Hawk (A Stepbrother Romance #3)(62)

I've been running to meet with people and making phone calls all week setting this up, now I have to coordinate everything. It's a supposed to be like a big picnic, and a chance for Tom to schmooze with all the local politicians and give a speech. By and large, it's all pointless. He's running unopposed. While I'm directing the setup of the taco truck, trying to keep them from digging big ruts in the firehouse's yard, a man walks up to me.

"Where's your stepfather?"

"I'll handle it," I sigh.

"I'm Preston Greenfield, from the city elections office."

I've never met him. Skinny, glasses, hunched shoulders. He reminds me of a bird.

"We've spoken on the phone. What did you need him for?"

He pushes his glasses up his nose. "I need to inform your father that another candidate has entered the race."

"What?" I blurt out. "The deadline for filing was in June."

"Ah, well." He shuffles a stack of papers in his hand. "The city charter has an exception to the deadline rule in cases where only one candidate has formally entered the race, in the, ah, interest of fairness. The paperwork’s all in order, everything’s perfectly legal and above board. He has an opponent now."

"You're joking. Who?"

Before he can answer me, a black box truck rolls past, then another, and another. They pull into the vacant lot opposite the firehall and stop, creaking on their suspensions.

The door of the first truck swings open and Jacob steps out, in a shirt and tie. Jennifer gets out of the other side in a long floral pattern dress and half a dozen men step out of the trucks, open the back of each one, and start carrying out folding picnic tables.

A pair of them drive two posts into the ground, and unfurl between them a great big green banner that reads KANE FOR MAYOR.

You have to be f*cking kidding me.

Hawk appears at my side.

"Uh," he says.

"Uh," I agree.

Hawk ducks away from me, and just in time. Tom strides over and scowls, barking at Greenfield.

"What the hell’s that? What’re they doing?"

Greenfield repeats his whole story about the paperwork, which Tom snatches from him to flip through it. His lips pull back in a sneer and he looks angrier than I've ever seen him. He's always calm, but not now.

He crumples the papers in his hands.

"You show up now and tell me about this?"

Greenfield recoils, raising his hands in protest. "Sir, there's nothing I can do. It's all legal. He has the signatures."

People are starting to show up, and they're heading across the street, not to us. Jacob must have called every other food truck within fifty miles; within minutes there's a burger truck, a barbecue truck, Tex-Mex and Chinese, and the street is filling up with cars. As I watch the people streaming in, it hits me. Everybody over there helping set up is young, like our age or younger. High school students, recent graduates. There must be fifty people already, all wearing green t-shirts.

They brought their parents, too. In half an hour the lot across the street looks full, bustling with activity.

Ours… not so much. Then again, it's not supposed to start until eleven. They might be the only ones who show up.

"Get back to work," Tom snaps. "You, get out of my sight," he hisses at Greenfield.

The little man leaves the paperwork with Tom and scurries off.

I'm going to have to slip off and head back to the house sometime soon. This might be the distraction I need.

That may very well be the point.

I have the thumb drive Jennifer gave me stashed in my purse. I don't need much time. Problem is, I'm going to have to walk back to the house. Tom is walking across the road. I check my phone; it's almost eleven, things are getting started. I have to move now.

Hawk catches me as I walk away from the lot next to the fire hall.

"You're going?" I nod. "Okay, I'll go with you."

"No, stay here. If it looks like he's going to notice I'm gone, distract him. I have to hurry."

He sets his jaw, then nods. I turn and walk, looking back to see if anyone has spotted me. I'm in the clear so far. Once I make it to the corner, I break into a run, glad I wore sneakers and not flats or worse, heels. I can't go full out because of the damn dress, but it will take me maybe ten minutes to run back to the house. Saturday in Paradise Falls means no one on the street, especially once I make it to our block.

Panting, I run around behind the house, dart up the back step, and head straight for the office. Of course he locked the door, but once when he gave me his keys to take the car out and get it washed, I had a copy of everything made, so that's no problem. I head straight for his desk and shudder as I sit down in his chair. It feels weird sitting here looking at the rest of the office, behind his big black monster of a desk.

The computer is off to the side.

When I turn it on, it asks for the password.

It's Alexis.

It works, it's that simple. I fish the thumb drive out of my pocket and stick it in the computer. The mouse cursor turns into a little wheel, and the drive's window pops open. Deep breath. I double click on the icon and the screen flashes. It comes back up with a black box and a blinking cursor. Something must be wrong. I'm about to close it when it fills up with green text scrolling quickly down the screen, the scroll bar on the side blurring as it moves.