by K. A. Linde
Tears leaked from her eyes without warning. “You’ll always have me,” she whispered.
“Bryna”—he pulled her into a swift hug—“I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you, too, Dad.”
He pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes. “We’re going to make things right between us.”
“I’d really like that.”
“I know your mother hasn’t reached out like this, and I know we’re not on the best of terms.”
Bryna snorted.
“Not on good terms at all,” he clarified. “But I don’t wish bad things for her and you. You’re still her daughter. I don’t want to be completely selfish and keep you from her.”
“I don’t even know the last time I saw Mom,” Bryna admitted.
“She needs a push. I worry I would be in her same place if it wasn’t for Celia. Olivia might not want to see me, but I would go with you to see her if you want. I want my daughter to have a relationship with both her parents, and if you let her, one with Celia, too.”
Bryna swallowed back the tears. “You’d go see Mom with me?”
“Of course.”
“That would mean everything,” she told him.
“Then, it’s settled.”
“I’ve missed you,” she said, grabbing him for another hug.
She suddenly felt so very young, wrapped in her father’s arms. But it was right. Hearing him say that he wanted to mend their relationship meant more than the world to her. It meant she could finally start to heal.
THE HOMECOMING GAME was another impressive victory. Her father was named Alumnus of the Year, and their entire family took a picture on the field at the fifty-yard line. It was a high moment for Bryna for her college career.
Her family left on Sunday, and soon, she was back in classes again on Monday. History of film was wrapping up for the semester. She had managed to completely avoid Cam since their breakup, despite having a class together, but today, she wasn’t lucky enough.
She practically stumbled into him on her way out of the classroom. She glared at him. There was still some pretty bad bruising around both of his eyes. Not as bad as it must have been when Pace beat his face in. The bastard deserved it.
“Oh, hey,” he mumbled.
“Whatever.” She pushed past him and out the door.
He kept up with her.
She gave him a nasty look. “Back off.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes widened. Bryna turned around to find Eric walking toward her across the quad. She had forgotten that he had agreed to meet her outside of class since they had plans. He looked pissed, seeing her with Cam.
“I don’t want to talk to you, and if people see you harassing me…” She trailed off.
He seemed to get the hint. “Fine,” he said with a shrug.
Eric stared Cam down as he quickly turned and walked away.
“What the fuck was he doing?” Eric asked.
“I don’t know, nor do I care.”
“I don’t like him near you,” Eric said.
“He won’t be near me anymore. I think Pace knocked some sense into him at least.”
“Pace did that?” he asked, gesturing to his own face.
“Yeah. He must have had two black eyes.”
“Good.”
Bryna laughed. “I’m over it. I have you, and that’s how it should be.”
“That’s right.” Eric grabbed her around the middle and kissed her hard. When he pulled back, he smiled down at her. “Are you ready?”
Her stomach flipped, and she nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
They walked over to his Jeep, and he drove her across town to a large office on the third floor of a giant complex. They entered the clean white room and were immediately greeted.
“Welcome to the Las Vegas Breast Cancer Research Center. How can I help you?” the woman asked.
Bryna took a deep breath. “I’d like to make a donation.”
Then, she explained everything to the lady, including the one and a half million dollar donation total.
The woman’s mouth was nearly on the floor by the time Bryna was finished. She handed Bryna some paperwork to fill out. “Here you go, honey. I’m going to find my manager, so she can speak with you. Give me a second.”
Bryna filled in all the information that she could and put the check on the clipboard.
A short African American woman came out of the back room and smiled at her. “You must be Bryna,” she said.
“That’s me.” They shook hands. “This is Eric.”
“So nice to meet you both. I wanted to personally thank you for your incredible donation to our center. If there is anything that I can do for you, please let me know. You are touching so many lives with this money, and with it, we will be one step closer to finding a cure to this horrible disease that continues to hurt our nation and the ones we love.”
Bryna swallowed and nodded. “There is one thing you could do for me,” she said.
Thanksgiving came and went.
It had been way better than it had been last year. She had spent a lot of time playing with Zoe and missing Eric. He had come back early for the game that weekend, but it had still been a long stretch without him. She was starting to realize that her life revolved around him but in a good way. He was good for her, and when she was away from him, it made her heart heavy.
When she came back to school, it was the big end-of-the-year game against USC that would decide who would go to the conference championship game.
Bryna walked back into the apartment after her classes and sank into the couch. Trihn was there, watching TV, and Stacia came out of her room.
“I have so much homework,” Trihn groaned.
“So many tests,” Stacia agreed.
“I wish we could spend the rest of the year watching TV and vegging out on junk food,” Bryna said.
“And not gain a pound,” Stacia said.
“Amen,” Bryna agreed.
Trihn glanced down at her phone when it beeped. “Ugh!”
“What?”
“Neal just canceled. He was supposed to come over to hang out.”
Bryna rolled her eyes. “And his excuse?”
