“Hi…,” Abby greeted the mystery woman, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and admiration. She eyed Brianna from head to toe before stepping to stand next to Kyle. She curled one arm behind Kyle’s waist and waited for an introduction.
“Hi…,” Brianna grinned, curiously scanning the petite brunette from head to toe before returning her gaze to Kyle.
“Abby, this is my sister Brianna. Brianna, this is my girlfriend Abby,” Kyle muttered, his eyes looking as cold as that introduction sounded.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Brianna,” Abby beamed, releasing Kyle’s waist and stepping forward to wrap her arms around Brianna’s neck. Abby hugged her boyfriend’s sister as if she had known her her whole life.
Brianna was taken aback by the friendliness of his brother’s girlfriend. “Wow. It’s nice to finally meet you too, Abby. You are so adorable,” Brianna gushed, breaking the hug and scanning Abby from head to toe once more. “You’ve done good, little bro. She is pretty and gives nice hugs,” she joked, gazing at her brother.
Abby giggled at Brianna’s remarks, but Kyle did not. Kyle just glared at his sister, incapable of hiding his disdain for her. He didn’t like the way Brianna was staring at Abby. He was starting to regret inviting his sick, perverted sister to that party.
“I can’t believe I’m speaking to a real-life movie star. I’ve watched all the movies you’ve been in. I think you are very talented, Brianna,” Abby praised the stunning blonde. She was a little star struck. Brianna had that effect on people even though she wasn’t exactly a world famous actress yet.
“Well, thank you, Abby. That’s very kind of you,” Brianna replied, giving Abby a curt nod.
“Let me get you a beer so we can all sit down and talk,” Abby suggested. She had turned on her heel to walk away from the group when Kyle grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t, Abby. Brianna and I are going to go have a little chat alone. After that, she is going back to her hotel because she is very tired and has a very busy day ahead of her tomorrow. Isn’t that right, Brianna?” Kyle glared at his sister, forcing a smile that did not match the darkness in his eyes. Brianna did not say anything, but her friendly smile disappeared as she listened to Kyle not-so-diplomatically tell her he wanted her gone from that party. Abby could see pain clouding Brianna’s gorgeous blue eyes. She felt bad for her.
“Go hang out with your friends, babe. I’ll come get you later, okay?” Kyle instructed Abby, almost pushing her away.
“Okay…,” Abby said slowly as she searched both Brianna’s and Kyle’s faces trying to figure out what was going on. She headed back to the couch while she watched her boyfriend and his sister climb out a window and into the apartment’s fire escape. Abby sat back on the couch, ignoring all the chatter going on around her. Her eyes were fixated on the window Brianna and Kyle had climbed out of. She wished she was a fly on the metal rails of that fire escape exit. She was dying to know what Kyle and Brianna were saying to each other. She had a suspicion they were not reminiscing about their childhood back in Montana.
About half an hour later, Brianna and Kyle got back inside the apartment. Kyle climbed through the window first. With a flushed face and a tight jaw, Kyle scanned the room looking for Abby. When he spotted her, he headed towards the couch where she was sitting. Brianna climbed in through the window a few seconds later. She headed straight to the kitchen where the drinks were without making eye contact with anyone. Abby noticed her lips were smiling, but her eyes told a different story. They were shifty and couldn’t hide the soul-crushing pain that clouded them. It looked to Abby as if Kyle and Brianna had spent that half hour saying some hurtful things to each other on that fire escape. Abby wished someone would tell her what was going on so she could help. She felt so helpless and frustrated.
Abby questioned her boyfriend when he sat next to her on the couch. “What happened? What did you say to Brianna to make her so upset? What is going on Kyle?”
“It’s nothing. It’s a family thing. Don’t worry about it,” Kyle replied, patting Abby’s knee. “I’m going to go get us some beers. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
On his way to the kitchen, Kyle passed Brianna who was coming back to the living room with a beer in her hand. They gave each other death stares and continued on their way. In the living room, Brianna sat on a different couch than the one Abby was sitting on. She glanced over at Abby, smiled and tipped her beer bottle towards her. Abby thought about going over to Brianna and talking to her, but she didn’t get a chance to get near the mystery woman. As soon as Brianna sat down, the men at the party began to hound her. Three of them sat around her, fawning over her and shamelessly ogling her. Brianna giggled and flirted with all three of them while taking small sips from her beer.
