Milk Money

by Jude E. McNamara

  “Nicholas?” Elizabeth said, concerned.

  “Don’t worry about him, Lizzy,” Big Daddy said. “He needs a good whack on the back, or better yet, a whack on his head. Get a grip on yourself, Nicky,” Big Daddy commanded. “There’s a lady at the table.”

  I cleared my throat quickly in disbelief. Spit was coming out of my mouth and my nose at the same time. Maybe I would choke to death. This was way too much information for me to take in on one night. I was on emotional overload. Big Daddy, Mallory, Jessica, Democrats, fifty-thousand-dollar checks, Elizabeth, plastic companies, McKenna Textiles, art bidding wars, and now this? First Big Daddy’s trying to run off in The Julianna with a couple of beyond-hot twenty-somethings and now my baby maker is trying run off to inseminate herself with unknown sperm.

  “If you’ll please excuse me, I need to go get some water. Air perhaps,” I said, gasping for breath.

  I promptly excused myself from their booth and that conversation. It was a good thing too because I could feel that she was here. I only needed to lay eyes on her and ask her directly if she had completely lost her ever-living mind.

  My timing was good, too. Just as I turned the corner headed out of the VIP area, I spotted Harper across the room. Damn, she looked like a million dollars standing under the glittering chandelier. She was wearing a short, sparkly silver sequinned dress that hugged her body in all the right places, her beauty reflecting off the dancing light. That dress was too damn short. Beautiful, but too damn short. She was drawing the attention of every man in the room. I wanted to toss her over my shoulder, take her to my bed, grab those beautiful brown legs, wrap them around my ass, and make our own baby. I needed to start figuring out how to take measures into my own hands. Drastic times called for drastic measures.

  Harper was standing somewhat close to the senator but a lot closer to Mackenzie and Stephen. Lucia and Three were standing nearby. I headed in her direction, striding across the floor, quickening my resolve. I reminded myself not to get too distracted by whatever bullshit she was going to spill out of that cute little sassy pouty mouth of hers to throw me off my game. Not tonight. No, tonight I was in charge.

  Damn, my baby maker was so darn cute and sexy. She was like a hot cocoa on a cold winter’s day. All chocolate. All hot. All yummy.

  Chapter Eight

  Harper

  “Girl, it’s a good thing you’re rocking that itty bitty dress looking like a rock star, because your face has funk written all over it,” Mackenzie said, snapping my picture.

  “It’s been a rough day. I had to put Malcom in his place for the way he behaved when Reese came to visit. I don’t want him speaking to my guests in the manner in which he was conducting himself. So he wasn’t too happy with me,” I said, glancing back over my shoulder noticing Malcom conversing with the senator and my mother.

  “Yeah, well, sleeping with Malcom wasn’t one of your brighter moments,” Mackenzie whispered, still snapping pictures. “Hopefully you’ve cut him off. I don’t think he can handle your sleeping with him and having to guard you at the same time. It’s too confusing. But that’s one fine man, so I forgive you,” Mackenzie giggled.

  “Well his actions with Reese were unacceptable. He needs to stay in his lane. Color him cut off,” I said, grabbing a champagne flute. Recognizing the new freshman congressman at the bar who was making eye contact with me, I smiled shyly back at him, pressing my lips ever so gently and slowly against the lip of my glass.

  “See that little move you’re doing right there, Harper, eye-balling that fine-ass statesman, that’s the kind of move that makes these guys go goo-goo gaga all over you. The next thing you know, you’ve got to pry them out of your life and out of your bed. You’re only using them for their bodies.” Mackenzie laughed. “I know you, girlfriend.”

  I ignored the fact that Mackenzie was making fun of me again. The way I figured it, I got dragged to this event by my mother. I didn’t want to be here. Appreciating the eye candy couldn’t really hurt a gal tonight.

  “So have you taken any good shots tonight, Mackenzie?”

  “Well I got some money shots of Nicholas with Big Daddy, Mallory, and Jessica.” Mackenzie grinned. “Jesus girl, what took you so long to get here? You’re unfashionably late.”

