Diamonds Are Forever Read online

  Diamonds Are Forever

  India Lee

  Copyright © 2013 by India Lee Books

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work for 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.

  COREY SLOAN JR. STEPS OUT WITH FORMER POP STAR

  The Manhattan Local

  June 2nd

  It has been a year since Corey Sloan Jr. has made a fulltime return to his home-city of New York and while the women of Manhattan have certainly taken notice, only one has seemed to have caught his attention. The 23-year-old son of Corey and Marguerite Sloan has been recently photographed hand in hand with former pop star, Gemma Hunter (22), who performed under her stage name of the now defunct Queen Bee.

  While Sloan has been reported to be attending New York University’s School of Law, Hunter, who was once a tabloid favorite, has been interning with fashion industry darling, Armand Jadot. Jadot, a close friend of the Sloans, has confirmed the young couple’s relationship.

  I’M BACK! AND I HAVE AN UPDATE ON THE FOUR BEST PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.

  Celebstan

  Posted by Justin

  June 6th

  Were you under the impression that I outgrew the whole celeb-worship thing just because my King and Queen broke off their engagement and then bailed on the singing careers that gave me life and shower song material?

  Well, if you were, go buy a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and drown your sorrows in being dead wrong because some things never change! Yes, the Fab Four have been through some crazy shit in the past few years but now The Queen is back and so is yours truly with an update on your favorite quartet of flawless beings.

  1. If you ever need a lesson on how to carry on in life as a 100% perfect human, have a look at our Queen Gemma Hunter, the most talented individual who walks this earth. After sufficiently killing it as a vocalist, The Queen decided to transition into completely slaying the world of fashion – and slay she did because our girl is about to open her own showroom in the Meatpacking District, where her designs will have their own space to glitter with the perfection of a thousand unicorns angels. Sounds fabulous, doesn’t it? You’re totally going to walk from your dorm in the Bronx to the Meatpacking District on basically a daily basis, aren’t you? Well, whether or not your lazy ass does, I know I’ll be making the daily trek because I cannot wait to witness my queen take the throne of the fashion world. Now, all I need is to see my girl find true love in a worthy king since the vanilla prince she’s killing time with now (looking at you Corey) is so not cutting it.

  2. What’s Tyler Chase been up to these past few years? Not a shit ton. Just making flawless transitions into the acting industry and getting nominated for Best Actor by The Academy. No big deal. Anyway, since Carbine, TyTy has remained devastatingly handsome and retained all the muscle he packed on for the role of Colby Hawkins. On the career front, The King has gone from the silver screen to working on an album again because my prayers were loud enough, apparently! And as far as ladies go, no one has really spotted Tyler or his washboard abs out with any new prospects, which is a total bummer because the boy has never looked better in his life and it’s been a disturbingly long time since I’ve photoshopped my face onto a picture of his girlfriend’s body.

  3. Since breaking up with Gavin Hunter, filming her second Bond flick in Porto Cuervo, living in Sardinia for a year and dating an Italian giant named Nicolo Piersanti, the forever-sassy Zoe Mercury is back in the States and starring in some super deep baseball show called, Leadoff, where she plays the sexiest person on screen, according to my muted television (it’s a really deep show). But that’s not the most exciting news! Now that Z’s living in New York, she’s rekindled her flame with Flawless Brother and the two have shacked up in a Gramercy Park party house/love den. Does this mean that a Mercury/Hunter baby on the way? Will this child have the most fabulous family that ever existed? Am I jealous of a fetus that doesn’t even exist yet? You bet your ass I am!

  4. Last but not last is Damian Sexface, whose increasingly rippling muscles have actually made me start to care about sports a little, and by care I mean I actually bothered to learn a basketball term! According to the explanation my brother gave me fourteen times, my 6’3 Adonis is currently a free agent, which means he is done with his last team and might soon be signing with one of the big-name franchises (basically the ones I’ve actually heard of – Lakers, Knicks, Heat). Because that’s what star players with perfect bodies do when they’re not doing the Maxim Top 100. Yeees, I’m one of those who totally buys into the playboy sex god stories about Damian because why not fantasize about what goes on in his pants? He’s basically asking for us to when he walks around looking the way that he does.

  Chapter 1

  Gemma was feeling a little seasick, even though it had been less than ten minutes since they left the dock. She pushed the thick white frames of her sunglasses up over her hair and adjusted the hem of her lavender polo dress, trying to distract herself from the growing nausea. She was never a big fan of boating, but she knew she couldn’t refuse another one of Corey’s weekend yacht trips without looking like an absolute buzzkill.

  She leaned her head back against the leather headrest, tilting her head just enough to watch him as he steered. With his perfectly-coiffed flaxen hair and his tall, athletic build, every square inch of Corey Sloan, Jr. looked like American royalty. He was the closest thing the country had to a prince, and the media had certainly adopted him as such. As the only son of an American billionaire and a French supermodel, he lived in a way that rivaled true royals across the world. Corey Sloan, Sr. had built a fortune on his multimedia empire and “retired” into venture capitalism, something he only did for fun. And it was his wife, Marguerite, who alerted him to the talents of a fashion designer she had met at a mutual friend’s flagship launch, Armand Jadot.

