He more than deserved his hero status, and the whole thing had brought us closer together as a family, as awful as it had been.
The attacker had been identified as Felix Adamson, and his story had quickly been unveiled by the media. While I felt zero sympathy for the man after what he’d done, I now somewhat understood his actions. He was very mentally unstable—apparently he had been for years, according to his psychiatric medical records—and he was an avid believer in conspiracy theories, especially those concerning the government. He was genuinely convinced that all members of the government, including my father, were out to harm the general public, and some of his ramblings on online forums suggested that he even believed all the members of Congress were lizards disguised as humans, hell-bent on controlling humanity.
Apparently, he’d thought that shooting up an event where several politicians were in attendance would be a good way to draw attention to all the supposed ‘truths’ he believed in. He was an avid hunter and had even completed marksmanship courses, so it was a wonder he hadn’t critically injured or killed anyone at the wedding. One psychiatrist who’d been interviewed on TV claimed that she thought he was in the midst of a psychotic break, and that was possibly why his usual shooting skills had been compromised—basically, he was so wired that day that he couldn’t even shoot straight.
Thank god for that.
Mental illness was an awful thing, but I guess it had saved us all in this particular case. I couldn’t even bear to think what would’ve happened if the man was completely lucid and had shot exactly where he aimed. My father could be dead, Evan could be dead, Emilia could be dead….Charlotte could be gone.
It was too fucking horrible to even think about.
“Lucky, huh?” Evan said with a teasing grin. “I got shot in the arm, and you call me lucky?”
“It’s been two weeks, and it barely scraped you. How long are you gonna play the ‘I got shot’ card?” I asked.
“Cade!” Charlotte said, horrified.
Evan laughed and waved his hand. “I thought you’d be used to our sense of humor by now, sis.”
She smiled. “You guys are terrible,” she said. “And I see I’m ‘sis’ now, huh?”
“Yep. Our parents are officially married now, right?”
Right. They were. While the ceremony had been disrupted, the legal paperwork had already been filed a week beforehand, so they were legally married.
Charlotte nodded. “Yeah. Mom and I are officially Blackwells now.”
“Or maybe we’re officially Rubios,” Evan said, sticking his tongue out.
“You’re not cute enough to be a Rubio,” I said. “You’ll have to stick to being related to me and my big ugly mug.”
“At least I look good when I stand next to you,” Evan said, snickering. Then his face took on a more serious note. “Hey, has Dad said anything to you guys?”
“About what?”
“About what’s going on with this upcoming election business. I know he was thinking about running for POTUS, but with all the crap that’s been going on, I don’t know if he will. I heard him cancel a meeting with that Greg guy earlier when he came to visit. He was on the phone right outside my room, and I think he thought I couldn’t hear, but I did.”
“What Greg guy? You mean Greg Sanders?”
Evan nodded. “Yeah, the political consultant.”
I shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe he’s decided not to run. Maybe all the media attention after the wedding made him realize the presidency isn’t for him.”
“Yeah,” Evan said. “That could be it. But I dunno. What do you think? Should he do it?”
I shrugged again. “Don’t know. I guess I’d have to think about it.”
“I want him to do it. It’s what he wants,” Evan said.
A nurse came in a while later to tell us that visiting hours were over for the day, and I reached over and patted Evan on the back. “All right, buddy. We’ll be back to visit you tomorrow, after my game.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot you had a game on soon. Who are you playing?”
“West Texas College.”
“Cool. Win it for me,” he said. “I’ll just be here, trying not to get injured again.”
He flashed me a wicked grin, and then he hugged Charlotte before saying goodbye. Charlotte smiled and waved as we left, and as he left the hospital and headed into the underground parking lot, she turned to me. “You know, as different as you two are in some ways, Evan still has a lot in common with you. If I was the one who got shot in the arm, I doubt I’d be sitting around talking all lightheartedly about it like he was.”
“We had to develop a thick skin and a warped sense of humor to deal with our father’s control freakery,” I said with a wink.
“I guess a bit of gallows humor is a good way of working past what happened at the wedding,” she said. “I still have nightmares about it every night. So does my Mom.”
An involuntary shudder seemed to wrack her body, and I rubbed her lower back, looking around to make sure no one was around to see us. It’d been one thing for us to embrace at the wedding directly after what happened—they all assumed we were hugging purely as distraught stepsiblings, and while we had been distraught, we definitely weren’t just platonic siblings—but now that two weeks had passed, there was no way we’d get away with cuddling each other in public under any circumstances.
“It’ll get better soon,” I said.
“I know.”
We were silent for a moment as we arrived at my car, and after we’d gotten in, I turned to her. “Hey….what Evan said about our father. I think I should go talk to him about it. Dad, that is.”
“Oh?”
I nodded as I started up the car. “Yeah. I mean, you know very well that I can’t stand him on some occasions, but he is pretty damn good at his job. If he runs for president in this next election, I think he’s got a really decent shot at beating out Ron Hopkins, and Hopkins is the only other candidate so far who has any real prospects at all.”
