Gold (All that Glitters #2)(10)

Stacia giggled in agreement. “So, did you give the guy your number?”

“Nope.” That was true. Stacia hadn’t asked if she had gotten his number. “I told you, it was nothing.”

“Well, you know what is something? Blaine,” she said with a sigh.

Their eyes were drawn to the quarterback, who was laughing and making jokes with his friends.

“You are not hooking up with Blaine this weekend.”

“Maybe. But my options are open. I bet we’ll both find someone sexy to hook up with,” Stacia said confidently.

Bryna’s eye caught on Andrew Holloway, who was standing near Blaine, and he smiled broadly at her attention. Yeah. She was pretty sure she could do that in the meantime while her plans came together.

LV State beat Oregon by a field goal in overtime. Bryna screamed at the top of her lungs and excitedly jumped up and down. Stacia barreled into her and hugged her tightly. Leaving Stacia behind, Bryna threw herself at her base, Daniel.

“We won! We won! We won!” she screamed.

He picked her up and threw her into the air as if she weighed nothing. To him, she supposed she probably did, considering he hoisted her into the air with one arm pretty regularly.

“So f*cking awesome,” he said when she landed back in his arms.

The girls cheered on the sidelines toward the LV State fans who had made it out to the away game. The players raced past the cheerleaders and jumping over the barrier into the stands. The crowd clapped them on the back with congratulations. The press was all over it like a field day, snapping pictures and rolling the cameras.

In the mayhem, Bryna felt someone circle an arm around her waist. She looked up to see Andrew smiling down at her.

“Hey, Bri.”

“Andrew! Congratulations! That was an amazing game!”

His hand moved a little lower, and he winked. “Maybe we can make it an amazing after-party?”

She smiled. “Maybe.”

She wished he were someone else—Hugh preferably. But Hugh was a game, and this was just for fun. Stacia was right when she’d said Bryna should hook up with people while she waited for the prize. Some fun wouldn’t hurt anything.

“Find me later.”

And he did.

Even though the team was instructed to remain model examples as they were here representing their school, a raging party broke out at the hotel. Bryna was swept away with the energy from their victory and ended up disappearing back to Andrew’s room.

Her head was fuzzy as she let him drag her into his empty room. The lights were off, and she ran into a chair, falling down, and landing hard on her ass. She broke into a fit of laughter as she tried to right herself. Andrew was there, lifting her easily from the ground and pushing her toward the bed.

His hands were on her body, pushing at the material of her slinky black dress and riding it up to her hips. He groped at her breasts, and she tried to relax into his touch. This was what she wanted. This was what she had done all summer with random strangers in Europe. She was glad she was drunk enough that she might not remember it in the morning.

This wasn’t about love or passion. Just sex. Just fulfilling her needs.

Andrew’s lips were heavy on hers as he forced her mouth open. His tongue was an invasion. He tasted like stale beer and cigarettes. She hadn’t even known he smoked. Whatever. She wasn’t going to think about it. She fisted his shirt in her hands and returned his kiss with enthusiasm.

“God, Bri, you’re f*cking hot,” Andrew breathed. He twisted her breast and then grasped her bare thigh. “I knew I’d get inside this all along.”

“You knew?” she asked.

He sat on the bed and yanked her down on top of him. “Yeah, babe. Now, let’s get you out of this dress.”

He pulled the material over her head, rolled her over flat on the bed, and covered her body. His hands were everywhere, drawing a road map on her skin as clumsily as he could. Then, he fiddled with himself, slid on a condom, and reached down to shove her underwear aside.

It had been a while since she had sex, and even though Andrew wasn’t the person she wanted to be on top of her right now, he would have to do. He wasn’t a conquest in the same way. He was more of a plaything, and she wasn’t going to think about the fact that she could do better than him and had done so in the past.

Her body responded as if it had been starving for attention. Europe was a distant memory. When she came, it wasn’t earth-shattering, but it did the job better than masturbating. And it was damn better than waiting around for Mr. Right to never show up. Otherwise, she would never have sex again.

Later, when she returned to the room she shared with Stacia, she wasn’t even surprised to find it empty. Stacia had said she was going to find her own fun even if it wasn’t with Blaine. Bryna changed into her silk slip and crawled under the hotel comforter. She didn’t even crinkle her nose at the lack of quality compared to what she was used to. She rested her head on the pillow and tried to let sleep take her, but her heart constricted.

This was right. This was how life was supposed to be.

Love was an illusion. It didn’t exist in her world.

She shouldn’t expect it. There was no point in searching for it. All it had ever done was weaken her, turn her into an idiot, force her to make bad choices, and completely lose control.

She had the control now.