The Publicity Stunt

21. Chapter Twenty

Just before Christmas, Bri walks into her New York apartment, and she bursts into tears when she sees the pile of presents in a Santa sack next to the door, waiting. Waiting to make the trip to Texas she won”t be taking.

”What happened?” Tessa asks and pulls her into a hug. ”What are those?”

”Presents.”

”I got that much from the festive wrapping paper and bows, not to mention the Santa sack,” she laughs and leads them to the couch to sit.

Nia walks into the apartment with her head in her phone, but she stops the moment she also sees the presents. ”Shit, Bri, I”m sorry. I completely forgot about those, otherwise I would”ve gotten rid of them.”

”It”s okay,” she says and wipes her eyes.

”Do you want me to return them? Or donate them?”

”No, some are personalized,” Bri says and stands from the couch to walk over to her office area. Pulling out stationary, she writes a note. ”Can you have these delivered to Kace”s father”s house with this note?”

Nia takes the sealed envelope, and Bri notices her Christmas themed nails. Everything about her rep is always polished, and she wonders if she ever loses her poker face. Or dignity. It”s probably just Bri.

”Are you sure you want to do that?” Nia asks. ”I don”t think he deserves these after everything that happened.”

”They aren”t for him, and his family was kind to me. I want them to have them.”

”Can we take his out?” Tessa asks.

Bri laughs and lets a few tears slide down her cheeks. ”They”re very personalized for him. And keeping them would just be a reminder of how stupid I was to fall for him.”

”We could burn them!”

She shakes her head. ”We can”t burn what I got him. And I”m sure, Nia. But if you could get them out of here as soon as possible, I”d appreciate it.”

”Whatever you want,” Nia says before tapping on her phone and opening the door for Bobby.

”How are you holding up?” Bobby asks.

”I”m not sure I could be much worse. Luckily, we”re off for a while.”

He shakes his head. ”I warned him if he hurt you, I”d end his career. I shouldn”t have let him walk away from the stadium, but I didn”t have anything to break his legs with.”

Bri smiles. ”I appreciate the sentiment, but please don”t hurt him. He told me you warned him, and I thought you were crazy. Well, first, I thought he was crazy for thinking you”d threaten him, but I understand now. Turns out, I”m just the crazy one.”

”You”re not crazy. He”s just a moron.”

He grabs the red sack of gifts, and he turns to leave when she suddenly calls out, ”Wait.”

”Do you need me to take something else, too?”

Reaching into her purse, she feels like an idiot for forgetting to give the envelopes sitting in there to the crew. ”I completely forgot. Has everyone already gone home for the holidays?”

”Just the band,” Nia says. ”What are those?”

”Who else is still around?” Bri asks as she sorts through them.

Bobby sets the bag down and leans against the doorframe. ”Randy, Trent, Zip, Carl, Isaiah, Shorty, and Oscar. We sent Paulie home two days ago because his sister just had a baby.”

”Call them up for me?” She walks over and hands one envelope to Nia and one to Bobby. ”I”ll have to figure out how to get these to the band.”

Pulling out his phone, Bobby sends a message to the rest of his team. ”They”ll be up in a second.”

Nia opens her envelope and gasps. ”Please tell me there”s no pink slip attached to it.”

”I don”t blame you, Nia.”

”I do. Bri, this is too much.”

”Merry Christmas.”

The rest of the crew comes in, and Bri gives everyone envelopes with their names on them. She reaches a hand out to Bobby to stop him from opening his while everyone else does.

”What”s this?” Zip asks, and Bri loves how his large neck always looks like his shirt strangles him.

”Consider it a Christmas bonus,” she says. ”You”re all so incredible, not just during the tour but also with the additional traveling I”ve done recently. You stay away from your families, and you always go above and beyond. It”s a small way for me to say thank you for being the best team I could ever ask for.”

Oscar, whose name she learned a long time ago fits his normally grouchy personality, hands it back to her. ”I can”t accept whatever”s in here, Bri.”

”Why not?”

”Because I need to ask for some extended time off after all the time you”ve already given me.”

Bri, already an emotional wreck, tears up knowing what this means. ”No, Oscar.”

Tears fill his eyes, too, and he nods. ”I just got the call this morning. I was waiting to talk to Bobby.”

”What”s going on?” Nia asks.

Bobby pats Oscar on the shoulder as Oscar wipes tears from his eyes. ”I”m sorry, man.”

”My daughter has cancer. Bri”s been so gracious to give me time off early in the tour because we saw another specialist. My ex called and told me they”re putting her into end-of-life care at home.”

Bri hurries over and hugs him. ”I”m so sorry.”

He sniffles and wipes his eyes. ”Thank you. And I appreciate this, but I already feel like you”ve done too much for me.”

”Open the envelope, Oscar.”

Smiling, he shakes his head. ”I should”ve known you wouldn”t take no for an answer.” Tears fill his eyes again as soon as he opens it, his face scrunching up. ”Does this mean what I think it does?”

”Go be with your daughter. Take the time you need, and let us know if we can do anything.”

”I won”t be long. Jobs like this don”t come around all the time.”

”We”ll figure it out,” Bobby says. ”I”ve got a few friends I can call to fill in while you”re out, and you”ll have a job waiting for you when you”re ready to come back.”

