“I love this. Thank you so much!” How the hell is he going to top that?
“I’m glad you like it.” He handed her the second box.
“You give me your world,” she said, holding up the card, “and then offer me another gift?”
“My world comes with a lot of them,” he admitted.
She smiled and then took it out of his hands. She opened the lid and stared at bracelet inside. Her stomach plummeted. She felt sick.
Inside the box was a Harry Winston diamond tennis bracelet with a B that matched her necklace. The necklace Jude had given her.
“What is it?” Hugh could obviously see her disgust.
She pulled back the sickness threatening to overwhelm her and reminded herself that this was an unbelievably expensive gift. She should be thankful that he had been thoughtful enough to match the jewelry she wore on a regular basis. The necklace was her reminder, but he would never and could never know that.
“Nothing. It’s lovely. Will you put it on for me?” she forced out.
He clasped the bracelet around her wrist, and she pretended to admire the thing. It was beautiful—if only it didn’t reek of Jude.
“You seem tense.” Hugh kissed her shoulder.
“Sorry. I’ve had a taxing week.” She swallowed hard and decided to blame it on something else. “My stepbrother moved in with me. He’s a deadbeat, and he basically has nowhere else to go. Since my dad owns the house, he decided my stepbrother had to stay with me.”
She felt dumb, admitting it all. But wasn’t part of all this gold-digging thing to have the guy support her? It would be nice to have the penthouse to disappear to when she needed to escape from Pace.
“That does sound stressful.”
“You’ve no idea.”
“Well, I’d offer to help reduce that stress.” He brought her lips to his again. “But I do have some work to finish. Why don’t you take that card down to the spa and try not to let anything bother you? I promise you a stress-free weekend.”
That was exactly what she needed. One goddamn weekend without stress. She wasn’t sure that was going to be possible with her new scarlet letter staring back at her. Just another notch in the belt.
“I’LL NEED THAT PAPER TURNED IN ON FRIDAY. Don’t forget!” Bryna’s film professor said at the end of class.
Bryna packed up her MacBook into her Kate Spade case and carried it out of class. A lot of her classmates stayed behind to debate the finer merits of their latest assignment, but she couldn’t really relate to any of her classmates. She was already happier in her intro film class than she was in any of her core requirements, but that didn’t mean she wanted to stay after class for discussions. People already thought the only reason she was in the class was because of her director father anyway.
Besides, she had plans to meet Eric for lunch this afternoon. Her schedule ended after noon, and he had a light load this semester. It ended up that they both had a break on Wednesdays. She was supposed to meet him at the sports complex after the end of his class.
She made it across campus and into more familiar territory. Pulling open the double doors to the sports complex, she walked to the room where he was supposed to be but found it empty. She pulled her phone out and saw she had a text from Eric, saying he was downstairs, meeting with the coach.
She shrugged and took the stairs down to Coach Galloway’s office. She found Coach and Eric standing in the hallway, talking to a man with his back facing her. He looked familiar, but she was sure her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Then, Eric noticed her. He smiled brightly and waved. “Hey, Bri. I’ll be just a minute.”
The guy they were talking to jerked his head around. They made eye contact across the short hallway, and everything stopped. No wonder he had looked so familiar.
It was Jude fucking Rose.
Everything in her world screeched to a halt. She was staring into the utterly gorgeous face of Jude Rose. It was like the last year fell away from them, and she was the young high school girl staring at a married man, thinking he loved her. She couldn’t breathe or think. Everything felt muddled, like she was wading through water.
She could tell Jude was shocked to see her. They hadn’t seen each other or spoken since he walked out. He had chosen Felicity. He had chosen to stay with his wife and son. Part of Bryna had understood why he had done it, but it didn’t cure the wound opening in her chest at the sight of him.
Bryna stumbled backward as she came back to her senses. “I’ll wait outside,” she gasped.
She hurried out of the hallway, bounded back up the stairs, and leaned against the wall. Her breathing was ragged. She was struggling to keep from letting tears fall. She hadn’t even cried when he left her. Tears didn’t exist in her life. She didn’t cry. She hated crying. Whenever she had thought about the moment she might meet Jude again, whenever she had allowed herself that moment of self-sabotage, she had thought she would be smooth and cool. But she wasn’t.
She couldn’t have gotten out of there fast enough. Seeing him felt as if she had shrapnel under her skin. No matter which way she moved, it kept digging deeper, trying to pierce her heart.
She knew she shouldn’t feel anything for Jude, but she couldn’t seem to help it. She couldn’t get it together. He was everything. He had been everything when they were together, and he occupied her thoughts even now. She still wore his motherfucking necklace. But he had deceived her and left her powerless. Now, she craved the control he had stolen from her.
Jude shouldn’t be able to shatter all of that control so easily.
“Goddamn it,” she muttered.
At that moment, Eric appeared at the top of the stairs. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Fine.” Her voice was shaky. She knew she didn’t look fine. She turned her face away from him. God, she probably looked like shit.
“Bryna,” he said softly, “what’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “I really don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go.”
She shouldered her bag and rushed toward the exit without giving him an opportunity to object. Eric followed her because he had no other option. As they walked to his Jeep, he looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. For that, she was grateful. She needed a little more time to get herself together.
They found his car in the parking garage a couple of minutes later, and she took a deep breath before taking the passenger seat. He revved the engine but didn’t leave.
“So, are you going to tell me what that was all about?” he asked.
“No,” she said.
“Are you sure? Usually, when your upset, you go into a drunken rage. Do we need liquor?”
Bryna looked him squarely in eyes. “No, I’m fine. No liquor necessary.”
He sighed disbelievingly. “All right. What do you want for lunch?”
“I’m suddenly not hungry. Let’s go…somewhere else.”
“I can make something at my place,” he offered.
“Sure.”
Eric rented out a house on the east side of campus. It looked nice from the outside. She hadn’t known what to expect, but the inside was nice, too.
“Do you live by yourself?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m on a stipend from the university after my injury, and they cover everything,” he explained.
She glanced out the back glass door and saw he even had an in-ground swimming pool. “They hooked you up.”
“I know. I’m pretty lucky.” He grabbed things out of the fridge. “You said you weren’t hungry, but I’m grilling hamburgers. Should I make you one?”
She shrugged. “I guess.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and followed him outside. She sat on a cushioned bench and tried to return to her normal state of being. She felt as if she had been drugged.
Eric started up the grill and surreptitiously glanced at her. “So, are you okay? You seem kind of…”