Fixer: A Bad Boy Romance (16 page)

"I'm... I'm working on it," Tanner tried, watching as Pribus stomped around to sit down heavily in the chair behind his desk.

"Working on it," Pribus repeated. He didn't sound satisfied.

Tanner spread his hands open. "Look, this is complex. it's not like just walking in and throwing the book at Alicia for doing something wrong-"

"Yes, that's exactly how it should be!" Pribus interrupted. "Tanner, you've got no idea how much heat is coming down my neck over this damn bill. Apparently, this infernal bitch of a senator has been setting up meetings with everyone and their uncle, on both sides of the aisle!" His eyes narrowed at Tanner. "And word is that you're sitting in on most of these meetings, too. What's going on? You thinking of jumping ship?"

"Of course not!" Tanner replied automatically. He'd taken a seat in the chair across from Pribus's desk, but he now leaned forward, going on the offensive. He kept his voice low, confident, certain of his actions. "Pribus, I need to earn her confidence if I'm going to figure out what Alicia's got planned. And that means that I have to show up to these meetings - meetings which, I'll point out, she'd have with or without me, and where my presence hasn't influenced it in any way."

Pribus grunted, but Tanner kept on pushing. "I need to find the perfect way to kill this bill so that the Republicans can't be held responsible. You told me that yourself, at our last meeting. As much heat as you might be receiving right now, can you imagine how much more anger will be directed at you if the bill dies - and it looks like the Republicans were the ones to stab it to death?"

He saw Pribus grimace at that, and knew that he'd hit a nerve. "Trust me," Tanner finished. "This is under control."

For a long second, Pribus just closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against the knobs of his thumbs. When he opened them again, however, they looked sharply at Tanner. He frowned, not speaking.

"What?" Tanner finally asked. He knew that he was weakening his position by being the first to speak up and break the silence, but Pribus looked strangely suspicious.

"Alicia?" the head of the RNC repeated, raising his eyebrows.

"Senator Stone."

"And you're referring to her by her first name?"

A flash of concern, nearly panic, shot through Tanner's head. He struggled to keep his emotions in check, not reveal any hint of his uncertainty on his face. He hadn't meant to call Alicia by her first name, but after spending so much time with her, both in and out of the office, both clothed and naked... it just slipped out.

"Of course," he replied after a second, keeping his voice mild. "Keep in mind what I did to Senator Waltz?"

Pribus blinked, and then a grin slowly spread across his face. "Ah, the old honey trap."

"Honeypot," Tanner corrected.

"Whatever. I see - you're seducing her, getting some embarrassing footage so that you can threaten to leak it and expose her." Pribus grinned wider. "Both literally and figuratively, heh. That's the plan?"

"Yes," Tanner said shortly, hoping that his lie wouldn't be obvious.

Pribus's smile shrank a little. "She's not married, though, is she? No husband that you can threaten to address the pictures to, ruin the marriage?"

"No, not married." Tanner could see that Pribus wasn't sold on this idea, and kept talking. "But that's the thing about being a woman in politics. it's a lot like being a woman in many of the other male-dominated fields; if something gets leaked, it always blows back much worse on a woman than on a man. A guy's caught banging a lobbyist, everyone shrugs. Bound to happen. But if a female politician is the one caught in another guy's bed, especially if she's young and attractive..."

"I see," Pribus mused. "You think that's going to be enough to bring this thing down?"

For a moment, Tanner forgot that Pribus was primarily focused on the education bill, not on the senator herself. "I'm not sure. That's why I'm sticking with her in all these meetings, hoping to find a way to kill the bill through a less... gray area."

It wasn't a gray area, of course. Trying to influence a senator with the threat of releasing illicit material was blackmail, a black and white crime, and Tanner didn't doubt for a second that, if he tried it on Alicia, she'd call his bluff. And she'd probably bad-mouth him to everyone as well, right away, trying to get out ahead of his story by putting her own spin on the situation.

Pribus still looked distracted, glancing down at the papers on his desk. Tanner sat across from him quietly for a minute, and then cleared his throat. "Actually, I was thinking."

"What?" A little bit of that previous flare-up of temper still danced around the edges of Pribus's expression, and Tanner nearly swallowed his words.

"Well, it's about this bill." He tried to fight the urge to fidget with his fingers. "Why do we need to kill it outright? This could be a great feather in the Republican cap, after all, if we just phrase it in the right way. We could show that we're progressive, pushing forward to help the American people despite a do-nothing president - and we could put some cost saving measures into the wording of the bill as well, to keep our constituents happy. This could carry a lot of pork barrel projects for our own."

Pribus blinked, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times before he spoke. "You want to pass the damn thing?" he repeated, as if Tanner had just suggested skewering and roasting a baby over a bonfire.

"I'm saying that there could be an opportunity here," Tanner tried again, but this time Pribus cut him off with a swipe of his hand.

"Not a chance. Listen, Tanner, I brought you in for one reason - to kill this thing. That's what we want, and that's what we're paying you to do."

"Yes, but-"

"No! No buts or anything else about it!" Pribus rose up a few inches in his seat, his anger back in full force. "You kill this bill, and soon, before it starts get into such a big media sensation that we can't let it just fade into obscurity! Either you kill this thing, or else you're fired!"

"Come on, Pribus," Tanner said, startled a little by this vehemence from the man. Even on previous assignments where Tanner had trouble, Pribus had always been understanding. After all, politics wasn't a completely controllable game. Sometimes, everything could be aimed in the right direction, and still not succeed.

"No. Not this time." Pribus forced himself to take a deep breath, but his tone didn't grow more calm. If anything, that note of anger in his voice sharpened even further, a knife with an edge fine enough to split a hair. "This needs to happen. If you can't do this, we're going to need to start finding someone else - someone more reliable - to handle the jobs that come our way."

