Текст книги "Diamonds"

Автор книги: K. A. Linde

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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 12 страниц)

“YES, MRS. MATHISON, I completely understand the amount of work it would take to lead the Pink Charity Benefit for Harmony. But I also know that I am exactly the girl for the job.”

“I believe you, Bryna,” Mrs. Mathison said, leaning back in her desk chair. “I just wanted to be sure. I know that your extracurricular schedule is already full, and the Pink Charity Benefit is Harmony’s biggest philanthropy event of the year.”

Bryna smiled sweetly as she uncrossed and crossed her legs. “I am always willing to take on more to further my charitable contribution. I hardly consider it work at all.”

Running the largest benefit of the year would look stellar on her college applications, and she wanted to make sure everything would be in place for her. Not to mention, it would help her bid into society. This was the most coveted position at Harmony Prep!

“Well, I will have to look through the remaining applications, of course.” Mrs. Mathison looked down at the large stack on her desk and then back at Bryna. “But I am sure you are a perfect fit. Our distinguished alumnus, Felicity Rose, will be heading the committee this year. I’ll forward your application to her, and she will be in contact over the break.”

“Thank you so much.” Bryna stood and shook her teacher’s hand.

“No. Thank you for all of your hard work.”

She smiled brightly and then exited the room. Avery and Tara were seated in the hallway beside another cheerleader, Jemma.

“Glad that’s all cleared away,” Bryna said¸ clasping her hands behind her back. “Mrs. Mathison chose me to head the Pink Charity Benefit. Dream come true.”

“Oh my God,” Avery squealed.

“That’s amazing!” Tara said.

“How could she have already picked you?” Jemma asked. “The applications were due yesterday. First round of interviews are supposed to be this afternoon.”

Bryna shrugged. “Not my problem. Don’t worry though. I’ll save spaces for you all to be my assistants.”

She brushed past the girls without a second thought. She was queen. Of course she was chair the committee. To think anyone else really had a shot was laughable.

She headed to the cheer room for practice after school. The other girls wouldn’t get there until after they spoke with Mrs. Mathison, which would give Bryna time to speak with Coach Baker.

Bryna knocked on the door to the cheerleading coach’s office. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, Bryna. How was your interview with Mrs. Mathison?”

“I got the lead spot for the Pink Charity Benefit,” she said proudly.

“That’s good to hear.” Coach Baker ran her hand back through her blonde bob and smiled. “I just wanted to discuss with you something that was brought to my attention this past weekend. Please take a seat.”

Bryna wasn’t sure what this was about, but by the look on her coach’s face, she wasn’t going to like it. She plopped down across from Coach Baker and waited.

“It was unfortunate that you had to miss the game this past weekend. I recently heard that you weren’t absent due to illness, however, and I wanted to see what you had to say about it.” Coach Baker shifted uncomfortably. She was a petite woman who truly cared for the girls who cheered for her. She likely hated having this conversation more than Bryna.

Bryna’s eyebrows rose. “What I have to say? I was in bed all night and could barely move.”

Coach Baker sighed. “I want to believe you, Bryna. I was told that you weren’t home all night, and you were, in fact, out on a date.”

“What?” she gasped. “Who told you that?”

“Your brother,” she said apologetically. “He said that you weren’t at home when he got in. I haven’t confirmed with your parents because I wanted to speak with you first.”

Bryna swallowed her red-hot anger. “Pace is my stepbrother. My father is filming in New Zealand until Christmas, and my mother is probably off somewhere, coked out and sleeping with one of her twenty-something cabana boys. Feel free to verify with them, but neither was home. Nor was Pace, and for once, he never came into my room.”

Coach Baker shifted uncomfortably. “What about your stepmother?”

“I didn’t see her all night.” Here came the theatrics. Bryna put her hand over her mouth and swallowed as if she had to keep from crying. She breathed in heavily, shook her head, and then looked away. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. “You don’t know what it’s like at home right now, Coach Baker. I was sick in my room, all alone. Pace is throwing out wild accusations. I don’t have a parental figure in the house anymore. I look up to you so much, Coach Baker, and knowing that you might believe this of me just makes it all worse.”

“Bryna, I’m sorry. I know things have been rough with your home life lately. You’ve been so consistent all these years, and this was just a one-time miss, so we’ll put the whole thing behind us. Let’s just get to practice.”

