Platinum (All That Glitters #3)

by K. A. Linde

  “Own it,” Bryna said. “She’s going to showcase her designs at a fashion show in New York City over the summer.”

  “Congratulations!”

  Trihn’s eyes rounded, and she shook her head at Bryna. That was so far from the truth. She would have to win the fashion show at school before that would ever happen, but that didn’t seem to matter to Bryna. It was just an obstacle that she was certain Trihn would hurdle with ease. Chloe seemed to be interested at least, and if Chloe Avana wore one of her designs, Trihn wouldn’t need a fashion show.

  “Thank you,” Trihn said.

  This was a surreal life—hanging out with her best friends and Chloe Avana in the back of a Hummer limo, talking about her designs. She was pretty certain things could not get better than this.

  A few minutes later, they pulled up to the front of Posse, and Chloe’s bodyguard, Mateo, followed them into the busy nightclub. Mateo covered Chloe, who had pulled out sunglasses and an oversized hat to walk through the room. Trihn thought it was conspicuous, but what did she know?

  They went straight up to the VIP section without any trouble and took over a booth with bottle service. Once Chloe took a seat, she tossed the hat and glasses down next to her and immediately demanded tequila.

  “I love this place!” Chloe cried over the music. “Great vibe.”

  “It’s the best spot,” Trihn said.

  “Yeah. Trihn’s boyfriend is the DJ,” Maya said, waggling her eyebrows as she expertly poured the shots.

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” she objected.

  “Oh! Boyfriend! Exciting!” Chloe said. “Do all of you have boyfriends? Is it so great and totally normal?”

  “Bryna is the only one with a boyfriend,” Trihn said with a shake of her head. She liked Damon and already knew they were moving in that direction, but she wasn’t ready for that word yet.

  “You’re dating someone?” Chloe asked Bryna.

  “Yeah. Eric Wilkins. He’s one of the coaches of LV State’s football team and used to play here,” Bryna told her, looking her dead in the eyes.

  “Oh, cool. That’s great for you. I haven’t seen you in the tabloids or anything, so I wasn’t sure about…you know.”

  “No,” Bryna said hastily.

  “Right. That makes sense.”

  Trihn looked between them in confusion. None of what they had just said made sense.

  Shaking off the strangeness of their non-conversation, Trihn accepted the shot that Maya had handed her. All of the girls clinked their shot glasses together and then downed the alcohol in one quick motion. She hastily reached out for a lime and shook her head as the tequila burned down her throat.

  “I’m going to need a few more of those,” Chloe said, energized from the shot.

  Maya poured out another, and after they downed that, Trihn knew she was going to need a break or else she’d get plastered even though she was pretty good at holding her liquor.

  “I’ll be back in a minute. Damon is working tonight, and I want to say hi,” Trihn said, standing.

  “Say hi to the BF for me,” Bryna said with a wink.

  “You’re a bitch.”

  “The one and only.”

  Trihn hopped out of her seat and left the VIP section. She was on her way down the stairs when she ran into Eric.

  “Hey, Trihn!” he said, enveloping her in a hug.

  “Hey. You going to see Bri?”

  He nodded. “She seemed out of it when she texted me.”

  Trihn leaned forward to talk to him even though she doubted anyone could overhear her. “She’s up there with Chloe Avana. I don’t know their history, but Bryna is in a horrible mood and drinking heavily. You and I both know where that leads with her.”

  He furrowed his brow and nodded. “Hopefully, I won’t have to throw her ass into the pool again.”

  Trihn laughed. “I hope it doesn’t get that out of control. She’s better when she’s with you.”

  “Thanks.” Eric beamed.

  “All right. I’m going to go see Damon now, so take care of her until I get back.”

  “Is that the guy who lives at the place I have to keep picking you up from?” Eric asked.

  Trihn nodded. “That’s the one.”

  “Y’all together now?”

  “We’re dating, but it’s not serious.”

  Eric smirked, and Trihn could see why Bryna had fallen for him. He totally saw through Trihn.

