“Thank you for being so awesome about this. I can’t wait until New York when I can hold you in my arms again.”
“I can’t wait either. But I should probably give Bri and Stacia a call. I guess they saw the tabloids and are freaking out.”
“Oh, Jesus. Okay, yeah. Tell them I said hi.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Trihn immediately texted Bryna back to let her know that she had just left the airport and would be at the apartment soon. Her return text was classic Bryna.
Hurry up and get your ass over here. I need answers, woman!
Trihn arrived at her apartment a half hour later and was surprised to find her home holding way more people than she had anticipated.
Bryna was talking on the phone and pacing a circle in the carpet. Eric was standing next to an African American guy from the football team who she had met before with Maya.
Dray or Drayton?
Trihn wasn’t sure if he and Maya were officially dating or not, but him being in her house with his arm around her beautiful friend made her think that was the case.
The most surprising thing, however, was the fact that Stacia was currently sitting on a tall blond football player’s lap who was not her boyfriend…or sort of boyfriend—whatever Marshall was. Instead, Stacia was laid out on Pace’s lap, as if they hadn’t spent the last six months at each other’s throat—and not in a good way.
Trihn immediately saw why Bryna had been so short in her text messages. The history between she and her stepbrother, Pace, was poor at best. Despite the fact that Bryna had been moving forward and getting along with her family since the birth of her half-sister, Zoe, Bryna still didn’t much like or trust Pace. And that was obvious in the glares she kept shooting his way.
“Our local celebrity,” Eric said when Trihn finally edged through the door.
“Hey, E.”
Bryna’s eyes snapped up to her. “I have to go,” she said into the phone before abruptly hanging up. “There you are!”
“Hey, everyone. Didn’t realize I was walking into a party.”
“Yeah, well, you were supposed to be back yesterday,” Bryna said.
“Went to see Damon in Atlanta instead. He flew me back this morning while they went on to Charlotte.”
“I think everyone knows that already,” Pace said with a chuckle.
Stacia smacked his chest. “Have you read any gossip lately?” she asked Trihn.
“No, but Damon told me what the press was saying about me. It’s not a big deal. It’s all a lie anyway,” Trihn said with a shrug. “Damon and Chloe aren’t together, and I’m obviously not a homewrecker.”
“I told you she wouldn’t be worried,” Maya said. She was pouring drinks in the kitchen, working even when she wasn’t at her job.
Bryna smiled. “I’m glad. It seems Damon has been good for you. I thought we would have a mess on our hands after this shit.”
“Such confidence in me, Bri,” Trihn said. She rolled her eyes and started walking back to her bedroom.
Bryna followed her and grabbed her arm just before she could disappear. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Totally,” Trihn said automatically. “Chloe flipped when she found out that Damon and I had been out in Atlanta. Some girl took a picture with him and Instagrammed it to Chloe, putting it on the press’s radar. It’s literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever had to deal with. If I thought for one minute that any of this was a threat, that Chloe was a legit threat, then maybe I’d be worried. But I have no reason to think that. None.”
Bryna pursed her lips and looked down. Her eyes fluttered back to Trihn’s, but they didn’t exactly meet hers when she said, “You’re right. None.”
The entire thing did not blow over like Trihn had wanted.
She was stuck in Vegas, working on her fashion line and getting ready for the big show in New York, which meant there were no more pictures of her and Damon out in public together. But there were enough photos of the two of them on their social media accounts, and those were now crawling all over the Internet. Trihn had to make all her accounts private to keep people from commenting on her shit. It was annoying for all of a couple of hours before she shut it all down and went back to work.
Chloe and Damon were both asked questions about their love lives, but their answers were usually, “No comment,” or “It’s personal.”
Trihn was fine with that. She didn’t exactly want to be out in the spotlight or have paparazzi to deal with while she still had so much on her plate. But part of her also kind of wished that she could just come out and say that she and Damon were together. Trihn knew it was business, but it seemed stupid to just ignore it.
She had just finished up another day locked away in the studio and was on her way to meet her friends at Posse when her phone chimed.
I’ll call you when I can. It’s not true.
Trihn had been so out of the loop while working that she didn’t even know what the hell Damon was talking about.
She pulled up Facebook to see a slew of posts about an anonymous hacker posting nude photos of celebrities stolen from their phones.