For the Record (Record #3)

by K. A. Linde

  Both girls started laughing. There was really nothing else to do at that point. No matter what happened in life there were always going to be problems. It was finding out how to deal with them that determined character.

  Brady was walking up to the podium to give his Fourth of July speech with his father. Liz moved over to the side of the podium so that she could watch him. Marilyn strode over a moment later, just as Jeff began speaking.

  “You know, dear,” Marilyn said, not taking her eyes from her husband, “love blooms in the most unlikely of places. It flourishes in the most difficult circumstances. And it lasts despite all reasons it shouldn’t.”

  Liz felt tears prick the corners of her eyes. That one piece of advice grounded her. She and Brady hadn’t said that it would be without difficulty. They had said it was worth it. And it was.

  “Thank you,” Liz whispered.

  “I have been in your shoes. It’s not without its moments of hardship. When I met Jeff, he was in business school at Chapel Hill while I was in college. I had no idea what I was getting into, knowing that he wanted to be a politician like his father. I’ve not regretted a moment. Sometimes you have to fight through the bad times to get to the best moments of your life.”

  Marilyn reached out and grasped Liz’s hand.

  “Yours are before you. Of that I’m sure,” Marilyn assured her.

  They stood like that together with the weight of mutual understanding between them as they watched the men they loved deliver speeches. It might have been only a handful of times for Liz, but it had been a lifetime of speeches for Marilyn. And she still gazed up at her husband with utter admiration for the work he was doing and the man that he had remained during their marriage.

  “Thank you so much for having me out today. Looking forward to another two years. Happy Fourth of July!” Brady called from the stage at the close of his speech.

  The crowd applauded, and then father and son descended the stairs. Jeff clapped his hands together. He had a big smile on his face that showed how much he was looking forward to this trip. “Couple minutes with the press and then get out of here?” he asked.

  Brady agreed and they wandered off to the media area. Liz and Marilyn trailed behind them to listen in on what was going on and to smile for the cameras. Two years ago Liz had stolen Brady away for five minutes to tell him how he had won her vote. They had ended up in an argument and then he had skipped the first day of his vacation to stay home with her. She was glad that this year they were able to vacation together.

  Liz immediately noticed the flaming red hair in the crowd of reporters. Calleigh Hollingsworth. And she was walking right toward Brady. The bitch had nerve, continuing to badger Brady. She must think that since he was the story that got her the promotion she was craving, that he might be able to provide her with more juice to go even further, or maybe to another paper.

  At the same time, it felt personal. If she was looking for another promotion, then why would she put so much effort into taking pictures of Liz and Hayden and then selling them to the tabloids without attaching her name to the photos? She was up to something. Liz wasn’t sure what it was, but she sure wanted to find out.

  Without thinking twice, she excused herself from Marilyn’s company and walked right up to Calleigh. “Miss Hollingsworth, what a pleasure,” Liz said, her voice sweet as molasses.

  Calleigh turned to Liz, and Liz wanted to do a little dance when she saw the surprise on her face. She quickly recovered, but it was clear that she hadn’t expected Liz to ever talk to her again.

  “Miss Dougherty, how are you?” Calleigh said, trying for similar pleasantries.

  “Amazing. I’ve never been better, really.”

  “Even without your New York Times reporting position?” she asked smoothly.

  “I think I’ve finally found the right career move for me, but I don’t think I would ever really be happy without the man I love. I couldn’t imagine going through life pining over someone who doesn’t want me.”

  Calleigh’s jaw clenched at the jab. “What is this new career exactly? Following around your boyfriend to campaign events and mooching off of his money?”

  Liz took a deep breath. Calleigh was baiting her because she was pissed that Liz had made a stab at the fact that Hayden didn’t want her. She needed to keep a level head. “That’s so nice of you to say. How is your boyfriend?”

  “I’m not currently dating anyone,” she said flatly.

  “Then perhaps you shouldn’t judge mine. We’re perfectly happy,” Liz said with a smile. “Write about that.”

  Brady came to her side a few seconds later. “Miss Hollingsworth,” he said cordially. “What were we talking about over here?”

  “How perfectly happy we are,” Liz said, wrapping her arm around his waist.

  “That we are. You’ll have to excuse us. We have prior engagements to attend to.”

  “Always great talking to you two. You’re so very . . . insightful,” Calleigh said.

  Liz followed Brady back to his family, who all seemed ready to head back to the line of cars waiting for them. Heather had worked her magic and police had cleared an area for them to walk through. A minute later she and Brady were cloistered in a town car bound for the airport.

  “Did you really have to go talk to her?” Brady asked with a resigned sigh.

  “She’s up to something.”

  “And you thought goading her was going to get her to stop?”

  Liz turned her head to face him. “I was just talking to her. She started goading me by making fun of me losing my job and then saying I was mooching off of you! I even ignored those statements when I could have been a bitch back, but I wasn’t. She should know that I’m not afraid of her.”

  “She’s an annoyance. Nothing more. Just ignore her from now on.”

