“But he has feelings for you,” Trihn said. “It was kind of a bitch move to make out with someone else instead of just breaking up with him.”
“We’re not dating though!” Bryna rolled her eyes. A bitch move. Great. “Isn’t that what everyone expects from me anyway? How is this any different?”
She was letting the alcohol and anger get the best of her, and she didn’t even care. It was like every bit of emotion she had bottled up in the past eight months came rushing back to her all at once. She couldn’t control it. She just rode the emotions like a train barreling off the tracks.
“We’re trying to help,” Trihn said. “You’re kind of self-destructing.”
Bryna shrugged unapologetically. “This is who I am. I’m the queen bitch. I accept my crown and title. Take it, or leave it. I’ve never pretended to be anyone else, and I never will.”
She walked back to the dance floor to try to find someone else to buy her another drink. She had made a circuit on the floor when a hand on her shoulder stopped her in place.
“That was an interesting show.”
Ugh! Pace.
“Fuck off. I have no reason to be around you, and I might turn homicidal if you remain in my presence.”
“Oh, sis, you’re such a sweet talker,” he crooned.
Bryna reared back and slapped him clear across the face. His head jerked to the side. The sound ricocheted through the room. Her hand tingled from where she had hit him, and he roughly grabbed her wrist before she could walk away.
Pace bore down upon her as he laughed at the exchange. Despite that, she saw the unbridled anger in his eyes. He was furious with what had happened, and he looked like he was ready to take it out on her.
“Let me go!” she yelled.
“I don’t think I will.”
“Get the fuck off my campus, away from my friends and family, and out of my fucking life, you sick, twisted pervert!” she spat. She wobbled from the alcohol, and she knew her words hadn’t come out completely right. But she didn’t care.
“Okay,” Pace agreed.
Bryna warily looked at him. Even drunk and sloppy, she knew that wasn’t the right response. “Okay? Just like that?”
Pace gave her an once-over. “I’ll leave and I won’t come to LV State.”
“What’s the catch?”
He smiled. “It’s really simple. I only want one thing.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And what’s that?”
“You. For one night.”
“Oh my God,” she cried, shaking her head. “Are you demented?”
He pulled her in really close, and she recoiled.
“We’re not related, as you keep telling everyone, and anyway, I know you want me. Can’t you feel all the sexual tension?” He ran his hand along her jaw.
She slapped it away. “There’s no tension between us. Zero!”
“Let me have your body tonight, and then you can go back to doing whatever you want.”
“Fucking you is quite possibly the last thing I want to do in this lifetime. I’m drunk, Pace, not a completely different person, and I would need to be someone else to even consider something that repulsive.”
“And I thought you wanted LV State to yourself.”
“And I thought you claimed not to want me. I always knew that was a fucking lie. You want me and my life and my family. You’ll never get that. You’ll never have me! Stay the fuck away from me.” She yanked her hand out of his grasp and stumbled backward.
She got lost in the crowd, letting the sea of people direct her movements. She was more furious than ever. Tears pricked at her eyes, but she pushed them back. She needed to drink more and forget all this shit. She wanted to black out and wake up tomorrow to find her picture-perfect life was all back in order, not lying on the floor in a scattered mess.
The angrier she got, the more the memories flooded her conscious. She remembered the devastating weeks after Jude had walked out of her life. As hard as her exterior was, she had turned into a zombie after he wrecked her. He’d entered her life, full of love, passion, and complete understanding. Then, several months later, after she had lost everything but her immense love for him, he had torn her apart. Even though she had still been the queen bee at school during the last few months, in her despair, nothing else had ever really mattered to her.
Now, the depression was settling back over her like a familiar dark cloak.
So, she danced with anyone and everyone as seductively as she could. She noticed another commotion with Andrew, who seemed pissed that she was dancing with another football player, but she avoided it. She couldn’t deal with that tonight. Andrew didn’t have anything to mend a battered, broken heart.
She felt like her walls were fracturing, and only immeasurable stress could crack the ice queen.
One of the guys brought her more shots, and she tipped them back without tasting them. Another pair of lips descended on hers. She let the intoxication muddle her mind. She didn’t care anymore.
When she pulled back from the kiss, the guy backed up in surprise.
What is his name?
“Mind if I talk with Bryna for a minute?” Eric asked over her shoulder.
“Sure, man.” The guy was already dancing with another girl.
“What the fuck, Eric?”
He sighed dramatically. “Can I talk to you? In private?”
“You already turned me down. Haven’t you done enough? I’m not your type. Trust me, I know all about your type,” she slurred.
“I’m sure. But no, that’s not why. Let’s just go talk, Bri.”
“Didn’t anyone tell you, only my friends call me that?”
“Well, you won’t have any if you don’t get moving and chill out. I’m doing you a favor.”
“I don’t need your fucking favors.” Bryna slipped forward and landed against his chest. Instead of laughing, she felt a tear trickle out of her eyes. Good God! She needed to get it together. She wiped the tear away with the back of her hand.
“All right, drunkie. I didn’t want to have to do this.” Eric slipped his hand under her knees and picked her up as if she were as light as a feather.
“Eric!” she cried. “Put me down!”
But he wasn’t listening as he carried her through the crowd and outside to the mostly empty patio. The pool was closed, but there was still water in it. It was a chilly night, and goose bumps broke out on her skin, but the coldness seemed to immediately clear her head.
Eric lightly dropped her onto a lounge chair. “You should be glad I didn’t throw you into the pool.”
“Fuck you!”
“I’m pretty sure you gave the impression that you wanted to do that with everyone else in the room tonight,” Eric told her.
“Who cares? I’m that girl, right?”
He ran a hand back through his hair as if he couldn’t believe he was dealing with this right now. “I was starting to think otherwise,” he admitted.
“What?” she asked, honestly surprised.
“But you’re proving that wrong tonight.”
“I don’t have to prove anything to you. Stop meddling in my life. I can do whatever I want.”
He threw his arms out at her. “By all means, keep fucking up your life. You’re not only hurting all the people you care about. You’re hurting yourself, too, even though you seem to have little regard for yourself.”
“What does it matter to you who I’m hurting? You’ve been nothing but an antagonistic asshole since I got here. I don’t know what this knight-in-shining-armor routine is, but you can drop the fucking act.”
“It’s not an act! Andrew is my friend, and while I repeatedly told him he was too good for you, he wouldn’t listen. So, you’ve fucked with my friend by being exactly the person I warned him about. What is your problem?”
“My problem?” she shouted back at him. “You have no clue. You just judge me. Don’t feel bad for me. I’m fine. It doesn’t matter that my father won’t spend time with me or that my stepbrother simultaneously wants to fuck me and ruin my life,” she cried.