by K. A. Linde
“But she’s right,” Stacia said with a shrug.
“Just earn your nickname, Cheer Slut,” Trihn said with a half smile.
“It’s Damon,” Bryna said.
“No.”
“What? Why not?” Bryna asked.
“No way.”
“Look, he’s hot, and he’s into you. He’s perfect. Did I mention how hot he is?”
“He is hot,” Stacia agreed. “Perfect rebound material.”
“I’ve never seen him at Posse before, so I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Bryna pointed upward. “He’s right there.”
“In the ceiling?”
“DJ booth!” Bryna said with a shake of her head.
“Oh my God, just imagine the hot sex inside the booth!” Stacia cried.
“I’m not having sex with him in the DJ booth.”
“But somewhere else?” Bryna asked with a wink.
Trihn sighed heavily. “I’m going to have to talk to him, aren’t I? There’s no way you’re going to leave me alone otherwise?”
Both her friends shook their heads. Trihn wasn’t surprised. She didn’t even know why she had agreed to try a rebound at all. She wasn’t the type of girl who rebounded. She usually wallowed hopelessly in her own personal hell pit of depression until she felt like she could crawl back into the light.
But it wasn’t as if that had made any difference in the past. She had just ended up in the same place as the last time. And there was no guarantee that, by having an easy rebound, she wouldn’t end up here all over again.
“I don’t want a relationship of any sort.”
They nodded their heads, as if they understood. They were all serial relationship people, hopping beds and hearts without the scars that seemed to hit her so much harder than everyone else. She wished it were as easy for her to move on.
“If I do this, it’s just physical.”
“I believe the term you’re looking for is a one-night stand,” Bryna offered.
“That sounds so slimy.”
“It’s fun,” Stacia said with a smile. “Just try to have fun.”
Trihn rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was even considering this.
Bryna pushed Trihn in the direction of the stairs that led to the DJ booth, and she steeled her nerves for what was about to happen. Right now, she was thanking Maya for those two shots of tequila. She probably should have taken a few more.
She made it up to the booth, but she was disappointed to find a bouncer in front of the door. She hadn’t planned for that.
“Excuse me. You’re not allowed to be up here,” the man said. He crossed his beefy arms over his chest and stared down at her, not even blinking an eye. His dark hair was pulled back into a man bun, and he was wearing a black blazer over a black T-shirt with black pants.
“Hey! Sorry to bother you.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I was just coming up to see the DJ.”
“He’s not seeing anyone. He’s working.”
“I totally understand. I just wanted to talk to him for—”
“No,” he said plainly.
“But he’s expecting me.”
“No,” he repeated. He stood his ground and gestured for her to walk back the way she’d come.
“But—”
“What is going on down here?” a man asked, walking toward them.
When Trihn got a good look at him, her eyes bulged. He was super hot with short honey-blond hair, to-die-for lips, and a bulky muscular physique clad in a cut black suit.
“Sorry, boss,” the guy said. He respectfully nodded at the man. “I was just telling this girl to leave. She wanted to speak with the DJ.”
“You’re here a lot, aren’t you?” the guy asked casually.
Trihn narrowed her eyes. “And how would you know that?”
“I work in security. I make it my business to know who is in the club. You know Maya, right?”
“Yeah. She’s a good friend of mine.”
“And how do you know the DJ?”
“Damon deejayed a party for a friend of mine, and we hung out last night at a different club,” Trihn explained. “I was just going to say hi.”
The man critically looked down at her. He had the greenest eyes she had ever seen. They were even greener than her own, and that was saying something. Modeling agencies had coveted her eyes when she was in the industry. She wondered if he modeled. He was probably in his late twenties or early thirties, but she thought he could model if he wanted.
Actually, when she looked closer, she noticed why his suit fit him so damn well. Armani.
Damn! How can a security guard afford an Armani suit?
“All right. Let her inside for five minutes. It’s Damon’s break soon anyway,” he said to the door guy. He looked back at her. “If you bother him though, I’ll have to ask you to leave,” he told her.
“Thank you so much,” she said, the anxiety leaving her body. She had no idea what she was doing, and she had a hard time believing that she had just passed an interrogation from a bouncer and a security guard to see Damon.
“Just don’t rip out his heart,” the guy said with a wry smile.
She looked at him, taken aback. “I don’t think anyone has ever had to worry about that from me.”
“I highly doubt that,” he said with a smile before nodding at the bouncer and walking away.
She shook off the words of warning and turned back to the door. “Well?”
“Five minutes,” the guy said. Then, he opened the door and stuck his head inside. “Hey, Damon. You have a visitor.”
Trihn walked through the open door just as Damon swiveled in the chair he was seated in. The new Chloe Avana song, “Heartbreaker,” blasted through the booth with a cool remixed backbeat. It made Trihn feel alive and unafraid instead of how she had been feeling in that hallway. The way Damon looked at her when she strode into his booth definitely helped.
“Hey, Damon,” she said. She let the hot new beat wash over her. She was sexy and seductive, and she could do this.
