Page 11 of The Publicity Stunt

"What now?"

"Johanna's pregnant."

"What?"

Nia nods. "Right after he got caught cheating, his songs picked up on the charts for about a week, but they've fallen since your tour started. The tactic seems to be elevating him by humiliating you to gain him attention."

Bri stares at the ceiling. "Why can't he just do whatever he wants without his team pulling my name into it? Humiliating me by getting caught having sex wasn't enough? He now has to share that he'd been sleeping with her far longer than speculated?"

"Are you sure you don't love this guy?" Kace asks. "It sounds like it hurts."

"It's embarrassing," she says and lowers her head to avoid looking at him. "Easton and I were never going to live happily ever after. That wasn't a secret, but it was nice to have someone to talk to about how crazy this life in the industry could get. Especially the media frenzy."

"That doesn't answer the question."

Her eyes lift to stare into his bright green ones. They complement his light brown hair cut in an easy-yet-stylish shorter style. "No, I don't love him. I never did. It doesn't hurt because I'm jealous. It hurts because it seems like everything he does is a purposeful attempt to humiliate me. I wish he'd just live his life and leave me out of it. There's only so much embarrassment one person can take."

Kace leans back and matches her stance, his eyes staring hard into hers. "Then let's show him he means shit to you."

"Wait, you actually want to do this? Have a fake relationship?"

"Look, I'm recently single, and my ex was one of your biggest fans. I don't really give a shit about the money because I'm already doing well, and we'll still make it to the Cup with or without our relationship status. But, God, it'll kill her to know I'm with the person she idolizes most."

"I'd be a revenge tactic?"

"Wouldn’t I?"

Does she really want a fake relationship? "Let me think about it."

"Works for me."

Chapter Five

Kace

Kace hasn't heard anything from Bri since the lunch where the fake relationship idea was brought up. He's asked Neo a couple of times, and he says Nia says Bri hasn't made up her mind yet. He continues to go back and forth between thinking it's a decent idea and the dumbest thing anyone has thought up in the history of ideas. He has to remind himself that if she rejects the plan, she's not rejecting him. No matter how much it feels like she might be.

He's surprised at how much he wants to check up on her. She's not normally the type of girl he goes for, but there's something about her that interests him. Besides her obvious good looks and talent, he likes how reserved she comes across one minute, but the next, she's ready to fight to the death. It excites him in the best way possible. She has a spark, and he’s drawn to it.

After she defended her ex, Kace had to listen to Easton's music again, but he hasn't changed his stance. If anything, meeting her and seeing the small amount of herself she showed him, he's doubled down on his opinions. In fact, Kace would rather listen to feral cats in heat in New York than this man's music.

It's not just bad. It's really bad. The instrumentals conflict. He's never heard a song with country elements that include a synthesizer. At least not one that would be considered good, and Easton's shown why this isn't a thing. On top of that, the lyrics were atrocious. The only redeeming quality is the fact his voice isn't all that bad. The guy just doesn't know what to do with it, and Kace can't stop thinking about how it's likely not the only thing Easton has that he doesn't know what to do with.

Coach put Kace through hell every day since he skipped the first practice, but it hasn't done anything to tame the pure hatred he feels every time he looks at Rudy. To make it worse, Coach refuses to switch up the lines, so he's always on the ice and bench with the damned traitor. The only part of being out with him that makes it relatively bearable is the fact he's not the only one who takes an opportunity to make him look bad or let a defenseman slip through and hand him his ass. It's an unwritten rule that a teammate's girl is off-limits.

It's the third period, and the Bootleggers are down by two. The crowd suddenly starts losing their damned mind, and Kace exchanges a confused glance with everyone on the team, including Rudy. They all look around, and he finally sees what caused it. Bri Waters sits in the VIP section of the Bootleggers. She showed up to a game, and more than that, she's wearing his jersey.

"What the hell?" Rudy asks as they skate towards the net and moves the puck in front of him. "Why's Bri Waters in VIP? Our VIP?"

"You're just pissed she wears my number and not yours," Kace says, accepts the puck when Rudy gets blocked, and skates full steam ahead towards the net.

Knowing Bri watches him makes him want to impress her. He winds back and smacks the puck as hard as he can. It slips right above the goalie's left mitt in the top corner, and the train horn sounds. The crowd goes wild again, this time for him.

He looks up and nods at her as she claps with a wide smile on her face. Standing next to her is a tall blonde with sharp features he would have normally gone for, but the way Bri looks at him, as though she's fully impressed, captivates him. He barely sees her friend.

The media can't get enough of her, and she waves down at him. He blows a kiss, and she pretends to catch it. No matter how shy she may come across, it's no secret she knows how to put on a show when needed.

And it hits him that this must mean she agreed to Neo and Nia's idea. Easton has been doing everything and anything he can to get his name into the news lately, and it's for the best if the asshole just disappears. He's done using Bri for clout.

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