She had rendered him speechless. He breathed heavily and kissed her. All of her scheming had been worth this moment. It was pure bliss. She felt content, almost happy. It had been a while since she had gotten close to that.
“I’M NOT READY TO LEAVE,” Stacia whined. She plopped her empty coffee cup down on its saucer and sighed dramatically. “I can’t believe first semester is already over.”
“Me either,” Bryna agreed.
“It went by so fast,” Trihn said.
“At least I’ll see you in Miami for New Year’s Eve,” Stacia said.
LV State had won the conference championship in San Francisco last weekend, and that meant they would be going to the play-offs. Bryna had spent the past week in her final exams, and now, they were all waiting on grades before starting Christmas break.
Trihn bounced up and down. “I am so excited that I got a ticket to the game! I can’t wait to celebrate our win and bring in the New Year with you girls.”
“We’ll sneak you onto the field,” Stacia promised. She gave Bryna her best pouty face. “Are you sure you don’t want to come and stay at my parents’ house for break? I know my dad is the USC coach and still pretty pissy about their loss, but we could own the city!”
The last place Bryna wanted to be was L.A. for Christmas. She officially hated Christmas and didn’t even want to see her family. After the disaster that was Thanksgiving, she couldn’t brave her once favorite holiday for a stepfamily sham.
“Thanks, but no. I’ll be fine here.”
“What about Brooklyn?” Trihn offered. “Snow. Ice-skating. Shopping.”
“Pass. I had enough snow while skiing with Hugh.”
“Who isn’t such a stranger anymore, huh?” Stacia nudged Bryna’s arm.
Bryna winked. “Definitely not a stranger.”
“So, why aren’t you spending break with him?” Trihn asked.
She just shrugged. The thing was complicated with Hugh. She assumed he was spending the holidays with his wife—even though he hadn’t said that, of course.
“He’s swamped with work. Resort season around the holidays is packed until after New Year’s, so we’re not planning to get together until then.”
“Oh, well, at least you’ll have the football guys to keep you company,” Stacia said. She giggled at the end, and that made it perfectly clear what kind of company she thought Bryna was going to be keeping.
“What about the football players?”
“Didn’t you hear? Coach Galloway said they all had to stay here during break to practice. I think a lot of parents are flying into town to celebrate the holidays with the guys since they can’t leave,” Stacia explained.
“That’s bullshit!” Trihn cried.
“For real,” Bryna said. “Can they do that?”
“I don’t know, but they are,” Stacia said
“Huh. If I get bored, maybe I’ll call Andrew up and see if he’s forgiven me yet.” Bryna laughed lightly at the absurdity of it all.
She knew Andrew was sleeping with other people, but then again, so was she. Maybe if he realized they had just been fucking, then they could make this work again.
“You have a death wish.” Trihn shook her head.
“Yes,” Bryna agreed with that. “Anyway, I won’t be bored. Vegas is never boring.”
She was wrong.
She was so bored over break. With her friends gone for only a week, she found herself bored out of her mind. Between everyone at school leaving, Hugh being swamped with work, and her refusal to see her family—especially since Pace was planning to move in right after New Year’s—she didn’t have much to do. She had thought Vegas could never be boring, but it was all tourist shit, and the flood of tourists drove her mad. She could only see so many proposals, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and weddings before feeling sick.
The Saturday before Christmas, she decided she couldn’t stay in any longer. She needed some outside civilization. Donning a pair of ripped tight jeans, a deep-red sheer top, and her leather jacket, she went to Posse, hoping Maya would be working.
When Bryna entered the building, her mouth nearly dropped open. It was dead. The club where they spent all their time during the school year was basically empty. It made sense that if there weren’t students on campus, then it wouldn’t be as packed.
She walked over to the bar. She felt like a loser, coming to the club alone at this time of year. She could be anywhere, and she had decided to stay in town. She had thought it would help her escape, but instead, she was left with too much time to think about what had happened this time last year.
Maya wasn’t working either. Some guy—she hadn’t caught his name—made her a dirty martini with three olives. She handed him cash. She doubted she would be here longer than one drink. If this was what it was going to be like for another week, then she was considering packing up and heading out of town. It wouldn’t matter where she went as long as it was away from here.
She took her drink and wandered out onto the patio. A small group of people was playing a round of beer pong at a nearby table. That was how sad the place looked. She leaned back against the metal railing and watched the game. The group was really into it, screaming, and chanting for their team, and Bryna felt very separate from everything.
She pulled out her phone to try to distract herself. Maybe tonight hadn’t been a good idea.
“Hey.”
Bryna looked up and right into the face of Eric Wilkins.
She sighed. Great.
“Hey,” she said.
“This place is a graveyard.”
“Yep,” she said, popping the P at the end.
“What are you doing here?” He leaned back, next to her, uninvited.
“Drinking.” She held up her mostly empty glass.
“Yeah, but in Vegas. It’s Christmas break. Shouldn’t you be at home?”
“No,” she said automatically. “I hate Christmas.”
“Who hates Christmas?” he asked in shock.
“Me obviously. That’s what I just said.”
“I mean, I’m dying to be home in Dallas. My mom is probably making Christmas cookies, making the house smell like home. I’m sure the tree is all decorated, and presents are piled high for my younger brother and me. My dad can never decide between ham and turkey, so most of the time, my mom makes both.”
There was laughter in his voice and joy in his memories. It made Bryna cringe away from him. She had never known a childhood like that.
“Sounds like a Hallmark movie,” she responded dryly.
“Yeah, or Lifetime, but that’s home.” He shrugged as if it were completely normal. “What’s your Christmas usually like?”
“Used to be all right before my parents got divorced. Last year, I went to Saint Barts with a guy. I lied and told my family I would be with my mother and then going to New York with Gates,” she admitted.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because it was better than watching my stepmother try too hard. My father wasn’t home anyway. Plus, my mom didn’t even call. This guy cared about me, so I went.”
“I see.”
She glanced away from Eric and closed her eyes. She had no idea why she had even told him that. She hadn’t told anyone about this shit before. Maybe it was because she knew he was completely nonthreatening, and he wasn’t the type to spread rumors. He might be an ass to her, but she didn’t forget he had been worried about her enough to intervene after homecoming when no one else had.
“Hey…do you want to get out of here and get some food?” he asked a minute later.
She couldn’t resist being catty to him. “Oh, are you asking me out?” she joked. She knew he wasn’t. She wasn’t his type after all.