“I don’t have time for tears or excuses,” I continue. “Day one, I tell everybody, don’t fuck the candidate. It’s bad for business. It eliminates your objectiveness. Most of all, it gives the press, and therefore potential voters, something to focus on besides the issues. And nine times out of ten, it costs everyone. The candidate, the sweet young thing, and most importantly, the people that candidate could have helped had we installed them into the place of power. That is the main reason the rule exists because the people are our bottom line.”
I cross my legs, swinging one bright green Louboutin Pigalle sling-back in time with the second hand ticking on my wall clock.
“I have to let you go.” I sculpt my voice into the shape and hardness of dismissal.
Lacy’s shocked eyes snap to meet mine.
“Are you kidding me?” She shakes her head, setting her blond curls bobbing. “I could have run tech for fifty campaigns, but I wanted to work with the Kingmaker. I chose you.”
I grimace at the ridiculous nickname the press started using a few years ago when a string of my candidates won high-profile races.
“Actually, I chose you,” I remind her ungently. “Not the other way around. And I appreciate your special talents and your dedication to the job, but you’re compromised. I’m running triage now covering your tracks and trying my damnedest to keep this out of the news cycle.”
“We were discreet.”
“Oh, is that what you call it? Susan’s wife came home to find the two of you in her bed with their kids asleep upstairs. What part of that do you consider discreet exactly?”
“Kristin was supposed to be out of town,” Lacy says defensively. “And it was so late, we knew the kids wouldn’t come downstairs. I just . . . Susan’s so amazing.”
“They often are. In my experience, power gilds the goose. Makes it look like a peacock, but in the end, it’s still just a bird that honks when it flies.”
“I need this job, Lennix.”
“And I need you off this campaign. Firing you is the first of several steps to keep Kristin at Susan’s side, smiling for the cameras until election day. Susan may have a wandering eye, but she’s got damn good ideas for getting women equal pay. That’s all I care about. We need her to win in Denver.”
“But where will I go?” Lacy cries, and this time I believe her tears. She doesn’t bother being careful with the mascara. “What will I do? Can you at least give me a letter of reference?”
“Sure. The first line of my letter will read, ‘Watch this one. She fucks the candidates.’” I pluck a couple Kleenex from the glass holder on the corner of my desk and hand them to her. “I wish this could be different, and I wish you the best.”
“The hell you wish me the best.” Lacy stands, her fists clenched at her sides. “Bitch. Do you know how hard it will be for me to find another job in politics without a reference letter?”
“Harder than keeping your legs closed, I’m guessing? ’Cause that proved really difficult for you.” I lean back and press the intercom. “Karla, Lacy’s ready for her escort.”
The heavy glass doors swing open. My assistant, Karla, stands there with two security guards. They walk forward, and though they don’t grab Lacy, it’s obvious if she jumps, they’re ready.
“This is ridiculous,” Lacy screams. “I’ll sue you for this.”
“Try that. You signed an iron-clad contract that you wouldn’t have sexual relations with any candidate Hunter, Allen represents. We’ve all signed that agreement, with the understanding that violating it is grounds for instant dismissal.”
“You’ll regret this,” Lacy grits between her teeth.
“You can clear out your things.” I reach behind my desk and proffer a box already assembled. “Or Karla can do it for you. Either way is fine with me.”
Lacy snatches the box from my hands and walks toward the door with her head held high and Karla at her heels. “I’ll do it myself. I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Actually you had an affair with a married woman whose wife almost died giving birth to their triplets. So . . . yeah. The public would think you should be ashamed.”
Susan should be ashamed, too, but she probably won’t be. Concerned, yes, about whether we can convince her wife to hang around. Concerned that this never makes it to the public’s greedy noses. She won’t be concerned, though, that I just fired one of the most brilliant tech minds I’ve encountered in a long time.
“And now I need a replacement.”
“Yeah, you do,” Kimba says from the door, the “Allen” in Hunter, Allen & Associates. “And fast. This campaign is in full swing.”
“Karla!” I say loud enough to carry to my assistant’s outer office. She hurries in, running a hand over her purple pixie cut and with red in her cheeks.
“Lacy is not happy,” she says, her eyes wide. “But the guards are with her.”
“Good. I want her off the property in ten. Find Kristin Bowden for me, will ya? I need to speak to her ASAP.”
“Got it, boss.” Karla heads for the door, but leaves a parting shot over her shoulder. “And ASAP number two needs to be getting outta here and down to the set.”
“Exactly why I’m here,” Kimba says. “We need to leave in ten minutes if we’re gonna make it to the taping in time.”
“Ugh.” I massage my temples. “Remind me again why we’re doing this now? I fly to New York tonight for that rally in Queens. This is the last thing I need.”
“We’re doing this because Beltway is the hottest new political show around.” Kimba raises perfectly shaped brows over shrewd brown eyes. “You know I love stuff like this about as much as a pap smear, but we got books to sell, baby.”
“Louder is already a New York Times bestseller, no thanks to Bryce Collins. If he’d actually wanted to help, he would have had us on for release week when we asked. Why now?”
“Who said he wants to help us? I’m sure he has his own agenda, but don’t kick a gift horse. Get that pretty little ass in gear.”
I grin and wiggle the pretty little ass in question at her and walk behind my desk, then flop down into my chair with a whoosh of tired breath.
“And the publisher wants us to do it,” Kimba continues. “The studio’s sending a car over to take us.”
“Fancy.”
The intercom buzzes on my desk.
“Lenn,” Karla says. “I have Kristen Bowden on the phone.”
Kimba and I exchange a harassed look. I sigh and pick up the phone, leaning back in my chair and kicking my feet up onto the desk.
“Kristen,” I say, ready to beg and mollify. “Thanks for taking my call.”
*
“So she’s still in?” Kimba asks once we’re in the car Beltway sent for us.
“Barely. She was angry and hurt, of course, but she does believe in Susan’s vision. And she loves her and wants to save her marriage, so hearing that Lacy is no longer working for the campaign went a long way. Good luck getting Susan to stop long enough to focus on fixing the marriage, though.”