Vote Then Read: Volume II

by Lauren Blakely

  She started to build me up, and I knew I wouldn’t last long. She wanted to finish me in her mouth but I pulled her up, hands tangling in her hair.

  “No, not like this.”

  I sat her in my lap and she squirmed enough to make my eyes roll back. I pulled her full, gorgeous breasts out from the lace, which pushed them up and out. I bent my head to trap one dark peak in my mouth, and her hands fisted in my hair. My mouth sucked as she writhed on top of me. I switched to the other breast and she gasped.

  This was the woman I wanted, needed.

  The expression on her face was dazed, but I was hungry and determined. And we weren’t done here.

  Her eyes widened with surprise at the tearing sound. She looked down to where I’d just ripped the lace from her hips.

  “Sorry, kitten,” I groaned. She looked, fascinated, at the scrap of lace in my hand, then back at me. “I’ll buy you a thousand more exactly like that.”

  No more waiting. My fingers found her. Fuck, she was soaked, and I couldn’t wait to feel her clench around me. I pulled her back for a hard, desperate kiss.

  “Tell me it’s only me. It’s always me,” I demanded. I knew she hadn’t been with anyone since she’d come back to New York this summer, but I wanted to hear her say it.

  “There hasn’t been anyone, Nate, since you.”

  I froze as her words sank in. “You mean—”

  She shook her head, sending dark hair in waves around her shoulders. “Not just this summer. Since I met you,” she whispered meaningfully.

  The months I had agonized over her, she had done the same over me. No one else had tasted her, been inside her, made her cry out since I’d laid eyes on her dancing with her friend in that club.

  I lost it.

  My fingers tightened on her hips, digging in and pulling down. I sheathed myself inside her slick body as we groaned into each other’s mouths. She was so tight and full. My cock was so deep in her, I never wanted to leave.

  One of her hands pressed into my shoulders, the other gripping my hair as she pulled herself up and then back down on me. My fingers squeezed her tight ass as I helped lift and lower her, angling my hips to go deeper still. Her thighs clenched.

  Ava’s green eyes were on mine, our faces a breath apart. I could see this was overwhelming her as much as me. The emotion coupled with the physical sensations combined, riding us higher.

  “Oh God, Nate,” she whispered.

  I felt more than I thought it was possible to feel. And we were kissing but not really. She was gasping and I was groaning.

  When she came, her fingers squeezed the back of my neck as everything in her tightened and exploded. I pulsed into her one last time before coming with a groan.

  Now that I had this girl, I never wanted to occupy another time, another space without her.

  29

  Ava

  Jordan burst into Lindy’s and dropped onto the couch next to us. “I have two things with me and you’re going to love both of them.”

  I eyed her bag. “Umm … Ryan Reynolds and a Frappuccino?”

  “I’m totally telling Nate you said that.”

  “Not in that order,” I said defensively.

  “Check it out—we made Style!” Jordan proudly opened the magazine with a flourish.

  We’d had a hint from Kirsten we might be in the magazine, but it hadn’t been a sure thing. Sure enough, on page seventy-four, as part of a “Falling for Manhattan” spread, was a model sporting a jewel-toned blue blouse from Travesty with a black military jacket and gray pants.

  “Hell, yes!” I exclaimed.

  It was the first time something of ours had been recognized besides the Claire skirt. And the best part?

  It didn’t look like anything of Bryson’s. This felt a hundred times sweeter because it was totally ours.

  It’d been exactly two weeks since we had re-made the spring line. Lex and Jordan and I were putting the finishing touches on promotions and recruiting new boutiques.

  Jordan might’ve come on board to resolve distribution issues, but now she’d found a way to help with our banking, too. And what seemed like a million other things. Because of all the extra work, she sometimes ended up crashing on our couch instead of going home. So we saw a lot of her.

  “And if that’s not enough …” Jordan spread out two sheets of paper.

