonish sound made him actually
wince, but it had been hard to hear much in the club anyway. Plus,
after leaving Roué, he’d had the pleasure of witnessing an awesome
moment during which her princess-like air had been shattered. It
had been while walking across Delancey to find a cab, when a pigeon
had swooped less than a foot over their heads. Eyes bugging, the
girl had immediately ducked, but instead of breathlessly squealing
like Gavin had expected, she’d let out a deep and warbling,
“Fuckin’ shitballs, holy shit!”

It had been the sound of real fear coming
from the back of her throat. Something guttural. Manly, almost. And
though Gavin had laughed out of pure delight, she’d clasped her
hand over her mouth and blushed deep red, immediately assuming her
tiny voice again to whine, “Oh my God, so embarrassing! Shut up,
Gav! Don’t laugh at me!”

Man, that voice
, Gavin shuddered as
he recalled it.

And just as he did, he heard it come from
behind him.

“What are you doing out here, silly?”

He sat up, turning to see the girl leaning
in his doorway, her brunette head sporting a pretty unmistakable
case of sex hair. Hanging off one of her shoulders was his faded
blue Knicks tee, the hem of which she twirled in her manicured
fingers so that he could see a few inches of black lace panty. She
would’ve been a vision from his dreams had he not just heard her
speak like a tantrum-prone toddler. Gazing at her, Gavin gave
himself a second to enjoy the image without any sound
interference.

“I, uh, sleep out here sometimes,” he
finally answered.

“In the winter?”

“It’s spring.”

“But like, even when you have a girl
over?”

Only when I have a girl over
. “Yeah.”
Gavin winced at himself. “Sorry if that’s weird.” He threw his legs
over the side of the chair, ignoring the way her eyes feasted on
his body the moment he stood. He was too busy thinking about how it
was in fact weird that he sleepwalked onto the balcony every night
he brought a girl over. It’d been happening for the past four
months without fail and the weather wasn’t even nice enough for it
to be anything remotely pleasant. It had begun in December, just as
it had gotten snowy.

And thanks to the habit, Gavin had spent the
months of January and February with a cold that had forced him to
miss All-Star Weekend and more importantly, its parties. Between
his employment at Klein Sports Management and his friendship with
the Western Conference starting point guard, Damian Evans, he’d had
the most VIP of passes to every last event. But alas, he’d missed
them all because his subconscious refused to share a bed. Or
something. He couldn’t figure out exactly what it was since he’d
slept through the night with other girls in the past. Prior to
December, he’d been totally fine. It was a total mystery to
him.

“You sure that sleeping on the balcony isn’t
like, a hint, Gav? ‘Cause maybe you have some fantasy about doing
it out here for the whole city to see?”

Gavin blinked at the girl. He didn’t need to
drop hints when it came to sex and the balcony had seen various
girls already, but he didn’t say any of that. He wasn’t an asshole.
Not that kind of asshole, at least.

“Actually,” he started seriously, trying to
suppress the smile slowly twisting his lips. “I have always dreamt
of doing it for the whole city to see.” He grinned as the girl
cocked a suggestive eyebrow, starting a slow saunter towards
him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Gavin watched her kittenishly bite
the tip of her finger. “I bet they’d be like, ’Fuckin’ shitballs,
holy shit!’”

“
Omigod
, shut up!”

That
was more so the kind of asshole
he was.

“So mean, Gav!” The girl covered her
blushing cheeks with her hands before spinning around and running
back into the apartment. Gavin laughed, watching her perfect hips
twitch from side to side as he jogged after her.

“Hey. Come on.” He shut the glass door
behind him once he got into the living room, the heat blasting his
bare skin and fully waking him up. Stretching his arms above his
head, he strolled after her, turning SportsCenter on along the way.
“Don’t be embarrassed about that. I thought it was funny,” he said,
following her up to his kitchen counter and pressing a kiss against
the back of her neck. He felt her tense body promptly relax at his
touch.
Now would be a good time to remember her name, asshole.
Something to do with Christmas. A plant.

“Holly,” he exhaled, turning her to face
him. He grinned when she looked up at him from under her lashes.
“Seriously, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I thought it
was funny yesterday. And cute, honestly. I liked hearing your real
voice.”

“It wasn’t my real voice. I was super scared
and it just came out.”

“I think that makes it your real voice
then,” Gavin laughed, leaning her against the marble counter top.
She giggled, squirming as his hands warmed themselves on the small
of her back.

“Nuh-uh,” she whined, going on the very tips
of her toes to kiss him. Gavin studied her dark, sparkling brown
eyes, her razor sharp cheekbones as she brushed her full lips
against his. She really was gorgeous.

