Page 15 of Kiss Kiss Bang
Without looking up, she waved her hand at her daughter. “Sorry. Sorry. Watch your cartoons, sweets. I’ll be right back.”
She stood and walked to the kitchen and away from Sophie to look closer at what she’d just seen in the news. A photo of her opponent Governor McGregor, at least twenty-five years younger, sitting on a couch with a woman in a bikini on his lap and what looked like frat guys sitting next to him. He had a joint in his hand and a smile on his lips. The caption read: Happy 420!
It looked like it was taken from McGregor’s own Facebook page, as if he’d captioned it himself. She looked at the corner of the iPad screen to verify and yes, today was April 20th. She laughed out loud because no way in hell had ultraconservative McGregor posted that photo.
The headline read: Harry’s Hacker Strikes Again.
It was the third time in as many months that someone had hacked into McGregor’s social media account and posted something completely inappropriate. Coffee almost flew out of her nose as she laughed at the photo as well as all the comments that had been bombarding the site.
She was sitting at her kitchen table, comfortable and relaxed, reading the rest of the article, wondering if Mark had already read this. Oddly enough, the photo reminded her of when she lived in Brownsville. Watching the neighborhood kids smoking pot from their front porch while she and Connor walked home from school. It felt like a lifetime ago, and she tried hard not to think of those times. She shook her head and refocused on the article in front of her.
. . . the photo has since been deleted and changed with a statement from Governor McGregor condemning drug use. McGregor was a strong opponent of the medical marijuana bill that recently passed . . .
Mark never slept and was always a step ahead of her opponent, so of course he’d read it. Unlike Olivia, he was likely not laughing. She loved the older man like family, but he was a serious, “by the book,” sort of man, just like Neil had been. Even if he’d never condone drug use, he’d be flabbergasted (his word) by the hacking of Harry’s account. Grabbing her phone for the first time that morning, she saw the text messages from Mark telling her to put on the news, as well as a number of other messages she’d been trying to ignore until Monday.
Reading it now. This is hilarious,she typed back as she propped her legs onto another chair to continue reading.
Hilarious? Olivia, this is not hilarious. We need to meet and strategize. How are we going to fix this mess? You are running a campaign based on wholesome family values, for crying out loud. This isn’t like you at all.
She wanted to win fair and square, not because of some stupid hacker who was hell bent on messing with McGregor, but still, she couldn’t deny that this was funny and ultimately would help her campaign. Relax, Mark. We’ll talk about it tomorrow. It’s just a joke. Probably Photoshopped.
But as she looked at the photo more clearly she couldn’t figure out how it could’ve been altered. It was obviously straitlaced McGregor dabbling in a little weed when he was in college. Now the photo was coming back to haunt him.
Photoshopped? This really looks like the dress you wore last night, Olivia.
Dress? Huh?
She put her coffee on the table scrolled down the article.
. . . Governor McGregor isn’t the only one having a little bit of titillating fun. Looks like his opponent, Olivia Russo, was enjoying herself last night in an elevator. While the president was being rushed out of the Hotel Victoria because of an angry mob, Russo was getting hot and heavy with an unknown man in an elevator . . .
She stood up abruptly.
She scrolled down until she saw the photos. Her back was pushed against the elevator as Joey kissed her, her fingers digging into his back and his legs grabbing her ass firmly. You couldn’t see her face clearly, but her sapphire dress was unmistakable.
Oh. My. God.
Her heart started to pound.
Her breast. She’d been exposed. She was going to throw up praying that whomever had posted this had the decency not to post anything explicit.
Cautiously she scrolled to the next photo. It was just as bad as the first, but luckily, Joey was covering her with his body as they kissed. It wasn’t a sweet first kiss either. No. It was a salacious erotic devouring.
She was about to pick up the phone and call Mark but was too embarrassed to talk to him. Damn, she was too embarrassed to talk to anyone.
How could she have been so stupid, so careless, so immature . . .
She looked down at the phone which sounded with an incoming text. Don’t even think about canceling on me tonight.
It was Joey.
Was he texting her because he’d seen the news or because he knew she was nervous about the date to begin with? She wanted to ask but she also didn’t want to draw attention to the article. It was too humiliating. Maybe he hadn’t seen it. God, please don’t let him see it.
I forgot I had something tonight. Raincheck,she texted back, and was relieved when there was no reply.
There were two other photos and both showed them kissing. Joey’s back and parts of her face were the only things exposed. In one, her head was thrown back as he kissed her neck, her eyes shut, obviously enjoying herself. She couldn’t stop staring at the way her fingers were digging into his back or the way her eyes were shut so tightly. She looked so . . . desperate.
She closed the scree, put away her iPad and phone, and went back to the living room. Maybe if she pretended it hadn’t happened . . .
