by K. A. Linde
“Yeah, I was there for all that.”
“Don’t you understand?” he said, rushing back to her and grabbing her by the shoulders. He shook her softly as if to make the message clearer. “If anyone found out, I would be in a world of trouble—statutory rape, child abduction.”
“I’m not a child! And I consented to everything you did to me.” She looked him up and down.
“It doesn’t fucking matter that you consented. If you tell anyone it happened, then I’m ruined.” He shook his head. Then, his eyes turned demanding. “Promise that you won’t tell anyone.”
Bryna glared at him. Is this what we have come to? Promises for my silence?
“Why should I stay silent when you obviously don’t give a shit about me?”
He didn’t even blink. “I’ll give you anything you want to make this go away,” he insisted. “What do you want? Money?”
She stumbled backward a step. Her breathing was shallow. How could he offer it up so casually? He hadn’t even disagreed with her. Until that moment, she would have argued with Gates until it was her last breath. But Jude had offered her money to stay silent. Has he really been using me all along?
Even if he had actually liked her, she had never felt more disgusted. “I never wanted you for your money!”
“Oh?” His hand reached out and traced the B on her necklace.
She smacked his hand away. “You gave this to me as a Christmas present! All I wanted was you,” she told him earnestly.
“Did you think you could have me?” he asked. He seemed genuinely surprised. “You knew I was married.”
“You said you were separated, you motherfucker!” She smacked him across the face. The sound rang out in the small room. She didn’t recoil at the anger brimming in his eyes. She just returned the scathing look.
He grabbed her hand and yanked it hard to his side. “When we first met, I was separated from my wife. But ever since New Year’s, she’s been trying to get us to work things out. That is why I’m here with her.”
“I don’t want your excuses. Did you ever tell me the truth when we were together?”
“I told you what you needed to know. You liked what I was providing. You appreciated it. I was happy to give it to you.”
“Give what exactly? Your body? Your money? But never your heart,” she spat.
“You didn’t ask for that,” he said casually.
“I shouldn’t have had to,” she snarled. “Who are you, Jude? Where is the man I was falling for?” She felt her resolve weakening, the pain creeping into her heart, the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. She couldn’t mask the torment, but she refused to cry in front of him. He didn’t deserve her tears, her mascara was too damn expensive.
“The man you thought you knew was a dream, Bri. An illusion. I can’t be that person for you.”
“I see that now,” she said. Her voice was steely.
Gates had been right all along. Jude didn’t love her. With the time they had spent together, the grand gestures, the gifts, the affection…she had thought that he loved her. But she had just been blinded by the fact that Jude was giving her all the things she wasn’t getting anywhere else.
She had thought that because he saw into the depths of her heart and understood her suffering that they were connected. Now, she didn’t know if that had all been an act for her benefit.
Did he use the line to get me into bed? Has he been playing a game with me the whole time?
Even that first night when she had gotten into his Jaguar, he had cringed at the thought of a gold digger yet…he had created one.
THE DOOR BURST OPEN, and Jude and Bryna scrambled apart.
“What is going on in here?” Felicity asked.
A shadow appeared behind her, and then Pace materialized.
Oh no! He couldn’t know what was going on.
“I was talking to Bryna about the event and how it was such a success. I thought we could offer a bigger donation,” Jude answered smoothly.
“Is that right?” Felicity asked. Her eyes fell on Bryna.
She hastily looked away. “Yes. He was talking about making a donation.” Just not to the charity.
“I’m not sure that sounds like a good enough reason for you to be behind closed doors with a high school student,” Felicity said pointedly.
“You’re right,” Jude agreed. “We should have taken our conversation out to the party. I didn’t mean to take up all your time.”
He started walking toward Felicity, but she crossed her arms and stared at him with a knowing look on her face. “And how exactly do you two know each other?”
Bryna wasn’t touching that one with a ten-foot pole. Jude didn’t even look at her, which was probably for the best. If he wanted to get out of this situation, then he could fucking figure it out himself. She was done.
“You introduced us,” Jude said, as if reminding Felicity of what had just transpired.
“Please,” Felicity said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not an idiot, Jude. Don’t treat me like one.”
“I think you have the wrong idea—”
“I don’t believe that I do. Now, tell me, Jude, exactly how long have you known Ms. Turner?”
“Felicity,” he said imploringly.
“Cut the crap, Jude. I just want to know if we’re seriously doing this again. You couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
“Again?” Bryna asked. Her eyebrows shot up, and she looked at Jude questioningly. Has the fucker done this sort of thing before?
“Oh, yes, I’m sure my husband didn’t tell you that he has a preference for young blondes…or that you weren’t the first,” she spat.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Bryna cried. That bastard!
“Bri,” he groaned, glancing at her again.
She could see that he wanted her to stay silent, but how could he ask that of her? She wasn’t even the first person he had seduced like this.
“You would think that having a law degree would make you realize the possible repercussions of your actions. Instead, you act like the football players you manage.”
“Football players?” Bryna asked in confusion.
Then, it hit her.
