The Publicity Stunt

19. Chapter Eighteen

Seeing Bobby and the rest of her security team pull Kace away from her has her stomach in knots. There must be a mistake. Something to explain what they think the man may have done. The man Bri”s in love with.

”What is it?” Bri asks, not taking the outstretched phone from Nia. Something inside her tells her she doesn”t want to see whatever it is.

”Hit play, sweetie,” Nia says and glares at Kace.

Bri”s hands shake as she takes the phone from Nia and glances back at Kace. He struggles against her team, but the way he looks at her tells her he has no idea what she”s about to play. It gives her a little bit of hope it won”t be as bad as it seems.

Hitting play, her stomach drops as she watches an interview with a sportscaster and Rudy.

Interviewer:So, your team has a solid chance of making it to the Stanley Cup this year. Is the team pretty excited?

Rudy:Yeah, we all are. It”s been a hell of a year.

Interviewer:Does it bother you that most of the attention centers around Kace Lyons and his relationship with superstar Bri Waters?

Rudy:No, not at all. He needs to feel like the star, so I”m not really that bothered. It”s all fake anyway.

Her stomach drops, the knots forming one solid pit at the bottom. She glances up at Kace, who stopped fighting and stares intensely at the phone, too.

Interviewer:What do you mean when you say it”s fake? The hype?

Rudy:The entire relationship.

Interviewer:I”m sorry, I don”t follow. We”ve seen them show up for each other, and the kisses between them definitely look real. Hot. She even thanked him in her acceptance speech after winning one of many awards.

Rudy:They put on a great show, but none of it”s real.

Interviewer:Why would they fake it?

Rudy:She”d just gotten humiliated by the douche Easton Duffy right before going on tour. Our team has a solid shot to make it to the Cup, and this would bring the attention and audience in the right direction for both. The relationship is nothing more than a fabrication pitched by their PR.

Bri feels the earth beneath her crack, and she wants it to just open up and swallow her whole. This isn”t something he made up. No, Rudy was told about the arrangement, and the only people outside their reps who know are them and Tessa.

Interviewer:You know this for a fact?

Rudy:I mean, yeah. Besides the fact that something seemed really off and suspicious about the whole thing. When would they have met? And why would Bri Waters have any interest in a hockey player? She”s the world”s biggest star and could have anyone she wants. Hey, Bri, let me know if you”re ever interested in the real star of a hockey team.

Interviewer:Those are valid questions, and a weird response to hit on a woman who may or may not be dating a teammate, but that”s not proof.

Rudy:It”s no secret Kace and I have fallen out of grace. You can see it on the ice, and it”s not a secret in the league. But I”m still good friends with his best friend, Brett Browning, with the Twisters. Brett told me this is exactly what Kace told him.

Bri feels like she can”t breathe. Kace told Brett who told Rudy? Brett”s Kace”s best friend, so it”s not that shocking. But if he”s such good friends with him, wouldn”t he have told Brett things changed between them? Unless they hadn”t really changed. Not for him.

Interviewer:It all looks so real. They look like they”re falling in love.

Rudy:I”d say I agree except for the fact that every game Bri doesn”t attend, Kace hooks up with whatever puck bunny wants to go home with him. I felt bad for Bri, knowing what he was doing until I heard it was fake. It”s probably part of their arrangement.

Interviewer:And this is common knowledge?

Rudy:As common knowledge as the fact he planned to propose to my girlfriend, Sasha. I wouldn”t be surprised if he still had the engagement ring somewhere just waiting because of some delusional idea that Sasha will come back to him. He can pine for my girl all he wants, but it”s never going to happen. And I think the publicity was used as a way to get back at her for leaving him for me.

Turning the phone off, Bri hands it back to Nia. Her head spins, and she feels like she might pass out.

”Bri, that”s not true,” Kace says. ”What Rudy said isn”t true.”

”He knew about the arrangement. The reason this whole thing started,” she says.

Placing her hand on her stomach, she feels like she may be sick. And she can”t look at him. If she looks at him, she”ll break down crying, and she won”t give him that satisfaction. He”s seen all of her except that side. Which hurts even more because he”s the only one she wants to seek comfort in.

”Baby, listen to me-”

”I trusted you,” she interrupts and leans against the wall to support her. ”I told you things only my team and Tessa know. What else have you told people? What else does Brett know? Does he know I let you...”

Kace fights against Bobby, and she glances up to see him almost win. Almost. ”I was never with anyone else! I swear it!”

”You introduced me to your family. Your dad, okay, I did that, but why go through all this effort if it never meant anything to you? To keep the story going from your side? To keep me believing we had something real?”

”It is real!”

Tessa runs up and grabs Bri”s arms. ”What”s going on? You look sick, Bri.”

”They were just escorting Kace from the building,” Bri says, her voice shaking.

”What? Why?” Tessa whips around to face Kace. ”What did you do to her?”

”Nothing! It isn”t true!” he shouts. ”Bri, baby, you have to believe me.”

Swallowing, she looks up but can”t look at his face. ”Do you still have the engagement ring you bought for Sasha?”

”What?”

”He said you probably still had it. Do you?”

