“I thought we were going to lunch to discuss this.”
“I said pay attention, Larissa. We’re getting our shit straight right now. There’s a pack of reporters at every hotel entrance. We’re not leaving here until you’re ready. You got it, sweetheart? This all hangs on you. It’s time to see if your acting skills are up to snuff. Can you handle that or am I wasting my fucking time?”
Fuck! I’m supposed to pretend I’m in love with this guy.
“Yeah, I can handle that,” I replied, as I snatched the paper out of his hand.
“Good. Now, you don’t have to read that shit because none of it’s true. The truth is Chase ordered you from Black Tie Escorts as a birthday present for me and you and I fell in love. You got it?”
I wanted to punch him in his perfectly chiseled, condescending face.
“You can stop asking me that. I’m not a fucking child,” I replied, and his mouth curled into an impressed half-smile.
“That’s good to hear because I hate kids,” he replied with a wink, and for a brief moment I could see what Katherine saw in him. “Are you taking mental notes? You’d better be taking mental notes, kid, because they’re going to be asking you these kinds of questions.”
And the moment passed. For the next two hours, Teddy grilled me on my past, present, and future. He wanted to know everything from my favorite color and food as a child to what I had for breakfast this morning and where I saw myself in five years.
“I don’t know,” I muttered, as I fidgeted with the corner of the newspaper in my lap.
Teddy sat across from me on the floor, but I refused to look at him. “What do you mean you don’t know where you want to be in five years? It’s a simple fucking question. And don’t give me a bullshit answer.”
“I can’t tell you because it doesn’t fit the story, okay?”
“Oh, I get it. You want to be shacking up with Chase, maybe with a bun in the oven and a new Mercedes SUV in the driveway.”
I heaved a deep sigh. “Can we move on?”
“If we don’t get this straight in the next hour, there will be no moving on, Larissa. Now answer the fucking question and make me believe the answer.”
I think you’ll find Teddy can be very charming. Was Chase being serious?
My hands began to shake as I imagined trying to convince anyone, much less a reporter, that I was in love with this bully. I tucked my hands beneath my legs to hide the trembling and Teddy reached for my left hand. I drew my hand behind my back and he tilted his head as if he was disappointed with my poor acting skills. After a brief staring contest, I relented and held out my hand.
He took it in his and looked up at me. “Go on.”
I took a short pause to collect myself as I tried to remember all the sense memory and “don’t act, be” bullshit I learned in acting class. I couldn’t act like I was in love with Teddy. I had to be in love with him.
“I want to be with… with you,” I began. “I don’t care where we are or how many kids we have, or don’t have, or how many fancy cars are in the driveway…. I just want to be with you.”
I could see the slight rise and fall of Teddy’s chest as he stared at me in silence. “Okay, I guess you’re pretty good at that… stuff,” he said, letting go of my hand and scooting back a few inches as if I had just admitted to having the swine flu.
He went on to tell me his life story; everything I needed to know about his childhood up to this morning when he had bagels and lox for breakfast—with Katherine.
“Shouldn’t Chase and Katherine be here, I mean, you and Chase are supposed to be best friends. Isn’t it natural to assume that Katherine and I have at least established a rapport, maybe even a friendship. Shouldn’t we get those facts straight?”
Teddy raised his eyebrows as he looked at the carpet between us. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“Why? I thought it was show time. Isn’t she part of the show?”
“Look, Larissa, you should know that Katherine is not very… fond of you. She sees you as a threat to Chase’s career and she’s pissed the fuck off at Chase for bringing you on as his PA. So, no, you are not going to meet with Katherine and there’s no negotiating that.”
For some reason, this piece of information disturbed me more than having to pretend to be in love with Teddy. I guess I had been under the illusion that Katherine and I would one day meet and she would thank me for taking care of her dear friend Chase. I never imagined she could hate me.
“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, it took her more than three years to warm up to Chase. And she still hates him most days.”
“What’s wrong with her?” I blurted before I could stop myself.
Teddy glared at me. “There’s nothing wrong with her. In fact, you might want to take a page from her book and tone down the makeup, maybe try to at least appear a little less escort-ish.”
“Excuse me? The campaign stylist told me to do my makeup like this. You’re an asshole!”
“Well, that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that to me.”
I shot up from the carpet and marched to the bathroom where my phone lay on the counter. I hit Chase’s number and he picked up immediately.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, and the sound of his voice immediately calmed me.
“I can’t do this,” I said, as Teddy entered the bathroom.
“Look, I’m sorry. That makeup thing was a low blow. I get it. Just hang up,” Teddy pleaded.
A surge of bile stung my throat and I swallowed it down. “You’re a horrible actor!” I shouted at him.
“Hey, what’s going on over there?” Chase asked. “Are you okay?”
I glared at Teddy as his eyes beseeched me to hang up.
“Larissa, talk to me.”
“I’m fine,” I lied, as I looked Teddy in the eye. “I’m just really nervous. I think I’d feel better if I could get everything straight with Katherine.”
Teddy’s eyes widened and I couldn’t help but smile. I had to let him know he no longer intimidated me. I was tired of being an actor in this play. I wanted to sit in the director’s chair for once.
