Gold - Linde K. A. (версия книг .TXT) 📗

Trihn grabbed her and hugged the breath out of her. “I know just what you mean.”

Bryna hugged her back. She was glad she didn’t have to explain any further.

They headed into the locker rooms, and Bryna changed into more appropriate clothing for Posse. When they returned, Cam and Neal were standing with Pace at the entrance to the locker rooms. The sight of them all together made her uneasy.

“Ready to go?” Pace asked impatiently.

Stacia bounded over to him and snuggled up into his arms. “I’m ready.”

Bryna barely restrained herself from gagging. Trihn sent her a sympathetic look. She wasn’t fond of Pace either. She hadn’t witnessed firsthand the bullshit he had put Bryna through, but she’d claimed that she got a bad vibe from him. Bryna couldn’t agree more.

The group proceeded to Stacia’s SUV, which was the biggest vehicle between them. It wasn’t far to Posse. They could have walked from the football stadium, but it was nice to have a car nearby regardless. Pace took the keys from Stacia and revved the engine as everyone else piled in.

She couldn’t believe she was willingly hanging out with Pace. It felt so wrong. Bryna tried to tune out his bullshit about how he should be the new starter for the team after getting playtime on the field. She ground her teeth and leaned into Cam. He put his arm around her shoulders in response.

“If only Coach didn’t have such a stick up his ass for Marshall,” Pace droned on. “Speaking of, you know who has been in a shit mood lately?”

“Who?” Stacia asked, enraptured.

“Eric.”

Bryna jolted slightly and looked up into Pace’s eyes in the rearview mirror. They were mischievous. She knew he had brought up Eric on purpose. Trihn swiveled around to check on Bryna. Bryan’s eyes widened slightly, telling Trihn not to give Pace the satisfaction of a reaction. She didn’t want Cam to notice.

“He has been yelling at everyone and biting our heads off for dumb shit. I think he needs to get laid. We’re all determined to find him a new girl.”

Neutral. Completely neutral.

“Bryna, you’re close with him, right? Maybe you could talk to him.”

“No,” she said flatly.

“Come on. You guys were joined at the hip last year. Maybe you could recommend someone we could hook him up with,” he teased.

“Shut the fuck up, Pace,” she growled.

He had an uncanny ability to get under her skin like no one else.

At her outburst, Cam stiffened next to her. She could see that he was looking at her curiously from the corner of his eye. She couldn’t make eye contact.

“What?” Pace said. He raised his hands from the steering wheel as if he were innocent. “I thought since you two were…friends, you could get him to chill.”

“We’re not friends.”

Trihn slapped Pace on the back of the head. Stacia whispered animatedly to him at the front of the car. From the backseat, Bryna couldn’t hear her, but she was glad that at least it shut him up even if he had said more than she wanted.

The car was suddenly stifling, and she was internally screaming, Let me out of here!

BRYNA WAS MORE THAN HAPPY when they pulled up in front of Posse. Pace parked the car, and she hurried outside where she could breathe. She couldn’t believe Pace had brought that shit up in. He had been trying to start something, and she was going to murder him in his sleep if he didn’t get his shit together.

Cam followed behind her, and they all started toward the entrance. They made it inside before Cam said anything.

“So…who is Eric?” he asked slowly.

She sighed. She’d known this was coming. “He’s just a…guy friend of mine.”

“But you said that you weren’t friends.”

“I know.” She looked up at him and wished that she could tell him everything, but this was all new, and she didn’t want to scare him off. “He’s a guy I used to hang out with a lot last year.”

“Is he the guy from the game?” Cam asked intuitively.

“Um…yeah.”

“Did you two date?” he asked.

She shook her head. No, they hadn’t dated. They had just been inseparable, and now, they were…nothing. Something. Complicated.

“Okay,” he said uncertainly. “Should I be worried?”

She shook her head again. “You have nothing to worry about,” she reassured him. Anything that might have been with Eric was never going to come to fruition.

“All right. I really like you, Bryna. I don’t want any surprises. You know you can tell me anything.”

“Of course,” she lied through her teeth.

He smiled as if he had gotten through to her. “Let’s go catch up with your friends then.”

Bryna sagged with relief that he wasn’t going to ask any more questions. She wanted their relationship to be simple and fun like it had been since their first date. She knew introducing him to her friends was going to make things a little difficult, but she had never planned on bringing up Eric.

They walked over to the bar. Maya was working and showing off her black skin in a tiny black bra top and high-waist jean cutoffs.

Bryna whistled at her as she approached. “Looking hot tonight!”

“B!” Maya squealed. She leaned across the bar and kissed her cheeks.

“This is my date, Cam,” she said to Maya.

The girl had a tendency to push hot older guys on her, so she wanted to make it clear from the get-go that it wasn’t happening tonight.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Maya.” She reached across the bar and shook his hand. “What can I get you?”

“Nice to meet you, too. Just a Bud Light is fine.”

Maya nodded and passed a beer to him. She worked on a dirty martini and handed that one to Bryna. She was going to need to sip this because she wanted to keep her cool tonight.

“Oh my God, B, I almost forgot to tell you. The whole club is abuzz about it. Guess who is up in VIP, asking for you?”

Bryna’s eyes went wide. Not good. Hopefully, it wasn’t some guy. She couldn’t think of any who would be asking for her specifically by name, but she never really knew what could happen.

“Um, who?”

“Gates Hartman!” Maya cried.

Bryna relaxed. “Oh! Gates.” She breathed out heavily. “What is he doing here?”

“Wait, like the movie star?” Cam asked. He looked between Bryna and Maya like they were speaking gibberish.

“Um, yeah. We’re close friends from home.”

“You’re close friends with Gates Hartman?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, how come I didn’t know this?” Maya asked with a pouty bottom lip.

“Sorry. We fell out of touch after Broken Road released and got back in touch this summer.”

Cam opened his mouth and then closed it. She wondered what he was thinking. She was kind of laying a bomb on him.

“Where exactly are you from?”

She sighed. Cat was out of the bag. “Beverly Hills.”

His eyes widened. “Wow. Okay. Beverly Hills and Gates Hartman. I think I need to process this. What do your parents do?”

Bryna blushed. She couldn’t meet his eyes. She had been dreading this very conversation. Everyone else already knew who she was, so she never had to tell anyone that her mom was a famous actor and her father an even more famous director.

“My dad is Lawrence Turner.”

“The director?” he sputtered.

“Yeah.”

“So, your mom is Olivia Bendel.”

She nodded.

“And I took you to a food truck.”

Bryna laughed heartily. “Yeah, you did.”

“I feel kind of like an idiot.”

“Don’t! It was fun. I had a really good time.”

He shook his head and stared at her with all new focus. She hoped it was a good thing.

“I can’t believe this. I grew up watching your dad’s movies, and your mom’s movies are classic.”