Political Prick: A Hero Club Novel

by Magan Vernon

  Damn the man was really attractive.

  And fun to talk to.

  He was everything I’d want in a guy right now.

  But he was also everything standing in the way of my future and my internship.

  “I think it has to, Adrian,” I said softly as my words trembled.

  He put his hand out and without even thinking, I took it in mine, an electric jolt diving straight from his fingers and down to my core.

  His eyes locked on mine in a smolder that could have melted chocolate.

  I needed to stay far, far away from him.

  Not look at him.

  And definitely not touch him again.

  Not if I wanted to keep this internship.

  “Goodnight, then, Melanie.” His words were soft as he traced my knuckles with the pad of his thumb, the shiver now past the point of no return so I had to hold my legs together.

  “Goodnight, Adrian.”

  I let go of his hand, an empty feeling now in my palm and the pit of my stomach.

  I expected him to still follow as I walked through the stone archway of Palisade Estates, but luckily, he didn’t.

  Though he stayed parked there and I swore I could see his eyes blazing as I walked up the street to my parents’ house and around back toward the gate.

  It was only then I lost sight of his headlights and my shoulders fell.

  Letting out a breath, I didn’t realize I was holding in, I headed past the kidney shaped pool, lights from the patio doors casting shadows along the waterfall.

  The squat, stucco building wasn’t much to look at, but it was separate from my parents. And they respected my privacy...sort of.

  As soon as I opened the French doors, the scent of garlic and chicken wafted to my nose.

  Turning on the light, I looked around the small white room, decorated with only a kitchenette and a set of bamboo bar stools near the counter. Mom had left a wrapped dish near the microwave, just as she had done for years when I came home late.

  But suddenly I wasn’t as hungry as I thought I was, something else was gnawing at the pit of my stomach.

  No.

  Someone with a set of gorgeous brown eyes that was doing something to me I hadn’t felt in an awfully long time.

  But Adrian Chase was not going to get in the way of my job.

  No matter how sexy he was.

  Chapter 6

  My head was pounding.

  No, not just pounding, it was as if a freight train had zoomed in front of maplthe windows and now was blowing its horn right in my ear drums.

  As my foggy brain pulled me to reality, I realized the pounding was the front door of my little pool house.

  Pulling myself slowly from the futon, my bones creaked as I walked out of my bedroom and padded past the love seat and bar until I got to the front door.

  Mom stood there, already dressed in a skirt suit, her short brown hair swept into a bun, and her smile too wide for this early in the morning.

  But at least she was holding two steaming cups of coffee.

  “Morning, Melanie. Thought you might stop by the house last night, but I didn’t even hear you come in. Celebrate your first day a little hard?”

  I yawned, taking the cup from her, and letting the caffeine hit my nostrils. “No celebrating. It was kind of a business meeting at Vinny’s.”

  “A business meeting, already?” she raised her eyebrows, but kept her feet planted on the walkway.

  I stepped back, waving my hand. She was going to hear all about this sooner or later anyway, so no point in not inviting her in. “Well, kind of.”

  I closed the door behind her as she made her way to the kitchen, pulling out some English muffins and the toaster oven. “Would this kind of business meeting have anything to do with the serious looking man in a suit Mrs. Cauzzo told me you were talking to at the bar?”

  I groaned, damn small neighborhood gossip.

  “I was talking to Adrian Chase, he’s a city councilman that is against the new park my boss wants built where that old pit used to be near Maple Street.

  Mom wrinkled her nose. “The one that all those kids fell into?”

  “They didn’t fall in, they jumped, and that hole has been filled now. It’s kind of just a big dirt mound that really would make a great dog park and kid park, but he wants to put a strip mall with a coffee shop there. Like we need another one of those.”

  Mom dropped the muffins in the toaster before taking a sip of her coffee. “A coffee shop would be nice there.”

  “Mom. Not helping.”

  She sighed, grabbing an avocado from a bowl. “I know how you can be about these sort of things, honey.”

  I raised an eyebrow, my back curling like a feral cat ready to attack. “What do you mean ‘these sort of things’?”

  Her eyes didn’t meet mine as she hulled out the avocado. “You’ve always been passionate about whatever you were doing and sometimes you can’t see all sides of an argument. That’s why your father always thought you’d be a good lawyer like your uncle Bobo.”

  “Uncle Bobo is a real estate lawyer. He literally sits there and looks over people’s contracts before they sign onto their trillion-dollar beach houses and then gets a check. There’s no arguing.”

  All my dad saw was that it was an easy way for my uncle to make money. When Uncle Bobo basically handed me an offer on a silver platter to work for him this summer, Dad couldn’t’ understand why I’d turn it down. Luckily, Chance came with the offer from Aubrey so I was able to say I had something else.

  I wanted to make a real change, not just help rich people look over condo contracts and make sure they get those extra marble tiles in their humungous bathrooms.

  “There’s a lot more to my brother’s job than you realize, but you’re right, your uncle didn’t want to do the trial or defense argument. His passions are different than yours.”

  I took a sip of my coffee. “My passion for doing what’s right?”

