“Of course we’ve had to take some side trips to take care of business matters. But work on the new CD is really coming along well. The video—”
“Side trips, such as to a local sex club?”
Finn stared at him. “A sex club?”
“And to visit Senator McFarland in Sacramento?”
Daphne’s face was red, but she forced herself to laugh. “I’ve met Senator McFarland, yes,” she said. “But—”
“And isn’t it true that you’re the cause of the Senator’s divorce?”
“Divorce?” Her voice little more than a whisper. Ken sat, letting his statement sink in, leering triumphantly at her.
Finn came to life. “That’s ridiculous. The Senator is a fan, I believe, and has attended some of the same events as Daphne. But to suggest that anything else is going on—”
“Oh, I’m not the one suggesting it.” Ken took a paper from the small stack he’d brought in with him. “Mrs. McFarland issued a statement yesterday morning that they are getting divorced due to his affair with Miss Monroe. Do you have a comment on that?”
Finn suddenly stood, almost knocking over the small table in front of them, and pulled Ken to his feet. “That’s enough, you hyena. This interview is over. Now, if you don’t want—”
Decker was behind him by then, ready to grab Finn’s arm if it started swinging. Several people in the background were yelling and Ken was scrambling out of punching range. Daphne was standing still, her face completely drained of color, like a wax statue of herself. Decker looked back and forth between the two, debating if it was more urgent to keep Finn from pursuing and attacking the reporter or to make sure Daphne wasn’t going to faint.
But she was tougher than that. She clenched her fists and strode over to the door that Ken was just about to escape from. She grabbed the lapels of his jacket and thrust her face to within an inch of his. “If you ever—” she began.
Ken stammered and stumbled backward. Decker was next to her in a half second, his arms around her. Daphne stopped, releasing her grip on Ken and became very still.
Finn took his place on her other side, looking more warlike than Decker had ever seen him. They both put a hand on Daphne’s back, supporting but ready to stop her if she pursued the reporter. Ken got through the door as quickly as he could, saying in an odd, squeaky voice, “Stop! I’ll have you arrested!”
Finn took a menacing step forward, shouting, “Bring it on, you pussy!”
Decker knew that none of the three of them would hesitate to attack the reporter, given the opportunity. But, as much as his protective instincts were engaged, he knew it wouldn’t achieve anything useful, other than getting one or all of them thrown in jail. He had to wonder as he glanced at Daphne’s white face how much of the accusation was true. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have a reputation for wildness and promiscuity.
* * * *
Allie went running to the front door when she heard Decker’s car pull in. They had stopped halfway down the driveway, and Decker was getting out of the driver’s side, yelling at someone in the bushes beyond. Damn paparazzi again, Allie thought with a sigh. Probably the same one. He seemed to be obsessed with Daphne. Decker got back in and drove the rest of the way. The small group got out of the car and walked toward the house as if they’d just survived a battle. Daphne’s face was white and drawn, and she looked much older than Allie had ever seen her look before.
“Are you guys okay?” Allie held the door open, and they filed past her.
“It was an interesting morning,” Decker told her. “Let’s sit down, and we’ll tell you what happened.”
“I think I saw most of it on the news,” Allie said. “It was a live broadcast. Did anything happen after Finn challenged the reporter?”
“Not much.” Decker directed Daphne onto a sofa. He and Finn sat down on either side of her, but she seemed to pay no attention to the fact. “He’s probably still cowering in some broom closet at the station.”
“What will the repercussions be?” Allie perched on the arm of a chair near the hallway, debating with herself whether to go get the coffee she’d made when Decker texted her that they’d landed and were on their way back.
“It’ll blow over,” Finn said, determination setting his face into new lines. “In fact, it might be good for us in the long run. No publicity is bad publicity, right? Look at the air time that’s going to get.” He rubbed Daphne’s arm encouragingly.
Daphne groaned and put her head in her hands.
Allie looked at her curiously. “You’ve had all kinds of weird publicity, haven’t you? What’s wrong with this one? It’s just a story, right?”
