Gold (All that Glitters #2)(60)

Bryna shook her head in confusion. She wondered what Stacia wanted to talk to her about and why Trihn wouldn’t clue her in. Stacia had said not to worry, but it’d automatically made her worry.

She shook off the feeling and sought out Eric.

“Hey, everyone is heading to Posse. You up for it?” she asked him.

His eyes darted to hers and then back out to the field. “I think I’m going to call it quits tonight. I’m exhausted, and I don’t feel like partying.”

“What? Since when?”

Eric ran a hand back through his hair. “I have a huge test on Monday. I’m stressing it, so I’m not really feeling the scene tonight. After the spring game, Posse gets wild.”

Bryna frowned. This was unlike Eric. He wanted to skip out on a party to, what? Sleep? Study? Those things could wait until Sunday or the summer.

“Is this because of what happened last time?” she asked, shifting from one foot to the other.

Things with Eric had been rocky ever since she threw the party at her house. No matter what she did, it didn’t seem like they could find their rhythm anymore. She hadn’t thought one kiss would f*ck everything up.

“I’m not going to drink that much,” she added.

“No. It’s fine. I know you’re going to drink more than you expect to. You always do. Go and have a good time.”

“Okay,” she said uncertainly.

He already seemed to be occupied with something else. She shrugged it off and headed back to the locker room to change out of her uniform. She was just on edge. Between Stacia having something to talk to her about and Eric not coming out tonight, she wasn’t sure what to make of it all. But she didn’t like it.

A couple of hours later, she was standing at the bar at Posse with Trihn and Neal. A bunch of the football players were already in attendance. Maya was pouring round after round, and it was clear that what Eric had said about the scene after the spring game was true. It was going to get f*cking crazy.

She’d promised herself she wasn’t going to get out of hand. Without Eric here, she didn’t really want to anyway.

“You’re not drinking like a fish, Queen Bee,” Maya said. She shifted into her hip and stuck Bryna with a questioning stare.

“Yeah. I’m waiting for Stacia to get here. Do you know why she needs to talk to me?”

Maya shrugged her dark shoulders. “Bartenders know everything.”

“And? What is it?”

“I’m not spilling.” The look she gave Bryna was absolute. “That goes against the code.”

“There is no code,” Bryna told her.

“Oh, there’s a code.”

“What are you? A pirate? Should I ask for parlay?”

“Oh, you’re funny.” Maya shook her head. Her dark locks framed her face, and her returning smile was genuine. “You just don’t know the code because you don’t bartend.”

“Fine. Does everyone know this secret, except for me?”

Maya smirked. That was answer enough.

“Great.” This was beginning to get ridiculous. How do I not know if everyone else does?

“There’s your little cheer slut now,” Maya said. She pointed out Stacia walking in from the patio door.

She was wringing her hands in front of her. This was not going to be good.

“Thanks.”

Bryna walked right up to her, unafraid. She couldn’t wait around and wonder any longer.

“What do you need to talk to me about?”

Stacia’s eyes widened. “Um…let’s go over here.”

She grabbed Bryna’s arm, and they walked to a more secluded part of the club. Stacia looked seriously nervous.

“Oh my God, spit it out. This is like waiting to open presents on Christmas morning, and your parents want to actually wake up and drink coffee first. Not that we ever had Christmas like that, and I always knew my presents ahead of time, but still…”

Stacia flinched. “Sorry.”

“Well?” Bryna spat anxiously.

“So, I don’t want you to bug, but I’m kind of, sort of dating Pace,” she said in a rush.

Silence stretched between them. Bryna was sure she hadn’t heard Stacia right. Stacia had spoken so fast that it must have been unclear. She had not just said she was dating Bryna’s creepy, disgusting, pigheaded stepbrother.

“What?” Bryna asked, her voice like ice.

“I know! I wanted to tell you in person. I didn’t want you to hear it from anyone else, so I asked everyone not to tell you. We’ve been sleeping around, but it was no big deal,” Stacia cried. “He was just another football player.”

“And now, he’s not?”

“No. We’ve been getting serious, B. I had to let you know. I know you told me not to touch him with a ten-foot pole, but I mean, I didn’t think it mattered if it was just sex. That doesn’t mean anything. You know how it is. Then, we hung out and talked, and he’s really kind of…great.”

“Great,” Bryna said hollowly.

“Don’t be mad.”

“Why would I be mad?” Bryna asked. “I just specifically told you to stay away from him because you don’t know what he’s capable of, and you’ve been f*cking him behind my back. Then, you’ve started dating him and come to talk to me as if it doesn’t matter. Like I won’t care after I moved out of my house twice to escape him.”