Diamonds Are Forever

A text right now would be a good start.

She opened her texts with Perry. The last message she’d sent was a picture of her at the Coliseum with her sisters, wishing him a Happy New Year from Rome. He’d texted her back from NYC, with a picture of him and his One Connection bandmate Noel in their hotel room, looking over at the crowd they were getting ready to perform to in a few hours for New Year’s Rockin’ Eve at Times Square.

He was so famous, and she was an amateur. But she drafted what she would say to him, anyway.

Hey! Just got out of a meeting at Caine Talent—Lynda Caine offered me a contract!! I know you’re probably busy with your tour, but your tweeting about my channel is a huge reason why this happened, so I wanted to share the news and thank you again :)

She stared at the text without sending it. She hadn’t even gotten something big, like a record deal. It was just representation. Something Perry probably got years ago.

But everyone had to start somewhere, right? And Lynda had told her to try connecting more with Perry.

So she held her breath, and pressed Send.

chapter 2:

Courtney couldn’t believe that Brett had talked her into watching the first three episodes of The Walking Dead. They were halfway through episode two, and the blood and gore was so not up her alley.

He pulled her closer, his arm fitting perfectly around her shoulders, and she snuggled into his side. “Is the show growing on you?” he asked, his green eyes sparkling. The way he looked at her warmed her heart every time—as if he cared about her more than anyone else in the world.

“Not really,” she said, smiling in apology. “But I was just thinking about how I could get payback by making you watch the first three episodes of Downton Abbey.”

He reached for the remote and pressed Pause. “We can turn it off,” he said. “There are tons of other shows we can marathon. Have you ever seen Lost?”

“Nope.” Courtney was really more of a reader than a TV-watcher—especially since they hadn’t had cable in their apartment in Fairfield, California. She’d been at work when most shows were on, anyway. “But I’ll give it a shot if it means more time spent with you.”

“You have no idea how hard it was to pretend like you’re only my friend when we were in Italy,” he said, squeezing her hand.

“I do have an idea.” She leaned closer to him and tilted her head up, her stomach fluttering at how there were only inches between them. “I loved Italy, and it’s great that Adrian’s so happy with your mom, but keeping away from you because our parents were watching drove me absolutely crazy.”

“Not as crazy as it drove me,” he teased, brushing his nose against hers.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Her gaze locked on his, her breath catching in anticipation of kissing him. After only a few seconds of restraint, he lowered his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her heart beating wildly as she kissed him back, feeling as if her body would melt into his. She wished she could feel this happy forever.

Then her cell buzzed, and she pulled back to rest her forehead against his. She glared at her phone. Reaching for it meant moving away from Brett, and she didn’t want to do that.

“Whoever it is can wait,” he murmured, burying his fingers in her hair and bringing his lips to hers again.

She closed her eyes, losing herself in his touch, wanting to take advantage of their time alone. But eventually, she found the strength to break away. “It could be Savannah telling me how it went with that agent,” she said. “She was so excited before leaving this morning... I have to see if it’s her.”

“I know.” He brushed his lips against hers, softer this time, and she leaned back into him. He was so intoxicating that she wanted to forget the rest of the world existed. But he untangled himself from her arms, reached for her phone and handed it to her. “The sooner you check, the sooner we can get back to where we left off.”

“Right.” Courtney’s hand shook as she unlocked her phone and tapped the message icon. Just as she’d thought, the text was from Savannah.

The agent offered me a contract!! Just need dad’s lawyer to look it over so he can sign it, and then it’s official! Family dinner tonight to celebrate :)

“Well?” Brett asked. “Good news, I hope?”

“She was offered a contract,” Courtney said as she texted Savannah back, congratulating her. “We’re doing a family dinner tonight to celebrate.”

“And you don’t sound thrilled because...you’ll have to hold off on talking to Peyton about that college application you filled out for her?”

“You got it.” She put her phone on vibrate and tossed it in her bag. “I was ready to talk with her about it tonight, but now that we’ll be celebrating, I don’t want to ruin Savannah’s good mood. I guess it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. And you know how much Peyton hates the idea of going to college, so I want to get it over with.”

“What’s the worst she can do?” Brett asked.

“I don’t know.” Courtney shrugged. “Tell our parents that we’re together?”