“Thank you, Coach Baker,” Bryna said, wiping her eyes. “Can I just have a minute before I go out there?”

“Of course.”

Coach Baker walked out of her office to herd the rest of the team, and Bryna pulled out her cell phone. Dropping the theatrics, she let her temper take over. How dare Pace rat me out to my coach! She wouldn’t stand for this. He couldn’t get away with it. She hoped he knew what he had gotten himself into because, from now on, this wasn’t just fun and games. He had messed with her life, and he was going to pay.

She jotted out a text message to Pace.

Game on.

Bryna left practice in a hurry. She wanted to get home and prepare for her inevitable showdown with Pace once he got home from football practice.

On her way out of the building, she’d told Avery and Tara how Pace had lied to their coach. They couldn’t believe that he would lie, let alone stoop to that level, but they were glad nothing bad had come of it. She wished she had someone to confide in about Jude, but she couldn’t tell the girls that she hadn’t actually been sick.

On her way home, her phone started ringing. She glanced down at the display. Gates. She sighed. This had been a long time coming. She clicked the Bluetooth feature.

“You have one minute before I hang up,” she answered.

“I’m sorry. I miss you. I want to make it up to you.”

Bryna rolled her eyes. “And how does Chloe feel about that?”

“Chloe and I aren’t even together, Bri.”

“You’re not a couple, or you’re not fucking?”

“Bryna,” he sighed. “Come on. I’m making an effort here.”

“Sidestepping the question isn’t making an effort,” she responded. She was still pissed about what she had walked into that night with Chloe and Gates. He shouldn’t have blindsided her with that.

“We’re not together, and we’re not fucking either. All right?”

“Fine.”

“You and I are the only people in each other’s lives who know the real person behind the mask. You were there for me before my acting career exploded. Everyone else sees the movies, and you see the dick who you agreed to date even though he was a nobody.”

Bryna laughed despite herself. “I would never date a nobody. I knew you would be huge.”

“Would be huge?” he asked, laughing.

“We’re not talking about your dick, Gates!”

“Fine. Fine. I’m just trying to make this right. I’ll be gone through most of Christmas break, but I actually have an appearance scheduled for New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles. If you aren’t seeing anyone else, maybe you could be my date?”

She didn’t know her plans for Christmas or New Year’s. Her dad was supposed to be in town for both, as far as he had told her, and she usually dropped everything to spend as much time with him as possible. Also, she didn’t know if, by the end of the month, she would have a hot New Year’s date with Jude all lined up.

“I don’t know. If nothing else comes up, then count me in. But just as a friend, Gates.”

“Sounds like a vote of confidence, B. I invite you to the Chateau Marmont hotel for a posh New Year’s exclusive, and you say, only if you don’t find a better offer.”

Bryna’s heart rate picked up in excitement. “The Chateau Marmont? You are on the rise, aren’t you?”

“Say you’ll go with me.”

“I stand by my answer.”

Gates laughed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were seeing someone else.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded.

“I know you, and you wouldn’t be interested in some Harmony or Covenant trust fund baby. And with your extracurricular schedule, where would you find the time to meet someone new who could compete with me?”

Bryna shook her head in disbelief. This had been a relatively pleasant conversation up until that comment. Now, the anger that had momentarily dissolved was rearing its ugly head again.

“You’re right. How could anyone ever compete with the ex-boyfriend I dumped for lying to me about sleeping with his costar? In fact, maybe you should just invite Chloe to the New Year’s party.”

“Oh, so there is someone.”

“Stop fishing,” she snapped.

Gates laughed lightly. “I’m not fishing. I have to get back. I hope I see you on New Year’s, Bri.”

“Bye, Gates.” She hung up the phone with relief.

She felt like she was performing on a tightrope. Every footstep forward left her wobbling and in a more precarious position than the step before, but she couldn’t turn around now. All she could do was keep walking down the unsteady rope and hope she would make it over to the other side without falling and breaking her neck.

“SO, B,” Pace said, leaning against the wall next to Bryna’s locker, “you going to Jemma’s house party this weekend? Her parents are out of town.” He waggled his eyebrows up and down.