The number one sports agency in the country. “Jude…Rose. Rose Corp.”
Bryna’s own father had almost signed with them when he was going to go pro. No wonder Jude had known about the sex clubs and how football players acted and why he was gone all the time in the fall. It explained the clients he’d had at Chateau Marmont on New Year’s. He hadn’t given her his last name because that name was unbelievably well-known in Los Angeles. He wouldn’t have wanted her to be able to look him up.
Jude looked between Felicity and Bryna and seemed to realize there was no out. He was a smooth talker, but he couldn’t talk his way out of this one. “How did you figure it out?” he finally asked Felicity.
Felicity stepped forward threateningly. The bitch who had tested Bryna to find out if Bryna was good enough to work for her had returned. “I was informed by another student, who had apparently heard you two speaking about having sex and leaving the country.” She narrowed her eyes. “Is that true?”
Bryna didn’t wait to hear what Jude had to say. Her eyes moved across the room to Pace still standing in the hallway, overseeing what was going on. She glared at him, and he just smirked. She saw everything he had to say in that one smile.
Game. Set. Match.
Asshole.
“I know things are bad, but can’t you at least think about Alex for once?” Felicity asked, drawing Bryna’s attention back to the conversation.
“Who is Alex?”
“He’s our son,” Felicity said.
Bryna’s world tilted. Son. She couldn’t comprehend that word. Jude had a kid. Of course, she had never asked if he had children, but she had never even thought about it. He had used her to escape his life, and she didn’t even know why. He had an accomplished beautiful wife, who clearly loved him despite his flaws.
They had a child together. The whole thing made her feel sick.
“Didn’t mention him either, huh?” Felicity asked with bite in her voice.
“Felicity, I didn’t know,” Bryna said.
“You’re young,” she said, her voice filled with disgust. “You’ll learn what’s yours to play with and what isn’t.”
Bryna recoiled at the comment. She had known Jude was married but thought he was separated. She had thought they weren’t getting back together. Perhaps she had just let him delude her into believing that.
“Don’t bring her into this,” Jude said. “This is my doing.”
“Yes, it is,” Felicity said. “And it’s yours to fix. You can walk out of here with me right now, promise to come home to be with me and be a father to Alex, and never see her or anyone else ever again, or I’ll alert the authorities, and you’ll never see your son again.”
Bryna gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Oh, don’t act so self-righteous!” she snapped at Bryna. “You knew you were sleeping with a married man. You had to know how this would end.”
“Why would you even want to be with him?” Bryna managed to get out.
Felicity ignored her. “Your son is waiting for you at home. Choice is yours, Jude.”
Then, she turned around and walked out of the room. Bryna stared after her in shock. Her eyes flitted to Jude, but he wasn’t looking at her. She wanted to plead with him not to give in, that she wouldn’t agree to testify, that Felicity had no proof. And another part of her wanted to see him pay for what he had done to her.
She still had such strong feelings for him that she vacillated so strongly between the two extremes. To save him or to damn him.
Jude sighed heavily and then made the choice for her. He followed Felicity out of the room. He hadn’t even bothered to look at Bryna. He had left her standing there, all alone.
Pace chuckled from the doorway and then disappeared without a word. He hadn’t even needed to land a blow. She’d had enough.
No friends. No Gates. No Jude.
Her hands balled into fists at her sides. She took a deep breath and then slowly released it. Ice filled her veins, chilled her blood, hardened her heart.
She would not be sad about Jude. How could I be when everything I truly knew about him has been shattered in a matter of minutes? How could I be when he walked out without even the decency of saying good-bye? She was a realist. She had known as soon as Felicity walked through the door that their chance was over.
But grow some fucking balls!
Jude should have owned up to what they had done and told Felicity that he wasn’t happy in their marriage. He shouldn’t have been a pussy by running back to her with his tail between his legs.
No, Jude had made it clear that he had never been hers. They were just strangers with memories.
She wasn’t sad. She was pissed. She wanted to tear everything apart. Destroy it. Burn it to the ground. Just so the world could feel a fraction of what was annihilating her heart.
She had lost everything since that first night she had left with Jude. She had abandoned and neglected Avery and Tara and then further isolated them by kicking them off the committee. Part of it had been related to Pace, but she had been so irritated about what was going on with Jude that she wasn’t able to think straight.
And Gates. He loved her. What did I do in return? Taken advantage of him. Made him deal with her Jude-induced insanity. Accused him of being jealous. Pushed him away.
She couldn’t rebuild that. How could he forgive me? How could I even ask him to forgive me?
She had let her guard down once. Just once for Jude. Now, it had all been thrown right back in her face.
Never again.
She would never again suffer like this. She would take control. She would call the shots. She already had a game plan and knew what she needed to do.
She touched the Harry Winston B at her throat, admiring her scarlet letter. If Jude had wanted to create a gold digger, then a gold digger she would become.
The End
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so ask yourself if you are willing
to burn. because the moment you
open yourself to me, i will have
no choice but to scorch everything
that defines you. and without
regret, i will devour and i will
leave nothing behind.
