Forever Driven: Forever Bluegrass #4 (19 page)

“Great, because I’m ready to kick some ass.” Riley grinned as she put on her lip gloss and pearls.

“We’re going into political war, not a Southern society event,” Gabe told her.

“You’re right. I need more lipstick,” Riley said as she dug into her purse.

Matt shook his head. “I’ve been to some of these society events. She’s right. It’s all pearls and sweet tea as they sharpen their claws on each other. So, you’ll need this.” Matt held out a knife to Riley. “DeAndre will be at the main door. Make sure you use that entrance.”

Riley looked down at the switchblade. It looked harmless tucked away in the matte black rectangular grip. But Matt knew it wasn’t. If she flipped it out, the six-inch blade could do some serious damage. Riley went to put it in her purse and Matt stopped her. “Keep it on you. You may not always have your purse with you.”

Riley gave him a nod and slid it into the inside pocket of her suit coat. “I’ll walk you out,” Matt said as he slipped his arm around her waist. He didn’t want to tell her what he was feeling. He had to trust in Gabe, and he had to trust in Riley. “I’ll come up when we finish here. Whenever Gabe isn’t with you, stay with Aniyah and DeAndre.”

They stopped at Gabe’s waiting black SUV with diplomatic flags on the front. He was really going all out. Matt turned her toward him, looked down into her eyes, and swallowed hard. His whole life was in his arms, and he didn’t want to let her go.

“Promise me you’ll be careful,” he whispered and brushed back a stray piece of hair from her face.

“I will. After all, I have you to come home to.” Riley rose up on her toes and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Don’t wait up.”

Matt let her pull away from him and watched as she walked to the SUV. “I love you,” he called after her.

“I love you, too,” Riley smiled before the driver closed the door.

“
P
raise the Lord
! You’re back!” Aniyah kissed her cross and then offered it up as thanks to the heavens. “There are things going down that reality television couldn’t even think up.”

Riley paused at the door to her office and fought the laughter as Aniyah jumped up from behind her desk so fast the “girls” partially bounced out of her shirt.

Gabe looked down at his feet and cleared his throat as Aniyah stuffed her boobs back into her too-tight top before sending her a panty-melting grin. It wasn’t a nip slip, but it was close. “And this must be Gabe. You could have told me to prepare for every news station in the country and some outside of it to be calling. I just got off the phone with the news in the UK, and I’m not talking about our basketball team.”

“I brought Veronica, she’s my brother’s right hand, and she’ll help you handle all the calls and interviews.” Gabe stepped aside and the blonde bombshell stepped forward with a smile for Aniyah.

“Hi, Aniyah. I’ve heard such great things about you. I look forward to working together. I have a lot of information for you,” Veronica smiled.

“You look like Malibu Barbie in a suit. A little thing like you couldn’t scare a fly. But I’m sure you’re good at your job, bless your heart.” Aniyah looked to Gabe’s pants and back to Veronica, making it very clear what she thought Veronica’s job was.

Gabe opened his mouth but Veronica held up a perfectly manicured finger. She took a step closer to Aniyah and towered over her. Aniyah wasn’t the only one who liked five-inch heels. “First, these pearls were earned by kicking the ass of every debutante who thought she could walk over me. Second, he’s not my type. I like my partners strong, sexy, and curvy—more like you,” Veronica winked and stood back up. Aniyah turned five shades of red as what Veronica had told her sank in.

“Well,” Aniyah said as she ran her hands over her hips, “thank you. I mean, if you have such excellent taste, you can’t be that bad after all.”

Veronica sent a winning smile to the group. “Perfect. Now, here’s my PR plan.”

Riley left Veronica and Aniyah to handle the door and phones, and she took the list of messages to her office with Gabe. Normally the halls of the annex were quiet, but today they echoed with nonstop chatter.

Riley looked down at her phone. “I got an email with the latest suspects from Matt.” She pulled up the file and smiled as she looked over it. “They also sent convincing arguments for some they deemed on the fence. Well, Prince Gabe, are you ready to play politics?”

There was a knock on the door a second before Aniyah opened it. Her hair was now in a fancy chignon. A beautiful shade of pink lip gloss coated her lips, and Riley recognized one of Gabe’s dress shirts tied over her tight black shirt as if done on purpose. It was still Aniya, but tamer. “Representative Davis, Your Highness—BBN, the nation’s largest news outlet, is here to speak with you. I’ve already given them a summary of the events and Veronica has given them the press kit.”