It took everything in her being not to throw the locker door into his smug face. Pace had never responded to her threatening text message earlier this week about interfering with Coach Baker. She was left waiting for another double-cross, and all she wanted to do was wrap her hands around his neck and throttle him. Except he might enjoy that. Gross!

“Isn’t it enough that you harass me at home, Pace?” She stuffed her books into her bag.

“Hardly.”

Bryna wrinkled her nose and slammed the locker shut.

“So, Jemma’s party?” he asked again.

“No,” she spat. “I’m not going to Jemma’s party. I have better things to do.”

Bryna started walking down the hall, but Pace fell into step beside her.

“What better things? Off with your mysterious stranger again? Are you going to tell me who he is? I know it’s not Gates since he’s out of town.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bryna said.

Why does Pace have to latch on to this one thing? She couldn’t let him find out about Jude. This was her secret to keep, and she didn’t want Pace to have any leverage over her. He clearly wanted to ruin her life, and she shuddered to think what he would do if he found out.

“Don’t you have class on the other side of campus?”

“I do,” he agreed and then went right back to the other subject. “You should bring him to Jemma’s party, so we can all meet him.”

She stopped and glared at him. “I’m not going to Jemma’s, and even if I were, I would be going solo.”

“Because your date is too good for a Harmony party?”

“You’re really stretching today, Pace.”

She shook her head and vowed not to let him get under her skin. Just because he had told Coach Baker that she had been out on a date didn’t mean that he knew it for a fact. How could he know when he was at the football game and the only person who recognized me was a nobody, just some club promoter?

Pace smiled the toothy grin that made her skin crawl. “I’m going to find out who he is, Bri.”

“Good for you. Bye-bye now.” She wagged her fingers at him and then stepped into English, her final class of the day.

Striding to the back of the room, she took her spot in between Avery and Tara. Avery immediately leaned over and started gabbing about something that had happened in her last class. Bryna couldn’t concentrate on her nonsense right now.

Pace needed to stay out of her business, and she needed to start avoiding him at all costs. While her idiotic stepbrother was Valley trash, she wouldn’t put it past him to resort to anything to discover who she was seeing. And if he found out, he would reveal her secret, and she couldn’t risk Jude finding out that she was in high school. Not yet at least. She would have to undermine Pace before he could learn anything.

“Earth to queen bee,” Tara said.

“What?” Bryna asked. She shook her head and turned to her friend. What was she asking?

“You have been way out of it lately.”

Bryna shrugged. “I was plotting revenge.”

“Revenge plots! Count us in,” Avery squeaked.

“I’ll call in reinforcements if necessary, but for now, I have it covered.” At least she would when she figured out how to bring Pace down. The bastard would realize she was not to be messed with.

“Well, we were just asking about Jemma’s party,” Tara said.

“Yeah. Did you want to coordinate, so we arrive together?”

“Excuse me?” Bryna arched an eyebrow.

Avery and Tara exchanged hesitant glances.

“You can totally arrive last, Bri. We don’t want to impose. We’ll let you know what we’re wearing, so you can make a grand entrance,” Tara said quickly. She chewed on her thumbnail and turned to Avery for back up.

“Even better,” Avery said, “we can find out what Jemma is wearing!”

“Plan our own sabotage!”

“Girls,” Bryna said, holding up her hand, “I’m not going to Jemma’s party.”

“You’re not?” they asked in unison.

“No.”

“But her parents are out of town. I heard she even invited guys from Covenant,” Avery told her.

Covenant was another local private school. They were rumored to have the hottest guys, and Harmony girls all flocked to them to find out if it was true. Bryna always thought that the rumor had been spread by people who couldn’t get into Harmony.

“Who needs Covenant when I have all of Los Angeles to myself?”

Avery and Tara shared a confused look, and Bryna sighed dramatically.

“Max got me on the list at a completely exclusive new club. It’s so outrageous that it doesn’t even have a name right now. Everyone is just calling it X.”

“X?” Tara asked.

“Like ecstasy?” Avery guessed.

Bryna laughed. “Let’s hope that’s just the warm-up round.”

Both girls giggled.

“You truly are the queen, Bri,” Avery fawned. Tara nodded enthusiastically.

“I know.” She smiled with approval at her two subjects.

