Gold (All that Glitters #2)(19)

Bryna slid into the seat beside Andrew, and he dropped an arm over her shoulders.

“Um, no,” she said. She removed his arm and crossed her legs.

She was going to have to stop f*cking him if he kept this up. She thought she had made herself clear.

“What was in the box?” Andrew asked, seemingly unperturbed.

The girls giggled but knew better than to answer.

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter,” Bryna said.

She wasn’t going to talk about Hugh with anyone, other than the girls. People could think what they wanted about her, but she didn’t need to encourage the dirty rumors that seemed to be floating around already.

“Nothing, huh?” Andrew asked, unconvinced.

“It was probably from one of her admirers,” Eric said from the seat in front of them.

She hadn’t even been paying attention to see that he was on the bus. There were about ten of them inside, and it was completely full. She suspected it would be dropping them off and then going back out to pick up more students. It would have been easier to go to Posse, but Beth had a big enough place that a lot of people would crash there, and Bryna had been told that things would get out of control.

“No one asked for your opinion, Eric,” she snapped.

Eric leveled her with a look and shrugged. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Even if she hadn’t been wearing a crown tonight, she would have known he was mocking her. “Maybe if you treated people more like royalty, you wouldn’t be such a prick.”

Stacia made a playful scratching motion like a cat. “Retract your claws, B.”

“Yeah,” Andrew agreed. “Eric is the nicest guy on the team. He was joking.”

Bryna raised her eyebrows and twirled her necklace. “I’m sure he was,” she said sarcastically.

“Can’t help it that you can’t take a joke,” Eric said.

His eyes were full of mischief, and she wanted to lean forward and smack that smile right off his face.

Here Eric was, the *, and she was the one catching flak because she had a bitch reputation. Fabulous.

Bryna plastered on her sweetest smile and stared right back at Eric. “You’re right. Sorry. Thanks for helping to put this bus situation together.”

“You’re so bad at this,” Stacia said, laughing.

“What? I’m being sincere!”

“My ass!” Trihn said.

“Fine. Forget being nice. It won’t happen again. You all have totally ruined it.” She glared at her friends. “It’s not like Eric is even part of the team, so I don’t know why he is even coming to this party.”

“Babe, he’s a student coach,” Andrew said.

“Are any of the other coaches coming?” she asked.

“We’re not doing this again, are we, Bryna?” Eric asked. “I busted my knee up a year and a half ago. I could still play if I wanted to risk it. I’m that good, but I happen to want to be able to walk when I’m older.”

She pursed her lips. Arrogance was such a goddamn turn-on. She crossed her legs and tried to appear unaffected. She was not interested in Eric Wilkins because absolutely nothing could come from that. He was not interested. He was not interested in any women whatsoever. Asshole.

The conversation changed topics, and Bryna stayed out of it. She was trying to remember the Alexander McQueen dress waiting for her at home. That was what was important, not some stupid comments from football players.

The best part of it all was that, in the end, she had won this round with Hugh. Her game had worked out.

Tonight, she would get drunk with her friends and enjoy the Halloween weekend, but on Thursday night, she would be one step closer to the person she wanted to become.

And so the cycle would continue.

BRYNA TWIRLED IN HUGH’S ARMS around the crowded dance floor in the giant ballroom. They were at some gala for one of Hugh’s business associates. It was a big affair with several hundred people all decked out in their best. So much wealth was all concentrated in one place. She didn’t know what they were here for, but she didn’t really care. It was an excuse to wear an expensive beautiful dress, and she would take any excuse for that.

The song ended, and Hugh escorted her over to a group of men standing around with their cocktails in hand, discussing business. Hugh jumped right in. The whole time, his hand rested lightly on the small of her back. In some ways, it was strange to be there but not there.

Arm candy.

Even when she had been with Gates and had purposely gone to events as his arm candy, she hadn’t felt like this. She didn’t mind, not really. But people seemed to know that was what she was, so they didn’t talk to her. She was there to be looked at, not spoken to. She wondered if they thought she must be an idiot with a pretty face. Or maybe they didn’t care.

Bryna shrugged the discomfort away. She was wearing an Alexander McQueen original and living the life she wanted. Who cared if all the men ogled me? Who cared if they direct all their conversations to Hugh?

Hugh finished whatever he was saying and then made some excuse for them to walk away. His hand still rested possessively on her back.

“Do you know how jealous every man in this room is?” he asked against her ear.

“How jealous?”

“Blindingly.”

“And you like that.” She knew he did.