No Stone Unturned

by India Lee

  Ugh, of course. “Well… that’s awesome!” Gemma said brightly. “Damian sure got lucky finding you.”

  “Yeah, well. It wasn’t exactly luck, but okay.”

  Gemma simply nodded, pursing her lips together to suppress her frustration. She was officially bored and sick of Nicki’s inexplicable coldness. I’m over it, she told herself dully. She sighed and hooked her arm in Tyler’s as they followed Damian and Nicki into their room. As promised, a full-sized fooseball table was situated in the seating area of the bedroom next to a small couch in front of a flatscreen.

  “Damn! This thing is huge,” Tyler exclaimed upon laying eyes on the fooseball table. “Guys against girls or what?” he grinned at Gemma and Nicki. Nicki’s eyes drifted towards the floor.

  “I’m kind of tired,” she said. “You guys should still play, though.”

  Damian shrugged. “Let’s do it,” he grinned, tossing the tiny soccer ball into the table with such furious excitement that Gemma had to laugh. She turned to glance at Nicki’s reaction, confirming that she wasn’t even watching the game. She was sitting on the couch, completely preoccupied as she channel-surfed with one hand and texted with the other. Once she landed on a channel, Gemma tried her chances at asking one more question.

  “So, Nicki, what shows do you – ” Before she could finish her sentence, Nicki turned around with her cell phone pressed against her ear, shooting Gemma a look as if to say, “You’re disrupting me.” Gemma instinctively made an apologetic face, though she wished that she hadn’t. Ugh, whatever. I tried, she told herself. She tried not to pay any more attention to the blatant rudeness, but she couldn’t help but eavesdrop on Nicki’s end of the conversation. It was obvious from the content of her conversation that she was chatting with Elizabeth on the phone. As offensive as Gemma found it, it hardly surprised her that Nicki would opt to call someone rather than attempt to make conversation with her. Just tune it out! Gemma scolded herself, unable to pry her ear away from Nicki’s conversation.

  “Alright, girl, I will,” Nicki laughed, coming to the end of her chat. “Oh my God, stop. You’re so bad,” she giggled, surprising Gemma with the liveliness in her voice. “Okay, go do that. Alright, Et Cetera, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Gemma made a face to herself as she continued to watch the fooseball game, taking offense to the phone conversation for multiple reasons. Ew, they have nicknames for each other? Et Cetera? What kind of stupid nickname is that? Her jeering thoughts would have continued, but Nicki’s voice suddenly interrupted.

  “Hey, Bee, look,” she said, her tone for once free of the bored flatness that she always reserved for talks with Gemma.

  “What’s up?” Gemma turned around, almost a little too excited considering her snide thoughts just a second before. “What’re you watching?”

  “I think they’re talking about Zoe on TV,” Nicki said. Gemma turned to the television. They were indeed talking about Zoe. In fact, they were interviewing her on the red carpet with Desiree.

  “When was this?” Gemma muttered under her breath. Onscreen, Zoe and Desiree hung onto one another, laughing like two best friends. Gemma whipped out her phone to text Zoe. What’s this interview I’m seeing with you and Desiree?

  “I think they said it was some party for the Bond movie today. But why would she bring Desiree after everything that’s happened?” Nicki asked, looking up with wide eyes. Gemma glared. Of course she was happy to talk now that there was something to embarrass her with. She rolled her eyes at Nicki’s ploy and turned her attention back to the television. Desiree draped her arm around Zoe casually. They looked completely relaxed, even happy.

  “Do you need to sit down?” Nicki got up from the couch and gestured for Gemma to sit. Gemma looked at the boys, engrossed in their game. She glanced down at her phone – no text back from Zoe. Nicki remained standing. Gemma wanted to collapse into the couch but she didn’t want to give Nicki the satisfaction of her defeat.

  “Bee,” Nicki murmured. “You’re bleeding.” Gemma shot her another glare before she felt warm blood on her lips. She hadn’t even realized that she had been chewing them. She covered her face hastily as Nicki stared, seemingly fascinated. “I’ll get you something for that,” she said, disappearing into the master bathroom and returning with gauze. She held it up to Gemma’s face.

