On the Record

by Linde, K. A.

The only thing she knew for certain was that she had tried for a long time to get Brady out of her system and it simply hadn’t been possible. That thought was what fueled her forward. She and Brady couldn’t get enough of each other. They were meant to be together. It was what reminded her that this was all worth it.

  Because frankly, she was scared. She didn’t really care what people thought about her and Brady, but there were so many unknowns about their relationship and what was to come. When would they get to be alone? How would this all work with him in D.C.? Was she suddenly going to be swamped with reporters? She was already being portrayed as a scandal in the media. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like when her identity was revealed.

  She still had to finish her senior year of college, and there was her new job at the New York Times. She hadn’t been anticipating this relationship or the complications that came with it. That didn’t mean she didn’t want to go through with it. It just meant that she and Brady had a lot to work out themselves before they went public and their relationship was blasted all over the world for everyone else to scrutinize. Didn’t seem fair for everyone to pick apart their relationship before they even had the chance to have one.

  Not that she could let it sit forever. She didn’t want to become an even bigger story than Sandy Carmichael already was. She knew the benefit of beating reporters at their game. Then she got to tell the story, and not them.

  If anything, that only added stress to the situation. She felt as if she were in a box and all of the sides were slowly sliding in toward her. Every second wasted deciding what to do only brought them that much closer to being discovered.

  Jeez! She needed to cut the stress down a bit. She was back with Brady. She was back with Brady! Never in a million years had she thought that this moment would come. So now that it had, she just wanted to lie here and remember what it felt like waking up in his arms, the feel of his lips, the way his eyes met hers. Loving you takes so much less effort. He loved her. He had always loved her. That was where her focus should be. The rest would follow.

  And rest did follow. With all of those thoughts swirling through her mind, Liz fell asleep. Too much stress had completely wiped her out, and slumber became inevitable.

  Liz woke some time later to the sound of banging on her bedroom door. She yawned loudly and stretched out the kink in her neck.

  “Yeah?” she grumbled.

  How long had she been out? She hadn’t even remembered falling asleep. Shit! She had said that she was going to call Brady after Hayden left. He was probably freaking out. She didn’t want him to think that she had forgotten—or worse, that Hayden was still here. She had made it clear to Brady that it was over with Hayden, but he didn’t need a reason to doubt her.

  “Are you awake in there?” Victoria called.

  “Um . . . yeah. Sorry. I guess I passed out.” Liz stood and searched around for her phone. She needed to find out how long she had been asleep and then call Brady.

  “Well, get your ass out here. You have a visitor.”

  Liz scrunched her eyebrows together. Who the hell would be visiting her? She snatched her phone off of her desk and checked the time. Okay, she hadn’t been asleep that long. Forty-five minutes or so. Still too long not to respond to the text message flashing on her screen from Brady.

  Liz clicked on the text and jogged quickly into the bathroom. As she read the message, she found a hair tie in a basket by the sink and threw her hair into a ponytail.

  Haven’t heard from you. Everything all right? Do I need to swing back by?

  Shit! That had been fifteen minutes ago. Her visitor was probably Brady checking to make sure that Hayden was gone and she was all right.

  Liz checked out her face in the mirror and winced. Her nap hadn’t done her any good; she looked as if she hadn’t slept in weeks. After splashing some water on her face to try to wake herself up, she dabbed some foundation under her eyes to cover the dark circles and then slid her phone back into her pocket. Time to face the music.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting,” Liz said as she walked out of her bedroom. “I wasn’t expecting . . .”

  She trailed off when she caught a glimpse of red hair. Her stomach plummeted.

  Not good.

  What the hell was Calleigh Hollingsworth doing in her living room? Liz wanted to walk over there, snatch the woman’s box-maroon hair in her hand, and throw her out of her house. As much as Liz despised Hayden, he had supposedly only gone through with the article because of Calleigh’s interference; then her name had appeared next to his byline, and now she was standing here in front of Liz.

