On the Record

by K. A. Linde

  One desperate drive out there, one look, one kiss. It had been over.

  He had broken up with Erin as soon as his plane touched down in D.C. Erin had cried, and he had felt bad, but nothing compared to how he had felt when Liz had called crying. He had felt like he was dying. That had only sealed the deal.

  He remembered how angry Erin had gotten.

  I thought you loved me. How do you suddenly stop loving someone? Is there someone else? Is that what this is?

  Brady shook his head as he took the stairs to the second floor. There had always been someone else.

  He didn’t know what he would have done if Liz hadn’t ended up calling him. At this point he didn’t even want to think about it. He had too much else to worry about.

  The hall was clear when he made it to the landing. Brady took a left turn and then opened the door to the first bedroom on the right without waiting for a response. Clay turned around quickly from where he was standing with a phone pressed to his ear.

  “Hey, hold on,” Clay said into the phone. “What’s up, man? Where the fuck were you?”

  Brady shut the door. “You should probably end your phone call.”

  Clay’s brow furrowed. “Andrea, I’m going to have to call you back.” Clay hung the phone up and tossed it onto the bed. “What’s this all about?”

  “Clay, I know that we’ve had our differences in the past,” Brady said, taking a step toward his brother. “I know we haven’t always agreed. You’ve gone your way. I’ve gone mine. I accepted that we were never going to be close.”

  “What the fuck is this, Brady? Are we bonding all of a sudden?” Clay asked.

  “You could say that.” He took another step. “Now, as I was saying, I know we were never close. But I thought we had a certain understanding.”

  “Is this about Liz?”

  Brady was on him in two seconds, slamming Clay’s back roughly against the wall and shoving his forearm against Clay’s jugular. “Don’t say her name.”

  “Fuck, Brady!” Clay managed to get out as he was held against the wall.

  “You’re a fucking piece of work, you know that?” Clay just glared at him fiercely. “There are reasons I have the things that I have in my life. And there are reasons why you will never have what I have, Clay. Don’t think I’m stupid enough not to know why you went after her in the first place.”

  Clay swung at him but Brady just increased the pressure on his throat and swatted his hand away.

  “She might have been naïve enough to almost fall for your game, but just know that she never will be again. You’ll never get close to her. You’ll never touch her. You’ll certainly never kiss her again. She’s mine. And if I ever even get a hint that you’re trying to take what is mine, I don’t think I’ll just be using words.”

  “Fuck you!” Clay spat.

  “She did.”

  After he made his point, Brady lessened the pressure on Clay’s throat and started to back off.

  “You think I’m the piece of work?” Clay said. “If you care about her so much, then why was she fucking that asshole reporter this whole time? Yeah, probably because you weren’t there. You had no claim on her. Fair game.”

  “You have a fucking girlfriend,” Brady roared. “Why don’t you fair-game her ass and leave everyone else’s alone!”

  Clay scoffed. “It’s just Andrea.”

  “This, this right here!” Brady said, gesturing to Clay. “How the fuck are we even related?”

  “Is Liz your girlfriend?” Clay asked with a snide smirk.

  Brady shook his head and then slammed Clay back into the wall again. “I said don’t say her name. And I don’t ever want to hear you talk about someone else fucking her. Imagine what we would be talking about right now if you had succeeded in your stupid mind game.”

  “I’m imagining,” Clay said defiantly.

  “You’re imagining yourself dead?”

  Clay opened his mouth to respond when the bedroom door swung open again. “Clay, Mom just asked me to . . .” Savannah trailed off as she took in what she saw. “What is this? What’s going on?”

  Brady growled under his breath and then dropped his arm. He wasn’t going to do this shit in front of Savannah. He had gotten his point across to Clay. That was going to have to do. Clay wasn’t stupid. He had been trying to do all of this shit behind Brady’s back. He wasn’t going to blatantly go against Brady once it went public. Clay didn’t like to be in the papers. He had to stay out of them if he wanted to be the attorney general one day.

