Page 99 of Scandal
“How about we just give them an interesting twist now?” I say, a second before grabbing her hand and sprinting for the trees.
She squeals, then bursts into laughter.
I look over my shoulder, a wide smile on my face.God, she’s gorgeous.The wind is blowing through her dark hair. Her cheeks are pink from the slight chill in the air, and her dark-blue eyes brim with happiness.
“You’re gonna give us away,” I tease.
“Pretty sure you’ve already done that when you broke into a sprint.” She huffs. “Also, how far exactly are we running? Not all of us have gym memberships.”
“It’s adorable that you think I can go to a public gym.”
“It’s adorable that you think I would even go to the gym at all.”
“See?” I say over my shoulder as I turn. She collides with me, but the firm bark of a pine tree keeps us from toppling over. “Match made in heaven.”
Her eyes grow serious for a moment, then she kisses me. It’s desperate and rough, and I lose myself in the feel of her mouth on mine. My fingers dig into her long hair while my other hand slides down to grip her ass.
“You make me feel reckless,” I murmur against her lips.
“You make me feel everything,” she answers back.
I’m about five seconds away from shoving my hand down the front of her jeans when I hear the click of a camera.
“Fuck,” I mutter when we break apart. There’s no way I’m going to wrangle that photo away from the lucky motherfucker who took it.
That’ll make him a fortune.
Before I have a chance to think about it further, my phone begins to vibrate in my pocket.
There’s no way Hendrix could have seen that photo yet, is there?
My idiotic fears are replaced by new ones as I pull out my phone and see it’s my mother calling. Mercury steps back but keeps hold of one of my hands.
“Hello?”
“Are you in public?” she asks in response to my generic greeting.
“Yes, we’re taking a lovely stroll along the River Alffic.” I keep my tone light and casual. I feel like I’m speaking in fucking code.
“So you can’t say anything specific. I understand.” While I’ve turned my back on the cameras, making it harder for them to eavesdrop on our conversation, they still could listen in with a microphone.
Ask me how I know?
“Glad we’re on the same page,” I reply. Mercury raises a brow, clearly not understanding my vague responses.
That’s, unfortunately, a good thing.
It means the paps won’t either.
“Thankfully, I just need you to listen for the most part.”
“All right.”
“We’ve arranged to move your father’s care to the estate.” I start to respond, but she quickly shuts me up. “No specifics, remember?”
Right. Fuck.
I press my lips together in frustration.
