LifeoftheParty

by Trudy Doyle

  “It’s not complicated. It’s just not the right time. And—” She nearly choked.

  “And what?” he growled, his eyes wild.

  She was shaking. Lie. Lie. Lie. “I don’t love you,” she said and, grabbing her suitcase, bolted for the door.

  “What?” he said, stepping back.

  When Gina flung open the door, two uniforms were behind it. She squeezed past. “Lieutenant Welland?” said an officer, “You got to come. Your partner’s under fire.”

  Gina was getting into her car. Gina was starting it.

  “Over on Birch. Six perps in an abandoned house, one with a baby. Maniac’s dangling it out the window.”

  “Jesus Christ,” he breathed, watching her pull away.

  They’re dead, they’re all dead.

  Hours later he awoke in the hospital, his body convulsing as he came out of the anesthesia. It was all he could think of, acres of little rubber corpses, tiny fists frozen in a perennial clutch, their mouths gaping in permanent supplication. The worst was he didn’t care. He’d never care again. Because it would never happen again.

  He was freezing, his teeth chattering, his chest feeling like he was caught under a car crusher. Through his foggy vision he could see the nurse tucking the blanket around him, shooting something into his IV. Then another face appeared before him, as though it were floating in the air, like an angel. He felt himself smiling. She’s so beautiful. She smiled back, squeezing his hand.

  “Doug,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. She bent to kiss him, her lips the softest thing he ever felt. “They said you’re going to be okay. They told me.”

  He closed his eyes, remembering the scent of her, the feel, her breasts against his chest, the silk of her hair, her taste, deep down. For a moment or two he was lost in reverie, sinking himself into her, spilling himself inside her. Spilling, spilling, spilling… His eyes opened.

  “Get…out,” he whispered.

  She clutched his hand, startled. “Doug, sweetie—”

  “Get…” He tried to push himself up, falling back in a rack of pain. “Get…the fuck…out.”

  “Doug!”

  The nurse put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s just the anesthesia. Don’t take him seriously.”

  Somehow Doug pushed himself up on one elbow. He looked to the nurse, his head spinning but his mind never clearer. “Get her out…of here. Now.”

  Gina palmed a hand to her chest, her face frantic with fear. “Doug, let’s forget about what I said before. We can think about that later. All we need to do now is get you well and—”

  “Get her the fuck out of here!” he screamed then promptly passed out. When he woke up hours later, she was gone.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Gina took the cups from the table, setting them into the tiny sink.

  “What was it? Did you know?” Doug asked, his voice flat.

  She often wondered herself, feeling the old choking coming back. She clenched her eyes, steeling herself. “It was too early. Anyway, what does it matter? I had a miscarriage the next day.”

  “I know. Carmelli told me. But somehow it seems important now.”

  She was grateful he couldn’t see her. She swallowed hard. “Well, it isn’t. What is, is someone’s threatening to kill me.” She ran water into the cups and washed them, the simple act seeming to turn a page. “There’s a fundraiser tonight at the Liberty Ballroom in Cherry Hill. Black-tie.” She turned. “Do you have a tux?”

  He sat back, his mouth crooking, the mood miraculously lightening. “Of course. Doesn’t everyone?”

  Her mouth crooked as well. “Why do I have the impression you’re lying?”

  He stood. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Can I ask where?” She grabbed her purse.

  “That’s your call, doll, I’m just the hired help.”

  “Maybe we ought to remember that.”

  “And maybe the Republicans will hire Michael Moore as their spokesperson.”

  Gina laughed out loud. “Why, Douglas, I do believe you have unexpected depth.”

  “And a little later, you’re sure to find out,” he said, closing the door behind them.

  Chapter Five

  DEMOCRATIC PARTY FUNDRAISER

  LIBERTY BALLROOM—CHERRY HILL, NJ

  8:21 P.M.

  Gina leaned into the mirror and blotted her lipstick, glancing down. Jesus, from this angle her tits fairly popped out of her bodice. She grinned. So that’s why Doug’s eyes had near done the same when she stooped to get out of the limo. She straightened, brushing back a hair that had found its way out of her uptwist. Good Lord, how she loved the way he reacted to her.