“So you think your Dad should run?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s what he’s always wanted, and I know this whole thing really devastated him—it fucked us all up—but maybe it would take his mind off all the shit that’s happened if he had something positive like that to focus on. Maybe it would take all our minds off it.”
Charlotte nodded slowly. “Yeah. You’re right,” she said. “You should go and talk to him when we get back. I need to study anyway.”
We both knew that our relationship would essentially be over, or would at least have to be hidden unbelievably well, if Dad ran for POTUS, but right now I knew that wasn’t on either of our minds. The main thing on our minds now was picking our family back up after it had been tossed around and shaken to its core.
“What do you need to study for?” I asked. “Chem exam?”
“Human biology.”
“Ah. I’m happy to help,” I said. “Swing by my bedroom at ten tonight and I’ll help you gain a far better understanding of the male reproductive system.”
Charlotte gave me a devious smile. “Oh, I already know all there is to know about that.”
I feigned surprise to tease her. “Wow, and I thought I was the cocky one.”
She smiled and leaned over to me. “Luckily I’ve got the goods to back that claim up…”
***
“Hey, Dad.”
I’d just arrived home and headed to Dad’s study, and he looked up at me from his desk as I greeted him. He looked tired, which I suppose I couldn’t blame him for, given the events of the last two weeks.
“Hi, son,” he said. “What can I do for you? If you want my advice on your economics exam, then you’ll have to wait for me to fin—”
I lifted a hand and interrupted. “Dad, I’m not here for coursework help. We’re always talking about my college stuff and my future plans….this time I want to talk to you about your future plans.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
He put down the pen he’d been holding and fixed his eyes on me. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the last couple of weeks, and I don’t think now is the right time for me to think about running,” he replied.
“Why not?” I asked.
“It takes a lot of time and energy, and after what happened at the wedding, I think it would be best if I devoted more time to my family. Seeing Evan like that…”
His voice trailed off, and I nodded. “I get that. But Evan wants you to do it.”
“He does?”
“Yeah. I just spoke to him at the hospital. I agree with him, honestly. I know you’ve always worried that you entered the game too late and that you might not get a chance to do something like this, but this is your chance, right here and now.”
Dad sighed. “My family was put in danger because of my career, Cade. Evan was hurt.”
“Yeah, he was, and it fucking sucked. But I think it’s made us stronger as a family,” I said. “And you always said the whole point of being in politics was to change things for the better. People love you right now, and you have the chance to take advantage of that popularity and get elected, or at least try, and then you can help change things for the better. Maybe you can make some changes in the healthcare system that allow more mentally ill people to get help without costing them a fortune….you could prevent another Felix Adamson situation.”
He was silent, and his face remained impassive, so I continued. “You don’t know what things will be like by the time the next election rolls around. This is an opportunity, Dad. Think about taking it.”
I never thought I’d hear these words coming out of my mouth, but it was happening. After thinking about it earlier, I’d come to realize that I might’ve been wrong about my Dad all these years. I’d always thought he was a control freak who only loved politics for the power and influence it got him, and I thought that was why he wanted the same for me and Evan, but if he was willing to give up an opportunity like a possible presidency for the sake of his family, then that showed his true colors—he wasn’t a bad, power-hungry person overall. He was someone who cared about his family above everything else and wanted the best for them, which was probably also why he’d always pushed me so hard and ragged on me for choosing football as a future career path over something more stable.
It was a noble reason for choosing not to run in this election, but I knew he’d regret it if he let this opportunity pass him by. I needed to get him to take it, so hopefully my little speech had been more convincing than he’d been to me all these years that he’d tried to get me to follow in his career footsteps.
He looked at me for a long moment before speaking again. “I never thought I’d hear you telling me to run for president,” he said.
“Yeah, me neither. But I think it’d be a good idea. It’s what you want, and you could do good things. And hey—Evan and I will get to brag that our father’s the POTUS.”
He smiled; a rare expression for him where I was concerned. “I’ll think about it,” he said.
“Good. I’ll talk to you later, Dad.”
I stepped out of the study, proud of myself for managing to get through to him—at least it looked like I somewhat had. This was confirmed for me a few seconds later when I heard my father picking up his phone and dialing a number. He cleared his throat, and I grinned as I heard him speak to the person on the other end of the line.
“Greg? It’s Keith Blackwell. Let’s talk about announcing that bid.”
Chapter Nineteen
Charlotte
Click click.
“Hey, I think he’s coming out!” an unfamiliar male voice called out.
Click click click.
Groaning, I slid out of bed and stomped over to the window before cautiously peering out of the forest-green curtains. Just beyond the main driveway, I could see at least seven photographers snapping pictures of the house, and I rolled my eyes and let the curtains drop back in place before opening my door and hollering down the hall.
“They’re back!”
