Diamonds (All that Glitters #1)(37)

“Leave me alone,” she called before slamming the door.

As she expected, two seconds later, he was opening the door.

She plopped down at her desk, turning her back to him. “I said, leave me alone.”

“Have a good practice?”

“I don’t want to make small talk with you. I want you to get out of my room,” she commanded. Pace was the last person she wanted to deal with when her temper was on a short fuse.

Pace continued to ignore her and lounged on her bed. “You’ve been a mega bitch lately, more so than normal. Trouble in paradise?”

Bryna closed her eyes and counted to five before responding, “No. I’m just busy.”

“Well,” he said, smiling mischievously, “I came by to tell you something.”

“What?” she snapped.

“The president’s assistant at LV State called twice. She was asking for you, about some campus recruitment weekend. I told them you were considering other options and to try back another time.”

“What?” she asked, standing abruptly.

“Have a nice afternoon.”

He started to stride out of the room with confidence when she burst out laughing.

He turned and glared at her. “What’s so funny?”

“Is this your idea of sabotage?” She shook her head. “You’re going to have to do better than that. Don’t you know that my father is a f*cking booster at LV State? If they hear that I’m considering other schools, they’ll be clamoring for me to come visit. Don’t want their money to dry up.”

Pace pursed his lips as he seemed to realize his mistake. He looked pissed that whatever he had planned wasn’t going to work. It was cute that he had thought he could destroy her chance at LV State, but really, that wasn’t happening.

“So, thanks for that.” She smirked and waggled her fingers at him. “You can go now.”

He seemed to consider her for a moment. His eyes bore into hers. “Well, I was going to wait for your friends to tell you, but I slept with Avery and Tara over New Year’s.”

Bryna’s mouth dropped open before she could stop herself. She quickly covered her look of disbelief. “They wouldn’t touch you.”

The laughter in his eyes made her reconsider. Her friends were kind of dumb, but surely, they had known what this would mean for them. They both knew what she thought about Pace and how it had looked for her to have him at Harmony. She didn’t exactly confide in them, but they still knew. Fuck, everyone did.

“You wouldn’t,” he said. “But they did. Both of them. At the same time.”

Just the thought of that made her want to lose her lunch.

Bryna gagged.

“Tara did some of that. Avery doesn’t have a gag reflex though. It’s amazing.”

“I don’t believe you. Just get out of my room. Now.”

She jumped out of her desk chair, charged at him, and shoved against him, trying to throw him out of her room, but he was solid. He barely moved more than a few inches.

“I will beat you at your own game, Bri. This is only the beginning.”

He backed out of her room, and she slammed the door again.

Her heart was racing. Could it be true that Avery and Tara slept with my f*cking stepbrother? Ugh! It was too disgusting to think about. Maybe Pace was only planting a seed in her mind to try to freak her out, or maybe they had really gone through with it. Either way, she had to know the truth.

She jotted out a text to her friends to meet her at a coffee spot off Rodeo under the pretenses of finding a dress for the charity benefit, and then she dashed out of her house.

Fifteen minutes later, she was seated at her favorite outdoor table with a skinny mocha macchiato in front of her.

Avery and Tara showed up a few minutes later.

Avery smiled brightly and tossed her hair. “Hey, B. No Jemma?”

“I thought we could look for dresses without her.”

“Thank God,” Tara said, collapsing into a chair.

“Mmm,” Bryna murmured. She took a sip of her drink.

If what Pace had told her were true, Jemma would be the least of their concerns.

“So,” Avery said once they had gotten their drinks, “where do you want to go first?”

Bryna folded her hands in her lap and stared at her two friends. “Probably Barneys.” She took another sip of her drink and smiled. “It’s so nice to be here with you guys. We haven’t spent any time together outside of practice since we went to X. How was your break?”

Tara shifted and glanced at Avery. “Mine was good.”

“Mine, too,” Avery agreed.

“Good. The highlight for me was going to Chateau Marmont with Gates for New Year’s.” Of course, it had really been St. Barts with Jude, but the realities of her break had nothing to do with the true purpose of this conversation. “Where were you guys for New Year’s? I haven’t heard you talk about it.”

“Uh…” they both mumbled.

They exchanged another glance.

“I was at the Harmony party,” Tara said.

“Yeah…me, too.”

Bryna nodded thoughtfully. “Gates tried to kiss me at midnight, and we got into a huge fight. Please tell me your night ended up better than that!”