  Liz couldn’t think of a single good reason for her to be here. Not one. Hayden had claimed that he hadn’t given Calleigh Liz’s name in the whole thing, but how much did Calleigh really know? She had been taunting Liz at Brady’s primary about this sort of thing. It made Liz anxious, and she didn’t know what the hell she was supposed to do.

  “Liz,” Calleigh said, turning around to face her. “How are you, doll?”

  Liz cringed slightly at the nickname. She hated that. Everything about Calleigh irritated her at this point.

  “I’m good, Calleigh. How are you?” Liz asked amicably. Maybe if she acted nice then Calleigh would leave quicker.

  “Good. Good. Just been busy,” Calleigh said flippantly.

  “I can only imagine,” Liz said dryly. Busy ruining lives and such.

  “How’s Hayden?”

  Liz narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

  She had a million other questions she wanted to ask in response to that, but that was all that came out. Why? Because Calleigh couldn’t get into his pants or because she was testing to see if they had broken up or what?

  “Geez, calm down, Liz. I was just asking.”

  “But why? Don’t you work together? I would think you see him more than me right now, since we’re both so busy,” Liz said, trying to keep her anger about Hayden at bay for a few minutes. If she acted super pissed, then Calleigh would start piecing things together.

  “Oh, well, yeah, I suppose,” Calleigh said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and smiling coyly. “I just hadn’t seen him since Friday, when we submitted that article. Did you read it? We’re getting so much interest from it.”

  “I did read it. It was well written.”

  Calleigh nodded but looked at Liz as if she was waiting for something. “Thank you. We worked on it together.”

  “Do you think you’re going to get a promotion?” Liz asked. She was itching to pull her phone out and text Brady.

  “Remains to be seen, I think. After this I’d say we’re in line for whatever is next,” she said, smiling brightly.

  Liz just wished that Calleigh could be ugly instead of this exotic beauty with long straight hair, high cheekbones, and stunning green eyes. It would serve her right for having such a cold heart.

  “Well, congrats!” Liz said, evading the one question she really wanted to ask. What the fuck are you doing here?

  “Thanks. I just thought I’d stop by, since I’m in the area doing some research,” Calleigh said.

  She paused as if she were waiting for Liz to say something. So Liz didn’t. She just stared at Calleigh blankly.

  “I’ve been through the registrar records and it seems, as I suspected, that no one by the name of Sandy Carmichael ever actually went to UNC during the time we wrote about in the article.”

  “You did say that it was a fake name or something, right? I wouldn’t think you would waste your time looking, or at the very least that you would have checked it over before writing the article,” Liz said snippily.

  Calleigh laughed softly and nodded. “I just thought I’d double- and triple-check. Cover my bases. But it looks like, as Hayden said, she doesn’t exist. And he won’t tell me who told him.”

  Liz stood frozen, not wanting to move or shift or even
blink. Calleigh didn’t need any kind of indicators from Liz as to how Hayden got his information.

  “Well, I’d assume that if he wanted to tell you, then he would have,” she said simply.

  “Hayden seems to be withholding the information for a specific reason. I mean, he wouldn’t have told me if the person told him about it off the record. That’s breaking ethical boundaries . . .”

  Liz gasped lightly. “Oh my God, are you afraid of getting sued for libel? Careers have been ended for less, Calleigh.”

  Color drained slowly out of her face and she shook her head. “No. I’m not . . . I’m not concerned about that.”

  Liz seemed to have thrown her off her rhythm, at least for a moment. The wheels were clearly working in Calleigh’s mind. She hoped that Calleigh thought that Hayden had lied to her about how he had acquired the information, or even that there was the potential for the Maxwell family to come back and destroy them. Good-bye, reporting career.

  “Has he told you?” Calleigh finally blurted out.

  “Told me what?” Liz asked, tilting her head and looking at Calleigh innocently.

