Текст книги "Gold"

Автор книги: K. A. Linde

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 26 страниц)

THE CROWD ROARED AS THE GOLD TEAM scored the final touchdown of the spring scrimmage game. It made Bryna smile even wider because that meant Marshall had beat Pace. All in a day’s work.

As the stadium emptied out, Stacia ran up to Bryna. She was decked out in a silver uniform for Pace’s team, and Bryna was wearing the traditional gold for Marshall’s side.

“Good game, huh?” Stacia asked.

“Yep. Good to be back. I hate that we have to wait five more months until we’re on the sidelines again.”

“Heartbreaking.”

“Definitely.” Bryna waved as Trihn hopped over the railing keeping her from the turf. “Hey!”

“Hey, guys,” Trihn said.

“Hey!” Stacia touched Bryna’s arm. “Can I talk to you later?”

“You’re talking to me now,” Bryna pointed out.

“I know but later, too. Alone?”

“Okay?” Bryna said questioningly.

“Don’t worry.”

Bryna raised her eyebrows. “I wasn’t until you said that. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she squeaked. “We’ll talk later.” Then, she turned and jogged toward the locker room without looking back.

“That was fucking weird,” Bryna said to Trihn.

Trihn shrugged. “Stacia is a weird chick.”

Bryna gave Trihn a suspicious look. “Do you know what this is all about?”

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you before she did.” Trihn held up her hands to fend off Bryna’s likely attack. “Hear her out.”

“Fine.” But she didn’t have to like it.

“I’ll see you at Posse later. Meet you there!” Trihn said.

Bryna shook her head in confusion. She wondered what Stacia wanted to talk to her about and why Trihn wouldn’t clue her in. Stacia had said not to worry, but it’d automatically made her worry.

She shook off the feeling and sought out Eric.

“Hey, everyone is heading to Posse. You up for it?” she asked him.

His eyes darted to hers and then back out to the field. “I think I’m going to call it quits tonight. I’m exhausted, and I don’t feel like partying.”

“What? Since when?”

Eric ran a hand back through his hair. “I have a huge test on Monday. I’m stressing it, so I’m not really feeling the scene tonight. After the spring game, Posse gets wild.”

Bryna frowned. This was unlike Eric. He wanted to skip out on a party to, what? Sleep? Study? Those things could wait until Sunday or the summer.

“Is this because of what happened last time?” she asked, shifting from one foot to the other.

Things with Eric had been rocky ever since she threw the party at her house. No matter what she did, it didn’t seem like they could find their rhythm anymore. She hadn’t thought one kiss would fuck everything up.

“I’m not going to drink that much,” she added.

“No. It’s fine. I know you’re going to drink more than you expect to. You always do. Go and have a good time.”

“Okay,” she said uncertainly.

He already seemed to be occupied with something else. She shrugged it off and headed back to the locker room to change out of her uniform. She was just on edge. Between Stacia having something to talk to her about and Eric not coming out tonight, she wasn’t sure what to make of it all. But she didn’t like it.

A couple of hours later, she was standing at the bar at Posse with Trihn and Neal. A bunch of the football players were already in attendance. Maya was pouring round after round, and it was clear that what Eric had said about the scene after the spring game was true. It was going to get fucking crazy.

She’d promised herself she wasn’t going to get out of hand. Without Eric here, she didn’t really want to anyway.

“You’re not drinking like a fish, Queen Bee,” Maya said. She shifted into her hip and stuck Bryna with a questioning stare.

“Yeah. I’m waiting for Stacia to get here. Do you know why she needs to talk to me?”

Maya shrugged her dark shoulders. “Bartenders know everything.”

“And? What is it?”

“I’m not spilling.” The look she gave Bryna was absolute. “That goes against the code.”

“There is no code,” Bryna told her.

“Oh, there’s a code.”

“What are you? A pirate? Should I ask for parlay?”

“Oh, you’re funny.” Maya shook her head. Her dark locks framed her face, and her returning smile was genuine. “You just don’t know the code because you don’t bartend.”

“Fine. Does everyone know this secret, except for me?”

Maya smirked. That was answer enough.

“Great.” This was beginning to get ridiculous. How do I not know if everyone else does?

