Inferno Anthology (90 page)

“I have never had a sexual relationship with Senator Underwood.”

“There are people who consider the escort business a cover for prostitution. Larissa, be honest with me, don’t you find the idea of being purchased as a date, even if you weren’t paid and no sexual favors were exchanged, the
tiniest
bit degrading.”

It took every bit of resolve not to tell her to go to hell and that she was the only one who made me feel degraded, but I kept my cool.

“That’s a good question, Diane, and I can understand how some would perceive the escort industry as a prostitution ring dressed up in an expensive suit. However, I’m afraid I don’t know much about the industry since I never actually finished a full day of work. My first day on the job was spent being interviewed by Senator Underwood and arranging for me to meet Teddy before the Baltimore visit.”

“Does the circumstances of your meeting with Teddy bother you at all?”

“Of course, it does,” I replied. “I still deal with the shame that my financial distress caused me to make such a desperate employment decision. But people meet and fall in love under much stranger circumstances every day. At some point, you have to stop judging yourself for something that resulted in such fortuitous consequences.”

Diane took a rather lengthy pause as she examined her notes. “Larissa, Heather Rodin at the L.A. Times has said she would like to sit down and speak with you one on one. She has even expressed a desire to apologize for any harm she may have caused. She said, and I quote, ‘Larissa is a smart girl who obviously is not afraid to
chase
after what she wants. I think we have a lot in common and might be great friends under different circumstances.’ Do you feel the same way about Heather? Do you think you two could ever put all this behind you and be friends?”

I couldn’t help but smile as I attempted to temper the anger blistering inside me. “I would gladly accept an apology from Heather, but, no, I don’t think Heather and I could ever be friends. Heather may have some redeeming qualities as a person, and I’m sure she has worked very hard to achieve her position at the
Times
, but the misinformation she printed yesterday gives me the impression that she is either very untrustworthy or unstable.”

“That’s a damning accusation to make about an, albeit upcoming, respected journalist.”

“Diane, let me tell you something about Heather Rodin,” I began, as I geared up to let loose the zinger Gideon had dug up on Heather to discredit her. I took a deep breath. “Heather Rodin fabricates sources. Her exposés are just a notch above tabloid trash. Last year, Heather Rodin wrote eight exposés, one of those was on Congresswoman Carol Jennings from Colorado and the misappropriation of federal wildlife preservation funds. She did another exposé on Nebraska State Senator Phillip Hardy’s alleged inappropriate relationship with a female coworker. On both occasions, she fabricated information, citing anonymous sources that did not exist.”

Diane furrowed her brow. “Cut,” she muttered, before she turned to someone off-camera. “Why isn’t any of this in my notes?” I waited for the interview to resume for more than thirty minutes before Diane returned looking a bit wild-eyed. “We will have to confirm your accusations before any of that can be aired,” she said, in a very friendly and reassuring tone. “For now, we’ll continue the interview.”

“I understand,” I replied.

Diane settled into her interviewer pose and the cameras rolled. “Larissa, we also spoke with Katherine Underwood who confirms your story. Her official statement to ABC News states that your romantic relationship with Teddy Holt was kept under wraps so as not to detract any momentum from the campaign, should the circumstances of your meeting become public. Katherine has stated that the two of you have become great friends and categorically denies that your relationship with her husband is anything but appropriate. Do you have anything you’d like to say publicly to Katherine Underwood?”

“Katherine and I only spoke briefly before I was whisked away into hiding after receiving multiple death threats. She knows how sorry I am that my relationship with Teddy has caused a whirlwind of misinformation and bad press, but I would like to take this opportunity to apologize once again. I am confident that Americans will accept the truth in time to make the right choice for our country. Senator Underwood has worked very hard over the past decade to make California and this nation a better place for all of us. I’m sure Americans will see past the rhetoric and speculation to focus on the hard truth when they cast their ballots on Tuesday.”

Diane asked a few more questions about my upbringing and my acting career before she thanked me for the interview and, right on cue, Drew entered the library to escort me down to the dining room for breakfast.