There was an uncomfortable silence. Then Daphne stood up. “I loved him,” she said simply. “Or at least I thought I did.” She walked heavily to the staircase and went up.
They watched her go in silence. Then Finn exchanged a look with Decker and sighed. “So what do we do now?”
“Let’s discuss it in the kitchen,” Decker said slowly. He stood and casually glanced out the window as if checking for spies lurking outside.
Allie led the way, feeling ridiculously proud that she was prepared. There was a plate of cookies on the table and four mugs sitting on the counter in front of the coffeepot, all made up the way they liked them. She poured the men’s, setting Daphne’s mug in the sink.
“So it’s true, then?” Decker began, accepting his drink from Allie with a nod.
“Mostly. I guess.” Finn’s face was grim. “She’d been seeing him, it’s true. I tried to stop her, but she seemed to consider it a game to sneak away. She told me he’d broken it off with her. She was upset. You saw how she was that morning, Allie. But for a while she was really focusing on her work. I thought we were finally on track. God knows how she’s going to react to this.”
“She’s going to react the way you let her react.” Decker’s face and voice were hard. Allie looked at him in surprise as she stirred cream into her coffee.
Finn’s mug froze halfway to his mouth, and his eyes above it were large. He slowly put the coffee back on the table, and the two men locked eyes.
“The way I let her react.” It wasn’t a question or a confirmation. It was almost like he was repeating a new phrase in a foreign language he didn’t know. His face showed no expression whatsoever.
Decker took a deep breath. “She looks to you for guidance. If you act like this can beat her, she’ll believe you, and it will beat her. It was a good start, what you said about publicity. You’ve got to act like this is a good thing, an opportunity. Make her believe it. It’s certainly not the end of the world, or even the first time a celebrity has come between a politician and his wife. Divorce isn’t the scandal it used to be. It isn’t good for a political career, but it’s that asshole McFarland’s problem, not yours or Daphne’s.”
“I don’t know if this will help,” Allie said, “but we were thinking of having Daddy Dave and his boys over for a barbecue on Friday night. That’s sure to cheer her up. Do you think he’d come?”
Decker stared at her. She gave him an angelic smile back. “You weren’t really planning on leaving before then, were you?”
Chapter 16
“Does anybody know what happened to this?” Karl’s voice was calm, but his face was stiff with anger as he pulled the barbecue grill around the side of the house. Decker, Finn, and Brad stopped setting up the backyard furniture to gather around the wreckage. Two of the legs were sticking out at angles that couldn’t possibly have been intentional, and there was a substantial dent in its round red underside.
“Looks like somebody’s done a number on it,” Decker said, bending down and moving the legs around to inspect the damage. “I’ll bet that’s what I heard when Blaze went storming through here the other day. I came down to see, but that’s when the call came through for the interview, and I got a little distracted.”
“Oh, yeah,” Finn agreed. “I’d forgotten about that. Figures it was him. Can it be fixed?”
>
Allie came out the screen door and down the back steps with an armload of beers. “Okay, okay. There’ll be time for fighting over grill privileges later—” She stopped suddenly, realizing what they were looking at, and let out a wail. “Oh, no! What happened?”
Daphne joined them, carrying two large bowls, and peered at it. “Who did that?”
“Blaze,” Finn told her, and she gasped, flushing bright red.
“Are you sure?”
“He went running through here the other day, and I heard a crash,” said Decker. “It seems logical that he kicked this against the wall when he went through.”
“Oh, yeah. The noise.” Daphne nodded distractedly. Karl said something about finding some tools and headed toward the barn while Finn and Brad went back to their inspection of the grill. Decker watched Daphne’s face closely. At first he thought she was staring at the damage, but he gradually realized that her gaze was directed toward the ground, and her eyes were unfocused. He took the bowls she was carrying and handed them off to someone behind her.
