The Secret Diamond Sisters (23 page)

“Yeah, you were,” he said. “Not that you’re stupid. You’re really smart. But—”

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

“No.” Damien laughed like that was the craziest idea in the world. “You’re perfect.”

Then he kissed her again, sweeter than the first time, like everything was coming together like he wanted. Which she supposed it was—for him. But if she wasn’t into him, why had she responded when they’d kissed the first time?

Not wanting to think about it, she imagined Brett in his place, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer as if they could sink right into each other.

What had Madison gotten herself into?

There was one thing she knew for sure—she needed another drink.

www.campusbuzz.com

High Schools > Nevada > Las Vegas > The Goodman
School

Hottest Guys?

Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 4:27 PM

Let the games begin…who do you think is the hottest guy in
school?

1, 2, 3, GO!

1: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 4:39 PM

Nick Gordon for sure! Totally hot. Heard he and Madison broke
up over the summer. Anyone got details?

2: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 5:03 PM

It doesn't count if you write about yourself, Nick.

3: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 5:56 PM

Oliver Prescott.

4: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 6:32 PM

i heard oliver slept with that diamond girl with the blue
streaks in a hotel room the other night.

5: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 6:59 PM

what a slut she probably thinks he likes her too haha what a
joke..

6: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 7:06 PM

Oliver spends a lot of time with Madison Lockhart, especially
since Madison broke up with Nick. (And even though people are saying different
things, I know for a fact that Madison broke up with Nick and not the other way
around). Madison and Oliver have been best friends forever. But we all know it's
impossible for girls to be friends with guys without one person falling for the
other. It always ends badly. Maybe she broke up with Nick because she cheated on
him with Oliver. It would make sense…

7: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 7:15 PM

It would “make sense” if you had any idea what you were
talking about.

Back to the topic of hottest guy at school, my vote goes
to Damien Sanders. He's got that dark and sexy thing going for him. I'd hit that
any day.

8: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 8:38 PM

Damien Sanders = agreed. No contest.

9: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 9:58 PM

EDWARD CULLEN

10: Posted on Wednesday 07/06 at 10:34 PM

HAHAHAHA i wish.

chapter 21:

People stared at Savannah when she pushed past them, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting that horrible image out of her mind. The one of Damien’s arms wrapped around Madison Lockhart, the two of them making out in front of everyone in the club. Madison had acted so nice to Savannah at the gym, and Savannah had thought they could be friends. Then she had to do
that.
When Madison had turned around and seen Savannah, she’d looked so spiteful, as if she had been all over Damien to purposefully hurt her. What had she done to make Madison hate her so much?

Now Savannah understood how Peyton had felt when Vince had cheated on her and the whole school found out. She’d thought Peyton had overreacted—she’d shut herself in their room all weekend and listened to sad music while sobbing so loudly that Savannah and Courtney had heard her throughout the apartment—but now Savannah knew how awful it felt when something like that happened to you.

She had thought Damien was interested in her, but clearly she meant nothing to him. She felt gullible and used. Plus, the girls who went to Goodman had seen everything, so when she started school in the fall they would never accept her into their group. She would forever be known as the girl who stupidly fell for Damien over the summer and left Luxe in tears.

She hid her face in her hands as she left the club, not wanting anyone to see her cry. She had almost reached the exit when she crashed into someone.

“Whoa.” The guy wrapped his hands around her arms to keep her from falling. He looked at her, and his face melted into concern. “Are you okay?”

Even through her tears she could tell he was cute. No, not just cute. Really, really hot. With his blond curly hair, deep blue eyes and glowing skin, he reminded her of an angel. He was the opposite of Damien.

Her eyes watered again.

“I’ll take that as a no,” he said.

“Yeah.” Savannah wiped the tears from her eyes. It was good she was wearing waterproof mascara, or she would have had black streaks down her cheeks. “I mean, not yeah as in no. Yeah as in I’m fine.”

He looked doubtful. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes.” She sniffed. “Well, no.”

“You’re new here, right?” he asked. “I think I saw you hanging out with some people I know on Fourth of July at Myst.”

Fourth of July at Myst—she had hung out with Damien all night, and except for the minor incident in the caves, she’d had an amazing time with him. Savannah shook away the memory. “I just moved here,” she told him. “Savannah Diamond.”

His blue eyes twinkled, and Savannah sensed that he already knew who she was. “Nick Gordon.”

The name sounded familiar. Then Savannah remembered where she’d heard it before. Damien had mentioned him in conversation.