The paper shakes in his hand. ”Bri... thank you. I... you have no idea how much this means. To have this off my shoulders. I”m forever in your debt.”

”I prayed for a different outcome for Sandy, and the last thing you need to worry about is how to pay for her care. Let me know if you need anything, Oscar. Anything. As cheesy as it sounds, all of you are my family. The family I chose, and while, sure, I pay you, you”re always there. Many going above the job description, and I love you all.”

Oscar kisses her cheek and says, ”Merry Christmas,” before leaving.

Bobby shakes his head. ”You covered the medical bills, didn”t you?”

”What can I say? I have a soft spot for loving parents.”

Everyone else thanks her for their bonuses, and each hugs her before leaving to take up their posts again. After recent events, Bri”s come to realize just how lucky she is to have the family she has. It”s not traditional, but they”re hers. She needs to stop focusing on what she”s lost and remember what she has.

Nia hugs her tightly. ”Thank you, Bri. Honestly, keeping my job was more than enough of a present.”

”You do a good job, Nia. Now, go on your Christmas cruise. Tell me about the hot guys you meet and hook up with like you do every year,” Bri says as she leaves.

Bobby holds his envelope up. ”Did you want me to wait because you”re firing me?”

Laughing, she shakes her head. ”Absolutely not. But you can open it now.”

His jaw drops. ”Brianna Waters, this is too much.”

”You”re the best head of security I”ve ever had, and I want to keep you as long as I can.”

”I ain”t going anywhere. You know that.”

She smiles. ”I also want you to know how much I appreciate you. But accepting this also means you need to keep your promise and not break any knees, okay?”

”So, I can give it back?”

Laughing, she hugs him tightly. ”Nope.”

”I suppose I should listen to you. Let me know if you need anything.”

Bobby picks up the sack and leaves, and Tessa walks over and wraps an arm around her shoulders. ”You”re too good for your own good, you know that?”

”They”re my family. The family that chooses me every day when they don”t have to.”

”I get it.”

”So, when are you heading out to visit your parents for the holiday?”

Shaking her head, Tessa pulls her back over to the couch and yanks her down to sit next to her. ”Nope, I”m not leaving you.”

”Tee, you have to go see your parents. It”s Christmas.”

”Eh, they”ve had twenty-four Christmases with me. They can miss one. You need me.”

”Go home. I”ll be fine.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glares at Bri. ”Would you leave me alone?”

”That”s not fair. I don”t have a family to go see.”

”If you did, would you leave me?”

”No,” Bri admits. ”But seriously, some alone time would probably be good for me.”

Tessa refuses. ”Babe, we are gonna hang out here, eat food that”s probably not good for us, and watch any chick flick you want. Break up movies, Christmas movies, Rom-Coms, whatever. We will have a movie marathon the entire break if we need to. Plus, my parents already know and told me to stay.”

”Let”s make Christmas dinner.”

”Excuse me?”

”We”ll invite the security guys up, and we”ll all eat together like a family. We can go get groceries and be like normal people.”

Sighing, Tessa shrugs. ”If you think it”ll make you feel better, why not? For the record, I did not inherit the cooking gene, but I can make a mean salad and pour wine like no one”s business.”

”Perfect. I can take care of the rest.”

Bri”s phone buzzes in her purse, but she doesn”t bother getting up to check it. Tessa sighs. ”Kace?”

”I don”t know. Maybe.”

”Has he been reaching out?”

Has he ever. ”Yeah, but I can”t read the texts. I read the first couple, but I just broke down. I”m not ready to hear any type of explanation right now.”

”I can”t believe he”d be stupid enough to tell someone.”

”I told you.”

”I”m not getting drunk with your archnemesis. What was Brett thinking? I thought he was a better guy than that.”

Raising an eyebrow, Bri tilts her head. ”You know Brett well?”

”Well, no, but I know of him. And I thought he seemed better than that. He always seemed like a guy”s guy, and that is not what a guy”s guy does.”

”I think you”re thinking of a girl”s girl. I don”t think it necessarily applies exactly the same as you want it to.”

”Whatever. He made a stupid mistake, and he”s just as much to blame as Kace for the humiliation.”

Licking her lips, Bri looks at the ground. ”That”s how I know what we had wasn”t real for him. Not like it was for me.”

”What do you mean?”

”He never thought to tell the person he said was his best friend that it wasn”t fake anymore. You knew shortly after I knew. It really feels like he was only in it for the attention.”

”Well, he was probably in it for the amazing sex you two were having, too.”

The comment should make her angry, but she just laughs. ”Maybe that wasn”t that good for him like I thought it was. I mean, it was good for me, but it was maybe just another Tuesday for him.”

”I hate to break it to you, babe, but men can”t fake it like women can. It”s either good or it”s not. There”s a very definitive ending that occurs when it”s good, and it tells you they made it to their happy place. Usually a sticky mess.”

”When you talk like that, I have so many questions I”m scared to death to ask because I don”t know if I actually want the answers.”

Tessa beams. ”One of us had to be a little bit whore-ish. It wasn”t gonna be you, so that got put on my task list by default.”

”You”re not whore-ish,” Bri scolds. ”Besides, there is no slut shaming in this house. Women can go out and get their pleasure just like men can. No double standards. Samantha from Sex and the City was just the female version of every powerful man in history.”

”Look at my little feminist. Now, what movie are we watching when we get back from the grocery store?”