After the wedding incident, the press had been hounding us like mad, showing up at the house at all hours and trying to get photos and interviews. They’d even showed up outside one of my college lectures two days ago, and they’d also tried to hijack the media spots reserved for sports journalists after Cade’s game last week. They were like vultures, and the issue had only gotten worse now that Keith had announced his bid to run for president.
He’d made the official announcement three days ago, and ever since then, the press had gone wild. Everyone loved him right now, given his heroic actions at the wedding, and he was poised to do very well if things continued the way they were.
Maybe he’d even win.
I was a bit blindsided by it all, as I’d never been the subject of so much attention before, but I supposed I just had to buck up and get used to it, because if he was elected, then this would be my life for the next few years.
I was due for an interview with Keith’s campaign advisors sometime this week, and I’d been told they would go through every aspect of my life with a fine-toothed comb to see if there was any dirt that future opponents might dig up, which could affect Keith’s run. There was a silver lining to this—if letting a bunch of strangers dig into my life wasn’t the best crash course in learning how to live with this level of attention, then I didn’t know what was.
Evan was out of the hospital now, and he arrived at my bedroom door a few seconds after I called out. “Did you say something?”
“Yeah, the press are back.”
He rolled his eyes. “The one downside of having a famous father who’s running for president. Zero privacy. I woke up and saw them mobbing Cade earlier when he left for training.”
I gave him a rueful smile. “They don’t give up, do they? Anyway, let’s get some breakfast,” I said. “By the way, my telescope is set up. Provided the journalists aren’t still hanging around later tonight, we can take it out.”
“Awesome!”
We padded downstairs, chatting about stars and planets, and as we headed towards the kitchen to grab some coffee and toaster waffles, I was so caught up talking to Evan that I didn’t even notice the fact that we weren’t alone.
“Just let us know when we’re good to start, Charlotte.”
I jumped despite myself, cursing under my breath, and I spun around to see an unfamiliar man sitting over at the dining table.
“Sorry, who are you?” I asked, annoyed that I had allowed myself to be so easily spooked. I’d been quite jumpy ever since what happened at the wedding, and even though that had been a month ago now, that hadn’t changed. The only time I felt truly safe was when I was with Cade, and the time I got with him nowadays was short and infrequent thanks to all the public scrutiny of our family.
“Greg Sanders. Your stepfather’s chief campaign advisor.” He stood up, holding the palms of his hands outward in surrender. “We were meant to have an interview this morning, remember?”
I studied his face. A mop of blonde curls sat atop a head that was too narrow, small razor nicks peppered his cheeks, and a poorly-grown mustache had taken root underneath his hooked nose. A silver necklace hung from his neck, swaying softly, nearly perfectly in sync with the tick tock from the clock on the nearby wall.
I didn’t like him. Something about him made him seem untrustworthy, but I nodded anyway. “Oh, sorry. I completely forgot it was today. Mind if I just grab a coffee before we start?”
He nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Would you like one too?” I asked, remembering my manners.
“Sure. Cream, no sugar.”
Evan had already gone on ahead, and I stepped into the kitchen to see him heating up some milk with the coffee machine. “I totally forgot we had the interviews today,” he said.
“Same. Any idea wha
t it’s like?”
“They’ll start by asking you general questions, and then they’ll ask if you have any deep dark secrets, and so on. They might even get all your passwords for email, social media and your phone.”
“I assumed as much,” I said with a sigh, not exactly keen on letting a bunch of random political aides go through all my text messages.
When I’d finished making the coffees, I took them back out to the dining room and sat down, sliding Greg’s cup across the table towards him. “Thank you,” he said. “I trust your stepfather has given you a rundown on what sort of things we’ll be asking of you today?”
“Um…not really. Did you say ‘we’?”
He nodded and gestured down the hall. “Some of the other staff will be helping. They’re just in the study at the moment, getting some things ready. Basically, they’ll need access to your phone, email accounts, and any social media accounts. They’ll be looking through them while I ask you questions.”
My heart began to race as he spoke. Cade and I had already discussed what would happen in this event, and we’d stopped using our main phones and social media accounts to communicate with each other. All our old messages had been scrubbed, and we’d bought two prepaid phones to safely text each other from.
“Okay,” I said with a nod. “My phone and laptop are upstairs. I’ll go and get them.”
Greg nodded and waited for me, and when I returned, there was a young auburn-haired woman standing beside him. “Hi, Charlotte,” she said. “I’m Tina. If you’d like to hand over your phone and laptop and write down any passwords we might need, we’ll get started on this right away and have them back to you within a few hours.”
I gave her the passwords, my heart thudding. Cade and I had been careful, but what if we hadn’t been careful enough? What if there was some way for Keith’s campaign team to dig through my phone and laptop to retrieve deleted messages? I wasn’t sure if there was, but I wished I’d thought about it sooner. The last thing I wanted to do was cause trouble for the campaign and for our parents.
And yet, despite that, trouble was exactly what Cade and I were up to every time we hooked up…
Tease - A Stepbrother Sports Romance Page 13
