by Aden Lowe
Chapter twenty-seven
Our beat up van would never be allowed close to Richardson's event, so we took the time to grab a rental. The benefit was invitation only, of course, but Rufus manufactured some impressive press credentials to get us all into the ballroom, complete with weapons.
Between the three of us, Flag, X, and I possessed the skills to meet any threat against Lauren, even unarmed, but weapons made things much cleaner and more efficient. Combined with my resolve to blow the Senator to Kingdom Come at the first threat to Lauren, our skills and weapons meant we would come out on top of any confrontation.
My call to McKinley was met with dismay. "Hey, it's Ross. I have her, safe." I listened to the stunned silence.
Finally, he replied, almost in a whisper, as if someone might overhear. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I have Lauren Johnson. She's safe." The wait tried my patience.
"Where are you?" This time, greed suffused his voice, leaving me no doubt McKinley stood to receive a hefty bonus for bringing her in.
"Just got into town. She's anxious to get to the Senator." That should guarantee a call to warn Richardson. I wanted his whole security team there when I blew this thing up. Every fucking one of them needed to be named and shamed. A decent man could not look the other way when a woman was being abused.
I ended the call without giving any definite information. Richardson's people would have to scramble in an effort to prepare for when and where Lauren might show up. Warning them was a calculated risk, but I gambled on the effectiveness of our disguises. I wanted them off balance, so focused on finding something that wouldn't show up, to give us a better chance of getting in unnoticed.
The ride to River Oaks Country Club, where Richardson's benefit thing was being held, passed in silence. There were a billion things I wanted to say to Lauren, but it wasn't the time. Last night, I fucked up in a big way, and now it was too late to fix it. The only thing left was to complete the mission, return her safely to her family, and go on my way. At least she wouldn't be in pain from my leaving. Not after last night.
The toast of DC society packed the huge banquet room, all ready to hang on every word the Senator uttered, and open their substantial wallets to support his cause, and him. I had to hand it to him. It was a genius plan. He stepped off the Conservative platform and landed firmly in the middle, in support of a cause both sides could get behind. He must figure he had enough lead in the delegate count to begin focusing on the general election. And I planned to bring it all crashing down.
We ignored the fancy finger foods the discrete wait-staff placed on the small table, and waited for Richardson to complete his prepared speech. Finally, Tabitha indicated he would take questions.
I shot to my feet before any of the reporters had a chance to react. "Why this particular issue? Surely you're aware of the risks your opposition will dig into your own past relationships and find someone who's willing to claim you abused them in some way."
Richardson turned in my direction. "I chose this issue because I've known people stuck in abusive relationships. I've seen the pain it causes, and I know how difficult it can be to escape." Exactly the answer I wanted.
"Oh, like you made it impossible for Lauren Johnson to escape?"
Rage filtered into his expression. "How dare you? Lauren was kidnapped in Austin. I'm leaving no stone unturned in the search for her. If you know anything about her whereabouts, you'll have to give over the information, or be charged with obstructing the investigation."
"No problem." I grinned and offered Lauren a hand to help her stand.
"Hello, Jared."
Richardson paled under his fake tan, while Tabitha reddened with anger and used her comm to direct the security team to apprehend us. Perfect.
He recovered quickly. "Lauren, thank God you're safe!" He left his podium and headed toward us. The crowd stirred, turning to see, and a chorus of hushed conversations began.
"Stay away from me, Jared."
He rushed up, reaching for her, but Lauren stepped back and gave me space to step in. My fist landed on Richardson's jaw with solid force. Stunned, he backed away, and as much as I wanted to, I didn't pursue him.
Lauren turned to face the press group, as Flag and X-Man moved to flank us. "For the record, I was not kidnapped in Austin. I escaped, with the help of my friends."
The room erupted in a flurry of questions. I raised a hand to signal for quiet. "All your questions will be answered. Please be patient." I took Lauren's arm and led her toward the vacant podium, despite the daggers Tabitha glared in our direction. The worst danger would come in the next few minutes.
Lauren took a position at the podium, adjusting the mic. "As I said, I was not kidnapped in Austin. My friends helped me escape. A few months into my relationship with Senator Richardson, he became violent, gradually at first." She went on to give details, while the press frantically took notes, and others recorded every word. "The end came when I told him I was finished, and broke off the relationship."
She explained how she remained to help with the Austin fundraisers, in an effort to keep things quiet and not hurt his chances in the polls. "During a major fundraising event, he drew me aside, into a private area, and hit me several times. He also broke my foot. Why? Because I wore the wrong dress. His assistant, Tabitha, said I should wear green, but the dress had a rip, and I wore black instead."
She continued, speaking of specific incidents when Richardson hit her, and describing how his staff, including Tabitha, looked the other way. When she finished, the crowd sat in stunned silence, trying to process it all.
Tabitha had no problem with that, though. She gestured quickly and four men from the McKinley agency converged on us, and rushed over herself.
The McKinley men wisely held back when they spotted the weapons Flag and X-Man leveled at them.
Tabitha apparently didn't see, or didn't care. She pushed past them, running for the podium, and tried to push Lauren away. "You bitch! You can't do this to him!" With clawed hands, she reached for Lauren's face.
