Page 93 of The Publicity Stunt

"And you said...?"

Crossing her arms under her chest, she sighs. "You already know the answer to that."

A knock on the door startles her, and she jumps and turns to see Kace's coach. He steps inside, his eyes wide, when he sees her. "You're Bri Waters."

"I am. You're Terry Allen, right?"

"Can we have a few minutes, Coach?" Kace asks.

"In my office?"

He nods. "Please?"

"Only if I can ask for an autograph. I have an eight-year-old daughter who loves you, Bri. She tried to get me to fire Kace after... it doesn't really matter."

Bri chuckles, and Kace groans. "I'd love to. Is there something specific you want me to sign?"

He hurries to his desk and moves things around frantically until he finds a notepad and marker. "Her name is Cassandra."

Scribbling a little note and signing it, she hands it back to him.

"Thank you," he nods. "I think you may have just made her year."

"Of course. Thank you for letting us commandeer your office," she says.

He steps out, gives a hand motion to Kace she can't decipher, and hurries out. Kace takes her hand and forces her to look at him. "Okay, back to what we were talking about."

"I told her when it became real for me. Even before you decided what you felt for Sasha, I knew I wanted more. But you didn't, Kace. And by not doing it, you gave Brett the ammunition to provide Rudy for that interview. If it was real, why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Because I wanted to keep it to myself. Everything else we did was so public, and I wanted to hold onto what we were building. You can ask Brett... that first dinner we went to? I got after him for flirting with you. That night you made that little girl and her father's night and got that manager fired. But you're right. I should've told Brett it wasn't fake."

Swallowing, Bri can't look into his eyes anymore. He's always made her feel safe enough to open up, but it's hard when she confesses how his actions affected her. "Rudy giving that interview hurt so much because I never thought you'd be someone who would contribute to something like that. Not to me. And not after everything we shared. I think it also hurt my pride a little bit because I felt so stupid for opening myself up like I did. Doing everything I swore I'd never do."

"What's that?"

"Making plans. I was planning a future. The decisions I made took you into account. Slowing down and reducing the amount I was on the road has been on my mind for a while, and it was a bonus because it meant I'd have more time for you. Timing things around your hockey schedule, as much as possible since you play so many freaking games, and it didn't feel like you had the same thing in mind."

Kace sniffles, and she glances up at him before looking back down at the ground. "I can see why you felt that way."

"It also really hurt because when that interview came out, I lost everything. My dignity, what little pride I had left, and you. I didn't have a lot to begin with, but I felt like I gained so much with you. And then I was left cold and alone with nothing."

The tears sting the back of her eyes, and she can't look up at him. If she does, she'll break down, and she needs to keep it together. Victor asked if she'd talk to him, and she needed to share this. And to know what he thinks and feels now.

"It was real for me, Bri. After we saw that video, I went to murder Rudy. Brett waited for me, and I almost took him out, too. They hurt you, and you didn't deserve that. Turns out, neither did I, but Rudy was just too stupid to talk to me. Instead, he plotted and slept with Sasha for six months. When that didn't bother me anymore, he took you out with me, all for nothing."

"Oh, yes, the Amanda thing," she says and looks up.

His eyes widen. It sounds familiar, but he barely remembers more than seeing Bri and begging her to stay when he woke up in the hospital. "You know about that?"

"Yes, it was the long, drawn-out story they came to share with me in Cincinnati. Those guys really need to learn how to get to a point, especially when someone doesn't particularly want to talk to them. You really didn't know they came to see me?"

"No," he says and shakes his head. "What all did they say?"

"They tried to convince me it was all their fault. Hence the story. But what they said made everything sound invalid."

Moving to lean against the desk next to her, he crosses his arms and stares at the wall. "What did they say?"

"Well, Rudy said you told him you loved me, but Brett admitted he didn't know what we had was real until after the interview. I asked why you'd tell Rudy, a man you haven't trusted in so long, how you felt about me, but you never told Brett, who, as far as I was aware, was your best friend. They didn't really have an explanation for that one."

---