  “It’s always serious with you, Trihn.”

  “Don’t remind me,” she said warily.

  People had been saying that about Trihn her entire life. She took everything too seriously—dance, modeling, fashion, and relationships. Compared to Lydia, the hippie flower child who preached free love to anyone who would listen, Trihn was the polar opposite. And she had hated that until she had moved to Las Vegas and realized that being serious about her work was a good thing. Even being serious about her relationship with Neal had seemed like a good thing.

  But at the same time, she knew something was blooming between herself and Damon, and she couldn’t ignore it. Her head told her to be careful. Damon could break her into pieces all over again. But her heart said to throw caution to the wind and just be with this truly incredible guy.

  “You’ll make the right choice for you. You always do,” Eric said. “Now, I’m going to go rescue my crazy girlfriend.”

  With a sigh, Trihn watched Eric leave. If Bryna could find Eric Wilkins, then surely someone was out there for Trihn.

  She moved over to the stairs leading to the DJ booth and climbed them with her mind clouded. The same bouncer who had been there the first night was standing guard.

  He recognized her and nodded. “Hey, Trihn.”

  She startled. She didn’t think that he’d know her name. “Hey. Can I go in to see Damon?”

  “Sure thing.” The bouncer opened the door and stepped back to let her pass.

  “Thanks.” She practically skipped forward into the room. With how amazing her night had been going, she was ecstatic to see Damon. “Damon, guess what?” she cried.

  Then, she stopped dead in her tracks.

  Damon wasn’t alone.

  A busty blonde in a tight-fitting corset top with her breasts nearly falling out of it and a micro miniskirt with black pleather heeled boots was sitting next to him. She was facing Damon with her arm draped across his thigh, and her ear was plastered to one side of the headphones he was wearing.

  Damon jerked around at her voice. “Trihn?”

  TRIHN STOOD, FROZEN, IN DISBELIEF. She wanted to bolt. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to kick it into high gear and get the fuck away from this moment. She had been here before. Between Preston and Neal, she’d had her fair share of cheating boyfriends. With a girl like that hanging on Damon so casually, it couldn’t possibly be innocent. This was the exact reason she had been taking things slow. Nice guys didn’t exist.

  “What’s this?” she demanded, her voice rising an octave.

  Her breath was uneven, and her hands were shaking. She felt tears welling up and tried to stop them from spilling by taking a shuddering deep breath.

  Even if she and Damon weren’t officially together, she hadn’t expected this. They had been moving in the right direction, and it had suddenly come to a screeching halt.

  “Trihn,” he said again, standing abruptly and tossing the headphones down on top of the soundboard.

  The girl leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs. She looked smug, as far as Trihn was concerned.

  “This is not what it looks like,” Damon said.

  “And what does it look like?” she managed to get out.

  “Nothing. It looks like nothing because it’s nothing.”

  She shook her head. “It looks like something. Clearly, I am a total idiot.”

  “Trihn, come on.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I told you that Neal cheated on me and that I have trust issues. You should have…I don’t know…just fucking
known better. This”—she gestured between them—“must mean nothing to you. Fuck!” She spun on her heel and wrenched the door back open.

  She couldn’t stand there and let him spout bullshit to her. He was with someone else, some stupid fucking blonde bimbo who had to flaunt her enormous breasts for attention. It was no wonder he was interested in someone else if that was what he was into. Trihn was pretty much the opposite of that girl—physically, mentally, and emotionally by the looks of her.

  Ugh! She wanted to scream. She hated that she was being a bitch and judging that girl.

  It was Damon’s fault in the first place. He shouldn’t have been anywhere near another girl, no matter what she fucking looked like or what she was fucking wearing. Blaming the girl for her clothing felt contrary to Trihn’s core belief system, but anger kept pushing rational thought out of her head.