Nick used to date Madison.

She shouldn’t talk to him. Madison already hated her—why else would she make out with Damien when she knew Savannah was interested in him?—and she wouldn’t be happy if she knew she was talking to her ex. Savannah didn’t want to give the girls at Goodman
more
of a reason to make her a social outcast in the fall. So even though Nick was cute, she would have to get away from him before anyone saw them together.

“How are you liking Vegas so far?” he asked, as though she wasn’t having a breakdown in the middle of the club.

“It’s great.” Savannah sniffed again. “Can’t you tell?”

He stuffed his hands into the back pockets of his khaki pants. “Sorry. Stupid question.”

“It’s fine,” Savannah said. “I’m just having a bad night. I was about to head back to my condo.”

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked. “We can go somewhere else—I’m sick of this place, anyway. But only if you want to.”

She should say no. But he seemed so nice, like he really cared about helping her. If they left the club, Madison and her friends wouldn’t know Savannah was with him. “Sure,” she said, since it was either hang out with him or cry alone, and the latter sounded too pathetic. “Thanks.”

“No prob.” He started toward the exit, motioning for Savannah to follow. She did.

The sounds of the slot machines in the lobby were more welcoming than the loud music in the club. Figuring Nick knew where to go, Savannah fell into step with him, neither of them saying anything. At least he wasn’t trying to make small talk. When she was upset she liked to disappear into her head. Nick seemed to get that.

Images of Madison and Damien kept popping into her mind, and she tried to push them away. Instead, she thought about what Evie would tell her to do. Evie liked having fun with guys, but she never took them seriously. Sometimes Savannah thought guys fell for Evie
because
of that. And while she would fall for them, too, she always moved on to the next one quickly. Once Evie had ditched one guy at a party and started dating his best friend in the same night. She’d bragged about that “accomplishment” for days.

Evie would tell Savannah to stop sulking about Damien, focus on the hot guy who wanted to spend time with her right now and not worry about Madison and the rest of the Goodman girls.
Live in the moment,
she could almost hear her best friend whisper.

Savannah decided to do just that.

Nick found a table near the back of the bar and snagged it before a middle-aged couple could get there. The table was tall, and Savannah hopped onto the chair, her feet dangling above the ground. It was nice to sit, since her high heels were making the balls of her feet throb. Even high-end designers couldn’t make four-inch heels less of a torture device.

“You want a drink?” Nick asked, waving the waiter over to their table.

“A Cherry Coke would be great.” Savannah had had enough alcohol for now. Plus, while the bars at the Diamond served her because she was the owner’s daughter, she doubted the ones at the Gates would be so lenient.

Nick ordered water for himself, from the tap, not a bottle. The waiter didn’t look pleased—he probably thought it meant he wouldn’t get as much of a tip.

“So who’s the reason that you ran out of the club like that?” Nick asked.

“How do you know it’s a who?”

“Because I’ve spent some time with that group,” he said. “And knowing them, it’s bound to be a
who.
”

Savannah decided to go with her gut feeling and trust him. “Damien Sanders,” she admitted.

Nick pressed the pads of his fingers together and grimaced.

“You know him?” It wasn’t too far out of a guess, considering how close Damien was to Madison.

“Unfortunately,” said Nick. “What’d he do?”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Savannah said. She and Damien weren’t an official couple, so it wasn’t like he’d cheated on her. She also knew Evie’s number-one piece of advice when it came to guys—they don’t like drama queens and girls who talk badly about people. It might have become too late for that when Nick had caught her bawling her eyes out as she ran out of the club, but Savannah could try acting cool about it now.

“It looked like a big deal to me,” he said. “Unless you like to pick up guys by crashing into them and pulling the damsel-in-distress routine. Then I guess you’re right—no big deal.”

Savannah laughed. “I thought he was interested in me,” she started, trying to figure out how to phrase it. “We were talking, and I left to go to the restroom, and when I came back he was all over Madison.”

“Damien’s always all over Madison,” Nick said bitterly. “But they’re only friends. It didn’t mean anything.”

“By ‘all over her’ do you mean ‘making out in front of everyone in the club?’” Savannah asked.

Nick sat back, shocked, and he took a drink of water to compose himself. “No, not from what I know,” he finally said. “They flirt a lot, but it’s never serious. Then again, it seems like there’s a lot about Madison that I didn’t know until recently.”

“You’re friends with her?” Savannah might as well play innocent and pretend she didn’t know he’d been in a relationship with her. She’d only been in Las Vegas for a few days. He couldn’t expect her to know everything about everyone.

