Gold - Linde K. A. - Страница 18

“Oh, sis, you’re such a sweet talker,” he crooned.

Bryna reared back and slapped him clear across the face. His head jerked to the side. The sound ricocheted through the room. Her hand tingled from where she had hit him, and he roughly grabbed her wrist before she could walk away.

Pace bore down upon her as he laughed at the exchange. Despite that, she saw the unbridled anger in his eyes. He was furious with what had happened, and he looked like he was ready to take it out on her.

“Let me go!” she yelled.

“I don’t think I will.”

“Get the fuck off my campus, away from my friends and family, and out of my fucking life, you sick, twisted pervert!” she spat. She wobbled from the alcohol, and she knew her words hadn’t come out completely right. But she didn’t care.

“Okay,” Pace agreed.

Bryna warily looked at him. Even drunk and sloppy, she knew that wasn’t the right response. “Okay? Just like that?”

Pace gave her an once-over. “I’ll leave and I won’t come to LV State.”

“What’s the catch?”

He smiled. “It’s really simple. I only want one thing.”

She narrowed her eyes. “And what’s that?”

“You. For one night.”

“Oh my God,” she cried, shaking her head. “Are you demented?”

He pulled her in really close, and she recoiled.

“We’re not related, as you keep telling everyone, and anyway, I know you want me. Can’t you feel all the sexual tension?” He ran his hand along her jaw.

She slapped it away. “There’s no tension between us. Zero!”

“Let me have your body tonight, and then you can go back to doing whatever you want.”

“Fucking you is quite possibly the last thing I want to do in this lifetime. I’m drunk, Pace, not a completely different person, and I would need to be someone else to even consider something that repulsive.”

“And I thought you wanted LV State to yourself.”

“And I thought you claimed not to want me. I always knew that was a fucking lie. You want me and my life and my family. You’ll never get that. You’ll never have me! Stay the fuck away from me.” She yanked her hand out of his grasp and stumbled backward.

She got lost in the crowd, letting the sea of people direct her movements. She was more furious than ever. Tears pricked at her eyes, but she pushed them back. She needed to drink more and forget all this shit. She wanted to black out and wake up tomorrow to find her picture-perfect life was all back in order, not lying on the floor in a scattered mess.

The angrier she got, the more the memories flooded her conscious. She remembered the devastating weeks after Jude had walked out of her life. As hard as her exterior was, she had turned into a zombie after he wrecked her. He’d entered her life, full of love, passion, and complete understanding. Then, several months later, after she had lost everything but her immense love for him, he had torn her apart. Even though she had still been the queen bee at school during the last few months, in her despair, nothing else had ever really mattered to her.

Now, the depression was settling back over her like a familiar dark cloak.

So, she danced with anyone and everyone as seductively as she could. She noticed another commotion with Andrew, who seemed pissed that she was dancing with another football player, but she avoided it. She couldn’t deal with that tonight. Andrew didn’t have anything to mend a battered, broken heart.

She felt like her walls were fracturing, and only immeasurable stress could crack the ice queen.

One of the guys brought her more shots, and she tipped them back without tasting them. Another pair of lips descended on hers. She let the intoxication muddle her mind. She didn’t care anymore.

When she pulled back from the kiss, the guy backed up in surprise.

What is his name?

“Mind if I talk with Bryna for a minute?” Eric asked over her shoulder.

“Sure, man.” The guy was already dancing with another girl.

“What the fuck, Eric?”

He sighed dramatically. “Can I talk to you? In private?”

“You already turned me down. Haven’t you done enough? I’m not your type. Trust me, I know all about your type,” she slurred.

“I’m sure. But no, that’s not why. Let’s just go talk, Bri.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you, only my friends call me that?”

“Well, you won’t have any if you don’t get moving and chill out. I’m doing you a favor.”

“I don’t need your fucking favors.” Bryna slipped forward and landed against his chest. Instead of laughing, she felt a tear trickle out of her eyes. Good God! She needed to get it together. She wiped the tear away with the back of her hand.

“All right, drunkie. I didn’t want to have to do this.” Eric slipped his hand under her knees and picked her up as if she were as light as a feather.

“Eric!” she cried. “Put me down!”

But he wasn’t listening as he carried her through the crowd and outside to the mostly empty patio. The pool was closed, but there was still water in it. It was a chilly night, and goose bumps broke out on her skin, but the coldness seemed to immediately clear her head.

Eric lightly dropped her onto a lounge chair. “You should be glad I didn’t throw you into the pool.”

“Fuck you!”

“I’m pretty sure you gave the impression that you wanted to do that with everyone else in the room tonight,” Eric told her.

“Who cares? I’m that girl, right?”

He ran a hand back through his hair as if he couldn’t believe he was dealing with this right now. “I was starting to think otherwise,” he admitted.

“What?” she asked, honestly surprised.

“But you’re proving that wrong tonight.”

“I don’t have to prove anything to you. Stop meddling in my life. I can do whatever I want.”

He threw his arms out at her. “By all means, keep fucking up your life. You’re not only hurting all the people you care about. You’re hurting yourself, too, even though you seem to have little regard for yourself.”

“What does it matter to you who I’m hurting? You’ve been nothing but an antagonistic asshole since I got here. I don’t know what this knight-in-shining-armor routine is, but you can drop the fucking act.”

“It’s not an act! Andrew is my friend, and while I repeatedly told him he was too good for you, he wouldn’t listen. So, you’ve fucked with my friend by being exactly the person I warned him about. What is your problem?”

“My problem?” she shouted back at him. “You have no clue. You just judge me. Don’t feel bad for me. I’m fine. It doesn’t matter that my father won’t spend time with me or that my stepbrother simultaneously wants to fuck me and ruin my life,” she cried.

Eric stiffened at those words and clenched his fists.

“Forget the fact that I get looked down upon when my fuck buddy decides to get outrageously clingy, and I do something about it because I’m a bitch, right? I’m just a slutty cheerleader!”

“Bryna,” Eric interjected.

“Let’s not forget the part where I have a judgmental asshole yelling in my face because I hurt his friend’s feelings. I made it fucking clear to Andrew that we were just fucking around. I’m not interested in long-term anything. In fact, I’m not interested in feeling at all.” Her eyes were hard and unwavering. “So, you can tell him that he fucking did this to himself.”

Eric shifted uncomfortably.

She hadn’t meant to spew everything that had been bothering her tonight, but it had all come out. The alcohol had been a part of it, but it had also felt good to unload on someone—even if it was Eric Wilkins.

“Look, you and Andrew are with each other all the time, giving the impression that you are together,” he said as if that made it right.

“Whether I gave that impression or not, I said countless times that we weren’t going to be in a relationship, and he refused to listen. That isn’t my fault. I’m sorry, but he dug himself into a hole, and now, he’s boohooing that I don’t want to be exclusive. I might be that girl, but I’m honest about it.”