“Because you had my dick inside you ten minutes ago.”
“And?”
“Come on, Bri,” Andrew groaned.
“You and I both know what this is, Andrew.”
“Yeah, but it’s so much fucking fun.”
She shrugged. It was fun, but it wasn’t completely satisfying either. At least it got her off well enough.
“We’re fucking. Not dating. That means I can fuck anyone else at the party tonight, if I want to.”
“Like who?” Andrew asked. “E?”
“What?” Bryna asked, taken by surprise. “Eric?”
“Yeah, Eric. I was there that night you asked him out, you know.”
Bryna raised her eyebrows. “I’m not interested in Eric Wilkins, and he’s not interested in me. That was a joke. I don’t even like being around him. He’s an asshole.”
Andrew smiled at that as if she were making a joke. What the hell is wrong with everyone?
The doorbell downstairs tore her from her thoughts, and then she heard her friends’ voices rising up the stairs.
“Bri!” Stacia cried. “Put your clothes back on, and stop fucking around. We saw Andrew’s car in the driveway.”
Bryna rolled her eyes. Dear God. “Anyway, get dressed. Almost time to go.” She walked to the door.
“What if I lie here naked all night, waiting for you?”
She sighed heavily. “Then, you’ll probably be waiting forever. At this rate of clinginess, I’m going to end up at someone else’s place tonight.”
“Mine?”
“No,” she said. Then, she left.
She trotted down the stairs and into her living room.
“Hey, slut!” Stacia said. She was even more giggly and bouncy than normal in some slutty lingerie that maybe passed for a French maid.
Trihn was standing next to her, dressed like a rock star, in black cutoffs with a low-slung studded belt, a black bra, black leather vest, and thigh-high leather boots.
“Trihn, we said to dress up,” Bryna said.
“Ha. You’re hilarious.”
Andrew trudged down a couple of minutes later. “Hey, Stacia, Trihn. You ladies look hot.”
Stacia preened. “Thanks.”
“Can you talk some sense into your friend while we wait?” he asked.
“No,” Trihn said automatically. “Bryna wouldn’t know sense if it punched her in the face.”
“Wow. Thanks,” Bryna said.
Trihn shrugged. “It’s true.”
“Harsh, Trihn,” Stacia said.
“I mean it with all the love in my heart,” she said. “Now, when is this group bus thing coming to pick us up? And do I have to hang out with football players all night?”
The doorbell ringing kept them from answering her.
“That must be them,” Andrew said, bounding toward the door.
He opened it without waiting for Bryna’s permission, and standing in the doorway was a relatively short man in a suit and tie with a large box in his hand.
“What’s up?” Andrew asked.
“I have a delivery for Bri,” the man said.
“That’s me.” She stepped forward.
He handed her the box, which she promptly transferred to Andrew.
“Sign here.”
She scribbled her name down on the line. “Thank you.”
Beep. Beep.
Her head popped up, and she saw the bus the guys had rented to transport them to and from Beth’s house pulling up into her driveway.
“Come on, Holloway. Let’s get the fuck going!” one of the football players yelled out the window.
“Put that on a chair, and we’ll head out,” Bryna told Andrew.
“That’s a huge box,” Trihn said.
“What is it?” Stacia asked.
Bryna shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t order anything.”
The bus honked the horn twice more, indicating their impatience.
“Why don’t you tell them we’ll be there in a minute?” Bryna suggested to Andrew.
“Yeah. Sure.”
When he disappeared through the door, she grabbed some scissors and cut open the box. The lid yanked free all in one motion. Inside was layer upon layer of silver tissue paper and a single red envelope. She reached for the card and turned it over to find a wax seal with a WC from a signet ring. Her heart fluttered.
Hugh.
She cracked open the seal and removed the cream linen paper. She read the short note, and it took everything in her not to jump up and down.
BRI,
CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY EVENING. I WANT YOU TO WEAR THIS FOR ME.
SEVEN O’CLOCK?
HUGH
“Well,” Trihn asked, reading over her shoulder, “hot stranger worked out then?”
“Seems like it,” she agreed.
“Oh my God, open it!” Stacia cried.
Bryna placed the card on the side table, and with shaking hands, she peeled back the layers of tissue paper. Inside was the most beautiful gown she had ever seen in her life. She removed it from the package, and it flowed with silky rose gold layers to her feet. The top was intricately hand-beaded with a series of tiny buttons to wrap up around her neck.
“Is that what I think it is?” Trihn asked. All her sarcasm was gone as she stared at the dress.
“I think it is,” Bryna breathed.
Trihn delicately fingered the material as if she were touching pure gold. She turned the neckline in, so they could all see the tag, and they sighed in delight.
Alexander McQueen.
“This looks like an original, Bri,” Trihn muttered in awe.
“Looks like I have a date for Thursday night,” Bryna said.
She carefully hung the dress up in her closet, and then the girls hurried out to the bus. They chatted excitedly about the possibility of where she might be going in that beautiful dress.
Bryna slid into the seat beside Andrew, and he dropped an arm over her shoulders.
“Um, no,” she said. She removed his arm and crossed her legs.
She was going to have to stop fucking him if he kept this up. She thought she had made herself clear.
“What was in the box?” Andrew asked, seemingly unperturbed.
The girls giggled but knew better than to answer.
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter,” Bryna said.
She wasn’t going to talk about Hugh with anyone, other than the girls. People could think what they wanted about her, but she didn’t need to encourage the dirty rumors that seemed to be floating around already.
“Nothing, huh?” Andrew asked, unconvinced.
“It was probably from one of her admirers,” Eric said from the seat in front of them.
She hadn’t even been paying attention to see that he was on the bus. There were about ten of them inside, and it was completely full. She suspected it would be dropping them off and then going back out to pick up more students. It would have been easier to go to Posse, but Beth had a big enough place that a lot of people would crash there, and Bryna had been told that things would get out of control.
“No one asked for your opinion, Eric,” she snapped.
Eric leveled her with a look and shrugged. “Yes, Your Highness.”
Even if she hadn’t been wearing a crown tonight, she would have known he was mocking her. “Maybe if you treated people more like royalty, you wouldn’t be such a prick.”
Stacia made a playful scratching motion like a cat. “Retract your claws, B.”
“Yeah,” Andrew agreed. “Eric is the nicest guy on the team. He was joking.”
Bryna raised her eyebrows and twirled her necklace. “I’m sure he was,” she said sarcastically.
“Can’t help it that you can’t take a joke,” Eric said.
His eyes were full of mischief, and she wanted to lean forward and smack that smile right off his face.
Here Eric was, the asshole, and she was the one catching flak because she had a bitch reputation. Fabulous.
Bryna plastered on her sweetest smile and stared right back at Eric. “You’re right. Sorry. Thanks for helping to put this bus situation together.”
“You’re so bad at this,” Stacia said, laughing.