Suddenly Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” came through the speakers, and Brianna shot up to her feet. “I love that song. Turn it up,” she shrieked before turning her attention to her three admirers. “Which one of you handsome boys is going to ask me to dance?”
All three men almost knocked one another to the ground trying to claim Brianna’s hand. Brianna chose to drag all three of them to the dance area. If the men at the party were not going wild for Brianna before, they definitely were when she began to seductively writhe her body and sway her hips to the funky beat of the song. She ran her hands all over her hair and body while her three drooling dance partners fought for her attention. Abby, along with everyone else in the room, couldn’t take her eyes off the breathtaking blonde who looked like she was genuinely having a blast dancing to the fun, groovy tune.
Abby stared at Brianna wishing she could be her.
Kyle, who had returned from the kitchen, seethed with embarrassment. While they were out on the fire escape, Kyle asked Brianna to leave the party and stay away from his girlfriend, but Brianna refused to leave. She told Kyle she was going to enjoy the party and leave whenever she goddamn pleased. Kyle was not amused by Brianna’s suggestive dancing. He was convinced she was putting on that little show just to further embarrass and humiliate him.
The night went on, and Brianna continued to dance and flirt with just about every guy in the room while staring defiantly at her brother. Abby could not find a single opportunity to talk to the mysterious sister since the men at the party wouldn’t leave Brianna alone for a second. That plus the fact that Kyle barely left her side the entire night.
A few hours later, most of the party guests had gone home. The music had been turned off and the only people left were Kyle, Abby, Brianna, birthday boy Ryan, and his three roommates. All three of Ryan’s roommates were shamelessly drooling over Brianna. They sat around her on one of the couches and hung on her every word as she regaled them with interesting anecdotes about her life as a Hollywood movie star.
“So, Brianna, do you have a boyfriend? And if you don’t, can I be him?” Matt, one of the drooling roommates, asked a tipsy Brianna.
“I don’t have a boyfriend, Matt. As a matter of fact, I have never had a boyfriend in my whole life,” Brianna giggled, patting the cheek of the stocky but adorable young man.
“You don’t do relationships? That’s cool. I’ll settle for anything-your boy toy, your sex slave, whatever you want me to be, gorgeous,” Matt pleaded as his roommates shook their heads and tried to stifle laughs.
“Actually, I do do relationships. I just don’t do them with men,” Brianna clarified.
“What do you mean?” Sergio, a Brazilian stud and one of the other roommates, asked. “Wait…Are you saying you’re a lesbian?”
Brianna shrugged and smiled coyly at Sergio. “Card carrying member since 1987.” She then turned her attention to Kyle and shot daggers at him with her eyes.
Abby’s mouth fell open when she heard the startling revelation. She had no idea. Kyle had never mentioned to her that his sister was gay. When Abby googled Brianna, she did not find a single mention of Brianna’s sexuality on the internet. She found a couple of pictures of Brianna attending movie premieres, but she
was accompanied by men in all of them. Abby was shocked, not that she had any prejudice against gay people. She just found the news surprising given how flirty Brianna was being with all the men at the party. Abby turned her head to face Kyle and found him glaring and huffing at Brianna. His face looked flushed with anger. Abby was startled by the dark expression on her boyfriend’s face. She had never seen Kyle looking that upset.
“Well, that settles it boys,” Cody, the third roommate, chimed in. “We can all go to bed now. None of us has a shot with gorgeous Brianna. Nothing to see here.”
Sergio and Cody got off the couch and went to fetch more beers, but Matt remained seated, still drooling over Brianna. He was not throwing in the towel just yet. “It’s okay if you’re into girls, sweetheart. It just means we have something in common. I’m not giving up on you, Goddess Brianna. I believe you’re worth the fight.”