  She shook her head, plating our food before setting it in front of me, this time she actually did meet my gaze.

  Mom and I looked a lot alike, aside from the twenty-five-year age difference and the wrinkles around her eyes, one of the few women in Cali who hadn’t gotten those botoxed out. “Melanie. What are you going to do if this park doesn’t go through? Is this going to be like when you lost out on the apartment bid?”

  I flinched, staring at my coffee.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I muttered.

  She laughed, but there was no humor to it. “Honey, when you got outbid on that place above Starbucks, you called up the landlord every day for two weeks, sent letters, and cried on the floor of our living room until we said you could move into this pool house.”

  “I wasn’t that bad.” I rolled my eyes, but felt my cheeks burn.

  So maybe I had a bit of a flair for the dramatic, but it was a great apartment, right downtown. I had the best letters of reference and reason for getting that studio. Then someone else came in with an all cash offer, paying the first year up front, and BOOM, there went my nice little studio downtown.

  “This isn’t going to be like that, Mom. This time I’m working with a lawyer and it’s a great project. I just need to make sure I’m focused and ready to present my arguments.”

  She sighed, shaking her head. “I hope so, honey.”

  So, did I.

  ***

  I left my car at the shelter the night before, but luckily it wasn’t too long of a walk from my house to work.

  And it gave me a chance to walk by the pit.

  At this time in the morning, people were out for the early jogs, or crammed in carpool, ready to head onto the freeway.

  Like a beacon, the sun glinted off the rusted fence as if it was trying to show the world it’s untapped potential.

  Those moms with their strollers could stop under a nice shade tree, take a break to let their kids run around the sandbox.

  The early morning dog wa
lkers could have a place to let their dogs run out some energy and do their business, instead of leaving it next to a palm tree for an unsuspecting runner to come along later.

  It really was the perfect, quaint spot for a park.

  Now I just had to convince everyone else of that.

  Straightening my bag over my shoulder, I nodded to myself.

  So, I was passionate? Sometimes overly so.

  It’s what this project needed.

  And with Aubrey to help guide me, we could do it.

  I just had to get to work and pray that this headache still pounding in my temples would go away in a few hours.

  Hopefully.

  Instead of the suit, I did as Aubrey suggested and wore a pair of jeans, some sneakers, and one of the nicer tops I had. I didn’t want to be dressed too down, but I also wondered if I’d have to take another hike to walk a dog down to another park...or clean out goat poop. Again.

  I breezed past Emma at the front desk, offering a quick wave since she had her phone pressed to her ear, her long, lime green nails tapping on the computer.

  Aubrey’s office door was open and even before I got to the glass wall, I could hear her talking.

  “Hey, don’t be greedy. We can share.”

  I raised an eyebrow, slowly approaching, unsure of what the hell I was about to walk into.

  I definitely didn’t expect her to be perched on her desk, a bag of sunflower seeds on her lap as she took one, then tossed another to Pixy, both of them spitting out the seeds in a black trash can between them.

  “Um, am I interrupting something?” I cautiously stepped over the threshold, dropping my purse on one of the folding chairs.

  “Just a little late breakfast. Chance and the kids had to be out early for soccer, so he didn’t get to make anything. We stopped at the bodega and Sammy was already out of croissants, so figured this would be a good substitute. Want one?” She held the bag out, Pixy bleating in response.

  “Oh, you can share,” she reprimanded, puffing her lips out at the little goat.

  “I’m good, thanks. I already had breakfast.”

  “You did? Someone make it for you?” She raised her eyebrows, leaning back on her desk.

  “Um, yeah, my mom?”

  She blinked hard. “Oh. So, she picked you up last night and you didn’t go home with someone?”

  “What?” I shook my head, swallowing hard as my throat dried up. “No. Why...no...I didn’t go home with anyone.”

  She nodded past me. “I just saw your car in the parking lot and when I left, you and Adrian were pretty chummy. I’m not judging, I was young like you once, and I just wanted to make sure everything was going to be okay when we meet with city council this week.”

  I shook my head so hard that I swore my ponytail was going to come out.

  I dug in my purse, pulling out a stack of print outs. “Definitely not. I even did some research this morning.”

  I handed the papers to Aubrey as she used her not-covered-in-sunflower-seeds-hand to thumb through them. “Real Estate listings?”

  “Those are homes in the area that have sold in the last five years, all single-family homes. All with fenced in yards. All with demographics of people who would want a park space for kids and dogs. I figured I could start with going to those homes, maybe getting a petition together or just gauging interest who would want a park in that area.”

  She nodded slowly as a smile crossed her lips. “Wow. That’s actually something I didn’t think of, I guess I owe you an apology for thinking Adrian Chase might cloud your judgement.”

  Before I could open my mouth to respond, a knock came at the glass.

  I turned around, coming face-to-floral with a large bouquet of yellow roses, Emma’s highlighted curls not even visible over them.

  “These just came to the front,” she said, placing them on the opposite corner of Aubrey’s desk from where she was sitting.

  “Aw, Chance still sends you flowers? That’s so sweet,” I said honestly, trying not to make my voice come out bitter.

  It really was sweet.

