Gold

by K. A. Linde

  Stacia looked hot in a slutty referee costume, but Trihn had surprised them all with her outfit. She had gone all out in a cheerleading uniform. She was wearing Stacia’s black-and-gold Gamblers top and a tiny little skirt with plain white shoes. Her ombre hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, and a huge gold-and-silver bow took over her head. She looked gorgeous. It was also crazy to see Trihn in a cheerleading uniform. She was model tall and filled out the uniform like a champ, but it was so not her normal edgy look.

  Eric even laughed when he saw her. “I get it,” he joked.

  Trihn shrugged and uncertainly looked back at Neal. Bryna knew that Trihn and Neal had had another argument about the party. She was sure that he wasn’t pleased that, on top of the party, he also had to deal with her looking like a cheerleader. Bryna truly thought it was only a matter of days before Neal would be kicked to the curb, but Trihn had insisted that this was the only problem in their relationship.

  “What are you dressed up as?” Bryna asked Neal.

  His eyes met hers with disdain, and Bryna plastered a fake smile on her face.

  “I don’t dress up for Halloween,” he told her.

  “Let me guess. It’s supposed to be a sacred night for the dead to walk the earth again. All Hallows’ Eve and Dia de los Muertos and all that,” she said.

  “No,” he said dryly. “It’s just dumb.”

  “Did you have a childhood?” she asked. It was pretty sad when she was the one asking that question.

  “Do you consider this childhood?”

  “There’s candy.”

  “Hey, man, I get it,” Eric said, breaking the tension. “I’m not dressed up either. It’s better to just have the women dress up anyway.”

  Neal smiled at Eric, but Bryna wasn’t sure he agreed with that either.

  “Why don’t we go get a drink?” Trihn suggested. She practically dragged Neal away from them.

  “God, what a buzzkill,” Stacia said. “I mean, I’m sad, but he drains the life out of her.”

  “And the rest of the room,” Bryna agreed.

  “Oh, shit!” Stacia squeaked.

  Bryna’s eyes followed hers, and she saw Pace walking into the room.

  “Um…” Stacia mumbled. She grabbed the closest jock to her and ground her body on him.

  Bryna wasn’t even sure she knew his name, not that it mattered.

  Pace looked furious and stormed toward Stacia.

  Bryna cut him off before he reached her. “No.”

  “Get out of the way, Bri.”

  “No. You need to let her be.”

  Pace glared down at her. “Look, I didn’t know that shit with Cam was going to happen, and I fucking took care of it.”

  “What do you mean, you took care of it?” Bryna asked in confusion.

  “I returned the favor from Eric.” He pointed at his eye where the bruising was still healing from where Eric had punched him.

  “You beat him up?”

  “Roughed him up a bit.”

  “Why?” she asked, confused.

  “You drive me nuts, Bryna. Our family is fucked up. You put me through hell in high school. Being around you makes me want to tear my hair out, but…” He grumbled under his breath, looking away.

  “Wait, what did you say?”

  “You’re still technically my family, I guess, if only by marriage. I can fuck with you. No one else can fuck with you.”

  Bryna stared up at him, perplexed. “You have a conscience?”

  “Fuck no!” He glared down at her. “I just want you to talk to Stacia for me.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Bryna asked. “After everything you’ve done, beating up Cam doesn’t change this shit. You threatened to come to school here if I didn’t sleep with you. You told Felicity about Jude. You plot to sabotage me over and over again when I have done nothing to you. You deserve what happened with Stacia, and you should stay away from her.”

  He looked like he wanted to say more, but she turned and left. Eric gave her a questioning look, but she shook her head. He didn’t need to fight her battles for her.

  Stacia seemed fine now that she was occupied.

  Bryna downed the rest of her drink in a hurry. “Let’s go get another.”

  When she threw back the second one just as fast, Eric got worried. “Maybe you should slow down.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t,” she said, pressing herself against him.

  “You play dirty.” He ran his hands down her sides. “I want to get you out of this costume. People have seen us together. Can we leave now?”

