Page 29 of Primary Season
“Some of my father’s business associates acquired them for us after we received an email demanding $250,000. We didn’t ask questions. We just took care of it.” Kathryn waved her hand. “That’s how this kind of thing must be handled. Quickly and simply. No mess.” She turned to me. “But the set you have in the safe deposit box in Ohio isn’t theonlyset, Patrick.” She paused. “I have one, too.”
I closed my eyes and my shoulders slumped. “Of course you do.”
“And that’s why you’re going to do what I want.” Kathryn lowered her voice and it wound around me like a snake crushing its prey. “You’re going to make sure this little…episode…stays in the background and doesn’t get out, or I’ll leak the photos to a few of my favorite reporters. There’s no denying that it’s you, and you know it.”
“If you do that,” Alex said, “won’t you suffer, too? A lot can be said about a woman who wastes her time on a guy with a drug problem.”
Kathryn laughed once without humor. “Oh, trust me, honey. I’ve already thought about that, and my team is already in place. We’ll spin this. After all, I’m the one who’s the victim here, right? The victim of a man with too many secrets and overwhelming personal ambition?”
I opened my eyes and glared at her, feeling an ache beginning in the back of my head, right where my skull met my neck. Somehow, I’d lost control of my whole damn life. Me, who prided himself on being careful and controlled, who’d worked so hard to keep the past in the past, now faced a threat that could undo everything I had ever worked for over the last fifteen years.
“Okay, Kathryn,” I said. “You win. We’ll play ball.”
As I rode the elevator alone, I couldn’t figure out what bothered me the most. Was it the way Kathryn talked to Patrick? The way Patrick allowed her to speak to him? Or was it that he hadn’t told me any of it?
When I got to my room, I fell on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I’d been so stupid the last few days and risked everything. Who was I to think anything good could come from this? Patrick Blanco had a future, a major one, and the last thing I wanted to do was be the reason that failed. I didn’t want to jeopardize things for me, him, or even Kathryn. Everyone had something on the line, and I knew that.
I hadalwaysknown that.
After a while, I changed into my black yoga pants and a vintage t-shirt. I pulled my hair into a high ponytail, flipped on the TV, and let the hum of cable news drown out my thoughts as I blindly surfed the Internet looking up various meaningless things to keep my mind off what Kathryn had just revealed. I watched YouTube videos on beauty tips, updated my IG account, read three dozen meaningless Facebook statuses, scrolled through news articles on Twitter, and replied to a few stray Snapchats.
It all felt so meaningless.
Defeated, I turned to the hotel TV and ordered a movie. Even the latest on-demand comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and a shot of vodka in my sparking water didn’t help clear my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about Patrick, Kathryn, the campaign I had devoted months to, and what the fallout would be if it blew up in our faces.
Damnit.
Around midnight, I yanked myself off the bed, slipped on a pair of Sperrys, and wandered down the hall. Patrick’s door got three sharp raps from my left hand.
“You know, we really need to talk,” I said when he opened the door. “I don’t know who you think you are, but whoever it is, I’m not sure I like it.”
Patrick’s eyes widened as he opened the door wider. “Do you want to come in?”
“Is Kathryn here?”
“She’s out.” He glanced at her open bedroom door. “She didn’t say when she’ll be back. But please, come in.”
Only then did I notice that he wore a bathrobe and smelled like a fresh shower and aftershave. I breezed past him, willed my expression to stay blank, and sat down on the couch. “What happened down there…was bullshit.”
Truth told, I was making this up as I went.
“Fair enough.” Patrick locked the door and walked back into the main part of the hotel room. He sat down in the chair across from me. “Which part?”
“You did drugs? Coke?”
Patrick nodded.
“When were you going to find time to tell me this? When were you—?”
“Everyone has a past.”
“Not like that. That’s a big one. The kind of thing that comes out during an election like this one. I’m your communications director, for Christ’s sake, and I’m supposed to be aware of these kinds of liabilities. And that’s to say nothing of what we—” I broke off, crossed my arms and sank further into the couch. “I just thought you were smarter than this.”
He nodded.
“This whole week has been nothing but endless drama. First you tell me you’re in a fake relationship, then someone claims you are the father of her child, we sleep together, and now this… I expected a lot when I took this job, but notthismuch.”
“I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, I planned on telling you.” Patrick studied me. “Just not the way Kathryn did.”