“Gee, thanks,” said a familiar voice, but Decker was too busy watching Daphne to pay attention. She was sniffling a little now, so he put an arm around her and drew her back to the porch, pushing her down onto the padded lounge chair. He squatted next to her.
She shook herself a little, wiping her eyes and giving him a weak smile. Her face was completely drained of color except for a bright red spot in the middle of each cheek. “I’ll pay for it,” she said, looking around as if wondering where the grill had gone.
“It’s okay, babe. It’s not your fault.” Decker stroked her arm lightly.
“Sure it is. I’m causing all kinds of problems around here.”
Before he could answer, a movement caught their attention, and they both turned to where his cousin Dave was standing at the bottom of the porch steps.
He was wearing leather pants and a vest with a black wifebeater and leather Master’s cap. In his hands were the two bowls of chips and there was a baffled look on his face. Behind him his two boys stood at attention. They were not dressed in leather but instead had on jet-black T-shirts, starched blue jeans, and bulky dog chains around their necks.
“Nice to see you, too, but I’m not really this hungry yet.” Dave looked around for a place to set his burden and the boys immediately jumped forward to relieve him. He nodded instead for them to pick up a folding table that one of the men had dropped in their surprise over the barbecue.
Decker turned back to Daphne, taking her face in his hands. Locking her gaze with his, he said, “You are only responsible for your actions, not that schmuck’s. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Sir,” she said without hesitation. He waited for a moment, watching her collect herself, sniffing and swiping quickly at more tears that were threatening to spill over. “Yes, Sir,” she said again in a stronger voice. Then she stood up, squared her shoulders, and marched down to stand in front of Daddy Dave.
“Hi. I’m Daphne,” she said, holding out her hand.
He squinted down at her seriously. “I’ve heard about you.”
She nodded, unsurprised. “And I’ve heard about you, too.” She looked past him at his boys. “Hey, you’re the cop!”
She and Chuck exchanged smiles, and then she turned back to his Daddy with a look of comprehension.
There was a moment of silence, then he took her hand, and they shook, smiling at each other. There seemed to be some kind of silent connection between them as they sized each other up. Decker shook his head. That girl had some kind of weird instinctual knowledge of how to deal with anybody. Not even a gay, middle-aged, ex-military leatherman could resist her. He followed her and enveloped Dave in a bear hug.
“Good to see you, man.”
Dave returned it and then leaned back to scrutinize him candidly. “Good to see you, too. Sorry I haven’t come around sooner to see you. You’re looking a little more human than you have for a while. It’s nice to see you’re getting back into things.”
Decker opened his mouth to inform his cousin that he wasn’t “into” the kind of things that he seemed to be insinuating, but the whole group turned at a nod from Dave and began setting up chairs.
Allie greeted the three newcomers with enthusiastic hugs, nodding at something Dave had apparently asked her. At a hand signal from him, the two younger men began peeling off clothing. Daphne’s eyes got huge, and she turned to Dave with a questioning look.
He shrugged. “What can I say? They like to be naked.”
Her eyes narrowed in a thoughtful way, but she glanced at Finn and sighed. “Far be it from me to complain,” she threw over her shoulder, turning back to the house.
Karl’s voice came to them from the entrance to the barn. “Brad, do you know where the toolbox is?”
Brad turned. “It was in the closet last time I checked.”
“Well, it’s not there now.” Karl sounded annoyed. “Would anyone have borrowed it?”
“I don’t think so. Allie, do you know where it is?”
They heard the roar of a motorcycle approaching from the road. The sound intensified and echoed around the property as the bike pulled into the driveway.
“What an asshole. It sounds like he bored out those pipes to make them as obnoxious as possible,” Brad said to no one in particular.
Blaze appeared, stomping around the corner of the house knocking dust from his jeans. He glanced around, muttering “Fucking perverts” and giving Daddy Dave and Decker a wide berth on his way through the group. He sneered in Brad’s direction. “They aren’t obnoxious, they’re mean. That’s what a man’s bike sounds like. Pansy.”
