Gold (All that Glitters #2)(99)

“Force myself?” he snapped. “From what I hear, you give it up to anyone who wants it.”

“What?” she cried. “Who the hell told you that?”

“Your own brother! I know the truth now. You were trying out some experiment with me, but you normally like to slut it up. I thought if everyone else was getting some, then I should too.”

Bryna stared, slack-jawed. “You know…I was coming here to break up with you, and I felt bad about it. Thanks for proving that I’ve made the right choice.”

She grabbed her bag off of the ground and stuffed the papers for the class back inside.

“You’re breaking up with me?” Cam cried. “What the f*ck?”

She slung her bag over her shoulder and turned to face him. “You wanted the slut that my stepbrother totally made up to f*ck with you, then you’ll get the real Bryna. I’m Queen Bee. A downright class-A bitch. I was never ashamed of it. So, I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you any longer.” She walked up to him and dangerously narrowed her eyes. “You were a total mistake. I see that now. You’re just a jackass disguised as a nice guy.”

BRYNA HAD BEEN STARING at the world upside down and under water, and she had just broken the surface.

Her head felt clear.

Her eyes were wide open.

Walking out of Cam’s place was like having a weight lifted off her shoulders. She couldn’t believe that Pace had gotten to him and sabotaged her all over again.

Oh, wait. Yes, she could. The motherf*cker! At least, this time, she had wanted an out. Who could have known that Pace’s meddling would give it to me?

She hadn’t expected this to be the outcome. She had thought Cam was a good guy. She wasn’t used to dealing with this breed of *. She wasn’t sure if he had been biding his time to hook up with her or if Pace had manipulated him so thoroughly. Maybe it wasn’t even his fault.

Ugh!

Either way, it didn’t really matter. Pace hadn’t made Cam try to force himself on her. No one had made him ignore her when she told him to stop. She clearly hadn’t been into it. Then, things had gone from bad to worse.

She had thought that she could reinvent herself, but apparently, that was impossible. She never thought her reputation for being a slut and playing games would hit her so squarely in the face, especially considering she had been doing the exact opposite of both.

She wanted to go confront Pace about what had happened, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. That was what he wanted.

What she really needed to do was leave here and go see Eric. Of course he wouldn’t be finished with practice for another hour at the earliest, but it didn’t matter. She would wait.

He had waited for her after all, even when she had been a gold-digging bitch and when she had pulled a one-eighty and tried to be a good girl. But she didn’t have to dig or be this good girl when she was with him. She just had to be herself. And that was a person she had been too afraid to be.

On her way back to the apartment, she texted Eric.

Let me know when you’re home.

She didn’t receive a response, and she hadn’t thought she would get one while he was occupied. The wait was endless. She was glad that Trihn was at Neal’s that night, and Stacia was cramming for a test with a friend from her class. All Bryna did was pace relentlessly and check her phone over and over again.

It dinged, and she jumped out of her skin.

Home.

She sighed in relief. She wasn’t sure if he would actually respond. It didn’t matter that it was just one word. She would take it.

The drive across town felt endless. She was so jittery that her stomach was doing flip-flops, and she couldn’t keep her legs from bouncing.

She pulled up to his place and saw his Jeep in the driveway. She jogged up to the front door and knocked twice. He never answered the door, but she figured she would try since they were on such uneven ground. A couple of months ago, she would have walked in and been having margaritas with him without even thinking about it.

When Eric didn’t answer, she pushed open the door. The downstairs was empty. Only the hall light was on.

“Eric?”

“Up here,” he called from upstairs. “Give me a minute.”

She took the stairs two at a time and walked into his room to find him coming out of the shower in a plain white towel. His hair was wet and messy. There was still that dewy shine to his toned body. She couldn’t help but look.

“Oh…”

“Are you just going to stare?” Eric asked when he noticed her watching him in the doorway.

“Should I not?” She arched an eyebrow.

“I guess it depends on what you’re doing here.”

“Margaritas?” she joked.

Eric rolled his eyes, unamused. He grabbed some clothes out of his drawers and threw them into a pile. “I’m going to change. Let’s get this over with when I get back.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

It only took him a second to change in the bathroom. He dragged a towel through his wet hair and then hung it up on a hook on the door. His hair was still tousled, and she reminded herself she had no right to touch him. She was in the wrong, and she needed to make this right.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s have it.”

“I broke it off with Cam,” she said in a rush.