”I forgot I had it. I threw it in a drawer and haven”t looked at it since.”

Tessa rushes and wraps herself around Bri to keep her steady. ”Sasha? Your ex-girlfriend, Sasha?”

”It felt so real. I thought you actually liked me,” Bri says, her arms clinging to Tessa. ”That there was a chance you could fall in love with me.”

”Bri-”

”You told Brett.”

Kace struggles against Bobby but can”t break free. ”You told Tessa!”

”And I told her the moment it wasn”t fake for me. You never told Brett. God, what you did was even worse than what Easton did,” Bri says, the tears slipping out, and she uses Tessa as a human shield to keep him from seeing her. ”Easton wasn”t capable of making me fall in love with him, but you were. You knew exactly what to do and used it to get to me. To make this all so convincing. But you”re just like Eason. You turned around and humiliated me just like he did.”

Tessa shifts to keep her hidden when she turns to Bobby. ”Get him out of here.”

”Tessa, I swear, it wasn”t fake for me! Please, you have to believe me. If you believe me, Bri will believe me. It wasn”t an act!” he shouts, but her team pulls him away.

”Is he gone?” Bri asks when she can”t hear him anymore.

”Yeah, he”s gone, babe.”

Her legs give way, and the dam breaks. Crying out, the emotional pain hits so hard it feels physical, and she falls to the floor as she becomes dead weight in Tessa”s arms.

”Tessa, what do we do?” Nia asks, and Bri would laugh at how alarmed she sounds if she wasn”t so distressed.

They”ve both seen her fall apart before, but not like this. Nothing like this has ever happened, and she swore it never would.

”Let”s get her inside before a reporter happens to stumble upon us,” she says and carries Bri into the room. ”Bri, talk to me. Babe, you”re scaring me.”

”I thought he loved me,” she says, more tears falling. ”Tessa, this hurts. It feels... It feels like someone just ripped my heart from my chest and threw it in a blender.”

Rocking with her, she runs a hand over her greasy, sweaty hair. ”I know it does.”

”No, I don”t think you understand,” she sobs. ”This hurts more than losing my family and being left alone.”

”I know it feels that way-”

”I fell in love. So completely in love because for the first time, it felt like someone could see me. Brianna. Not Bri Waters, just me. That he saw me for more than what I could do for him, and I let my guard down. I trusted him, and I told him things. Things I don”t tell anyone but you, and I was nothing more than a publicity stunt for him. God, he introduced me to his family! I started to believe I could finally have what I wanted more than anything.”

Nia walks over and crouches down. ”Bri, I am so sorry. This is all my fault. Neo and I came up with this plan, and I don”t blame you if you want to fire me. I”ll resign if you want me to.”

Tears blur her vision, and she shakes her head. ”I don”t want that. I want... I want... I don”t want to do this anymore.”

”Do what?” Tessa asks, and she sounds even more alarmed than before.

”I don”t want to perform anymore. I don”t want to be a superstar. It”s done nothing but take everything from me. Everyone I meet wants to use me for their own personal gain. I can”t do it anymore.”

Rubbing a hand on her back, Nia sits on the ground and rocks with them. ”He was just a guy, Bri. A loser, asshole guy.”

Bri stiffens and shakes her head. ”No, he wasn”t. I don”t know how to explain it, but when I was with him, I felt... I felt more like me than I ever have. The version I always thought I could be but never quite could reach before.”

”That was still you, babe,” Tessa says.

”No, it wasn”t. With him, I was strong. In a way, I felt safe and protected, which made it possible to be strong. And he had this way of looking at me with such amazement. Like I was a Wonder of the World or something. No one has ever looked at me that way before. Ever. God, he should stop being a hockey player and go into acting. He put on such a great act.”

”Bri, what do you want me to do here? Do you want me to put out a statement saying that Kace Lyons lied because you dumped him, and his teammates and friends wanted to help him save face? I can spin that and make him a social pariah. He”ll get nothing but bad press, and then hopefully his team never makes it to the playoffs,” Nia says.

Shaking her head, Bri lets out a shaky breath. ”No, don”t lie. You can put out a statement that we met under the pretenses of a fake relationship, but we wanted to try it for real. Or, at least, I thought it was real.”

”Bri, that gives him all the power,” Tessa says and looks her in the eyes.

She can”t help the dry chuckle. ”When have I ever had the power? I got my heart broken. I lost. Everything I thought I had and could have disappeared with one interview. There”s absolutely nothing to fight for.”

”Dignity.”

She stands. ”I don”t remember the last time I had any dignity. Not since before my parents tried to put me into a conservatorship to control me. I sure as hell won”t have any if we lie and make Kace look even worse than he already does. Tell them the truth, Nia. It started that way, but I fell in love. And I was stupid enough to believe he was falling, too, but it seems he was not.”

”Where are you going?” Tessa asks.

”I really, really need a shower. And then I think a bottle of some type of really strong liquor is on tonight”s menu for dinner.”

Tessa nods and looks at Nia. ”I”ll be back.”

”Where are you going?”

”To get the tequila.”

”And that”s why you”re my best friend,” Bri says.