“He has to work on his art project, and all of his paints are at his house.”
“This would be valid if he wasn’t a prick to you most of the time,” Stacia grumbled.
“You know it’s bad when the cheer slut agrees.” Bryna pointed her thumb back at Stacia.
“So true.” Stacia didn’t even try to argue.
Trihn shrugged. “I’m sure it’s perfectly valid, guys. You’re so negative. I’m going to go study, I guess.” She got up and walked toward her room.
Stacia sighed. “God, what a buzzkill.”
“I know. He drags her down. If I knew she wouldn’t kill us, I would plot sabotage.”
“He sabotages himself enough already. Everything he does irritates her, and she refuses to acknowledge it.”
“She’ll figure it out on her own,” Bryna said.
“Let’s hope so.”
“All right. I’m going to go to Eric’s, I guess.”
“You practically live there now, Bryna.”
She shrugged. “I like being around him.”
Stacia frowned. “Yeah, I know that feeling.”
Bryna grabbed her bag and headed out of the apartment. She wished there were a way to give her two best friends exactly what she had with Eric. It would be her gift to them if she could, but she didn’t think either girl would find it with Neal or Pace. They both needed someone who would love them unconditionally. No secrets. No strange distaste for their lifestyle. No bullshit.
She was halfway to Eric’s place when her phone rang. “Hello?” she answered after not recognizing the number.
“Bryna?”
Her heart stopped. Hugh.
“Hey,” she whispered.
She hadn’t expected him to get a hold of her.
She had figured that after she sent in the money in his name that would be the end of it. She had asked the director not to include her name on anything related to the donation. This wasn’t her donation. It was Hugh’s. She had just put it in the right hands.
“I just received a handwritten card from the head of the Las Vegas Breast Cancer Research Center.”
“Really?” She swallowed.
He knew. He knew she had donated it. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so afraid. Of course he had to know. Who else would have donated that kind of money in his name? She had known that the charity might send him something after the enormous donation. She’d figured he would even put it together that it was her. It freaked her out wondering what he thought about it.
“It says that a donation was made in my name for one and a half million dollars.” He coughed and then cleared his throat. “In honor of my wife.”
Is he choked up? She couldn’t tell. She didn’t know what to say. She never thought he would call her, and now that he was, she was frozen.
“Did you do this?” he demanded.
Her stomach dropped out. He was pissed. He must be angry with her. Maybe he thought she had disrespected his wife by putting it in her name. That wasn’t what she had intended at all. Fuck! She had thought she was doing the right thing.
“Yes. Yes, I did,” she managed to get out. She took a deep breath and barreled forward. “I’m sorry if you don’t approve or if you are offended. I couldn’t hold on to the money or the jewelry or anything any longer. It didn’t feel right to me. Since you wouldn’t accept it, I wanted to put it to good use though, and that was the only way I knew to somehow make all of this right.”
“I’m not mad,” he said softly.
“Oh.”
“Touched actually.”
Bryna’s jaw dropped, and she had to pick it up off the floor. “You’re touched?”
“It was thoughtful. I hate to say, I’m surprised, but I am.”
“Well, I don’t have the best track record.” She sighed. “I just…wanted to do something good.”
“This is good.”
She knew that voice. She could almost see his smile through the phone. He was happy, pleased even.
“Thank you,” he said.
Her throat closed up. She couldn’t take his thanks after what she had done. “Please, don’t thank me. It was your money.”
“Well, thank you anyway. After all this, it was nice to see that you meant well. Maybe we weren’t meant to be, but we were together for a long time. I didn’t want us to leave on bad terms.”
“Me either,” she admitted.
“I really wish you the best. It sounds like you are in a better place than when we left.”
“Things are better. I hope they are for you, too. You deserve to find happiness.”
She hated the way things had been left with Hugh in Barcelona. She had deserved his dismissal. She had deserved much worse. But it was so nice knowing that it wasn’t the end of their story.
Once she hung up, Bryna parked in front of Eric’s house, and she jogged inside with a skip in her step. He was out back, grilling, when she wandered inside.
“Hey!” she called, hopping out the back door.
“You’re in a good mood.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Burger?”
She shook her head. “No, thanks. I just talked to Hugh.”
Eric raised his eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“He wanted to thank me for the donation, and I guess we’re good now.”
He smiled. “Good. I’m glad that’s not weighing on you anymore. I know you were upset over what had happened in Barcelona.”
“I was. I mean, I was a bitch. Beyond a bitch. Inexcusable.”
“Well, sounds like he’s forgiven you, so maybe it is excusable.”
“Yeah. It just wasn’t at the time.”
“You’ve changed a lot since then. I think it’s okay to be forgiven for past transgressions.”
Bryna bit her lip and looked at the ground. Maybe it was time to forgive one last person in her life. “I’ve been thinking about Jude.”
Eric’s head snapped back to her. He knew too much about what had happened with Jude. She was sure he wasn’t comfortable with her thinking about him. After what had happened the last time she was with Jude, Eric likely wanted to beat Jude’s face in.