“There’s your little cheer slut now,” Maya said. She pointed out Stacia walking in from the patio door.

She was wringing her hands in front of her. This was not going to be good.

“Thanks.”

Bryna walked right up to her, unafraid. She couldn’t wait around and wonder any longer.

“What do you need to talk to me about?”

Stacia’s eyes widened. “Um…let’s go over here.”

She grabbed Bryna’s arm, and they walked to a more secluded part of the club. Stacia looked seriously nervous.

“Oh my God, spit it out. This is like waiting to open presents on Christmas morning, and your parents want to actually wake up and drink coffee first. Not that we ever had Christmas like that, and I always knew my presents ahead of time, but still…”

Stacia flinched. “Sorry.”

“Well?” Bryna spat anxiously.

“So, I don’t want you to bug, but I’m kind of, sort of dating Pace,” she said in a rush.

Silence stretched between them. Bryna was sure she hadn’t heard Stacia right. Stacia had spoken so fast that it must have been unclear. She had not just said she was dating Bryna’s creepy, disgusting, pigheaded stepbrother.

“What?” Bryna asked, her voice like ice.

“I know! I wanted to tell you in person. I didn’t want you to hear it from anyone else, so I asked everyone not to tell you. We’ve been sleeping around, but it was no big deal,” Stacia cried. “He was just another football player.”

“And now, he’s not?”

“No. We’ve been getting serious, B. I had to let you know. I know you told me not to touch him with a ten-foot pole, but I mean, I didn’t think it mattered if it was just sex. That doesn’t mean anything. You know how it is. Then, we hung out and talked, and he’s really kind of…great.”

“Great,” Bryna said hollowly.

“Don’t be mad.”

“Why would I be mad?” Bryna asked. “I just specifically told you to stay away from him because you don’t know what he’s capable of, and you’ve been fucking him behind my back. Then, you’ve started dating him and come to talk to me as if it doesn’t matter. Like I won’t care after I moved out of my house twice to escape him.”

“Bryna,” Stacia murmured awkwardly.

“Did he tell you to tell me about this?”

“No!” she cried. “He actually said not to tell you. He was worried about your reaction.”

“I’m sure.”

“Come on!”

“He’s totally playing you, and you don’t even see it. He wanted you to be quiet about it, so he could tell me himself. It’s all a fucking game with him. He wanted me to get pissed, so I’d isolate myself from my friends. It’s fucking high school all over again.”

“No! Bryna, it’s not like that,” Stacia said. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about! Pace is obsessed with me. He’s wanted to fuck me since he moved into my parents’ house with his Valley trash mother. He’s trying to get to me through you, like he did senior year when he slept with my two best friends over New Year’s. This whole thing is another ploy.”

“God, B! Do you think of anyone but yourself? Pace likes me, and it’s not because of you. You sound pissed that one of your many admirers isn’t fawning over you, and someone else is getting the attention for once.”

Bryna’s mouth dropped open. “That is not the case. The last person I want fawning over me is Pace. I’d be perfectly happy for you if this were any other guy.”

“Fine. Don’t be happy for me, but get used to it because I’m not changing my mind.”

“Is this because he’s a quarterback? I know you want an NFL quarterback, S. Pace is the backup.”

“It’s his first year,” she spat. “He’ll start when Marshall leaves. And no, it’s not about that. I actually like him.”

“I can’t see how.”

“I knew this would be difficult, but you’re my friend. Can’t you at least pretend to be supportive? Even if you have to lie?”

Bryna ground her teeth. “It would be a lie.”

Stacia harrumphed, shook her head, and then stormed off without a word. Clearly, Bryna’s reaction had pissed her off too much. Maybe if it Pace really wasn’t using her, then Bryna could get used to the idea. Maybe. But it seemed unlikely.

Bryna’s eyes searched the room. Stacia had stomped over to Trihn and Maya and was probably talking shit about the confrontation. But that wasn’t who Bryna wanted to see. Her eyes found Pace standing next to the patio door, talking to some other football players.

She angrily stalked over to him, and the other guys scattered.

“What the fuck?”

“So, Stacia told you, huh?”

“Do you always have to try to ruin my life?” she spat.

“I don’t have to try. You’re really good at it on your own.”

