Diamonds in the Rough

“I’ve never seen it,” she said. “Well, I’ve heard of it, but I don’t know much about it. I never used to have time for TV.” She glanced out the window and reminded herself why she was there: to ask him about whatever had happened between him and Madison.

But he spoke again before she had a chance.

“I have all the seasons on DVD. Now that you have more free time, we could marathon them from the beginning.”

Her breath caught. Was he asking her as a date? Or as friends? Either way, marathon watching any show with Brett would be a bad idea. That would mean being alone with him for hours, and she couldn’t trust herself to repress her feelings for him for that long.

She glanced at the corpse monster on-screen again and cringed. “It looks…violent. And gruesome.”

“It definitely can be.” He picked up the remote and powered off the TV. “But it’s not bad when you remind yourself that it’s makeup and effects. Plus, even though it’s set in the zombie apocalypse, the essence of the show is about humanity—­how people adapt and react in extreme situations, having to work together to survive with people they would have never encountered in their normal lives.”

“It sounds like some of the dystopian books I read,” Courtney said.

His eyes glinted with amusement. “So you don’t have time for TV, but you do have time for reading?”

“Always.” Courtney lowered her hands from the straps of her bag. “I borrowed books from the library at school so often that the librarian knew me by name. I can’t fall asleep at night without reading at least a chapter, but I usually read more. And while I know I shouldn’t, I sometimes read before doing my homework, to recenter my mind so I can focus.”

“That’s why I watch an episode of a TV show when I get home from school.” Brett’s voice rose, sounding so excited that they had this small thing in common. “But I should read more. Whenever I read a book, I usually enjoy it. But there are so many movies and television series I want to watch that I’ll never have time for them all in my lifetime, so I go to those first.”

“That’s how I feel about books.” Courtney smiled. “It’s why I never read a book more than once—because the time spent rereading one book is one less new story I’ll be exposed to in my life.”

Suddenly Courtney realized she’d gotten off track from the reason she’d dropped by. “Anyway.” She played with her hands, hating the turn this conversation was about to take. “I talked to Madison at the student tutoring meeting.”

“Oh.” Brett’s face fell. “I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“We’re not.” Her voice shook at how she’d clearly struck a nerve. “She happened to be there early, like me, and she…mentioned you.”

“What about me?” He ran his hands through his hair, his eyes not meeting hers. She’d wanted to believe Madison was exaggerating, but after seeing Brett’s reaction to the mere fact that Madison had talked to Courtney, she wasn’t so sure.

“She told me she tutored you last year.” Feeling shaky again, Courtney walked to the sofa and perched on the arm, dropping her bag on the floor. “In bio.”

He joined her on the couch, keeping space between them, and took a few seconds to respond. “She did,” he finally said. “I was behind in bio since I’d transferred into Goodman from public school, so I went to the tutoring center for help. Madison was the tutor assigned to me.”

“Okay.” Courtney forced herself to sound distant and detached—there was no other way for her to continue without risking losing control of her emotions. “She hinted that more went on between you than tutoring. That you were…involved. Over the summer.”

Brett looked down, and Courtney’s heart dropped. “It only happened once.”

She reeled back, the thought of Brett and Madison together making her blood boil. How could she have not known about this until now?

“But it was before I met you,” he said, his eyes blazing with intensity. “The night it happened, Madison and I both had too much to drink, and we kissed. It didn’t go further than that, but she wanted it to. Afterward I told her it would never happen again. She refused to listen, but then I met you, and she finally got the message that nothing was ever going to happen with me and her.” He scooted closer, and as much as Courtney knew she should put distance between them, his eyes pinned her in place. “Because after I met you, I knew you were the one for me. I’ve known it every day since. You’re smart, caring, selfless, kind, understanding, and I can talk with you for hours. You’re beautiful inside and out. No one else has ever come close to comparing to you, and to be honest, I’m not sure anyone ever will.”

His words sent her head spinning and her heart racing—they were everything Courtney wanted to hear. She couldn’t imagine anyone ever comparing to him, either.

But if they were meant to be together, why would fate have made it so they were about to be step-siblings? If she gave in to Brett and was with him in secret, it would eventually come out. Then she’d be a disappointment to Adrian and Rebecca, just like, for reasons she’d never known, she’d always been a disappointment to her mother. The only person who appreciated her for her, who had no expectations for her to be perfect, was Grandma. She touched the key necklace Grandma had given her for her birthday last year, hoping it would give her strength.

No matter what she did, she and those she cared for would end up hurt. So she fought the war waging inside her and focused on the one thing Brett had said that she found truly shocking.

“Madison Lockhart wanted to sleep with you, and you turned her down?”

Brett’s eyes dimmed. “I just poured my heart out to you, and that’s how you reply?”

“I’m sorry.” Courtney bit her lip, hating how disappointed he sounded. “I do care about you, Brett. But we’ve already been through this—we can’t be more than friends. Although I am glad to hear that you turned Madison down. I don’t think most guys would have done that.”

He watched her closely, but something in her eyes must have warned him not to push her any further. “I guess I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said. “But I don’t think Madison wanted to sleep with me. She’s a virgin. I think she wanted a relationship, but she wouldn’t even say hi to me in front of her stuck-up friends, so I told her I wasn’t interested. We haven’t talked in weeks, and I still don’t know why she fixated on me in the first place. Maybe because I don’t worship her like most guys at school do.”