  “Who Sandy Carmichael is? Has he told you who he spoke with? Y’all have been dating over a year, I would think a strong, stable relationship like that,” Calleigh said with a gleam of mischief in her eye, “you would tell each other everything.”

  Liz just smiled sweetly. “Oh, we do. We tell each other everything.”

  Calleigh’s eyes enlarged slightly and then returned to their normal size. “So then . . . you know?”

  “Know what?” Liz prompted. “About Sandy Carmichael or about you and Hayden?”

  “Um . . .” Calleigh said, her mouth dropping open. Then she shook her head as she recovered. “I was simply asking about Sandy Carmichael.”

  “Well, I’m asking about Hayden. Is there anything going on between y’all? Because he told me it was over since he dumped you after you graduated and that he’s been happy to fend you off since he moved to Charlotte.”

  “You can believe that if you want,” she said, sticking her nose in the air.

  Liz laughed, trying to remain casual. “It’s okay, Calleigh.”

  “What’s okay?” she snapped.

  “I believe him,” Liz said with a smile. “I believe that Hayden wanted nothing to do with you because of me. Because you stood no chance.”

  “What the fuck?” Calleigh muttered.

  “Your threat that day that he interviewed for the job was kind of cute actually. To think that he would go near you. He was appalled that I was even irritated with what you had said.”

  Misdirection. That was the name of the game. Maybe she could get the other woman frustrated enough to just leave, and then Liz wouldn’t have to deal with anything else Calleigh was alluding to. She figured Calleigh was grasping at straws and had just shown up at Liz’s door on a whim.

  “Wow. Someone is in a bitch mood,” Calleigh growled, losing her cool.

  “You did wake me up from a nap,” Liz said with a shrug. “Which I’d actually really like to get back to. So if you want to just . . . head out.” Liz gestured toward the door.

  Calleigh shook her head and then started to leave. Liz held her breath. She just wanted her gone.

  “I guess this was pointless,” Calleigh said.

  “Pretty much.”

  “Are you applying to Charlotte Times to be closer to Hayden? I hadn’t heard anything about your application.”

  Liz smiled brightly. At last, one question that she could answer truthfully. “Actually I just accepted a job at the New York Times. So I’ll be moving to New York after graduation.”

  “What?” Calleigh asked, stunned.

  “Yeah. I’ve been interning with them all year and I just accepted a position.”

  “Well, congratulations,” Calleigh said through gritted teeth. “How is that going to work with you and Hayden?”

  “Oh, I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Liz said. She couldn’t keep the self-satisfied smirk off her face.

  “Great. That sounds wonderful. I guess I’ll see you in Charlotte sometime,” Calleigh said, opening the door.

  “Sure,” Liz said. No chance in hell.

  Calleigh walked through the door without a backward glance and then she was gone. Liz shut the door heavily and then nearly collapsed back against it. Holy shit! That had been so fucking close.

  Chapter 30

  HIGH STRESS

  Liz had her phone out of her pocket in a matter of seconds. She skipped responding to Brady’s text message and just called him. She couldn’t handle the amount of stress she was dealing with right now, and she needed his reassuring voice to calm her down. Brady would make everything all right.

  Liz was just proud that she had been able to redirect Calleigh. If she had realized how close she was to learning who Sandy Carmichael was then Liz was sure that she wouldn’t have left so easily. Luckily, Liz had been able to use Hayden to her advantage. Sure, Calleigh might find out tomorrow that they had broken up, but Liz didn’t give a shit. That bought her a day to talk to Brady and figure out what they were going to do.

  She just needed a day.

  “Liz, I’ve been waiting for your call. What happened?” Brady asked after answering on the first ring.

  “Sorry. So sorry. Stressful day. Hayden left a while ago, but I passed out and only woke up a couple minutes ago,” Liz told him. Her voice was shaking. She had lost the calmness that she had before her conversation with Calleigh. At least she was able to be herself with Brady.

