Page 38 of Hurry Up And Wait
“We don’t want our female voters to think you find them stupid,” the senator chuckled.
“That’s not what I was saying. Women still believe that men can be faithful. They see a woman by a man’s side and hope she can somehow reform him. While men realize that it’s not about the woman. It’s about the man’s integrity. No woman can make a man change. The man has to want to do that for himself.”
Silence filled the room. It was pretty damn clear to me that Edward didn’t like me. My father was only tolerating me because he needed me.
“Be that as it may,” Edward continued, “let’s keep those personal thoughts under wraps. A line like that would be a field day for the press.”
“Yes, and we wouldn’t want them to have any more scandals to deal with,” I said, pointedly looking at the senator.
“Watch it,” the senator snapped, narrowing his eyes at me.
I smirked, unable to hold back how fucking happy it made me to see him so upset over the truth.
Edward shifted in his seat, moving on to the next point. “I have your apartment set up. We’ve taken the liberty of moving your fiancée in there also. She’ll be in?—”
“Hold up,” I interrupted. “You moved her into the apartment?”
“It has to look authentic.”
I gritted my teeth, remaining as calm as possible. “And youassumed I would have no problem living with a complete stranger while I was here? You didn’t think that was something to clear with me first?”
“Son—”
“Don’t,” I snapped at the senator. “We’re not on the campaign trail right now. There’s no need to pretend for your staff that we have any sort of relationship.”
The senator bit his tongue, but I knew we’d have words about it later. Our private affairs weren’t to be discussed in front of the help, even if they were supposed to know every sorted detail of our lives.
“I think that’s a good place to end things,” Edward said, getting to his feet. “Take the packet to the apartment and look it over. Take some time to get to know your new fiancée. We’ll be on the road early tomorrow. The car will pick you up at six.”
With one final look at the senator, I grabbed the file and my bag, then headed out the door. It looked like I had to get that suit tonight so I could look my absolute fucking best tomorrow. And then I had to spend the night getting to know my new fiancée. With any luck, she wouldn’t be a replica of my mother.
With any luck, I would finish this fucking trip with my sanity still in order.
9
ISLA
“Yoo-hoo!”Riley called out. “Is it safe to come in?”
She stood in the front doorway with her hands over her eyes, waiting for me to answer. I sat up, pulling the blanket over my naked body, rubbing my tired eyes. “Yeah, come in.”
She peeked between her fingers, then looked around at the destruction with an approving nod. “Nice.”
“We wrecked the lamp,” I muttered. “I’m pretty sure the landlady won’t be happy about that.”
“Just tell her it was Kavanaugh. She’ll understand.”
I snorted, trying to stand while keeping the blanket in place.
“So, where is it safe to sit?”
I looked around at the furniture, wincing as I remembered everything that happened after that first time. There was the couch…that was out. And the arm chair…it probably wasn’t safe to sit there. And then we headed for the kitchen for a snack…and we ended up on the table. The counter probably needed to be sterilized as well.
“Great, so don’t sit anywhere. Good to know,” she snorted, walking over to the fireplace. “I’ll just sit here. I’m assuming the brick was too rough to fuck on.”
“I guess we’ll find out next time,” I grinned.
“You’re cleaning this whole place from top to bottom, missy.”