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  Hugh grabbing her hair harder while shuddering was the only indication he gave before he came in her mouth. She swallowed quickly, taking him all back. As he watched her, she proceeded to lick him clean. He only moaned more at her touch.

  She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and then stood. He had already zipped his pants and put himself back together. She placed her hand on the balcony balustrade to steady herself. Her heart was beating a symphony in her chest.

  Hugh circled her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. “Let’s go upstairs, so I can return the favor.”

  She sighed into his embrace, wanting so desperately to let this be everything she was pretending it was. She wanted to be the girl in her boyfriend’s arms, happy to go upstairs to let him ravage her all night. But she wasn’t that girl.

  “I’ve had an incredible night,” she told him honestly. It was true. Even with the unexpected blow job, the night had been all but perfect.

  “Good. Let’s end it the right way,” he suggested.

  “I…can’t stay the night.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not one of those girls.”

  “I don’t know what those girls are, but I’m asking to spend more time with you. Is that really so bad?”

  “Of course not. That’s not what I meant.”

  “Then, stay,” he persisted. His hands trailed to her neck where he slowly unbuttoned the top buttons of her dress. “I’ll make it worth it.”

  Bryna nipped at his bottom lip and forced down the urge to agree with him. “Then, it’ll be worth it another time, too.”

  His hand stilled at her neck, and he sighed. “You’re one hard woman to pin down.”

  She smirked. “I think, in time, you’ll come to find that is not true.”

  He laughed, and that easy smile, the one that had won her over the first time they met, came back on his face. She loved that smile.

  “Maybe, in time, I will.”

  Hugh walked her back downstairs and then drove her across town to her condo. He gave her a passionate kiss good-bye that was so hot that she felt woozy while exiting the car. But by the time she got back into her empty condo, the feeling had worn off, and she was left empty all over again.

  A part of her wanted to phone Andrew for a quick booty call, but she resisted the temptation. She would have sex with Hugh soon enough. When the time was right, she would move forward. At least, that was what she told herself as she brushed her teeth before falling into bed.

  BRYNA STOOD OUTSIDE in her cheer uniform, holding her pom-poms. The weather was nice for the first weekend in November, but as the sun was setting, all the girls wore their black-gold-and-silver cheer jackets over their uniforms to ward off the chill before the annual homecoming parade.

  Bryna was on her phone, lounging against the bed of a pickup truck. Andrew was texting her from his hotel room out of town with the rest of the football team, saying how boring it was and describing all the things he would rather be doing to her instead. It was a nice distraction even if he was getting really clingy.

  Hugh had also been texting her semi-regularly since they had left the gala. He wasn’t sure when he was going to be back in town again. She hadn’t decided if this was a good thing yet. She wasn’t anxious to find another excuse not to fuck Hugh, if she could even hold out any longer.

  She wanted to fuck him. He was hot and wealthy and charming—everything she was looking for. He was Hugh Westercamp. He could have anyone he wanted, and he wanted her. That was what mattered.

  “Bryna, come take a picture with me!” Stacia called. Three little girls were staring up at Stacia star struck.

  “No, thanks. I’ll wait right here.”

  Stacia pouted her bottom lip. “You can’t be on that thing all night.”

  “I’ll put it away when the parade starts.”

  “One picture? Please!”

  As if on cue, Bryna’s phone rang. “Sorry. I have to take this.”

  “Fine,” Stacia spat.

  Bryna glanced down at her phone in her hand and saw her father’s name lighting up the screen. Her stomach dropped before she even answered the phone. “Hey, Daddy.”

  “Hey, sweetheart! How are you doing?”

  “I’m great. We’re about to start the homecoming parade. When should I expect you to be in town? Late tonight or really early tomorrow? You know what it’s like,” she said, babbling on. “We have to be at the stadium, dressed and ready early in the morning, so tonight would be better. Are you going to stay at the condo? Or did you get a hotel room? There’s plenty of room at the condo, of course. I had the maid make up the guest room for you. On Sunday, I thought we could do brunch before you leave town. I’m dying to take you to this new place on campus. Also, Coach Galloway wanted me to remind you—”

  “Bryna,” he said softly.

  “No,” she stated firmly. “No. You’re not doing this to me again! You promised me homecoming.”

  “I know, honey. But Celia has been sick lately, and she needs me here.”

  Bryna frowned. She despised Celia, her evil witch of a stepmother, for ruining her parents’ marriage and then moving her Valley trash into her father’s house—not to mention, for bringing her horrible stepbrother, Pace, into her life.

  “So, you’re choosing her over keeping your promise to your only daughter?”

  Fire filled her veins. She couldn’t believe this was happening again. He used to come to everything for her when she was younger, but ever since he’d married Celia and with his overindulgence in work, he hadn’t come to anything. He had missed Christmas last year along with countless other important events for her over the years, but it had never been for something as ridiculous as this. And she had thought—after he had made it home for her charity function last year, even if it had been a fucking disaster with Jude there, as well as spending time together in Paris over the summer as promised—things would turn around. But no. She could never count on him for anything.

  “Now, Bryna, that’s enough! You’re going to be there for three more years. I’ll come next time.”