My stomach roared with hunger as soon as I smelled the scrambled eggs with crispy prosciutto, the fragrant melon-basil salad, and steamy cups of espresso. Drew pulled out a chair for me to take a seat at the long dining table.

“You’re not going to eat?” I asked, as he made his way toward the kitchen door.

He squinted his blue eyes as if he was considering my question.

“I just don’t want to be alone right now,” I added.

He turned around and took a seat in the chair across from me. “I was going to relieve Mike from the rear property entrance, but he can wait.”

“Thanks,” I said, as I popped some scrambled eggs into my mouth. “Oh. My. God. These are delicious. I’ll bet Chase has Mario Batali working in the kitchen.”

“I made the breakfast,” Drew replied, with a shy smile. “His last chef quit and he hasn’t bothered hiring a new one; too busy with the campaign. I figured the least I could do, after that Oscar-worthy performance, was make you something to eat.”

I squirmed in my seat as I began to imagine him in the kitchen, cooking for me, naked. I crammed more eggs into my mouth and hastily washed them down with the rest of my fresh-squeezed orange juice and espresso.

“Thirsty?” he remarked.

“You have no idea.”

I spent nearly two days shut inside my room, trying to resist my desire to talk to Drew. He continued to bring exquisite meals to my room even though I had insisted I didn’t need him to cook for me. I wanted to hear Chase’s voice. Every time I touched myself I thought of Chase, but this morning Drew’s face had flashed in my mind. I decided then that I would hold off until I saw Chase in three or four days—
if
I saw Chase in three or four days.

I sat cross-legged on the floor of the bedroom, just inside the doors leading to the balcony and watched the sunset. The polls had been open for a few hours on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I should be watching the news coverage on my phone, but I couldn’t stand seeing all the interspersed clips of my interview with Diane Sawyer and Heather Rodin’s venomous reaction. I had destroyed Heather Rodin’s career. Actually, she had done that on her own when she fabricated her sources, but it didn’t make me feel any less awful.

A knock came at the door and Drew entered. “I brought you the laptop in case you want to watch the coverage on something bigger than a four-inch screen.”

“Thanks. You can set it down on the bed.”

He laid the computer on the bed and stared at me for a moment. “I was senior class president in high school.”

I smiled. “Is that supposed to impress me?”

“Of course,” he replied, as he joined me on the carpet. “I was embroiled in a big scandal just before that election. I’d been caught ditching home economics two days in a row.”

“Quite the scandal. How did you ever manage to recover from that one?”

“I paid off my Home Ec teacher to dispute the findings.”

I looked at him questioningly and he grinned.

“Okay, the truth is I won because I was extremely good looking. No one cared if I ditched class. There weren’t enough goody-goodies in the school to outweigh those who wanted to bask in the glow of my popularity.”

I chuckled weakly. “I get what you’re trying to say, Drew, but this is a whole other level of deception going on here. I just wish I could be honest. I wish everyone knew that Chase and Katherine’s relationship is a sham. I wish they knew that Chase and I are in love. That’s what I wish the most. I hate the secrecy more than the scandal.”

“Are you afraid he’s going to leave you if he loses?”

“What do you mean? Do you know something I don’t know?”

“No, no, I was just asking,” he replied, shaking his head emphatically. “It’s just… I’d hate to see you get hurt after all of this.”

“Well, I would really hate to get hurt after all of this. This is definitely the most complicated relationship I’ve ever been in.”

“To be fair, what did you expect? He’s Chase ‘Fucking’ Underwood.”

I shrugged. “I guess I didn’t expect to be hidden away in some remote corner of Europe, staring out a window at the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen, alone.”

“Hey,” he said, as he nudged my shoulder. “You’re not alone.”

I turned to him and his smile made my stomach flip. The hair on my arms prickled as I thought of what I had been doing in the shower this morning when Drew’s face flashed in my mind. Suddenly, his face was just inches away. His boyish features and round blue eyes were getting closer; so close I could feel the warmth of his breath.

I placed my hand on his chest and pushed him back. “I’m sorry, Drew. I can’t do that.”

He placed his hands on the floor behind him and leaned back. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I find you very attractive and I think you deserve to be with someone who can give you everything you want; someone who can give every part of themselves to you.”