Riley blinked. What happened to Aniyah?

“I look all fancy and shit, don’t I?” Aniyah winked. Ah, there she was.

“Now I’m ready to play,” Gabe smiled. He held the door for Riley who took a deep breath and wished she’d been Veronica-ized.

Riley stepped out into the lobby to find Veronica blocking the door as staffers not so subtly tried to see inside. The game plan was to put pressure on them with the presence of America’s biggest news station, so Veronica didn’t close the door. Instead, she smiled at each of them and asked which member of Congress they worked for. If they answered with one of the names on Riley’s list, Veronica would just smile and sadly say, “Well, bless your heart.” The staffer’s eyes would go big and they would rush off to inform their boss that something was up.

It only took five minutes for the first senator to arrive. He was up for reelection and faced strong competition. “Oh, I’m so sorry to interrupt. I didn’t know Representative Davies had company. I wanted to discuss the upcoming budget vote, but I can come back.”

Riley turned from where she and Gabe were answering questions for the reporter and smiled. The cameraman swung to take in the scene. “It’s no problem at all, Stephan. Why don’t we talk in my office? Prince Gabe was just telling the BBN here why he and the President of the United States don’t support this highway.”

Stephan swallowed so hard his bow tie bobbled. Riley stood up, but it was Aniyah who smiled and said, “Right this way, Senator.” Aniyah showed him to the chair across from Riley’s desk and dropped her smile. “Pucker up, big boy. It’s time for you to do some ass kissing.”

Stephan inhaled sharply as Riley turned her head so he wouldn’t see her laughing. “What can I do for you, Stephan?”

“So it’s true. You got the President of the United States to publicly side on a local matter. How the hell did you manage that?”

Riley shrugged. “Don’t forget the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. Although I think the better question is how are you going to manage to win reelection when you received illegal campaign donations from your wife’s father’s company? About $58,000, if my math is correct.”

Stephan turned white. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he sputtered as his bow tie bobbed.

“Oh, I think you do. Now, tell me, Stephan, why do you support this highway? What’s in it for you?” Riley asked.

“N . . . n . . . nothing,” he stammered.

“Okay, well, I need to go have a little chat with BBN.” Riley stood up, but Stephan was already begging her to sit back down.

“Fine. It was Luttrell. He made a very large donation to my campaign and told me to vote for the highway as a favor. I’m guessing you already knew that, though.”

Riley nodded. “The question is what are you going to do about it?”

“I need something to change to my vote. I can’t just change it, or Luttrell will come after me and tell my constituents I’m a lame duck.”

“You need a quid pro quo. Got it. What is it that your district needs?”

“There’s a vote tomorrow for a state-funded vocational school in my district. I need your vote on it,” Stephan asked quietly.

“Send the information to Aniyah. If it checks out as clean, you have my support.”

“And the campaign donations?”

“All I can say is if I found it, then others could too. If I were in your place, I would pay the money back and admit to an accounting error that has now been corrected. I won’t turn you in. Unless you force me to.”

And that was how her day went. Subtle hints of blackmail and bargaining, though she was proud to say her blackmail was at a minimum. When pushed, most politicians wanted to do good. They simply got too caught up in the game to remember that’s why they wanted to be politicians in the first place.

The camera crew followed her to the House vote on the Senate’s budget, which failed by only eighteen votes, and then BBN went with Gabe to the governor’s office for a little chat. Meanwhile, Riley met with politician after politician who suddenly had a change of heart.

At six that night, Angela came in and took an exhausted seat. “You’ve been busy.”

“I have. The vote was too close this morning. Only eighteen people and it will pass, especially since some of them have gotten their amendments tacked on to the budget. However, I’ve gotten thirteen to agree to change and vote against the highway, but I don’t know how many Peel and Stanley have gotten to flip to their side. Have you heard anything?”

Angela shook her head. “Everyone is walking on eggshells. No one is saying anything. I did hear the governor caved to the prince and has sent a memo out requesting the highway not be funded. That’s a big win for you. Another vote is scheduled for tomorrow morning at nine.”

Angela stretched and hid a yawn behind her hand. “Well, I’m done in. I’ll be here bright and early, though. Are you staying late?”