  “Sure you will.” She ground her teeth together. “Why can’t someone else take care of Celia? What is even wrong with her?”

  He hesitated. “We’re not sure yet. I didn’t want to scare you, but she has to get some tests taken.”

  “What kind of tests?”

  “We want to make sure everything is okay. Try not to worry about it.”

  “Okay,” she said flippantly. “So, you’re still not going to come then? Not at all?”

  “I can’t, Bryna, but I’m sending Pace in my place. He has some exciting news for you.”

  “Don’t bother,” Bryna growled. “I hate Pace, and you know it.”

  Her father sighed heavily on the phone. “He is coming up there for recruitment anyway. He doesn’t even have to stay with you, if you don’t want him to, but try to show him around.”

  “He can’t go here, Daddy! You have to convince him to go somewhere else,” she said, nearly hysterical.

  “He’s my son now, Bryna. He’ll be a Gambler if I can help it. It’s where he wants to go, just like you, and you’re not going to stop him. Do you understand me?”

  “He’s your son?” She nearly gagged. “I can’t even right now. That’s seriously disturbing.”

  “Bryna—”

  “You know what? Forget it. I’m sorry I’m just realizing that your new family is so much more important than your old family.”

  “Honey, you’re overreacting. There would be serious implications for me if I left right now. I hate disappointing you, but you will always be my baby girl,” her father said.

  “Okay.” She clearly wasn’t getting into his head. The whole thing infuriated her. “Well, the parade is starting. So…bye.”

  “Bye, sweetheart.”

  She hung up the phone, even more pissed off than when she had been talking to her dad. How dare he! With everything going on
in her life, she had really been looking forward to spending some quality time with him, but no, he couldn’t even manage that.

  “Hey! Who was that?” Stacia asked, bounding over to Bryna.

  “No one. Doesn’t matter. Are you ready to go?” Bryna threw her phone into her pocket, stripped out of her jacket, tossed it on the back of the truck, and retrieved her poms.

  “Yeah. Totally.”

  But it did matter, and Bryna couldn’t let it go.

  It only got worse when Pace showed up at her condo later that night.

  “Hey, sis,” he said.

  He barreled inside, passing her, and she considered leaving to avoid him, but she couldn’t even stay with Andrew, who was holed up in some hotel.

  “Don’t call me that,” she spat.

  “Don’t tell me you’re not excited that I’m in town,” he said as if he didn’t know she hated him. “You’re going to have to get used to it because I have a feeling that I’m going to be here a whole lot more come January.”

  Bryna’s face paled. “What do you mean?”

  “Coach Galloway got the approval today. I’ll officially be an LV State football player in January. I’ll graduate high school a semester early and start classes in the spring. I won’t get to play for this season, but I’ll start practices.”

  She rested her hand on the couch to keep herself upright. “You’re…moving to Las Vegas in two months?”

  “Yeah. Dad said I could stay here until I got my own place.”

  Pace’s smirk was so broad that she thought she might be sick. He was really serious.

  “You cannot stay in my condo.”

  “Technically, it’s Dad’s condo, so—”

  “Stop calling him that! He’s not your dad!” she shrieked.

  Pace dropped his bag in the middle of the living room and kicked back on the couch. He crossed his arms and stared up at her in a leering way she definitely couldn’t miss.

  “Keep yelling all you want, Bri. I like it when you yell.”

  Bryna’s grip on the couch tightened as she kept from screaming in rage. “Just stay away from me and my friends.”

  “What? Think I know things about you that others don’t? How many people know about senior year, Bri? How many know about Jude?”

  She shuddered. “Leave him out of this. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, I think I do.”

  “Even if you did,” she ground out, “senior year is long over, and I’m already tired of having you around again.”

  She stomped upstairs, trying to convince herself that she wasn’t fleeing her sleazy stepbrother. This weekend couldn’t possibly get any worse.

  The next morning was a dry seventy-five degrees, and Bryna was cheering on the sidelines at the game. She could see Pace standing next to the team on the sidelines, and it infuriated her all the more. He hadn’t even wanted to come to LV State until he knew she was interested in attending. Last year, he had made it his personal mission to try to ruin her life, and she was not looking forward to his reappearance since nothing had changed between them. He still wanted to torment her and also get in her pants. She wanted to get away from the reminder of what her father had done.

  Right before the end of the first half, the cheerleaders were jostled closer to the football team to accommodate the marching band and all the alumni members of the football team, band, and auxiliaries—dance team, flag line, and baton twirlers. A figure moved to stand next to her, and she glanced up, surprised to see Eric.

  “What?” she demanded. She was already on edge, and she and Eric did nothing but argue. “I’m really not in the mood today.”

  Eric frowned. “I was coming to see if your dad was here. Coach wanted to talk to him after the game, but he wasn’t listed with the alumni players.”

  “Yeah, he’s not here.”

  “All right. I thought you said he was coming.”

  Bryna closed her eyes and breathed out before answering, “My stepmother is sick, so he couldn’t make it.”

  “I see. I hope she’s okay,” he said with sincere concern in his voice.