  With the Sloans serving as powerful clients, investors, and more importantly, friends, Armand’s fashion line grew more quickly than he had ever expected. Gemma was happy to be there for him as it did, and even happier that it had become quite an opportunity for her own shift in careers. After all, it wasn’t just her susceptibility to seasickness that kept her from weekending with Corey on his yacht, it was the fact that she had just signed a five-year lease for a boutique and studio space in the Meatpacking District. With her own fashion line, The Court, well on its way to becoming a reality, Gemma found it difficult to pull herself away from her new business. Her job had become her life, but she didn’t mind. She liked being able to make her own decisions and be as expressive of her true self as she wanted, without the restrictions and input of a team that had money rather than her best interests in mind.

  Because of Armand and Marguerite’s new friendship, Gemma often found herself a happy third wheel on their long lunches and high tea meet-ups. She knew Marguerite was happy to take Armand and Gemma under her wing and it seemed she quite enjoyed their company despite being nearly two decades older than Armand. There was a youth to her, not only in appearance but in the way she carried herself and the three often conversed as peers. It made Gemma forget that Marguerite had known success well before Gemma was even born. That is, until the day she brought up the fact that her son was “single and looking.”

  “Corey has been a little sad lately and I believe it is because he wants a girlfriend,” she had said. Gemma tried to hide the shock on her face. She had forgotten that Marguerite’s son was named after his father. She thought, for a second, that Marguerite was about to tell her something she didn’t want to hear.

  “Ah, yes,” Armand cooed. “Little Corey is ba
ck home, I forgot.”

  “He just moved back to New York,” Marguerite said, looking intently at Gemma. She pushed back a golden strand of hair that had fallen into her eyeline. “Back from Providence where he was going to school. Pre-law at Brown.” She flashed her eyebrows quickly before picking up her teacup and taking a sip.

  “I cannot imagine that a boy like Corey would have such trouble finding a girl,” Armand said. “He must be looking for something that is quite hard to find.”

  “Oh, he is,” Marguerite replied, her intense blue-grey eyes never leaving Gemma’s. “He likes his women smart and ambitious but elegant and beautiful. A woman who is her own woman, who can take care of herself but also likes to be pampered. Corey is a good boy and quite a catch. He wants what he knows he can give.”

  “Wow,” Gemma breathed, raising an eyebrow. She knew where this was going and she knew just how awkward things were about to become. At that time, it had been two years since her breakup with Tyler, but with everything that had happened in her own career since, she didn’t have much time to give dating a second thought. Besides, she had gotten so close to Marguerite that the idea of being set up with her son felt like more pressure than she was ready to handle.

  But then she saw him.

  Before Marguerite could say another word, Corey Sloan, Jr. came striding into the salon. Gemma knew who he was before anyone said anything. Though he was often the subject of local tabloid fodder, she had never paid quite enough attention to remember exactly how he looked. It was more so the fact that he had Marguerite’s warm golden hair and intense blue-grey eyes. His short-sleeved, white polo shirt accentuated his tan, muscular frame. He flashed a brilliantly white smile as he approached their table, greeting Marguerite and Armand before extending a hand towards Gemma. She was awestruck as she placed her hand in his, and for the first time in a long time, she considered dating again.

  “I’m glad I finally got you to do this,” Corey said, snapping Gemma out of her memory of their first encounter. He flashed that perfect smile at her, reaching a hand over to give her knee a quick squeeze. “Had I known all I had to do was get your friends on board first, I would have done this earlier.” Gemma sat up, leaning forward in her seat with a hand pressed to her forehead. That’s right, she thought. She had momentarily forgotten that Leah and Kate were in the kitchenette, probably fighting over Corey’s friend, Mitchell. With just the five of them on board, there was more than enough space on Corey’s yacht to spread out and ignore the existence of others.

  “Do you mind if I go see what they’re up to?” Gemma asked. “I could use a ginger ale or something, I’m feeling a bit dizzy.”

  “This is exactly why you need to come out more,” Corey laughed. “Gotta get your sea legs.”

  “I know,” Gemma managed a smile. “But in the meantime, do you have anything for seasickness? Like those tablets or those pressure point armband things?”

  “No, those things are pretty much scams,” he frowned. “They don’t work. You just have to build your tolerance and the only way to do that is spending more time out here.”

  “Okay,” Gemma said, rolling her eyes. But not everyone has the time for that. She stood up, slipping her feet back into her sandals and making her way towards the kitchenette.

  After their introduction, Gemma had learned that Corey was as friendly and kind-hearted as his mother. Theirs dates came infrequently, seeing each other only about once or twice a month between their busy schedules. Gemma had finally begun working on her own designs outside of Armand’s line and Corey was busy applying for law school. It felt more like the beginnings of a friendship rather than the beginnings of a romance. The only things that made their relationship distinctive was that they ended their nights with a kiss rather than a hug goodbye, and the fact that Corey looked the way he did – like that classically handsome, stable guy that every girl would want to marry.

