He thought a moment before responding. “I’ll consider it.”

Well, that was as good as it was going to get.

They finished their circuit of the room and ended up where Lucas, Chris, and Mollie were standing. She and Mollie hugged as Chris and Brady shook hands. Liz watched Brady out of the corner of her eye. She knew he wouldn’t do anything tonight, but this was the first time they had seen Lucas since Hilton Head, and she knew Brady was still pissed about what had happened.

Champagne was passed out to the guests as Brady walked up to the stage to deliver his speech. Liz felt her phone buzz twice as she walked over to the podium to stand with Chris, Mollie, and Lucas. She wanted to pull it out, but felt as though she should be paying attention.

Brady tapped the microphone once and waited for his audience to become silent. The crowd hushed and Liz felt another buzz from her purse. God, so annoying.

“Hello and welcome!” Brady called into the microphone. “It’s my pleasure to be here tonight and have each and every one of you in this room supporting me. Winning my seat in the House of Representatives would not have been possible without you all in this building right now, and it won’t be possible for me to remain there working for you if I don’t have your continued support.”

Liz felt her phone buzz at least three more times while Brady gave the opening to his speech. Jesus, someone must really need to get a hold of her. Maybe her parents were calling. Maybe it was an emergency.

With a sigh, she opened her clutch and saw Brady’s phone light up. She had completely forgotten it was in there when they had left. Her eyes scanned the first message to make sure it wasn’t an emergency.

I’d rather you were fucking me than giving this speech.

Chelsea. Liz’s stomach dropped out of her body. Her mouth went dry and she felt all the blood drain out of her face. She tried to swallow, but found she couldn’t. Her heart was racing in her chest as she stared at the message. Another one came in.

I miss Hilton Head. Ditch the girlfriend and take me instead.

Her hands shook and she was afraid that she might drop the phone. No. No way. This . . . this wasn’t even possible. She tried to rationalize. Brady wouldn’t do this to her. He loved her. She was his world. He’d said forever and always. Those were promises.

Make up an excuse and meet me in the back room. It’ll be worth it.

She couldn’t read any more. Liz dropped the phone back into her purse and tried to collect herself. Her breathing was heavy and she placed her hand on her chest. She needed to get out of there. She needed to clear her head and think and figure this out. She couldn’t keep listening to Brady’s speech, the speech she had helped him with, with Chelsea’s words in her head.

She stumbled sideways into Chris and he placed a hand on her arm. “Excuse me for a second,” she mumbled and then walked purposefully away from the stage. She could feel Brady’s eyes on her as she left, but she didn’t turn back to look for him.

She knew where the side exit was to the restroom. She had used it two years ago in this very room to meet with Brady about him bringing another woman to the gala. Was history repeating itself and now she was the other woman?

Liz heard footsteps behind her and just as she made it through the door, Chris caught up with her. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Are you sick?”

“Sick,” she scoffed. “That’s one word for it.”

“Are you going to throw up? Do you need anything?” he asked, concerned.

“How long have you known, Chris?”

“Known what?”

“About Chelsea.”

Chris looked uncomfortable and scratched the back of his head. “I mean . . . like forever. They were on-again, off-again in college.”

“Since college,” she gasped. “Wait . . . environmental lobbyist.” Her head spun as the pieces all fit together. Brady had brought a date to the event he had held at Hilton Head two years ago when he had flown her down there and had said that it was an environmental lobbyist he had known since college. Chelsea fit the bill. Chelsea must have been that date. He had said that nothing was going on then, but that had clearly changed. “She went to Hilton Head with him.”

“Um . . . a couple times. Why?”

“Why?” she demanded. Liz pulled Brady’s phone out, lit up the screen, and handed it back to Chris. “I would think my boyfriend cheating on me would be reason enough.”

“What? Brady would never . . .” He trailed off when he started reading through the texts that were visible on the home screen.

“Tell me again what Brady would never do.”

“I’m sure there’s an explanation for this,” Chris said.

“There’s always an explanation,” she said, shaking her head. “Take that back to Brady. I need to disappear for a little while.”

“Liz,” he said, grabbing her arm.

“What would you do if you saw those texts on Mollie’s phone?”

He sighed, seeing he was caught, and then released her. “I’ll take it to him, but he’s going to come after you.”

“Looking forward to it,” she said sarcastically, and then turned to walk down the hallway.

When Chris left, she paced, trying to clear her head. All it seemed to do was make things worse. Brady was irritable every time Chelsea messaged him. That was exactly how he had been with Liz. Brady had turned his phone off at Justin’s birthday party after Chelsea had texted him. He had done the same thing when Liz had been at Hilton Head. And it seemed as if he had been messaging with her all summer and she had been at events for him under the pretenses of working for EMi. Hadn’t Liz done the same thing as a reporter?

It all fit so closely together that she almost felt stupid for not having seen it for what it was sooner.

Chapter 25

ONE AND THE SAME THING

Liz heard the door open behind her. She sighed, resigned to speaking to Brady about this. She would rather hide out in the bathroom, but that wouldn’t help anything. Her emotions were running high, though. She wished she had more time to try to rationalize this before hashing it out.

Expecting Brady, Liz turned around and found Clay instead.

“Hey, sexy,” he said with that insufferable smirk.

“Do you need something, Clay?” She was already irritated, and Clay never seemed to help that.