Tanner tried to open his mouth, but he didn't have any answer to this. He could see from Pribus's expression that the RNC head wasn't going to budge on this issue.

"Got it," he finally said, sitting back and holding his hands up, as if surrendering.

Pribus maintained the glare for another second, and then sighed as he forced the anger out of his system. "Look, just bring the bill down. Hell, if you can get this Stone woman out of politics entirely, I'll even double your bonus for it. She's got a lot of people riled up - and I'm not just talking about this bill. You know that lots of our big donors have their ear to the ground in regards to possible future elections."

"Sure," Tanner said, wondering where this was headed. Pribus got to listen in to some very high-level rumors, whispered conversations among people miles above Tanner's class.

"Well, apparently this bitch is the full package. Strong, confident, aggressive, but with the kind of candor that the voters like - and enough savvy to understand that she's got to reach across the aisle at some times, and denounce her opponents at others." Pribus shuddered. "And there are even a couple wild rumors that she might eventually be destined for the top of the whole anthill."

The presidency? "She's not even thirty yet!" Tanner burst out.

"Like I said, long way away. But the rumors are still there, and they're making our donors nervous. So the more we can do to shove her down, keep her out of sight until we can scrape up enough dirt to neutralize her, the better." Pribus pointed a finger across his desk. "And that's your job. Now, get out and do it."

There didn't seem to be anything else that he could say or do. "Yes, sir," Tanner said, standing up from his chair. Briefly, he wondered if he should throw in a salute before leaving, but decided that Pribus wouldn't appreciate the joke.

"How was it? Bad as your face suggests?" Charlie called out to Tanner as he stepped back into the lobby of the RNC's headquarters.

"Worse," Tanner replied, shaking his head.

The old guard chuckled. "Well, you certainly look it. I'd suggest getting a good stiff drink. You look a little pale."

"That," Tanner said, nodding to Charlie, "sounds like an amazing idea."

But he couldn't go out for a drink - not yet, at least. He still had a long day of meetings with Alicia, pretending to be supporting this education bill, lying to everyone about his true intentions. He had to go and smile at Alicia, flirt with her, talk about strategy and pretend to be on her side, pretend that he wanted her, when he was truly searching for her weakness so he could kill her career.

And worst of all, he knew that his act of wanting her was no act at all. Every time she smiled at him, whenever he caught a glimpse of the luscious, strong, firm lines of her body through her formal clothes, he felt his drive weaken and waver.

Maybe he couldn't make it through this truce, after all. He ought to just kill the bill now, somehow, even though he'd lose Alicia.

But to do it to her, to give up the sight of the woman, hot-eyed and sultry as she lay naked in bed waiting for him to try and summit her, claim her wildness for himself...

Tanner groaned, wishing more than ever that he hadn't ever taken this job, that he was just sitting at home with a drink, waiting for Pribus to call with his next assignment.

Chapter Eighteen

*

"Sorry, what?"

Tanner blinked as he looked up at Alicia, sitting across the table from him in his apartment. His fork was still buried in the homemade lasagna that the two of them created earlier in the kitchen amid laughs, tossed handfuls of flour, and licking marinara sauce off of various digits.

"I said, you seem distracted." Alicia frowned, setting down her own fork on the side of her plate. "And you're barely eating. What's on your mind?"

She was observant. Tanner cursed that attribute, even as he admitted that it made her undeniably more attractive, the way that she listened to him and remembered all sorts of miniscule details. He quickly searched for some sort of answer that would satisfy her.

"Nothing much, just thinking about work," he replied. He picked up his fork, transferred his mouthful of lasagna into his mouth. He didn't taste the ground lamb, the blend of aged parmesan and fresh mozzarella cheeses, the marinara sauce that they'd spiced up with some finely chopped fresh herbs. He might as well have put a chunk of cardboard in his mouth. He chewed, swallowed the lump of mush.

Alicia sighed. "It does get to you sometimes, doesn't it?" she said quietly. "It's just my first year - not even the end of that - but I'm already hating that feeling of always having more to do. It's overwhelming, like the Sword of Damocles hanging above my head."

"Sword of what?"

"Sword of Damocles." Alicia raised her eyebrows when Tanner's face remained blank. "Well, look who needs to polish up on his ancient Greek history! There's a legend about a commoner who wanted to switch places with a Greek king, wanting to live in unparalleled luxury and wealth. The king agreed - but to properly simulate the danger and weight that lay on his every decision and movement, he hung a heavy sword above his throne, suspended by the thinnest possible thread. The commoner had to sit beneath that dangling blade, knowing that the slightest wrong movement could bring it down, ending his reign forever."

And she knew history, too. Smart and well-educated. Tanner sighed. "A sword above my head, about to come plunging down if I make the slightest wrong move. Sounds about right."

"The unseen cost of power," Alicia said, sounding as if she was quoting something. "It really does get to me. I don't know how some of these senators, like Reed, can happily spend twenty or thirty years in the Senate without having some sort of nervous breakdown."

"It gets easier over time, they tell me," Tanner offered. "There's only so many different situations. After long enough, you've seen it all, and you know how to respond. You just need to make it that far, and then you're golden."

"Silver might be a better comparison, considering his hair," Alicia joked, and Tanner laughed along with her. It felt good to laugh, to forget, even if only for a moment, about how he needed to betray this woman and ruin her future.

After a minute, Alicia stood up, reaching over to slide Tanner's plate away from him. "Hey," he objected half-heartedly.

She paused, frowning down at him. "I can tell that you're not hungry. I'll put it in your fridge, and you can take it out if you get the craving for a midnight snack."