Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985) (29 page)

Gavin snorted as they reached the locker
room, where only a few members of the press were interviewing the
lesser-known players. “You can come out with me tonight, Oz.”

“Really?”

“But you gotta be at the office early
tomorrow in case I get there late.”

“Hangover protocol, I know.”

“Also, I don’t think I’m going out with
Peyton tonight. Sorry.”

“Ooh, okay. Whose the lucky girl then?”

Gavin laughed. “The lucky guy?” he
corrected. “He’s right over there,” he said, ignoring Osborne’s
confusion as he made a beeline for Piersanti, who despite sitting
alone, had the attention of the only two females in the room — they
looked to be PR girls who were going about their work while
expertly keeping one eye on Piersanti and his half naked form.

While most players had already taken off
their jerseys, Gavin could see that Piersanti had already shed his
entire damned uniform. Hunched in front of his locker in just a
pair of black boxer briefs, he tugged at the ends of the white
towel draped around his neck, bearing the unmistakable posture of a
defeated man. Gavin wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or feel kind
of bad. The guy looked like a cartoon depiction of utter
disappointment. As he approached, he could hear him sighing
dramatically and muttering rapidly to himself in Italian. Gavin
scratched his head as he stood behind Piersanti’s chair, briefly
unsure about whether or not to interrupt the solo conversation.

“Hey, uh. Nicolo.”

“
Hello!
”

Gavin nearly stumbled back as Piersanti spun
and stood before him in one swift motion. Surprised by his
instantly zealous greeting, his gaze darted between Piersanti’s
enormous smile and his outstretched hand. For a moment, he wondered
if he had actually met the guy before and if there was a reason
behind his immediate joy.

“Hello,” Piersanti repeated, his smile truly
more brilliant in person than it appeared in print ads. Perfectly
white and straight, it actually dazzled and made Gavin’s own lips
kind of turn upward. “You are a reporter?”

“Oh.” Gavin quickly understood Piersanti’s
excitement. “Uh, no, I’m not,” he answered, watching Piersanti’s
posture and expression instantly falter, though he seemed intent on
keeping a polite smile for Gavin, even if it slightly quivered at
the ends. “Sorry. My name’s Ga — ” Gavin caught himself. “Garrett.”
He ignored Osborne’s look of total confusion as he continued. “I’m
with Klein Sports Management.”

“Klein Sports Management!” Piersanti’s zeal
was quickly renewed. He clapped his gigantic hands together once,
the thunderous sound making Gavin blink. “Dante Gibson is just
signed with Klein Sports Management! I play against him last year
when he try for the junior national team.” He swiped his hand
through the air quickly, making a zipping sound. “So fast his
feet.”

“Yeah, he’s really fast. And that’s cool, I
didn’t know that you played against him,” Gavin said truthfully.
But then again, he’d never paid a lick of attention to Piersanti
until about four months ago. “Well, listen. I was watching you on
the court before. I know you didn’t really have your best
performance today but I saw something in your game that really
interested me and I was wondering if you wanted to meet for dinner
tonight, maybe talk a little about the prospect of playing in the
States.”

Bringing his hands together as if in prayer,
Piersanti’s eyes sparkled wide. “I always dream of playing for the
NBA! I dream forever. This is why I come here to play today.”

“I know.”

“Ah!” Piersanti shook his head, his prayer
hands now curling into giddy fists in front of his mouth.
“Garrett!” He reached for his hand again, shaking it vigorously as
his brown eyes crinkled up at the ceiling in disbelief. “I thought
no one will talk to me today because my performance on the court…
it was so bad. But you make me full of relief. I thought the
chances… I thought I ruin them already.” He laughed at himself.
“You are a agent?”

Gavin blinked. “Yeah.” He swallowed before
eyeing his once again puzzled intern, grateful that Osborne wasn’t
the type to speak up. “I’m an agent.”

“Incredible! Ah, I thought I…” he lowered
his voice to a whisper. “
Fuck up
already. I thought I miss
my chance.”

“No. Everyone gets more than one
chance.”

“Yes, it’s true.” Caramel curls fell over
Piersanti’s eyes as he bowed his head while clasping Gavin’s hands
between his. “Thank you, Garrett, for your invitation. I will
absolutely love to go to dinner with you.”

Ignoring a weird snort from Osborne, Gavin
nodded, slightly confused by the genuine nature of his own smile.
“Awesome, man. I look forward to it.”

