Page 22 of The Publicity Stunt

Chapter Eight

Bri

Staring in the mirror, Bri tries to calm herself. Her stylists left, and she doesn't know if she can do this. She flew into Los Angeles four hours ago after two terrible shows filled with nothing but issues. The first dealt with sound problems, and she had to go through four microphones before anyone could hear her. Which was halfway through the show. The second had the entire stadium in the dark due to a power failure from an accident involving a semi-truck and a transformer.

Neither issue was any fault of her own, and her fans didn't seem too disappointed in the shows she put on, but she can't stop feeling shaken. And everything happens in threes, right? Which means this awards show will be a disaster. Complete and total disaster. Not to mention everyone ran late, so her hair and makeup didn't happen until an hour and a half after she was scheduled. Her dress almost didn't make it, and now she's just been informed the transportation lined up had an issue. Her team now works on an alternate option.

With everything that seems to be going wrong lately, she can't stop the nerves from taking over. Her experience taught her how to push the anxiety down years ago, but she's shaken and dreading the inevitable questions. All about Easton and his new girlfriend. No, wait, not just his new girlfriend. His new, pregnant girlfriend. As if she'd have a comment. Clearly, they aren't together anymore, so why does everyone feel the need to continue to drag her into this lovely little story?

Letting out a deep breath, Bri knows she needs to stop staring at her reflection in the mirror. She has nowhere else to go, so she crawls under the dressing table in her robe while her mind races with every other situation that could possibly go wrong tonight.

"How do you feel about your ex-boyfriend having a baby with the woman he cheated on you with?" she asks in a nasally voice.

"Oh, just fantastic. I'm actually thinking about throwing her a baby shower," she responds to herself.

No, she can't do this. Kace said he'd be here, but she hadn't heard from him all day. Nope, she decides she’s perfectly content sitting right here all night. They can say she was abducted or something.

"Yeah, I was abducted. I couldn't walk the red carpet because someone stole me. Shoved me into a trunk and took off. That would be much more preferable than going to the show."

Sniffling, she shakes her head. "But you're supposed to perform, Bri. Are you really going to let everyone down?" she asks in the nasally voice again. "All those people who have everything timed and planned for your song? You're really going to do that to them?"

"Why, yes, yes, I am." Bri says. "Ugh! I hate this!"

"Bri?" Kace's deep voice booms in the small space. "Are you okay?"

She jumps and hits her head on the table. "Ow," she says and tenderly touches the spot on her head with at least thirty pins pressed tightly against her scalp. "Kace?"

"Where are you?"

Her free hand waves from under the table, and he bends down in front of her. Man, does he look good. Delicious.

"Hi."

"I didn't mean to interrupt the conversation you were having with yourself, but they said I could come in. Wow, you're really small. I couldn't even see you."

"One of the perks of being tiny is the ability to fit in many different spaces."

"Like the trunk of a car?" he asks, and her cheeks burn when she realizes he heard most of her conversation with herself. "What are you doing, exactly? Because you're sounding a little crazy."

Sounding? She's definitely jumped off the deep end right into crazy town. "I can't do it. I can't do this thing."

Rather than get exasperated or annoyed, he sits on the floor in front of her. "Why not?"

"It's been a terrible few days, and it's only an omen of how terrible this night will end up. I don't care if I lose all the awards, but I have to perform after fielding how many questions they'll ask about Easton. All eyes will be on me, even in a room full of celebrities. On top of that, I'm already behind schedule, and there are car issues. Which means no transportation anyway."

"I have a car."

"Speaking of you, I hadn't heard from you all day! That was an added panic, thinking I'm doing this walk on the carpet solo, so I think I will just continue to sit under this table. All night."

Licking his lips, Kace nods. "I'm not exactly excited about this red carpet thing because I've never walked one before, so if you want to skip it, I'm game. But I think you might regret it."

Regret it? Bri laughs. "Why?"

"If you don't show up, especially after people planned around you, you'll feel guilty. That guilt will eat at you because that's the type of person you are. Plus, there'll be even more speculation that the reason you didn't show up was because of Easton, and that's just giving him too much power."

Damn him. "You're right. I have to stop letting him drive the narrative, as Nia keeps saying. But I think you're overestimating just how good of a person I am."

He smiles, and her insides turn to jelly. "I don't think so. This is your decision. I'll stand by whatever you want to do, but I think you'll miss out if you stay here."

---