by K. A. Linde
“For now, this will have to do.” He smiled brightly.
He seemed so relaxed, almost happy. She wasn’t sure she had ever seen her father like this. He hadn’t checked his work phone once since he came inside.
“Are you going to tell her?” Pace asked.
“Tell me what?”
“I wanted to talk to you in person about this, but you weren’t home for Christmas, so now is the time,” her father said.
Bryna wasn’t sure what this was all about. What does he have to tell me that’s so important?
“Come on outside. We’ll talk about it there.”
In a wave of confusion, she followed her father outside. Pace didn’t look too pleased, and that also made her worry. He was normally smug about things.
The twins were lounging by the pool. Celia was standing near the edge of the pool, talking with them, wearing some hideous black maxi dress.
“Celia, darling,” her father called.
“Lawrence!”
Celia had a huge smile on her face. In fact, she was almost glowing with joy.
That was when Bryna saw it. A lump. A round lump. Her head spun, and she reached out blindly for the first thing she could use to steady herself. Pace took her arm, and she swallowed hard.
Oh my God. No.
Her vision blurred and then cleared again. It wasn’t going away. It was still there. The horrible monstrosity.
Celia was…pregnant.
“What the fuck is that?”
“We’re so happy to tell you, Bryna,” Celia said, walking toward them.
“You’re going to have a new sister or brother,” Lawrence said.
Bryna might be sick. She wrenched her arm out of Pace’s and covered her mouth.
“What?” she nearly shrieked. This could not be happening.
“We’re pregnant,” Celia said.
“You’re pregnant,” Bryna corrected. “How the hell could this have happened? How the hell could you have let this happen?”
“Bryna,” her father said warningly.
“I mean, how old are you?” she spat at Celia.
“Bryna!” he cried.
“It’s okay. That’s a perfectly normal reaction. Neither of us expected this to happen. It’s okay that Bryna didn’t expect this either. I know I’m older. It’s unusual but not unheard of.”
“Haven’t you heard of birth control? Condoms? Getting your tubes tied? This is disgusting.” Bryna whirled on her father. “You force these people into my life and then do this?” She shook her head. “I just can’t.”
Bryna slowly backed up, away from them. She knew they were trying to get through to her, but she couldn’t hear anything. All she could see was that horrible belly.
She fled. She couldn’t stand there for another minute.
Her hands were shaking, and her breath was coming out in short bursts when she made it into her cluttered living room. This shouldn’t even have been possible. It was absurd.
“Hey,” Pace said, following her into the room.
“Fuck off.” She closed her eyes and tried to picture her life without this bullshit.
“I told them that I’d check on you.”
“Mission accomplished. You can leave now.”
“I don’t want them to have a kid either, you know.”
“Good for you,” she spat.
“It’s revolting. She shouldn’t be pregnant at her age. And now, we have to share a sibling.” He shuddered.
“Stop talking about it!” she screamed. God, it was getting worse and worse, the more she thought about it.
“I’m saying I agree with you. No agenda here.” He held his hands up in surrender.
“You always have an agenda, even when you claim not to,” she said.
“Not this time.” He shrugged. “I knew you would respond like this. But I guess there’s nothing we can do about it. Anyway, they seem happy, I guess. Maybe we should remember that.”
“Or not. I’d rather them be miserable than have a baby.”
“Do you really mean that?” he asked.
“Yes. Don’t act surprised.”
He shook his head. “Is this temper tantrum really because you don’t want them to be happy? Or are you pissy because you aren’t going to be his only baby anymore?”
Bryna clamped her mouth shut and glared at him. They shouldn’t even be having this conversation. “Fuck off, Pace. I’m leaving.”
“Where the hell are you going?”
“Away from you and this fucked-up family.”
“What am I supposed to tell them?” he asked.
“Whatever you want. I don’t give a shit.”
With that, she left her condo. She needed time to think about and process what had happened. She had been ambushed, and she wasn’t going to stand for it.
She definitely was going to need some retail therapy and then booze. Yes, liquor fixed everything.
Bryna pulled out her phone and jotted out a text to Trihn and Stacia.
SOS, bitches.