“Trihn, I wasn’t expecting you,” he said with his amazing English accent before turning back to face the spread of equipment in front of him. He didn’t exactly sound enthusiastic.
She figured she couldn’t blame him after the way last night had ended. It wasn’t exactly encouraging to go from sexy to dancing to “I have a boyfriend” in the span of a couple of minutes. Maya probably hadn’t helped anything by laying into him either.
“I know. I didn’t expect to find you at Posse.”
“Yeah, I’ve deejayed here a couple of times. The manager gave me my first real gig, and when their regular guy backs out, I cover for them,” he said, purely business.
Trihn walked across the small booth and looked out through the one-way window. The entire club was spread out below. She could see Bryna dancing with Eric and Stacia all up on Marshall. Maya was talking to that Drayton guy while she poured drinks. So, Damon must have seen that she was here tonight.
“This is a great view.”
Damon sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he glanced back up at her with a disgruntled look on his face. “I’m working here. Do you mind?”
She took a step back and held up her hands. “Sorry. I like this Chloe song. I’ve never heard this version of ‘Heartbreaker.’ They don’t play it on the radio.”
“That’s because it’s not a radio edit. It’s my mix.”
She could hear the pride in his voice.
“You’re serious?” she said, surprised. “It’s amazing. You should post it on YouTube or something, so other people can hear it!”
He shrugged. “I guess.”
When he didn’t say anything else or look back up at her again, she took a deep breath and dived in. “My boyfriend broke up with me.”
His head shot up. His expression showed a mixture of relief and concern. “I’m sorry to hear that. Are you okay?”
She lost the smile on her face for a split second an
d then quickly plastered it back into place. She could not lose it right here in front of Damon. She was definitely not okay with what had happened with Neal, but she needed to get over it, and this was step one.
She nodded. Speaking wasn’t possible.
He narrowed his eyes and looked like he was going to say something else, but Trihn silenced him by straddling his body. His hands came up almost defensively, as if he didn’t know what she was doing. Then, she sat down on his lap and rested her hands on his chest.
He had on a black T-shirt and jeans. His signature ball cap was tipped back, so she could see his face. God, he’s sexy.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Well, I’m single, and you’re single. Last night, you were into me,” she said boldly. She could channel her inner vixen and act as forward as her friends. “And…I’m into you.”
Damon stood quickly, and she stumbled to her feet. Her cheeks heated at his departure.
“Look, Trihn, I don’t want to be some rebound.”
Her mouth dropped open, and then she quickly recovered. That was exactly why she had come up here—for him to be her rebound. That was what she wanted. She wanted someone to help her forget the shit she had just gone through. She was pretty sure Damon could do that.
“And I don’t want a relationship,” she told him.
“Maybe that’s what I want.”
She scoffed. “You don’t even know me.”
“I don’t have to know you to know that I want a relationship. I’ve seen you in the club. I see the kind of person you are. When you look down at people every weekend, you can generally see who the good ones are.”
“And I’m a good one?” she asked skeptically.
“You’re real and genuine.”
Trihn shook her head. “You can tell that from looking at me in a nightclub. I think that’s ridiculous.”
He shrugged. “Didn’t ask for your opinion. I know it for a fact.”
“So, you don’t want to have sex with me then?”
He clenched his fists together and looked back down at his equipment. “Don’t make this hard on me.”
Trihn took a step forward, emboldened since he hadn’t said no. “I want you to fuck me, and you’re not interested?”
“Of course I’m interested,” he said. He pulled his hat off his head and twirled it between his fingers. “And maybe a couple of months ago, I would have done just that but not tonight.”
Trihn’s stomach sank as she heard the finality in his voice. Her cheeks heated, and the confidence that had gotten her through this conversation deteriorated. She was just a girl feeling the sharp sting of rejection.
“Okay, fine,” she said.
She hurried away from him, heading toward the door. All she needed was to be out of his booth where she had just humiliated herself in front of a guy who she had thought was interested in her. Why had I thought it would be okay to ask him to have sex with me? Fuck!
These kinds of conversations worked for her friends, but she just sounded and felt ridiculous, trying to put herself out there. Everything always blew up in her face. She shouldn’t even be surprised that this hadn’t been any different.
“Trihn!” Damon called after her.
“No, I get it. Forget I said anything.”
Then, she was out the door, rushing past the bouncer, and heading down the stairs that led back to her friends.
She leaned against the wall and took a few deep healing breaths. She wasn’t going to cry. She promised herself that. Her heart ached because of her breakup, but the slap in the face that Damon had delivered with his refusal hadn’t helped anything.
Trihn’s rebound mission was officially over.
“YOUR IDEA SUCKED,” Trihn said when she calmed down enough to return to her friends.
Bryna had been dancing with Eric but had stopped her movements at Trihn’s approach. She cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“He turned me down. I offered to let him fuck me, and he said no.”
Trihn wasn’t sure who looked more surprised—Bryna or Eric.
“Is he gay?” Eric started laughing.
Bryna jabbed him in the ribs. “That is not funny!”