  Right now she knew he was somewhere outside the ladies’ room, lurking in the shadows as he had all day, his tux a stunningly simple mix of fabric and thread that covered his body in no way she had ever seen. How did he do it? She couldn’t help feeling smug at the way women reacted to him, a couple on the way in almost stuttering when she introduced him, their obvious jealousy barely masked. Sorry, girlfriends, he’s mine, she wanted to yell. But was he? She smoothed the organza of her gown. Too early to say. She sighed. Too near to hope for. She left for the ballroom.

  Gina entered into a cacophony of light and sound and music and it made her smile. On top was such a lovely place to be and besides, with or without the victories, it had to be a well-known fact that Democrats were simply more fun than the GOP. She swept into the raucous room and, as predicted, soon felt a hand at the small of her back, Doug’s scent filling her head when he bent to whisper in her ear.

  “Did I tell you yet how gorgeous you look tonight?”

  She glanced up to him, fairly shivering. “No, as a matter of fact.”

  His brows rose. “Really?”

  “Honest to God.”

  “Damn. We’ll have to fix that.”

  Up ahead was a group of people who no doubt were waiting for her. Luckily, they hadn’t seen her yet. Lucky because Doug was steering her down a hallway and behind a screen hiding several stacks of chairs.

  “I can’t keep my hands off you,” he whispered, bending to kiss her.

  And when he did, she nearly lost her mind. God, she loved the taste of him. Clean like mint, a hint of some potent potable, a strong dose of lust. His hand was already kneading her ass, her body up against another as hard as iron, his length stiffening exponentially to her rapidly rising breathing. His tongue found hers and he deepened his kiss, his hand sliding up her bodice to snake inside to a nipple. When he pinched it, Gina groaned.

  “You’ll make a mess of me,” she whispered.

  He licked her ear. “Why not? You’ve already made one of me.”

  “Did not,” she breathed, her hand falling against his swollen cock.

  He flinched. “Look, you know as well as I do if we don’t take care of this neither of us will be able to form a coherent sentence out there.”

  She pulled his head down to meet hers. “So fuck me. Quick. Right here.”

  He blinked. “Well, I had something better in mind.”

  “No.” She pressed herself against him. “I want you to fuck me.”

  He growled, hoisting her atop a stack of chairs. “Now’s not the time.”

  “Then when is?” She looked down. He was sliding her gown up to her waist, spreading her legs. She had known better than to wear panties under her garter belt. “Doug!”

  Too late. She couldn’t think about his cock when his tongue was so savage against her clit. She gnarled her fingers into his hair as he paid homage to her pussy, spreading her lips with his thumbs as he licked around her swollen clit. Her back arched when his tongue found her slit, and a second later she was off, her hips bucking against his mouth as he sucked the orgasm from her, and in those fleeting moments she knew she had to have his cock inside her one way or another.

  “Gina,” he moaned around one more kiss that nearly launched her to the ceiling.

  She slid from the chair, her pussy still throbb
ing as she fell to her knees. Doug flattened himself against the wall and unzipped, Gina taking his full length down her throat the moment his cock sprang free.

  “Christ!” he nearly yelled, his hands on her head, and within seconds Gina’s mouth filled with the salty-sweet taste of his come—coming and coming and coming. Jesus,she thought, swallowing, his hot flesh pulsing against her tongue, his breath rapid and guttural, his hips slightly jerking. I must be like his own personal time bomb. As he was to her, she knew. As she sucked him back, swirling her tongue around his last traces, she felt herself coming again, her hips following the same rhythm as she milked the orgasm out of him. When he stilled, as she basked in the bliss that always followed, she couldn’t help but feel a bit confused. Wouldn’t she ever feel his cock really inside her?

  “Come here,” he murmured, pulling her to her feet.

  He had never kissed her more sweetly, her taste in his mouth, his, no doubt, in hers. He pressed her tightly against him and she could feel the beat of his heart, but clearly the urgency was sated. Only the contentment of satisfaction remained.

