Page 91 of Waiting for Her

A chill races through my body and I uncross my arms. “What about her?”

“Turns out, she’s been telling everyone you two are together.”

“How’d you hear this?”

“I have a friend who works for the same company she works for. You know the work party she was so insistent on you attending last weekend? Turns out there was a reason for that.”

“Which was?” I ask when he looks out over the field, eyes locking on the place where I know Bri is still standing.

“She had told everyone you two were together…” he says like I’m an idiot not catching on.

“Okay?”

“You’re not understanding! She expected you to go to the party to prove she wasn’t a liar.”

“But she is.”

I wish he’d get on with telling me about what he thinks is such a shitstorm so I can finish my day and have Bri naked in my bed. Where she belongs.

“Yeah. And now everyone she works with knows it.”

I wince. “Oh.”

He adds, “She’s pissed.”

It’s not that I don’t care about Kennedy, but I’ve never, not since we first met, led her to believe we were anything more than friends. For her to tellanyonewe were together was… well, stupid. “How is this my problem?”

“She had a minor freak out.”

“Explain?”

“Minor might not be the correct word.” Now it’s his turn to wince.

That chill that raced down my spine earlier just turned a hell of a lot colder. I’m afraid this is part of the reason why Izaak said everyone knows Bri and I are together, too.

“How bad?”

“Bad. My friend told me she started the night telling everyone you’d be there soon, you’d been hung up at an important meeting. As the night went on, she kept checking her phone and coming up with more excuses for your absence. When it was obvious you weren’t coming, she got drunk. And I’m not talking a little tipsy—she was so drunk she could barely stand. But, it didn’t stop her from spewing a bunch of garbage.”

I narrow my eyes and cross my arms again, instinctively knowing that what I’m about to hear is something that’s going to make me want to punch something.

“It would seem she has been doing a bit of research.”

“On?”

He nods his head in Bri’s direction and lead settles in my gut. “She found out she was in some treatment center a few years ago. Told everyone it was because she was a drug addict and she was only hired for the job because her best friend’s husband was doing her a favor.”

“Shit,” I mutter, scrubbing a hand down my face. While we were on our date, Bri had told me she had become really close with Aaron’s sister Ava after she got out of treatment. Ava was a bit of a mentor to Bri, helping her stay on the right track. When Bri was hired on withSI,she knew right away her editor Simon would be the perfect match for Ava. She introduced them, and they got married six months later.

She also confided in me when she was given the article, the one everyone in the country wanted, she was afraid she was being given special treatment. Simon assured her that wasn’t the case.

“Yeah.”

“Where did she get this information?”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“Drew,” I draw out his name and he shifts uncomfortably.

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