  “I thought I’d never ever make it inside Lincoln Center tonight with all the commotion going on with the Tea Partiers protesting outside. The whole scene was making Malcom edgy, not to mention he and I were having words. And to make matters worse, I tried to snatch some more artwork up for auction from Nicholas, but lost the bid.”

  “Sounds like you’re having a rough start to tonight’s festivities,” Mackenzie said.

  “What’s worse, I find out from Reese a couple of weeks ago that Nicholas is also competing for the bid with the plastics company I’m looking to acquire. How dare he? I need to bring him to his knees once and for all. He’s like the bad penny always turning up.”

  “Speak of the devil,” Mackenzie said. He’s headed this way. Ohhh . . . he’s not looking too happy.”

  Mackenzie whistled out loud, snapping Nicky’s picture.

  I watched Nicholas stalk across the floor headed in my direction. He had his mad face on. His expression was stern. His face was flushed. My body stiffened in preparation for the fallout. I made sure I gave him my best murderous stare so he wouldn’t think he could intimidate me. Then I gave him the “you’re such a huge prick look” that I had been practicing all week just for him. I swear if he pissed me off any further tonight, I was going to take my stiletto off and whack him across his thick skull.

  “Harper,” Nicholas hissed. “We need to talk,” he insisted, grabbing me by my arm and attempting to drag me out of Mackenzie’s space.

  “Who the hell do you think you are, shithead?” Mackenzie said. “Can’t you see she’s busy?”

  Mackenzie snapped our picture. Both of us had to have looked like we were going to kill the other.

  Suddenly Stephen moved quickly away from Lucia, grabbing Mackenzie’s camera.

  “And what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Mackenzie said, turning her head towards Stephen, watching him as he deleted our pictures.

  “I’m doing my job, babe. I work for Nicholas, remember,” Stephen said calmly.

  “Why’s he calling you babe?” I asked, confused.

  “Maybe because we’re a couple?” Stephen says cocking his head to the side, handing Mackenzie her camera back, and glaring at me as if to underscore his point.

  “I have a job to do here, too, Stephen,” Mackenzie insisted, ignoring my inquiry. “Last I checked, you’re not the only one working here tonight.”

  I could see she was starting to sizzle. At that moment, Lucia stepped over to our little huddle, looking perturbed.

  “Stephen is everything alright here? What’s going on Nicholas?”

  “I’ll tell you what’s going on here,” I snapped, stepping forward and closing the space between us. “Nicholas is going to get out of this competition with me immediately for Joduku Plastics. That’s what’s going on here, Lucia,” I said, thinking I was going to have a hard time keeping my stiletto on my foot tonight lest I put it up someone’s ass.

  “No I’m not getting out the of Joduku Plastics competition. Not for you. And definitely not for that fuckwad Brooks Fitzgerald McKenna either,” Nicholas fumed. “Don’t think for one minute I’m going to get out of this competition to please the two of you piranhas. Fuck McKenna Textiles. And frankly, Harper, you should exercise more discretion as to who you decide to conspire with in business.”

  “What are you talking about Nicholas? McKenna Textiles and Montgomery Consulting are not business partners. What exactly is your problem?” I asked quizzically.

  Clearly my competitive intelligence team missed that little tidbit. Things were slipping through the cracks.

  Nicholas ignored me like I hadn’t said a mumbling word.

  “Brooks Fitzgerald McKenna? What’s McKenna Textiles got to d
o with this acquisition? You’ve finally gone completely all out insane, Nicholas Miles Becker,” I barked.

  I was standing nose to nose with Nicholas, narrowing my eyes that were blazing bullets at him. I noticed others in the room were sensing we were starting to make a scene.

  “And while I’m at it, Harper, you’re going to get your head out of your ass, and stop this shit about making babies at some goddamn fertility clinic with a goddamn sperm donor. That’s just what the fuck you’re going to do,” Nicholas snapped.

  Oh. My. God. I was certain my mouth dropped open to the floor as I gasped in shock. No, Nicholas did not just spread my business out loud in public. I for sure am going to kill him right here and now where he stands and choke him into the next life. How dare he? Who told him?

  “Nicholas, what did you and I discuss earlier?” Lucia said, stepping next to Nicholas in sort of a protective mode. “Must I remind you?” she said sharply.

