Gold, стр. 28

She didn’t need any more complications with guys in her life. It’d really worked out better for her in the end that Eric was gay. She could be herself around him, and he didn’t judge her.

“You like to keep people at a distance,” he said.

“Well, now, I don’t have to keep you at a distance.” She shrugged. “Since, you know, nothing’s ever going to happen between us. But, um…that’s all I wanted to say. We should probably get back anyway.”

She opened the door before he could say anything else. The room was stifling. She hadn’t expected it to be that difficult. He had seemed cool with her knowing, but a bit like she had put him in shock. It must be so weird for him to have someone else know that he was gay. At least she wouldn’t have to hide that from him anymore.

But she wasn’t sure why, in that moment, it didn’t feel like as much of a relief as she had thought it would. Clearly, she needed to get laid. All this time without it had addled her mind and made her think things that couldn’t possibly exist.

BRYNA RETURNED TO LAS VEGAS on a total high. As she drove up the street toward her condo, she noticed another car in the driveway. A Mercedes SUV. Fuck.

She parked in the garage and entered through the side door. Inside, her condo looked like a land mine had gone off inside. There was stuff everywhere—boxes piled high, clothes strewed on the couch, and junk littered the floor.

“What the fuck is going on?”

A smile lit up Pace’s face. “Hey, sis.”

“What are you doing to my house?” she cried. “It’s a train wreck.”

“Moving in, of course.”

Bryna ground her teeth. She had forgotten for one blissful weekend that her sleazy stepbrother was moving into her place. She had thought that, by forgetting about it, it would go away. But no, Pace was still standing right there in front of her.

“I can’t believe you’re really fucking moving in.”

“I was offered a spot in the sports dorm, but I decided I wanted to be closer to my sister.” He smirked devilishly. “The team understands.”

“Ew. That’s so nasty.” She shook her head. “You know, I’m never going to be around anymore, and you’d better get all this shit cleaned up. This whole thing isn’t right.”

Pace shrugged. “You had your opportunity to get me not to come to LV State, but you didn’t take it.”

Bryna glared at him. “Yeah. Even if I had gone through with that stupid shit—which would never, ever happen—you would have still come here to spite me.”

“You caught me. How could I resist coming here after they won the national championship?”

“You’re a vile human being. I can’t believe they even recruited you. You know, you’re not going to get any playing time, right?”

She was sure he had already heard this argument, but she couldn’t help one last-ditch effort to try to get him to change his mind. He could still transfer without any consequences.

“We’ll see about that.”

“With Blaine leaving, they’re going to put Marshall in as QB, and you’ll be sitting on the sidelines for the next three years.”

Pace shrugged, unperturbed. “I’ll believe it when I see it. I think I could take Marshall.”

Bryna laughed. “Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Believe what?”

Bryna’s head snapped around so fast that she got a crick in her neck. “Dad?” she cried in disbelief. Her eyes bugged out. She hadn’t even heard him open the front door over the sound of her argument with Pace.

“Hey, sweetheart.” He pulled her into a big hug.

“What are you doing here?” She hadn’t seen him since Thanksgiving, and that had been tense, to say the least.

“I’m here to help Pace move in. It’s good to see you. We’re glad you made it safely back from Miami. What an exciting end to the game.”

“It was,” she agreed.

“Wish I had been there.”

He could have come. She knew he could have. He was here with Pace, but he couldn’t make time for her. It made no fucking sense.

“I think we got all of Pace’s things moved in. I’d forgotten the size of this place. I think it’s big enough for the both of you. Don’t you?”

“Um, no. I don’t think it is.” Bryna pleaded with her father, “I need my own space. I can’t share this with him.”

“For now, this will have to do.” He smiled brightly.

He seemed so relaxed, almost happy. She wasn’t sure she had ever seen her father like this. He hadn’t checked his work phone once since he came inside.

“Are you going to tell her?” Pace asked.

“Tell me what?”

“I wanted to talk to you in person about this, but you weren’t home for Christmas, so now is the time,” her father said.

Bryna wasn’t sure what this was all about. What does he have to tell me that’s so important?

“Come on outside. We’ll talk about it there.”

In a wave of confusion, she followed her father outside. Pace didn’t look too pleased, and that also made her worry. He was normally smug about things.

The twins were lounging by the pool. Celia was standing near the edge of the pool, talking with them, wearing some hideous black maxi dress.

“Celia, darling,” her father called.

“Lawrence!”

Celia had a huge smile on her face. In fact, she was almost glowing with joy.

That was when Bryna saw it. A lump. A round lump. Her head spun, and she reached out blindly for the first thing she could use to steady herself. Pace took her arm, and she swallowed hard.

Oh my God. No.

Her vision blurred and then cleared again. It wasn’t going away. It was still there. The horrible monstrosity.

Celia was…pregnant.

“What the fuck is that?”

“We’re so happy to tell you, Bryna,” Celia said, walking toward them.

“You’re going to have a new sister or brother,” Lawrence said.

Bryna might be sick. She wrenched her arm out of Pace’s and covered her mouth.

“What?” she nearly shrieked. This could not be happening.

“We’re pregnant,” Celia said.

“You’re pregnant,” Bryna corrected. “How the hell could this have happened? How the hell could you have let this happen?”

“Bryna,” her father said warningly.

“I mean, how old are you?” she spat at Celia.

“Bryna!” he cried.

“It’s okay. That’s a perfectly normal reaction. Neither of us expected this to happen. It’s okay that Bryna didn’t expect this either. I know I’m older. It’s unusual but not unheard of.”

“Haven’t you heard of birth control? Condoms? Getting your tubes tied? This is disgusting.” Bryna whirled on her father. “You force these people into my life and then do this?” She shook her head. “I just can’t.”

Bryna slowly backed up, away from them. She knew they were trying to get through to her, but she couldn’t hear anything. All she could see was that horrible belly.

She fled. She couldn’t stand there for another minute.

Her hands were shaking, and her breath was coming out in short bursts when she made it into her cluttered living room. This shouldn’t even have been possible. It was absurd.

“Hey,” Pace said, following her into the room.

“Fuck off.” She closed her eyes and tried to picture her life without this bullshit.

“I told them that I’d check on you.”

“Mission accomplished. You can leave now.”

“I don’t want them to have a kid either, you know.”

“Good for you,” she spat.

“It’s revolting. She shouldn’t be pregnant at her age. And now, we have to share a sibling.” He shuddered.

“Stop talking about it!” she screamed. God, it was getting worse and worse, the more she thought about it.