“Don’t ‘nuh-uh’ me. Show me your real
voice,” he murmured.

She shook her head, taking his hands and
guiding them to the front of her body, up her taut abs and over her
breasts. “This
is
my real voice,” she insisted with an
exaggerated pout, her sugary tone so child-like that it struck
Gavin as suddenly more creepy than anything. It didn’t help that
she was pushing her lower lip out more and more with each passing
second.
And… there goes the morning wood.

“Alright.” Letting go of a sigh, Gavin
gently removed his hands from her body. He ran them up his face and
into his hair, avoiding her wounded look as he rounded the marble
counter. “I’m hungry. I’m gonna make us some breakfast.”

“What?”

Despite sensing Holly’s glare from the
corner of his eye, Gavin opened the fridge. With arousal zapped,
food was quickly making its way to the forefront of his mind. Just
looking at the bacon next to the carton of eggs made his stomach
growl. He could hear it. Or maybe he was just trying not to hear
Holly.

“Have me for breakfast,” she whined, making
little “mmph” and “hmph” sounds as he reached for the basil hidden
in the back. “You can’t walk around half naked and not expect me to
want round three,” she whimpered, waiting a few silent seconds
before making another high-pitched “hmph” sound. “At least tell me
what you’re thinking about. You’re so serious all of a sudden, talk
to me.”

Setting the components of his breakfast onto
the counter, Gavin tried to think of a response, but he kept coming
up empty. He was accustomed to having this part of the morning to
himself since most girls stayed asleep after he awoke. It had been
like that for the past year-and-a-half or however long it’d been
since the breakup. Peaceful early mornings in the company of just
bacon, eggs and sports. That was how he liked it, especially since
he couldn’t seem to break the habit of hooking up with smoking hot
girls whom he couldn’t carry a conversation with outside of the
club. They didn’t have his humor. But then again, it didn’t feel
like any people around him did. Good talks came rarely these days
if they weren’t work-related.

Holly heaved a sigh of disgust. “You’re such
a fuckin’ asshole,” she finally muttered, breaking Gavin from his
thoughts as she turned on her heel to head back into the bedroom.
He blinked, realizing that he’d ignored her for too long. But he
didn’t say anything because he suspected that she was getting
dressed to leave and he didn’t want to impede on that possibility.
Though despite hoping for it, he cooked a double portion of bacon
and eggs. He was starving so he figured that she had to be at least
a little bit hungry.

He was on the couch by the time Holly
emerged from his bedroom in the lace mini dress from the night
before, appearing still flushed with vexation. Gavin pried his
attention from the Warriors-Lakers highlights so he could eye her
as she crossed her arms.

“You know, one of my best friends slept with
you in January.”

Mouth full, Gavin blinked at her, unsure of
how he was supposed to respond. Holly smirked.

“She said you were on the balcony when she
woke up, so basically, I just confirmed that you’re like, some kind
of weirdo. I mean do you even
like
girls? Like, why do I
have to throw myself at you?”

Gavin stared at her. He was silent for a
bit, trying not to look or sound exasperated.

“You’re one of the hottest girls I’ve ever
seen,” he said finally, watching her shoulders relax despite her
hard expression. “I had fun with you last night. I just have to be
at work soon and I’m stressed about all these player evaluations I
didn’t do yet,” he lied. “I gotta get going soon so I can do some
work at the office.”

“Oh.” Holly blinked, her expression promptly
thawing as she sighed and let her body crumple onto the couch.
“God, I thought I only looked good when you were drunk or
something,” she exhaled, giggling at herself. “Either that or you
were gay.”

“No.” Gavin shook his head, returning his
attention to SportsCenter. “I’m only gay for this guy,” he said,
nodding at the TV. Gavin eyed Holly as she stared at Damian’s
post-game interview on the screen, her expression mixed with horror
and confusion. He laughed, opening his mouth to explain the joke
but deciding against it. There was no point.

So he stared at the screen, watching the
interview he’d already seen last night. And quietly, he missed
Beauford, his family, his friends. They would’ve gotten his
joke.

~

“Damn, you’re here early, Hunter. I thought
you closed the deal last night, buddy.”

Dangling in the doorframe of Gavin’s
twenty-ninth floor office was Elliot Smiley, the other executive
assistant at Klein Sports who very much lived up to his surname if
a constant shit-eating grin counted. Narrowing his blue eyes at
Gavin, he plopped down onto the tufted black couch, making sure to
smooth down his tie after doing so. “Didn’t I see you leave with
Holly last night? You lucky bastard?”

“Yes.”