Platinum (All That Glitters #3) (5 page)

“What is that for?” Trihn asked.

Bryna smirked, and Trihn knew what that meant—trouble.

“Rebound.”

“
REMIND ME WHY I’M HERE AGAIN
?” Trihn asked.

She was standing with Bryna and Stacia at Posse, their local hotspot, where Maya worked as a bartender. Bryna had forced Trihn into the tiny black dress, and it looked pretty amazing, but the amount of makeup that she’d had to use to cover her puffy eyes, not so much.

Eric had dropped them off earlier and returned with some football player friends. Stacia was currently hitting on Marshall Matthews, the star quarterback for the LV State football team. Her dream in life was to marry an NFL quarterback. She had been going from one quarterback to the next in the hopes that she would snag her guy.

That was not Trihn’s objective, and the assortment of men that Eric had provided for a rebound weren’t exactly her type. She wasn’t even sure what her type was, but douchey hot college guys who liked to promise her the world and break her heart were not it.

“You are having fun and not thinking about that asshole,” Maya called from behind the bar. With raised eyebrows, she pushed a shot toward Trihn.

“I don’t want to get drunk,” Trihn said.

Maya shrugged. “You’re not paying. You’re not driving. Take the drink. It’ll heal the wound for a bit.”

“So, you’re really on board with Bri’s rebound plan?”

Trihn took the shot in her hand and stared down at the clear liquid. Maya pushed a lime and a salt shaker toward her. With a determined glare, Trihn licked between her thumb and index finger and shook salt onto the area. She raised the tequila to Maya in a cheers motion, licked the salt off her hand, and then tipped the glass back. The alcohol burned all the way down, and she quickly sucked on the lime to try to mitigate the painful aftereffect.

“Completely,” Maya said, pouring them each a shot. She raised her glass to Trihn, and they threw it back. “Go fuck someone else, and you’ll feel much better.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Maya asked, as if it were a challenge. She looked around at Eric’s friends and then picked out a guy in the group. “Excuse me,” she said to him.

The guy turned around. Trihn was sure she had seen him before, but she couldn’t remember his name. He was one of the many football players who hung around their group of friends.

“Yes?” he asked, confused but appreciatively looking at Maya.

Everyone did. She was a bombshell.

“What’s your name?”

“Drayton, but my friends call me Dray.”

“Well, Dray, I get off at three thirty,” she said with a wink.

He raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Maybe I can buy you a drink.”

“Maybe I’ll let you do more than that.” Then, Maya looked at Trihn and smirked. “See? Easy enough.”

Trihn shook her head. “You’re all insane.”

“Hey,” Bryna said, running into Trihn, with Stacia at her side. “We have a surprise for you.”

Stacia bounced up and down. “It’s a good one.”

“Oh no,” Trihn groaned. “I don’t want any of the football players.”

Stacia rolled her eyes. “We’re so generous, and you hate our gifts.”

“I think you’re having enough fun with Marshall all by yourself.”

“He is delicious, isn’t he?” Stacia asked. Her eyes roamed back over to his muscular six-foot-four build, and she smiled. “He’ll make Pace so jealous.”

“Oh, fuck, Stacia,” Bryna groaned. “Just stop!”

Pace was Bryna’s stepbrother, and they had a horrible relationship. He had sabotaged her one too many times and seriously needed to grow up. It didn’t matter how hot he was—and he was pretty hot, not that she would ever tell Bryna that. She’d freak when anyone mentioned it. Also, he could play ball. Football wasn’t Trihn’s thing, but she knew he was better than Marshall. Unfortunately, Pace had to bide his time to get the starting position—just like he was biding his time until he got back into Stacia’s good graces. Trihn had a feeling the latter would be more difficult than the former.

“Anyway,” Stacia said with her bubbly personality, “we caught you a smoking hot guy. Don’t worry. He’s not a football player!”

“Lucky for me. That guarantees one of you hasn’t slept with him,” Trihn quipped.