“Why?”
“If Hugh can forgive me, maybe I should forgive Jude.”
Eric took the burger off the grill and set it on a plate. He took his time closing the grill and turning it off before walking over to her and taking her hands.
“I’m not just saying this as your boyfriend or because I love you. I’m saying this as your friend and as someone you trusted before you trusted anyone else, but you have no reason to forgive Jude. And I think you have long put him in your past,” Eric told her. “In fact, I think you put him behind when you took off that awful necklace you always wore that he gave you.”
“What do you mean, I shouldn’t forgive him?” she asked, confused.
“He doesn’t deserve your forgiveness in that way, and honestly, he won’t care if you’ve forgiven him or not. You care that Hugh forgave you. It just proves that the difference between you and Jude is vast.”
“I know that.”
“Jude is never going to change, Bri. He proved that when he was here last year. I don’t think you need to do anything to make that right with him because it never will be. It is not up to you to change him. It’s up to him.”
Bryna took a deep breath. On instinct, she wanted to argue with Eric. If she could change, then Jude could change. But the truth was that she had wanted to change. She had had a rude wake-up call in Barcelona and worked on making herself better. Jude had had that same wake-up call when Felicity caught him with Bryna and whoever the girl had been before her. Still, he had advanced on her in the hotel room last year.
She hadn’t felt the weight of her scarlet letter in some time. Maybe Eric was right after all. Maybe she had officially left Jude in her past, where he belonged.
THE CROWD ERUPTED.
It was senior night in the stadium, and LV State was paired up against USC. This rivalry game would determine who would go on to the conference championship. Both teams were playing as if it were do or die. The crowd grew unbearably loud. The dome echoed all the voices until it was a cacophony of cheers.
The LV State fans grew quiet as the ball was snapped to Marshall. He looked twice, found his man open, and let the ball loose. It was a beautiful pass.
And then…a USC player leaped in front and snatched the ball out of the air.
Bryna’s mouth dropped as everyone screamed.
No. No! This is not how it’s supposed to end.
Touchdown.
USC had won. Their fans went wild.
Bryna stood there, staring at the end zone. The irony didn’t escape her that this was the same way they had won the national championship last year.
Stacia’s shoulders sank next to Bryna, and when Bryna turned to her, Stacia burst into tears. Real hot tears streamed down her face.
Stacia covered her face with her hands and let the sobs wrack her body. “We lost!”
Bryna patted her on the back. “We did.”
“I can’t believe that was our last home game of the year!” Stacia cried.
“There’s always next year, I guess.”
“Ugh! I need to get drunk and fucked tonight.”
Bryna laughed. “I’m opposed to you doing either. I think you should definitely do that.”
“It’s more that I’m tired of fucking being alone.”
“It hasn’t been that long.”
Stacia swiped at her eyes. “Whatever. I need someone to make me forget this happened. Where is that stupid brother of yours?”
“Stacia!”
“What?” she snapped. “I miss him! Don’t judge me, Bri.”
“I’m not judging you. But do you think that’s a good idea?”
“I’ll make him grovel and crawl to me on all fours, all right?”
“Ew. I don’t want to know the details,” Bryna said, holding up her hands.
“Just don’t be mad at me. I’m horrible at staying away from him.”
“I noticed,” Bryna grumbled. “I won’t be mad, but I will voice that I think this is a terrible idea.”
“Noted,” Stacia said before scampering off in search of Pace.
Bryna shook her head as Stacia left. It was such a bad idea, but she wasn’t going to change Stacia’s mind. She would have to figure out the consequences herself.
“What are you shaking your head for?” Eric asked. He came up behind her and grabbed her around the middle.
“Stacia is about to make a big mistake.”
Eric laughed and spun her around. “So are a lot of people after that loss.”
“Not me.”
“For once,” he joked.
“Ass!”
Eric grabbed her face in his hands and kissed the breath out of her. It was pure heaven. She could so easily get lost in that kiss even amid a crowd of ninety-thousand people.
“Well,” she asked when he pulled back, “how does it feel?”
“Your body? Amazing,” he growled.
She laughed. “No! I mean, how does it feel to be done?”
He shrugged. “I liked your body better.”
She gave him a pointed look.
“I’m not done yet, am I?”
“No. But it was our last home game and your last game as an undergrad. You might be back next year, but this feels pretty final.”
“I suppose it didn’t go as expected.” He looked up at the scoreboard that showed their loss.
“Two national championships in four years. Not too bad, if I do say so myself,” she said.
“Pretty fucking awesome actually.” He smiled down at her with all the love in his heart. “I want to soak it all in. We lost, but it’s not the end. We’ll be back next year, and we’ll take back our title.”
“Sounds good, Cowboy.”
He laughed and poked her in the stomach at the nickname. “How does it feel to you? Huh, Hollywood?”
“It’s not the end for me.”