  I squinted at the tiny numbers. Then looked up at her. “That’s what we’ve sold?”

  “Sure is,” she replied. “It’s not huge but it’s moving in the right direction and …” Jordan trailed off.

  Lex and I jumped on her for a three-way hug.

  Jordan went quiet, like an animal hiding until it went unnoticed.

  I came out of the wind-pipe-crushing hug first as a thought crossed my mind. “Wait. Does this mean I can buy a pony? And maybe that beach house Kanye put up for sale?”

  “It means we can start paying off our investors,” Lex insisted. “If we can get the lawsuit off our backs.”

  My face fell. Now we had a court date, but we weren’t scheduled for another month. It was looming over our heads in the meantime.

  Lex squeezed my shoulders. “But, we’ve all been working our asses off. It might not hurt to sponsor our night out tonight from our first paychecks?”

  “Team T, bitches.” I grinned. “Let’s do this.”

  We’d been planning to go out tonight and celebrate. It’d been marked in the calendar for weeks now. This news just added an extra layer of excitement.

  I called Nate to tell him.

  “That’s great,” he said warmly. “I might be a bit late tonight, though.”

  “What? Why?” Some of my excitement fell away.

  “My dad’s first fundraiser is tonight.”

  I’d known Nate’s dad was running for office, but I hadn’t known about the event. “Well, there’ll be lots more, right? You said you were coming tonight.”

  He paused. “I wish it were that simple. Voters care about family, and he needs to set the tone. I need to show face.”

  “Is he running for office or are you?” I tried to keep it light, but there was an edge to my words.

  “I’m sorry, Ava. It sucks. I’ll try to wrap it up quickly.” Nate sounded contrite but distracted. When he rang off, it left an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach.

  This was our one chance to celebrate. Our moment we’d worked so hard for. Why didn’t he get that?

  I forced myself to focus on getting ready to go out. The three of us dressed together and did our hair and makeup at our apartment. We opened a bottle of bubbly at home before dragging our well-dressed asses out.

  The Bar had become one of our favorite spots. It was close to home and after ten turned from a chill lounge into a happening place.

  Tonight we had a big round VIP table for eight. I was squeezed between Lex and Jordan. Kirsten and Jeremy were there too. A few girls from the magazine who had said they’d meet us showed up soon after, making it a tight fit.

  “A toast!” a slightly tipsy Kirsten was saying to the group of us smooshed together happily around the booth. “To two crazy girls—”

  “Three!” I added. I wanted to include Jordan, since she’d been important.

  “Sorry, three crazy girls from Cali—”

  “Well, actually Jordan’s not from Cali …” Lex leaned in.

  “Shhh,” slurred Kirsten, waving a finger in the air. She looked like a fairy godmother about to grant a wish with a shot of tequila. “Three crazy girls from … across America! Who defied the odds and actually made shit people want to wear.”

  “To Team T!”

  “Team T!” everyone agreed.

  We did a round of shots. Then Kirsten dragged us out to the dance floor. My hands reached for the sky and I swayed to the music.

  I was over the moon. We had a great label. I lived in the coolest city in the world, doing what I loved with my best friend, my new friends, and my boyfriend. Sure, Nate was late to the party, but he’d
be here any minute. In the meantime I enjoyed the amazingness around me.

  When I made it to the bar a few songs later and checked my phone, I was startled to realize it was past eleven. There was a missed call from Nate but no message.

  My buzz receded. I went to the bathroom to find some quiet while I made the call. He answered on the third ring. At first all I heard was voices and laughter, almost as loud as the music in the background of The Bar.

  “Nate? What’s going on? Everyone’s here but you!”

  “Hey.” He sounded contrite. “I tried calling but you didn’t pick up. I don’t think I’m going to get out of here for a while yet.”

  “But I thought you just had to say hi to some people on your way over.”

  “I might need to stick around.”