Maya snorted and then went back to pouring drinks.

“Hilarious,” Bryna deadpanned.

“But she’s right,” Stacia said with a shrug.

“Just earn your nickname, Cheer Slut,” Trihn said with a half smile.

“It’s Damon,” Bryna said.

“No.”

“What? Why not?” Bryna asked.

“No way.”

“Look, he’s hot, and he’s into you. He’s perfect. Did I mention how hot he is?”

“He is hot,” Stacia agreed. “Perfect rebound material.”

“I’ve never seen him at Posse before, so I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Bryna pointed upward. “He’s right there.”

“In the ceiling?”

“DJ booth!” Bryna said with a shake of her head.

“Oh my God, just imagine the hot sex inside the booth!” Stacia cried.

“I’m not having sex with him in the DJ booth.”

“But somewhere else?” Bryna asked with a wink.

Trihn sighed heavily. “I’m going to have to talk to him, aren’t I? There’s no way you’re going to leave me alone otherwise?”

Both her friends shook their heads. Trihn wasn’t surprised. She didn’t even know why she had agreed to try a rebound at all. She wasn’t the type of girl who rebounded. She usually wallowed hopelessly in her own personal hell pit of depression until she felt like she could crawl back into the light.

But it wasn’t as if that had made any difference in the past. She had just ended up in the same place as the last time. And there was no guarantee that, by having an easy rebound, she wouldn’t end up here all over again.

“I don’t want a relationship of any sort.”

They nodded their heads, as if they understood. They were all serial relationship people, hopping beds and hearts without the scars that seemed to hit her so much harder than everyone else. She wished it were as easy for her to move on.

“If I do this, it’s just physical.”

“I believe the term you’re looking for is a one-night stand,” Bryna offered.

“That sounds so slimy.”

“It’s fun,” Stacia said with a smile. “Just try to have fun.”

Trihn rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was even considering this.

Bryna pushed Trihn in the direction of the stairs that led to the DJ booth, and she steeled her nerves for what was about to happen. Right now, she was thanking Maya for those two shots of tequila. She probably should have taken a few more.

She made it up to the booth, but she was disappointed to find a bouncer in front of the door. She hadn’t planned for that.

“Excuse me. You’re not allowed to be up here,” the man said. He crossed his beefy arms over his chest and stared down at her, not even blinking an eye. His dark hair was pulled back into a man bun, and he was wearing a black blazer over a black T-shirt with black pants.

“Hey! Sorry to bother you.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I was just coming up to see the DJ.”

“He’s not seeing anyone. He’s working.”

“I totally understand. I just wanted to talk to him for—”

“No,” he said plainly.

“But he’s expecting me.”

“No,” he repeated. He stood his ground and gestured for her to walk back the way she’d come.

“But—”

“What is going on down here?” a man asked, walking toward them.

When Trihn got a good look at him, her eyes bulged. He was super hot with short honey-blond hair, to-die-for lips, and a bulky muscular physique clad in a cut black suit.

“Sorry, boss,” the guy said. He respectfully nodded at the man. “I was just telling this girl to leave. She wanted to speak with the DJ.”

“You’re here a lot, aren’t you?” the guy asked casually.

Trihn narrowed her eyes. “And how would you know that?”

“I work in security. I make it my business to know who is in the club. You know Maya, right?”

“Yeah. She’s a good friend of mine.”

“And how do you know the DJ?”

“Damon deejayed a party for a friend of mine, and we hung out last night at a different club,” Trihn explained. “I was just going to say hi.”

The man critically looked down at her. He had the greenest eyes she had ever seen. They were even greener than her own, and that was saying something. Modeling agencies had coveted her eyes when she was in the industry. She wondered if he modeled. He was probably in his late twenties or early thirties, but she thought he could model if he wanted.

Actually, when she looked closer, she noticed why his suit fit him so damn well. Armani.

