Blitz: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romantic Comedy (Blast Brothers Book 3)

by Sabrina Stark

  When the truck finally rumbled away, Mina turned to me with a smile, "You know what? That didn't go half as bad as I feared."

  I frowned. What on Earth had I gotten myself into?

  It was a good question – one I was asking again early the next morning when I was ambushed by four more family members, except this time, they were my own.

  Chapter 56

  Chase

  I woke alone early Sunday morning to the sounds of pounding on my condo door. Even from the master bedroom, I could tell who it was.

  Mason.

  And he was pissed off.

  No surprise there.

  I debated ignoring the door entirely, but I knew Mason well enough to realize that he would pound as long as it took for me to answer.

  With a muttered curse, I climbed out of bed, threw on a pair of jeans along with a T-shirt, and shuffled half-asleep to the door, intending to tell him to fuck off and come back in the afternoon, assuming that whatever he needed couldn't wait until Monday.

  But when I yanked the door open, Mason wasn't the only one on the other side. With him was Brody, along with Cami and Arden, fiancées times two.

  I stared from the open doorway. What the hell was this?

  Cami, Mason's fiancée, was petite with wavy auburn hair, while Arden, Brody's fiancée, was slightly taller with longer hair that was both straighter and darker.

  The girls looked delighted. The guys didn't.

  Cami was holding a white takeout bag, emblazoned with the name of a local breakfast joint. She lifted the bag toward me and said with a happy smile, "We brought you pancakes."

  Next to her, Mason said, "She brought you pancakes. I had nothing to do with it."

  "Oh, stop it," Cami laughed. "You paid for them, didn't you?" She looked back to me and said, "I didn't know if you liked bacon or sausage, so I got you both."

  I knew I liked this girl. Now if only the guy she was planning to marry was half as likeable. Right on cue, Mason shouldered his way past me and said over his shoulder, "Get rid of her."

  What a dick.

  I gave Cami a regretful smile. "Sorry, but you've gotta go."

  Before she could even think to react, Mason said, "I didn't mean her, as you damn well know."

  I did know. But for whatever reason, Mason was somebody I couldn’t resist tweaking. I looked back to him and said, "So why didn’t you say so?"

  "Cut the crap," he said. "You know who I meant."

  Cami spoke up. "Well, I don't know who you meant."

  Mason gave her a fond smile. "That's because you're too nice for the likes of him."

  "Yeah," I told Cami. "And you're too nice for him, too."

  Cami rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Both of you are just as nice." She hesitated. "You just have different ways of showing it, that's all."

  At this, Mason and I exchanged a look. It was Mason who said what both of us were thinking, "It's nice that you think so."

  "I don't think so," she told him with a smile. "I know so." She handed me the takeout bag and said, "I got you extra butter and syrup, too. It's in the baggie at the bottom."

  As she moved past me, she said to Mason, "But you never said. Who does he need to get rid of?"

  "Whoever," Mason replied. "It's a different chick every night."

  It was such bullshit. Even during my wildest days, I didn't go through partners that fast. I turned and gave him a sullen look. "There's no one here but me."

  I half expected him to invade my bedroom and check. But he didn't. He didn't even threaten to, which I attributed not to him trusting me, but rather to him not wanting to look like a dick in front of Cami, who was more trusting than both of us combined.

  Already, Brody and Arden had walked into the condo and shut the door behind them. Together, they headed toward the kitchen. As they moved, Arden called out over her shoulder, "I think I'll make coffee. Anyone want some?"

  I didn't want coffee. I wanted to be left alone. It was barely eight o'clock on a Sunday morning, and I still didn't know what they wanted.

  Grudgingly, I followed after them. When I reached the kitchen, I looked to Brody and said, "So, what is this? An ambush? An intervention? What?"

  Brody cleared his throat. "I wouldn't call it an ambush."

  Yeah, right. "Four on one. That seems like an ambush to me."

  Arden spoke up. "It is not. We're on your side, not theirs. So really, it's three against two." She gave me a sunny smile. "And you're on the bigger team. See?"

  I didn't see. But ever since they'd gotten engaged, it was like the four of them had their own secret language. Or maybe I was just too sleepy to get it.

  To no one in particular, I asked, "Where's Willow?"

  Willow was our much younger sister. She'd been living with Mason for years now. She had a surprisingly happy home, even in spite of Mason, who until Cami, wouldn't know happiness if it bit him on the ass.

  It was Cami who replied. "She's spending the night at a friend's place."

  Mason said, "Good thing, too."

  I didn't get it. "Why?"

  Mason grimaced. "Because we need to talk."

  Judging from his expression, the conversation wouldn't be a friendly one. With growing impatience, I said, "About what?"

  In reply, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He tapped at the screen and then held it out in my direction with the screen facing me, not him.

  What I saw in front of me didn't make me happy. "What's that?"

  "A picture," he said, not looking any happier than I felt.

  "I know it's a picture," I said. "But where'd you get it?"

  The picture was of me and Mina, coming out of the barn at the Hazelton fairgrounds. Our clothes were disheveled, and so was our hair – Mina's in particular.