The pause on the other end of the line didn’t bode well for my proposition. I tried not to tap my foot as I awaited Chase’s response. Finally, he spoke.
“Come up to the penthouse.”
4
My heartbeat throbbed in my skull as the elevator climbed toward the penthouse. I didn’t think this through. I had no idea how I was going to approach Katherine. Should I attempt to be her friend when she clearly hated me? Should I keep it businesslike?
“Relax. She’s not a fucking werewolf,” Teddy said, as the elevator slowed to a stop.
“Uh, yeah, I think I would prefer a meeting with a werewolf right now,” I replied, as the doors opened directly onto the penthouse antechamber.
The stark white wall in front of us boasted a surrealist painting I recognized from the art history course I took five years ago—just so I could share a class with my college boyfriend. I wished I could remember the artist. It would make a nice conversation piece to break the ice.
Maybe Katherine didn’t like art. Maybe she hated it the way she hated me.
We turned the corner into the penthouse and found Chase sitting on a crisp white sofa with Katherine sitting next to him on the arm—above him. I was beginning to understand the dynamics of their relationship more by the second.
Chase stood as soon as he saw me, but I waited near the entrance for him to come to me. He planted a tender kiss on my cheek as I kept my eyes on Katherine’s dark flowing hair and haughty expression.
“Larissa, you’ve met Katherine,” Chase said, his voice a bit higher in pitch than usual.
“She’s not here to meet me,” Katherine said, casting a slow smirk in my direction. “She’s here to assert her authority over this debacle.”
“Katherine, please,” Chase said, as he motioned for me to take a seat on the sofa. “Let’s keep this civil.”
r />
I shook my head. “I’ll stand, thanks,” I said, before I turned to Katherine. “Kathy’s right. You don’t mind if I call you Kathy, do you?”
“Call me Kathy and I’ll call you Larry.”
“Okay… Well, you’re right. I’m here to remind you all that I have the power to confirm or deny everything Heather wrote in that article and I’m tired of being a mouthpiece. For Christ’s sake, I have the hardest job here: I have to pretend to be in love with this!”
Teddy did not appear amused by my jab at him, but Katherine let out a hearty guffaw.
“I guess you’re not as dumb as Heather made you out to be,” she said, as she stood from the sofa and took two steps toward me so we were face to face. “If you can dig deep down into your bag of tricks and put on the performance of your life, I think I might one day grow to tolerate you.”
Bitch. Bitch. Bitch.
“Come now, ladies. There’s no need for all this vitriol,” Teddy chimed in. “We have to go down and face the hounds in twenty minutes. Let’s get our stories straight and get the fuck down there.”
Chase pulled me aside and put his lips to my ear. “Are you all right?”
“Peachy,” I replied tersely, as I moved to get around him, but he grabbed my wrist to stop me.
“Larissa, whatever happens down there today, I want you to know that I’ll be on the other side waiting for you—no matter how far apart we end up after the blast.”
“What are you implying? Are we going to have to break up if that’s what serves the campaign? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I’m not saying that. I’m saying that, according to Isa’s data, we may need to enact plan B if putting you and Teddy together doesn’t work.”
“What’s plan B?”
Teddy sidled up next to me. “Plan B goes into effect if the press presents photographic evidence of you and Chase together. In that case, you’ll have to go underground for a while.”
“Underground?” I repeated his word, as if I could glean the meaning by saying it aloud. “What the fuck does that mean?”
When Chase and Teddy remained silent, Katherine answered for them. “It means you, my dear, will have to admit to seducing Senator Underwood during your long hours together and you will concoct a heartfelt, public apology to me right before you disappear.”
“Disappear? What? Are you going to kill me?” I said, with a laugh and Chase took my hand and led me toward a corridor.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, as I attempted to wrench my hand free from his grasp. “What? Are you going to throw me out the fucking window? Make it look like a suicide?”
“Stop it, Larissa!” he roared at me, as he led me into a bedroom and slammed the door shut. “Listen to me. Plan B means you’ll get a new identity and we’ll relocate you, somewhere off the grid, for at least six months until I’m in office and the scandal has died down.”
“Six months?” I whispered, as I realized what was happening. “Plan B means throwing me under the bus and putting me in solitary confinement for six months? You agreed to this?”
He shook his head at me. “Larissa—”
“Stop saying my name!” I shouted. “I know Teddy’s responsible for coming up with this, but I can’t believe you’re going along with it.”
He took my face in his hands. “Larissa, please. It’s the only way we’re going to get through this in tact.”
“It’s the only way you three are going to get through this in tact!”
“Please,” he whispered before his mouth was on mine.
I banged and shoved his chest, but he was too strong, and soon the gravity of his kissed pulled me under. He tore open my blouse and carried me to the bed. I undid his pants as he settled himself between my legs and yanked my skirt up. I gasped as he entered me.
“Fuck,” he whispered, as he buried his face in my hair.
I moaned as he thrust in and out of me. “Oh.”
“I fucking love you,” he breathed into my ear. “I won’t… I won’t let them hurt you. I promise.” His face hovered inches above mine as I gazed into his eyes. “Tell me you love me.”
