The Secret First Lady: The Naked Truth (9 page)

              “My friend, Mike.” Rachel didn’t go into detail. She figured they could discuss it on their outing; if at all.  “Hey, I’m heading to lunch with Martin Hamilton. Please forward all my calls to voicemail. I should be back by one-thirty.”

              Bridget looked at her as if to say,
so-you-guys-are-finally-going-on-a date
? She kept her thoughts to herself and nodded in agreement.

              Rachel grabbed her purse and stopped at the doorway of her office. “And no, it is not a date!” She confirmed as if she was reading Bridget’s mind.

              They both laughed. Martin was waiting for Rachel at the north elevator that led to the parking garage. He escorted her to his car and opened the door for her.

              They went to Twist for sushi and cocktails. Rachel presented him with the idea of hiring Leah as a personal assistant. She was honest about her not having much work experience and promised that her own assistant slash receptionist would get her trained for him.

              He agreed and wanted her to start next Monday. Rachel realized she wasn’t interested in dating Martin at all, but admitted to herself that he was fun to hang out with and had great conversation.  Considering the bad news she’d received today, the good news of Leah possibly finding her mother and starting a new position, as well as Mike’s sweet gesture, helped to balance out her emotions.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Naked Truth

                            Leah parked in the lot designated for Shane’s Peachtree office.  She had to confess, since being around Rachel she was a lot more fashionable. She took the elevator to the fifth floor and walked into the office door that was left ajar.

              “Bring your sexy ass over here, Marvin Taylor.” She said pulling on his neck tie.

              “Call me Shane, baby.” He said kissing her on the lips.

              “Oh, my bad; I forgot we’re role playing and you’re pretending to be your cousin Shane, the real P.I.!” They laughed and exchanged a few more kisses.

              He reached in his pocket and peeled her off some crispy hundred dollar bills. “Here is your cut from the money we swindled out of Rachel.”

              Leah grinned and stuffed the wad into her bra. “We’ll wait about thirty days until we, I mean until you, request more funding.”

              “Yeah, that’s a good idea to spread it out. You think she’ll find out that you really do know your mother?” Marvin said placing his hand on his chin.

              “That bitch is book smart; but she don’t know nothing about these streets. She won’t find out anytime soon and by the time she does, I’ll be long gone,” Leah shot off a wicked laugh. “We’re going to make enough money off her to get us a nice place and furnish it!”

                            “Alright, as long as you know what you’re doing. I’m not trying to go back to prison, ya dig?” Marvin shook his head.

              “I can dig it, baby; stop worrying. Oh and she got me a job at her firm. She’s stupid enough to let me invade her space after our bad history together. Trust me, she ain’t gonna figure this out.”

              The criminal minded talk was starting to turn him on. He grabbed Leah by the neck and stuck his tongue down her throat. Leah couldn’t get her pants from around her ankles fast enough. He bent her over the desk and in a matter of seconds, the fake Bonnie and Clyde duo were completely disrespecting the real Shane Gasko’s office.

              When they were finished, Marvin pulled out a sandwich bag filled with white powder. “C’mon, let’s do a line, baby. You deserve it after what you just gave me.” They got their noses dirty and cuddled up on the floor together.

              “So when is Shane coming back anyway? You won’t be able to use his office for long.”

              “He’s in Korea working on a kidnapping case and from there, he’s hitting Spain. He won’t be back for at least another three months.”

              Leah hung out for a few more hours, fixed herself up, and headed back to Interstate 75.

              The kids were already in bed by the time she arrived back at the apartment home. Rachel was nestled up on the couch with her laptop going over information for her morning meeting.

              She took a break and examined Leah. She noticed how red her eyes were and figured she’d been crying. “How’d it go with Mr. Gasko today?” If she only knew Leah’s red eyes were cocaine induced.

              “It went good. He found some photos and wanted to compare them to me. He has a few last known addresses so he’ll probably fly out in the next few weeks or so.” Leah lied with a straight face.

              “Oh that’s great!” Let me know if he needs anything.” Rachel was sincere in helping with the search for Leah’s mother.

              Leah nodded her head and went off to take a shower. Her mind automatically started calculating other figures needed to fund her fake search. She was doing back flips inside, knowing that she had Rachel right where she wanted her. She was a lot brighter than Rachel would ever suspect. She planned on making just enough money to relocate to Florida with Marvin; where he was originally from. She met him through Curtis a few years ago and instantly fell for him. She had been sleeping with him behind Curtis’ back for over two years. After their secret at home DNA test confirmed that Marvin was actually Olivia’s biological father, he started pressuring her to move south and leave Curtis.

              Initially, he was just a supplier for Curtis and then they became somewhat associates. He would stay at Leah’s house with Cutis when he came in town to make a drop. Then the old saying “when the cat’s away, the mouse will play” came into effect.

              Olivia was the reason that Rachel divorced Curtis; little did she or her ex-husband know that the baby didn’t belong to Curtis. The naked truth would hurt so many, but at this point Leah just wanted a comfortable lifestyle with her new man and her children.

Chapter Fourteen: Job Training

                            “Ms. Jones?” Bridget said walking into Rachel’s office with an annoyed looked on her face.