If Trihn weren’t so embarrassed after what had happened with Damon, she would have found the joke funny. For more than a year after Bryna had first met Eric, she had thought he was gay because of some offhanded comment her ex-boyfriend had said to keep her away from Eric. Then, she had discovered the truth that he was one hundred percent not gay and one hundred and fifty percent in love with her. He was also the best thing that had ever happened to Bryna.
“No, he is decidedly not gay. He said he wanted to fuck me, but he wouldn’t fuck me.”
Bryna opened her mouth and then closed it twice before speaking, “That’s…wow. I’ve never had that happen before.”
“We all know that, Bri,” Trihn said.
“Hey!” Eric cried.
Trihn smiled genuinely up at Eric. She really liked Eric and had been rooting for him and Bryna from the start. He was easy on the eyes and quick to make Bryna smile.
“I know it’s just you now, but we all know how she was.”
“I’m not Stacia!” Bryna said. “Anyway, that has nothing to do with the fact that Damon obviously has some mental problem. Who would turn you down?”
“Clearly, every single guy I’ve ever been interested in,” Trihn said, throwing her hands up in the air.
“I could hook you up with one of my friends,” Eric suggested. He pointed out a guy standing by the bar. “That’s Patrick. He’s a redshirt junior on special teams right now. I’m working with him to plug him in as a defensive back. Probably will get some good play time next year.”
Trihn looked over at the guy and then shook her head. “I’m not sure anything you just said was even English. No offense, but the last thing I want to do is date a football player.”
Eric laughed. “Fair enough.”
“Fuck, I need a drink,” she said before heading to the bar. She elbowed her way through the crowd and walked straight into someone. “Ugh! Watch where you’re going!”
The guy stepped back and held his hands up. “Trihn, your New Yorker is showing,” Pace said.
Pace was the person she hadn’t wanted to run into. Stacia would have a fit if she knew that he was at Posse tonight. Their on-again, off-again thing clearly wasn’t working for anyone and made Pace even more irritable than usual.
“Whatever, Pace,” she said. “I’m really not in the mood.”
“Well, have you seen my girlfriend?”
“I have seen my friend, who you are currently not dating. I recommend you just walk right back out of here because you tend to make a fool of yourself when it comes to Stacia.”
“I’ll take that under consideration, but I know the real reason you’re trying to keep us apart,” Pace said with a wink. His blue eyes twinkled.
“Oh God, I don’t think I even want to know.”
“I heard that you and Neal broke up, and you’re dying for a good rebound.”
Trihn rolled her eyes. “It’s good to see you, too, Pace.”
She pushed past him without another word and hoped for the best for Stacia. She knew Stacia could take care of herself. She just prayed that, when Pace found Stacia, she wasn’t having sex with Marshall somewhere. Trihn could only deal with so much drama in one night.
“Gin and tonic,” Maya said, pushing a glass full of clear liquid toward her.
“Just keep them coming.”
“It didn’t go so well?”
“By not so well, if you mean, it was horrific and humiliating, then yeah, I’d agree with that.”
Maya frowned. “I seriously never would have guessed that.”
“You know, everyone keeps saying that, but it doesn’t really help.”
“You’re right. Well, forget Damon, and let’s focus on you. Have another drink, and go dance the night away. You don’t need a man to
make you feel amazing. Show him what he’s missing,” Maya said with a wink.
Trihn nodded and raised her chin. Maya was right. The world was beating her down, and running away would mean it’d won. Neal had broken up with her and left her in pieces. Damon had refused her and humiliated her. She didn’t need either of them.
Or at least that was what she told herself as she made her way out onto the dance floor.
Dance was always her outlet, and she hadn’t been doing as much of it as she would have liked. She used to take Cassidy’s pole class in her spare time, but last semester, she had been swamped with work, and then she had been gone for break. Ballet was a close second. After her time at the New York City Dance House, she had enrolled in a ballet class at LV State, but that had only lasted a semester. Those classes hadn’t really fit into her schedule.
But she still had this.
She raised her hands over her head and started dancing seductively in the middle of the crowded room. Her body moved perfectly in sync to the music blaring through the speakers, and she let adrenaline fuel her forward. This was power and passion, lust and love, all rolled into one incredible package. And it was free for her to claim at all times.
Her eyes landed on the Patrick guy who Eric had pointed out to her. She had no interest in being with a football player and knew that she wouldn’t stoop to Stacia’s level, but he would do for dancing. He was hot enough.
She crooked her finger at him, and he lumbered over to her with a smirk on his face. He tried to engage her in conversation, but she ignored his attempts and danced up on him. She pressed her back to his chest and let her head drop backward.
He was all right but nothing compared to Damon. She figured it didn’t matter if she was just trying not to think anyway.
Trihn had downed her drink and was halfway through another one that Patrick had bought for her when someone interrupted her dance with Patrick.
“Mind if I cut in?” he asked in his posh British accent.
Her head snapped to the side, and her mouth dropped open.
“Fuck off,” Patrick said.
He eased his arm around Trihn’s waist and tried to pull her away, but she was rooted in one place.
“What do you want, Damon?” Trihn asked.
“A dance,” Damon said.