  With her head up in the clouds, she was halfway down the stairs to head out onto the dance floor. She doubted Damon would follow her. Guys didn’t fight for her. Preston hadn’t. Neal hadn’t. She wasn’t worth enough for them to do that, and she was fucking tired of it. She didn’t even have the energy to go back up to the VIP section to hang out with Chloe. She just needed to be alone to process. This had officially ruined her night.

  “Trihn!”

  She whipped around in confusion, not recognizing the voice. Standing in front of her was Damon’s friend, Jimmy.

  “I’m really not in the mood right now.”

  His face fell. “I was just seeing if you had talked to Damon. I was glad to hear that you guys had worked things out.”

  “Yeah—until he had some chick up in the DJ booth with him.” She rolled her eyes and started to walk away.

  “Wait, what?” Jimmy asked, following her.

  “You heard me.”

  “There’s no possible way that he had a girl up there. He’s extremely professional. The only girl I’ve heard of him having in his booth since shit went down a couple of months ago is you.”

  “Well, that doesn’t seem to be true anymore because I was just up there, and some blonde chick was hanging all over him. What happened a couple of months ago anyway?” she demanded.

  Jimmy shook his head. “That’s a question for him, but I’ve known him a long time, and there’s no way.”

  “Whatever,” she said, brushing him off.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” Damon called, hurtling through the crowd.

  Trihn’s eyes widened as Damon approached her and Jimmy. She turned to keep walking away from him, but he latched on to her arm.

  “Please don’t leave,” Damon pleaded.

  Jimmy melted into the background, but in solidarity with his friend, he didn’t go too far.

  Trihn just shook her head at the both of them. “I can’t do this, Damon.”

  “Don’t leave. I’m not doing anything with Cadence. I swear to you,” he said. He grabbed her hands in his own. His eyes were wide and terrified. “I promise with everything that I am, nothing is going on with me and Cady.”

  “Then, what the fuck was she doing up there?” Trihn asked.

  She wanted to believe him. He looked so earnest. But didn’t that fool me in the past?

  “She’s another DJ.”

  “Really?” Trihn rolled her eyes. “She really looked like another DJ, sitting practically on top of you.”

  “I know that must have looked bad to you, but she’s just another DJ. I’ve seen her around at other venues. I’d already turned down the gig tonight before you canceled to go to the concert, but they said I could come back in anyway. Cadence was the DJ who had come in to fill the spot. We were both here, so we were just working together.”

  “Working together,” Trihn said. “I’ve heard that one before.”

  He heavily blew out his breath and flipped off his baseball hat. His hair was a wild mess. His eyes looked crazed. “I’m not into her. In fact, she felt so bad about what happened that she’s holding down the fort in the booth until I get back, and then she’s bailing. You can talk to her yourself.”

  Trihn held up her hand. “Really not necessary.”

  “I get that you’re upset because you think something was going on. That happened with your last boyfriend, but I’m not him. At some point, you’re going to have to see that I’m not like the guy who messed you up.”

  “How could I see that after what I walked in on? I’ve been made a fool of in the past. Twice! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I won’t be fooled a third time, Damon. I’d rather be alone than have someone stomp on my heart and leave me in a fucking mess all over again!”

  “I won’t do that. I couldn’t do that to you!”

  He reached out for her, but she took a step back away from him. She wasn’t ready for him to be consoling.

  “What happened a couple of months ago?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “When I came on to you that first night, you said you would have done it a couple of months ago but not now. And then Jimmy just mentioned it again. What happened a couple of months ago?” Trihn crossed her arms and waited for an answer.

  Damon winced. “You remember that, huh?”

  “Yes,” she said flatly.

  He blew out a long breath. “A few months ago, I was working at a club. It looked like a solid gig to pull me out of the house-party rabbit hole I’d been stuck in. I got really hard into the scene—music, dancing, booze…girls. Lots of girls,” he admitted.

  Trihn winced.

