Gold (All that Glitters #2)(26)

Now, the depression was settling back over her like a familiar dark cloak.

So, she danced with anyone and everyone as seductively as she could. She noticed another commotion with Andrew, who seemed pissed that she was dancing with another football player, but she avoided it. She couldn’t deal with that tonight. Andrew didn’t have anything to mend a battered, broken heart.

She felt like her walls were fracturing, and only immeasurable stress could crack the ice queen.

One of the guys brought her more shots, and she tipped them back without tasting them. Another pair of lips descended on hers. She let the intoxication muddle her mind. She didn’t care anymore.

When she pulled back from the kiss, the guy backed up in surprise.

What is his name?

“Mind if I talk with Bryna for a minute?” Eric asked over her shoulder.

“Sure, man.” The guy was already dancing with another girl.

“What the f*ck, Eric?”

He sighed dramatically. “Can I talk to you? In private?”

“You already turned me down. Haven’t you done enough? I’m not your type. Trust me, I know all about your type,” she slurred.

“I’m sure. But no, that’s not why. Let’s just go talk, Bri.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you, only my friends call me that?”

“Well, you won’t have any if you don’t get moving and chill out. I’m doing you a favor.”

“I don’t need your f*cking favors.” Bryna slipped forward and landed against his chest. Instead of laughing, she felt a tear trickle out of her eyes. Good God! She needed to get it together. She wiped the tear away with the back of her hand.

“All right, drunkie. I didn’t want to have to do this.” Eric slipped his hand under her knees and picked her up as if she were as light as a feather.

“Eric!” she cried. “Put me down!”

But he wasn’t listening as he carried her through the crowd and outside to the mostly empty patio. The pool was closed, but there was still water in it. It was a chilly night, and goose bumps broke out on her skin, but the coldness seemed to immediately clear her head.

Eric lightly dropped her onto a lounge chair. “You should be glad I didn’t throw you into the pool.”

“Fuck you!”

“I’m pretty sure you gave the impression that you wanted to do that with everyone else in the room tonight,” Eric told her.

“Who cares? I’m that girl, right?”

He ran a hand back through his hair as if he couldn’t believe he was dealing with this right now. “I was starting to think otherwise,” he admitted.

“What?” she asked, honestly surprised.

“But you’re proving that wrong tonight.”

“I don’t have to prove anything to you. Stop meddling in my life. I can do whatever I want.”

He threw his arms out at her. “By all means, keep f*cking up your life. You’re not only hurting all the people you care about. You’re hurting yourself, too, even though you seem to have little regard for yourself.”

“What does it matter to you who I’m hurting? You’ve been nothing but an antagonistic * since I got here. I don’t know what this knight-in-shining-armor routine is, but you can drop the f*cking act.”

“It’s not an act! Andrew is my friend, and while I repeatedly told him he was too good for you, he wouldn’t listen. So, you’ve f*cked with my friend by being exactly the person I warned him about. What is your problem?”

“My problem?” she shouted back at him. “You have no clue. You just judge me. Don’t feel bad for me. I’m fine. It doesn’t matter that my father won’t spend time with me or that my stepbrother simultaneously wants to f*ck me and ruin my life,” she cried.

Eric stiffened at those words and clenched his fists.

“Forget the fact that I get looked down upon when my f*ck buddy decides to get outrageously clingy, and I do something about it because I’m a bitch, right? I’m just a slutty cheerleader!”

“Bryna,” Eric interjected.

“Let’s not forget the part where I have a judgmental * yelling in my face because I hurt his friend’s feelings. I made it f*cking clear to Andrew that we were just f*cking around. I’m not interested in long-term anything. In fact, I’m not interested in feeling at all.” Her eyes were hard and unwavering. “So, you can tell him that he f*cking did this to himself.”

Eric shifted uncomfortably.

She hadn’t meant to spew everything that had been bothering her tonight, but it had all come out. The alcohol had been a part of it, but it had also felt good to unload on someone—even if it was Eric Wilkins.

“Look, you and Andrew are with each other all the time, giving the impression that you are together,” he said as if that made it right.

“Whether I gave that impression or not, I said countless times that we weren’t going to be in a relationship, and he refused to listen. That isn’t my fault. I’m sorry, but he dug himself into a hole, and now, he’s boohooing that I don’t want to be exclusive. I might be that girl, but I’m honest about it.”

“Well, I’ve always known you to be blunt with me,” Eric said dryly.

“Anyway, if he had a problem with me, he should have been man enough to be out here, voicing his own opinion. He shouldn’t have sent a lackey to do it for him.”