Page 80 of The Publicity Stunt

Tessa stands and crosses her arms, a knowing look on her face. "Which teams?"

"Well, one is obviously the Twisters. Their stadium is flatter than this house."

Bobby shoots her a glare, and even Nia looks shocked at her comment.

"Who are the others?" Bri asks and holds the award and picture against her body.

"I'll give you one guess on one of them. Seems he doesn't want to give up on you, sweetie."

"The Bootleggers?"

Nia nods. "Every single one of them. And, I know this probably isn't something you want to hear, but Kace Lyons is looking particularly buff. Looks like his coping mechanism comes in the form of weights in a gym."

"Let me guess... they're at the site we're headed to?"

"Yes, ma'am. Will that be a problem?"

She shakes her head. "No, this isn't about me or him. This is about the town."

They climb back into their vehicles and drive to the command center. She's about to tell them to turn around when she sees Kace with Rudy and Brett, but then she sees something else that makes her blood run cold.

"Is that your mom?" Tessa asks. "Walking towards Kace?"

"Oh, this is not good. Bobby, we need to interfere. Now!" Bri says and jumps out of the car.

Her father and brothers quickly follow her mother. Tessa hurries after her and tells Bobby, "We need to get them out of here."

The screaming from her mom starts before they've taken three steps. "You have some big balls coming out here after what you did to my daughter, you asshole!"

Kace turns around, as does the rest of the team, and he narrows his eyes at her. "Who are you?"

"Who am I? You didn't even bother to learn your fake girlfriend's family? You humiliated my Bri, and now you show up here? What? To try and make yourself look better? Tough luck, bucko."

"I don't think people who live in glass houses should throw stones, Mrs. Waters."

Bri almost laughs until her mother points a finger at him. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"Stop it!" Bri shouts and hurries over. "Enough!"

"Excuse me?"

"You don't get to play the devoted mother now. Not after you refused to answer my calls when I found out about the tornado and wanted to know you were all okay. You never called me back or even bothered to send a text message. Until just now, I didn't even know if you were alive, so don't act like you care about me at all."

Placing a hand on her chest, her mother gasps. "How dare you shout at me?"

"How dare you attack him?" she cries. "You haven't spoken to me since the last time my lawyers sent a cease and desist with all the lies you get paid to share. And this was after you cut me off from the family because I got a lawyer to stop you and Dad from forcing me into a conservatorship. The moment the judge said you had no legal standing, you cut me off."

The cameras all focus on them, and her mother’s fake tears start. "I don't know how I raised such a spiteful girl. You were always so sweet."

"Oh, cut it out," Tessa says.

"You're one to talk. If she looked at everyone around her exploiting her, you'd be put right in the spotlight," her father says. "Followed by this meathead."

"Enough!" Bri shouts. "If you want a scene, I'll give you a scene, but we'll take it elsewhere. We're not going to continue interrupting people who showed up to help your community. My community. The community that used to be mine before you made it too ugly to be in."

Her mother scoffs. "That's real-"

"No, your need for attention does not trump the pain and suffering the others in this town are going through. Your house stands tall and barely damaged. You got lucky, so start acting like it. No one owes you anything, especially after the millions you took from me before I turned eighteen and blew through like tissues. Back off, Mother."

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