“Madison’s a virgin?” Courtney didn’t like to gossip, but talking about Madison was a distraction from her own emotions. “No way.”

“Yeah.” Brett shrugged. “Guys are always joking about what they would give to be her first. I don’t know what Madison hinted to you, but we only kissed once. If I’d already met you, it never would have happened.”

Courtney’s heart flipped at his confession, and every muscle in her body begged her to crush her lips against his, to feel his arms around her and to tell him to never let go. But then she would be a goner. And her ultimate decision would still be the same, so she would only be hurting both of them.

She stood from the sofa and grabbed her bag. “Thanks for being honest with me,” she said, surprising herself by how level­headed she sounded, when inside her emotions were tearing her to pieces. “You didn’t have to tell me anything, since we’re not dating, but I appreciate it. And I’m sorry we can’t see where anything goes between us. I wouldn’t blame you if you started avoiding me again. It might make all this easier….”

“I’m definitely frustrated.” Brett stood and stepped closer so that he was right in front of her. He lifted his arm slowly and pushed her hair behind her ear, his finger brushing against her skin, leaving heat in its wake. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t still care about you. I meant everything I said to you. I know this is complicated, but I also know you care about me more than you’re saying. Be with me, Courtney. We’ll keep it secret for as long as we can, and then we’ll deal with any consequences together. I promise.”

Her heart pounded so hard she swore he could hear it. And he must have sensed that she wasn’t going to move away, because he stepped closer, his nose grazing hers. Every molecule in her body urged her to give in; this felt so right. But then images passed through her mind—the disappointment that would surely be in Rebecca’s, Adrian’s, Peyton’s and Savannah’s eyes when they found out she’d been lying to them—and with a will Courtney didn’t know she had, she pulled back.

“I can’t.” She shook her head, her cheeks hot, and she stumbled to the door. “I wish this wasn’t so complicated, but it’s about more than what you and I want. It’s about my family, and the family that we’re all about to become. If we were together in secret, I would have to lie to them. And as much as I care about you, I couldn’t live with the guilt of doing that.”

His hand dropped to his side, his eyes pained, as if she’d taken a knife to his heart. She turned away and hurried out into the hall, slamming the door shut behind her. Everything she’d said was true, but as she fumbled in her bag for her key, she wondered if she was making a huge mistake. Brett cared about her and wanted to be with her, and she cared about him, too.

But there were so many ways it could go wrong, and that positively terrified her.

Chapter 3: Peyton (#ulink_834a1e9d-2345-55b2-beeb-74f037be3ec5)

As much as she hated to admit it—and she still hadn’t to Adrian and Rebecca—Goodman wasn’t as awful as Peyton had anticipated. Back at Fairfield High, each school day had been excruciating, having to sit still all day and listen to teachers drone on and on from the textbooks, talking down to the students when they asked questions. But at Goodman, instead of listening to lectures all day, they had discussions. The teachers treated the students like equals, most of them even going by their first names.

Her favorite teacher was her English teacher, Hunter Sterling. He was in his mid-twenties, and with his shaggy brown hair and dark eyes, he looked startlingly similar to Damon from The Vampire Diaries. His Australian accent only added to his hotness. To impress him, Peyton even tried reading the books for class instead of looking them up on SparkNotes.

She still wasn’t over Jackson, but her deliciously sexy bodyguard—who was also in his mid-twenties—had made it clear since the night they’d kissed in the elevator during the grand opening of the Diamond that they had to keep a professional distance. Peyton had tried to fight him on it—she knew she hadn’t imagined the connection between them—but he refused to budge. And as her bodyguard, he was around her nearly all the time, which made it impossible to not think about him. A distraction like Hunter was just what she needed—for her own sanity, and to maybe respark Jackson’s interest.

Which was why on a Saturday in late September, when she was walking through the Diamond after spending all day at the main pool, luck was on her side when she spotted Hunter sitting by himself at the bar. She reapplied her lip gloss and pulled down her sheer cover-up so that it showed off her cleavage. A glance behind her verified what she already knew—Jackson was on her tail. Perfect. This had to break his wall, or at least make a crack in it.

“Hi, Hunter,” Peyton said, sliding into the seat next to her teacher. Her skirt rose up her thighs, and she crossed her legs toward him, not bothering to pull it down.

“Peyton,” he said, clearing his throat. “I didn’t expect to run into one of my students here.”

“I live here,” she said, figuring he already knew that. Most everyone at Goodman had known who she was from day one, since Adrian Diamond was famous around this city. “I was just coming inside from doing some reading at the pool.” Strangely enough, it was the truth. If she had to do her reading, she might as well be outside instead of cooped up in her room. And sure, she’d only read for fifteen minutes before she’d gotten bored, but Hunter didn’t have to know that.

“For class or for fun?” he asked.

“For class.” Peyton never read for fun in her spare time—that was all Courtney.

“And how are you liking One Hundred Years of Solitude?”

“It’s okay,” she said. “There are parts that confuse me, but I’m doing my best.” Not having much else to say about the book, and hoping Hunter wouldn’t want to have some long, intellectual conversation about it, she was glad when Ramon, the bartender, came over to see if she wanted a drink.

“I’ll have a strawberry daiquiri,” Peyton said, wanting something refreshing after sitting out in the sun all day. Ramon knew she was underage and would give her a virgin daiquiri, but she was curious to see Hunter’s reaction. Was he cool, or would he call her out?