“Friends,” Nick said in disgust. “More than that. We used to date.”

“What happened?”

“I’m still not sure,” he said.

“But you want her back?” It was a daring question, but she got the impression that Nick wasn’t over Madison. She also couldn’t figure out why he would be interested in Madison. Nick seemed so nice, and Madison...didn’t.

As if Savannah knew what Nick was really like. She didn’t
know
any of these people. Nick was acting friendly now, but it could be an act. After Damien, she wouldn’t be surprised. But something about Nick felt...genuine.

She wanted to give him a chance.

“I shouldn’t want her back,” Nick said, his eyes hardening.

“But you do.”

Nick nodded.

“I know what you mean,” she said. “I mean, not that what happened with me and Damien was anything close to what you and Madison had, but I wish I could rewind time and stop Madison from making out with him at the club.”

“And how would you do that?” Nick looked amused.

“Rewind time?” Savannah contemplated the question. “I guess I would have to have superpowers, but I don’t know how I would get those, so maybe a DeLorean would work—”

“Not rewind time,” Nick interrupted, laughing. “Change what happened with Damien and Madison. I know both of them, and if they want something, they’re not going to let anyone stop them. No offense.”

“Oh.” Savannah realized how dumb she must have sounded, talking about time travel. “Maybe I could have gotten Damien to leave the club and go somewhere else?” she said, unable to come up with a better answer. “I don’t know. I guess if they both want to be with each other, there’s nothing I can do to change that.” Her chest panged at the undeniable truth, and she looked down at the table, forcing away tears that were threatening to emerge again.

“Exactly,” Nick said, his voice soft and understanding. “It’s not your fault.”

“Right.” Savannah tried to smile, but it felt fake. Being around Nick was helping her feel better, but the hurt from what Damien had done made her feel empty inside. Damien hadn’t even bothered getting to know her. Maybe if he had, he would like her more than Madison.

“So, tell me something about yourself,” Nick said, yanking Savannah out of her thoughts.

“Like what?”

“Umm... What do you want to do when you ‘grow up’?”

“I want to be a singer.” Savannah didn’t have to think about her response.

Nick’s lips parted, and Savannah could tell that she’d caught him by surprise. “What kind of singer?”

“Pop songs,” she said, brightening at the turn of the conversation. “The stuff that’s on the Top 40 radio stations. I’ve written a few songs, but nothing too great. I was thinking about making a YouTube account and singing covers—some people get discovered that way—but I haven’t done it yet. I will, though.”

“What are you waiting for?”

“I don’t know.” She twirled her straw around in her soda. “I guess I don’t want people to think I’m not good.”

He studied her. “Have you ever sung for anyone before?”

“My sisters,” she said. No way was she going to tell him about the talent show disaster in eighth grade. “And my best friend, Evie, from home.”

“And what did they think?”

“They’re my sisters and my best friend. They
have
to say I’m good.”

“They don’t
have
to say anything,” he told her. “If they say you’re good, then you’re good.”

“You’re just saying that to be nice.” She smiled. “You can’t know that.”

“Not yet,” he said. “But I will.”

“You will?” Savannah played with her bangle bracelets, jingling them on her wrist. “Why do you say that?”

“You’ll see.” He placed some cash on the table for her soda. “Come with me, and don’t ask any questions. I promise it’ll be fun.”

* * *

The Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino was a complete dump. Squished between Harrah’s and the Flamingo, it was a square white building with blue siding that reminded Savannah of a papier-maché Japanese house. The inside was no better. Dust layered on top of the aging carpet, and everything reeked of smoke, like it was permanently ingrained in the furniture.

A singer wearing a skimpy, sparkly outfit belted out Christina Aguilera songs on a platform in the center of the casino, but no one paid attention to her. Which was sad, because she had a great voice. Savannah hoped that her singing career—once it got started—took her farther than that.

“Why are we here?” she asked Nick. After saying it, she felt bad for sounding like a snob. If her mom had taken her and her sisters here before she’d known she was Adrian Diamond’s daughter, she would have been impressed. Still, it didn’t make sense to be at the Imperial Palace when there were much better hotels on the Strip. She couldn’t imagine Damien and his friends hanging out at a place like this. But she was supposed to be enjoying her time with Nick and
not
thinking about Damien, so maybe being here was good.

“You’ll see,” he said, his tone final. “Just follow me.”

Savannah skirted around a drunk college kid holding a Busch Light. “I mean, no offense, but this place is a dump.”