Page 75 of The Publicity Stunt

"I never planned to stick out the entire pregnancy. It was intentional when I shared the ultrasound. It had the estimated conception date and baby measurements. They knew when I started messing around with her, mostly because they all said I was a stupid prick for it, and I knew they'd do what was needed to move the speculation along."

Bri shakes her head as the food comes. She smiles at the server who sets the plate down in front of her, and she takes a deep breath, inhaling the wonderful scents of the delicious plate in front of her. "Why not just tell the truth?"

He sighs and takes a bite of his chicken parmesan. "Because I'd already been caught cheating. And then she told everyone she was pregnant. If I walked away, I would be seen as the asshole abandoning his pregnant mistress. There's no way I could get away with claiming it wasn't mine and have anyone believe me. My reputation was already damaged, but that would have completely destroyed it. I had to wait until it was irrefutable. Even now, there are some people out there who think my team fabricated the results."

"To be fair, you never really had the greatest reputation to begin with."

Laughing, Easton shakes his head. "And why's that?"

Twirling a few noodles onto her fork, Bri savors the taste on her tongue. Not much entices her lately, but this, right here, feels like water after being stuck out in the desert for a few days. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way because you know I support all creative outlets, but your songs... they kind of suck."

"I know."

"Your voice isn't that bad, but you need to work on the lyrics and music. You know, the major foundations of a song."

He sets his fork and knife down before looking into her eyes. "That's why I was so attracted to you, Bri. You have this incredible skill to take what you feel and put it on paper. You learned guitar and piano, and you found a way to make melody magic. I guess part of me hoped some of it would rub off on me."

"You didn't have to pretend to date me for that. You could have just asked me."

"Have you met me? Up until recently, my pride was impossible to get over to allow me to do that. Instead, I did everything I could to hurt you. I really am sorry, Bri."

"I have one last question."

Taking a deep breath, he leans back. "Okay, I'm ready. Hit me."

Part of what she liked about spending time with Easton was how easily he could defuse intensely serious moments with sarcasm and jokes. "The whole situation of getting caught was made to look accidental, but it really seemed like it was staged."

"Yeah, it was. Johanna planned it, and I didn't have solid proof until towards the end. I never would have done that on purpose, but she would."

"She sounds like a peach."

"She has her moments. When she's not being the wannabe star, she's not a bad person. There were times I thought I could actually love her, but then her secondary personality would come out and take over. It got to the point where she was the fake version of herself more than the real one. I just couldn't do it anymore."

Taking another bite of her pasta, she thinks back to Kace. At least he felt real. That she was seeing the real version of him instead of some made-up and fake side. No one can pull off a fake version of themselves around parents who know them well. The situation was the fake part, but not him.

"I have to ask," Easton says as he finishes up his meal. "Is there any chance for us?"

Bri chokes on a noodle. "Chance for what?"

"To get back together."

She laughs. Really laughs. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Apparently not."

"Easton, we both know we weren't good together. It was more of a companionship than anything else."

"At least the sex was good."

Shaking her head, she takes another bite of food. "No, it really wasn't."

"Well, shit."

"If you want to get together after you write a few songs, I'd be happy to give you feedback and pointers."

His eyes widen. "Really?"

"Really."

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