My Bride Chose Her Publicity Stunt novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: You Could Have Knocked

Footsteps crossed the bedroom floor on the other side of the closet door.

Lena kicked off her shoes, and one landed against the wall with a thud.

"God, my feet," she said. "Four more days, Bran. Then the plane, and none of this exists."

"None of it," Brandon agreed.

I heard the mattress take his weight.

Maura's hand closed around my wrist in the dark.

"Meridian called while you were in the booth," Brandon said. "The stream numbers worry them. Three million heard that text."

"Three million heard a sad man," Lena said. "People forget by Friday."

"And if he doesn't sign?"

"He will."

"You sound very sure."

"Wayne always signs," Lena said. She sounded tired and fond, like she was talking about a dog. "He did what he was for. Now he can go home to Ohio and cry about it."

The words went through me and found no place to land.

Did what he was for.

My hand had closed into a fist against Maura's ribs, and I didn't remember doing it.

She turned her head very slightly toward me.

I could not see her face.

I felt her shake her head once against my chest.

*Wait.*

"The housekeeper said the garage was open," Brandon said, after a pause.

My heart stopped.

"The garage door's been sticking," Lena said. "I'll have somebody look."

"I'll look now."

"Bran."

"It'll take a minute."

The mattress creaked.

His steps came slowly toward the closet, over the carpet, one and then two.

I stopped breathing.

The handle turned.

The door slid open, and the light from the bedroom fell across our faces.

Brandon stood there in his shirtsleeves with his phone in one hand.

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