  “I got it,” Gemma said, swiping the gauze from Nicki and pressing it against her lip. “I’m fine,” she said, despite Nicki’s skeptical look.

  “I don’t think you are,” she said, shrugging before she turned to once again face the television.

  ~

  Tyler squinted at Gemma as she sat in their hotel suite bed, brushing out her real hair. She squinted back at Tyler.

  “What happened to your lip, babe?” he asked as he climbed in bed. Gemma glanced at her reflection in the lamp on the nightstand. Her lip was bruised.

  “You just noticed? I was bleeding like crazy before,” she mumbled.

  “Really? I’m sorry. Let me see.” Tyler put an arm around her shoulder and touched her lip tenderly. “It looks painful.”

  “It’s fine. I didn’t even realize it happened until Nicki pointed it out.”

  “Did you two have fun though?”

  Gemma laughed as she rolled her eyes. “You really don’t notice things when there’s fooseball going on,” she teased. When Tyler only frowned with confusion, she explained. “Nicki? She hates me.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “She must think there’s something weird going on between me and Damian. I can’t think of any other reason for the way she acts. To everyone else, she’s this cute little girl-next-door, but to me, she’s cold and rude and mean.”

  “I’m sure it’s just been hard for her to adjust to this change. She had a normal life a few months ago, and now all she does is go to interviews and hang out with you, me and Zoe. It probably doesn’t help that for some reason, Queen Bee is so close to her boyfriend when they were supposed to have just met recently.”

  “Something about her just feels weird. I feel actually… afraid to piss her off. Like she can do something to me,” Gemma murmured, staring at her hands. “Even though I know she doesn’t have any power, aside from being friends with Elizabeth.”

  “Okay, well let’s not worry about that. Let’s worry about that lip of yours first. Does it hurt if I touch it?” Tyler held her face and ran his thumb gently across her lip. Gemma shook her head. “Does it hurt if I do this?” He pulled her face towards his and kissed her softly.

  “No,” Gemma lowered her lashes and smiled. She knew where this was going.

  “How about this?” Tyler tickled Gemma as he nuzzled her neck. She giggled as he lowered himself on top of her and planted kisses across her collarbones. Gemma sighed, closing her eyes and feeling his weight shift across her body. She wanted to relax and enjoy herself, but she still felt tense from everything that had happened that evening. Zoe still hadn’t texted her back. In fact, they hadn’t spoken to each other since the media tour. In fact, she had begun acting a little distant directly after the Bryan Waterbury interview.

  Amidst all her thoughts, Gemma felt Tyler’s hand on her thigh. She tensed, having forgotten for a second where she was, what she was doing.

  As if sensing her tension, Tyler sat up. He reached for his hair and brushed it out of her face. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. I’m fine,” Gemma lied.

  “You seem tired. We can just go to bed,” Tyler said. He lowered himself beside her, pulling her into his warm body. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep.

  ~

  Gemma shot up in bed.

  It took her a second to realize that she was still in the hotel room and not at home. She had managed to drift into a weird stage of sleep where she wasn’t entirely able to differentiate what was a dream and what was really happening. Despite that, she was fairly certain that she had heard the front door slam. The room was pitch black a
nd for a second, she thought Tyler had stepped out, but she could hear him breathing steadily, still sound asleep. The clock read 3:17am.

  Gemma jumped to her feet and switched on the light in the bathroom. The front door was closed but the safety latch was sticking out, perpendicular to the doorframe. Strange, Gemma thought. She was pretty sure she had closed the latch right before she went to remove her makeup. Undisguised, Gemma quickly grabbed a sheer negligee she had left on the bathroom counter and draped it over her face. She opened the door and peered out quickly down the hall. It was empty. At the end of the hall, one elevator door hung open. The music from within its doors floated out towards Gemma, sending a chill down her spine as she quickly retreated into the room again.

  She tore the negligee off of her face and tossed it onto the desk. She paced back and forth in the front corridor in hopes of getting rid of her frenetic, nervous energy without waking Tyler. As much as she wanted to believe she had been dreaming, she was certain that something in the room had been moved. Something in the room was slightly off. I always close the latch.