  She giggled and took another sip of her drink. “Maybe.”

  “Eric!” Andrew called from behind them.

  Bryna turned around and saw him strolling over to them with Marshall, and a few of the other guys from the team in tow.

  “Hey, man,” Eric said without his normal enthusiasm.

  “Dude, so this is really happening?” Andrew gestured between Bryna and Eric.

  “Yep,” she said confidently.

  “He laid Pace out for her, so I would say so,” Marshall said. His smile was genuine as he shook Eric’s hand. “Happy for you, man.”

  “Yeah, but I just don’t understand,” Andrew said. He swung his beer around, clearly tipsy.

  “Let it go, Andrew,” Marshall said.

  “I mean, aren’t you all wondering how they’re actually dating when Bryna just likes to fuck?” Andrew asked.

  Bryna’s eyes darkened. She was truly the devil in that instant. “You’re right, Andrew.” She held her hand up before Eric could barrel into his friend. “I do like to fuck. I just found someone better at it.”

  “Oh,” all the guys said at once.

  Andrew turned a deep shade of red at her comment. “Be ready for her to run scared, bro.”

  Eric stepped forward. “I recommend that you leave. Bri is with me now. Anything else that you say about her will come back tenfold from me.”

  “I mean…whatever, man. If you want my sloppy seconds…”

  Bryna threw herself in between Eric and Andrew. “He is drunk and an idiot,” she reminded Eric. “Not to mention, jealous. Very unbelievably jealous. It is not worth your time or anger.”

  Eric took a deep breath and then stepped back. “You’re right. Sober him up, and get him out of here.”

  Eric grabbed her hand without a word and pulled her through the party. She finished off her third glass of Hunch Punch on the way up the stairs to the second floor. She was staggering from the booze as they veered toward an empty room.

  He pulled her inside, shut the door, and locked it. “I think I want to find out what’s under that costume now.”

  “You already know,” she said. She ran her hands down his front. “Don’t be upset about those guys. I know what my reputation was. It’s just me and you now, right?”

  “Yes. I just want to kill everyone who talks about you like that,” he told her.

  “You wouldn’t have a football team to coach. And who cares? I’m with you now.”

  He smiled and kissed her all over again. He walked her backward toward the bed. She climbed up there, but he turned her around and bent her at the waist. He reached out and stroked her through the thin layer of material that covered her body. She heard his pants hit the floor, and then he was peeling back the boy shorts.

  “I’ve been thinking about getting you out of this outfit all night,” he groaned.

  The head touched her opening, and her body tightened in response.

  “Take me then,” she told him.

  And he did. He plunged inside her. From that angle, he hit her so deep, and she cried out. She hoped no one could hear her over the music, but she didn’t care.

  Eric grabbed her with one hand on her shoulder and the other one on her hip, and then he pumped into her. It was exhilarating and wonderful. All the anger about what the guys had said fueled him. He drove into her over and over.

  His fingers tangled into her hair, and he yanked her head b
ackward. She moaned at the feel of it. God, I like it rough.

  “God, I love when you moan and scream,” he said.

  She moaned louder. He was delivering after all.

  Their bodies were perfectly matched. She couldn’t stop herself. She released and felt her walls contracting around him. He grunted and jackknifed into her as he came viciously.

  She lay there, panting for a minute, before cleaning up in the adjacent bathroom. Her hair was a hot mess. She finger-combed it, but anyone looking at her would know that someone had been pulling it. But she didn’t care at this point.

  She turned to find Eric all put back together. The anger from earlier had dissipated. He looked euphoric.

  “Want to get out of here?” he asked.

  Bryna laughed. “We haven’t been here that long.”

  “But I’m thinking of taking all those clothes off again already, and I’m not sure I’ll have the patience to find another room.”

  She was still high off of her orgasm and maybe a little more than tipsy. All the alcohol seemed to hit her at once, and she took an unsteady step forward.

  “What was in those drinks?” she murmured.

