Diamonds, стр. 16

A limo was waiting for her in the private circle drive in front of her parents’ mansion. When she stepped inside, Avery and Tara were already in the limo.

They both gasped when they saw her.

“You look so fucking hot!” Avery cried.

“Seriously, no guy will be able to resist you,” Tara agreed.

“I just wish we knew who the guy was who has stolen you away,” Avery said excitedly. She nudged Bryna in the side and exchanged an eager look with Tara.

“Yeah, we’ve been waiting for you to spill,” Tara said.

“What?” Bryna asked, reaching for the champagne to cover her shock.

She hadn’t told anyone that she was seeing someone new. Ever since she and Gates had officially broken up, she had been playing up the single life at school, so no one would suspect. Somehow, the rumor was flying around anyway. She suspected Pace’s treachery.

“Oh, come on. We know you’re dating someone. Who is it?” Avery asked. “Is it a Covenant guy? Is that why we’re avoiding Jemma’s party? You’re not ready to be seen together yet?”

Bryna took a sip of the champagne and let the bubbly cool her temper. She needed to squash these rumors and fast. “We’re not going to the party because Max got us on the list at X. I don’t even know why I have to explain this. Plus, I’d never downgrade to a Covenant guy. Don’t insult me.”

“We didn’t—”

“That’s not what we—”

“Save it,” Bri said, holding up her hand. “Let’s toast to X and sweet, sweet revenge tonight.”

The girls clinked their glasses together and then tossed their drinks back. By the time they got through traffic, they were well into their second bottle of champagne and feeling the buzz. They exited the limo in front of a blank gray building. To anyone else passing by, it just looked like a warehouse, but Bryna knew it was the scandalous nightclub X. The best places in town had no signs and no advertisement. X was no exception. Only the hottest, most select group of people knew this place existed.

Bryna and her friends sauntered right up to the man with the clipboard at the door and were whisked inside within seconds. She silently thanked Max for getting them on the list.

The room was dark with red lighting shining through divided sheer curtains. Gorgeous girls in red-and-black lingerie danced on pedestals. A hip-hop beat thumped loudly in the background. Couples were already making out on the dance floor or fondling each other in the mostly obscure corners. It was raunchy and enticing and everything she wanted in one place. It was not as sophisticated as Allure and not as high school as Luxe.

The girls were escorted to a booth with bottle service. A set of curtains separated them from some hot businessmen. Avery was already making eyes at one of them through the divider. The man slid between the curtains and asked her to dance while Bryna popped open another bottle of Dom.

A gorgeous man glanced her way, and she knew without even offering him a smile that he would come over. Tonight was one to indulge, and while he was undeniably attractive, she didn’t want to indulge too much. She would take her excess with alcohol and drugs, not with her other vices. She and Jude hadn’t drawn any exclusivity lines, but she didn’t want to jeopardize the possibility by fucking around with some other guy.

“Dance?” the man asked, nodding his head toward the floor where Avery had just disappeared.

Bryna considered his offer. She promised herself that she would be careful. Dancing wouldn’t cause any harm. She had no intention of going further. Plus, she couldn’t come out to the hottest nightclub and not get lost in the music for a little while. She was only young once.

“Sure. Why not?” She gave him an irresistible smile and then downed her full glass of champagne.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the booth. Tara followed shortly afterward with another guy from a nearby table. They danced through three songs beside Avery and Tara. Then, Bryna left to get another drink. She grabbed her phone as she poured herself a flute of champagne. She stopped with the drink halfway to her lips when she realized she had missed two calls from Jude.

“Fuck!”

She wasn’t going to be able to hear a fucking thing in the club. Knocking back the drink, she found somewhere quiet and called him back.

“Hey, Bri.”

“Hey!” she called over the noise. “Sorry I missed you. What’s up?”

“I got back into the city, and already, my flight out is delayed until the morning due to horrible East Coast weather, which means that I’m free for the night. I’d like to spend it with you.”

Bryna contemplated what to do. There was no way that Avery and Tara could know that Jude was the guy she had been seeing, and she simply couldn’t introduce Jude to her high school friends. Both things were bound to end up in disaster. Yet she couldn’t exactly abandon Avery and Tara after hyping up X all week. They would be suspicious about why she was leaving, and then they would think she really was jetting off to see her mysterious boyfriend.

She bit her lip and tried to figure a solution to the puzzle. She needed to figure out a way to make this all work without getting caught in the crossfire.

An idea popped into her head, and she smiled devilishly. “ Want to play a game?”

He chuckled seductively. “I’m listening.”

“When we get off the line, I’ll text you the address of the nightclub where I am, and I’ll make sure your name is on the list. I’ve suddenly forgotten who you are. So, come and find a hot blonde in a red dress and seduce her. She might go home with you—if you’re lucky.”

A FEW MINUTES LATER, Jude had the address to X, and his name was on the list. Bryna occupied herself with dancing, switching up partners to keep any one guy from monopolizing her time. She was giddy and jittery at the same time.

Jude was coming here.

She couldn’t suppress the fluttering in her stomach at the prospect of seeing him in such a way. Not to mention the nerves knowing that she could get caught with him, knowing that anything could go wrong. It was dangerous and thus, unbelievably enticing.

At one point while they were on the dance floor, Tara disappeared. Avery claimed Tara just had to use the restroom, but the guy she had been with was gone too. It took her twenty minutes to surface, and she looked both disheveled and smug. Bryna just laughed at her friend’s poor excuse and moved her hips to the beat of the music.

She had just started another dance with the businessman from next to their booth when she felt eyes on her. It was inexplicable with hundreds of people in the room, but there it was. Someone was watching her. She smiled as if she were on display and started grinding against the stranger.

The feeling grew stronger, but Jude never surfaced. She turned around and threw her arms around the guy in front of her. Her eyes skimmed the dark room to try to figure out where he could be hiding. She didn’t know why he was watching when he could be partaking.

Well, she would have to fight dirty to get him to play. Bryna slid her hand across the guy’s neck, down his chest, and to the waistline of his pants. She swirled her hips in slow circles as she faced away from him once more. She leaned against him and rolled her body back against his. He forcefully gripped her hips in his hands. His head dropped down and nuzzled her neck. She played along, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.

Then, he took it a step further and started kissing against her sensitive skin. Before she could even react to the change, she was wrenched forward, away from the guy, and lips were covering her own. These lips she most definitely recognized.