Page 68 of The Publicity Stunt

Bobby grabs Tessa and throws her over his shoulder. "Got it."

"If you need me, holler. I would really love to claw someone's eyes out."

Bri sighs and leans back against the wall. "You are the king of saying all the wrong things, aren't you? Your trainer, Trevor, dumped her for another girl. It's a whole thing, so thank you for picking at that wound. We'll do really well feeding off each other's heartbroken energy tonight. I'm glad we just replaced the tequila."

"Sorry."

"Back to Sasha... what does this have to do with anything?"

Rudy nods. "The only reason I did that was because I thought he cheated with Amanda. And then you and he were getting all this attention, and I thought he didn't deserve it. It made me angry, and I wanted to hurt him."

"I'm still confused," she says and waves a hand in the air. "When did you find out he didn't sleep with Amanda?"

"The night the interview was released when he came to kill me for it. We called her when it finally came to light why we had such an issue."

Tilting her head, she crosses her arms under her chest. "Why didn't you just confront him when she told you she slept with him? Besides the fact you're friends, you're also teammates. Why opt for plotting revenge for a couple of years only to be wrong?"

"She's got a point," Brett says. "I didn't even know why he had such an issue with Kace."

"You know, you're right. It would have been better to do that. I don't know if I would've believed him at the time, but I should've talked to him."

Blinking, she stares at him. There must be a point somewhere, but she isn't sure what it is. All she wants to do is shower, go to the hotel, and curl up in her bed and cry, so she really needs him to move this along.

"Brett and I were out celebrating one night after Kace ditched him again to spend time with you. He's normally the one who reminds us to keep the drinking under control, so we got tipsy. I started talking about your relationship, and that's when Brett let it slip about the arrangement."

Her eyes lock with Brett's. "I was drunk. There's no other excuse, Bri."

"You saw us together. You really thought we were that good at acting?"

"I mean, I knew you two were attracted to each other, but I didn't know for sure it moved beyond that. He was still hung up on Sasha the last time we had talked, and you'd had that whole thing with Erectile Dysfunction."

Bri glances at the ground and hides her smile at the affectionate nickname more people have adopted for Easton thanks to Tessa. "He never told you the relationship was real. That answers that question. He would've told you if he felt it was more than how it started. Not so much you," she says and looks at Rudy, "but it was just a game to him."

"That's not true," Rudy says. "About the game part. He totally wouldn't have told me shit. For good reason, it seems, now. It was real, and I could tell. Which, I guess, is why I wanted to hurt him. We were getting along better on the ice, and it didn't feel like he hated me anymore. The only reason he'd do that was if he'd moved on with someone else. With you. And it didn't seem fair he was moving on with someone so great who everyone in the world loves. Like he was rewarded for doing something terrible that I believed he did."

"Or, it could have been the numerous women he was bedding when I wasn't around," she suggests.

He shakes his head. "I made that up. That was a total lie."

"It sounds like you do a lot of that. Why the hell would I believe anything you have to say?"

"Because he loves you."

If their goal was to hurt her, they succeeded and found her trigger. "He never told me that, so nice try."

"It's true," Brett says. "What Rudy did was wrong, but he's telling the truth."

"So, let me get this straight. Kace, who hasn't wanted a thing to do with you since he found out you were sleeping with his girlfriend for six months that he was going to propose to, told you he loves me?" Bri says to Rudy before turning and pointing to Brett. "And he never told you, who he considered his best friend, that what we had wasn't fake after telling you about the arrangement from the beginning? You understand why none of this sounds truthful, right?"

"Remember when I told you she has a great memory? It's this type of memory and logic that gets us in trouble. Even though we're telling the truth, it sounds like we're lying," Brett says.

Rudy shakes his head. "No, he told us when he came to kill me. Punched me in the face, and if Brett wasn't there to stop him, he probably would have put me in the ground for how I hurt you. We found out about Amanda, and I have never felt more terrible about anything in my life. He was angrier than I've ever seen him, and he hates us now. We hurt you, and we cost him everything."

"What exactly has it cost him?" Bri asks.

Brett gives her a sad smile. "Besides you? Who he does love, by the way, he also got benched until this week because of the bad publicity from your fans. Turns out, they fucking love you. And they more than hate him. He's starting again tomorrow, but his heart isn't in it."

"We went to see him and his father over Christmas, and he said he'd give up ever making it to the NHL if it meant it would take away your pain. It's been our dream since he was twelve, but his dream changed when he met you. He also admitted he'd been planning on trying to make amends with me because he fell for you and didn't give a shit about Sasha anymore. But he's done with me completely now. And he's also done with Brett."

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