Brad ground his teeth audibly but apparently decided the topic wasn’t worth pursuing.
Blaze stopped halfway up the stairs, giving a sharp laugh as he noticed the grill that Brad was holding. “Guess you won’t be cooking on that piece of shit.”
Brad’s voice was steely. “It wasn’t a piece of shit a couple days ago. Any idea what happened to it?”
“Or to the tools that were in the barn?” Karl joined them, holding a small pile of miscellaneous objects that he obviously planned to try to use to fix the grill.
Blaze snorted. “Why ask me? You’re the handyman.” He loped to the back door, and they could all hear him laughing as he hit the stairs. “Fuck. They were barely worth a bump anyway.”
Brad, Karl, and Finn worked on the grill for the next hour before declaring it usable. Daphne and Allie brought out hors d’oeuvres, beers, and sodas while Dave’s boys frolicked in the backyard. Eventually they were able to get the charcoal going well enough to satisfy all three of them.
Dave took a seat and motioned to the boys. Chuck and Tony spread their shirts on the ground and sat on either side of his chair, leaning against his legs as they sipped their drinks. Daphne waited until Finn sat in the chair next to Decker’s before curling up on the grass between them. Karl and Brad busied themselves with cooking, and Allie made one last trip to the kitchen to bring out meat and barbecue sauce before taking a beer for herself and coming over to them.
She smiled at Chuck and Tony, then her face went apprehensive as she sat down near the group. “You know we’ve had a lot of problems with paparazzi lately.”
Dave chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. I think we’ve got him pretty well tamed.”
Allie stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“It’s primarily just one that’s been hanging around. Chuck got his info, and we found out where he was staying. He’ll keep his distance, and he’s not about to go using any naked pictures of my boys to get Chuck fired.” Dave lifted his bottle in a toast, but Allie’s worried look persisted.
“You didn’t—”
“Nah. I just had a friendly chat with him.” Dave winked at her and took a long drink.
“Is that why they haven’t been trying to get interviews about the McFarland news story?” Finn asked suddenly.
Daphne winced as if he’d hit her, and he put
a contrite hand on her shoulder. “Sorry, honey.”
“It’s okay,” Daphne said in a small voice. She blinked hard and Decker jerked forward a little, wanting to kneel next to her and take her in his arms. But this wasn’t the time or the place, and she wasn’t his to be comforted. Finn, surprisingly, leaned down and nuzzled her hair. Maybe there was hope for him yet, Decker thought.
Dave gave a short laugh. “We may have given him the impression that there were armed guards patrolling the woods with orders to shoot intruders on sight. It’s not my fault he’s gullible.”
“We haven’t been watching much of the news lately,” Allie said, glancing at Daphne. “Are they still—”
Chuck shook his head. “There are more interesting things going on around town at the moment. They’ve forgotten.”
“Interesting?” Karl called from his position by the grill.
Chuck and Tony exchanged impish grins before Chuck explained. “There’s a video board over on the highway into town. Somebody—we think it was probably local kids—broke into it the other day.”
He smiled at Daphne’s confused look. “One of those things we put up along the road with messages like ‘Click it or Ticket.’ That kind of thing.”
“And?” Allie frowned. “What did they do to it?”
Dave let out a laugh as Chuck’s grin grew broader. “They changed the message. Now it says ‘Lick it or Ticket.’ The local news has been having a field day. Chief may have a coronary if they show it one more time on television. It actually made national news once. He’s been getting calls from his cronies nonstop to rib him about it.”
Daphne smiled as the others laughed, but Decker could tell she was still brooding about her own recent news fiasco.
“So what else is going on with you guys?” Decker said, leaning back and crossing one ankle over the other knee. Dave and his crew could always be counted on for some sort of fascinating trouble or crisis. He hoped they would have some stories that might cheer Daphne up. Then he scolded himself for worrying about her. He was going to leave, damn it. He had no place trying to cheer up a woman who wouldn’t even be in his life in another day or two.
The Masters of Falcon's Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 16