  I had no doubt Lucia sensed I was going to string Nicholas’s closet Republican ass up in a noose right in front of this room full of Democrats. Malcom wasn’t even going to be able to stop me from whacking Nicholas across the head with my heel.

  “Nicholas, you don’t get to tell Harper what to do and when to do it,” Mackenzie blasted out loud.

  God this was getting so out of hand.

  Before I could speak again, Nicholas’s brother Three joined our group with those two gold diggers Mallory and Jessica twisted around his neck. Three was totally intoxicated, slurring “Can’t we all get along?”

  Those two fame whores were glued to Three like white on rice, rubbing those double Ds against his chest. Three’s facial expression looked like he had died and gone to heaven. “I got a big fat check with lots of little zeros on it ladies,” Three slurred, waving his checkbook in the air.

  I rolled my eyes up in my head. I was going to slap Nicholas across his face for publicly spilling my business about wanting a baby.

  Before I could mouth a word, a naked male Tea Partier protester ran across the room, yelling “Bomb Threat,” with about ten New York police department officers on his heels. Stephen immediately un-holstered his Glock 45 and moved to grab Nicholas to protect him. Oh Shit. What was going on here?

  Nicholas yelled back, “No Stephen, get Lucia out of here. I’ll get Harper. Don’t worry about me.”

  Everyone in the room began to panic, running in different directions. Several drunk women and men were falling all over themselves. Security personnel for a room full of congressmen, senators, and statesmen were quickly moving to gather up their assigned protectees. Guns were flying out of holsters. People were yelling, screaming, and starting to stampede across the room. Someone pulled the fire alarm, which began blaring. I thought I caught a whiff of gasoline in the air.

  Stephen grabbed Mackenzie in his arms with his free hand. Mackenzie was desperately clutching her camera, trying not to lose it, as some man yelling in what sounded like Russian, yanked it out of her hand.

  “Motherfucker took my camera!” MacKenzie shouted.

  “Forget about it,” Stephen said, scooping Lucia up at the same time.

  Several of the Tea Party protestors had broken through the police department ranks. Handcuffs were flying on the protestors, many of which were being pulled down on the ground, their wrists tied in little plastic ties. The protestors were yelling back at the swat team members. The well-heeled guests were screaming and shouting. The sounds of canisters rolling across the floor heightened my fears even further. I knew what was coming next. Blue smoke started to fill the air.

  A scruffy looking protestor pulled on me from behind, but not before Nicholas kicked him in his side forcing him to release me. I fell to the ground. My Christian Loubintin stiletto broke in half, and I began free-falling to the ground, scraping my elbow and knee. Nicholas kneed another nearby protestor in his groin who had grabbed me by my ankle. Nicholas swept me up, throwing me over his shoulder, yelling words at Stephen that were inaudible to me as I was struggling to see and hear between the noise in the room and my dazed state of mind.

  “Stephen. Call Silas. Have him to come to the back door exit,” Nicholas hollered, setting me on my feet with the weight of my body leaned against his.

  I could see Mallory and Jessica out the corner of my eye. They were stumbling and falling in those four-inch heels with their angel wings crushed. Both were bent over trying to hold Three up, trying to force themselves out the double doors amid the crowd.

  “Oh God, we’re going to die!” I hollered in a state of panic.

  Big Daddy was rushing a few paces in front of us, guiding my mother over near Malcom’s side. I could hear a voice over the Lincoln Center intercom asking the guests to remain calm and to leave the room in an orderly fashion. The wait staff looked flustered and confused.

  Some people were screaming “fire,” while others were yelling “bomb threat.”

  The room was anything but calm and orderly. I could hear sirens and whistles coming from outside the Lincoln Center from the police cars and fire trucks.

  Oh my God. The last thing I wanted to do was to die inside the Lincoln Center like this. My only saving grace was that I was in the arms of Nicholas. I knew in this moment that Reese was right. Nicholas and I had both been wasting time these last ten years, holding onto our baggage of the past. I did love Nicholas. And now I was going to die in his arms in this godforsaken place. He would never know how I felt. We’d been fighting each other for so long, acting on our hurt and pain. Reese could see it, but I couldn’t.