  “Nothing, Savi,” Brady said, dusting off his hands on his pants and striding across the room. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Don’t tell me not to worry about it. You had him against the wall. Why are you guys fighting? Why are you always fighting?” Savannah asked. “And where have you been?”

  “I had to get away. I’ll tell you about it later,” Brady said. He walked toward the door and was almost out of the room before Clay spoke up.

  “That’s it! You’re just going to leave it at that. Not even going to tell your precious little sister what a terrible guy you really are?” Clay spat.

  Brady sighed and stopped in the doorway. Great. He had riled Clay up. He should have just beaten the shit out of him. Then his brother wouldn’t have had any comebacks.

  “Clay, don’t be an ass,” Savannah said, rolling her eyes.

  “Me? He’s the one who was banging a UNC student ten years younger than him, and thought he would get away with it. Everyone thinks he’s so innocent.”

  “What?” Savannah breathed.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Clay.”

  “Play innocent. Prodigal son and all that. You fucked up. Now own it!”

  “Brady, what is he talking about? All of that stuff about the UNC student was made up. You’d never . . . You’re not that kind of guy.” She tried to laugh but cut it off. “Wrong brother. Right?”

  “Oh Jesus Christ, you too?” Clay cried, throwing his hands up.

  Brady sighed and faced Savannah. “It’s true. I was with a UNC student two summers ago before you were even there. She’s not ten years younger. She’s seven. It wasn’t an affair. We weren’t with other people. It’s not all the media is making it out to be.”

  “Wow.” Savannah’s mouth hung open. “Is she still at UNC?”

  “I was going to wait to talk about it with everyone,” Brady said simply.

  Clay started laughing. “You believe he’s actually going to tell everyone everything, Savi?”

  “Leave him alone. He’s had a rough week!” Savannah said.

  “Defend him like normal. She’s a reporter,” Clay announced. “Got your attention now?”

  “What?” Savannah reached out and smacked Brady’s arm. “Are you stupid? Don’t you know that’s rule one in bad politics? It’s like . . . fraternizing with the enemy!”

  “Savi, you’re going to be a reporter,” Brady reminded her.

  “I’m different. Who is it? What reporter could possibly interest you?” Savannah demanded.

  God, this was not how he had wanted this conversation to go. He knew Liz and Savannah were friends. Good enough friends that she brought her along to dinner with their parents. He could only imagine how this was going to go down. He kind of felt obligated to be the one to tell Savannah, since she was his little sister, but Liz was her friend. He wished Liz were with him.

  “Before you punch me, please remember this was before you knew her,” Brady warned.

  Savannah planted her hands on her sides. “Brady Jefferson,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Do I even want to know?”

  “It’s Liz,” he blurted out.

  Savannah’s mouth dropped open and her hands dropped to her sides. “Liz? Like Liz Dougherty, the editor-in-chief at the UNC newspaper? Like the Liz I brought to dinner that one time? My Liz?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, what, you’re not going to beat her up because she claims your girlfrien
d?” Clay grumbled across the room.

  “She didn’t try to sleep with her!” Brady shot back.

  “Girlfriend? Liz is your girlfriend?” Savannah’s eyes were wide as if she couldn’t seem to process what he was saying.

  “Well, yeah.” Brady shrugged. What else was he going to say? He was going to have to have this conversation one way or another. He just hoped Savannah would understand. No way around it. He wasn’t giving Liz up just because Savi was uncomfortable.

  Savannah wrinkled her nose. “Gross. One of my best friends slept with my brother. I am so going to have words with her! She was the first person I talked to when I found out, and she didn’t even tell me that you were sleeping together. And,” Savannah gasped, “Hayden . . . were you together when . . . ?”

  Brady’s eyes turned molten at that name. He couldn’t even think about Hayden without wanting to put his fist through Hayden’s face and tear him apart limb from limb.