~

Gavin smiled wide as he crossed the
cobblestone street to approach the door of his favorite restaurant,
Lilac. Adjusting his black skinny tie, he shook his head at
Osborne, clucking with disapproval.

“I knew you’d invite him, you ass. This your
date for tonight?” he asked the intern, who stood guiltily next to
Elliot Smiley. Elliot smirked, smoothing down yet another one of
his Loro Piana suits.

“Hey, I don’t think you’re in the place to
make gay jokes here. Considering the confirmation Oz has given me
that you do in fact reserve your hard-on for Nicolo Piersanti.”

Gavin shrugged. “I’m a sucker for ringlets.
And I’m guessing you are too since you left the Adidas party to be
here. What happened to hunting for a bunch of Holly
lookalikes?”

“Those I can find any day, but it’s a rare
occasion that I get to witness Gavin Hunter come out of the
closet.” Elliot held his phone up. “And in front of my future wife,
Peyton, whom I’ve invited, by the way. Oz told me that you planned
on leaving her in the dark about tonight’s dinner. Extremely rude,
but don’t worry, I fixed the situation.”

Gavin swallowed the groan rising from his
throat. “All good by me,” he lied, pulling open the front door.
“Come on. Let’s go.”

He strolled ahead of the guys, heading
toward the back of the dimly lit restaurant and to his usual booth.
Upon reaching it, he was dismayed to discover Peyton waiting at
their table instead of Piersanti.

“Oh… hey.” Gavin slightly tilted his head as
he raised his eyebrows at her. She didn’t usually wear revealing
dresses — she’d always claimed that true beauties could nab all the
attention without showing much skin — but tonight, her outfit
appeared painted onto her body. Gavin couldn’t help but stare for a
few seconds, even as she sauntered over with smug satisfaction.

“Asshole,” Peyton greeted him. “I’m going to
pretend that you told Smiley to invite me tonight because you were
truly a very busy boy and you couldn’t be bothered to pick up your
phone.”

“Sure,” Gavin said simply, hands in his
pockets though his eyes dipped down the front of her nude bandage
dress. Peyton’s lips wiggled into a triumphant grin.

“Saw that. Tell me how good I look
tonight.”

“You look good tonight.”

She shook her head, removing his hands from
his pockets and placing them onto her hips. “I know you can do
better than that, Hunter,” she purred as she slid his palms to her
backside. Without her direction, he gave it a hard squeeze. It was
instinct. “Mm. See? Now tell me how good I look,” she repeated.

“You look insanely fucking good, Peyton.
Happy?”

“I’m not sure. Who’s in your bed
tonight?”

“You.” He wasn’t lying. There had been a
reason as to why he’d broken up with her, but he couldn’t remember
it with two fistfuls of her ass in his hands.

“Then I’m happy,” she murmured before
pulling him back towards the table, where Elliot and Osborne were
already awkwardly seated. “Now show me that you remember what I
like to order.” She handed him a menu as the server approached
their table.

Oh yeah. There was that side of her.

Unlike the Hollys, Peyton could more than
carry her own weight in conversation, but she had always taken a
bit too much pride in having others do things for her. But as
Osborne put it, she was smoking hot and whenever it was past a
certain hour at night, things like baby voices and bossiness didn’t
bother Gavin much. All he needed were a few drinks to forget that
he really only liked girls who made him laugh.

Unless, apparently, Nicolo Piersanti was
around.

“Ah, I am very sorry to be late.”

Gavin rose immediately from the table upon
hearing Piersanti’s voice. “Hey! I’m glad you made it, man.” He let
Piersanti get halfway through his introductions to the table before
ushering him away, making some excuse about more easily getting a
drink at the bar.

Though of course, he mostly wanted to avoid
having his sports agent cover blown since Elliot would be more than
glad to out his status as an executive assistant. Because of him —
and also Peyton — Gavin led Piersanti past the bar and up a small
flight of stairs to Lilac’s mezzanine, an area of the
restaurant-lounge that was closed off to the public. His own access
had almost solely to do with the fact that his step-uncle, Hudson,
owned the place.

Raising his eyebrows, Piersanti had a look
around, seemingly oblivious to the stares as he nodded and grinned,
taking a peek over the cast iron balcony. He looked even taller in
a skinny tie and slim fit black suit. Only after noticing this did
Gavin realize that he and Piersanti were wearing nearly identical
outfits. He glanced down at his own body, annoyed at himself for
wondering who looked better. While quietly debating to himself, he
felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Earth to Gavin.”