  “She feeds off of that,” Liz insisted.

  Brady’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out to check it. “You feed off of goading her.”

  “I’m not goading her! The woman just deserves to be put in her place.”

  He typed out a reply, then tossed the phone back into his suit pocket. He looked really irritated. “She does, but not by you.”

  “Is everything all right? You’re not really mad at me, are you?” She hadn’t meant to upset him.

  “No, baby, it’s not you,” he said, lacing their fingers together. “Chelsea won’t stop badgering me about this fracking issue, as if it’s the only thing on the agenda.”

  “She’s texting you about that?”

  “Yeah. She’s insistent.”

  Liz chewed on her bottom lip. “Isn’t that kind of unprofessional?”

  “A bit, but it’s not the first time. You’d be surprised what people will do to get what they want.”

  Would she? Glancing up at Brady, Liz really didn’t think that she would.

  They arrived on Hilton Head Island later that afternoon. They had a car waiting for them, which drove them to Brady’s parents’ beach house. Liz had dreamed about coming out here and being welcomed by his family when she had been here two years ago. Now she was actually doing all of this.

  The Maxwells’ beach home was a massive three-story construction on a secluded piece of land. A butler came forward and began to unload their luggage as Brady whisked her through the front door and began to tour her through the house. It had seven bedrooms, a kitchen the size of Liz’s entire house back in Chapel Hill, and a projection screen that took up a whole wall in the living room. The back door led out to a clear blue resort-size pool with lounge chairs and cabanas. She smirked when the memory of having sex with Brady on a cabana in Hilton Head came back to her, and Brady seemed to guess and shared the memory by planting a deep kiss on her lips.

  Beyond the pool was a small beach and the Atlantic Ocean as far as the eye could see.

  “It’s beautiful,�
� she whispered.

  “My great-grandfather had the house built in the thirties and we’ve maintained it ever since.”

  He led her back into the house to change into bathing suits, and then they spent the rest of the afternoon doing the most amazing thing she could think of—lounging around lazily by the pool, taking periodic dips to cool off from the blazing South Carolina sun, and walking hand in hand down the beach.

  The next day Brady gave her a tour of the town. They rented bicycles and went on a several-mile-long nature ride. When they returned to the beach house, sticky from sweat, they raced each other through the house, stripping down to their bathing suits, and then doing cannonballs into the pool. Andrea screamed at them for getting her wet, but they were lost in the euphoria of being together. They knew that when they returned to reality there would be so many more demands on their time. They wanted to cherish each moment that they had now.

  Later that night, they were wrapped up in each other’s arms in bed and Brady was stroking her hair back and kissing her forehead. “You’re so beautiful.”

  She sighed and nuzzled closer to him. “You’re not so bad-looking yourself.”

  “Well, glad that I meet your approval,” he joked.

  “Always.”

  “That’s how I feel about you.”

  “That I always meet your approval?”

  “No,” he whispered. “You’re my always.”

  Liz’s breath caught at the word. Always. Forever. Brady was making promises with those words, and he always kept his promises.

  “Hey, come with me,” he said, pulling the sheet off of their naked bodies and straightening.

  “Why? We were so comfortable.” Her eyes dropped to his dick, already lengthening at the sight of her silhouetted in the light from the moon.

  “It’s three in the morning. Everyone’s asleep.” His hands slid down her hips and roughly dragged her toward him. He bent at the waist and started trailing kisses down her stomach. She groaned deep in her throat. “Just come . . . with me.”

  “You’ve convinced me,” she said breathily.

  He laughed and continued his way down until he was buried between her legs. Her fingers dug into the sheets as she felt his tongue lap and swirl and tease her most sensitive area. He pushed her legs farther apart for him and then slid a finger inside of her.

  “More,” she groaned.

  He obliged her and pushed a second finger up into her. Her back arched off of the bed as he started sliding his fingers in and out. She felt as if at any moment she might combust. He knew every inch of her body and how to extract the maximum amount of pleasure from each stroke. And just when she thought she couldn’t handle any more, she came with an intensity that made her see stars.

  As she came down from her release, Brady pulled on some swim trunks and found a bathing suit for Liz. She stood on wobbly legs and managed to get into her suit with only a little assistance from Brady.

  He grabbed her hand and started directing her down the two flights of stairs, through the kitchen, and out onto the back patio. There was only one light on near the cabana overlooking the stairs that led down to the ocean. Otherwise everything was pitch-black and silent.

  “Where are we going?” she whispered into the stillness.

  “I want to take you in the pool . . . I mean take you to the pool.”

  Liz glanced back up to the quiet house. All of the lights were out in all of the windows, but that didn’t mean that no one would look down and see what they were doing.

  “Everyone’s asleep,” he repeated. He started guiding her out into the clear blue water. Even with the superheated temperatures, the pool was still cool to the touch, and it took Liz a minute to get used to the water.

  Brady turned so that he was walking backward. His hands were on her waist, pulling her deeper into the water. When he was shoulder deep, he scooped her up into his arms and paddled them over to a secluded step on the other side of the pool.