Brianna giggled. She found Matt’s hopeless insistence adorable. “I’m glad you don’t have a problem with me being gay, Matt. There are plenty of people who do. And I’m not talking about strangers. I don’t give a flying fuck what they think of me. I’m talking about people who are your flesh and blood, people who are supposed to love you unconditionally. But because of their small mindedness and their ignorance, choose to believe lies and shut you out of their lives instead.” Brianna said all of this while staring Kyle down.
All eyes, including Abby’s, flew to Kyle when Brianna finished talking. Uncomfortable silence filled the room.
“Hey, Ryan, do you want to go shoot some pool?” Kyle asked his best friend through gritted teeth as he shot to his feet. Kyle took a few steps towards the pool table while scowling at his sister. Ryan stood up and followed Kyle, but not before shooting a nervous half grin at Brianna. Abby wanted to go after Kyle, but her phone began buzzing. She looked at the screen and saw it was her mother calling from Michigan. Her mother never called that late unless it was important. Filled with worry, Abby excused herself and rushed towards the fire escape to take the call.
After Abby left the room, Brianna placed her beer bottle on the coffee table and shot to her feet. “How about we all go shoot some pool?” She gestured with her fingers for her three admirers to follow her to the pool table.
Kyle and Ryan were already in the middle of a game when Brianna and the others joined them. Kyle and Ryan stood at one end of the table, and Brianna and her admirers stood at the other. Brianna placed her palms flat on the edge of the pool table and watched the multicolor balls roll across the table and drop in the pockets. “You know, I taught Kyle how to play pool,” Brianna informed Ryan and her admirers. “Remember how we used to play each other when you were younger, little bro?” She asked, raising her gaze away from the table and trying to make eye contact with her brother. Kyle ignored her. He took a deep breath and kept his eyes on the pool table. He was determined not to let her demented sister get under his skin. He figured that if he ignored her, she would get fed up and leave.
“I really hope your game has improved because you really sucked back then, Kyle.”
Kyle glared at Brianna as he walked towards the end of the table where she was standing. He was still not taking her bait. Brianna turned around, crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned her butt against the pool table to block Kyle’s path. She was trying to force Kyle to deal with her or at least rattle him, but Kyle simply walked around her, ignoring her completely.
“How about a one-on-one game between you and me, little bro? Just one game for old time’s sake,” Brianna suggested, hovering over Kyle as he prepared to take his shot.
“No,” Kyle replied coldly after taking his shot. He watched the ball drop in one of the pockets and walked away from Brianna.
Brianna uncrossed her arms and watched Kyle walk towards the other end of the table. “Why not? Are you afraid you’re going to lose to a girl? It’s okay. I understand. I mean, I can easily destroy you at this game, and you don’t want to be humiliated in front of your friends.”
Brianna’s condescending remarks and the snickers coming from Ryan’s roommates drove Kyle to his breaking point. “Fine. You want to play me? Let’s play,” Kyle snapped before gathering all the balls and placing them inside the triangle. “I’ll even let you break. You’re going to be sorry you didn’t leave when I asked you to.”
“Is that so? You think you can beat me, huh?” Brianna grinned, tipping her chin up defiantly. After all the hurtful things Kyle had said to her on the fire escape, seeing him so worked up was sweet payback for Brianna. She walked towards him and got in his face again. “Care to make it a little interesting K-bear?”
“That was his nickname when he was kid,” Brianna explained to the other guys gathered around the pool table before turning her attention back to Kyle.
“How about we place a little wager on this game?” Brianna proposed.
“What do you have in mind?” Kyle asked through gritted teeth.
“NYU is a really expensive school, isn’t it? You must be drowning in debt. How much do you owe in student loans so far, Kyle?”
“What the heck does that have to do with anything?”
“Just answer the question, asshole.”
“Close to eighty thousand. Why?”
“If you win this pool game, I will pay off all of those loans, every cent of it. I will write you a check for eighty thousand dollars. I have my checkbook right here in my bag. I’m not bullshitting.”
