Carol nodded. It should have been a red flag, but, like they were blind, they didn’t see her plan until it was too late.

“All right, well, since you two are our famous little couple here, we’re going to use you to check out the sound and lights for the About Me sections.” Carol pointed back toward the stage. “Marcus can help you get the microphone on and working, Sloane, and Brady, we’ll have you stand onstage so our lighting crew can get the positioning right. It’ll be easier to split the roles so we can get out of here faster. Okay?”

Brady had to try hard not to grumble, especially when Sloane met with and followed Marcus just offstage. Carol directed Brady to a spot that conveniently gave him a clear sight line to the two.

Pull it together, Brady.

He took a deep breath and tried to focus on the task at hand. But then it happened.

Marcus pushed Sloane’s hair behind her ear to place the small earpiece and microphone that each competitor would use during their talking and talent portions. It was an innocent move. One that made sense.

But then Sloane smiled at him.

And then Carol went for the jugular.

“She sure does look happy. I’ll sure miss her when she goes back home. Won’t you?”

That’s when Brady knew two things for certain.

One. Carol had been playing chess since the first night he’d kissed Sloane in the bar. She somehow knew Brady wasn’t Guy, and, what’s more, she somehow knew her brother was. Instead of using the information to out them, she’d decided to toy with them. To apply pressure to the crack in their relationship that was their lie. To remind him, without saying a word, that Sloane had loved Marcus since she was seventeen and still had less than five months ago when she wrote the last Guy blog post. And that, at the end of it all, she would go back to where she belonged. A life that didn’t include him.

How could Brady compete with either?

Two. Carol had won.

That pressure created a chasm out of a crack. And Brady couldn’t fake it anymore. He shook his head just as Sloane turned and met his eye.

She was beautiful.

Brady looked back at the devil debutante. “Fuck you, Carol.”

Then he jumped off the stage and walked away.

…

“Brady?”

Sloane’s voice came through the speakers at the edge of the stage, but Brady was already on the other side of the auditorium doors.

Carol hurried over, already talking fast. “I don’t know what happened, but he seems upset.” She grabbed for the little control box clipped to Sloane’s belt loop. “Let me turn this off so you can go chase him!”