I stood from the floor and went to the bed where I scooped up the laptop. “Let’s watch some exit poll coverage.”

Ten hours later, at five o’clock in the morning Italy time, the call was made and Chase was declared the next President of the United States of America. The deciding factor was the narrow victory he eked out in North Carolina, a state that he had called home for nearly five years after college. It seemed his former neighbors felt more betrayed by his alleged affair than anyone else, though not enough to overrule his popularity.

I closed the laptop and stood from the floor.

“Don’t you want to see the victory speech?” Drew asked, as he stood.

“Not really.” I didn’t want to listen in vain for a
thank you
that would never come. As I approached the bed, my phone rang.

“Larissa,” Chase whispered. “I’ll see you in two weeks.”

Before I could open my mouth to respond, the line went dead.

I placed the phone on my nightstand as Drew made his way to the door. “Are you hungry or are you going to hit the sack?” he asked.

I stared at the phone for a moment.
Two weeks?
What had changed since we spoke two days ago? I opened the nightstand, tossed the phone into the drawer, and slammed it shut. “I’m starving.”

I didn’t hear from Chase at all for three days, which I opted to spend walking through the vineyard behind the villa rather than cooped up in the bedroom. My phone rang as I passed the infinity pool next to the tennis courts.

“You’ve been busy,” I said, as I answered.

“Of course, I’ve been busy. Honey, are you okay? Are you upset with me?”

He sounded exhausted, and for that simple fact I decided not to chew him out for leaving me waiting for three days without a single word.

“I’m fine, just lonely. I thought you were supposed to be here today or tomorrow. What happened?”

“I know I was supposed to be there, but Teddy couldn’t clear a large enough chunk of time for me to fly out there.”

I sat on a cushioned deck chair and, for a brief moment, considered jumping into the sparkling pool, phone and all. Maybe the chlorinated water could wash away all this uncertainty.

“I miss you,” I whispered, as I wiped away the first tears. “I don’t have anyone to talk to here except for Drew and I think he wants to do more than talk so every time I see him I feel awk—”

“What did you say?”

I paused a moment. “I said I don’t have anyone to talk to here.”

“Did you say Drew has been hitting on you?”

The anger in his voice made my heart stutter, but something about it also got me hot.

“No, I didn’t say that. He didn’t hit on me.”

“Then why did you say you think he wants to do more than talk?”

“It’s not like that. I just get the feeling he’s got a bit of a crush on me. He hasn’t acted on it, I swear.”

“He has a
crush
on you? Larissa, this is a grown man. Men don’t have crushes; they have urges. I’m coming over there.”

“No! You don’t have to do that. Everything’s fine. Do what you need to do. I swear. Everything is
just
fine.”

Chase let out a chuckle. “Larissa, I’m not going to kill the man. I’m just going to have a chat with him, man to man. That’s all. I’ll see you in twelve hours.”

This was not the kind of visit from Chase I had been fantasizing about. If he scared Drew off, I might not have anyone to talk to for the next three to four months. Or, worse, what if he fired him?

I showered and shaved every inch of my body then I spread the pineapple-flavored lotion Chase loved so much all over me. I paid extra attention to my crotch and before I knew it I was nearing orgasm. I yanked my hand back before I could climax. It had been four days since the incident in the shower where Drew’s face flashed in my mind. I wanted to save this pent up energy pulsating throughout my entire body for Chase.

A knock came at the bedroom door just as I was attempting to zip up my little black dress. “The president just arrived,” Mike shouted through the door.

The president?
Just the phrase got me hot and bothered.

I raced to the door and opened it wide. “Mike, can you zip me up?”

Mike’s eyebrows scrunched together as he backed away from me.

Drew smiled. “I’ll do it.”

“No!” I shrieked. “No, that’s all right. I’ll do it myself. I was just… kidding. I don’t need help. See?”

Drew eyed me suspiciously as I struggled to zip myself up. With a shake of his head, he and Mike set off to greet Chase. I followed behind them, attempting to yank my zipper up as I walked. I finally got it up when we were halfway down the staircase, just as Chase entered through the enormous double doors.