Bad Girls Finish First (11 page)

12

F
or their fourth “meeting,” Erika and David had dinner in the lobby of Erika's hotel. She was in Dallas for a conference, and although David promised himself from the start that he'd never be seen alone with her in his own backyard, he couldn't resist Erika's offer to share a meal.

“It'll have to be late,” she told him when she called. “I won't get out of my last meeting until nine, so we're talking tenish.”

David made it a habit never to eat after eight. He moved his food around on his plate without actually eating anything, a habit he'd picked up from his very first white girlfriend, and listened to Erika drone on about state politics.

Erika abruptly put down her fork and asked, “Why are we going through this?”

“What do you mean?” David asked. On the outside he was smooth, but he felt his heart pick up its pace.

“This charade.” Erika sat back and motioned to the table. “This is just a front for what's really going on between us.

“We've got our routine down. After dinner, I'll find an excuse to walk to your car with you. I'm sure you parked in a corner away from the other cars, the way I do when you're in Austin.” Erika studied David. He sat there trying to look cool and professional, but steam may as well have been blowing out of his ears.

“We're going to grind like a couple of teenagers while you whisper some bullshit lines about how much you want me,” Erika added.

David dropped his head.

“Then you'll drive off and I'll go upstairs. We'll lie in separate beds and get ourselves off while we think about each other.”

The truth was too much for David. He had intended to limit himself to two drinks, but what the hell. He grabbed Erika's glass and took a swig.

“Look,” he said to Erika in a voice so low that she had to strain to hear him. “You have to understand my situation. I—” David stopped. Erika had taken off her shoe and placed her foot in his crotch.

Erika said, “Come to my room.”

Between what Erika was doing with her foot and the inscrutable look on her face, David was about to pop. He slouched in his seat and opened his legs. David was about to give it up, throw his head back and enjoy, when he spotted a familiar face. The head of the hotel's banquet facilities passed by their table and gave David a slight nod.

David straightened up and knocked Erika's toes off his private parts in the process. “I want to, Erika. But I can't. Not tonight.”

Erika picked up her fork and stabbed at her food.

David motioned for the waiter. “Another Glenlivet, straight up, please.”

Erika didn't have anything else to say and David couldn't think of what to say. He sat there and tried to figure out how he could sneak in and out of Erika's room without being seen.

After he paid the check, David went to stand, and teetered.

“What's wrong?” Erika asked as she jumped to her feet to catch David's arm.

David gingerly sat back down. “I feel a little dizzy. I must be coming down with the summer flu. I'll be okay in a minute.”

Erika scoffed. “The flu? Come on, David, you've had too much to drink. You don't have to drive tonight. Stay with me.”

“Erika, I can't, especially not now. I'm going to have hell to pay tomorrow if anybody notices that I'm drunk.” He hit the table with his fist. “And if I'm seen going to your room?” David shook his head. He looked as sorry as he sounded.

Erika knew that David was right. Besides, she didn't want to have sex with him if he wasn't in peak condition. “I've got a rental car, want me to drive you home?”

“Me? Being driven to my home in the wee hours by a white woman? No thanks.” David tried to stand again, but his head started spinning. “All right,” he agreed. “Let's sit here for a few minutes, until I can get my legs to cooperate. Then I'll meet you in the parking garage.”

Erika had rented an Escalade. When she reached the vehicle, David was already there, standing on the passenger side. “Come here,” he said, his arms stretched toward her.

“Uh-uh,” Erica said, and went straight to the driver's side.

As they headed to David's house, he reached over and stroked her thigh. They reversed the roles they played in the restaurant and now it was Erika who opened her legs wider as David's hand went higher. Even though he was drunk, David might have driven as well as Erika, who had trouble staying in her lane.

This is as far as I'm going,
David said to himself as he used his free hand to direct Erika into his subdivision.

David wasn't the only one having second thoughts about what would happen when they got to his house. Erika was insulted because David seemed to want her to beg him for sex. She'd become more selective about who she let sample her goodies and she was beginning to wonder whether David, with his hard-to-get attitude and his drinking, was worth it.

What number will he be? Sixty-two? Sixty-six? Damn.
From the time she was fifteen until she turned forty, Erika had dated like a man, like Samantha Jones on
Sex and the City
. If she ran across a man she liked, Erika bedded him, and she never confused good sex with love. When she turned forty, Erika realized that she had racked up some serious numbers. She vowed to have only “meaningful” trysts from then on. Trouble was, Erika's libido wasn't on board with her new, restrained lifestyle. David's nimble fingers, working overtime, didn't help.

I don't know what number he'd be, but I know it's too close to seventy,
Erika thought as she killed the engine. In one smooth move she climbed across the console and straddled David. She slid her hands beneath his ass and kissed him hard.

“We can't do this here,” David mumbled as he reached to pull Erika's skirt up to her waist. “What about my neighbors?”

“The neighbors. Right. I guess we'd better make it look like you're alone,” Erika replied. Before David knew what was happening, Erika had hit the floorboard and deftly unzipped his pants. David groaned and lay his head back. He'd had at least three drinks at dinner, but David's body responded to Erika like he was a teetotaling Olympic athlete. A neighbor could have come up and rapped on his window and he wouldn't have cared. He grabbed a handful of Erika's hair, but quickly let it go because just the feel of all that downy softness brought him to the brink of exploding.

Only when he felt Erika dig her fingernails into him did David dare touch her hair again. He let out a primal scream that made Erika think—with the small part of her brain that wasn't occupied with getting hers—that a neighbor just might hear the commotion and decide to call 911.

Erika got off her knees and gave David another deep kiss.

“Come inside, please,” he begged.

