Gold (All that Glitters #2)(117)

She suddenly felt so very young, wrapped in her father’s arms. But it was right. Hearing him say that he wanted to mend their relationship meant more than the world to her. It meant she could finally start to heal.

THE HOMECOMING GAME was another impressive victory. Her father was named Alumnus of the Year, and their entire family took a picture on the field at the fifty-yard line. It was a high moment for Bryna for her college career.

Her family left on Sunday, and soon, she was back in classes again on Monday. History of film was wrapping up for the semester. She had managed to completely avoid Cam since their breakup, despite having a class together, but today, she wasn’t lucky enough.

She practically stumbled into him on her way out of the classroom. She glared at him. There was still some pretty bad bruising around both of his eyes. Not as bad as it must have been when Pace beat his face in. The bastard deserved it.

“Oh, hey,” he mumbled.

“Whatever.” She pushed past him and out the door.

He kept up with her.

She gave him a nasty look. “Back off.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes widened. Bryna turned around to find Eric walking toward her across the quad. She had forgotten that he had agreed to meet her outside of class since they had plans. He looked pissed, seeing her with Cam.

“I don’t want to talk to you, and if people see you harassing me…” She trailed off.

He seemed to get the hint. “Fine,” he said with a shrug.

Eric stared Cam down as he quickly turned and walked away.

“What the f*ck was he doing?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know, nor do I care.”

“I don’t like him near you,” Eric said.

“He won’t be near me anymore. I think Pace knocked some sense into him at least.”

“Pace did that?” he asked, gesturing to his own face.

“Yeah. He must have had two black eyes.”

“Good.”

Bryna laughed. “I’m over it. I have you, and that’s how it should be.”

“That’s right.” Eric grabbed her around the middle and kissed her hard. When he pulled back, he smiled down at her. “Are you ready?”

Her stomach flipped, and she nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

They walked over to his Jeep, and he drove her across town to a large office on the third floor of a giant complex. They entered the clean white room and were immediately greeted.

“Welcome to the Las Vegas Breast Cancer Research Center. How can I help you?” the woman asked.

Bryna took a deep breath. “I’d like to make a donation.”

Then, she explained everything to the lady, including the one and a half million dollar donation total.

The woman’s mouth was nearly on the floor by the time Bryna was finished. She handed Bryna some paperwork to fill out. “Here you go, honey. I’m going to find my manager, so she can speak with you. Give me a second.”

Bryna filled in all the information that she could and put the check on the clipboard.

A short African American woman came out of the back room and smiled at her. “You must be Bryna,” she said.

“That’s me.” They shook hands. “This is Eric.”

“So nice to meet you both. I wanted to personally thank you for your incredible donation to our center. If there is anything that I can do for you, please let me know. You are touching so many lives with this money, and with it, we will be one step closer to finding a cure to this horrible disease that continues to hurt our nation and the ones we love.”

Bryna swallowed and nodded. “There is one thing you could do for me,” she said.

Thanksgiving came and went.

It had been way better than it had been last year. She had spent a lot of time playing with Zoe and missing Eric. He had come back early for the game that weekend, but it had still been a long stretch without him. She was starting to realize that her life revolved around him but in a good way. He was good for her, and when she was away from him, it made her heart heavy.

When she came back to school, it was the big end-of-the-year game against USC that would decide who would go to the conference championship game.

Bryna walked back into the apartment after her classes and sank into the couch. Trihn was there, watching TV, and Stacia came out of her room.

“I have so much homework,” Trihn groaned.

“So many tests,” Stacia agreed.

“I wish we could spend the rest of the year watching TV and vegging out on junk food,” Bryna said.

“And not gain a pound,” Stacia said.

“Amen,” Bryna agreed.

Trihn glanced down at her phone when it beeped. “Ugh!”

“What?”

“Neal just canceled. He was supposed to come over to hang out.”

Bryna rolled her eyes. “And his excuse?”

“He has to work on his art project, and all of his paints are at his house.”

“This would be valid if he wasn’t a prick to you most of the time,” Stacia grumbled.

“You know it’s bad when the cheer slut agrees.” Bryna pointed her thumb back at Stacia.

“So true.” Stacia didn’t even try to argue.

Trihn shrugged. “I’m sure it’s perfectly valid, guys. You’re so negative. I’m going to go study, I guess.” She got up and walked toward her room.