Love, Lies and Scandal (12 page)

WILL

W
ill and Shantel's flight into Oakland was about to land. The two of them had spent most of their time at a swingers club in Philadelphia and were exhausted.

"You are goddamn amazing," Will whispered softly to her. "Never in my life have I been satisfied the way you have satisfied me."

"You were all right, too," Shantel said, glancing out the window.

"I was just 'all right'? I wasn't spectacular like you were?" Will asked, nervous about his performance.

"It was nice," was all Shantel said.

"Whatever." Will ignored her indifference. "My shit was good to you. You're just playing a role with me right now. I know my performance was off the charts." Will chuckled.

Their plane landed and taxied to the gate. Will and Shantel got off together and headed toward the baggage-claim area. As they came down the escalators, Will broke one of his rules and began kissing Shantel passionately. He couldn't help himself. She kissed him back with an equal amount of fervor. Will cupped her ass with his hands and pressed her hard against his body.

"There he is!" Will heard someone shout out from below followed by a roar of voices.

"Congressman Rivers!" A multitude of voices were calling his name.

"What the fuck is going on?" Will said, seeing media cameras and law-enforcement officials waiting for them at the bottom of the escalator.

"You don't know me," Will said and moved forward in a feeble attempt to distance himself from Shantel. "What's going on here?" he asked as cameramen and reporters all jockeyed for position.

"Congressman, is it true that you've been having sexual relationships with underage girls?"

"What! That's preposterous? How dare you ask me such a question?"

"What about the videotape? Who are you having sex with on those tapes?"

"Tapes?" Will was confused.

"Congressmen, you have the right to remain silent." Several police officers surrounded Will and Shantel.

"I'm being arrested? On what charge!" Will was angry and utterly embarrassed by the media bloodhounds who were filming everything.

"Did you know that you were traveling with a twenty-one-year-old prostitute with a very long rap sheet? Is it also true you used public funds to pay her rent?"

"What! I don't know what you're talking about!" Will lied as the police clamped handcuffs on his wrists and escorted him to their squad car, the cameramen and reporters trailing behind.

Will posted his bail and exited the jailhouse through a rear door to avoid the barrage of media and citizens. He had to catch a cab back to the airport in order to pick up his car. Once he got it, instead of driving home, he drove over to see his brother. Will parked his car in front of Smoky's house and as soon as he got out, a team of media people were there to greet him.

"Congressman, may we have a moment with you?" said one male reporter whom Will had known for a number of years.

"I don't have any comment at this time," Will said as he quickly opened up the gate in the three-foot-high fence and stepped inside his brother's property line.

"Get the fuck away from my house!" Smoky wheeled himself down the handicap-accessible ramp. He rolled up to the fence, with his wheelchair making loud squeaking noises. A cigarette dangled from his lips and his pistol rested on his lap. When he reached the edge of the fence, he tossed his cigarette aside and aimed his revolver at the media crew.

"You got something to say? Huh? Say it now!" Smoky dared anyone to speak. "Come on. I don't have shit to lose. Say something about my brother!" No one said a word as they quickly scrambled to get away from Smoky.

"Come on back. What are you running for now? Don't be scared!" Smoky let out a menacing laugh. "I'm a wheelchair gangster!" Smoky hollered out as he turned and wheeled himself back up the ramp and into the house. "Oh yeah, the maid is on vacation. I don't think she's coming back," he said as he navigated his way through all of the clutter and trash.

"Smoky, it's filthy in here. You've got junk food on the cocktail table, clothes on the floor and--" Will paused to sniff the air. "Oh, you need to open up a window. It smells horrible in here."

"Hey, don't come in here with that shit or I'll give you a one-way ticket to the county morgue. What you need to do is clean off a spot on that chair over there and pick you up one of those joints sitting right there on the edge of the cocktail table," Smoky said as he positioned his wheelchair adjacent to the sofa. He sat his pistol atop the cocktail table and maneuvered himself out of his wheelchair onto the sofa. He grabbed the remotes for the television and DVD players and pressed Play. Will heard a stream of sexual moans come from the television. When he looked at the screen, he realized that Smoky had been sitting in the house watching pornography.

"This is the movie here,
Prison Bitches Four.
It's about this black prison guard who has to make sure all of the women in jail stay satisfied." Smoky let out a creepy laugh. "Look at this. Both of those girls are trying to suck on the brother at the same time and they're fighting over him." Smoky laughed some more as he rocked back and forth on the sofa completely amused by what he was viewing.

"I'm in trouble, man," Will said, shoveling a stack of
Hustler
magazines off a chair and placing them on the floor beside him.

"Yeah, yeah, hang on one second. I just want to see the money shot," Smoky said, and he took a few moments to get the thrill he was seeking. "Oh, it's all in her hair." Smoky laughed once again.

"Damn, man, can you turn that shit off for a minute?" Will was trying to concentrate so that he could determine what his next move would be. Smoky didn't turn off his television. Instead he just hit Pause.

"I'm in trouble, dog. And I don't know what to do," Will admitted.

"That's obvious." Smoky didn't cut his brother any slack as he tried to get a little more comfortable on his cluttered sofa.

"I don't need your sarcasm right now, Smoky." Will stood up and glanced out of Smoky's window. He noticed that the reporters were still outside swarming around waiting for him to come back out.