Head snapping up, Gavin blinked, registering
the familiar pretty face in front of him.

“Hey.”
Shit
. Her name was buried at
the very back of her head. Eyes darting about her, Gavin searched
for any clues that would help as he sifted the mental notes in his
head.
Crazy hair, amazing lips… nose piercing
. He remembered
that little heart shaped stud. “Noelle,” Gavin smiled. She had a
jewelry store in Soho that she’d named after herself. “How have you
been?” He kissed her cheek as she stuck it out for him.

“I don’t know.” Noelle clasped her hands
together, shrugging her tanned shoulders inward so that her
cleavage plunged. “Mad at you for never calling?” She smirked when
she caught him briefly eyeing her neckline. “But you could make it
up to me by either buying me a drink or introducing me to your sexy
giant.”

Perfect
. Gavin grinned, raising a
finger to flag the cocktail waitress. “I can do both.” After
ordering, he placed a hand on the leather part of Noelle’s dress,
ushering her over to the cast iron balcony and to Piersanti, who
seemed to quickly sense the presence of a pretty girl. He turned
around immediately, pleasing both Gavin and Noelle for different
reasons. Gavin shook his head.
What a dirty bastard
.

“Hello!”

But Piersanti’s impassioned greeting for
Noelle was no different from the one he’d given Gavin in the locker
room earlier. Gavin squinted, unsure of how to interpret that.

“I’m Nicolo. You are Garrett’s
girlfriend?”

Gavin felt his shoulders slump. “No, Nicolo.
Not my girlfriend.”

“Ah.” Piersanti raised his eyebrows, nodding
politely as he waited for an explanation. Noelle provided it, and
with the forward nature that Gavin suddenly remembered about
her.

“No, honey. I’m interested in
you
.”

“Ah.” The prayer hands appeared once again
as Piersanti smiled apologetically. “But I have a girlfriend.”

Noelle threw her head back and groaned. “Of
course you do.”

“Is she here?” Gavin asked.

“No, she is back in Italy. But I, uh,”
Piersanti held his palms up around his shoulders, wavering from
side to side, “She means everything.”

Noelle held a hand to her heart, cooing as
the cocktail waitress approached. Plucking her martini off of the
tray, she turned to face Gavin. “He’s too sweet. You should take a
lesson from this guy. Asshole.” She winked, sipping her drink as
she clicked away in her stilettos. Gavin heaved a sigh.

“You have no girlfriend?” Piersanti asked
curiously.

“No. Last one was Peyton downstairs. The
blonde.”

“She was a serious girlfriend?” When Gavin
shook his head, Piersanti followed up his question. “Who was the
last serious girlfriend?”

Gavin swallowed hard, unsure if he wanted to
talk about it. He took in a deep breath. “This girl I met at a
wedding. The wedding of the guy who owns this restaurant, actually.
Awesome girl. Funniest person I know. You know, besides myself,” he
joked.

Piersanti blinked. “You’re funny?”

Gavin looked at him, though he didn’t know
what to say in response.

“You… are serious, no?” Piersanti shrugged.
“But maybe you like to joke at home?”

Gavin laughed. “Eh. Not really. I’m not much
of a… joker, I guess. Not since we broke up.”

Piersanti bowed his head sadly. “Why you’re
not together anymore?”

“We tried for almost two years. Biggest
thing was that we lived too far apart. I was here, she was across
the country. Sometimes Prague, sometimes Spain, depending on where
her job took her. If there was anyone worth trying to make that
shit work with though, it was her. But in the end, it was still too
hard.”

Piersanti nodded. “You loved her?”

Gavin winced as he rubbed the back of his
neck.

“Ah, you did. But you never told her because
you were a funny guy, you liked to joke.”

Gavin stared, unblinking. He wasn’t sure
Piersanti even knew what he was talking about for someone who was
so strangely accurate. “I… it’s hard enough to talk and be open
about things when you’re with a girl. It’s harder when you’re with
her but you never actually see each other in person. I mean she was
used to that life but I wasn’t. And I was in a transition period
coming out of college. I was trying to act like everything was fine
but I couldn’t find a job, still acted like a kid, wasn’t making my
own money yet while she was already out there and successful and… I
don’t know. Thought she deserved better.” Gavin’s eyes fluttered,
perplexed but mostly surprised by his own sudden admission. He
swallowed, eyeing Piersanti self-consciously. “Jesus. Anyway.” He
decided to transition into the topic that he’d been waiting to hear
about most. “Tell me what
your
girlfriend’s like.”