Damn!
How can a security guard afford an Armani suit?

“All right. Let her inside for five minutes. It’s Damon’s break soon anyway,” he said to the door guy. He looked back at her. “If you bother him though, I’ll have to ask you to leave,” he told her.

“Thank you so much,” she said, the anxiety leaving her body. She had no idea what she was doing, and she had a hard time believing that she had just passed an interrogation from a bouncer and a security guard to see Damon.

“Just don’t rip out his heart,” the guy said with a wry smile.

She looked at him, taken aback. “I don’t think anyone has ever had to worry about that from me.”

“I highly doubt that,” he said with a smile before nodding at the bouncer and walking away.

She shook off the words of warning and turned back to the door. “Well?”

“Five minutes,” the guy said. Then, he opened the door and stuck his head inside. “Hey, Damon. You have a visitor.”

Trihn walked through the open door just as Damon swiveled in the chair he was seated in. The new Chloe Avana song, “Heartbreaker,” blasted through the booth with a cool remixed backbeat. It made Trihn feel alive and unafraid instead of how she had been feeling in that hallway. The way Damon looked at her when she strode into his booth definitely helped.

“Hey, Damon,” she said. She let the hot new beat wash over her. She was sexy and seductive, and she could do this.

“Trihn, I wasn’t expecting you,” he said with his amazing English accent before turning back to face the spread of equipment in front of him. He didn’t exactly sound enthusiastic.

She figured she couldn’t blame him after the way last night had ended. It wasn’t exactly encouraging to go from sexy to dancing to “I have a boyfriend” in the span of a couple of minutes. Maya probably hadn’t helped anything by laying into him either.

“I know. I didn’t expect to find you at Posse.”

“Yeah, I’ve deejayed here a couple of times. The manager gave me my first real gig, and when their regular guy backs out, I cover for them,” he said, purely business.

Trihn walked across the small booth and looked out through the one-way window. The entire club was spread out below. She could see Bryna dancing with Eric and Stacia all up on Marshall. Maya was talking to that Drayton guy while she poured drinks. So, Damon must have seen that she was here tonight.

“This is a great view.”

Damon sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he glanced back up at her with a disgruntled look on his face. “I’m working here. Do you mind?”

She took a step back and held up her hands. “Sorry. I like this Chloe song. I’ve never heard this version of ‘Heartbreaker.’ They don’t play it on the radio.”

“That’s because it’s not a radio edit. It’s my mix.”

She could hear the pride in his voice.

“You’re serious?” she said, surprised. “It’s amazing. You should post it on YouTube or something, so other people can hear it!”

He shrugged. “I guess.”

When he didn’t say anything else or look back up at her again, she took a deep breath and dived in. “My boyfriend broke up with me.”

His head shot up. His expression showed a mixture of relief and concern. “I’m sorry to hear that. Are you okay?”

She lost the smile on her face for a split second and then quickly plastered it back into place. She could not lose it right here in front of Damon. She was definitely not okay with what had happened with Neal, but she needed to get over it, and this was step one.

She nodded. Speaking wasn’t possible.

He narrowed his eyes and looked like he was going to say something else, but Trihn silenced him by straddling his body. His hands came up almost defensively, as if he didn’t know what she was doing. Then, she sat down on his lap and rested her hands on his chest.

He had on a black T-shirt and jeans. His signature ball cap was tipped back, so she could see his face.
God, he’s sexy.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Well, I’m single, and you’re single. Last night, you were into me,” she said boldly. She could channel her inner vixen and act as forward as her friends. “And…I’m into you.”

Damon stood quickly, and she stumbled to her feet. Her cheeks heated at his departure.

“Look, Trihn, I don’t want to be some rebound.”

Her mouth dropped open, and then she quickly recovered. That was exactly why she had come up here—for him to be her rebound. That was what she wanted. She wanted someone to help her forget the shit she had just gone through. She was pretty sure Damon could do that.