by Linde, K. A.
Liz closed her eyes and hung her head back against the door. She knew that. If she wanted Brady there were going to have to be sacrifices, but how big would those sacrifices be? Her privacy? Her career? Her ambition? Deep down she knew whatever the sacrifice, it would all be worth it. But the what-ifs drove her insane.
“I don’t want normal. I’m . . . I don’t know. It’ll take some getting used to.”
“I think it does in every relationship. We simply have some additional hurdles.”
“You’re right. I’m just overly emotional right now. I wasn’t happy without you. I’d never be happy without you, Brady,” Liz said.
She closed her eyes and tried to imagine continuing on this path without him, and all she saw was darkness. Blank, empty darkness. But being with him was like a shining light, a beacon of hope in the darkness. She wasn’t going to let that go for anything.
“Something we can agree on.”
“I don’t want to have to hide my apprehensions from you,” Liz told him. “But we’ll get through this, right? It’ll be worth it.”
“Every second with you is worth it.”
Liz sighed. “I should probably let you go so that you can get back to work. Sorry to kind of unload on you.”
“It’s all right, Liz. Just try to get some sleep. We’ll start to figure everything out this week.”
They hung up the phone and Liz slowly stood from her position against the door. She had a crick in her neck and really wanted to take a shower to ease some of the stress. She wanted to talk to Victoria about everything that had happened, but she didn’t have the energy. As Brady said, they would figure everything else out this week.
Liz took her time in the shower, scrubbing her body clean, and washing her long blond tresses. Once she was finished, she toweled off and changed into a pair of yoga pants and a UNC sweatshirt. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun on the top of her head, because she didn’t feel like taking the time to blow it out, then set to work on her neglected homework from the past week.
About fifteen minutes into her journalism assignment, Liz heard the doorbell ring. She hopped up out of her desk chair and strode into the living room. Victoria peeked her head out of her bedroom.
Liz just smiled. “I got it.”
“Cool.” Victoria nodded and then closed the door to her room again.
Liz yawned and covered her mouth as she reached for the door. When she swung it open, she wished that she hadn’t.
“Back so soon?” Liz asked in disbelief.
Calleigh Hollingsworth was standing on her doorstep. What the fuck?
“Yeah. Do you mind if I come in?” Calleigh asked. Her megawatt smile made Liz uncomfortable. No way was she coming inside.
“I’m kind of busy right now. Maybe you can come back later,” Liz said, looking at her as if she was a bit crazy. She started to close the door.
Calleigh put her hand out to stop it. “I can make this quick if you just have a minute.”
“I really don’t.”
“I think you have a minute for what I’m going to say.”
Liz rolled her eyes. What did Calleigh want to talk about?
“Not interested,” Liz said. She needed her to leave. Now. Anything that was about to come out of her mouth wasn’t going to be good. Fear seeped into every pore. Had she spoken to Hayden? Had he tipped her off? Could she have figured everything out in that amount of time?
Calleigh smiled and started speaking anyway. “When I left here, I got into my car and started driving away, thinking that I had wasted my time. Then I started thinking about exactly what had happened and what you had said. Particularly how defensive you got about everything I was saying. And I know that you don’t like me, Liz, but it all felt a little much for me coming to talk to you to find out a little piece of information. If you didn’t want to tell me, then you could have said a million things. You could have simply said that you didn’t know. You could have said Hayden swore you to secrecy. You could have said you just didn’t want to tell me. I would have expected those responses,” Calleigh said, staring directly into Liz’s eyes.
Liz swallowed. Oh, shit! She hadn’t thought that she had been defensive.
“But you didn’t do that, did you? You continually changed the subject and completely sidestepped every question I asked you. And I realized that you had totally played me. You’re kind of a pro at it, really. I’m impressed. I didn’t see it for what it was at all.”
“I’m not a pro at anything, Calleigh,” Liz said. She hoped that she sounded neutral. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
Calleigh smiled at Liz as if she were looking at a caged animal, and then answered as if she hadn’t heard a word Liz had just said. “So once I realized what you had done, it got me wondering what exactly it was that would make you try to manipulate the situation. What exactly you’re hiding.”
Liz rolled her eyes. “Are you done? I’m not hiding anything, Calleigh.”
“When I came over here in the first place I had my suspicions, but I thought maybe you just knew who Sandy Carmichael was . . . now I’m thinking maybe you are Sandy Carmichael.”