  But a semester into law school, Corey decided he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life – he just knew he no longer wanted to be a lawyer. Dropping out meant a lot more time for Gemma, and it was then that their relationship began to look more like an actual relationship. But just four months in, Gemma realized she had learned just about everything there was to learn about Corey. He was a surprisingly simple man, which she had thought would be perfect for her, considering all the complicated relationships she had in the past. Instead, she was just constantly bored in his presence.

  “Hey girl!” Leah said, throwing her arms up in the air as Gemma entered the kitchen. She was sitting on the counter, swinging her tan legs as she held some colorful cocktail that Mitchell had probably mixed. To Gemma’s surprise, Leah was sitting there alone.

  “Where are the other two?” Gemma asked.

  “They’re probably boning,” Leah whispered, though not exactly quietly.

  “Really?” Gemma laughed. “As adorable as Kate is, I didn’t think you’d lose this type of battle to her.”

  “I didn’t,” Leah shrugged, sipping on her cocktail. “They just had more chemistry together. I know when to step down.”

  “How big of you,” Gemma replied, meaning her words despite the amusement in her voice.

  “And I have all these multi-colored alcoholic drink mixes to make me feel better about being the fifth wheel on this trip of indeterminate length,” Leah sighed. She frowned, swigging down the rest of her cocktail in one long gulp.

  “How long have you been sitting here alone?” Gemma asked, giving her friend a supportive squeeze on the shoulder. “You could’ve joined us out front.”

  “Nah, I didn’t want to get in the way. Corey seemed to really want his alone time with you.”

  “He wouldn’t have invited you guys if that were the case.”

  “He only invited us to get you on the boat, you know that,” Leah laughed. She hopped off the counter, pausing for a moment to regain her balance before striding into the next room. Gemma followed, watching as Leah plopped herself onto the leather sectional that filled the space. She sat herself next to Leah’s stretched out body, forgetting about her ginger ale.

  “Are you okay?” Gemma asked, looking at Leah’s slightly drunken frown.

  “Yeah. Just single, is all,” Leah replied.

  “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “There is for me.” Leah draped an arm over her eyes.

  “Okay, you just had a little too much to drink,” Gemma laughed. “Because the Leah I know has really loved being single all these years.”

  “Has she, though?” she sighed.

  “You have,” Gemma insisted. “And once you’re sober, you’ll be fine again. Not everyone can say they’re the heartbreaker that you are.” She tried to recall the names of all of Leah’s romantic conquests in just the past year. Leah hadn’t dated anyone for longer than a month, finding some sort of flaw in each cute guy before “letting them go,” as if they were unsatisfactory employees.

  “I’m not a heartbreaker,” Leah pouted. “I just didn’t really like any of them. It’s not my fault they liked me so much.”

  “Alright,” Gemma laughed, patting Leah on the head. “You’re not a heartbreaker.”

  “Besides, we don’t all meet the type of men you meet,” Leah said, pulling her arm from her eyes. “Had I been in a relationship with a Damian or a Lucas or a Tyler Fucking Chase, I’m not sure I would have let any of them go.”

  “Leah,” Gemma said, her smile dropping.

  “I know, I know,” Leah slurred, sitting herself up. “I’m sorry. I know why all those relationships ended, I didn’t mean it like that. Not that it matters anyway, because you’re dating Prince Corey.”

  “Yep,” Gemma shrugged, unenthusiastically.

  “That,” Leah said, pointing an accusing finger as she cocked her head. “Is the attitude I’m talking about. That whole, ‘oh, I casually bagged me a super eligible bachelor and I’m not that into him’ thing you do.”

  “Well, I only do that because,” Gemma
lowered her voice into a whisper. “I’m not that into him.”

  “Girl, how?” Leah yelled, killing any hopes of a quiet conversation.

  “I don’t know!” Gemma yelled back. “I know it’s crazy, but can we not talk about that here? This may very well be the least appropriate place to be on this topic.”

  “I seriously hate you sometimes.”

  “I know you do.”

  “You suck so badly, you know that?”

  “I know.”

  “You know how many girls would kill to be in your shoes?”

  “I know, I know,” Gemma shook her head, burying her face in her hands. She stayed there for a moment, shutting her eyes and feeling the slight rocking of the boat. Gemma felt Leah scoot up beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m just drunk.”

  “You didn’t make me feel any worse than I do on my own.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “I know.”

  “You… should probably end things with him.”

  “I know.”

  “Well if you know everything, genius, why don’t you do something about it?” Leah asked.

  “Well, right now, because we’re on this boat,” Gemma replied. “For an indeterminate amount of time.” She laughed, realizing that she had avoided Corey’s repeated invitations to go yachting because she didn’t like the idea of not being able to leave him whenever she wanted or needed.

  “Well, fuck,” Leah said. They exchanged a quick glance, laughing as they realized that Gemma had come to this conclusion too early in their weekend trip.