Riley nodded. “Gabe had to go back to Keeneston, but Aniyah and I are going to work late. My crew is sending someone up to stay with me later.”

“How did the story for your paper turn out?” Angela asked as she stood up.

“The story?” Riley blinked. “Oh, for
The Keeneston Journal
. It’s not done yet,” Riley said with a smile as she thought of Matt.

Angela chuckled softly. “So, that’s how it is. Good for you. If I were an undisclosed number of years younger, then I would be smiling at the thought of that reporter, too. Be careful; reporters can’t be trusted. You know that.”

Riley nodded. She wanted to say more but she couldn’t. Instead she just gave Angela a hug and walked her to the office door. Aniyah and Veronica stood quickly as Aniyah hurried to open the main door to the office for Angela.

“Phew,” Aniyah said as she kicked off her shoes after shutting and locking the door. “This day has been crazy. And so much fun. I loved being able to say whatever I wanted. I mean, I got to tell a man you weren’t voting for cock-fighting, even if it wasn’t roosters he was talking about.”

Veronica snickered and Riley collapsed on the couch next to her. Yeah, the weirdest request of the day had come from an amendment asking for money to be earmarked for a particularly specific kind of adult entertainment. “Any idea on where we will end up on the vote tomorrow?”

Veronica pulled out a chart. “It’s so close. It all comes down to the group of undecided voters. Have Matt and Nabi found anything yet that could put an end to the vote one way or another?”

Riley shook her head. “I just got all the normal blackmail information. I was also pleased to see a lot of people are just trying their best. Upon talking to them, I found out they were open to hearing both sides of the argument. Sadly, no nail in the coffin.”

There was another knock on the door and Aniyah got up to answer it.

“Sugar! Is that pizza?” Riley and Veronica shot up with wide eyes at Aniyah’s exclamation as DeAndre came in carrying two pizza boxes. They moaned in pleasure and then attacked the boxes.

“
Y
ou all don’t have
to stay. Matt said they’re running a couple more backgrounds, and then he’ll be up to stay the night with me at the office. I don’t think I can leave. I’m too nervous about the vote in . . .” Riley looked at her watch. It was eleven at night. “Ten hours.”

Veronica stood up and yawned. “I need to get a new suit for tomorrow. Even more camera crews will be here by seven for interviews. BBN’s coverage has the nation weighing in on this issue. If I hurry, I can get back to Keeneston, raid Sydney’s closet, and send some clothes with Matt. If not, I’ll bring everything up and meet you here at six for hair and makeup.”

Aniyah looked down at herself. “I don’t want to leave Miss R. Sugar, can you go home and bring back all my dress clothes?” Aniyah asked DeAndre.

“Anything for you, baby. I’ll be back in a while. There’s no one here, so lock the doors,” DeAndre told them as he stood up with the empty pizza boxes. “I’ll walk you out, Veronica.”

Aniyah went up on her tiptoes and kissed DeAndre. “Love you, sugar.”

“Love you, too.”

Riley stood up from the couch and groaned. She was exhausted, but she still had the latest emails from Matt to look over. “Why don’t you take a nap?” Riley suggested as Aniyah yawned.

“What are you going to be doing?” Aniyah asked as she slipped an oversized University of Kentucky basketball sweatshirt on.

“Probably the same thing. I have a couple of reports to read, and then I’m going to sleep until Matt gets here.”

“Are the doors locked?” Aniyah asked as she double-checked the main office door and then followed Riley into her office and checked the private door to the hallway. “Okay. We’re all locked in so I guess a little shuteye won’t hurt. It’ll take DeAndre a couple hours to get everything together. He’ll open my closet and freeze at all the choices and end up packing the whole thing, bless his heart. I’m a light sleeper so call me if you need anything.”

Riley smiled sleepily as she took the paper off the printer and kicked off her shoes. She left the connecting door open while she read the reports on the rest of the supporters of the highway. Nothing.

Suddenly all hell broke loose. The couch shook and Riley felt the vibrations from Aniyah’s snores shaking her body. Riley tried not to laugh, but it sounded as if a water buffalo were snorting in anger in the next room. Standing up, Riley closed the connecting door and sent a text to Matt. A second later her phone pinged. He was waiting on one last search and would be at her office between midnight and one.

Riley lay down on the couch and pulled her grandmother’s crocheted blanket over her. In seconds, even Aniyah’s earth-rattling snores couldn’t keep her awake.