Lewis nodded. “It appears so, sir.”
“Thank you, Lewis.”
I slid back into the limo and tried to call Bree once more, with no luck.
“Where to now?” Hank asked.
“Home.”
“You don’t want to go back to the event?”
I lifted my eyes and met his in the rearview mirror. “No, Hank, I want to go home. And not to my condo. My parents’ house. I need to talk to my mother and figure out what in the hell to do now.”
The moment I stepped off the elevator and made my way through the offices of Morrison, Becker, and Gline, I heard the whispers. I did what I had to do and smiled politely as I made my way to Bree’s office. I knew the gasps were most likely coming from people who recognized me.
My father had fully backed the idea of me showing up at the office since Bree refused to take any calls from me, my mother, or my sister, Jenn. I had even asked Lou to try to contact her. Lou had had more success, since Bree at least texted back. Lou had sent Bree a message asking what in the fuck I’d done to mess things up and then had screenshotted Bree’s reply for me. It said: “Please tell Luke to leave me alone.” That was it.
Now, as I approached Bree’s assistant’s desk, I saw her look up and then do a double take. She immediately jumped up and rounded her desk.
“Um, Mr. Morrison, er…Walters, um…whoever you are this morning, Bree is in a meeting.”
I raised a single brow. “Is that so? I just came from my father’s office, and he informed me she’s available.”
It was a lie; I hadn’t been up to his office. The fewer people I ran into while I was here, the better.
“Oh, well, um, she’s on a conference call, and I, um…”
Her eyes darted to her phone, then to Bree’s door, then back to her phone. I could almost hear her thoughts.
I need to alert Brighton!
With a smile, I leaned in and said, “This will only take up a few minutes of Ms. Rogers’s time, Wendy.”
I headed to the door and heard her whisper-shout, “Oh, she really doesn’t want to see you! If you value your life, don’t open that door.”
Before I opened it, I looked back at her and winked. “Are you worried about me?”
She stood there, stunned into speechlessness, then shook her head and scoffed. “Hardly.” At least I knew she wouldn’t rush in ahead of me. I took advantage of her shock and opened the door and quickly slipped in.
My heart felt like it skipped a beat in my chest when I saw Bree standing at the large windows overlooking Boston.
“Wendy, I thought I said I needed to be alone,” she said without turning.
“She tried to stop me, but I managed to get around her.”
Brighton spun around and stared at me. For a moment, I saw it on her face. That brightness she always got when I walked into a room, or showed up to her place after being gone for days or weeks at a time. It vanished as soon as it appeared, and a cool expression replaced it.
“It seems like you know your way around women.” She folded her arms across her chest and shot me a glare that made me take a step back as a chill ran down my spine.
This was a very pissed-off Brighton. I had yet to meet this version of her.
“Why won’t you return my calls, Bree?”
She gave a nonchalant shrug. “I figured we didn’t have anything to talk about. What I saw at the event Thursday night gave me a very clear picture of where we’re at in our relationship.”
“The fuck it did,” I said with a shake of my head. “Bree, there is nothing going on between me and Kathleen.”
“So you say, but you looked awfully comfortable with one another. The little whispers to each other…was that for show, as well, Luke? It almost seemed like you had a history.”
I sighed in frustration. “We’re filming a goddamn movie together. Our agents wanted us to show up to the event as a pair. Kathleen loves the spotlight and loves for people to gossip about her. She wanted people to think there was something going on between us other than being co-stars. She thinks it drives people to want to see the movie more.”
Bree snarled her lip. “These are the type of women you work with? They not only like to pretend on screen, but in real life as well? What would have happened had I agreed to go? What would Ms. Daughtry have done?”
“The plan was for me and Kathleen to walk in together, mingle a bit, then for me to meet you there.”
Her mouth fell open. “Again. Again with the meeting you there. You had no intention of bringing me with you as a date?”