  She looked like she'd just been ravaged, which in all fairness, she had. On the upside, she looked like she'd enjoyed it immensely.

  Funny, me, too. But that was beside the point.

  Mason said, "That picture? It was posted today on the National Dirt. And there's an article that goes with it."

  As I stared at the image, Cami explained that one of her sisters had texted her the link while the four of them were at breakfast. Afterward, Mason had mentioned paying me a visit to discuss it, and the rest of them had decided to come along.

  As Cami talked, I tried to think. The National Dirt – it was the same media operation where Angelique had claimed to be working. This could be no coincidence.

  I set the takeout bag on the nearby counter and snatched the phone from Mason's hand. I gave the picture a long, silent look.

  For me personally, I didn't give two shits what anyone thought. But I did care about Mina – and yeah, our company's reputation, assuming that was a factor.

  I tapped at the screen until I found the story that accompanied the image. The article was short, only a few paragraphs long, but it was more than I wanted.

  Along with the obvious innuendos, the story included Mina's full name along with a brief explanation that she was working with Blast Tools on a summer campaign blitz.

  Her parents weren't mentioned by name, but the article made it clear enough that Mina was the daughter of a small-town farming family. Throughout the story, she was called a former beauty queen, even as the article made a point to mention that she'd been "only" runner-up, as if this mattered one bit.

  When I finished reading, I scrolled back to the photo.

  How in the hell had they gotten it?

  I considered the possibilities. Maybe Ginger and Emory had snapped it from somewhere unseen, and then sold it to the highest bidder. Or maybe a professional photographer had been lying in wait.

  Either way, this wasn't the kind of publicity I wanted. Not now. And not with Mina.

  I shoved the phone back to Mason and said, "You need to leave."

  He didn't budge. "Why?"

  "Because I've got to call Mina."

  "And tell her what?" Mason said. "The truth?"

>   I didn't have time for this. "And what truth is that?"

  His mouth tightened. "You're using her."

  I felt my fingers clench into fists. "The hell I am."

  "Bull," he said. "I know what you're doing."

  "And what's that?"

  He gave me a knowing look. "You're pulling a Brody and Arden."

  I shook my head. "I don't even know what that means."

  "Sure you do," he said. "You're looking to drum up some positive publicity to offset the bad."

  Positive? Not the way I saw it.

  Up in the barn, we'd been careful, Mina in particular. Before leaving, we'd taken every precaution to make sure that no one would ever know what had happened up there in the loft.

  We'd left no trace of our encounter – except apparently, the photo, taken by God-knows-who.

  And now, Mason was calling it a stunt?

  With a bitter scoff, I said, "So that's why you're here? To give me a hard time?"

  Hey, what else was new?

  Mason eyed me with obvious disgust. "She's a nice girl."

  I felt like slugging him. "How would you know?"

  "I did some research."

  Of course he did.

  His tone grew sarcastic. "And the public will love her, right?"

  Hell, anyone would love her. Even me – if I were the type to fall in love, she'd almost surely be the one. But I refused to go there.

  Mason was still talking. "But we know how it ends, right?"

  I crossed my arms. "Oh yeah? How's that?"

  "With you dumping her as soon as the book thing blows over."

  By now, I'd heard enough. "Are you fucking nuts?"

  From somewhere inside the pantry, Arden called out, "That's what I said, except I didn't use the F-word."

  I looked to Brody. "And what do you think?"

  He didn't look happy at the question. "I don't know what to think."

  Terrific. "Are you serious?"

  He shrugged. "Hey, I'm just saying, I know you can get pretty creative when it comes to marketing."

  Shit. What kind of monster did they think I was?

  "Oh, yeah?" I said. "Like you got creative when you hooked up with Arden?"

  He frowned. "What do you mean?"

  "So the two of you – you hooked up for publicity, right?"

  Now, he looked pissed-off. "No."

  "Oh, I get it," I said. "So with you and Arden, it's real. But with me, it's just a stunt? That's what you're saying?"

  Brody gave me a skeptical look. "So, it's not?"

  Arden, who'd emerged from the pantry with a cannister of ground coffee, looked to Brody and said, "See? We told you it's not a stunt."

  We. I could only guess she meant herself and Cami. When I looked to Cami, she gave me an encouraging nod, as if to say, "Go ahead. Tell them the real story."

  I reached up and rubbed the back of my neck. Hell, I didn't even know the real story, except that Mason's theory was a smoking pile of you-know-what.

  I looked back to Arden. "And what's your theory?"

  Arden and Cami shared a long, knowing look before Arden announced, "We think you're in love."

  I was staring now. "What?"

  Cami added, "Yeah. It's so obvious from the picture."

  Mason spoke up. "He's not in love. He's in lust. Or he's just using her."

  I told him, "You don't know as much as you think."

  From the sidelines, Arden said, "But how about us? We know." She smiled. "Right?"

  "Wrong," I said. "Sorry to tell you."

  Again, the girls shared a look. They didn't say anything, but their expressions said it all. They thought I was full of shit.

  To whoever wanted to hear it, I announced, "I just like her, that's all."

