Platinum (All That Glitters #3) (17 page)

The bouncer pointed them toward a small lounge where a line had already formed for people with passes.

Bryna wrinkled her nose at the line. “I don’t do lines.”

Trihn shook her head. “It’s not like you want to meet her. You already know her.”

“Oh my God!” a girl in front of them cried. “You
know
Chloe Avana?”

Bryna shrugged. “Whatever.” Then, she turned back to the girls. “I’m going to need a drink to get through this.” She wandered off without a backward glance.

Trihn had no idea where she was going to find a drink. There wasn’t a bar in sight.

The only time Trihn had been backstage where she wasn’t dancing was at a ballet that Preston had taken her to. They’d used his press passes from the magazine he was interning for and fucked backstage. She frowned at the memory. Sometimes, she wondered how she had been so young and reckless and utterly blind to him.

The screams pulled her out of her negative thoughts, and she huddled together with Maya and Stacia at the back of the line. She didn’t care what Bryna thought about lines. She was not going to miss the opportunity to meet Chloe.

“Can you believe this is happening?” Maya asked.

Trihn shook her head, and Stacia looped arms with them. She was more than a head shorter than both girls and looked ridiculous, but she clutched on, bouncing around in her high heels with excitement.

“This is going to be killer. Bri has the best surprises,” Stacia said. “This was worth giving up fuck-buddy privileges with Marshall for the night.”

“So, what about Pace?” Maya asked. “I see you with him at Posse sometimes.”

Stacia narrowed her eyes at Maya. “Pace Larson is the last person I want to think or talk about right now.”

“So, you’re off again?” Trihn said.

“Off forever. That asshole is sleeping with another cheerleader,” she snapped.

“Aren’t you sleeping with another football player? The starting quarterback?” Maya pointed out.

“So?”

Maya’s eyes widened, and she laughed. It was clear that Stacia either didn’t see or didn’t care about the hypocrisy in her words.

“Nothing,” Maya finally said. “You just still seem into him.”

“I’m not,” Stacia said defensively.

Trihn laughed and turned her attention back to the line. It had dwindled down to just a few people in front of them. The screams had ended, and there was Chloe.

In her four-inch platform thigh-high boots, Chloe was at eye-level with Stacia and wearing a slick, straight black dress. Her dark hair was pulled up into a high ponytail at the top of her head, and her characteristic big brown eyes were rimmed in charcoal and highlighted with fake lashes. Her makeup was stage heavy with luscious cherry-red lips and contouring that could have only been achieved by a professional.

Trihn was speechless. She had modeled and dealt with all manner of celebrities, but Chloe Avana turned her into a fourteen-year-old fangirl.

“Great show!” Stacia cried. “It was stellar.”

“Really amazing,” Maya agreed.

“Thank you all so much for coming,” Chloe said. Her thick ponytail bounced as she moved closer to them. “It’s really a pleasure to get to meet you.”

Her smile was bright and genuine. It made Trihn wonder why the hell Bryna didn’t like her. Chloe seemed so nice and friendly. She had just performed onstage for two hours, and she was happy to speak with her fans.

“I love your music,” Trihn blurted out.

“Thank you!” Chloe said. “Would you like a picture?”

The girls all scrambled together, and one of Chloe’s PR reps snapped a shot of the four of them together.

“What a nice candid,” Bryna said, walking back over to them.

Chloe whipped around at the sound of Bryna’s voice. Chloe’s mouth dropped open, and her cheeks turned rosy red.
Shock
was not even the best word to describe the look on her face. She was mortified. Somehow, Bryna had knocked the confidence right out of her.

“Bri,” she whispered as small as a mouse.

“Hi, Chloe.”

The tension was thick. Trihn glanced between the confrontation and Stacia and Maya. They looked equally as confused as she was.

“It’s so good to see you. It’s been so long, like…two years.”

“Mmm…yeah,” Bryna said.

“I had no idea you were going to be at the show.”

“My friends like your music.” She gestured to them as they stood together, wondering what the hell was happening.

