On the Record (Record #2)(72)

“He’s not going to hate you.”

“You don’t know that.”

Victoria rolled her eyes. “I do too. He’s crazy about you.”

“Maybe. So, do you promise?”

“Of course, who am I going to tell?”

“Absolutely no one,” Liz said, trying to drill it into her head.

“Right. I promise not to say anything. I can’t see how it’s that big a deal though,” Victoria said dismissively.

Liz took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. She didn’t have any idea how to start, so she just blurted it out: “Brady Maxwell.”

Victoria sat very still for a second. Her eyes were glued to Liz, but didn’t give anything away. Then slowly the name seemed to sink in and her eyes gradually grew in size. Her mouth dropped open slightly and she stopped bouncing.

“Wait . . . like Brady Maxwell, Brady Maxwell? Like the congressman you interviewed?” Victoria asked.

“Um . . . yeah,” Liz whispered. She felt as if she could breathe properly for the first time in a long while. She had been carrying that secret around for so long. She hadn’t known she would feel so relieved now that it was out.

“Whoa!” Victoria said, falling back into her chair. “You were banging a congressman. Is he married?”

“No. He’s not,” Liz said tensely.

“I just . . . wow. You were right. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I definitely thought you were going to tell me one of Hayden’s friends or something and that’s why it was a big secret. I never in a million years would have guessed you were f**king that hot specimen.” She was clearly shocked, because Victoria didn’t ramble. “Is he good in bed?”

Liz laughed softly. “Um . . . yeah. Very good.”

“So wait . . . a sitting congressman picked you up from the newspaper, took you to his condo, and you didn’t f**k him?” Victoria asked, slapping her hands on the armrests. “Are you out of your mind? Are you not attracted to power? Why did it end? What happened last summer? Gah, give me details! I need to know.”

Tears sprang to Liz’s eyes again without warning. She pushed her palms into her eyes to stop them. “You don’t understand,” she murmured. “I was a liability to the campaign. I’d written negative stuff about him and they already weren’t sure he was going to win. He only won by a slim margin as it was, and if anyone found out we were together, he wouldn’t have. Any small slipup had the potential to ruin him.”

“So he broke it off? They forced you out?” Victoria whispered. “Bastard!”

“No,” Liz said, shaking her head. Victoria hopped off the chair and plopped down into the seat next to her. “I left.”

“You left? But why?”

“I didn’t think he’d choose me over the campaign and I didn’t want him to. I believe in him and I wanted him to pursue his dreams, but after I saw him, he told me that he was as much of a wreck as I was after the split,” Liz said, her hands shaking as she finally spilled everything to her best friend.

“Oh my God, then go to him!”

“It’s complicated. He’s dating someone. I’m with Hayden. Brady closed that door, Vic. He told me that he didn’t even want to be a memory to me anymore. I hurt him past the point of recovery and I was too much of a coward to tell Hayden. And ever since I’ve just felt like complete and total shit.”

“Oh, Liz,” Victoria said with a sigh. “I really don’t know what to tell you. If you feel like you were in the wrong—which, trust me, I don’t think you were—then maybe you should tell Hayden.”

“You think?”

She couldn’t do it. It hurt too much. He would leave her. But maybe she deserved it. Maybe the truth would set her free. Maybe it would lift the weight off her chest.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Victoria asked.

“He would leave me.”

“And considering you were making out with a politician a couple months ago, that might not be that bad.”

Chapter 20

THE BANQUET

Is that your politician?” Victoria asked, coming out of her bedroom dressed to the nines for the banquet tonight. Liz couldn’t believe the first month of her last semester had already passed so quickly.

Liz stared at the screen where Brady stood in front of a podium in a three-piece black suit. He looked gorgeous. “Yeah, that’s him.”

“He’s so smoking hot.”

“Mmm . . .”

“What’s he talking about?” Victoria asked after a minute.

“He’s running for reelection. It’s not a surprise,” Liz told her. “Everyone knew that he would. He’s into it for life.”

“You make it sound like a prison sentence.”

Sometimes Liz thought it was.

“Do you think he’ll win? Is he going to come to campus? Are you going to see him?” Victoria prodded.

Ever since Liz had told Victoria about Brady it had been this way. Liz wasn’t sure if Victoria was more excited that Liz had done something completely out of character or because it was something that maybe even topped her crazy stories. But as much of a relief as it was to finally have told someone about what had happened, it was wearing on Liz’s nerves having to talk about Brady every day. She had been trying not to think about him for over a year. This wasn’t helping.