  Unbelievable. I thought about everyone who’d made time to be here. Kirsten, our Team T. They all had lives, other commitments.

  “I’ll stop by after, though. How late will you be out?”

  “You know what, Nate? Don’t worry about it.” I clicked off. Then wiped an angry tear from my eye before going back to my friends.

  30

  Nate

  I listened to the dial tone for a full minute.

  It’d been a while since I’d had a girlfriend, but I knew that sound. It was, unequivocally, the sound of me fucking up.

  The people around me kept talking, smiling, drinking. No one noticed I was only half there. That part of me was with Ava, at The Bar.

  Where the rest of you should be.

  Dad had announced his candidacy for Senate the week before, but the journey started here, at the penthouse apartment of some banker my dad had gone to school with thirty years ago, who was now one of the most influential businessmen in America.

  “Nathan.” Todd, whose house we were in, appeared next to me. “You must be very proud.”

  “Thank you. I am.”

  During my dad’s speech tonight I’d stood by him and my mother. I’d smiled at the right moments and then gotten swept off stage and into a corner, with the rest of the props.

  “I’ll bet you have a lot of these nights in your future.” A white, capped grin. I remembered his face from the occasional dinner over the years.

  “Yes, sir. And it’s good of you to host us tonight.”

  Todd looked around modestly at the five-thousand-square-foot loft packed with the who’s who of New York politics and money. I’d heard his old home was bigger, but his ex-wife had gotten it in the divorce.

  “My pleasure. Your dad’s going to be senator. But it’s going to take all of us to pull this off.”

  And that was just it. Ava didn’t get that it took a lot of people working together behind the scenes to make something happen. I’d had a modest part to play tonight, but it was what I could do, all I could do, to support my family.

  Even though you missed your girlfriend’s biggest moment of the year?

  Ava and Lex had a lot of friends to celebrate with, I’d reasoned, thinking she’d understand if they were down by one. What hadn’t occurred to me until we were on the phone was how important this had been to her.

  Fuck.

  “There’s the man of the hour.” Todd beamed at my father, clapping a hand on his back.

  “Todd. You’re one of the good ones. Bet you never thought we’d be here twenty-five years ago back when we spent most of our waking hours drinking at the campus pub.” They laughed.

  I’d barely spoken to my dad tonight, but he was in fine form, smiling, making the rounds, and promising things.

  Maybe I could say a final congratulations and sneak out now. Catch a car across town. Be at The Bar in thirty minutes.

  “Nathan. We need a moment.” My dad gestured.

  I straightened my suit and followed him toward the patio. It wrapped around the entire top floor of the building, offering another thousand square feet of chaises, a Japanese garden, and a bar.

  The night was cool. Most of the crowd was inside, but a few men were smoking cigars. My father offered the same smile and handshake to each of them, though he called them all by name.

  We found a quiet spot in the corner. I stood, looking out at the spectacular view, my hands in my pockets, wishing I could enjoy it more.

  “That seemed to go well,” I started.

  “It’s early.” He was distracted. “How’ve you been?”

  “Good.”

  He nodded. “It means a lot to me that you’re here, Nathan. I need you for this race.”

  It was the first time he’d recognized it. “I’m glad to be here. You have my full support.” Even if tonight hadn’t gone as planned, I wanted to be part of this with him.

  We hadn’t talked much since he’d found out I’d dropped the case. In fact, there had been less fallout than I’d expected. He’d simply had me pick up two other files to compensate. Chastised me for backing down.

  “It’s a relief to hear it. Which is why I’m hoping you can explain this.” My father held out his phone to me. I glanced down at the screen.

  It held a picture of me and Ava at the baseball game, my hand resting comfortably in hers.

  Shit. I hadn’t had a chance to tell my dad about Ava yet. I’d hardly spoken with him since she’d reminded me. With the extra work I’d been putting in to make up for dropping the case and all the campaign work he’d been doing, it hadn’t come up.

