Trihn wasn’t even paying attention. She was animatedly talking to one of the other guys about who knew what. She was a happy drunk and suddenly found everyone interesting, not that the guy seemed to mind in the slightest.

“Hopeless,” Stacia said with a shake of her head. She kissed Bryna on the cheek and whispered in her ear, “Be careful.”

Bryna laughed off Stacia’s warning, and then she disappeared through the crowd. Stacia was super cautious and paranoid about everyone, except for herself. The girl seriously knew how to let loose, but when other people did, she’d freak out for them.

“So,” Thomas said, “you’re a cheerleader?”

“Don’t I seem the type?”

He let his eyes drag down her body. “Your friend seemed the type. You seem…different. More mature.”

That was a new one. “I like that.”

“I like you,” he said.

“You barely know me,” she corrected him.

And she was sure he wanted to keep it that way. It would be easier to justify the one-night stand if she was only a beautiful face in his mind.

“You’re gorgeous and an LV State cheerleader. What else should I know?”

She let the hit roll off her shoulders. The fact that she had come into LV State with a 4.0 GPA probably didn’t matter to him.

“Nothing,” she said dryly. “That’s all there is to know about me. What about you? What do you do?”

The question popped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. The way he had acted like anything other than her looks didn’t matter made her want to act like nothing other than his money mattered. It reminded her of last year and made her stomach twist. This was the person he had made her. Damn, Jude.

“I’m a biomedical engineer,” he said with pride. “It’s technical and not interesting.” He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her onto his lap. His lips settled into the crook of her neck. His hand crept up to her upper thigh. All the inhibitions he had been holding on to disappeared in the darkened booth with the help of the booze they had been downing all night.

She tilted her head, so he would have better access, and she reveled in the feeling of being wanted. She craved it like a smoker needed nicotine. And she refused to apologize for it.

As his hand snuck further up her dress, she reached down and grabbed it. She wasn’t going to do anything more than this in the crowded bar. She’d go back to his hotel room before that.

“Aw, come on,” he urged.

She crossed her legs and shifted. She wasn’t an open invitation. He would have to work a little harder for this.

His friends were watching them from the other side of the booth. “Your friends clearly like a show,” she said. It came out sounding like an excuse to stop, but she was more curious about their interest.

“Ignore them.” Regardless, he pulled away from her. “They should mind their own business. Let’s get another drink.”

Suspicion crept into her mind. Why would his friends be this interested in a girl he wanted to take back to the hotel?

“Or we could get out of here,” she purred.

She stood and reached for his left hand. Her hand brushed across his ring finger and found it empty, but she couldn’t ignore the indentation where a ring used to sit. Her stomach turned, and she tried to rationalize that maybe he was divorced.

He hesitated a second longer than she’d expected, and her insides turned to lead.

He followed her to his feet as he made his decision. “You have a place nearby, or should we go to my hotel?”

She gritted her teeth and then forced a smile, wondering how far he was going to take this. “Probably your place.”

“Yeah, my place,” he repeated.

Bryna giggled and leaned into him. “Something wrong? Don’t you want to take me back to your room and fuck me all night?”

Thomas groaned. “Yes. Yes, I do.” He pressed forward into her and let their lips meet. “Fuck, I want you.”

“Then, let’s go,” she encouraged like the devil on his shoulder.

He grabbed her and crushed his lips down on her again. She could tell he desperately wanted her at this point, and they hadn’t even made it out of the bar. Maybe she should have felt bad, but she didn’t. The guy was bringing this on himself.

“Come on,” she urged.

“Wait,” he said.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He met her baby-blues. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Bryna withdrew. This game was over. Thomas bored her.

“It couldn’t be that you’re married?”

His eyes widened. “What?”

“And your friends are looking at us, wondering why you’re a cheating scumbag making out with this whore?”

“What are you talking about?” he stammered.

“Please. An indentation on your ring finger, overly curious friends, and you being fidgety when I told you to fuck me. I should have guessed.” She pushed him away.

“Wait!” he cried before she could turn and leave.

She curiously eyed him. Did I misjudge him?

“I’ve never done anything like this before.”

She rolled her eyes. Nope. “Clearly.”

Thomas was such an amateur. She couldn’t believe how much it irritated her. He hadn’t even made it interesting. If she was going to do this again, he’d need to be better than this, make it worth her while to try to wreck another marriage.

“Stay with me tonight,” Thomas said softly, lacking all the confidence he’d had when he bought their drinks and flirted with her much of the night.

Ugh! Such a waste.

Bryna grabbed a half-empty cocktail off the table and threw it in his face. “You’re disgusting. Go home to your Stepford wife.”

She walked over to where Trihn was sitting with her mouth wide open. “Let’s go.”

Trihn immediately jumped up and followed her out of VIP. “What the hell just happened?”

Bryna sighed. “Jude happened.”

“OKAY. THAT’S A WRAP, GIRLS. If you have any questions once you leave, send me a text message. See you tomorrow,” the cheer coach said.

Bryna breathed a sigh of relief. Finally. After three hours of grueling rehearsal, they were leaving the practice facility to go home. She’d had class all morning and cheer all night. Her body ached from stunting, and she couldn’t wait to shower, but at least they were ready for their first away game at the University of Oregon on Saturday.

Stacia swept her bangs out of her eyes and nudged Bryna. “Ready?”

Bryna nodded. She grabbed her cheer bag and followed Stacia out of the locker room. “That was one hell of a practice.”

“You looked great. I’d die for your bow and arrow.”

“Ugh! No more cheer talk. I can’t think about it anymore before the game. I’m going to need some serious retail therapy.”

“You need retail therapy for everything,” Stacia said.

“Truth.”

“I just need that.” Stacia nodded her head toward the practice field.

The football team was filing out of the gate, still dressed in pads, about to hit the showers.

“Which one?” Bryna asked.

“All of them,” Stacia sighed.

“Sounds like a porn. Cheerleader gangbanged by the football team.”

Stacia tilted her head as if contemplating it. “Doesn’t sound that bad.”

“I hear they pay good money,” Bryna joked. She couldn’t help but egg Stacia on.

Bryna wouldn’t put it past Stacia to join in on something like that. She wasn’t selective. A small part of her understood where Eric had been coming from in regard to cheerleaders. Stacia was the definition of that girl. Bryna just took offense to him calling her that kind of girl.

“I wouldn’t need the money. I’d be in it for the sex,” Stacia said with a wink.