  Brady sighed heavily. “I’ve been in Chapel Hill for nearly two hours waiting to hear what happened. A text would have been nice.”

  “I know. Gah, I’m sorry. Just emotionally exhausted, Brady. Hayden and I got into a huge argument . . . more like a screaming match.”

  “Was he trying to salvage?” Brady asked coldly.

  “Yeah, he was. He tried to tell me that Calleigh Hollingsworth—you know, the girl who he wrote the article with—brought the story to the editor without his say.” Brady scoffed. Yeah, Liz wasn’t sure she believed that either. “And then he said a bunch of bullshit about how he didn’t put my name in it and we could work it out. Yada, yada, yada.”

  “But it’s over?”

  “Yes. Very much over.”

  “Well, I can’t say that I’m disappointed. I just wanted to make sure I was nearby in case you needed me. I’ve been working out of a coffee shop. It’s kind of peaceful.”

  “Maybe you should ditch the suit more often,” she said with a giggle.

  “Not happening.”

  “Good. I like them,” she said softly. “But there is one more thing.”

  Brady sighed. “What is it? I’d like to hear it all before having to go back and deal with everything I left behind when I kidnapped you on Friday.”

  “You kidnapped me?” Liz asked. “I went willingly.”

  “How could you not?”

  “Arrogant ass,” she mumbled.

  “What is it you were going to tell me?”

  “Calleigh Hollingsworth stopped by when I woke up from my nap.”

  “The reporter ex-girlfriend?” Brady asked. His voice was like ice. She was sure he already saw red flags.

  “Yeah. I think she might know something. Hayden didn’t tell her it was me, but I think she’s really close to guessing.”

  “Did she say that?” he demanded. “Do I need to get Heather on it?”

  “She didn’t say anything exactly. It was what she was implying. I think she wanted to see if I knew who it was or if Hayden had told me, but she kept skirting around it. I wouldn’t worry too much about it right now, but I wanted you to be aware. We might have to, um . . . alter our plans if she starts sniffing around.”

  “All right. I’ll mention her name to Heather and see what comes
out of it. I’m sure she’s already had someone looking into both of them extensively.”

  “That’s good. Yeah,” Liz whispered.

  “Hey,” Brady said, his tone softening. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Totally. Um . . . just a little freaked out and overwhelmed and exhausted. I just feel like everything happened really, really fast. Like a year and a half ago I wanted this, then we were apart for so long, and now it’s only been a weekend and we’re suddenly just jumping into things,” Liz rambled on.

  “Do you . . . not want to?” Brady asked. It was so strange to hear the hesitance in his voice.

  “I do. I do. It’s just . . . well, can you understand how insane this might all feel to me? I never thought we would get back together, Brady. Certainly not publicly. When I left you, I really left. I tried to forget and move on. I wanted you to have the things that you wanted.”

  “I wanted you.”

  Liz nodded and wished that he could see. She wasn’t trying to push him away, but she didn’t want to hold in everything she was feeling either. “I know that now. I want you too. I mean, I wanted you the whole time. It’s just hard adjusting to fighting so hard to let you go to this, and then the whole public aspect. I’m just worried. Not about us,” she quickly corrected. “But about everyone else.”

  “Well, we can’t really do anything about anyone else. I think as long as you’re not worried here. Right here. Then we’ll figure the rest out,” Brady told her.

  “That’s true. I’m just . . . I don’t think I’m ready to go public, Brady.”

  “We’ll figure out when the best time is, but, Liz, if you’re going to be with me, that’s kind of a side effect. I’m not hiding you anymore.”

  “I do want that,” she said. “I wish this was coming out better. I know that we have to beat the reporters to figuring it out and I don’t know how much time we have for that, but I just wish however much time it is that we had more of it. Am I making any sense?”

  “You want a normal relationship. I get that,” Brady said gruffly. “But you want me and I can’t give you that. I never could.”