              “Yes, Ms. Santiago?” Rachel could tell her receptionist wasn’t happy about something. She admired Bridget’s hard work as well as her frankness.

              “What’s wrong with that Leah Price character? She should really leave her ghetto behavior in the parking garage!”

              Rachel immediately felt her face flush with fever.
I know she is not embarrassing me on the first day.

             
Bridget continued with her rant.  “I’m trying to teach her the RTJ Incorporated data bases and she’s barely paying attention and she’s seems to not have the ability to retain the simplest information. To make matters even worse, she had the nerve to call me a sneaky little Mexican!”

              “You’re not sneaky!” Rachel snapped.

              “Exactly! Nor am I Mexican.”

              Rachel busted out laughing. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh but I have to so that I don’t blow a gasket! Give me a few minutes to complete these files and I’ll have a talk with her.”

              “Please do,” Bridget urged.

              “Did you get our girls afternoon set for this Friday?” Rachel shifted the subject.

              “I sure did. I hope you don’t plan on bringing Ms. Price, because----------”

              Rachel cut her off and started laughing again. “Girl, hush. No, she’s not coming. Now let me get back to work, please?”

              Bridget returned to her desk and continued working. She sent Leah to the break room. Rachel knew she had to do something before she started as Martin’s assistant. She put those thoughts on hold to focus on her new 1.5 million dollar investing client.

              She had her meeting with Clyde Arnold in less than forty-five minutes before she’d win him over. Rachel was good at what she did. Her personality and business savvy skills allowed her to have a prosperous life and live lavishly.

              After her meeting she retired to her office, slipped off her blazer and red bottom pumps. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and gazed out of the window. She thought about Mike and how she’d been intentionally neglecting him. She pretended to be bogged down with work, but the truth of the matter was after a failed marriage and an unsuccessful relationship with the now deceased, Christopher Jackson, she was afraid of another heart break.  Plus, she didn’t want to continue fornicating and living in sin after finally getting her life back on track.

              At the same time she didn’t want to be a hopeless romantic or a single parent for the rest of her life. Rachel sat behind her desk and checked her voicemail. She had two messages from Mike.  She decided to call him before her meeting with Leah. “Hello, Mr. Rizzo,” she said in a flirty tone after she heard the other end pick up.

              “Hey, Sexy. Or should I say, hey stranger?” He was being halfway sarcastic.

              “Whatever. How have you been?”

              “I would be a lot better if somebody would stop playing so hard to get.”

              “It’s not like that,” she tried to sound convincing as she thought of a good reason for not keeping in touch with him.

              “Oh yeah? Well tell me what it’s like,” he tried to sound demanding.

              “I’ll tell you face to face.”

              “Should I hold my breath?”

              “Stop it, babe, that’s not fair.”

              “What’s not fair is how you disappeared on me. Have dinner with me tonight?” He pleaded with her. “No is not an acceptable answer.”

              “Tomorrow will work better for me.”

              “I guess I’ll be patiently waiting.” He said in an
I-can’t-wait-to-see-you
tone.

              “Me either. Well, I have some work to finish, so I’ll chat with you later, Mr. Rizzo.”

              “Rachel?” He called out before she could hang up.

              “Yes?”

              “I promise you I won’t hurt you. Just give me a chance.

              She smiled and gently laid down the receiver. Curtis told her that same line and so did Chris. Perhaps they meant it at the time, but their actions and hurting her was inevitable.  She sighed and paged Bridget to send Leah in.

              Leah marched in looking quite sharp off of Rachel’s dime. “What’s up, boss lady!” Leah yelled out.

              “Leah, we need to talk; please take a seat.” Ms. Jones kept a low tone.  All kind of thoughts ran through Leah’s head and she wondered if Rachel figured out the P.I. scam. She remained silent, allowing Rachel to speak.

              “Well, I didn’t have this talk with you sooner, because coming into a professional setting, some things, such as professional conduct, should be an implied task,” Rachel showed Leah her business side for the first time. “Rule number one, if you’re asked to come into my office or any type of meeting, no matter how brief, come prepared to take notes.”

              She handed Leah a tablet and ink pen from her desk drawer. She gave a laundry list of RTJ Inc. rules and as much professional advice as she could cram into an hour’s time.  When their meeting was over, Leah thanked her and walked out with a new attitude. She went back to her cubicle and wrote out all the supplies she thought she needed, just as Rachel suggested.

              Rachel buzzed her receptionist. “Bridget, tomorrow should be a much better day for you and your trainee.”

Chapter Fifteen: Stranger Things Could Happen

              Dinner with Mike went exceptionally well. Rachel discussed all of her fears, likes and dislikes. He opened up to her as well about some things in his past. Rachel noticed he had honest eyes, which made her even more attracted to him. Yet, she couldn’t let her guard down completely. She promised herself she would give him a fair chance, without allowing her past to hinder what could possibly be. They agreed not to have any more sexual encounters. Instead, they were going to get know each other on a more mental and emotional level.

                            Friday afternoon couldn’t come soon enough. It had been a long, but successful week for the ladies. They sat in the sauna at the Beauty Bar located in Buckhead; giving each other an update on their new lives and other significant events.

                            “He definitely sounds like a keeper, but then again, I know how you feel about good guys, Rach!” Aloma said laughing out loud.