“Ugh!” she cried out. “It’s just another game! Avery and Tara all over again, right?”

“No,” he admitted. “I actually like Stacia.”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

“I told her not to tell you because I knew you’d react this way, but shocking, your friends don’t know your past. I was saving you some anger, but now that you know, stay away from Stacia. You’re not going to change her mind. We’re together. The end.”

Bryna screamed in frustration. What the fuck is wrong with the world?

She couldn’t handle being out right now. This was all too much. She wasn’t really pissed at Stacia. Bryna was just angry that Stacia had let Pace manipulate her so well. She had no idea what he was doing, and when she did find out, Bryna feared for her friend. She wasn’t sure Stacia could handle it.

Without another word to anyone else, Bryna stalked out of Posse. She walked to her car in the parking lot and drove across town to Eric’s house. She was too keyed up to go home. Eric would be able to calm her down after all of that. He always knew the right things to say.

She ground her teeth. She hoped Eric was ready to get fucked up because she wanted to down a bottle of liquor and forget the evening. Forget that Stacia and Pace were dating.

Bryna pushed open Eric’s front door.

“Eric?” she called.

No answer.

She hadn’t really expected one. He was probably studying. It was still pretty early, but he could be asleep.

Tossing her purse and heels at the base of the stairs, Bryna ambled into the kitchen. She dug through the pantry to find a half-empty bottle of Maker’s Mark.

“Perfect,” she muttered.

She grabbed two glasses out of the cupboard. They weren’t crystal or fancy or anything, but they would do in a dire situation. Good enough for now. Good enough to wash away the thought of Pace.

She paused and decided it might not be a bad idea to take a shot first. Then, she could have a head start. Eric would understand. Unscrewing the top, Bryna placed her mouth to the bottle and let the bourbon burn down her throat.

“Holy shit!”

She replaced the top on the bottle, clinked the two glasses between her fingers, and tiptoed up the stairs. The door was closed to his room, but she could see a sliver of light through the crack at the bottom. Maker’s was going to make studying really interesting.

She jiggled the door handle, trying to force it open with her hands full. Frustration creasing her temple, she leaned into the door with her shoulder and shoved it open as the handle clicked. Unceremoniously, she stumbled forward into the room, keeping a tight grip on the precious cargo in her hands.

Her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, and the scene before her came into focus. A dirty brunette was bent over at the waist. Her mangled mess of hair was tossed forward across the bed, obscuring her face where it was trapped against the wad of comforter she was holding on to for dear life. Her red tank was hanging off the end of the bed. Perfect smooth hands had a grip on her waist.

Her eyes followed those hands she knew all too well, going up his arms to his bare chest and into that gorgeous face. His forehead was lined from exertion, and sweat beaded his brow. She couldn’t break her eyes away as he thrust over and over into the girl crushed up against his bed.

The world tilted, and she felt the bottle drop out of her fingers. The glasses crashed to the floor, shattering as they hit the ground. The bottle collided with the floor seconds later, and amber bourbon splashed up onto her legs and soaked into the carpet.

How long have I been standing there, watching Eric fuck some other girl? Why is he fucking a girl? Why do I feel like I’m going to throw up?

At the noise, Eric stilled his movements and looked up. His eyes locked with Bryna’s across the room. “Fuck!”

The girl’s head popped up. Bryna’s mouth dropped open.

Audrey!

“WHAT THE FUCK is she doing here?” Audrey yelled.

Bryna stood there, shell-shocked. She had no idea what to say. There wasn’t anything to say. Yet she couldn’t move. Her feet were glued to the floor.

Everything was happening in slow motion. Eric was moving away from Audrey. Audrey looked up at him in shock because he’d stopped.

Still, Bryna said nothing.

“Bri,” he whispered desperately into the silence.

“I,” she croaked. Her vision shifted, and all the emotions from the day crashed together as one. “I didn’t know.”

She wanted to run from the carnage of her life, and she had never been a runner. She had always faced life head-on and catapulted forward through adversity. But this…she couldn’t face. She didn’t even know why, but she needed to get out of there.

“Sorry,” she muttered absentmindedly. The word tumbled from her lips, unbidden. Then, she bolted through the door.

