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“Thank you again,” I call out from the doorway and wave them off.
No sooner than I go and finish cleaning up the kitchen is there a knock on the door. My first instinct is to look at the security app, but Brandon still has my phone in his pocket. I feel uneasy, but I’m probably overreacting. It’s probably Brandon back from saying goodbye downstairs, but still, I double-check the peephole to see Sierra waiting, and she looks pissed.
“Hey,” I begin saying when I let her in, but her expression lets me know she’s not here for any bullshit.
“Hey, yourself,” she says sarcastically, heels clicking on the hardwood. “Why the hell do I find out about Reid’s arrest in the blogs along with everyone else?”
No asking me how I’m doing after a break-in.
“As you can probably guess, it was traumatic to realize a man was breaking in after everything I’d been through. I didn’t realize it was Reid until Brandon had to knock him out.”
Sierra crosses her arms and shifts her weight. “Ava.” She says my name like she’s speaking to a small child. “Do I need to remind you that you don’t need any negative press weeks away from your book release? My God. ABufordarrested.”
“I don’t care what he is, Sierra. Reid is a psycho and clearly needs to be put away and not running around. Hell, he could have had my family killed.”
“Reid wasn’t responsible for the shooting at Stonybrook,” she says softly, holding her head in her hands, causing her long braids to fall forward.
“Excuse me? How could you possibly know that?” My blood is boiling because I can’t believe what Sierra is saying.
“What’s going on in here? I could hear shouting as I was coming up the stairs,” Brandon says, coming to stand at my side.
“Okay, so I encouraged Reid to try getting back with you, since I knew so many people care about his dating life and figured it would be good press.”
I whip my head back as if she slapped me. “Encouraged? So, when he invited me to Scorpio, that was you?”
Sierra shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Yes, the photo shoot, emails, and DMs were all orchestrated by me.”
My hands begin shaking at her confession.
“I can’t believe you! I’ve been terrified for weeks now and all you did was use it for some fucking likes?”
“Well, it worked didn’t it? Those pics from Scorpio made a few blogs and helped you, I might add. I was just doing my job, creating a narrative. At least that was what I was doing before he got in the way,” she says, pointing to Brandon.
I can’t believe Sierra stoops so low to blame Brandon, who up to this point has been a saint for putting up with my bad attitude and not wanting to listen to him.
“You have no right speaking to Brandon that way.”
Sierra scoffs. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I hurt your boyfriend’s feelings?”
Blood rushes in my head, and my skin is overheating. I’m angry on Brandon’s behalf. “No, Brandon’s made of much stronger stuff. I can’t believe I didn’t see you for what you are. This friendship is over.”
Sierra rolls her eyes. “You’re the client that takes up the majority of my time and who I make the least amount of money from.”
Wow. Our friendship is over, and certainly our business relationship is done after speaking to me like that.
“Just go,” I say.
Sierra steps up in my face. “I’m done with your ass anyway, but I want my money for the work I’ve done for this release.”
“You’ll get your fucking money,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Yeah, I better or else Reid won’t be the only person you have to worry about.”
CHAPTER 14
Brandon
I hate seeing Ava upset like this.