“Wow. That’s just…so great,” Chloe said. She noticed that people were staring at her, and she seemed to shift back into her other persona. “Well, it’s great to see you and to meet your friends. We should go out tonight!”

“Oh my God!” Stacia cried. “That’d be awesome.”

“How fun!” Maya said.

Trihn was staring at Bryna. She looked like the last thing she wanted to do was hang out with Chloe.

But Bryna gritted her teeth and nodded to placate them. “Sure, Chloe. Whatever you want.”

“
WE’RE GOING OUT WITH CHLOE AVANA
tonight,” Trihn whispered to Stacia and Maya.

They were hanging out backstage, waiting for Chloe to finish up. She was playing back-to-back shows at MGM, which was the only reason she wasn’t leaving the venue to hop on a plane for her next show in a different city.

“It’s insane,” Maya whispered back. “I can’t believe Bryna knows her that well.”

“That’s so Bri—to just hold back her movie-star connections like that. I mean, we didn’t even meet Gates until last semester,” Stacia said. “Though I guess she and Chloe aren’t close or anything.”

“No, they definitely are not close,” Trihn agreed. “Chloe seemed to be a little terrified of Bri.”

“Isn’t everyone?” Maya only half-joked.

“True.”

Bryna had finished her vodka tonic and had run off to get another one while they waited. She reappeared a second later without a drink. When Stacia asked about it, she just shrugged. “Finished it already. Chloe is taking forever. I hate waiting. Maybe we should just bail.”

Trihn looked at her best friend as if she had sprouted antlers from the top of her head. Stacia and Maya mirrored her expression.

“It’s Chloe Avana,” Trihn said.

“And I’m Bryna Turner.”

“Come on, Bri. It’s one night,” Trihn pleaded.

Bryna sighed heavily and sank down onto the couch.

A few minutes later, Chloe sauntered back into the lounge area with a fake smile plastered on her face. “Sorry about that! I’m all cleared to go!”

“Great!” Trihn said. “Where to?”

“Wherever you guys normally hang out. I just want to blend in with you, get the real college experience and all that,” she said.

Maya laughed. “After all this, and we’re going to end up back at Posse on my night off.”

Bryna stood stiffly. “Great. Now that that’s settled, let’s go get a fucking drink. And with you not working, Maya, someone better know how to make my martinis right.”

“Oh, you’re a bartender?” Chloe asked.

“I am. I make the best drinks in town.”

“This is just going to be the best night,” Chloe said with a giant smile. All pretenses of discomfort left her face. She seemed genuinely excited to leave and hang out with some girls who were her own age.

“The best,” Trihn agreed, sidling up to her.

Chloe gestured for them to follow her out the back entrance where a Hummer limo was waiting for them. She had a security detail with her, but she promised them that she would only have one bodyguard with her at the nightclub. Her staff were pretty chill about her going out, but she’d apparently had some incident in London that had forced them to tighten her strings. The way she talked about it made her life sound very lonely.

“Yeah. It’s just Matt and me on the tour. He’s great, but the studio keeps him in a separate bus when we travel to nearby cities, and we’re hardly together on planes. They want to stem the possibility of rumors getting out about us seeing each other or something else that would be tabloid fodder,” Chloe explained. She was so candid for someone with such tight security measures. “The only other people I’m around are my publicist, music executives, bodyguards, makeup artists, and…you know, business people—not many girls my age and even
less
guys who aren’t just crazy fans.”

“Sounds like a hard life,” Bryna deadpanned. She flipped her blonde hair and stared out the darkened window as they zoomed off the Strip and headed toward campus.

“You’ve been in the spotlight before though, Bri. You know it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Chloe said. She fidgeted with her hands every time she spoke to Bryna.

“But you’re doing everything that you love,” Maya said. She stretched out her long, lean black legs and kicked back. “I’d kill to have a job where I could sit around all day and read, but no one is paying me for that.”

Chloe laughed. “True. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. I’m very grateful.”

