Gold (All that Glitters #2)(4)

“Why don’t you ladies come sit with me and my friends?” he asked with an easy smile that said he had done this before.

“Oh! We’d love to,” Trihn said.

Bryna’s eyes traveled down to his left hand buried in his pocket, and she wondered if something was lurking on his ring finger.

“Bri,” Stacia snapped, nudging her.

“Yeah. Sure,” she said.

She met his gaze and saw that look she craved. Desire. He wanted her.

She licked her lips and smiled, slow and sultry. “Sounds fun.”

She followed them across the VIP lounge. His friends had a booth right off of the dance floor, and Stacia immediately starting grinding on Trihn.

“Come on, Bri!” Trihn called over her shoulder.

But Bryna didn’t have any interest in dancing at that moment. She shook her head and held up her martini. Trihn and Stacia were almost finished with their drinks already, working toward that state of oblivion. Bryna liked to get there slower. After that one horrendously embarrassing moment when she had gotten shitfaced on her college visit, she didn’t like to let herself go like that. Being out of control didn’t suit her.

“Hey, I’m Thomas,” the guy said, sidling up next to where Bryna stood by the booth.

“Hey yourself,” she said with a smile.

Yes, up close he was even cuter. Strong jawline and extremely dark eyes. She could see the expensive watch on his wrist, and she took that as a good sign.

“What’s your name?”

This was a step in the right direction. “Brihn-uh,” she said, deliberately drawing her name out. People tended not to pronounce it right.

“That’s different. I like it.”

“Me, too. My friends call me Bri though.”

“Your friends seem to be having a good time. Are you guys students?”

Inquisitive one. She wasn’t used to that. Her European hunks hadn’t asked a lot of questions. And before that…well, Jude hadn’t cared to ask or else they might not have ended up in that situation in the first place. At least she was legal this time.

“Yeah. Students. And you’re an alum?” She plucked the Gamblers logo on his shirt with her fingers and leaned in closer.

His eyes landed on her lips, and then he nodded. “Yes. A proud Gambler.”

“I can see that,” she purred.

God, it was all a game. A very, very familiar game. And she wanted to hate herself for playing along…and even worse, for enjoying it. But she didn’t. She couldn’t hate something that made her heart race. She associated the mystery and danger with an unbeatable adrenaline rush and super hot sex. At the same time, she had an uncontrollable urge to watch with a smile as it all burned down in front of her.

He laughed and then offered her a spot at their table. They eyed her appreciatively and seemed impressed with their friend for not only finding one hot girl but three.

Shots appeared out of nowhere, and then they reappeared regularly. The girls were past tipsy and dancing sloppily with Thomas’s friends. Bryna even relented to dance with them. She was sandwiched between Trihn and Stacia, shaking their asses as if there were no tomorrow.

Thomas grabbed her hand and pulled her away from her friends. Grinding their hips together, he leaned into her. She thought he might kiss her or something, but he never did.

The music changed, and they all crashed back into the booth.

Stacia pulled out her cell phone and groaned. “B, we have to go downstairs. Everyone else is here, and they’re doing some kind of cheer thing.”

Thomas’s hand landed on Bryna’s, and his lips grazed her ear. “Don’t go. Stay up here with me.”

She smirked at the attention. She craved it like a life force. “I’ll come down later,” she told Stacia.

Stacia gave her a knowing look. “Are you sure? It’ll be fun.”

“S, go!” Bryna nodded her head toward Thomas and raised her eyebrows. Hello, I’m occupied.

“Fine. Trihn, are you staying?”

Trihn wasn’t even paying attention. She was animatedly talking to one of the other guys about who knew what. She was a happy drunk and suddenly found everyone interesting, not that the guy seemed to mind in the slightest.

“Hopeless,” Stacia said with a shake of her head. She kissed Bryna on the cheek and whispered in her ear, “Be careful.”

Bryna laughed off Stacia’s warning, and then she disappeared through the crowd. Stacia was super cautious and paranoid about everyone, except for herself. The girl seriously knew how to let loose, but when other people did, she’d freak out for them.

“So,” Thomas said, “you’re a cheerleader?”

“Don’t I seem the type?”

He let his eyes drag down her body. “Your friend seemed the type. You seem…different. More mature.”

That was a new one. “I like that.”

“I like you,” he said.

“You barely know me,” she corrected him.

And she was sure he wanted to keep it that way. It would be easier to justify the one-night stand if she was only a beautiful face in his mind.

“You’re gorgeous and an LV State cheerleader. What else should I know?”

She let the hit roll off her shoulders. The fact that she had come into LV State with a 4.0 GPA probably didn’t matter to him.