  Back in the bedroom, Tyler’s breathing was tranquil. Gemma leaned against the wall, listening to its steady pace and watching the outline of his chest rise and fall in the faint light. She began to walk back to the bed when she noticed the negligee she had tossed aside had caught on something on the desk. She lifted it to uncover a small crystal paperweight that she had never noticed before. It sat atop the hotel stationary and was shaped like an abstract angel, appearing as if a soft glow was coming from within. Gemma felt a chill and quickly covered it again with the negligee.

  The room suddenly felt darker, everything ominous, somehow. Gemma slid back into bed, her heart pounding. She pressed her face into Tyler’s neck and his arm instinctively wrapped around her body despite still being asleep. She tried to steady her breathing to match his. Daylight couldn’t come sooner.

  - Chapter 7 -

  It was the absolute perfect time for a visit from Gavin. With the L.A. weather constantly bright and shining, Gemma had almost completely forgotten that it was December, and that the holiday season was upon them.

  Gemma had arranged a flight for Gavin into LAX, where a car would drive him to their private Christmas Eve celebration at Tyler’s house. With Tyler seeing his family on Christmas Day, she decided on holding their dinner the night before and just having a simple Christmas with Gavin.

  It was also a convenient day for Damian to attend. Having heard that Gavin would be in town, he decided that he would have to join Gemma and Tyler in their Christmas celebration. He was undeterred when Gemma informed him that for security reasons, Nicki could not join.

  “So do I need to buy him something?” Tyler asked as he and Gemma strolled along Rodeo Drive.

  “My brother? Not if you don’t want to.”

  “Not your brother. I need to buy him a gift. He’s your family,” Tyler said. “I meant Damian, your perfume buddy.”

  Gemma laughed, eyeing Tyler with amusement. Since wrapping the media tour, the public’s fascination in pairing Queen Bee with Damian had only grown. Tyler Chasers supported the coupling for obvious reasons while the rest of the country seemed to find that Queen Bee and Damian were the epitome of physical chemistry. Among those captivated by the two was Thierry Marc, one of Gemma’s favorite designers, who offered a rather large contract for them to star in his campaign for Wanderlust by Thierry Marc.

  “It’s a fragrance, not a perfume,” Gemma corrected Tyler, squinting at him to determine whether or not he was joking with his sour face.

  “Sorry, your fragrance buddy,” Tyler said with a laugh.

  “Yes, thank you,” Gemma giggled, sighing inwardly with relief. As much as he had begun to like Damian, Tyler seemed to have reverted to his lukewarm feelings upon hearing about the fragrance campaign. It dismayed Gemma to think that the friendship that had developed between them could be easily spoiled. “But back to your question – you don’t have to buy Damian anything if you don’t want to.”

  Tyler heaved a sigh. “I probably should, since he’s coming to our house,” he reasoned. Gemma bit her smile back, not bothering to correct the way he said “our house” rather than “my house.” It was an adorable and frankly, delightful, habit that he was falling into. “It’d be weird if he bought me something and I had nothing for him, right? Is he going to buy me anything?”

  Gemma burst out laughing. “Tyler, I don’t know! It’s not like we have in depth conversations about his every thought.”

  Tyler grinned. “Alright. Good.”

  “What do you mean, good?” Gemma asked, peering at him. It was her first time experiencing signs of jealousy from Tyler, and she couldn’t help but find it somewhat amusing.

  “Nothing,” Tyler grinned, kissing her neck before making a sharp turn into a lingerie store. Gemma giggled.

  “This would be the wrong place to shop for Damian, by the way.”

  “Yeah, this isn’t for Damian, babe,” Tyler said, squeezing Gemma’s hip. She narrowed her eyes at him playfully, prompting him to give a shrug. “I’m just trying to get us away from the paparazzi,” he said innocently, though he could barely finish his sentence before breaking into a smile. They strolled into the sultry shop together, and despite the chorus of snapping cameras, Tyler pulled Gemma close to give her a long and sweet kiss on the lips.

  TYLER AND BEE’S SEXY SHOPPING SPREE

  Pop Rock Gossip

  December 22nd

  What do you buy for a teen idol who has it all? Sexy lingerie, of course!