  Gina grabbed a hank of her hair. “I must look like hell.”

  Doug smiled with something she couldn’t define. “I’ve never seen you more beautiful.”

  She laughed. “And you certainly look sexy as hell with my lipstick all over your mouth.”

  “Don’t I?” He took out a handkerchief and blotted. Were detectives the last people in the world who still carried them? He shifted against her. “Got a feeling the rest of it’s someplace else.”

  She pushed off him. “No doubt. Oh look, there’s another bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

  He zipped, straightened his jacket, slipped a mint into his mouth. And after running a hand through his hair, looked nearly perfect. Gina couldn’t help but marvel.

  “I’ll be waiting,” he said, crossing his arms.

  She shivered again and ducked inside.

  Wasn’t she in a similar place just minutes before? She straightened her bodice, seeing the marks from his lips just below the fabric line. Her nipples hardened. God, if he didn’t know the meaning of discretion. She took a brush, powder and lipstick from her clutch and went to work, and within minutes, Gina had been restored to decency. She thought of going into a stall, but she rather liked the bit of dampness he had left in her nether region. Because even momentarily reflecting on how it got there sent it dampening even further so really, why bother?

  Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t simply hoist her against him and fuck her. Why, in all their encounters these last couple of days, hadn’t he fucked her at all? It couldn’t be that he was incapable, and it clearly wasn’t that he didn’t desire her. Jesus Christ, she thought as she took one last look in the mirror—what was it? She walked out into the hall, scanning from left to right.

  He was gone.

  “Gina?” She jumped, looking straight ahead.

  “Gina, how the hell are you?” A slightly balding middle-aged man walked over, his hand extended.

  “Marcus.” Gina slid her clutch under her arm and shook hands with Congresswoman Antonia Perez’s chief of staff. Even though Congresswoman Perez’s legislative district was next to Congressman Falco’s, her D.C. office was one floor up in the Rayburn building, and it had been awhile since Gina had run into Marcus. Especially with Congress currently out of session. “How’s that bill coming?”

  “Stalled, no surprise there.” He tugged at his collar. Clearly he had bought it either a decade or twenty pounds earlier. “Hey, I hear your guy would’ve moved up from ranking member to chair of Appropriations if he wasn’t running for governor.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, shifting on one foot. “Why’s he doing that anyway? Why run in-state when his star’s rising so fast Federal?”

  “Oh come on, Marcus,” she said with a wink. “Everyone knows the quickest route to the White House is via the statehouse.” She looked past him. Where is Doug?

  He leaned in. “Then it’s true?”

  She swept her hand in front of her. “I’m not saying anything.”

  He laughed. “Same old clamp-lips Gina. You’re a freaking legend, you know that?”

  “Why follow trends, Marcus, when you can set them?” Music spilled in from the ballroom and they gravitated toward it.

  “Dance?” he asked, offering his arm.

  “Sure,” she said, taking it, and they walked out onto the dance floor.

  It was a nice, staid waltz, and Marcus was a capable enough dancer. She continued the small talk, the usual Jersey politico splice and dice, both scanning the floor for who was there, who wasn’t and who should be. Like Doug, who was still nowhere to be seen. Dammit, she thought, irritated. He picked a fine time to be elusive. Why hadn’t he done it during the day when she was at Falco’s local congressional office, elbow-deep in correspondence and constituents, instead of lounging in the corner chair, those icy eyes clamped on her legs, driving her slowly mad. She laughed to herself. Mad with wanting to pull him into the nearest closet to fuck him dry. Not a single thing could’ve happened to her within those four walls, but here? Amid hundreds of people?

  The waltz ended and quickly went into a jitterbug. Marcus lifted a brow asking, Want to? Gina shrugged and smiled a Why not? Ten minutes later, she found herself panting on the sidelines with Marcus’ wife and a couple of press secretaries, a cold champagne in her hand.

  “Didn’t you come in with someone?” asked Marcus’ wife.

  Gina smiled subtly. “You noticed, huh?”

