“Bryna, dear, have you seen where Pace ran off to? He was supposed to grab a sweater and then be right down. The twins just picked out a movie.”
“Yes. He’s in my room, jerking off.”
Celia jolted at the coarse phrasing. “He’s…what?”
“You’ll have to see for yourself.”
“I’ll check on him in a minute,” she said uncertainly.
Celia focused back on Bryna. She surveyed Bryna up and down in her tight strapless red dress and mile-high strappy fuck-me boots. Her long blonde hair was pulled over one shoulder, and her makeup was dark, smoky, and seductive. She was a walking sexpot.
“You don’t look like you’re staying in for family night in that outfit.” Celia looked like she wanted to say “young lady” at the end of the sentence, but somehow managed to restrain herself.
“That’s because I’m not,” Bryna said, grabbing her black leather moto jacket off of a hook and brushing past her stepmom.
“I know you don’t always like what I have to say, Bryna, but I think if you go out in that outfit you’re going to give boys the wrong idea.”
Bryna sighed and then looked at her stepmom with fake sympathy. “First off, I’m not attracting boys, and second, I think I’m giving them exactly the right idea.”
She wrenched open the front door and left her stepmom standing there in shock. She was sure that Celia wanted to say something more, but thankfully Bryna had stunned her into silence. She didn’t need to hear anymore about what kind of guys her body would attract. She was already well aware, and her stepmother was an idiot if she thought that Bryna didn’t already know what to do with her body.
A limo was waiting for her in the private circle drive in front of her parents’ mansion. When she stepped inside, Avery and Tara were already in the limo.
They both gasped when they saw her.
“You look so fucking hot!” Avery cried.
“Seriously, no guy will be able to resist you,” Tara agreed.
“I just wish we knew who the guy was who has stolen you away,” Avery said excitedly. She nudged Bryna in the side and exchanged an eager look with Tara.
“Yeah, we’ve been waiting for you to spill,” Tara said.
“What?” Bryna asked, reaching for the champagne to cover her shock.
She hadn’t told anyone that she was seeing someone new. Ever since she and Gates had officially broken up, she had been playing up the single life at school, so no one would suspect. Somehow, the rumor was flying around anyway. She suspected Pace’s treachery.
“Oh, come on. We know you’re dating someone. Who is it?” Avery asked. “Is it a Covenant guy? Is that why we’re avoiding Jemma’s party? You’re not ready to be seen together yet?”
Bryna took a sip of the champagne and let the bubbly cool her temper. She needed to squash these rumors and fast. “We’re not going to the party because Max got us on the list at X. I don’t even know why I have to explain this. Plus, I’d never downgrade to a Covenant guy. Don’t insult me.”
“We didn’t—”
“That’s not what we—”
“Save it,” Bri said, holding up her hand. “Let’s toast to X and sweet, sweet revenge tonight.”
The girls clinked their glasses together and then tossed their drinks back. By the time they got through traffic, they were well into their second bottle of champagne and feeling the buzz. They exited the limo in front of a blank gray building. To anyone else passing by, it just looked like a warehouse, but Bryna knew it was the scandalous nightclub X. The best places in town had no signs and no advertisement. X was no exception. Only the hottest, most select group of people knew this place existed.
Bryna and her friends sauntered right up to the man with the clipboard at the door and were whisked inside within seconds. She silently thanked Max for getting them on the list.
The room was dark with red lighting shining through divided sheer curtains. Gorgeous girls in red-and-black lingerie danced on pedestals. A hip-hop beat thumped loudly in the background. Couples were already making out on the dance floor or fondling each other in the mostly obscure corners. It was raunchy and enticing and everything she wanted in one place. It was not as sophisticated as Allure and not as high school as Luxe.
The girls were escorted to a booth with bottle service. A set of curtains separated them from some hot businessmen. Avery was already making eyes at one of them through the divider. The man slid between the curtains and asked her to dance while Bryna popped open another bottle of Dom.
A gorgeous man glanced her way, and she knew without even offering him a smile that he would come over. Tonight was one to indulge, and while he was undeniably attractive, she didn’t want to indulge too much. She would take her excess with alcohol and drugs, not with her other vices. She and Jude hadn’t drawn any exclusivity lines, but she didn’t want to jeopardize the possibility by fucking around with some other guy.
“Dance?” the man asked, nodding his head toward the floor where Avery had just disappeared.
Bryna considered his offer. She promised herself that she would be careful. Dancing wouldn’t cause any harm. She had no intention of going further. Plus, she couldn’t come out to the hottest nightclub and not get lost in the music for a little while. She was only young once.
“Sure. Why not?” She gave him an irresistible smile and then downed her full glass of champagne.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the booth. Tara followed shortly afterward with another guy from a nearby table. They danced through three songs beside Avery and Tara. Then, Bryna left to get another drink. She grabbed her phone as she poured herself a flute of champagne. She stopped with the drink halfway to her lips when she realized she had missed two calls from Jude.
“Fuck!”
She wasn’t going to be able to hear a fucking thing in the club. Knocking back the drink, she found somewhere quiet and called him back.
“Hey, Bri.”
“Hey!” she called over the noise. “Sorry I missed you. What’s up?”
“I got back into the city, and already, my flight out is delayed until the morning due to horrible East Coast weather, which means that I’m free for the night. I’d like to spend it with you.”
Bryna contemplated what to do. There was no way that Avery and Tara could know that Jude was the guy she had been seeing, and she simply couldn’t introduce Jude to her high school friends. Both things were bound to end up in disaster. Yet she couldn’t exactly abandon Avery and Tara after hyping up X all week. They would be suspicious about why she was leaving, and then they would think she really was jetting off to see her mysterious boyfriend.
She bit her lip and tried to figure a solution to the puzzle. She needed to figure out a way to make this all work without getting caught in the crossfire.
An idea popped into her head, and she smiled devilishly. “ Want to play a game?”
He chuckled seductively. “I’m listening.”
“When we get off the line, I’ll text you the address of the nightclub where I am, and I’ll make sure your name is on the list. I’ve suddenly forgotten who you are. So, come and find a hot blonde in a red dress and seduce her. She might go home with you—if you’re lucky.”
A FEW MINUTES LATER, Jude had the address to X, and his name was on the list. Bryna occupied herself with dancing, switching up partners to keep any one guy from monopolizing her time. She was giddy and jittery at the same time.
Jude was coming here.
She couldn’t suppress the fluttering in her stomach at the prospect of seeing him in such a way. Not to mention the nerves knowing that she could get caught with him, knowing that anything could go wrong. It was dangerous and thus, unbelievably enticing.