Gold (All that Glitters #2)(35)

She got the hang of it after half an hour, and they spent a good deal of time on the ice. The skating worked up both of their appetites, so they ordered food from the rink eatery—grilled cheese, tomato soup, hot chocolate, and s’mores. The hot chocolate might have been some of the best she had ever had.

When they went back out to skate again, some kids were racing each other around the rink. One rammed right into Bryna’s back, and she stumbled into Eric. He tried to grab her, but she slipped out of his grasp and landed hard on her ass and hip.

“Ugh,” she groaned, lying flat on the ice. Her leg was already throbbing. “That’s going to bruise.”

Eric tried to hold in his laughter but wasn’t able to do so. “You look hilarious, sitting down there.”

“Thanks, jerk. Why not help me up?”

“Sorry. Sorry,” he said.

Once she was on her feet again, she could feel her leg and hip swelling. This sucks so bad.

“You know…your pants are soaked.”

“Are you checking out my ass?” she asked.

“I can’t help it when you have a giant wet spot on it.” He only laughed harder when she glared at him. “Come on. Let’s dry you out at the fire pit.”

Twenty minutes later, her pants were dry again, but she was stiff and sore. She was certain she was going to have a disgusting bruise on her leg for the game next week. She hadn’t even gotten it in a fun drunken accident.

They agreed to pack it up and go home after that. She needed to ice her leg if she wanted to stunt next week. Plus, it was already getting late.

They had made it halfway through the casino before a passing waitress stopped them.

“Eric?”

Bryna was surprised to see a very pretty girl in front of her. She had dark brown, almost black, hair piled up into a high ponytail, and with a round tray tucked under her arm, she was decked out in skimpy clothing that matched the other casino servers.

Her dark eyes were wide in confusion. “What are you doing here?” the girl asked.

“Oh…hey,” Eric said. He sounded uncomfortable. “We just left the ice rink.”

“We?”

“Yeah. Sorry. Audrey, this is Bryna.”

With disdain, the girl set her eyes on Bryna. Audrey seemed to size Bryna up in a split second before clearly deciding she was a threat.

Why does the name Audrey sound familiar? Bryna knew she had heard that name before.

Then, it hit her. This was Eric’s psycho ex-girlfriend whom Stacia had told her about at the beginning of the semester. No wonder she looked pissed. Bryna knew she was a threat to almost everyone’s boyfriend—or husband, for that matter. At least in this one singular case, she wasn’t actually doing anything wrong.

“Hey,” Bryna said, politely extending her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Audrey stared down at her hand as if it were a viper ready to strike. She didn’t even take it.

Bryna left it out until it was awkward and then dropped it. So, that’s how it’s going to be?

“Did you take her to the ice rink?” Audrey demanded.

“Yeah, we just left.”

Duh. He had said that.

“I hooked you up with the fire-pit tickets! Those are hard to come by,” Audrey cried. Her eyes were as round as saucers, and she looked hurt.

Maybe Audrey had assumed he was going to take her or something, which didn’t make sense. Why would he have asked her to get him tickets for the fire pit if he were going to take her? They could have just gone together. Also, as far as Bryna knew, they had been broken up all semester. Why would he have taken her at all? Either way, it was pretty awkward.

“I know. Um…thanks,” Eric said.

He was not handling this well. He seemed completely out of his element when talking to Audrey. Bryna had never seen him like this before.

“I didn’t realize you were going to take another girl on a date with those tickets. Un-f*cking-believable, Eric. I wouldn’t have gotten them for you if I’d known. This is absurd.”

Eric shuffled his feet. “Audrey, I appreciate you getting me the tickets, but Bri and I aren’t—”

“Official,” Bryna finished for him.

“What?” he asked. He looked at her in confusion.

Bryna wasn’t having any more of this shit. She had heard this girl was crazy, and the bitch was proving it. Eric was a nice guy, and he was clearly in over his head. He needed help from a real bitch.

“We’re not official yet,” Bryna said. She slipped her hand into Eric’s and leaned against his arm. She made sure not to look up at him to see his reaction. “But thanks for the ticket, Aubrey. It was an amazing date.”

“It’s Audrey,” she spat. She glared at Eric. “Can I talk to you—alone?”

“Sorry,” Bryna said before Eric could speak. “We’re really on a tight schedule. We still have a long night ahead of us.” She even giggled for good measure. “So nice to meet you though.”

Bryna dragged Eric away from Audrey before he could do any more damage. He must really not want people to know he was gay if he had gone as far as dating that crazy chick. She wondered what had happened between them.

When they made it outside, she dropped his hand, and they walked the rest of the way in silence.