“Uh-uh. You might end up being number seventy, but it won't happen tonight.”

“Huh?”

Erika climbed back into the driver's seat and waited for David to get out. “Like you said, what would the neighbors think?”

 

 

After he showered, David's normal practice was to towel off in front of his full-length mirror. But after his tryst with Erika he couldn't bear to look at himself. As he dried off in the dark, he asked himself over and over again,
How could I risk everything just to be with her?
After David tore himself down, he latched onto one redeeming thought.

 

 

Michael's strong show of leadership during the post-massacre press conference and the debate gave him a huge boost over Jeff Sweeney, just as he'd predicted. He won the allegiance of thousands of Texans simply by being the eye of calm in the storm. Endorsements and money poured in. Legislation that Michael favored sailed through the House and the Senate. Even Richard Torres, Michael's opponent in the primaries, got on board. He sent Michael a note a week after the debate. “When you get ready to meet with the Latino leaders, I'll pave the way. Call me.”

So, by mid-July, Michael was practically unbeatable.

 

 

“I needed this. Seems I spend all my time in a suit, even in what's supposed to be a casual atmosphere. I'm never relaxed,” Michael said. He and David were aboard David's sixty-foot sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the shore of Padre Island. “Feels like I've had my guard up constantly, for—hell—forever. This is the first time in months I've not been hounded by a reporter with a camera, ready to record every move I make.”

David took a swig of his beer and laughed. “You and me, looking to avoid a photo op. Who'd believe it?”

Michael laughed too. It felt good to be on open water with just the two-man crew and his friend.

They watched the water in silence for a few minutes, then David said, “This isn't the break you think, Michael. I still want to talk business.”

“It's so good just to be out here, I can talk about anything and still feel like I'm on vacation,” Michael said, his eyes on the horizon. “What's on your mind?”

“I've done what you asked—sisters all over the state are organized and energized, working on bringing out the vote for you. When we started, you told me you wouldn't forget about me, and I know that's the truth. It's time for us to discuss some things.”

“You're thinking about the faith-based initiative, right?”

“It's not a lot of money, Michael. Forty million spread too thinly would be a waste.” David's voice took on the authoritative tone he used when in the pulpit imparting wisdom. “You already know what white churches will use the money for. To build more ‘religious' schools,” he said as he made quotation marks with his hands. “They've single-handedly kept segregation alive since the sixties. Why should they get government funds to perpetuate a system that's illegal?

“And you know I believe God calls all types to preach, because it takes all kinds to reach the masses, but half the uneducated hustlers out there calling themselves preachers will take the money, go buy a Cadillac, a week's worth of shiny suits, and tacky jewelry.”

Michael, who was quite good at lecturing, himself, was tired of being on the receiving end from David. “Not every man can drive a two-seater Lexus and wear Armani.”

David conceded the point. “I admit I live well, but you know that I always put the people's welfare first. And I've got a vision, Michael. All I need is money and I guarantee you, I'll transform all of south Dallas.”

Michael finally stopped watching the water and turned to David. “I believe you, because I've got a vision too. Your vision is spiritual and mine is secular, and they're pretty much the same. You know I'll be fair to New Word. You and your congregation have been good to me.”

David had preached fairness all his life, but under the circumstances he wasn't sure that mere fairness would get the job done. “I need you to be more than fair, Michael. I need you to show some faith in me, go a little farther with me than you would with anybody else. You know I won't let you down.”

“To implement your ideas, how much are we talking?”

“Can't put an exact price on it,” David replied. “I'm just asking you to give me a chance to transform this state, just like I provided the chance to you.”

David added, “But, if I could put a price on it, that chance is worth at least fifteen million.”

“That's almost forty percent of the money!” Michael turned back to the water and realized that he'd been wrong. The calm waters of the Gulf didn't immunize him against stress. He shook his head. “I wish I could, but you know that if I win this election, folks are going to be looking for any excuse to call me crooked. I'm going to get enough flack for putting Raven in charge of my faith-based platform.”

“She's running things?” David was surprised.

“Yeah, believe it or not, Dudley suggested that I put her to work on the issue full time. I think he's trying to get her out of his hair, but I thought about it and it's not a bad idea. Raven's smart”—Michael's smile became broader the more he talked about his wife—“but you already know that. And she's still an outsider for the most part, so she'll be immune to pressure tactics from the different churches.” He held up his palms to David and said, “No offense.”

“None taken. I'd be the last one to want to bring even a whiff of impropriety into your administration. Are there any restrictions on how much Raven can award to one church?” David asked.

“No, she's free to use her own judgment. But honestly, David, different communities have different needs, so I expect her to choose a cross section of people to figure out how to address those needs,” Michael said.

David tossed back the last of his beer and threw the bottle into a nearby trash can. “If I need to enter the fray with the rest of the churches and convince Raven that my plan is the best one, then I will.” He winked at his friend and risked a joke. “You know how persuasive women find me.”

“I do,” Michael said and laughed heartily. “But my Raven isn't just any woman. You're going to have to come correct to get a dime of that money.” Michael looked at his watch. “David, I appreciate you bringing me out here for a little down time, but I've got a million things to do. Mind if we head back now?”

“No, man, whatever you want,” David said, but he was disappointed. Now that he knew the rules of the faith-based initiative game, David was starting to relax, himself. While David went to talk to the boat's captain, Michael fixed his eyes on the horizon. He may as well have been a blind man because the singular thought turning round in his head blocked his vision.
Did I see a glint in David's eyes when I mentioned Raven?
He felt the boat change course and head back to shore. Michael checked his watch again. What was supposed to be a day of relaxation had lasted all of three hours.