Gone Too Far (13 page)

“Why?”

“I can call you Lackey,” she answered, “but I thought you'd prefer a name.”

“I'm Joe,” he said, his voice laced with annoyance. “I'm the senator's communications director. Now, if you—”

“What is the topic?” she asked. “Everyone seems to be smiling. I think I even saw them laughing.”

“The senator can be very charming.” Joe spoke with pride as if it was due to him.

“What was the joke about?” she asked. “The rape victims in the hospital? The hungry orphans wandering through the camp in soiled clothes? I can't think of which one is funnier.”

Joe's smile immediately faded. “Dr. Chase, if you'll just step aside.”

Leigh didn't move. “No, I think I'll join him. I've got my own set of refugee victim jokes I'd love to share with the press.”

Joe stepped in front of her as she started to move. “You can't mention that stuff.”

“What stuff?” Leigh asked.

Joe looked around uncomfortably. “The senator is discussing the serious needs of these people, but he doesn't want us to talk about
you know
in front of cameras. It's a sensitive issue and—”

“Rape?” she asked very loudly, garnering a few stares.

Even Max turned his head in her direction.

“That's what you mean?” she asked. “We wouldn't want to spoil the senator's fantastic trip with talk of messy sexual assaults. Such unpleasantness is unbecoming of a future president.”

“Leigh!” Max called out, waving her over. “Come over—”

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, as Leigh sent him a hateful glare, then turned and walked away, with Bem following close behind.

 

“I can't talk to you right now, Avery.” Carter was looking down at his watch as he stood on his bedroom balcony. He glanced back into the room and was happy it was still empty. Last he heard, Julia was in the kitchen, and he was certain she couldn't hear him talking on the phone.

“Is Julia there?” Avery asked, not bothering to hide her jealousy.

“She lives here,” was his answer. “Look, I'll call you tomorrow.”

“What are you afraid of?” Avery asked. “We have a child together, remember? We're supposed to talk to each other.”

“But we aren't talking about our child.”

“She doesn't know. What, are you afraid of her?”

“Please,” Carter said bluntly. “I can't talk to you because I'm…
we're
going to the hospital.”

“Has something changed?” Avery asked anxiously.

“No,” Carter said. “But the doctor is giving his update in about an hour, and I want to be there. I wasn't there for yesterday's update.”

“You can't be there every time,” Avery said. “I know you love your nephew, but you have a business to run and—”

“Avery, do I have to remind you that just because I'm sleeping with you doesn't mean I'm going to discuss my life with you as if we were a couple?”

“When will I see you again?” Avery asked with impatience.

“I have Connor all weekend, so I think next week. I'll call you on Monday.”

Carter hung up without saying good-bye. He was angry, not because Avery continued to pry into his life beyond the point he was comfortable, but because the sound of her sympathetic voice made him want to tell her everything. It made him remember the days he came home from work and she was there with a hug and a kiss, with her body to warm and please him. He remembered how, before he met her, he thought he would leave bachelorhood reluctantly, but after they met, he couldn't wait to spend his life with this remarkable girl.

At times it seemed like decades ago, and others it seemed like just yesterday.

Tied up in his own thoughts, Carter was caught off guard when he entered the bedroom and saw Julia standing there with a look of betrayal and disdain on her face.

“Julia.” Carter reached out to her, but she slapped his hand away.

“That was Avery, right?” she asked, already starting to cry.

“What did you hear?” he asked.

“You're fucking her again?” Exasperated, she went to the bed and dropped down with a dramatic whimper.

“No,” he lied. “It's not what it seems like. She's the—”

“Don't!” Julia yelled. “Don't you dare use that ‘she's the mother of my child' line on me again. It worked the last time, but it won't this time.”

Carter walked over to the bed and sat silently next to her. He didn't like hurting Julia. Despite the fact that she was a social climber who cared more about superficial things, he had come to care about her and appreciated her ambition. He had led himself to believe that she was more interested in attaining his last name than loving him, because it made him feel less guilty about his feelings for Avery, but times like this she called his bluff. She did love him, and he had hurt her again.

When he started dating Julia, it had been a way to fill his time and it kept his mother, who was always on the lookout for a “proper” girl for him, at bay. Most importantly, it made Avery jealous. He had slept with other women when they started officially dating, but as he focused on winning Avery back, other women made things a little messy. After his affair with Avery ended, he proposed to Julia and hadn't been unfaithful to her at all. At least up until now.

“You know what is so pitiful about all of this?” Julia said, never looking up. “I was hoping it was someone else. I'm so fucking pitiful that I was okay with you sleeping with someone else, but I was just hoping it wasn't her.”

“You aren't pitiful,” Carter said. “This is my fault.”

“You're damn right it's your fault!”

Julia pushed him as hard as she could.

“Julia, things have been so confusing and difficult right now; I just let my guard down.”

“She took advantage of you,” Julia said, her voice sounding as if she had just made an incredible discovery. “That's it. I could see her seething jealousy over us. She was just waiting for a chance to pounce, and Evan's sickness gave her that chance. That bitch!”

“Stop,” Carter said. “This is between you and me.”

“But that isn't true, is it? She's always here, isn't she?”

He couldn't deny that, and he couldn't deny that no matter what he wanted or didn't want, people got hurt because of his obsession with Avery. People who now mattered.

“I'll stop,” he said. He could see that Julia wasn't buying it, and he was at least honest enough with himself to believe it wouldn't be that easy. But he would try. “I mean it.”

“You said that before.” Julia wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You said it even when you claimed to hate her. You can't stop, Carter.”

“I love you.”

Carter was surprised by his own words, but based on Julia's reaction, they had done the trick. They had done the trick on her, but he wasn't so sure about himself. He wasn't sure at all.