—r.m. drake
HELL HATH NO FURY like a woman scorned.
That was the damn truth.
Bryna twirled her Harry Winston B diamond necklace around her finger and parted her pouty lips. She had decided on a gold glitter Chanel dress and hot-as-fuck Jimmy Choos, and when she walked into Las Vegas State’s local nightclub, Posse, all eyes turned her way. Just the way she liked it.
She was still getting used to her new life in college. No annoying cling-ons. No obnoxious stepbrother. No wannabe stepmother. No reminders of what happened her senior year when her life was shot to hell. No reminders of him.
Just her scarlet letter hanging around her neck and a new crowd to rule.
This was the life.
“Bryna! Over here!” Trihn called from the bar.
Bryna fluttered her fingers at her friend and walked her way. It was strange, in a way, to have friends. In high school, she had always had Gates Hartman, her movie star ex-boyfriend, but that had crashed and burned. Otherwise she usually considered other girls as either followers or competition. With Trihn, there was none of that.
Trihnity Hamilton may be model tall and exotic with endless brown-to-blonde ombre hair, but she was the nicest, most sure-of-herself person Bryna had ever met. They had met in this very club the first week of school. Trihn had confidently commented on Bryna’s next season Christian Louboutins. After a night of shots and dancing, a friendship had blossomed.
“Look at you rocking the Chanel tonight after the big game,” Trihn said. She pulled Bryna in for a hug. “I think glitter is your color.”
Bryna laughed. “Always. Look at you in your rocker grunge.”
“Excuse me. This is designer rocker grunge,” Trihn corrected her.
She wore skin-tight black leather pants, a ripped white crop, and strappy Gucci high heels she had probably gotten when she modeled for them last year. Bryna was constantly surprised that they got along and Trihn had a real personality. She normally thought model types were dumb as bricks.
“Ahhhh!” a girl screamed, barreling into Bryna. “You look fucking hot!”
“I’m surprised you’re not still in uniform,” Bryna said.
Stacia Palmer was on the cheerleading team with Bryna. Her father was the head football coach at their biggest rival, the University of Southern California, and that would have made her the enemy, but she had come to LV State to stay out of her father’s shadow. It also explained her obsession with football players. Her reputation as a jersey-chasing whore really endeared her to Bryna. She appreciated the honesty.
“Oh, please.” Stacia flipped her bleached blonde bangs out of her eyes. “All the guys here know I’m a cheerleader. Plus, Blaine isn’t even here yet. I just made a circuit to see if I could find him.”
Blaine was the starting quarterback of the Gamblers football team. Stacia was determined to hook-up with him. Though her real goal was to marry an NFL quarterback.
“You’re ridiculous. How can you even stand college guys?” Bryna asked.
“Don’t talk to me about older guys. Blaine is a senior, Bri. That’s good enough for me.”
Bryna arched an eyebrow. “Whatever you’re into.”
“Like Eric.” Stacia sighed heavily. “I would be very into him if he was still playing.”
Bryna’s eyes wandered through the crowd of football players to where Eric Wilkins was standing. She had been very i
nto him on her school visit here last semester, still was sometimes when she forgot the reason that they would never hook up. She was pretty sure that none of her friends and certainly no one on the football team actually knew the reason.
Eric was gay. That was why he had never tried to hook up with her on her visit and why he hadn’t talked to her since.
“I don’t think you’re his type,” Bryna said.
“Whatever. I heard the guys talking about how he dated that psychotic head case last year. What was her name?”
Bryna raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t heard anything about this. Must have been one hell of a cover story.
“Audrey,” Trihn said.
“That’s it.”
“Why did they break up?” Bryna asked.
Stacia shrugged. “Who cares? She was a crazy bitch. But now he’s on the market. So, we can all take our chance with him. What do you say, B?”
She laughed again and shook her head. “I don’t think I’m his type either.”
“Bri…you’re everyone’s type,” Trihn said.
“I appreciate the sentiment.”
Normally, she wouldn’t disagree with Trihn. She had perfect long blonde hair, a very impressive rack, and a killer body to boot. Most guys couldn’t tear their eyes from her, and she had always enjoyed the attention. After the disaster of a senior year, she had especially enjoyed that attention this summer lying on various European beaches and hooking up with gorgeous exotic men who she couldn’t understand.
“So, then just go ask him out.” Trihn nudged her.
Stacia started cracking up. “Ask him out! You want Bryna to ask him out?”
Bryna rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not happening. Do you know who I am?”
“The elusive Bryna Turner,” Trihn said with a wink. “Come on. You should be confident enough to be able to ask him out. I’d do it.”
“You do it then and let him turn you down. I’m not interested.”
“Well, I’m interested,” Stacia said.
The girls didn’t get it. Bryna had never considered herself a good person. In fact, she normally figured she was a class A bitch. But she wasn’t about to tell people that Eric was gay. He obviously wasn’t out, and the last thing she wanted was for it get back that she was the one who had outed him. She admired him too much to spew venom.