Her English teacher started up his lecture, and Bryna pulled out her phone. She typed out a text message to get her plan set in motion.

Max, get me on the list for X on Saturday night.

“YOU PLANNED THIS WHOLE THING, didn’t you?” Pace asked, barging into her room.

“That’s it. I’m going to get a deadbolt installed on my bedroom door. I don’t even know how you got through that lock!” Bryna cried.

Pace produced a credit card. “Don’t they teach you spoiled rich kids anything?”

“Clearly not,” she drawled sarcastically. “Now, get the fuck out of my room.”

“You think this is all a game? Is that what your fucking text meant?” he demanded.

“Oh, so you did read it.”

She crossed her arms and sank into her hip. At least she was finally getting through to him. Even if she couldn’t keep him out of her fucking room.

“Don’t fuck with me, Bri. My mom is downstairs right now. She just told me that she hasn’t seen me enough, and suddenly, me and the twins are supposed to have a family night.” Pace accusingly glared at Bryna.

Bryna shrugged innocently. “I can’t help what your mom wants you to do.”

“And it all happens on the same night as the biggest house party of the year. It’s not a fucking coincidence!”

Her grin only widened. “Coincidences happen all the time, Pace.”

“Is this just a pathetic attempt to get back at me for talking to your cheer coach?’ he demanded. He looked ready to blow a gasket. “Or are you just pissed because you’re not queen of Harmony anymore?”

“If I’m not queen, then why am I leaving to go to X while you’re staying here to play board games?” she asked with a triumphant smile.

“You think you’re going to leave this house and go to some ecstasy party while I’m stuck here?” Pace crossed his arms and stood in her way. A bulldozer could have been less formidable. “Fuck no.”

“That’s cute.” She fluttered her fingers at him, trying to remain nonplussed. “But I’m not part of whatever family gathering you have planned for tonight. As far as I’m concerned, you’re just some total creeper living in my house, so get the fuck out of my way.”

“Or else what?” he asked.

“Or else I’ll scream. Try to explain that one.” She sent him a seething stare.

He glared back at her, but then he stepped out of the way. “I’m going to get you for this.”

“Whatever, Pace.”

Bryna strode out of her room and down the giant staircase. Her stepmother was standing at the bottom of the stairs. She smiled and waved Bryna over.

“Bryna, dear, have you seen where Pace ran off to? He was supposed to grab a sweater and then be right down. The twins just picked out a movie.”

“Yes. He’s in my room, jerking off.”

Celia jolted at the coarse phrasing. “He’s…what?”

“You’ll have to see for yourself.”

“I’ll check on him in a minute,” she said uncertainly.

Celia focused back on Bryna. She surveyed Bryna up and down in her tight strapless red dress and mile-high strappy fuck-me boots. Her long blonde hair was pulled over one shoulder, and her makeup was dark, smoky, and seductive. She was a walking sexpot.

“You don’t look like you’re staying in for family night in that outfit.” Celia looked like she wanted to say “young lady” at the end of the sentence, but somehow managed to restrain herself.

“That’s because I’m not,” Bryna said, grabbing her black leather moto jacket off of a hook and brushing past her stepmom.

“I know you don’t always like what I have to say, Bryna, but I think if you go out in that outfit you’re going to give boys the wrong idea.”

Bryna sighed and then looked at her stepmom with fake sympathy. “First off, I’m not attracting boys, and second, I think I’m giving them exactly the right idea.”

She wrenched open the front door and left her stepmom standing there in shock. She was sure that Celia wanted to say something more, but thankfully Bryna had stunned her into silence. She didn’t need to hear anymore about what kind of guys her body would attract. She was already well aware, and her stepmother was an idiot if she thought that Bryna didn’t already know what to do with her body.

A limo was waiting for her in the private circle drive in front of her parents’ mansion. When she stepped inside, Avery and Tara were already in the limo.

They both gasped when they saw her.

“You look so fucking hot!” Avery cried.

“Seriously, no guy will be able to resist you,” Tara agreed.

“I just wish we knew who the guy was who has stolen you away,” Avery said excitedly. She nudged Bryna in the side and exchanged an eager look with Tara.

“Yeah, we’ve been waiting for you to spill,” Tara said.

“What?” Bryna asked, reaching for the champagne to cover her shock.