The rest of the week was hell. She spent as much time with the girls as possible and stayed far away from Pace. The last thing she wanted to think about was Celia’s pregnancy or her stepbrother.
Thankfully, Hugh had arrived in town, and she could forget all about those pesky things.
She had called him after her blowup with Pace to confirm he was still coming into town. They had agreed to meet up at one of his resorts. She had never been there before, and she was excited that he was introducing her to more of his life. Ever since they had gone to Tahoe, she hadn’t been as nervous about the whole thing. Everything was progressing smoothly. This was the relationship she’d wanted. No feelings. No emotions. No love. Just sex and money.
A woman greeted her at the entrance and took her straight up the elevator to the penthouse suite. The room was gorgeous, all marble-tiled floors, expensive white furnishings, and an unbelievable view of the Vegas Strip.
Hugh was seated at a large black desk in the office.
“So, this is where you work when you’re in town?” Bryna asked. She leaned against the open doorway in her short black dress.
His smile was so easy and natural. He was clearly happy to see her. “Sometimes. I have an office, but people bother me there.”
“Am I bothering you? Should I go?” she joked. She took a step back out the door.
“Absolutely not. You should come inside and sit your ass down on my desk.”
She sauntered inside. “That might distract you.”
“Distract away.”
Bryna scooted past him until she was sitting on the edge of the desk in front of him. She reached back and shut his laptop. “Oops,” she murmured.
He laughed.
“Is this distracting?”
His hands ran up her bare thighs. “Very.”
She moved the laptop off to the side and then lay backward, taking up as much space as she could. She arched her back and let her blonde hair splay out all around her.
“Now, this is extremely distracting.”
He pushed her legs apart and moved his hand up her body. She groaned and writhed on his desk. He had his pants around his ankles in a matter of minutes. Her panties followed, and then he was claiming her body.
It was pure pleasure.
No thinking. No confusion.
Just a man and a woman taking what they wanted.
She finished before him, and her orgasm brought on one of his own.
After cleaning up, she returned to the study to find him completely put together with two small boxes in front of him.
She arched an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“Your Christmas present,” he said.
She sat back down and tried to hide her smile.
“And a little something else. Which would you like first?”
“Which would you like to give me first?” she asked.
He considered the question. “Your pick.”
She licked her lips an
d stared down at her choices. “This one.”
“Good choice.” He handed the box to her.
She tore into the paper and popped the top. Inside was a plastic card with WC Resorts etched into one side. Her heart jumped. Is he giving me a credit card? Were we there already?
“What’s this?” she asked.
He grabbed the other box and came around to the other side of the desk. “That,” he said, “is a key to this suite.”
“Oh?”
“I want to see you more, Bri. I don’t know where this is leading, but I know I enjoy my time with you. I feel alive when I’m with you. I don’t want to lose that feeling. So, I decided I wanted to make a plan to be here every other weekend to be with you, if you’d like, and you can have access to the penthouse and everything else your heart desires in my resort while you’re here.”
She couldn’t rein in her shock fast enough. He was giving her an all-access card to WC Resorts—penthouse, spas, gambling, dinner, pool. Everything.
“This is so much,” she breathed.
“It’s not. I want you to be nearby when I’m in town. I’ll have to work, so I won’t always get to spend all my time with you, but I want you to have every luxury when I’m here.”
“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…”
“What?”
“Emotional.”
Bryna bit her lip. If she didn’t stop overanalyzing everything, she was going to break down in tears.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I know something happened back at school. I just don’t know what.”
Maybe she should tell him. No one else knew, and it was her burden to carry. She was worried about what Eric would think of her when he found out everything. It was weird to worry about that. He didn’t seem as if he would judge her. Their friendship was such a tenuous new thing though, and she didn’t want to fuck it up.
“So, you remember that guy I told you about?” she asked. “The one I went away with for Christmas last year?”
“Yeah?”
“He was a real asshole,” she admitted. “We dated for a couple of months when I was a senior. We spent so much time together, but it was a secret relationship. No one knew we were together. I thought we were so in love. I couldn’t see that the fun mystery of it all was from him holding on to a lie and keeping me at arm’s length. Turned out, he was married and still seeing his wife when he had told me he was separated…and he had a kid to boot.”