  She rolled her eyes. “I hope she falls into a vat of acid.”

  “That’s pleasant,” Eric drawled. “What did she do to you?”

  “Nothing. Broke up my parents, married my dad, and moved into my mother’s house.”

  “So then, that’s your stepbrother?” he asked, pointing to Pace.

  Bryna nodded. “Unfortunately. Why?”

  “They’ve been recruiting him. I think he’s going to be here next year.”

  “Don’t fucking remind me,” she grumbled. “I can’t stand the thought of that creep being here.”

  “He’s a good ball player.”

  “So was O.J. Simpson,” Bryna deadpanned.

  Eric actually laughed out loud. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. His whole body seemed to relax with it. “That’s true.”

  Suddenly, Bryna felt uncomfortable. She wasn’t supposed to be comfortable around Eric Wilkins. He was the prick who always picked fights with her. She knew his secrets, and he despised her for being that girl.

  “Anyway, Pace is an asshole,” Bryna said.

  “I noticed that.”

  Bryna looked up at him in shock. Most people thought Pace was an angel. He put on a good act. She didn’t think many other people could see through it. Certainly, no one in high school had. Her own father couldn’t see through the bullshit.

  “Well, have to go. Thought I’d check for Coach,” Eric said quickly before disappearing into the crowd of football players running toward the locker room.

  Pace approached her at the end of the game after the Gamblers had come out victorious, and she did everything she could not to scratch his eyes out. Being around him made everything worse. She was going to have to find a way to get him to leave.

  “Good game,” Pace said. “I’m really liking it here, sis.”

  He blatantly leered at her in her cheer uniform, and she momentarily wished she were more covered up. He was so disgusting.

  “Don’t get any ideas, asshole. You’re not coming here next year.” She hoped that saying it out loud would make it a reality.

  “Oh, I have plenty of ideas,” he said, looking her up and down.

  “You’re disgusting.”

  “Babe!” Andrew cried. He appeared at her side in that moment.

  Without a second thought, he threw his arm around her waist and crushed his lips down onto hers. She breathed in the kiss in slight horror because Pace was watching. He had made it clear that he was out to sabotage her all over again. She didn’t want him to sit around and watch everyone who was in her life.

  She took a step back when he released her. “Hey.”

  “Who’s this?” Andrew nodded his head at Pace.

  “I’m her brother,” Pace assured him.

  “Stepbrother.”

  “Cool, man!” Andrew cried.

  “I didn’t know Bri was dating anyone,” Pace said. He sent Bryna a questioning look.

  “We’re not dating,” Bryna said automatically. She had been saying it since Andrew told everyone they were sleeping together.

  Andrew seemed to believe her less and less.

  “Same old, same old, huh, Bri?” Pace asked.

  “Fuck off, Pace,” she snarled. “Come on, Andrew. Let’s get out of here.”

  Pace laughed at her retreating back. “See you tonight at Posse.”

  She shook her head and kept walking. She was not going to let him get to her any more than he’d already had.

  “What was that all about?” Andrew asked once they were a safe distance away from Pace.

  “Nothing. He’s an asshole, but he wants to play football here next year.”

  “Cool!” Andrew said.

  It was as if he hadn’t heard a word she said besides football. Ugh!

  “Oh my God!” Stacia shrieked. She rushed toward them and attached herself to Bryna’s other arm.
“Who was that guy? He’s mega hot!”

  “Stepbrother, S. Don’t touch him with a ten-foot pole,” Bryna demanded.

  She stuck her bottom lip out. “You ruin all the fun!”

  “He’s still in high school anyway.” For two more months. If she could help it, he wouldn’t end up here.

  Stacia shrugged. “Fine. Forget I mentioned it. Let’s find Trihn and get ready for Posse tonight! Sorry, Andrew, I need to steal your girl.”

  “I am not his girl!” Bryna insisted.

  “All right. Later, babe. See you tonight,” Andrew said before planting a possessive kiss on her lips.

  “Goddamn it. I can’t keep doing this,” she told Stacia as they walked away.

  Andrew’s insistence that they were dating was icing on the cake with all her other problems this weekend. She needed a drink something fierce to forget her own existence for a little while.

  POSSE WAS FILLED TO THE BRIM with students and alumni anxious to see the football players after the successful game. The bouncer wasn’t admitting anyone else inside due to the fire code, but luckily, Bryna, Stacia, and Trihn were regulars, so they could bypass the wait.

  Once they were inside, it was a swamp. She didn’t want to deal with the crowds. She wanted to get wasted beyond comprehension and forget about this weekend, maybe even the whole week.

  They finally made it to the bar where Maya was working. It wasn’t often she was downstairs, but she was the best, and it was so busy that they must have needed her expertise.

  “Peppermint Posse,” Bryna called as soon as her friend appeared in front of her.

  “Going for the strong shit tonight?” Maya yelled back.

  “As strong as you can. I need it.”

  Bryna leaned back against the bar in her black sheer lace dress that left little up to the imagination, and she drank in the stares she was receiving. She had on her favorite classic red-lacquered Louboutins. She was ready to rule tonight. No more bullshit.