 

Leigh stood in the lobby of the Hilton and reluctantly said good-bye to her mother on her cell phone and promised to call first thing in the morning. The updates on Evan were not encouraging. He wasn't getting worse, but he wasn't getting better, and Leigh knew that she wouldn't likely be able to stay in Kenya for another week, and she felt guilty for it. This was why she agreed to join the senator's people for some drinks in the hotel bar before returning to her own hotel.

Just as she headed for the bar area, where Bem was standing in wait, she heard someone call her name. Turning around, she came face-to-face with Joe, Max's assistant from earlier that day.

“What do you want?” Leigh asked, placing her hands on her hips.

“I want to apologize,” he answered.

Leigh was silenced, taken off guard by his statement and the earnest look on his face.

“Senator Cody was…I hope you can understand that I feel like I have to do my job.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Joe leaned in. “You understand that Senator Cody is…special.”

“Joe,” Leigh said, “CNN isn't here. You don't have to whisper, and, yes, I am aware that he is the golden child of the Republican Party, but that is all the more reason for him to speak up. His words have meaning.”

“He knows that,” Joe said. “It was my choice not to…He just needs to be squeaky clean. You know what I mean?”

“No one is squeaky clean,” Leigh said. She was finding herself feeling somewhat sorry for the guy. The Republican Party was pinning its comeback on Max, and with Max being black, there were so many things that Joe and those who were working to get Max to the governor's office had to think about that they might not otherwise. They were paranoid.

“His ability to attack the messy things, the unpleasant things,” Leigh said, “is what could make him really great.”

“He agrees with you,” Joe said. “He saw that you were upset, and I told him why. He was pretty upset to say the least. He really cares about these issues and this trip. He was just doing what comes with it. I worry about him.”

“Why?” Leigh asked.

“Because he cares so much about these really important issues, and he doesn't want to play this game.”

“That's good, though,” Leigh said.

Joe laughed, shaking his head. “No, it isn't. Politics at this level is a well-played game. He has to strike a balance, but he doesn't want to. He wants to get work done and change things, but he won't get the chance if he doesn't play the game first. I guess I get paranoid because I don't want him to look too…”

“Caring?”

“Liberal,” Joe responded. “I just wanted you to know that what happened earlier wasn't him. It was me.”

As Joe passed her into the bar, Leigh felt somewhat bewildered. Her mind wasn't thinking straight these days, and she was so averse to the idea of a relationship that she realized she was probably demonizing every man she met in an unwarranted way. But if it was true that Max did care about the important things, then she owed him an apology for her rejection in front of the press today.

When she found him in the bar, he was standing in a corner with a cell phone to one ear and his finger inside the other to drown out the noise. He looked different than he had earlier that day. He was less formal, and it made him look younger. He looked tired and had clearly been sweating, and it made Leigh think he might have actually put in some work.

Leigh made her way into his line of vision and was surprised at how pleased she was to see the smile that came on his face as soon as he noticed her. He was a really handsome man in both a distinguished and rugged way, and Leigh thought for a second that she would like to explore that further, but then she threw it from her mind. She had made a fool of herself with her assumptions about his feelings all week and wasn't going to do it again.

He quickly closed the cell phone and shoved it in his pocket. “Sorry about that. Work doesn't go away.”

“I understand,” she said. “I'm a little worried that my clinics are running so well without me. When I checked in today, I'm ashamed to admit I was kind of hoping they would beg me to come back.”

“So, you're completely useless to them,” Max said, gesturing for a quickly approaching Joe to go away.

Leigh laughed. “Thanks!”

He leaned against the wall. “So, can I take it that you're not mad at me anymore?”

Leigh sighed. “Look, I'm sorry about that. I'm a Chase. I should know better than to think that the press was an avoidable part of the process. You have to do what you have to do.”

Max blinked, seeming impressed. “If I buy you a drink, Doctor, can I ask you a question?”

“Leigh,” she corrected. “I'll pass on the drink, but you can ask, with no promises to answer.”

“A few days ago, when that woman told you about the rape victim that she was hoping you would talk to, your reaction was…” He seemed to have a hard time searching for the words. “For a doctor and someone who works with complicated patients and issues, I know you aren't squeamish or nervous about this stuff. But you seemed unusually affected.”

Leigh felt anxious and her stomach was tightening. “As a woman, whenever you hear about—”

“That wasn't it,” Max interrupted.

He was staring intently into her eyes, and it made Leigh nervous. It was as if he already knew the answer. Why was she eager to tell him, as if it would make her feel better? She hadn't told anyone about what had happened. Only she and her parents knew, and considering how they had handled it from that point on, no one else could know.

“Max,” Leigh said softly, “as a politician, you understand that when a lot of your life is public, there are some things you want to keep to yourself.”

“And some things,” he said, “you can tell people who understand that and can promise to honor that.”

Leigh turned her face away from him as she took a second to work up the nerve. Max was waiting patiently. She wasn't sure why she wanted him to know, but she did and she felt safe that he wouldn't talk about it.

“Not here,” she said.

They left the bar and found a secluded bench in the courtyard. No one was around, because it was dinnertime and the heat had turned into thick, dense humidity, forcing everyone else inside. Bem and Max's personal security detail agreed to stand close enough to act but far enough not to hear what they were talking about.

It took her a little while, but Leigh finally told him about how she met action superstar Lyndon Prior when he was studying for his role as a doctor who was forced to work in a free clinic in order to inherit his parents' fortune. They began spending time together and started dating. Her parents immediately disapproved. He was white, and, much, much worse, he was an entertainer. For black elites, nothing was less respectable than wealth achieved by entertaining people. Leigh had never cared for their standards of who was or wasn't appropriate for her to date.