“You ripped my life apart and left me without a word, and all you got was a slap on the wrist for your behavior. I should have known better than to think you would act like the grown-up in all of this.”
She glared at him. She was disgusted. In him. In herself.
“Bri, come on,” he said as she stormed toward the door.
This had been a mistake. A horrible mistake. Seeing him had fucked everything up rather than making everything better. She had thought it would be bad but not like this. Not like she had a gaping wound in her body.
“Don’t,” she snapped. “Leave me alone. Call your wife, and forget this entire thing.”
She rushed out of the room and down the hall. Jude didn’t follow her. She didn’t know why she had expected him to. It wasn’t in his nature to be kind or caring or loving. He’d wanted her to come to his hotel room to have sex. No consequences for him. He had never once thought about what it would do to her.
She couldn’t keep it together.
She fished out her phone and fumbled through her contacts to find Eric’s name.
He answered immediately. “Bryna, are you okay?”
Tears streamed down her face. “No,” she admitted. “Will you come get me?”
“I’m waiting for you outside.”
“You waited?” she asked. She didn’t know how long she had been inside with Jude, but it had been a while.
“I had a feeling you might need me to.”
She brushed the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. “Thank you.”
There he was, waiting in his Jeep out front just as she had left him.
She sank heavily into the passenger seat.
“I’m guessing that one-in-a-million shot didn’t happen?”
“No, it didn’t.”
She leaned across the car and rested her head on his shoulder. He didn’t protest as more tears leaked from her eyes.
“You were right. It’s worse now,” she whispered.
LIFE WAS A BLUR.
One big, hazy blur.
The weeks following her unfortunate meeting with Jude, Bryna felt like she had been transported in time. She was back to those first couple of weeks after Jude had walked out of her life. She was a zombie. A total mess.
Even her tired mantra couldn’t save her from the crippling depression. She walked through classes, cheer practice, parties, all of it with the pretend ease she normally ruled with. But she didn’t feel it, and she didn’t care.
Trihn and Stacia tried to pull her out of her funk, but they didn’t know what had happened. Any help they had was belied by their ignorance, and she refused to clue them in. They were busy with their own lives. Trihn and Neal were sickeningly cute together, and Stacia seemed to have some new guy she wasn’t talking about yet. It left Bryna with too much alone time, and thus, she spent a lot of her afternoons at Eric’s place, avoiding Pace.
Even Hugh had seemed to notice a change in her mood. She could only fake so much with him. She had tried to be positive and upbeat for Valentine’s Day, which had landed on one of the weekends Hugh was in town. But all it had done was remind her of the Pink Charity Benefit where Jude had left her.
Two more weeks had passed in no time, and she was on her way back to Hugh’s resort where she anticipated spending the weekend relaxing at the spa and shopping before locking herself away in his penthouse when he wasn’t working.
She made it upstairs and found Hugh sitting on the balcony, staring out at the Strip.
“Hey,” she said with a smile.
He frowned when he saw her. That wasn’t normal.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“I hate seeing you like this.”
“Like what?” She raised her chin and tried to fall naturally into her own self-confidence. She walked over to him.
“You seem off.”
She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m fine. Really.”
“Yes. Well, in either case, I decided I wanted to get you a little pick-me-up.”
Bryna smirked, wondering what he had in store for her.
“First, I have to do some work in the area. Will you drive with me?”
“Of course. You know I’m yours on the weekend.”
“Hopefully, all the time.” He circled her waist and kissed her lips.
She let herself relax into the kiss. It was only in these moments when she could forget. She craved them.
She didn’t want to think about the fact that Hugh had said “all the time.” They’d never discussed their relationship. She’d thought it was pretty clear what they were doing. But he seemed more…attached every time they were together. She enjoyed their being around him, and she liked Hugh. But it wasn’t love or anything. This was too good for him to fuck it up with real emotions.
They took the elevator to the valet station. He had a metallic-blue Ferrari convertible waiting for him, and her mouth dropped. God, I’m such a car whore.
“Oh my God, she’s beautiful.”
He laughed. “I thought you might like it.”
“Like? Love. This is the definition of perfection.”
“You’re right. I’m looking at it.”
She felt his hot and enticing gaze on her. She sauntered toward the passenger seat and let him check out her ass.
“Where are we headed?” she asked.
“I’m looking at some real estate.”
“Oh, exciting,” she said. Sitting in the plush leather seat did a lot to lift her spirits.
He sank in the driver’s seat, shifted into gear, and peeled out of the resort. She wished she were the one controlling the stick shift, but on some level, she was.
As he took the highway east, the wind whipped her hair all around her face. It was refreshing, finally getting the warm weather back. They meandered through a neighborhood not too far from her condo right now. Her eyes wandered over all the beautiful two-story houses. Each one was a little bit different, and she liked the elegance and diversity in her desert home.
Hugh stopped outside of a house with a For Sale sign up in the yard.
“I like it,” she said immediately.
“Let’s check out the inside.”
They walked up to the front, and Hugh punched in the code to enter. He let her in first.
The walkway was massive with a huge staircase leading up to the second story. She looked straight out through the glass French doors that opened up to a balcony. The kitchen was top of the line, all stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and a big bay window surrounding a breakfast nook. The living space was outrageous with a sunken living room that connected to the dining room and office. Upstairs, there were three full bedrooms. The master took up half of the house with one enormous walk-in closet and a waterfall shower that could have been its own private lagoon.
“Wow,” she murmured once they finally made it outside.
The backyard had a landscape swimming pool, complete with a waterfall, lazy river, and twin hot tubs.
“This is epic. You should definitely get it,” she said.
Hugh held his hand out, and she walked back toward him.
“Here.”
She looked down and saw a key in his hand. “What’s that?”
“I got it for you.”
“Got…what for me?” she asked, astonished.
“The house.”
Her jaw dropped. “You…got me a house? I thought we came here to look at real estate for you for, like, an employee or friend or relative or something.”
“Well, surprise.”
Her eyes surveyed the incredible house in stunned silence. Hugh had gotten her a house. She didn’t know what to say.
He pressed the key into the palm of her hand. “You have been so out of it lately. I figured it must be related to things at home. You mentioned you were having difficulties with your stepbrother. I wanted to do something special for you.” His lips were tender when they met hers. “I hope you like it.”