“She wouldn’t do that,” he said. “She was egging me on to make a move on you the whole time we were in Italy. So was Savannah. Your sisters are our biggest fans.”

“If only Adrian and your mom would see what they see,” she mused, tracing her fingers along his palms. “It would be so much easier.”

“We could always try to tell them again.” He spoke faster, as if the idea excited him. “Our parents are getting married in a few months. So we can’t hide this from them forever. And once they realize that we’ve been together for a few weeks, and how well things are going, they’ll have to support us. That was our plan when we decided to go for this, right?”

“I guess.” Courtney’s stomach dropped from thinking about it. “But honestly, I think the chances are higher that Peyton will decide she wants to go to college.”

“I doubt that,” he said. “You filled out Peyton’s application for her. Most people would love to have someone do that. I don’t think she’ll be as mad as you think.”

“You don’t know her as well as I do,” she said. “She’ll probably yell at me, tell me I have no right to try controlling her future and delete the application.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And would that be the first time Peyton’s ever yelled at you?”

“No.” She laughed. “Good point. And I did back the application up on the cloud.”

“Then you’ll be fine.” He pulled her close again, his eyes blazing with an intensity that made her heart feel like it was going to beat out of her chest. “Now, where were we before we got interrupted?”

“Right about here...” Courtney leaned into him and pressed her lips to his once more. It wasn’t long before he’d lowered her onto the couch, every inch of his body on hers. Her heart thumped harder. She’d never been this close to him before—but it felt so right that she didn’t want to stop.

Someone knocked on the door. Brett bolted off her, his eyes panicked as he straightened his shirt. Courtney glanced at the door, sure she must look as confused as he did.

“It’s probably Peyton.” She sat up and ran her hands through her hair in an attempt to smooth it. She hoped it was Peyton. Because her lips felt swollen, and her cheeks felt flushed—she would bet that anyone would know from looking at her and Brett what had just been going on between them.

Whoever it was knocked again.

“Brett? Courtney?” Adrian’s voice called from the other side of the door. “Are you two in there?”

Brett grabbed a textbook from the coffee table and opened it on his lap. “We’re studying, right?” he said softly to Courtney, his voice surprisingly calm—as if they hadn’t just been having a heavy make-out session on the couch.

“Of course.” She gathered up a pile of flash cards and shuffled through them. It was good that she was so paranoid about having a cover story about hanging out with Brett. Plus, she really had wanted to get some studying done for their upcoming quiz in AP History. She’d just gotten...distracted.

Brett took a sip of water from the glass on the end table and lounged back on the couch. “Yeah, we’re in here,” he called back to Adrian.

They heard a key card slide into the slot, then Adrian opened the door and strolled into Brett’s penthouse. As always, he wore a perfectly fitted navy suit, his blond hair slicked back as if he’d just come out of an important business meeting. But there was something different about him today. Usually he was a mask of calm—Courtney often had a rough time deciphering what was going on in his mind—but today, he seemed to be...glowing. He even grabbed a few M&M’s from the bowl Brett kept in the foyer, which was surprising, since he rarely ate sweets.

“Peyton told me you would be here,” he said, popping an M&M into his mouth. He glanced at the open textbook, then scrutinized the foot of space left on the couch between them.

“She did?” Courtney leaned even farther away from Brett, holding her flash cards so tightly that they bent. How could Peyton have told Adrian where to find her without warning her first? Did she want Courtney and Brett to get caught?

“Yes, she did.” Adrian looked back and forth between them. “She said you were studying.”

“That’s right,” Brett jumped in. “Sorry we didn’t answer when you knocked the first time. Courtney’s pretty intense when she studies, and she didn’t want to ruin her concentration until she finished reciting the answer to one of the short essay questions.”

“I got it right,” she squeaked, holding up a flash card as “proof.”

“I’m not surprised, judging by your excellent grades last semester,” Adrian said. “I didn’t expect your transition to Goodman to go as well as it did. Your report card was impressive.”

“Thank you.” Courtney smiled, but when she looked down at her flash cards, guilt flooded her chest. She was proud of her grades last semester, but she had to keep them up if she wanted to get into Stanford. And if she kept making out with Brett instead of studying, that wasn’t going to happen.

