Page 60 of The Publicity Stunt

Kace turns and walks out the door. He lost everything today. His girl. His best friends. Probably even his career.

Chapter Twenty

Bri

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."

---