"You don't have my phone number," I replied, causing him to laugh. He looked at me with a subtle challenge to his look, which I returned just as politely. He may have been handsome, but I know I'm decent looking myself. There was no need to fawn all over him, after all.
"Well, maybe this is just my way of asking for it?" he said after a second. "Of course, if you want me to just call you at your office, that's fine too."
I looked in his green eyes, which sparkled with humor and just a bit of sexiness, and made a decision.
What the hell, it was only a cell phone number. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a business card and a pen, scribbling on the back. "Call me Tabby. And here."
Chapter 4
Patrick
After the press conference, I hopped back in the car I'd borrowed to drive back to the office. I'd ridden the RIST to work that morning, and besides, there was no way I'd turn up at a press event in my real car, not with the way it looked. While being a City Councilman in a town where the Mayor and Deputy Mayor have most of the power isn't quite as stressful as, say, being a US Congressman, it's a lot more difficult than my last job, bartending. Public perception was important.
I was distracted though as I tried to sit down at my computer and work my way through the pile of e-mails that were waiting for me. I was supposed to be able to hire two staffers to help me with my job, but coming from no party and with no political background, I was still floundering. I was about two hundred unread e-mails behind, and taking a few hours out for the press conference didn't help.
Neither the local Republicans or Democrats were willing to help me either, as my grassroots campaign had upset their handpicked candidates as well. Not to mention my positions didn't quite jive with either party. I was far too liberal on the social issues for the Republicans, while the Democrats saw my personal opposition to the city's unions and gun laws as being poisonous to them. They didn't seem to understand that it wasn't the idea of unions in general I was opposed to, just that I was opposed to the particular unions that had a lot of power in the city, as they were just as corrupt as the Confederation and Owen Lynch's group. So far, the biggest offer for help I'd gotten was from the local branch of the Liberty Bell Party, which I had to look up on the Internet to see if they really existed or not.
The city's unions were forefront on my mind as I saw that Francine Berkowitz had sent me an e-mail, stating she was due to come by my office about twenty minutes after I read the message. "I've got to hire a fucking assistant," I muttered to myself as I thought about pulling off the gift Spartans jersey that Gene had given me as part of the press conference. It was emblazoned with my name across the back, along with the number of my favorite Spartan's player from my childhood, number 42, Tim "Firetruck" Follows. "Fuck it, she wants to complain I'm getting illegal swag, I'll write Gene a check for the jersey."
While I waited for Francine to arrive, my mind kept going back to Tabby Williams. Beautiful wasn't the beginning of words I would use to describe her, with her flame red hair and creamy skin. She had dressed a lot more modestly for the press conference than she did for most of her press coverage, but still she was the sexiest woman I'd talked to in a long time.
I worked in a bar, and as Tabby had noticed, not all of my associations when I was younger were with the right crowd. I'd covered a lot of the ink up with other designs, but it took time and money to change, and I didn't yet have the money for a full sleeve on my right arm. Thank God I only was stupid enough to get the tatts on one arm.
Tabby Williams was smart, I knew that from the research I'd done on her. It’s not that I’m a weirdo stalker, I did the research strictly because I wanted to make sure that I was lending my name to a worthy group. When Gene gave me a call and told me about the program the Spartans were doing with MJT, he’d done me a favor. He wanted me to have a good start to my political career, and being involved with a good charitable program was a great leg up.
I knew about the scam charity work people like Bishop Traylor did, and refused to participate in that sort of fleecing, so I’d done what research I could on her and MJT. Everything I read about Tabby though was impressive. A good MBA, worked hard at her job prior to becoming head of MJT, with admittedly a bit of luck meeting Marcus Smiley when she did. So all in all, smart, gorgeous, and with a dedication to improving the city that hit all my buttons.
I also knew a bit about things she didn't want the public to know about, such as her seduction by Scott Pressman. Like I said, I have a lot of bad decisions to atone for.