“What?” Liz gasped.
Oh, fuck! She didn’t know what to do. What the hell was she supposed to say to that? She didn’t want to lie, but this was Calleigh. After everything Liz had just said to Brady, she couldn’t imagine confirming this. It would ruin everything. She would be giving over the reins to the media, and Liz didn’t even want to think about what her world would be like if that happened.
She could feel her face heating, and knew that she looked uncomfortable. Calleigh no doubt was reading her body language. It made Liz’s palms sweat just thinking about it, and she shifted her eyes away from Calleigh’s face. This couldn’t be happening.
Deny, deny, deny.
“You can try to change the subject all you want,” Calleigh said, “but I knew something was up with you at his primary on the campaign. It’s all but confirmed with me now. So how about you go on the record and confirm, Liz: Are you Sandy Carmichael?”
Chapter 31
BRADY
Brady took a deep breath as he circled around his parents’ neighborhood and then pulled into the long circular driveway. He knew after checking his phone and seeing all the missed calls, voice mails, and text messages that there were going to be a lot of questions he was going to have to answer. After the peaceful weekend he’d had with Liz, he couldn’t imagine going back into the fray. They would never really have that again. It was kind of a sad notion, knowing that even if they worked everything out, they would never truly be alone.
Nothing he could do about it right now. They had to get to that point before he could worry about anything else.
There were reporters camped out on the perimeter of the house, and as he parked and got out of the car, a few jogged up to him. He had expected it to be like this, but still it was irritating.
“Congressman Maxwell, will you comment on the allegations about your relations with Sandy Carmichael?” one called, thrusting a microphone into his face.
“Congressman Maxwell, who is Sandy Carmichael?” another asked.
“Why are you hiding her from us? What other secrets are you hiding from the people?” still another called out. Cameras flashed and people surrounded him on all sides.
Brady had always known that politicians had to live their lives under a microscope. He had seen that firsthand with a father in politics. But it was one thing to see it from afar; it was quite different to be living it.
Brady shook his head and put his hands out. “No comment. When I want to make a statement, I’ll call a press conference. Until then, clear out of my property,” he told them stiffly, walking up the front steps and slipping in through the front door.
He closed the door heavily and leaned against it. He couldn’t kee
p running from reporters. It had only been a couple days and he was already tired of it. He heard voices down the hall and walked lightly across the foyer to see what was going on. He didn’t get far before he heard Heather and his attorney, Elliott, speaking rather fiercely back and forth. His father’s voice rang out, silencing them.
“He will be back when he is. You two treat him as if he’s a child. He’s a fucking congressman. Do you blame him for taking a mental health day? I don’t. We’ll deal with it all in time. Until then, perhaps you should find somewhere else to bicker.”
Brady cracked a smile. His father sure knew how to cut back an argument. Not that he thought Heather and Elliott had any intention of not bombarding him as soon as they found that he was back. Which he was not going to let them do immediately upon his entering the house.
He only wanted to see one more person before he felt obligated to decide how he was going to bring up the whole subject of Liz to everyone. He was hoping that he would get to talk to Heather and Elliott about it first. He kind of wanted Liz to be there with him when he told his family, but he could understand after her mini panic attack why he should probably do it alone.
The last thing he wanted to do was move too fast. But in this kind of situation, he couldn’t figure out how to move any slower. He knew where Liz was coming from. They went from not seeing each other for more than a year to fucking in half a second. Now he wanted to bring her home to the family, tell the press they were dating, and live happily ever after in this mob-style media haze. It wasn’t fair to her. He wanted to give her more, but he couldn’t before and he couldn’t now. He just wanted to give her everything he could.
He loved her. Fuck, he had never stopped loving her.
She had said that she had tried to give him up, but he didn’t really think he had ever really tried that hard. She was ingrained in him somehow. She had been since day one, when she had stared up at him completely unfazed and asked him one question that changed everything. How could he walk away from someone like that?
Well, the answer had been simple: he couldn’t. If he was honest with himself, and he usually was, Erin had just been filler. A poor man’s Liz. And it was cruel to think it, but fuck, she was.
Erin would never be Liz. He had always known, but it had been a nice distraction. Then when he had just fucking dropped everything that night in October at a chance of seeing Liz, just so he didn’t have to think about her crying . . . yeah, that had been the tipping point.
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.