“Holy shit, Goddess Brianna. You have that kind of money?” Sweet Matt blurted out before stepping between Kyle and Brianna. “Seriously, marry me? Please? Don’t let the small matter of my penis get in the way of us. Look, if my penis bothers you, I’ll just get rid of it. I don’t care. I don’t even use it that much anyway.”
Matt’s roommates snickered at his hilarious desperation. Brianna shook her head at Matt, not sure if he was serious or joking about the chopping off his penis part. She patted him on the cheek before turning her attention back to Kyle and the wager.
“And if you beat Kyle, what do you get, Brianna?” Ryan, the birthday boy, asked.
“Well, if I win…I don’t know…Let me think.” Brianna turned her back to Matt and Kyle and began to walk around the pool table. “What do I want?” She kept asking herself under her breath until she had completed one full trip around the pool table and was once again in Kyle’s face.
“You know Kyle, that girlfriend of yours… What’s her name again?”
Kyle narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side. “Abby. Her name’s Abby. What about her?”
“Right. Abby. She sure is a pretty little thing. I’d love to get a little taste of those pouty lips. If I win the pool game, that’s what I want, Kyle. I want to kiss your girlfriend, and I want you to watch me do it.” Brianna’s face broke into a slow smile as she witnessed rage build behind Kyle’s eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for Kyle’s response to her outrageous but totally serious wager proposal.
Kyle white-knuckled the pool table as he scowled at his fucked up sister. He had never hit a woman in his life, but Brianna was putting him on the verge of changing that. Once again, dead silence descended over the room. Ryan and his roommates stared at Brianna with their mouths hanging open before their eyes darted to Kyle. They too were waiting with bated breath for Kyle’s response.
“No. No way. That’s not going to happen. Wager something else,” Kyle replied, shaking his head and walking away from Brianna.
“It’s just going to be a quick, innocent smack on the lips, Kyle. What’s wrong, little bro? If you were sure you were going to beat me, that little wager wouldn’t scare you. You’re afraid of a girl. That’s just sad little bro.”
Ryan and his roommates began to feel sorry for Kyle. Brianna was being brutal to him, and they did not understand why. While talking to Brianna earlier, they found out she was his sister, but she did not tell them anything else. Kyle had never spoken to them about her. They didn’t even know he had a sister until Brian
na showed up. They looked at one other and decided it was time to leave Brianna and Kyle alone so they could work out their issues. They all began to mumble excuses while walking away from the pool table.
“You don’t have to leave, guys. It’s okay. Stay,” Kyle commanded his friends without taking his eyes off Brianna. He chuckled bitterly while running a hand through his hair and counting to ten in his head. He was sick and tired of Brianna humiliating and emasculating him in front of his friends. He was determined to win that pool game. And after Brianna handed him the eighty thousand dollar check, he was going to rip it off and throw the pieces in Brianna’s face. “Fine, Brianna. I accept your wager. Let’s play.”
Kyle and Brianna began playing. Deafening silence fell over the room. The only sound that could be heard was the one made by the pool balls as they smashed against one other and dropped in the pockets. Abby was still outside on the fire escape and had no idea about the bet her boyfriend had agreed to.
“I won!” Brianna squealed after she got the final ball to fall inside one of the pockets. “Told you you couldn’t beat me, Kyle. Time to collect my prize,” she exhaled, smiling widely at Kyle. The mixture of shock and embarrassment on Kyle’s face felt yummy in Brianna’s stomach, but it wasn’t enough. She needed to twist that knife. She tossed the pool cue on the pool table and headed back to the couches looking for Abby. Ryan, Kyle, and the roommates were right behind her.
Brianna looked out the window and could see that Abby was still out on the fire escape talking on the phone. So she sat down on one of the couches to wait for her. Ryan and the roommates sat on the other couch while Kyle sat on a recliner across from Brianna. Kyle just scowled at his messed up sister. He regretted inviting her to that party. He regretted not forcing her to leave earlier. He also regretted saying yes to that sick and twisted bet. But what he regretted the most was putting his sweet, innocent Abby in such a difficult situation without her consent. He wanted to kick himself. He wished he had cut Brianna out of his life for good a long time ago.
Betrayal: Abby's Guilt (The Betrayal Series) Page 2
