Page 13 of Rescuing Erin

“I’m aware of my responsibilities. They’ve been shoved down my throat so often, I couldn’t forget them if I wanted to.”

She sounded bitter she couldn’t parade around with no clothes on for the world to see. That pissed me off.

“You obviously forgot because you posed for him.”

“Whatever, think what you want. It never matters what I say anyway.”

“Don’t do that. It’s not what I think, it’s what you did. He drew you naked.”

“He did. Numerous times. He also took pictures.”

I was getting ready to blow my stack. Zane and Tom would have a shit hemorrhage. Zane had looked almost as angry as I’d felt when I’d shown him the pictures I’d confiscated from the man’s camera who’d been outside the guesthouse that night. And now there were more.

I slowly stood up and tried to keep my temper in check. “You let him take pictures?”

“Jesus. Stop yelling.”

I guess I didn’t have as much control as I’d hoped.

“This isn’t yelling, sunshine. Where are the pictures?”

“Hanging in the gallery, I suspect.”

“I’m gonna wring his fucking neck.”

“What? Why? Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

“Overreacting? Have you lost your damn mind?”

“No. But you certainly have. What the hell is the big deal?”

“Let’s see. The First Daughter of the United States posed nude for not only pictures, but drawings as well. I’m shocked the tabloids haven’t gone crazy over the story yet.”

“Maybe because I’m not an idiot. You can’t see my face.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Captain Drama. The pictures are from behind and I’m sitting so you can’t even see my ass. Just my back. And the sketches don’t have faces. No one will ever know they’re me. How stupid do you think I am?”

“I don’t think you’re stupid. I think—”

“You didn’t think. You didn’t ask for details. You assumed. You do that a lot when it comes to me. I’m sick and fucking tired of it. You’re no better than anyone else in my life. I can’t wait for this to be over. For my father’s last year as president to be done. I’m going to slink away into anonymity and finally live my life the way I want. I’m going to bed. Have a good night.”

She didn’t stomp away like I expected. She didn’t say anything more about me being a presumptuous asshole, which I deserved. She simply walked away with her shoulders slumped forward.

Shit. I fucked up. I needed to stop making snap judgements about Erin. She’d proven time and time again she was an intelligent woman. Why the hell was I so irrational when it came to her?

Chapter 5

The last few days had been tense, even worse than the preceding week had been, and I hadn’t thought that was possible. I wasn’t permitted to go anywhere alone, not that there was some place to go. At least I was allowed outside, and even that took some cajoling on my part. I swear, if Colin had his way I’d be kept in a windowless room with an armed guard at the ready.

I stepped on something in the dirt and looked down at the green, plastic Army men. Some were still standing, facing each other like they were in the middle of some sort of action figure combat zone battling it out. Story of my life, just like the toys, I was always locked inside some battle—only mine was internal. My love for my dad and how proud I was of him for all the good he’d done for the country, and the guilt and selfishness I had at wanting him all to myself. My mom, too. She was the best first lady. Supportive, altruistic, intelligent, and loving. And I wanted all of her attention. My mother was the very definition of class, a true lady. It was a pleasure to watch her work a room. Most would think it was all for show, but when my mother asked you how you were doing, she genuinely wanted to know. I missed her.

As I knelt down to pick up the toys, the back door opened. I didn’t have to turn around to know Colin was scanning the area. He did it every time we went anywhere. It seemed a tad ridiculous to do it in the backyard, considering the man who’d lived here before had more cameras than the pentagon. Colin had shown me the monitor with all the different views of the property and explained Fletch was security conscious. I called it batshit crazy, but what did I know? Until I’d seen the pictures of me Colin had lying across his desk the other day, I’d thought all of them were a little nuts. Now, even I couldn’t deny something creepy was going on.

“What’d you find?” Colin asked, stopping beside me.

“Little men with guns.”