  “No. He is so far out of the picture. He didn’t find out any of it happened—no one did, until the week before the article released.”

  “So . . . how is she your girlfriend? And wait . . . did you just say Clay tried to sleep with her too?” Savannah asked. “Can either of you keep it in your pants?”

  Brady shifted his eyes from Savannah. This was not the conversation he wanted to be having. Getting reprimanded for falling for Liz was out of the question. He had heard it enough from Heather. He had beaten himself up about it. He wasn’t going to listen to it anymore.

  “She’s my girlfriend since yesterday. Everyone is just going to have to get used to the idea. I have to deal with the rest of the world having an opinion, so I just can’t take any more shit right now,” Brady said sternly. He hadn’t meant to snap, but he was so over it already.

  “I wasn’t trying to give you shit,” Savannah said softly. “I like Liz. I’m just shocked. Everyone is going to be shocked.”

  “I know.” He tried to clear his head. “I know. I’m just about to break it to Heather.”

  Savannah cringed. “Do you want me to come with you?”

  Brady chuckled at Savannah. He loved his little sister. He hoped no one ever tried to ruin her goodness. “No. I think I’m old enough to tackle my own problems. But thank you.”

  He walked back over to Clay, who stood taller as he approached. He probably thought Brady was going to hit him after all. It would be what the asshole deserved, but he wasn’t going to actually start a fight when he had won in the end anyway.

  “What do you want?” Clay asked.

  “Don’t leave your phone where reporters can take it next time,” Brady said, pulling Clay’s phone out of his pocket and tossing it into his brother’s hands.

  “She took my phone? What a . . .”

  “I wouldn’t finish that sentence,” Brady said. He glared at Clay before turning, nodding at Savannah, and walking out of the room. He did have to deal with his own problems. Clay and Savannah now knew. Two down, the rest of the world to go.

  As he walked to the staircase, he wondered about what he should expect from Heather. She had been there since day one, and her opinion had always been important to him . . . until Liz. Heather just couldn’t see clearly about his relationship with her. He knew that it was because she saw Liz as a liability. It didn’t matter now, though, because there was nothing she could do but accept it for what it was.

  As Brady descended the staircase, he saw Elliott standing at the base of the stairs typing away on his iPad. If Brady knew him at all, he was probably trying to get away from Heather.

  “Hey, man,” Brady said as he approached.

  Elliott jumped. “When did you get back?”

  “Not too long ago.”

  “Where the fuck did you go?”

  “Away, but now I’m back and we can deal with all of this.”

  “Good.” Elliott shut down the iPad and tucked it under his arm. “Heather has been driving me mad.”

  “Sounds accurate.”

  “You with that girl again?” Elliott asked all nonchalant as if it didn’t make a difference one way or another.

  Brady laughed and nodded. “Yeah. I am. You going to help me break it to Heather?”

  “I think she’s been preparing to slaughter you all weekend. She’ll come around.” Elliott clapped Brady on the back. “I’m surprised it took you this long.”

  “Stubborn, I guess.”

  Brady never knew how to read Elliott. They had known each other a long time. Sometimes Brady thought the man was going to blow up on him, and other times Elliott was completely chill. Brady was glad to have him as a friend on the occasions when he just rolled with the punches. Made him a good lawyer.

  “Stubborn,” Elliott said with raised eyebrows. “Now who would possibly describe you that way?”

  “Everyone.”

  “Right.”

  “How’d you know I’d go back to her?” Brady asked him. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited. He hadn’t even known that he would go after her. She had his heart, but fuck, she had messed him up. He had struggled with the decision up until the minute she had gotten into his car.

  “Do you remember what you said to me the day of your primary victory, when I asked you if you really loved her?”

  “I said that it didn’t matter.”

  “Exactly. Frankly it doesn’t matter,” Elliott told him. “You could have said yes and you could have said no, but you said it didn’t matter. Which to me meant it was the only thing that mattered.”

  “She is,” Brady agreed. It had just taken him a while to realize that. Without her, all of his dreams and aspirations seemed flat.