“I love you,” I groaned, as his erection sunk deep inside me.
He kissed me slowly and deeply until I finally had to turn my face away to come up for air. His teeth sunk into my shoulder as his body shuddered and collapsed on top of me. His breath was hot and ragged against my skin as I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on as if he were my life raft. He buried his face in my neck, making no move to unearth his still throbbing cock from inside me. We lay like this for what seemed like no more than a minute before a knock on the door interrupted.
“Coming!” Chase shouted at the door, and we smiled at each other before he kissed me one last time.
5
An army of twelve Secret Service agents was lined up outside guarding the front doors of the hotel. The minute we stepped outside, the cameras flashed and I was blinded. Teddy wrapped his arm around my shoulder to guide me forward. He used his other hand to shield my face from the flashes of light. I wrapped my arm around his waist and leaned into him. I wasn’t acting. I was terrified.
We approached a podium, which had magically appeared in front of the hotel. I wanted to bury my face in his shoulder, but Katherine and Teddy insisted I had to look strong but vulnerable. If I could pull this off, it would be the greatest performance of my life. All those years of drama and acting classes. All the faux tears I’d cried over faux tragedies. Surely, I could muster some faux strength in the midst of this very real tragedy.
“Good afternoon,” Teddy said, and the microphone on the podium sounded perfectly crisp and blaringly loud as I gazed out across the shouting and ebbing sea of faces.
My eyes wandered further over the crowd until my heart stopped. The mob stretched all the way to the end of the block and beyond.
“Senator and Mrs. Underwood and Miss Jacobs will not be taking any questions today,” Teddy’s voice echoed in my ears as his hand fell from my shoulder.
Not answering any questions? Miss Jacobs? That’s no way to address your supposed girlfriend, Teddy.
I turned around to confirm this new development with Chase, but he and Katherine were nowhere. They had been right behind Teddy and I as we approached the front door of the hotel. Now they were gone. They abandoned us. Chase abandoned me.
I looked to Teddy and the severe expression on his face as he glanced in my direction told me I was screwing this up. I didn’t look strong. I didn’t feel strong. I felt worthless.
Then I saw her. Heather Rodin stood in the front row of the pack of reporters holding up her hand to ask a question. And the anger returned. But I wasn’t angry at Heather. She was just doing her job. I was angry at Teddy for making me think this was a press conference to clear Chase’s name and make everyone believe Teddy and I were the ones having an affair. This wasn’t a press conference. This was my public lynching. This was Teddy sewing a big, fat “A” on my chest in front of a crowd of thousands of people. This was me being exposed.
“Larissa: How much did Senator Underwood pay you for your first encounter together?” Heather’s question whooshed past me as a roaring anger muffled my senses.
“I told you Miss Jacobs will not be answering any questions at this time,” Teddy repeated his mantra over and over as my vision blurred with rage.
“You lied to me!” I shouted, and Teddy quickly motioned to the nearest Secret Service agent.
The same handsome agent I had ogled on my visit to Baltimore with Chase now had both my arms in a vice grip as he shoved me toward the hotel entrance. My feet glided over the concrete as he practically carried me toward the doors.
“Where’s Chase?” I asked the agent, but he didn’t answer. “Drew, please, where is he?”
I never addressed the agents by their names. He probably thought I didn’t know his name because something changed in his face for just a brief moment. He shook his head as another agent grabbed my other a
rm and they both led me toward the elevator.
“How can you guys do this?” I whimpered, as the reality of how powerless I was at this moment finally hit me.
The tears rolled down my face in a never-ending stream of regret. I had trusted the wrong man. No, I had trusted the most wrong man. I had never screwed up this badly in my life and I had no safety net. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had already cleaned my bank accounts to erase all ties to me. They were going to erase me. Anything so Chase could become the next president. Because the numbers showed that he still had a chance, but, obviously, only if I no longer existed.
“Larissa?” Drew’s voice startled me as the elevator carried us upward. His young face was wrought with guilt.
“What?”
He opened his mouth to say something, but instead he shook his head. “Nothing.”
“How could he do this to me?” I whispered to myself.
The elevator stopped at the penthouse and, for a moment, I allowed myself to think that Chase would be waiting on the other side of the doors. The elevator doors slid open and the antechamber was empty. They led me into the sitting area and there he was, sitting on the bottom step of the staircase.
“How—”
“Wait,” he interrupted me, as he strolled across the black tile toward me. “Just be quiet for a moment.”
He knelt in front of me and grabbed my left hand. “Larissa Jacobs, I love you more than I ever believed I could love someone.”
My breath came in shallow gasps as the tears began to fall again.
“I know you must be very angry with me right now, but I’m asking you to trust that this is all going to work out. I’m asking you to trust me… for now and forever. Will you please marry me? Will you please let me love you for the rest of our lives?”
My stomach twisted inside me at the sight of him kneeling before me brandishing the ring I had picked out six weeks ago. Every piece of me wanted to scream yes, except for my shattered heart.
“You’re sending me away,” I said, gritting my teeth against this painful truth.