She could hear Avery and Tara oohing and aahing. She was going to have to knock some sense into them if they kept this up.

First, Brian, and now, Pace? Horrible, horrible taste.

“Bri, can I speak with you for a minute?” Pace asked.

She reeled in her original reaction to slap him across the face and call him out in front of everyone in the school. It wouldn’t help her present situation.

“Sure, Pace. Give us a minute, girls.”

They scurried onto the bus, leaving her alone with her stepbrother.

“What do you want?” she asked, dropping the act.

“You broke up with Gates?”

“What does it matter to you?”

“Sounds like some stupid rumor. Is it true?”

Breathe in. Breathe out. “Good news travels fast. Yes, I broke up with Gates last night. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

She went to pass him, but he grabbed her arm.

“Is that why you were out last night?”

“Pace, if I wanted you to keep tabs on my whereabouts, I’d let you know. Until then, you can go fuck yourself.” She wrenched her arm away from him. “Get out of my way.”

As she was trying to leave, some of the guys from the football team barreled past them.

She pointed at his teammates. “You have a bus to catch, Pace.”

“That’s right. Did you hear about the talent scouts coming to the game tonight?” He paused only briefly and then continued as if he knew she wasn’t going to respond, “Las Vegas State Assistant Coach Matt Cason is supposed to come watch me play.”

Bryna froze.

He couldn’t go to LV State.

Her mother and father had met there. He had played on the national championship football team. Her mother had been a cheerleader. Bryna had to send in her application by January for the freshman class next year. She wouldn’t hear for several months, but she figured she was a shoo-in.

Pace couldn’t even be considering talking to the coach about the school. She wanted to escape home…not bring it to Vegas with her.

“LV State is mine,” she growled. “Don’t even fucking think about it, Pace.”

He smiled a toothy grin, and she stormed away, but not before she saw the challenge in his eyes.

The football game came and went with a victory led by her slimy stepbrother.

The weekend passed quickly after that, and Bryna started to grow restless. The last time she had heard from Jude was before he had walked out of his apartment. She knew the typical rule was to wait a couple of days before calling, but after the night they had shared together, how could he wait?

Three weeks of radio silence later left her stunned and pissed. She cursed herself for allowing the whole thing to mean something to her.

So what if he understood me? So what if we had an incredible night?

She had to resign herself to the fact that it had been a one-night stand.

He wasn’t going to call.

“I THOUGHT YOU AND GATES BROKE UP,” Avery whined.

Bryna rolled her baby-blues to the ceiling. Why the hell do I have to keep having this conversation? She and Gates were over. Just because she hadn’t blabbed about it to People magazine didn’t make it any less true.

“We are,” Bryna snapped.

“Then, why is he signing autographs outside of school?”

Bryna jerked her head to the front of the parking lot, and her eyes bulged.

Fucking hell! What the fuck is he doing here?

This will not do.

This will not do at all.

She reeled in her state of shock. Breaking up with Gates had given her the leverage she needed. She was too good for Gates Hartman.

But maybe she could spin this. If it looked like he was chasing her…well, all the better.

“Gates Hartman,” she said idly. She languidly strolled down the stairs and out of Harmony Prep as if seeing her ex-boyfriend outside of the building was an every day occurrence.

Avery trailed behind her, and she would bet anything that Tara was close by. As Bryna walked forward, the sea of girls in front of Gates parted like she truly was royalty. Too bad Gates wasn’t her Prince Charming. But he would do for now.

He smiled that gorgeous grin solely for her, and all the girls sighed as they dreamily stared up at him.

Good luck if they ever thought they would get someone like Gates.

Dear Lord, he was handsome. No wonder he had won America’s heart on the big screen. That face was downright delicious. She didn’t want to be distracted from her mission, so she purposefully avoided looking at anything but his liquid blue eyes.

“Hey, Bri,” Gates said completely nonchalant. “You ready to go?”

She placed a curious smile on her face and planted her hand on one hip. “Where exactly are we going?”

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the hood of his fire red Porsche convertible. The look on his face screamed loud and clear: don’t-start-this-shit-with-me.

She just arched an eyebrow in a silent rebuttal. You started this, and I’m going to finish it.

“I’ve been gone on set for too long. Came straight here to see my girl.” He straightened and reached a hand out to her. He was so matter-of-fact as if she hadn’t broken up with him while he had been gone and she hadn’t fucked some other guy.

She looked down at his hand and debated. Honestly, what does he expect me to do? There was no way she was giving into this so easily. She kept her face firmly blank as she returned her eyes to his. “But I haven’t been your girl in three weeks.”

The crowd shifted awkwardly and looked around at others in disbelief. They were surprised that anyone whether Queen bee or not would turn down Gates Hartman. People gasped and started whispering behind their hands to each other.

Let this be a lesson.

Gates appeared oblivious to everyone’s reactions. Though she knew that he was enjoying the attention. He had always been comfortable in front of crowds. “Yeah. Okay, Bri,” he said, disbelievingly. He even rolled his eyes for good measure. “We’re together. You know it’s true. I know it’s true. Everyone else here knows we’re together. That’s not stopping because of a phone call. You’re my girl. Now let’s get out of here.”

Everyone glanced at her expectantly. She wondered if they thought this had all been a stunt. It wasn’t, but they probably thought so. She had legitimately broken up with Gates for Jude, the asshole who had never called her back. But she wasn’t about to tell them about Jude. In fact, she hadn’t told anyone about Jude. She couldn’t trust anyone with that information. Only Gates knew that she had gone home with someone that night and that was the way it was going to stay. Not that it really mattered anymore since Jude still hadn’t bothered to call.

With a resigned sigh, she finally placed her hand in his. It wouldn’t matter if she spent time with Gates if there was no one else in her life. Plus, it would look good to leave with him. “Fine. We’ll talk about this later,” she admonished.

Gates pulled her close, planted a kiss on her temple, and then helped her into the passenger seat of his convertible. He nodded at the girls still gawking at him, walked around the car, and then hopped over the door into the driver’s seat.

Show-off.

They pulled out of the parking lot, and she immediately turned to him in frustration. “That was a dirty trick you pulled.”

He smirked. “How else was I going to get you to come to my place?”

“Your place?” she asked. “I am not going to your place.”