  Oh my God, Reese. God knows I wanted to see my good friend Reese again. I could feel my heart starting to palpitate. My breathing was becoming erratic.

  “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe Nicky,” I cried out in his arms.

  I could feel myself starting to tremble. I was having a full-blown panic attack.

  “Take deep breaths and try to stay calm, Kitten,” Nicholas said. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. We’re going to make it out of here alive, I promise you, baby,” Nicholas said, his voice calm and in command.

  More canisters of tear gas were rolling across the floor. The room was starting to smoke up even more. My eyes were tearing. My ears were ringing. My body was trembling.

  “Daddy? Mother? Where are my parents, Nicky? I can’t see. I can’t see!” I shouted.

  “Don’t worry about them,” Nicky said. “They are going to be okay. Senator Carmichael is being flanked by his own security team. Malcom and Big Daddy are closest to Elizabeth and have her secured.”

  I looked past Nicky towards Malcom’s direction. Malcom was waving his hand at me shouting “Stick with Nicholas.”

  “I’ve got you, baby,” Nicholas said, reassuring me. “Don’t worry, Kitten. I’ll get us out of here safely,” Nicholas said, as he kept moving us through the crowd.

  Nicholas moved us swiftly out through the back kitchen doors.

  “Stephen has given me an alternative route out of this shit. Silas is going to get us all the fuck out of this motherfucker safely or else I’m going to fire everybody on my goddamn team tonight,” Nicholas said sharply.

  I knew Nicholas well enough to know that even though his voice sounded calm, his mind and body were on high alert. I suspected his Navy skills were coming forward and he would only get keener under pressure, the knowledge of which gave me reassurance. I was glad he was here with me tonight. In my heart and soul I felt that this moment in time was no coincidence. The universe unfolds properly as it should.

  The alarm system started to go off. It was bloody ear-piercing loud. Suddenly, the exit door lights illuminated and doors began automatically opening.

  “The backup generator must have kicked in,” Nicholas said.

  The sprinkler systems began to deploy. My heart was pounding rapidly. I wanted to get the hell out of this situation.

  I was holding onto Nicholas for dear life. I wanted nothing more than to get out of this mire of insanity. People were sho
uting and screaming all while Nicholas was dragging me quickly through back corridors and a dimly lit exit area.

  We reached the back exit doors in time to avoid the downpour of water. Like clockwork, Silas was waiting by the exit doors with Nicholas’s limousine. Nicholas practically threw me in the back seat, he moved so quickly.

  “Silas, get us the fuck out of here,” Nicholas shouted.

  “We’re out of here, sir. Everyone hold tight,” Silas said as the tires of the limousine began to screech.

  My cell phone rang. My hands shook as I answered.

  “Yes Malcom, I’m safe. I’m in Nicky’s limousine. No. No please stay with Mother and Daddy’s team. Don’t worry about me,” I shouted through the phone above the loud noises in the background, clearly feeling exasperated.

  Nicholas reached for his cell phone in his inside jacket pocket. I could hear tires screeching to a sudden halt behind us. It was Stephen in the Suburban. Lots of horns were honking wildly. Guests were running out of all the exits in between the moving cars trying not to get hit by the hundreds of cars fleeing the scene. It was madness.

  “Stephen, we’re headed to Becker Towers,” Nicholas said.

  “I’m right behind you, Nicky,” Stephen replied. “Lucia and Mackenzie are with me. I’ve got you in my sights. Our backup team is securing Big Daddy and Three. I’ve got this. I’m right behind you. Don’t worry, Nicky.”

  “Get the fuck out the way!” I could hear Stephen yelling at a passerby, swearing loudly through the phone, honking his horn like a crazy man.

  “Fine,” Nicholas shouted, sighing heavily with exhaustion.

  I looked down at my scraped knees that were slightly bleeding. Somehow I managed to hold onto my favorite little silver Judith Lieber clutch. My shoe heel was broken and my ankle was bruised from being manhandled by the protestor. Internally I was a mess. I burst out crying.

  “Oh Nicholas, I am so scared,” I whimpered.