  “Everclear.”

  “My whole body is woozy. I can’t feel my head.”

  Eric looked frightened. “In a bad way?”

  “In a drunk way.” She bumped into him. “I want to dance!”

  He laughed. “Okay, but no more drinks, crazy.”

  She nodded her head, but she wasn’t sure if she was agreeing with him. Another drink didn’t sound that bad.

  She took his hand, and he started down the stairs in front of her. She was watching her steps, so she wouldn’t slip in her heels when Eric stopped suddenly. Bryna fell into him and latched on to his arm to stay steady. Whoa! She was way drunker than she thought.

  “Why’d you stop?” she slurred.

  “Uh…let’s go this way.”

  He tried to move her off to the right, but that was when Bryna saw what had stopped him short.

  Audrey.

  BRYNA MADE EYE CONTACT with Audrey across the few feet that separated them. She hadn’t thought about the fact that if Lauren was inviting everyone from school to the party that it meant Audrey would show up. She had been at Bryna’s own party at the house that Hugh had purchased for her. But it hadn’t clicked that she might be here today.

  “What the fuck, Eric?” Audrey cried. She closed the gap between them.

  Bryna wrinkled her nose. The last time she had seen the bitch, Audrey had been on all fours on Eric’s bed. Just the thought made the liquor in her stomach turn.

  “Audrey, don’t do this tonight. Just go back to your party,” Eric encouraged.

  “Are you joking? I can’t believe you’re with this whore now!” Audrey yelled loudly.

  It was loud enough that nearly everyone in the immediate vicinity looked over to see who she was talking about.

  “She’s not a whore,” Eric said calmly. “And we’re going to walk away and pretend this never happened.”

  “You can’t be serious. You’re scared of golddigging jersey-chasers, and you’ve settled for the biggest bitch of them all?” Audrey accused.

  “You have no fucking clue what you’re talking about,” Eric growled.

  “I might be a bitch, but that does not make me a gold digger or a jersey-chaser,” Bryna spat.

  “You’re known for both, and you want me to think it’s a coincidence that you’ve chosen Eric?”

  “He’s not even a football player anymore!” Bryna yelled at her.

  “Somehow that negates his multimillion-dollar trust fund?” Audrey yelled back.

  Bryna’s mouth dropped open. “His what?” She looked at Eric in confusion. What the hell is she talking about?

  “Audrey,” Eric said in warning, “that’s enough.”

  “What is she talking about, Eric?” Bryna asked.

  “It’s not enough. I hate to see you like this.” The tone of Audrey’s voice changed when she looked up at him. She sounded soothing, like she wanted to reach out and touch him. “You shouldn’t have to debase yourself by dating her. You told me yourself that you would never be interested in a slut like her. You said she was the worst kind of human imaginable.”

  “You said that?” Bryna asked. Her addled mind couldn’t keep up with everything that was going on.

  Did Eric really say those things about me? And what the fuck is Audrey talking about? A trust fund? He’s from Dallas. He wants to be a football coach. How the hell would he have that kind of money?

  “No, I did not say that.”

  “Now, you’re lying?” Audrey asked in disgust. “You’ve really lowered your standards.”

  “You jealous bitch,” Bryna spat.

  “Fuck off, Audrey. You’re proving me right for every reason that I left you in the first place,” he said.

  Then, he pushed Bryna through the crowd without a backward glance. They made it out the door and to his car before she blew up.

  “What the fuck was all that about, Eric?”

  He sighed and sank into the driver’s seat. “I don’t know. I never expected her to show up and try to sabotage me.”

  “She’s a fucking twat.”

  “That…is true,” Eric agreed.

  “Let’s go back to your place.” Bryna crossed her arms and sank back into the seat. She had a lot to process. She didn’t know what to make of anything Audrey had said. Had she acted like a major bitch because I was now dating her ex-boyfriend? Is anything she had said actually true?