  Tyler Chase and Queen Bee were both spotted on Rodeo Drive this morning being less than subtle about their romantic feelings! The lovebirds were photographed sharing some serious affection, with Tyler kissing and nuzzling his singer sweetheart as he purchased her nearly a thousand dollars worth of lingerie.

  No purity rings for these teen idols! Guess we can safely say that Tyler and Bee will be sharing a very happy holiday.

  Gemma didn’t mind having Tyler’s house to herself for the majority of Christmas Eve. Gavin’s flight wouldn’t come in until five-thirty, Damian wasn’t set to arrive until six, and Tyler was still at the studio doing some last-minute work for his upcoming album. It gave Gemma the time to cook and make last minute touches to the holiday décor. As Dean Martin played over the house-wide speakers, she prepared homemade whipped cream for the spiked apple cider and spruced up the lights and ornaments on the Christmas tree. The simply joy of such activities gave Gemma a sense of peace that had been missing for the past few months.

  She laughed aloud to herself upon receiving a text from Tyler. It was a reminder to buy at least one six-pack of Guinness. It was Gavin’s favorite beer, and Tyler was hell-bent on ensuring his enjoyment at his house. Gemma found his concern for her family adorable. She could only imagine Tyler in the midst of recording when he suddenly remembered the need to stock up on her brother’s preferred drink. He had been quite obviously nervous about meeting him, which Gemma found both sweet and amusing.

  Once everything in the house was finished and ready to go, she received another text from Tyler, alerting her that he was fifteen minutes away. Perfect timing, she smiled, checking the clock that read 5PM. She had thirty minutes before she had to worry about any guests. It gave her time to slip into the red lace negligee that she had purchased without Tyler knowing during their stroll on Rodeo. Along with a pair of scarlet red heels, she put on a Santa hat. She delighted in how it looked on her silky hair, which she wore down. As much as he loved Gemma in her different ensembles as Queen Bee, Tyler was always most excited by her natural look – wavy brown hair and little to no makeup.

  Gemma ran to the top of the steps as she heard the sound of Tyler’s keys in the front door. “I’m home,” he called out upon coming in. “Babe?”

  “Up here,” Gemma lilted. She giggled when his eyes caught her, traveling from her toes up to the rest of her body. He floated towards her, his eyes unable to look away. She tipped his chin up
and kissed his lips when he finally reached her. “Merry Christmas,” she said between kisses. Standing a step below her, he let his lips drift down towards her neck.

  “Are you my gift?” he asked. Gemma nodded. He smiled. “Can I unwrap you now, or do I have to wait till tomorrow?”

  “Now would be best,” Gemma answered, letting him easily lift and carry her into his bedroom. He lay her down on luxurious sheets, his eyes taking her in as he peeled the negligee clean off her body. He kissed her again, stroking her bare skin with one hand as the other reached for his belt buckle.

  Just as he undid it, the buzzer at the gate rang.

  “No.” Tyler froze, staring into Gemma’s eyes with confusion as he hovered inches above her. “He hasn’t even landed yet. I’m ignoring that,” he decided, continuing to undress.

  “But who is it then?” Gemma frowned as the buzzer rang again. The sound was horribly grating to her.

  “Who cares,” Tyler murmured, nuzzling her neck. “Ignore it.”

  Suddenly, Gemma’s phone vibrated. Tyler reached for it, but she grabbed it first. She read her text message. “Oh no, it’s Damian. He’s at the gate.”

  “Let him wait.”

  “We can’t do that.”

  “He can wait fifteen minutes.”

  “Tyler!”

  “Ten.”

  Gemma laughed. “That’s horrible.”

  “He is. For interrupting us,” Tyler said distractedly, his words muffled as he flicked his tongue across her skin. Gemma groaned, running her fingers through Tyler’s hair.

  “Baby, we should probably get the door.”

  Tyler sighed deeply. “Alright,” he said with defeat as he rolled off of her. “You’re gonna have to go downstairs first and give me a minute.”

  Gemma laughed. “Okay. I’m sorry, babe.” She buzzed the gate before pulling on a dress and running down the stairs. Within moments, the doorbell rang. “You’re here early!” she said as she opened the door for Damian. He held a bag full of gift-wrapped boxes along with a bottle of champagne. Gemma eyed the bag curiously.