“Anyway, as proud as I am about your grades, that isn’t why I came in here,” Adrian said, situating himself in one of the chairs in the living room. “I have some good news.”

“Cool.” Brett closed the textbook and placed it on the coffee table. “What’s up?”

“I just got back from seeing the Prescotts at the hospital,” he said. “With everything that’s happened to Oliver, Logan’s been doing a lot of thinking recently, and he and I had the longest conversation we’ve had since the fallout at the grand opening last summer.”

Courtney’s eyes lowered at the mention of the grand opening. Because the “fallout”—when Logan had decided he didn’t want to be business partners with Adrian for a major hotel they’d been planning in Macau—had been partly her fault.

“How’s Oliver doing?” Courtney asked. She wanted to get the talk away from the grand opening, but she also truly wanted an update. She might not like Oliver, but she wouldn’t wish what had happened to him on anyone.

“He’s recovering,” Adrian said. “His worst injury was his knee, but the surgery went well, and he should be able to walk on it soon. It seems that his biggest challenge is psychological. Logan wouldn’t give me all the details, but it’s clear that alcohol and drugs were why Oliver got into that accident. He’s getting treatment, and is refusing to see anyone but his immediate family members.”

“Not even Madison?” Courtney wasn’t Madison’s biggest fan, either, but apparently Oliver had left Savannah’s party while drunk because of a huge fight with Madison. If Madison hadn’t seen Oliver since that night, she must be a wreck.

“Are you friends with Madison?” Adrian looked taken aback, but it took him only a second to compose himself. “I’ve never seen you spend time with her.”

“We have a lot of the same classes, and we’re both student tutors,” she said. “I’m not exactly friends with her, but I know she cares about Oliver.”

“Logan didn’t mention her, but since Oliver’s only seen his immediate family, I’m guessing that doesn’t include Madison.” Adrian clasped his hands in his lap. “Anyway, Oliver’s expected to make a full recovery, so everyone’s grateful for that. But as I mentioned, Logan and I had a heart-to-heart this morning. After the scare he had with Oliver—especially in that first week, when the doctors weren’t sure if he was going to make it—he apparently had a ‘revelation.’ He said he was hypocritical in judging my family, especially when Oliver has more troubles than any of you, and apologized for breaking off our partnership.” He paused, glancing at Brett. “Logan said his snapping point was that black eye you gave Oliver before the midnight ribbon cutting—”

“Oliver was being a dick,” Brett said, clenching his fists. “If you knew what happened, you would have wanted to punch him, too.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Adrian chuckled. “But that’s no way to work through a problem, and Rebecca was right to have grounded you for the rest of summer. I’m just glad there haven’t been any reoccurrences of that behavior.”

“It’s the only time I’ve ever punched someone,” Brett said. “I think my hand was as bruised as Oliver’s face.”

“I don’t suppose you want to share why you punched him?”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Courtney jumped in. “It happened months ago. It’s over.”

No way was she telling Adrian about Oliver’s bet to sleep with her and her sisters before the end of summer—and that he’d succeeded with Peyton and had been trying to make moves on Courtney, too.

“Well, I hope you’ll work past your differences with Oliver,” Adrian said. “Or at least be civil with him. Because Logan’s revisiting the idea of us collaborating for the super hotel in Macau. If this goes through—which, judging from the way he was talking about it, it seems like it will—it should be our most successful hotel to date.”

“That’s amazing.” Courtney smiled. She’d felt guilty about what had happened last summer, but she’d figured there was no fixing it, so she’d stopped dwelling on it. Now, relief flooded her veins that she hadn’t messed everything up after all.

“Yes, it is,” Adrian said. “We’ll have two things to celebrate tonight—Savannah’s offer from that agent, and the new hotel in Macau. Anyway, I have some phone calls to make, but I’ll see you at dinner at eight at the Five Diamond.”

“Sounds good,” Courtney said.

“Congrats again,” Brett added. “When you talked about the plans for the hotel last year, it sounded like it’ll be awesome.”

“It certainly will be.” Adrian stood and headed for the door, flashing them one last smile. “Now I’ll let you get back to that studying.”

Once he was gone, Courtney let out a long breath and leaned back on the couch. “That was close,” she said. “What was Peyton thinking, sending Adrian in here without warning us? I’m seriously going to strangle her.” She stomped over to her bag and grabbed her cell, her chest heated.