"They're some persistent bastards," Will complained.

"I've been watching the news," Smoky said. "They've got your ass all over it. They even got you when you had your tongue down the throat of that young girl in the airport. They zoomed in on the shit. You were all up in her mouth."

"They filmed that?" Will hadn't realized how much the media had captured.

"Oh yeah. They got all of that. You can always tell them that you were just giving her an oral exam." Smoky cracked up laughing. "Oh, I kills myself sometimes," he said. "Okay. I'm sorry. I'll be serious now."

"They're trying to ruin me, man, and you're cracking fucking jokes."

"How do you figure that they're trying to ruin your ass when you did all of this shit on your own?"

Will didn't answer because he knew that Smoky was right.

"I'm going to lose everything. The district attorney wants to press charges. I've got to find a lawyer who'd be willing to take this case. It's going to cost me a fortune to defend myself. Plus, I've got to find a way to explain this shit."

"You haven't said a thing about Angela. What about her?" Smoky asked.

"What do you mean what about her? I haven't talked to her. She's been calling my ass though and leaving me nasty voicemail messages. I'm not ready to go home just yet, because Angela is inconsolable right now."

"How long were you out of town with that girl?" Smoky asked.

"A couple of days," Will answered as he eyed one of the joints sitting on the edge of Smoky's cocktail table.

"Oh, shit. Then you haven't heard everything yet, have you?"

"What do you mean
everything?
" Will looked at his brother.

"Hang on." Smoky picked up the remote and turned on the news. As expected, Will's scandal was the top story. "Look at this, Will."

"Talk show host Angela Rivers, wife of Congressman Will Rivers, was attacked by one of her husband's secret lovers while she was taping an episode of her show." Will was horrified when he saw DaNikka rush down from the stands and onto the stage to attack Angela. DaNikka was slapping and punching Angela as if she wanted to kill her.

"Oh, no! What the fuck is this shit, man?" Will was thunderstruck.

"They've been running this clip all day. I thought you said that you had all your women in check?"

Will sat back down on the chair and buried his face in his hands.

"Look, man, for what it's worth, you know you can stay here for as long as you need to," Smoky said as he turned off the television. "How many women were you holding down?" Smoky was curious and wanted to know.

"Three," Will answered. "Angela, DaNikka and Shantel."

"Goddamn, you were a busy man." Smoky tried to joke around in an effort to make his brother feel better, but his lighthearted humor wasn't working. "Look, man, on the serious tip. Angela has got to be all fucked up. You're going to have to talk to her."

"What am I going to tell her, Smoky? I don't have a lie that I could tell that would explain all of this," Will barked at his brother.

"Man up and tell her the truth! You liked fucking chicken-headed women and her, as well. It's an ego thing, nothing personal. You were man enough to go creeping around, now be man enough to admit it."

"I don't want to admit that, okay? It makes me look bad. It makes me look like an asshole with no values."

"Right now, that would be true. Shit, if that's who you are, then so be it. Stop trying to be someone you're not. It's better to be hated for who you are than it is to be loved for someone you're not."

"Smoky, I could go to jail for this shit, man! Don't you fucking get it? Or have you smoked so much weed that you can't comprehend how serious this is?"

"I know how serious it is. I'm not stupid! So stop talking to me as if I am."

"Look. Thanks for coming out there and getting those reporters off me. I appreciate that." That was Will's way of apologizing to his brother.

"Whatever, man. I'm your big brother. That's what I'm supposed to do." Smoky accepted the apology.

"I'm going to lose everything, Smoky," Will said.

"You'll still have me. I ain't going nowhere," Smoky said. Will glanced at his brother. They didn't break eye contact for a long moment. No words needed to be spoken.

"Get some rest. The bedroom is clean. I don't even go in that room. It's yours," Smoky said.

"Thanks," Will said, and took Smoky up on his offer. As he moved toward the bedroom, he heard Smoky turn his pornographic movie back on. Smoky was simple. Just give him a place to rest his head, some food, some weed and some adult movies and he was happy. He didn't pretend to be someone he wasn't. Will admired him for that.

Will woke up the following morning and thought first that it was all just a bad dream. When he realized that he was still at Smoky's house, he knew that he wasn't so lucky. He walked back into the front room and found Smoky asleep on his sofa. Will got himself a glass of water and went back into the bedroom. He decided to face the music and listen to his voice mail.

"You ignorant bastard! The least you can do is be man enough to call me back!" Angela raged. Will didn't want to hear the rest of her message so he deleted it.

"Mr. Rivers, this is Kim Campbell from ABC News. We'd like to give you a chance to tell your side of the story. I would like to get an exclusive interview and--" Will deleted the message.

"Will, this is Congressmen Walters. We need to talk. The majority of other congressional leaders are calling for you to step down in light of recent allegations. Many feel that it's the decent thing to do." Will deleted the message. There was no way he was about to step down. Will decided not to listen to any more calls for now. He walked back toward the front of the house and glanced out of the window. The reporters were gone and he was thankful for that.

"Smoky." Will shook his brother's shoulder so that he'd awake from his slumber.

"What?"

"I'm going to take off. I'm going to head on home. I need to apologize to Angela about all of this," Will said. "I'll call you later."

"All right. I'll be here if you need me. Make sure the door is locked when you leave," Smoky said as he turned over and went back to sleep.