“Everyone has a different path,” Trihn piped in. “Chloe’s a famous singer and movie star. Maya is going to be a publishing editor. Stacia will be an NFL quarterback’s wife. And Bryna will be directing some incredible movies. We’re all pretty lucky.”

“What about you?” Chloe asked.

“Trihn is a fashion designer. She’s wearing her own clothes tonight,” Bryna said with a wicked glint in her eye. “You’d be lucky to wear a Trihn original.”

Chloe covetously eyed Trihn’s black dress. “Is that right?”

Trihn blushed. “She’s exaggerating.”

“Own it,” Bryna said. “She’s going to showcase her designs at a fashion show in New York City over the summer.”

“Congratulations!”

Trihn’s eyes rounded, and she shook her head at Bryna. That was so far from the truth. She would have to win the fashion show at school before that would ever happen, but that didn’t seem to matter to Bryna. It was just an obstacle that she was certain Trihn would hurdle with ease. Chloe seemed to be interested at least, and if Chloe Avana wore one of her designs, Trihn wouldn’t need a fashion show.

“Thank you,” Trihn said.

This was a surreal life—hanging out with her best friends and Chloe Avana in the back of a Hummer limo, talking about her designs. She was pretty certain things could not get better than this.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to the front of Posse, and Chloe’s bodyguard, Mateo, followed them into the busy nightclub. Mateo covered Chloe, who had pulled out sunglasses and an oversized hat to walk through the room. Trihn thought it was conspicuous, but what did she know?

They went straight up to the VIP section without any trouble and took over a booth with bottle service. Once Chloe took a seat, she tossed the hat and glasses down next to her and immediately demanded tequila.

“I love this place!” Chloe cried over the music. “Great vibe.”

“It’s the best spot,” Trihn said.

“Yeah. Trihn’s boyfriend is the DJ,” Maya said, waggling her eyebrows as she expertly poured the shots.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she objected.

“Oh! Boyfriend! Exciting!” Chloe said. “Do all of you have boyfriends? Is it so great and totally normal?”

“Bryna is the only one with a boyfriend,” Trihn said with a shake of her head. She liked Damon and already knew they were moving in that direction, but she wasn’t ready for that word yet.

“You’re dating someone?” Chloe asked Bryna.

“Yeah. Eric Wilkins. He’s one of the coaches of LV State’s football team and used to play here,” Bryna told her, looking her dead in the eyes.

“Oh, cool. That’s great for you. I haven’t seen you in the tabloids or anything, so I wasn’t sure about…you know.”

“No,” Bryna said hastily.

“Right. That makes sense.”

Trihn looked between them in confusion. None of what they had just said made sense.

Shaking off the strangeness of their non-conversation, Trihn accepted the shot that Maya had handed her. All of the girls clinked their shot glasses together and then downed the alcohol in one quick motion. She hastily reached out for a lime and shook her head as the tequila burned down her throat.

“I’m going to need a few more of those,” Chloe said, energized from the shot.

Maya poured out another, and after they downed that, Trihn knew she was going to need a break or else she’d get plastered even though she was pretty good at holding her liquor.

“I’ll be back in a minute. Damon is working tonight, and I want to say hi,” Trihn said, standing.

“Say hi to the BF for me,” Bryna said with a wink.

“You’re a bitch.”

“The one and only.”

Trihn hopped out of her seat and left the VIP section. She was on her way down the stairs when she ran into Eric.

“Hey, Trihn!” he said, enveloping her in a hug.

“Hey. You going to see Bri?”

He nodded. “She seemed out of it when she texted me.”

Trihn leaned forward to talk to him even though she doubted anyone could overhear her. “She’s up there with Chloe Avana. I don’t know their history, but Bryna is in a horrible mood and drinking heavily. You and I both know where that leads with her.”

He furrowed his brow and nodded. “Hopefully, I won’t have to throw her ass into the pool again.”

Trihn laughed. “I hope it doesn’t get that out of control. She’s better when she’s with you.”