SHINE BRIGHT (Diamond Girls #4)

1 This was a very bad idea. Trihnity Hamilton sighed heavily as she stared at the name on the screen of her phone and avoided the knowing looks from her best friends, Bryna Turner and Stacia Palmer. “Just don’t invite him,” Bryna said irritably. “I’m not inviting him,” Trihn snapped back. Trihn had been dating her boyfriend, Neal, for over a year and a half. They had met and fallen for each other over their mutual love for artistic endeavors. He was a graphic design major while she studied fashion design with a focus in art. Unfortunately, the artsy lifestyle didn’t exactly fit with Trihn’s love for partying. Or so Neal had said. Frankly, Bryna flat-out hated him, and at this point, Stacia barely tolerated him. The disconnect between the two most important things in her life—her friends and her boyfriend—was causing some…unnecessary strain. “I’m just going to answer this, and then we can go,” Trihn said. She turned away from her friends before they could say anything to change her mind. And she knew Bryna would try. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” Bryna said to Stacia behind Trihn’s back. “Leave it be, Bri,” Stacia said. Trihn took a breath and answered the phone with forced enthusiasm, “Hey!” “Hey, what are you up to tonight?” Neal asked. Trihn twirled her long brown-to-blonde ombré hair around her finger and tried to calm herself down. She was not going to argue with Neal tonight, not about going to the club for a girls’ night. He’d understand. He will. She would just keep telling herself that. Her stomach knotted anyway, twisting and turning against her will, as fear crept up her spine. No matter how much she tried to tamp it down, it’d just slither its way back up. She took a deep breath. “I was just about to head out with Bri and Stacia. We’re going to this club that’s having some kind of crazy dance party.” “Let me guess,” he said dryly. “Bryna’s suggestion?” “Maya actually!” she said, trying to keep pep in her voice. “She’s meeting us there later after she gets off work.” Maya was their favorite bartender at the local club they frequented, Posse. It was located just off the Las Vegas State campus where Trihn was starting the second semester of her sophomore year. “I see. Well, never mind then.” “I would totally invite you,” Trihn insisted. Bryna coughed noisily behind her. Trihn swiveled around and glared at her and Stacia. “But…it’s a girls’ night. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you would be getting back early. I should have checked with you about your schedule.” Stacia snorted and shook her head. Bryna looked like she was ready to rip the phone out of Trihn’s hand and tell Neal exactly what he could do with his schedule. “It’s fine, Trihn. I was going to see if I could come over since I just got back from San Francisco.” “I know,” she whispered. Over winter break, Neal had had a graphic design internship in San Francisco where his parents lived. It had been a continuation of his work from last summer. She had only seen him for a couple of days when her parents had flown him out to New York City for New Year’s. He had gotten back to Las Vegas two days early. She had thought he wouldn’t be in town until the Sunday before school started, but his parents had decided otherwise. She felt bad that she already had plans. She would have run over there in a heartbeat, but Maya never got out of work to hang out with them. Trihn couldn’t pass up the opportunity. She figured she would just see Neal tomorrow, and all would be fine. “So…” she said softly. The silence stretched between them as she waited for him to say something. She bit her lip and fought against the growing awkwardness in their relationship. When he had visited her only a couple of weeks ago, things had been strange. He’d been more interested in getting to know her sister, Lydia, than spending time with Trihn. She and Lydia still had a strained relationship after what had happened post–high school graduation, and it didn’t help that Trihn had another boyfriend who seemed to be enamored by Lydia. “I’ll just talk to you later or something,” Neal said after a few silent seconds. “I’ll probably go to The Kiln since you don’t want to see me.” Trihn cringed. She actually hated The Kiln. It was an artistic dream in theory—a bar with live music and slam poetry under the same roof as a pottery studio. But, in reality, everyone would sit around and bemoan the state of the art movement, or the lack thereof, in America while getting high as f**k, and then they’d make art with their bodies with whoever was around. It wasn’t uncommon for the place to turn into an orgy. “It’s not that I don’t want to see you,” she insisted. “I really do, but we’ve had this planned for a while.” “Okay.” “But…do you have to go to The Kiln?” she managed to get out. He knew she hated that place. It was a breeding ground for bad behavior. All the while, he’d claim that the clubs she went to were bad. “You’re going out to some club to get wasted with your friends and basically have s*x on the dance floor, and you’re asking me not to go out?” he asked in a tone that brooked no argument. “I’m not going to have s*x on the dance floor,” she argued anyway. “But I know that people do at The Kiln. It’s just…gross.” “Trihn, don’t lecture me about what I can and can’t do.” “I wasn’t,” she whimpered. “I just—” “Look, I’m going to go. If you decide to stop f*****g around and want to take us seriously, then come to The Kiln, and we can talk.” “I—” The line went dead in her hand, and she nearly screamed. How dare he insinuate that I’m going out to f**k around and that I don’t take out relationship seriously! She was the one putting all the effort into their relationship. Half the time, he would be pissed off about what she was doing and who she was hanging out with. It was blatantly clear that he didn’t trust her. She didn’t get it because she had never done anything to make him think otherwise. She was the most loyal person alive. After the fiasco with Preston, she couldn’t even imagine fooling around behind someone’s back. Just the idea of cheating pissed her off. She tried to rein in her emotions. The last thing she wanted was to be in a bad mood when she went out with the girls. Things with Neal would work out. They always did. He would get mad and lash out, but when they got back together, everything would be fine. He was just frustrated. “All right,” she said, dropping the phone to her side, “are you guys ready to party?” Bryna and Stacia exchanged equally sympathetic looks. They knew things between Trihn and Neal were rocky even if they had only heard half of the conversation. “Is everything okay?” Stacia asked hesitantly. “I really don’t want to talk about it,” Trihn said stiffly. “Let’s just go have a good time.” She hoped that would still be possible.