She couldn’t handle this right now. Not with everything else. Her stomach was roiling. It didn’t make sense. This was Eric.

Gay Eric.

Fucking his ex-girlfriend like he was most definitely Not Gay Eric.

She took the stairs, two at a time. Her heart rate skyrocketed as she nearly tripped over the final stair in an effort to escape the reality of what she had witnessed in Eric’s bedroom. She retrieved her high heels and purse from where she had left them and made a dash for the exit.

“Bri,” Eric called out to her.

That was followed by a high-pitched, “Are you fucking kidding me right now, Eric?”

Bryna couldn’t even think about this. Couldn’t think about the fact that Audrey was in Eric’s bed. Couldn’t think about what this meant for her friendship with Eric. Couldn’t think about why she felt like her heart was shattering into a million tiny pieces.

Pushing the door open, she stared in anger as the drought that had pervaded Vegas for so long finally cracked. The curtains opened in the heavens, and water rained from the sky, threatening to flood her desert home. But it didn’t matter that she had blown her hair out or that she had on fresh makeup or that the rain might ruin her designer clothes. All that mattered was getting away.

She located her keys, punched the unlock button, and watched the lights flash at her. Bryna dove into the downpour and rushed for her parked Aston Martin. She was soaked within seconds. The water ripped at her body with a ferocity that matched her own temper. She yanked the door open to her car and tossed her purse and high heels into the passenger seat.

Eric called her name again from the front door, and she made the mistake of looking back. He stood there, silhouetted in the doorframe, in nothing but a pair of dark jeans. He hadn’t bothered with putting on a shirt in his haste to get to her.

She gulped. She couldn’t do this. She shook her head. Her wet hair smacked against her face. He didn’t appear to care as he barreled out of his house and into the rain. He cleared the distance before she even remembered she was supposed to get into the car.

“Where are you going?” he yelled over the beating of the rain on the pavement.

“Home.”

He slammed his hand against the door to her car. “Goddamn it, Bri. What are you even doing here tonight?”

She jumped as her door closed. She was at a loss for words. He had followed her.

“You said you were exhausted,” she said.

“You said you were going to be at Posse all night.”

“Yeah, well, Stacia decided to ambush me and tell me she’s dating Pace, so I thought coming to get drunk with you was a better alternative.”

“Stacia and Pace?” he demanded.

“At least I’m not the only one shocked by the information.” She closed her eyes against the rain. “I guess I should have known there was a real reason for you being exhausted tonight. I didn’t know you had plans.” She gestured to his house.

His eyes stormed over. “Bryna—”

“I should go,” she cut him off.

“No! Why didn’t you run to your millionaire, Hugh?”

“Are you joking? Why were you fucking her?” she screamed, unable to hold back the rage boiling inside of her. Her hands were trembling. “You said you were gay!”

“What?” he yelled. “I never fucking said that!”

“Yes, you did! At the national championship game after you kissed me!”

He had said it…well, all but said it.

“No fucking way!”

“When you and I first met, Gates said that you’d told him you were gay!” she shrieked.

“I never fucking said that to him. He said you were trouble and a hot mess. That it would be smart for me not to be interested in you. I thought he meant you were a slut and a bad person. That’s why I treated you like shit all last semester. Then, I got to know you, and I realized that wasn’t the person you really were. It was the person you showed everyone else.”

Bryna’s jaw locked. She couldn’t believe Gates had said that, that he had told her Eric was gay, so they would stay apart.

“Then, what the fuck were you talking about at the national championship game?”

“Audrey!” He threw his arm out at the house. “I’ve kept her a secret from everyone. I thought you knew we were still sleeping together.”

Bryna’s mouth dropped open. She stepped away from him. “You’ve been sleeping together this whole fucking time?”

She didn’t know why it shocked her. It wasn’t like she hadn’t slept with Andrew and then Hugh, but still, it did. She had been so sure that Eric was gay that she couldn’t even reconcile this information with reality.

“I thought you knew.”

“No!” she shrieked. “No, I never fucking knew.”

He reached for her, and she backed away.

“Don’t touch me.”

His hands went into his soaked hair, and he turned his face up to the sky. He let loose a primal growl. When he met her eyes again, he looked determined, focused. “You said you wanted a guy who could take care of you and that we would never fucking happen. You said that you would never be comfortable dating me or any guy.”