Before I could intervene, Lauren drew back and punched her squarely in the mouth. Following through, she raised her knee, hard, into the woman's crotch. "That's for trying to kill me, bitch."
Tabitha dropped to the floor, streaming blood from a split lip, and holding her pubic area. The crowd whispered, but stood, waiting.
I stepped to the mic. "There's more." I laid out the attacks on Lauren, Poppy's murder, all of it, including Tabitha's plan.
Richardson stood there in frustrated silence, holding his jaw, fully aware anything he said would only further incriminate him. Tabitha finally managed to climb to her feet and move away, without assistance.
Finally, Eric McKinley stepped up to her side, leaned down to whisper something, then nodded and approached us. "Back off, Ross. We know this is nothing more than an attempt by Senator Richardson's opponents to discredit him. How much did Westin offer you, Miss Johnson? It must have been substantial, for you to throw away a chance at being First Lady."
Time for the ace in the hole. "Anyone who doubts these facts is welcome to take a look at the imprint of the Senator's signet ring on Miss Johnson's face. There is only one way for that to get there."
Bingo! Richardson lost it. Red with rage, he stormed toward Lauren. "You bitch! I should have killed you when I had the chance." He halted as soon as he spotted the gun in Flag's hand, aimed directly at his chest.
"We're leaving. I'm going back to my life. I would appreciate if everyone respected my privacy." Lauren leaned heavily on me as we walked out, Flag and X covering our rear.
They came at us as soon as we cleared the building. A dozen or more of McKinley's men, and probably others, rushed us. Out here, away from cameras and well-respected eyes, they could act with impunity.
X-Man stopped the closest one with a bullet to the knee, and started a storm of lead flying in our direction. We retreated, Flag and X attempting to keep them at bay, while I half-carried Lau
ren.
Lauren cried out and stumbled, and I forced her onward. When we reached the shelter of the first cars, I took a second to look. A bullet had clipped her shoulder, and blood soaked her blouse. I ripped my shirt off, folding it into a makeshift bandage, and pressed it to the wound. A man attempted to flank us, and I took him down. Time to move into the next part of the plan, before we were overrun.
I shouted to Flag and X-Man, scooped Lauren up, and ran like hell. Behind us, the parking lot erupted into a wall of flame, and the force of the explosion sent us all to the ground. Recovering quickly, we gained our feet again and ran.
Just outside the grounds of the country club, the van waited. We piled in, and got the hell out of Dodge.
***
Over the past three days, Lauren had barely spoken a word to me, and only if absolutely necessary. Richardson's spectacular public downfall continued unabated, as the press and authorities dug into all the skeletons in his closet, and found evidence of other violence against women. Everything Tabitha had helped cover up came to light. An investigation was opened into the death of the woman he was seeing before Lauren.
McKinley quickly made a deal, spilling everything he knew. Tabitha was quickly charged with conspiracy to commit murder, and other charges related to Poppy's death, and the explosive device in Lauren's bag.
Finally, Lauren was safe. Oddly enough, the press mostly left her alone, after she gave an official statement. Maybe they figured she'd been through enough. And now, she was reunited with her family. Her mother and sister cried, overwhelmed with joy at having her back.
My chest threatened to explode from the pressure as I turned away and went back to the car. I couldn't say goodbye. The temptation to take her with me, to keep her forever, would be too much to bear. So I walked away. Back to my empty life.
***
In the three weeks since I came home, I stayed busy, trying to avoid my grief at Trick leaving so suddenly, without even a goodbye. My mind, and my heart, refused to process the loss. He hadn't cared, after all.
Over and over, I replayed every moment with him, searching for some hint of how he really felt. Absolutely nothing, beyond his reluctance to become involved, indicated anything other than genuine caring. And even the hesitance to go further than friendship seemed more like respect than anything else. Nothing I knew about Trick even hinted at him being the type of man who simply turned his back on someone he cared for.
The adjustment back to small town life went more smoothly than I expected, considering my brush with notoriety. A few people made cutting remarks, but mostly, no one cared. If they gossiped behind my back, no one bothered to tell me. Any appeal DC, or any other big city, might have held for me before had completely evaporated. Small town life suited me just fine. The only thing missing was Trick, and I would simply have to get used to that.
Jessica went back to DC with me to clear out my apartment and put all my things in storage until I could find a new place of my own back home. Whatever bug I'd picked up along the way persisted. Almost every day, the nausea and fatigue hit, forcing a full stop to whatever plans I had. The second morning in DC, I went through my regular routine.
Brushed my teeth. Showered. Dried my hair. Took my pill.
The date flashed into my mind.
The little round packet in my hand should be empty. But three pills remained.
The plastic pack fell from my numb fingers, and my legs refused to support me any longer. No. It wasn't possible. Surely.
How could I face this alone? The thought of a little bit of Trick growing inside me offered comfort. I might not have him, but I could have this reminder, this symbol of my love for him.
I pulled myself together, dressed, and headed out to the pharmacy, avoiding Jessica's questioning look. Home again, I sat in the bathroom, behind the locked door, and started at the little blue + on the stick.