  She took a seat on the lowest step and then scooted up to the highest step so her body was in only a few inches of water. She leaned her head back on the top step and sighed. “This is a dream, right? Everything is too surreal, too amazing, too all-consuming, Brady.”

  “I want it to always be like that,” he said, running his hands up and down her bare thighs.

  “I never thought life could be this good until you.”

  “I thought that life was just work before you.”

  “Even when you were with other people?”

  His eyes found hers in the darkness. “Everyone else worked around my work, but I don’t do that with you. I still have my work priorities, but you’re part of that. I’d rather drive the five hours to D.C. with you than get back an hour early to sit in a meeting. I’d rather have you help me with my speeches and have your beautiful face to return to when I’m finished than anything else. I want you to be happy and have your own life, but I want it to coincide with mine.”

  “It will,” she said.

  His hands found the strings on her bikini bottoms and untied them. “It was hard to see before that the campaign, the politics, all the work was worthwhile only if I had someone to share it with.”

  Liz ran her fingers back through his hair and then pulled him forward for a kiss. Their bodies melded as the words filled her heart with joy at finally finding its match. Brady kept their lips pressed tight together and undid his trunks to release himself from the confines of his shorts.

  He pushed himself up into her in one swift motion. She was already so warmed up from what had occurred earlier that her body tightened around him instantly. She wanted this. All of this. Everything he would give her.

  His body. His heart. His soul.

  As they got closer, Brady thrust harder and harder inside of her. She felt the steps dig into her skin, but she lost all sense. The pain didn’t matter, the tangled mess of her hair didn’t matter, the water lapping around her body didn’t matter. It was just the here and now.

  They finished together in a wave of emotion. Her body ached all over from every jolt against the steps, but at the same time she felt euphoric. She and Brady were completely in sync. All was right with the world.

  And then they heard voices.

  Brady yanked Liz off of the step and farther into the darkness. She worked quickly to tie her suit back in place and she felt Brady straightening himself out behind her. They remained completely still as they waited to see who was coming up from the beach at this hour. If they had been caught having sex, it would have been pretty embarrassing.

  Liz recognized Savannah first, and then saw Lucas appear. Brady moved behind her, but she put her hand out to stop him. She put a finger to her lips and shook her head. Brady looked at her curiously but stayed hidden. Liz was pretty sure that Brady didn’t know the extent of what had happened between Savannah and Lucas, and she didn’t want them to think anyone had seen them.

  Lucas stopped on the last step and grabbed her arm. They spoke for a few minutes and Savannah continually grew angrier with him. A second later he grabbed her around the waist and placed a rough kiss on her lips.

  Savannah pushed Lucas back forcefully. A loud crack rang out into the night air as she slapped him across the face. Liz gasped softly just as Savannah stomped away from him. Lucas followed close at her heels, but the rest of their interaction was lost to Liz and Brady.

  “I’m going to beat the shit out of him,” Brady said, shaking his head.

  Liz laughed. “I don’t think that’s probably the best thing for Savannah.”

  “You knew about this?” he accused.

  “I knew that she liked him, and was torn about bringing Easton.”

  “Correction. I should call Chris, get him down here, and then we can both beat the shit out of him.”

  “We were in their position not too long ago, Congressman Maxw
ell,” she joked, poking him in the ribs. “They’ll figure it out themselves without big-brother interference.”

  “I’m glad she trusts you with this stuff.” He grabbed her and pulled her in close again.

  “She was one of my closest friends before we became a couple.”

  “It’s just nice knowing how much my family likes you,” he said, trailing kisses down to her ear, “because I’m never letting you go.”

  Chapter 23

  BONFIRE

  The first weekend in August, Liz was invited to Charlottesville for Justin’s bonfire birthday party. After spending the past two months doing nothing but writing articles as Dear Congress, posts for Justin’s blog, and following Brady around the campaign as though it were her job, she was excited to spend the weekend with her friends.

  “What are you doing?” Brady asked. He had just walked into the bedroom and she had an empty suitcase sitting on the bed. They were back in D.C. for the week, but she knew that he always had weekend plans now that the campaign was in full swing.

  “I’m going to Charlottesville for Justin’s birthday, remember?”

  “I thought that was next weekend.”

  “Nope. His birthday is the first.”

  “Hmm . . .” he said, taking a seat on the bed.

  “Hmm?”

  “Well, that changes things.”

  “And what does that change?” She rearranged the pile of clothes sitting next to her suitcase. She was only going for two days but she had no idea what to pack.

  “My plans for the weekend,” he said simply.

  Liz dropped the shorts she had just picked up and looked up at him. “What?”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “Where?”

  “Liz . . .”

  “You want to come to Justin’s kegger?” she asked incredulously.

  “You act like I’m above a kegger. I went to one or two when I was in college. I still remember what they’re like. I doubt they’ve changed much in seven years.”

  Liz shrugged. “I just don’t see my suit and tie at a kegger with a guy who was in a frat and was more or less kicked out of school for a DUI.”