“I was comfortable because you were a nonthreat! You were gay!”

“Fuck!” he cried. “I backed off because I didn’t want to scare you. I wasn’t sure what was happening or if you were really the person I wanted. Everything was just happening, and then you ground it to a stop.”

Everything seemed to become crystal clear. The reason he had been pissed about her kissing him in front of Audrey. The consequences to her actions for that night. The way he’d seemed to notice her but kept his distance.

Fuck, I’ve been blind. Horribly blind.

“Why are you so angry anyway?” he asked, stepping closer to her. “Why did you break that bottle, looking ready to murder someone?”

“I am shocked!”

“Don’t lie to me!” he yelled at her. “Tell me why.”

He moved into her space until she was leaning against the hood of the car. Rain still poured down between them.

“Tell me.”

“No!” she yelled. She pushed against his chiseled chest, wanting desperately to keep herself together.

“Tell me the truth, Bri.” He stared at her. “Tell me it’s because you want me.”

“No.” She defiantly shook her head from side to side as her heart beat in time to the rain.

“Well, I can’t keep lying. You might be able to pretend, but I can’t.”

“This is insane! You were the one upstairs, bending some bitch over your bed!” she spat at him.

“I was ending things with Audrey tonight!”

“It sure as hell didn’t look like it!”

“I couldn’t do it anymore. I was ending it, and then I was going to tell you the truth, whether or not you wanted to give up the bullshit. I can’t pretend anymore. I don’t know what the fuck this is, but I’ve wanted to do this for too damn long without any excuses in our way.”

“Do what?” she screamed. Her lungs felt raw.

She was so angry, and he looked furious.

Then, he pushed himself against her, buried his hands into her soaking wet hair, and kissed her lips with all the pent-up sexual tension coursing between them. She beat against his chest as he demanded a reaction from her. She hit him twice more, and then her mind seemed to forget why she was resisting. She didn’t want this to stop. Slowly, she relented into his kisses.

Water poured down their faces, mingling with their kiss. She moaned against his mouth, and their tongues met in perfect unison. This was their third kiss, but for the first time, she truly savored him. He tasted like pure heaven. A touch of everything that was right in her life. He pushed her arms up around his neck and covered her body with his own. They molded together, both soaked through.

A bolt of lightning tore through the sky in the distance, and thunder crashed overhead. They both jolted at the interruption. Eric glanced up at the sky and then back down at Bryna. His smile was one of pure joy. Like he wouldn’t want to do anything else or be anywhere else in that moment.

His lips were on hers again. Harder. More desperate. Seeking out the one thing that she couldn’t give to anyone. Yet it was perfection. Every nerve in her body was attuned to his touch.

This was what she had always been missing.

Yet her emotions roiled through her body. How can he kiss me like this after he’d had his dick in some other girl? If he had wanted to be with Bryna, he’d had a million opportunities to tell her the truth. Yeah, she had said she wasn’t comfortable with him, but then when she was comfortable, he could have told her the truth. The truth was at his fingertips at every opportunity. He couldn’t pull this bullshit because she had caught him with his ex. She couldn’t pull a one-eighty on her life when there was so much fucking uncertainty.

Bryna wrenched out of his grasp. He gave her a questioning look, and then she reached back and slapped him clear across the face. His head snapped to the side, and he ground his teeth.

“Don’t touch me,” she repeated. Her voice was hoarse. She held the tears back with the force from her will alone.

Eric staggered a step back in shock. She used that opportunity to grab the handle of the door, and she pulled it back open.

“Bryna, please,” he begged. “Don’t go. Let’s try to work it out.”

“What is there to work out? You said it yourself. We both know this is never happening, and you’re going to regret this in the morning.” She threw his words back in his face.

“Let me explain,” he pleaded.

She couldn’t let him. Even if she wanted to listen and make things work, she couldn’t. It would never work between them. The last six months of their relationship, the supposed ease of their friendship, was all a lie. One big lie.

“You’ve explained enough.”

She sat down in the driver’s seat and then pulled out of his driveway. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute. It wasn’t until she was around the corner that she let the tears fall freely. Once they started, she couldn’t get them to stop.