Gold (All that Glitters #2)(12)

“Ugh! It was a joke.”

“Asking me out?”

“Yes!” she snapped. “It was a joke.”

“You don’t have to cover it up, Bryna. I thought you were quite proud of your promiscuity,” he said the last word so casually.

On any other day, she might have not cared about what he was saying about her, what he was insinuating about her reputation. But she’d had sex last night with Andrew, someone she didn’t even care about. She wasn’t ashamed of what she had done.

“Slut-shaming? That’s a new one.”

“I wasn’t shaming you. Just making a statement about the facts,” he said.

Bryna glared harder and tried to keep from biting his head off. She took a deep breath and then worked for her hardened exterior. “Promiscuous has such a negative connotation, Eric. I like sex. Maybe you don’t?” she suggested.

It was as close as she could get to saying she knew he was gay without saying it. Though she was sure he probably had a lot of sex with other men, too. That seemed perfectly normal.

“I like sex,” he said in that sweet Southern drawl.

She swallowed hard. Hot. “Anyway, I am very picky, so our conversation had to be a joke.”

“I’m sure.”

“You seriously have a negative opinion of me.”

“I can’t be the only one. You seem to make it rather easy.”

She wasn’t sure why that offended her, except that she had never done anything to Eric. He had this god-awful impression of her that made no sense. So, she had slept with one of the guys on the team last night. Who cared? Stacia had slept with a dozen. Yet Eric’s venom was specifically for Bryna. She never saw him act this way around anyone else.

“Most people find me pretty awesome actually,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Do you tell them that?” He gave her a pointed look.

“What? No!”

“You think very highly of yourself, is all, and you’re not afraid to let other people know how great you are.”

“What’s wrong with that anyway?” she spat. How dare he judge me! “It’s called self-confidence. More people should have it.”

“There’s self-confidence, and then there’s you.”

Bryna beamed as if what he was saying was a real prize. “Thank you.”

“It wasn’t a compliment,” he said in frustration. “Kind of hard to get through to you up there.”

“Hard to get through to me? Are you insane? Talking to you is like speaking to a brick wall. Are you even going to graduate on time? Aren’t all jocks idiots?”

He stared blankly back at her, but she saw something brewing in his hazel eyes. He was irritated. She was turning into more of an annoyance than he had bargained for. It was clear he was trying to antagonize her to make her leave, but she had no intention of doing so. Not now for sure.

Something changed in his face as if he was resolute. Bryna braced herself for his barb.

“All jocks are idiots? At least we got into school based on talent, not on our parents’ booster donations.”

“I had a four-point-oh in high school. I had the grades and clearly the talent to get in here. Why the hell did they keep you anyway? It’s not like you have talent anymore.” She leaned into him to deliver her killing blow. “Let me ask you, Eric, what’s it like not having a functional knee?”

Eric cringed.

She knew she had taken it too far, but he had started this shit. And she would certainly finish it. He already thought poorly of her. What would it matter if she dug her own grave?

Eric’s mouth hung open slightly, and then he snapped it closed. His eyes were hard, but what she hadn’t anticipated was the look on his face. It wasn’t anger or disgust as he had every right to feel but rather determination.

He was quiet when he responded, “What’s it like not having a working heart? Must be hard to continue living with a black pit in your chest.”

He had no idea.

She opened her mouth to respond even though she had no clue what to say. He was right. She didn’t have a functional heart, and it constantly felt like she had a black pit in her chest. But she couldn’t let him know that.

“Come on, Bryna. Throw more punches. Get in some more swings. I can go all day like this.”

And he looked serious.

She didn’t know what to make of that. No one went head-to-head with her and came out ahead. But she didn’t know what to say. She had no witty retort.

Finally, she shrugged and faced forward. “Whatever.”

She plugged her headphones into her ears and tried not to notice the victorious smile that spread across his face.

He hadn’t won.

Right?

“OH, HIM!” Stacia cried. She pointed out a tall guy with blond hair in the pool near where they were lounging. “What do you think about him?”

On this particularly beautiful Sunday afternoon, the girls had congregated outside at the pool at Posse. This was the last weekend they would be open since the weather was becoming more and more unpredictable. Unable to miss a good party, they had decided to forego studying to spend the afternoon checking out hot guys and drinking daiquiris.

“No,” Bryna said. “He is definitely on steroids, and we all know what that means!”