She hadn’t told anyone that she was seeing someone new. Ever since she and Gates had officially broken up, she had been playing up the single life at school, so no one would suspect. Somehow, the rumor was flying around anyway. She suspected Pace’s treachery.

“Oh, come on. We know you’re dating someone. Who is it?” Avery asked. “Is it a Covenant guy? Is that why we’re avoiding Jemma’s party? You’re not ready to be seen together yet?”

Bryna took a sip of the champagne and let the bubbly cool her temper. She needed to squash these rumors and fast. “We’re not going to the party because Max got us on the list at X. I don’t even know why I have to explain this. Plus, I’d never downgrade to a Covenant guy. Don’t insult me.”

“We didn’t—”

“That’s not what we—”

“Save it,” Bri said, holding up her hand. “Let’s toast to X and sweet, sweet revenge tonight.”

The girls clinked their glasses together and then tossed their drinks back. By the time they got through traffic, they were well into their second bottle of champagne and feeling the buzz. They exited the limo in front of a blank gray building. To anyone else passing by, it just looked like a warehouse, but Bryna knew it was the scandalous nightclub X. The best places in town had no signs and no advertisement. X was no exception. Only the hottest, most select group of people knew this place existed.

Bryna and her friends sauntered right up to the man with the clipboard at the door and were whisked inside within seconds. She silently thanked Max for getting them on the list.

The room was dark with red lighting shining through divided sheer curtains. Gorgeous girls in red-and-black lingerie danced on pedestals. A hip-hop beat thumped loudly in the background. Couples were already making out on the dance floor or fondling each other in the mostly obscure corners. It was raunchy and enticing and everything she wanted in one place. It was not as sophisticated as Allure and not as high school as Luxe.

The girls were escorted to a booth with bottle service. A set of curtains separated them from some hot businessmen. Avery was already making eyes at one of them through the divider. The man slid between the curtains and asked her to dance while Bryna popped open another bottle of Dom.

A gorgeous man glanced her way, and she knew without even offering him a smile that he would come over. Tonight was one to indulge, and while he was undeniably attractive, she didn’t want to indulge too much. She would take her excess with alcohol and drugs, not with her other vices. She and Jude hadn’t drawn any exclusivity lines, but she didn’t want to jeopardize the possibility by fucking around with some other guy.

“Dance?” the man asked, nodding his head toward the floor where Avery had just disappeared.

Bryna considered his offer. She promised herself that she would be careful. Dancing wouldn’t cause any harm. She had no intention of going further. Plus, she couldn’t come out to the hottest nightclub and not get lost in the music for a little while. She was only young once.

“Sure. Why not?” She gave him an irresistible smile and then downed her full glass of champagne.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the booth. Tara followed shortly afterward with another guy from a nearby table. They danced through three songs beside Avery and Tara. Then, Bryna left to get another drink. She grabbed her phone as she poured herself a flute of champagne. She stopped with the drink halfway to her lips when she realized she had missed two calls from Jude.

“Fuck!”

She wasn’t going to be able to hear a fucking thing in the club. Knocking back the drink, she found somewhere quiet and called him back.

“Hey, Bri.”

“Hey!” she called over the noise. “Sorry I missed you. What’s up?”

“I got back into the city, and already, my flight out is delayed until the morning due to horrible East Coast weather, which means that I’m free for the night. I’d like to spend it with you.”

Bryna contemplated what to do. There was no way that Avery and Tara could know that Jude was the guy she had been seeing, and she simply couldn’t introduce Jude to her high school friends. Both things were bound to end up in disaster. Yet she couldn’t exactly abandon Avery and Tara after hyping up X all week. They would be suspicious about why she was leaving, and then they would think she really was jetting off to see her mysterious boyfriend.

She bit her lip and tried to figure a solution to the puzzle. She needed to figure out a way to make this all work without getting caught in the crossfire.

An idea popped into her head, and she smiled devilishly. “ Want to play a game?”

He chuckled seductively. “I’m listening.”

“When we get off the line, I’ll text you the address of the nightclub where I am, and I’ll make sure your name is on the list. I’ve suddenly forgotten who you are. So, come and find a hot blonde in a red dress and seduce her. She might go home with you—if you’re lucky.”