  “The club owner warned me to stay professional, but I felt invincible, doing what I loved and getting attention for it. Things got out of hand one night, and I made a mistake. It wasn’t anything life-altering, except that I lost my job. Since then, I’ve wanted to stay in control of my life, and I take music seriously. So, I turned you down that night because I didn’t want you to be just another girl in my life.”

  “But I was.”

  “No, you weren’t. You treated it like a one-night stand. I never did. I’ve always wanted more with you, Trihn, and I always will.”

  He took a step closer, and when Trihn didn’t back away, he dropped something in her hand. She looked down to see a Hershey’s Kiss. She cracked a smile at the small gesture. That seemed to be all he needed. He tugged her against him, his hands circling her waist. She didn’t relax just yet. She just let him hold her there.

  “God, I was so scared,” he admitted.

  “Scared?” she asked, confused.

  “The look on your face—I never, ever want to see it again.” He breathed out a heavy sigh. “I’m so sorry I made you doubt me.”

  “She’s really just a DJ?” Trihn asked hopefully.

  “Yes, she’s really just a DJ. Nothing more.”

  Fuck, she wanted to believe him. She would rather be the girl who overreacted over every little thing than the girl who got cheated on even though she felt like she deserved not to have to deal with either scenario.

  But she couldn’t shut her brain off. She couldn’t disconnect. If that girl was hanging on Damon, she was into him, which automatically equated to them fucking on the side. Maybe she was irreparably damaged. One too many hits to her heart had left the jigsaw puzzle pieces unable to fit together.

  Trihn ran her hand back through her hair and nodded her head. “I want to believe you. I have just had a lot of issues in this department. It’s not easy for me.”

  “I wish it were,” he told her. “I wish that no one had hurt you so much that you didn’t think you were enough. You’re more than enough, Trihn. I don’t want anyone else in my life. I know we’ve only been dating for a short time, but you have shifted my world. You can’t pull back now.”

  She looked up at him and tried to find the truth in his words. “Why?”

  “Because I’m falling for you.”

  “You are?”

  “Unequivocally.”

  He took her hands in his. His lips tenderly landed on hers, expressing every emotion in that one moment of pur
e bliss. Trihn closed her eyes and let the feeling wash over her.

  Every other time, she had pushed for the relationship and met a brick wall. She had always professed her intentions and her love first. She had always put her heart on the line.

  Now, here was Damon, fearlessly putting himself out there for her.

  “I told you I’d fight for you and that it meant something to me. You do, and I won’t stop. That’s a promise.”

  Trihn felt safe in his arms.

  She tried to let herself go—just be there with him and forget her past. Damon wasn’t like those other guys. There was a logical reason for him knowing that Cadence girl. She wasn’t Lydia or Blu. This hadn’t been on purpose. It had just been the wrong place at the wrong time. That was all.

  She took a deep breath and decided to let it go. “Okay. I believe you.” She took a step back from him. “I guess I kind of overreacted.”

  “Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t overreact. You’re just cautious. If I’d seen you alone with some other guy, I probably would have lost it, too.”

  “Yeah,” Trihn said, “that wouldn’t happen.”

  “I hope not.”

  “No, really. The only other guy I even talk to is Bryna’s boyfriend, Eric. Fashion design isn’t exactly crawling with guys, and I have no interest in anyone else. I wasn’t even looking for a relationship when this happened.” She gestured between them.

  “And are we in a relationship?” he prodded.

  She looked up into his dark eyes. “I would say we’re in some sort of relationship. I don’t think I’d freak out over just anyone.”

  He smiled down at her, bringing butterflies to life in her stomach. “So, are you my girlfriend then?”

  “I…” She closed her mouth and glanced down at the ground.

  That was a step forward. Didn’t I just push us forward with my freak-out? Weren’t we moving in that exact direction whether I claimed to want it or not?

  “It’s okay if you’re not ready,” he said, backpedaling.

  “No, you’re right.” She moved her fingers up his shirt and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “My friends are already calling you that. I care about you. We’re not just dating because I just made it abundantly clear that I want to be exclusive. So, yeah, I guess I am your girlfriend.”