  Eric drove back to his house and parked the Jeep. Bryna got out without a word, and he followed her inside. She felt ridiculous, having this conversation in a slutty devil’s costume, but things needed to be said now.

  “So…did you say all those things?”

  “No.”

  “You never called me a slut or the worst human imaginable?”

  Eric sighed and ran a hand back through his hair. “Okay. Yes, I said those things, but I didn’t know you then. Once I got to know you, I realized you were nothing like that person.”

  “God,” Bryna grumbled. She sat down on the couch and pushed her hands up into her hair. “I’m drunk, and it’s Halloween. I don’t want to be doing this right now.”

  “I’m sorry.” Eric sank to his knees before her. He pulled her hands away from her face and stared deep into her eyes. “If I could take back the things I said about you and all the other cheerleaders, then I would. It was a total dick move.”

  “I know, I know,” she breathed. “We were both under the illusion that we were different people at the time.”

  “Exactly.” He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

  “But I don’t get the other stuff. What the fuck is with Audrey? What was she saying about a trust fund?” she asked in confusion.

  “That…is complicated.”

  “Well, we have all night.”

  He nodded and took a seat next to her. “I met Audrey my freshman year and thought she was perfect. I trusted her implicitly from the start. When I blew my knee out, she was there for me every single day. She went to therapy with me. She encouraged me and helped me heal. I’m not sure I would be as strong as I am without her.”

  Bryna nodded. “Then, I guess…we’re all in her debt.”

  “She would want you to think that. She sure holds that over my head. But she didn’t do it for me. It took me a long time to realize that. Even after I broke up with her, I still went back to her, thinking maybe I was wrong, until she would do something again that made me realize that I was right.”

  “Why did she do it?”

  “She did it because she wanted a football player. When I decided I wasn’t going to risk playing anymore, she freaked the fuck out.” His voice was soft, as if recalling a recent injury. “She went on a rampage and talked to the coaches, the therapists, my parents—I mean, everyone—begging them to convince me otherwise. She wanted to get her paycheck at the end of all this, and w
hen I refused to give it to her, she turned into a lunatic.”

  Bryna’s mouth opened and then closed. On some level, she could see Stacia doing the same thing. “Maybe she just cared about you?”

  “No. She cared about herself.”

  “Then, why did you keep sleeping with her?” she asked.

  “Guilt mostly.” He sighed and looked sad. “In my head, I knew that she was using me. I mean…I knew what she wanted from me at least. But she was there for me. She took care of me. She helped me so much. It’s hard to erase someone like that from your life, especially with a constant reminder from her.”

  “I think that makes sense. It’s hard to let go of your past. That is something I’m very aware of.”

  He smiled forlornly. “I couldn’t really escape it, so I would say horrible things about people who were after someone for what they had, and I thought you were no different. But when I got to know you over Christmas last year, things changed. Everything changed.” He reached out and stroked her cheek. “You changed my world.”

  She smiled. “You changed mine, too.”

  “The other thing is…I wasn’t a hundred percent honest.”

  She stiffened. “About what?”

  “What Audrey said about my trust fund is true.”

  “You have a multimillion-dollar trust fund?” she asked in a whisper. It was strange to think she wasn’t even as eager as she once would have been. Her heart would have soared with her good fortune, but this was Eric. He could have had nothing, and she would still love him.

  “Yeah.” He awkwardly looked away. “It’s weird to talk about. It’s not really me. But my family is big money oil. They have been for generations.”

  “Oil,” she whispered.

  “Yeah. There’s a good chunk of land in the middle of nowhere with my name on it.”

  Bryna laughed. Once she started, she couldn’t stop.

  Eric looked at her warily. “Why are you laughing?”

  “I have no idea. It’s just…you have a trust fund?”

  “Yeah?”

  Bryna wiped her eyes where tears were forming. “I find that hysterical. After all this shit I’ve gone through, somehow, I ended up with someone wealthy.”

  Eric stiffened. She realized how harsh her words sounded as soon as they had come out of her mouth. That wasn’t how she had meant them.