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

“Positive.”

“Okay. I really don’t,” she said. “But be careful if you’re that worried.”

Be careful. But she made no suggestion to stay in instead.

The girls brought their bags up to their room, and Bryna waited for her signal from Eric to sneak into his room. She hadn’t even done this in high school. No one had cared enough for her to have to sneak around. But she wanted to spend the night with Eric.

A knock at the door jolted her, and Stacia rushed over to open it. Pace strode in like he owned the place. He seemed surprised to see Bryna.

“No late-night rendezvous with the new flavor of the week?” he asked.

Stacia smacked him. “Be nice.”

Pace kissed Stacia hard on the lips, but he never agreed to be nice. Bryna knew he wouldn’t be nice to her. They had too much animosity between them. Not to mention, she was pretty sure he still wanted to sleep with her…Stacia be damned.

Her phone dinged.

Ready.

Eric. Finally. Time to get away from her fucking stepbrother.

“Just remember,” she said, stepping up to Pace and poking him hard in the chest, “I don’t trust you. So, if you do anything to fuck this up, you’re hurting Stacia, not just me or you.”

“I don’t have any plans, Bri.”

She glared at his use of her nickname. “You always have plans.”

“Oh, we’re so much alike, sis.”

“Stop antagonizing her, Pace,” Stacia said. “Go on. Pace isn’t going to do anything.”

“Good.”

Bryna left the room and headed up a couple of floors. She knocked on Eric’s door. Her stomach was knotted, knowing there would be consequences if they were caught, but she was also excited. The danger made it enticing.

Eric opened the door and pulled her inside by the middle. He slammed the door shut, swept her off her feet, and carried her to the king-sized bed in the middle of the room.

“I missed you,” he said into her hair.

She turned her face and kissed him with a sigh. “I missed you, too.”

Their bodies melded together, and she forgot all about her argument with Pace. As she got lost in Eric, all the warnings left her mind. This was how it was supposed to be.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Bryna blearily opened her eyes and looked over at the clock. 6:00 a.m.

“Fuck!” Eric cried.

She was still in his room. She had passed out. “Shit! Who is at the door?”

“I don’t know. Throw some clothes on, and go into the bathroom or something. I’ll go find out what’s going on.”

Bryna hastily changed and rushed into the bathroom. How old am I? She was a fucking adult. She didn’t need rules about what she could do at night.

Eric cracked open the door, and she heard him speaking to the person on the other side. “What’s up? It’s six in the morning.”

“Sorry, Eric. Coach wanted us up and at a morning meeting in half an hour. He wanted me to let you know.”

Eric wiped his eyes and nodded. “All right. I’ll be there. Thanks, Coach Morris.”

Phew. Just one of the assistant coaches.

“Sure thing.”

Eric closed the door with a sigh. “Jesus, that freaked me the fuck out.”

“Yeah, these new regulations are insane,” Bryna said, coming out of the bathroom. “For a second, I thought that Pace had given us away, and we were in some big trouble. I actually had the weirdest dream that I snuck out of the room while Coach was investigating. I ran downstairs and turned Pace in for his deceit. It ended before I found out what happened to him though.”

Eric laughed. “You have an active imagination.”

“You’re right.”

He pulled her into a hug. The adrenaline was wearing off, and she felt really tired again. She had to be up soon to get ready for the game, but she still felt exhausted.

“I guess Pace didn’t do anything bad this time around.”

“Maybe he’s learned his lesson,” Eric said, but he didn’t sound like he believed it. “Go on back upstairs, and get some rest. I’ll see you at the game.”

He kissed her long and hard. Each kiss had a hint of desperation. It was like they both wanted to ensure that if this was the last kiss they ever had, it would be perfect.

Bryna scurried out of Eric’s room and went upstairs to get a little bit more sleep. Pace was gone when she arrived, and she was thankful that it was just she and Stacia.

When they woke up and were getting ready for the game, Stacia glanced over at her and asked, “Everything okay last night?”

“Yeah. Surprisingly.”

Stacia smiled bright. “See? We both were just having a good time. Nothing to worry about.”

Bryna relaxed and tried to believe Stacia. “I hope you’re right.”

They were driven over to the field early that morning. It was a noon game, and the sun was bright overhead. This game was important if they wanted to make it to another conference championship. They had already lost to Oregon earlier this season at home.

Nothing seemed to go as planned, not a single thing in the game. Bryna had never watched so many things go wrong in one game. It was like watching a live update of her love life over the past year. Injuries, bad calls, dropped balls, missed field goals. Everything that could happen, happened.

There it was. The final score. Loss.

They had lost to Colorado.

It was a crushing blow. After an undefeated season last year, no one was prepared for two losses so early in the year.

The team left the field with heavy hearts. The Colorado fans were cheering loudly in the stands. They had all stayed to watch last year’s national champions be brought low.

Eric came up beside her but didn’t say anything. She knew they were both frustrated with what had happened.

Stacia was in front of them, trying to console Pace. His objections to Marshall were getting louder and louder and drawing attention. The last thing they needed was for a camera to catch what he was saying.

“None of this shit would have happened if they’d put me in as quarterback. Marshall fucked up this game. He lost it for us,” he spat viciously.

“We can’t change it now,” Stacia said.

“We can change the fucking coaching staff being up Marshall’s ass. He’s not Blaine. He’s not going first round at the draft. Figure your shit out and work it out. Put me in instead.”

Stacia opened her mouth to say something more, but Eric lost it.

He grabbed Pace by the collar and threw him up against the cement wall. “Shut your fucking mouth.”

Bryna’s eyes bugged out, and she glanced around to see if any media were in the tunnel. It looked clear, but fuck, they could get in so much trouble.

“Get off me!” Pace growled.

They were nearly an even match. Eric had about an inch on Pace, but Pace was still in pads, so he looked bigger than Eric at the moment.

“You’re a worthless piece of shit. If I had it my way, the coaching staff would never put you in as quarterback. You have to prove yourself before you get playing time, and you don’t fucking deserve it after what you did.”

Bryna grabbed Eric’s arm and tried to pull him back. “Eric, stop! What if someone sees? Stop it!”

Stacia tried to get between them. “Eric, let him go now.”

Eric pushed off the wall and took a step away from Pace, but they were in a standoff.

“I don’t know what the fuck you think I did, but you and I both know I deserve playing time over Marshall.”

“I don’t believe that at all.”

Pace laughed. He looked between Eric and Bryna. “Have you been listening to Bryna? Is all of this because you’re banging my sister? So has everyone else, Eric.”

It happened so fast. Bryna hadn’t even seen it coming. Eric swung and punched Pace right in the face. They were on top of each other in an instant. Bryna and Stacia desperately tried to get between them, but when two giant football players over six feet tall want to fight, there was nothing they could do to stop them. A few of the other guys rushed over and tore them apart. Marshall was one of them.