  “Let’s try to convince Heather of that. My advice, for what it’s worth, you might want to just let her get a few good punches in,” Elliott said with a laugh. “She’ll feel bad about it and forgive you quicker.”

  “I like where your head’s at.” This was the reason he kept Elliott around.

  They walked together to the living room, where Heather was hovering over the phone. She looked like a wreck. Her blond hair was still perfectly straight, but it was up into a high ponytail that he had rarely seen her do before. She was short on makeup, and her suit looked like it needed a trip to the dry cleaner’s. Brady had clearly really stressed her out.

  “Heather,” Brady said softly.

  Heather turned around so fast that she looked as if she gave herself whiplash. “Brady! Oh my God, you’re back!”

  “Of course I’m back,” he said with an easy shrug. He wasn’t giving up his career for one scandal.

  “Great. Let’s sit down. We have to figure out our remarks. I need to know what angle we should take. I think personally denying would just be best, but if you think of something different I could work with that. Then I think we should decide about a press conference. Do we want to call for one or should I just release a statement for you? Would that seem like you’re hiding behind the screen?”

  “Whoa!” Brady said, holding his hands up. “Just like that? You want to talk strategy? You don’t want to chew my head off for leaving?”

  Heather stared at him stonily. “What I want and what I think are important for your career are two different things.”

  “Good to be back, Heather,” he said, taking a seat on a chair and grinning at her.

  “Don’t get the two things confused again. I want to smack some sense into you for leaving me knee-deep in this shit, but I know that we need to address this as quickly as possible. I’ll hold back my desire to strangle you until we have some semblance of order again,” she grumbled.

  “I think order is going to be scarce for a while.”

  “I know, but still I think we should . . .” Heather trailed off. “Wait, why? You sound like there’s a reason beyond just the media.”

  “It’s Liz, Heather,” Brady said softly.

  “I know that Sandy Carmichael is Liz, Brady. I’ve already surmised that.”

  “No. Heather,” he said, shaking h
is head. “I’m back with Liz.”

  “What?” she shrieked. “Brady, are you out of your mind? Her boyfriend wrote the article. It’s libelous. What the fuck are we supposed to tell reporters? Where do I go from here?”

  “We’ll figure it out. We just need a little time for us to decide what to do and then we’ll go public.”

  “Brady, I kind of have to insist as your press secretary that you shouldn’t,” Heather said. She was pacing the room at this point. “Think about how this will look!”

  Brady was going to respond when Heather’s phone started ringing noisily. She snatched it off the table it was resting on and frowned at the number. “Give me a second. It’s probably another reporter.

  “Congressman Maxwell’s office,” she said evenly.

  Brady sighed and rested back in the armchair. Heather was going to be difficult about all of this. He just knew it.

  “No, the Congressman is out.”

  It didn’t matter, though, because the wheels were already in motion. He wasn’t going back on what he had said to Liz.

  “Congressman Maxwell has no comment on the matter of Sandy Carmichael.”

  He wondered how many calls like this Heather had dealt with while he had been gone. Sure, it was her job, but he wished that it all hadn’t happened quite like this. Of course, if it had happened any other way he might not have gotten back with Liz.

  As he watched Heather, her face turned red with frustration. “Yes, Miss Hollingsworth, I know that you want a comment from Congressman Maxwell about your article, but we have no comment. He’s currently unavailable. We’ll reach out to you if we have anything further to say.”

  Fuck! That name. Hadn’t Liz just said that Calleigh Hollingsworth had come to see her in Chapel Hill?

  “Heather,” Brady snapped. “Did you say Hollingsworth? Are you sure?”

  Heather spoke into the phone. “Hold please.” Then looked up at Brady. “Yes, Calleigh Hollingsworth of the Charlotte Times, why?”

  “I’ll take it,” Brady said, standing and reaching for the phone.

  “What? No you will not. I’m your press secretary.”