  I still remember him trying to woo her when she was dating that dipshit from her office who always complained about his coffee order, no matter what it was.

  Thank God she ended up with the guy who tipped and knew her coffee order.

  Emma shook her head, putting her hands on her hips so her bangles clanked against the hot pink belt holding back her cheetah print dress. “Nuh uh, these had your name on the tag, Melanie.”

  “My name?” I choked out the words, my feet stuck to the ground like they’d been superglued there.

  Aubrey had some cat-like reflexes as she reached for the card, buried among what had to be at least three dozen yellow perfectly bloomed roses.

  “Well, let’s see who your admirer is.”

  Before my brain could catch up to my feet and I lurched forward, Aubrey already had the card torn open, her forehead crinkling as she wrapped her fingers around the small sheet of pink paper.

  “Melanie can’t wait to see you again Thursday. Looking forward to hearing more of your sass, just maybe not over limoncellos this time. – AC”

  All of the heat that once gathered to my face from embarrassment now drained as a cold chill gathered through my body. “Aubrey, I swear nothing happened. This...this must be some kind of tactic to throw me off.”

  “A pretty damn expensive one with that many flowers,” Emma quipped.

  Gripping the vase, I held it over my head before slamming it in the trash can, causing Pixy to jump back, bleating fiercely.

  Turning toward a wide-eyed Aubrey, I grabbed my stack of papers where she set them on the desk. “This is a game to him. A ploy he thinks he can win with his charm and flowers. But we’re not backing down. Okay? I’m not backing down.”

  Aubrey’s throat bobbed as she nodded. “If you say so, then I’m one-hundred percent behind you.”

  I nodded. “Good. Then let’s get to work before the city council meeting this week.”

  Chapter 7

  I poured every free minute I had at the office.

  When I got home from work, I still spent time on my computer, looking up whatever research I could.

  I knocked on doors, getting signatures from people in the neighborhood, requested quotes from landscaping services, and in between all of that managed to take just about every dog in the shelter for a walk, all the way to the nearest park.

  Avoiding city hall or any path near it the entire time.

  Until I couldn’t anymore.

  Thursday morning started with a dark cloud hanging over the horizon. The ominous foreboding on what was to come for the rest of the day.

  I dressed in a button-down shirt and a pencil skirt, putting my hair in a low bun before sliding on a pair of heels. I needed to look the professional part.

  I also had to feel it today when Aubrey presented her points to the city council. Especially the dimpled member who I still couldn’t stop thinking about.

  Every time I got a call from an unknown number, my heart skipped a beat, wondering if somehow, he got mine and now was calling to explain the flowers or anything.

  But no. Always a telemarketer.

  I hadn’t seen nor talked to him since Monday and now I was about to face him in the large oak room of city hall.

  “You can do this, Melanie,” I told myself as I stared in the small bathroom mirror of the one-stall room at the back of the shelter.

  I had everything prepared. Aubrey was going to present and I’d hand her the notes, making sure everything was ready to go.

  We could do this.

  As long as I didn’t look at Adrian, I’d be fine.

  Easier said than done when as soon as we walked into the chilly meeting room, the first breath I took in was filled with his woodsy cologne.

  My eyes immediately gravitated to the large stage where eight men sat behind a desk. A dark gaze immediately catching mine as a smile crossed his face. The smile that hit me rig
ht in the center of my chest.

  Dammit.

  Did I smile back?

  What the hell was I supposed to do?

  I kept my head down, taking my seat in one of the many benches with Aubrey beside me.

  There were four more proposals on the agenda before ours. Each man in a business suit, approaching a small podium and presenting his points before the council asked questions.

  Each time I looked up at the stage, the heat of Adrian’s eyes fell on me, a small, brilliant white smile aimed right in my direction.

  What the hell did that mean?

  Was he actually going to vote in our favor?

  What was he trying to say?

  Dammit, men were complicated.

  By the time it was Aubrey and my turn to step up to the podium, it was as if I was swimming through wet cement, each step harder than the next.

  Aubrey cleared her throat and I laid the leather portfolio out in front of her, each point highlighted clearly and another few notes I’d jotted on post-its clinging to the side.

  We had this.

  “Gentlemen of city council, I’m Aubrey Bloom-Bateman, from the local animal shelter, here with my intern Melanie Knopp, to talk about approval of a multi-use park on city lot 42.”

  “Lot 42...” One of the old men held up a wrinkly finger. “Say, isn’t that that place you were going to put the strip mall, Adrian?”

  Adrian had some sense, the smile fading from his face as he nodded but didn’t say a word.

  Aubrey cleared her throat, drawing the attention back to us. “Yes, we are very aware of Mr. Chase’s proposal to buy the land for real estate development, but we have also done our research, polling residents of the neighborhood to see their interest in a park.”

  She nodded at me, the cue to approach the desk and pass out the results of our door-to-door-surveys I’d freshly copied and printed this morning.

  Still warm from the printer, I couldn’t tell if it was the copies or something else that definitely had the hairs on my arm prickling with goosebumps once I reached Adrian’s spot.

  “Thank you,” he mouthed, the smile returning to his face.