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“Merritt, I’m afraid I don’t have good news.”
I sighed. “I figured as much. You wouldn’t be calling me at this God-awful hour if you didn’t have some bad news. It’s another one of those ‘Big Playboy Merritt’ stories? Bring it on.”
“I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Merritt, but I’m afraid it’s nothing like that.” She sounded distressed, and I frowned, sobering up. She was always composed, so if she was this affected, the news could only mean trouble.
“Then? What is it? Spit it out.”
“A tabloid has broken the story of you and an aide of another congressman sleeping together. They even have you two on the front page with a shit headline saying ‘A Scandal in the Congress! Congressman Dawson Sleeping with an Aide!’”
I ran my hand down my face, becoming livid in a second. How did they manage to find it out so quickly? No, the real question was—how did they find it out?
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“And it’s not just some trash story without anything concrete. They had intimate knowledge in the article and the multiple pictures of the two of you together. I have to say, those pictures don’t look flattering either.”
“I can’t fucking believe this! And what pictures are you talking about?”
We had made sure not to be together outside, so they couldn’t have been taken on the streets or in the congressional offices.
“The pictures of the two of you posing together in the bed, which makes things way worse. The pictures don’t show more than your shoulders, but it’s clear that both of you are naked.”
I groaned and let out several curses. Now that I thought about it, Camilla had asked to take our pictures the last time she was in my apartment. We were lying in my bed, and yes, we were completely naked. Fuck. This was unbelievable.
“How the fuck did they get those pictures? She took those with her cell phone, so…”
“You said it yourself now. The pictures are from Camilla’s cell phone, so you tell me.”
“If you’re insinuating that she sold them to that tabloid, then you’re so wrong.”
“Then how did the tabloid get those pictures? How do you explain that?”
“There must be some explanation. Camilla wouldn’t do something like that.”
“And how do you know that, Merritt? For how long have you been with this girl? How do you know she’s really trust-worthy? For all we could know, she might be some gold-digger who has approached you only to get money and publicity.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, so shut it. I won’t let you talk about Camilla like that. And I’ve known her and her brother for years.”
Shit Carter, I had meant to sit down with him when I got back from campaigning. This was not how I wanted him to find out.
“At this point, we can’t trust anyone, and we have to be ready for everything. It wouldn’t be the first time that some aide did this to a congressman.”
“Maybe she got her phone stolen or something like that.”
“That’s not likely, because, as I told you, the article has details about your relationship. If her phone was stolen and someone sold those pictures to the media, they wouldn’t have the whole story about you two.”
“Look, we’re trying to minimize the damage, but I’ll be straight up with you,” she continued. “You need to do a series of interviews to clean up your name. You’ll have to say you acted in the spur of a moment—say that you were three sheets to the wind, emotional, anything that could explain why you would make such a foolish mistake. My advice to you is to blame it on her.”
I didn’t reply immediately, flabbergasted. Had she actually said that? “What? Are you serious?”
“I’m dead serious,” she replied, completely unperturbed by my judging tone. “We can make a story. We can say she was flirting with all congressmen and had a long history of affairs—”
“No. I’m not going to do that to Camilla.”
“Merritt, get serious. We’re not in the kindergarten and playing games. This can seriously damage your career. Your own party can go against you if they want. They are not going to bail you out of this.”
“I know that, Marissa. Goddamn it! Don’t treat me like I’m some idiot.”
“Well, excuse me for being brutally honest now, but you acted like one when you started seeing that woman.”