  “Read it.” He handed me the device. I took it wordlessly and scrolled down past the picture.

  The headline was “All in the Family: How the Townsends Mix Work and Pleasure.” It went on to say that Nathan Townsend, son of candidate Alistair Townsend, was spotted with a woman believed to have been his defendant on a recent case in which he was representing the plaintiff.

  I looked back at the photo. Ava and I were smiling at each other like we were conspiring. My hand was high on her leg in a way that looked almost lecherous.

  No one had to tell me this was ammunition in the wrong hands. Damning to my father’s politics. And it cast the firm in a bad light.

  I felt sick. “This is libelous. We never went out together until after I recused myself.”

  “You brought her into my house, Nathan,” he murmured. “Made me feel like a fool.” His voice was low for the benefit of those around us, so no one could hear. But the words cut into me as if he’d shouted.

  There was nothing I could say, no excuse that could make it better. No defence that could make it justified.

  I forced my mind into damage control mode. “What do they want in order to not print this?”

  My father took the phone back and made the photo vanish with the touch of a button. “It’s already out there,” he said matter-of-factly.

  It took every ounce of willpower to retain my posture. It’d been trained into me over the years: don’t show your weakness; don’t show your pain. But all I wanted to do was shout, or curse, or throw one of the bonsai trees that lined the patio.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll fix this. I’ll tell the press you weren’t involved.”

  He looked out over the balcony like he was gazing into the future. Or the past.

  When my father spoke again, his voice softened, but the undercurrent was still there. “Sometimes you forget yourself, Nathan. You forget it’s my name on the damn door of that firm. It might be yours someday, but it was mine first. It’s mine now. What you have I gave to you.” His jaw tightened. “So stop pissing on it.”

  He turned to head back to the apartment.

  31

  Ava

  “How much groveling do you make Dylan do?”

  I stood in front of the full-length mirror putting on blush. I held up an aqua dress in one hand.

  “And is it, like, sexual groveling? Wait—don’t tell me that part.”

  “A?” Lex’s disembodied voice floated from the living room. “I don’t know what that means. But it’s weird you’re planning the groveling, sexual or otherwise.”

  After deleting both messages Nate ha
d left me without listening to them, I’d finally picked up when he called this morning and asked to take me out for dinner as an apology for bailing last night. I knew something was up when he’d suggested one of the hottest new restaurants.

  Of course I’d said yes. I’d already decided to let him make it up to me. Though I’d forced myself to have as good a time as I could with my friends, I’d missed him. I’d thought about it last night lying in bed, buzzed and alone. It wasn’t worth fighting.

  “The thing is,” I said, holding up a pink dress for comparison, “if I don’t decide first that he needs to grovel, I’ll take one look at him in that damned suit and horny Ava will take over. I’ll probably just drag him into a public washroom and jump him.”

  Lex’s flushed face appeared in the mirror behind me. “Well, I think you’ll be able to tell if he’s sincere.”

  I settled on the aqua dress and pulled it over my head. “You like us together, don’t you?”

  Lex had warmed to Nate over the past weeks, but I wasn’t sure she trusted him.

  “I’m getting there. And,” she reasoned, “there’s always a bright side. If you guys get married someday, maybe we’ll get free legal representation.”

  I snorted. “Now you’re pimping me out. Tell you what. I’ll forgive you if you let me borrow your Prada bag.”

  “Sure.”

  The thing was, I needed Nate to see he’d hurt me. He’d feel bad and realize the error of his ways—that was the kind of guy Nate was. But I sensed tonight was about more than just an apology. The restaurant, the secrecy.

  What if it was something big?

  Excitement bubbled up. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about the future with him. Like, a future.

  The Hamptons wasn’t my style, but maybe we’d get a great loft in Brooklyn. A giant table for my sewing and another for his case work. We’d host parties and drink wine on the balcony and probably break the bed once or twice.