  “Someone like that,” one of the press secretaries said, “screams to be noticed.”

  “I’ll second that,” said the other. “Who is he?”

  “An old friend,” Gina said, hardly a lie.

  “Well, if he isn’t with benefits, girl,” said the first press secretary, “you need to get your head seriously examined.”

  Gina took a sip of champagne. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

  “Gina! Sweetheart!”

  She turned. Oh God, no. “Hello, Lee.”

  He adjusted his black-framed glasses and grabbed her hand, sliding his own over it. “You look magnificent as usual. How are you, darling?”

  “Just great, Lee.” She took another sip, scanning the room. Where the hell was Doug? “You?”

  When he smiled that grin of his, his most lethally seductive attribute, Gina was almost blinded by the sparkle. “Deadly fabulous, Gina darling.” He took a step closer. “Especially now that you’re here.”

  There was a time when just a glance from Lee Roland would’ve sent Gina into a swoon. Especially back when she was coming off six months of mourning after the heartbreak that was Douglas Welland and this state senator, pharmaceutical heir and DNC heavyweight decided to pay her some undivided attention. But as money-smart and political-savvy as he was, he was also a player through and through, and she hardly needed to walk in on him doing her aide atop her own desk to know she shouldn’t have gotten involved with him in the first place. Not that he took their breakup lightly. He pursued her with all the relentlessness of a tiger shark, but Gina never gave in. Far be it for her to make the same mistake twice.

  “Dance with me,” he said, coming even closer.

  She glanced to the stage. “I believe the band’s on break.”

  He slipped the flute from her hand, took a sip, handed it back. “There’s a deejay spinning.”

  She handed the flute back to him. “Pass.”

  “You can’t avoid me forever,” he whispered, leaning in.

  “I can try.” She stepped back. And immediately into something very solid behind her.

  “Gina, why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”

  Gina turned to see Doug’s eyes lasering into Lee’s. Thank God. “Doug, this is State Senator Lee Roland.”

  “Charmed, I’m sure,” Lee said, sliding his hands in his pockets. “Gina, I’ll be talking with you soon. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He slinked off.

&
nbsp; Gina closed her eyes, exhaling. “Criminy.” She turned to Doug. “Where did you go?”

  “Nowhere in particular.”

  “But you left me alone.

  “You’re in a roomful of people.”

  “Any one of whom could’ve been the nut out to get me.”

  His eyes darkened. “Not while I’m here.”

  “Oh really?” She poked her hair, smoothed her skirt, clutched her bag. “You sure of that?”

  He took her arm. “I’d stake my life on it. Come on.”

  “Where’re we going?” she asked as he led her off the dance floor.

  “To that man who’s obviously waving us over.”

  “Who?” She peered to where they were heading. “Oh jeez, Jack’s here. Dammit, I should’ve been watching for him.”

  “Ever the good admin, eh? Or is it more than that?”

  She smiled. “Oh my, are you jealous, Doug?”

  His hand fell possessively to the small of her back. “When I am, doll, you won’t have to ask.” A moment later, she sailed away from him.

  “Jack!” she said, arms wide. “When did you get here?”

  The Ladies’ Choice is what they called Jack Falco. Doug eyed the man, sizing him up as Gina absorbed his full attention. Ladies’ choice my ass, he thought. He’d liked to snap him in two.

  “Jack Falco? Sure, I voted for him. Didn’t you?” Doug recalled Dr. Lateesha gushing as she drained every last ounce of blood from him. “What’s not to like?” Right then the proper doctor seemed to go a little woozy picturing him. “Forty-two, dark hair with that sexy graying at the temples, eyes like tarnished copper pennies.” She sighed, which nearly made Doug cringe. “Oh yeah, the man’s smokin’ for sure.” She snapped on another blood collection tube and smiled wickedly. “If I were you, Dougie, I’d keep my woman on one tight leash because if it were me, well…” She winked. “There’s just no telling.”

  Right, Doug thought, I’d like to see him try. But then again he may already have had the chance. Doug tightened the space between him and Gina as she turned to take his hand.