  Arden said, "You wanna know what I think? I think it's lust and love." She gave Brody a wistful smile. "Sometimes, they go hand-in-hand, you know?"

  Brody moved closer to Arden and wrapped an arm around her waist. He pulled her close and whispered something into her ear. She gave a soft giggle, as if he'd suggested slipping into the pantry for a quickie.

  When I looked to Mason, he and Cami were doing the same thing.

  Just shoot me now.

  I told the whole lot of them, "You need to go."

  Arden said, "But I haven't even made coffee."

  "Good," I said. "You can hit the shop down the street. Their coffee's way better than mine, anyway."

  "Fine," she grumbled. "But I know you're just making an excuse."

  "No kidding," I said. "I need to make a phone call."

  Cami looked to Arden and said, "I bet he's gonna call her." She said "her" like Mina was a long-lost sister.

  Arden nodded. "I bet you're right."

  I didn't bother pointing out that I'd said as much only a few moments ago.

  Arden looked back to me and asked, "So, when do we get to meet her?" Before I could answer, she gave a little gasp of excitement. She looked to Cami and said, "If they get really serious, maybe she could stand in the wedding."

  I didn't ask which wedding, because for all I knew, they meant both weddings. Good thing I hadn't eaten the pancakes, or I'd be chucking them back up again.

  When the four of them finally left, I grabbed my cell phone and started thinking in terms of damage-control.

  Step one – warn Mina.

  Chapter 57

  Mina

  It took weeks before my parents stopped looking at me funny – my dad, in particular.

  It didn't help that Ginger and Emory had both shared that first National Dirt story on every one of their social media accounts, which meant that practically everyone in the county was now speculating on whether or not I'd had sex with Chase Blastoviak in the barn of the fairgrounds.

  And yes, "wondering" was the right word to describe it, because I never confirmed or denied. Instead, whenever anyone was rude enough to ask, I politely explained that I'd given Chase a tour of the whole barn, which naturally included the hayloft.

  And to those who asked about my own disheveled condition in that photo, I'd pointed out that haylofts are not tidy places. And to anyone who further pressed the issue, I'd merely suggested they get their mind out of the gutter.

  Meanwhile, my parents had done pretty much the same thing whenever the topic came up in their social circles, even if my mom had done it a lot more cheerfully than my dad.

  Regardless, I knew exactly what everyone thought, which was probably justified, considering that their worst suspicions were actually true. But that didn't make the situation any less embarrassing.

  On the upside, Chase had been perfectly wonderful from start to finish. Not only had he warned me about the story before anyone in my family had seen it, he'd also made a show of acting offended for my sake whenever anyone brought it up in front of him.

  Already, nearly two months had passed since the incident in the barn, and the story was finally dying down.

  Or maybe I'd simply stopped obsessing over it, which wasn't as hard as you'd think, considering how busy I'd been, especially over the last few weeks.

  Busy and blissful.

  By now, the campaign was in full swing, and I'd been enjoying every minute of it with the most amazing guy I'd ever met.

  And yes, I did mean Chase Blastoviak.

  Our weekends were packed with festivals, with the two us sometimes attending three or four in a single weekend. Considering that the festivals were located all over the Midwest, this involved a lot of travel.

  And lots of hotel rooms.

  Technically, I always had my own.

  In reality, I was shacked up with you-know-who.

  We did most of our traveling by car, because so many of the festivals were in rural areas without nearby airports, which meant that it was often quicker to simply drive from festival to festival rather than travel by air.

  Chase and I always drove together, which gave us long, leisurely hours to get to know each other even better – and without the glar
e of the ever-growing spotlight.

  On the promotional front, Chase and I weren't the only ones driving from place to place. As part of the campaign blitz, a full film crew was traveling along the same roads, documenting every festival we visited.

  According to Chase, some of the footage would be used for the upcoming season of Blast, the remodeling show starring him and his brothers. But a lot more of the footage was being posted now on various social media sites, which also featured ads from Blast Tools that matched the whole festival look and feel.

  As a result, the campaign was growing more popular with every passing weekend.

  We were generating a ton of positive publicity for Blast Tools and the festivals along with an embarrassing amount of publicity for ourselves.

  Weeks ago, we'd made the joint decision to go public with our relationship – not because either one of us were eager for the spotlight, but rather because it would've been ten times more complicated to pretend that our relationship was all business.

  As a result, photos of us together were plastered all over the internet – images of us riding the Ferris Wheel, sharing cotton candy, holding hands down the midway, or stealing away for not-so-secret kisses.

  There was only one hitch in the otherwise perfect campaign. The hitch had a name, and it was one that I'd come to dread hearing.

  Angelique Delmonico.

  She was proving to be more persistent than a hog after a truffle – or as Chase put it, a hog after somebody's liver.

  Lately, Chase and I had started keeping our travel plans private, showing up not for scheduled appearances, but rather for surprise appearances, which perversely, was generating a lot more publicity than if the stops had been announced in advance.

  Still, all in all, things were going a lot better than I ever would've dreamed, until one evening at the Creekville Bean Festival, when I was ambushed not in the festival midway, but in the ladies room of all places.

  Chapter 58

  Mina