She immediately saw two missed calls and three texts, all from Peyton.

1: Adrian just came over here and wants to talk to u! I told him ur at Brett’s studying...so be sure ur STUDYING! ;)

2: PICK UP YOUR CELL!! I tried to delay him, but he’s going to Brett’s and I know ur prob NOT studying!

3: If you get caught, this SO isn’t my fault.

“What happened?” Brett asked. “You’re staring at your phone with the same horrified look you get whenever a zombie pops out on The Walking Dead.”

“I am such an idiot!” Courtney threw her phone onto the couch and paced around the room. “I let my guard down, and we almost got caught. What if Adrian had come in here without knocking? Do you know how much trouble we would be in?”

“Relax.” He stood and held her hands in his, steadying her. “Adrian and my mom always knock. It was close, but we were fine. He believed the studying cover-up.”

Courtney glanced guiltily at the flash cards. “It shouldn’t have had to be a cover-up,” she said. “Because we have that quiz in AP history about our winter-break reading, and I’ve barely reviewed for it. I needed to spend the afternoon studying. Instead, you talked me into watching that TV show.”

“I thought we were having fun hanging out,” he said softly. “I wasn’t trying to mess up your studying.”

“Well, we didn’t get any studying done, and now we have that dinner tonight that’ll probably take forever.” She gathered her flash cards and textbook and shoved them into her bag. “You can ace a test by cramming the night before, but I’ve never been able to do that. And we’re about to start second semester junior year. I can’t let my grades drop. Especially since my PSAT scores weren’t as high as I wanted them to be.”

“Courtney.” Brett wrapped his arms around her from behind. “You’re right. If you want to study now, we’ll study, okay? I don’t want to distract you from doing well in school—I know how much your grades matter to you.”

She closed her eyes and relaxed into his arms, wishing they could go back to ten minutes ago—before Adrian had almost busted them, when she wasn’t thinking about anything except wanting to be with Brett. But she couldn’t do that. So she spun to face him, gathering the courage to say what she needed. “It’s more than my grades,” she said, forcing each word out. “You heard Adrian—that big hotel deal with Logan is back on again. I can’t mess it up for him a second time.”

“We won’t mess it up,” Brett said, his gaze steady. “Because this whole thing with Adrian and my mom not wanting us to be together is stupid. We care about each other, and no matter how much they don’t want us to feel that way, we can’t ignore it. We shouldn’t have to pretend anymore.”

“So what do you want to do?” she asked.

“Tell them the truth.”

“Just like that?” She shook her head, amazed by how easy he made it sound. “I know we were planning on telling them eventually, but now that the hotel deal is back on again, it changes everything. And I can’t get distracted this semester and let my grades drop.”

“What are you saying?” He dropped his arms to his sides. “You don’t want us to be together anymore?”

“After trying to keep my distance from you last semester, I know that won’t work,” she said. “But I do need time to think. And to study. Alone.”

“Are you sure?” He reached for her, and before she could process what was happening, he was kissing her again, so softly, as if begging her to stay.

Her heart jumped, and she kissed him back, but only for a few seconds before pulling away. When she looked into his eyes, so full of how much he cared for her, she wished everything wasn’t so complicated. But her family was counting on her—to be responsible, to get good grades, to follow the rules, to be the good example. And more important, she expected those things of herself.

“I’m sure,” she choked out. “But I don’t trust myself to get any studying done if I stay here, and I need to be ready for that quiz. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” He traced her cheek with his fingers, and it took all her willpower not to lean into him and kiss him again. “I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Okay.” She zipped her bag closed, picked it up, and headed for the door. When she turned to have one more look at him, he still stood there, watching her, as if waiting for her to change her mind.

Part of her wanted to throw her stuff on the ground and resume where things had left off before Adrian interrupted them. But the bag of textbooks weighed on her back, reminding her about how much studying she had to do before dinner.

“See you tonight,” she said softly, letting herself out. The door closed behind her, and she leaned against it, taking in a deep breath.

Even though they would see each other tonight, nothing could happen, because it would be a family dinner. Meaning they would have to pretend that everything between them—the depth of how much they cared for each other—didn’t exist at all.

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