A second test confirmed it. Pregnant. Trick's baby.
Moping around and wishing for what might have been was no longer an option. I had only a short time to get things situated before the baby arrived. While I wished things were different, that Trick was here, that wasn't likely to change, so I had to move on and deal with it all on my own. No matter what, my baby would always know how much I loved him, and that I loved his father.
It took me a couple of weeks to get my feet back on the ground. I found a position as an art instructor at a small community college in my home town, I would have the support of my family. My parents and sister were over the moon at the prospect of a baby in the family. But even their excitement and anticipation couldn't dull the ache of missing Trick.
Maybe I should have found a way to contact Trick, let him know. But the last thing I wanted was to trap him into anything. Jessica argued that he deserved to know he had a child. Maybe. In the future. When I could face him without falling to bits. I had to make her promise not to contact him on her own, as she had before.
Eight weeks after my big revelation, I hurried to gather my things after my last class of the day. Several students lingered, obviously looking for extra praise for their work, but I didn't have time to offer it at the moment.
I rushed out of the classroom, and ran directly into a hard chest. Startled, I stepped back and looked up. Flag smiled down at me.
"Uh, hi, Flag. What are you doing here?" My first thought was that something had gone wrong and Jared was coming for me.
"I was in the area, figured I'd stop in and see how you're doing. Can we get a coffee?"
Part of me jumped in anticipation of news from Trick. "Oh. I'm sorry, I don't have time right now. I have an appointment." My first ultrasound was happening in forty minutes, and I would have to hurry to get there in time. "Maybe another time?"
"Appointment? Is everything okay?" His gaze swept over me, missing nothing.
I couldn't let him know. "Oh, yes, everything is good. Just a checkup." Out of nowhere, intense nausea hit, sending me running for the ladies room. I hated this part of it. The first hint of stress or excitement, and my stomach rebelled. Doctor Rashid assured me it was perfectly normal, and would decrease with time.
When I finally came out, Flag waited in the hall. "I have to go, but I'll hold you to the raincheck on the coffee. Take care, Lauren."
Thank God he didn't question me. I wouldn't have been able to keep my secret, but he seemed fine with my checkup explanation. I said goodbye, hugged him, and watched him head down the hall, already deeply occupied with something, speaking to someone on his cellphone.
Chapter twenty-eight
The conversation with Flag played over and over in my head as I drove. He had to be mistaken. Surely, Lauren would have contacted me if it were true? But what if it wasn't mine? Then she had no reason to let me know. Flag was wrong. She had moved on with her life, found a man who fit into it nicely. She would have everything she was supposed to have.
Nine days passed before I gave in to the need to know. Even the faint possibility that a child grew in Lauren's belly compelled me to go to her, to know for sure. Flying would have been faster, but the chances of my impatience unloading on some hapless flight attendant were too great. So I drove.
I parked outside the building where Lauren had taken a two-bedroom apartment, not far from the community college where she taught, and waited. If she still followed the schedule Flag observed when I asked him to check on her, I wouldn't have long to sit here.
Right on time, Lauren came walking down the street. She took my breath away. Her hair was still short, but she'd changed it a little. The loose-fitting dress she wore flowed around her with the breeze created as she walked, revealing the distinct roundness of her belly. My dick swelled in response, immediately wanting her.
I finally registered the fact she wasn't alone. At her side, a man walked along, laughing at something she said. Jealousy, and need to claim what was mine, thundered in my ears. Powerless to resist the impulse, I climbed stiffly from the truck
"Lauren." My voice rang throug
h the early evening hush of the street.
She froze, staring at me. "Trick?"
I strode over, intent on killing the man at her side. "Who are you?"
He looked to Lauren. "Should I call the police?"
She shook her head. "No. Of course not. Trick is an old friend."
That crushed me. I had been relegated to old friend status.
He looked unconvinced. "If you're sure…"
Lauren smiled. "I'm positive. Thanks for walking with me, Frank. I know it's silly, but I always hate walking alone this time of day."
Frank smiled, totally head over heels for her. "Of course, I'm happy to be of service. I'll see you tomorrow?"
About the time my civilized veneer gave out, Frank went on his way, leaving Lauren and me alone, standing there on the sidewalk.
"Why are you here, Trick?" Her voice shook, showing her anxiety.
"I needed to see you. Can we go up to your place and talk?" Better tread carefully here, I reminded myself.
She looked at me for a long time, and just when I was sure she was going to send me on my way, she nodded. "Okay." She led the way up the stairs, forgoing the elevator.
I managed to stay detached, to keep from grabbing her to me and confessing everything I felt for her. The apartment carried her stamp, her personality, as clearly as the other one had.
"Would you like coffee?" She put her things down, avoiding looking at me.
"No. I didn't come for that."
Startled, her gray gaze flashed in my direction before she quickly looked away. "What did you come for?"
"Whose baby is growing in your belly, Lauren?" Fuck, I hadn't meant to say it that way.
She went pale. "Flag told you."
"The question is, why didn't you tell me? Is that my child?" My heart stopped while I waited for the answer.