“Keep me updated on the situation with…Madison,” he says with a smirk. “If anyone can charm an uptight, unapproachable woman, it would be you. And if you can’t charm her, maybe you can figure out a way to make people like her enough to vote for her.”
“I’ll try my best,” I tell him as I open the door to leave.
“The Savage Kings are counting on you, Cannon. Don’t fuck it up,” Roman says before I pull the door closed.
Like I needed any extra pressure.
Blowing out a breath, I say, “Dipshits One and Two, let’s go. You’re coming with me.”
“We are?” Lucas asks as he pops up and comes hurrying over with excitement filling his eyes, completely abandoning his cards. Jake is much slower to follow.
“Do you need to go home and recover?” I ask him, and he shakes his head. “You sure about that?”
“Yes, sir,” Jake croaks out.
“Suit yourself. If you need to use the bathroom, do it now. We’re going to be camping out in my SUV the rest of the night.”
“Just a sec,” Lucas says before he hurries off to the men’s room. Jake also starts in that direction, moving like a sloth.
“Yo, Jake,” I say as I go up to him.
“Yeah…yes, sir?” he asks, still hoarse.
“Don’t play games you can’t win,” I tell him when I grab his shoulder. “And just so you know, the childish bullshit with Lucas doesn’t get you any points. In fact, it makes the Kings question if either of you can actually cut it as one of us or if you’re still too immature. I’m about to put you in charge of protecting a woman’s life. Can you handle it, or will you be too busy figuring out how to get Lucas back?”
He nods and visibly swallows like it hurts. “I can handle it, sir.”
“Good.” I give his shoulder a shove toward the restroom. “Now, hurry up. You two follow me in one of your cars; and then when I stop, I want you in my SUV.”
“Yes, sir,” Jake says, already sounding more sure of himself.
One thing I won’t tolerate is the two of them squabbling like children when I need their eyes and ears open to keep Madison safe.
Chapter Seven
Madison
I didn’t sleep worth a shit last night. For some reason, whenever I closed my eyes, I kept seeing Cannon’s smirking face, then hearing his velvety voice when I should be focused on the campaign. And more importantly, raising money. If I don’t soon, then I won’t have any chance at winning. As it stands right now, I’m not delusional; and I know that if the election was this week, I would lose by about sixty points. But that’s only because Bailey is a name everyone knows. There’s not much time on the clock, so I have to figure out a way for voters to notice me as a real contender and not just a pretty face.
Lily and I are discussing whether or not it would be worth the ordeal to ask my parents and their firms to have a meet and greet event when I hear my name called by a deep, masculine voice that’s way too charming. I’m certain I’m going crazy and hearing things, because there is no way that man is actually here.
“Ah, Madison, sorry to interrupt,” Veronica says from the doorway of my office. “But that guy from yesterday is out front asking for you.”
“Cannon’s here?” I say in disbelief. “What does he want?” I’m up and moving around my desk in the blink of an eye. I tell myself that I’m anxious to see him to tell him to go away and leave me alone. The truth is, though, I think I want to figure out if the odd attraction I felt yesterday is still there or if it was a fluke, like he caught me at a bad time after the bombed press conference when I was feeling…off balance. Yeah, that had to have been it.
“Well, that’s the thing,” Veronica says. “I asked what he wanted, and he said nothing, that he was just stretching his legs.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I remark with a frown.
“Sorry,” Veronica says with a cringe. “Do you want me to try and get him to leave?”
I notice that she used the word ‘try’ as if she wasn’t certain that she could, in fact, get him out the door.
“I’ll go talk to him,” I tell her. “You…can you stay here and maybe help Lily get started on applying the address labels?”
“Sure,” she agrees happily, even though her shoulders droop as she eyes the boxes filled with stacks of postcards that I want to get out as soon as possible.
“Thanks. I know it’s a pain in the ass,” I tell her as I straighten my suit jacket and my spine before I finally step out of the office to confront the biker.
His back is to me, looking out the blinds that hang over the double front windows. The white, snarling, skull king patch on the back of his leather jacket acts as a warning that the man is more dangerous than he appears, and I would be smart to remember that instead of getting seduced by his handsome face and muscular body.
“What are you doing here, Cannon?” I ask, and he finally turns around. The sunlight shining through the window makes his golden hair glow like a halo, which is absurd.
“Just checking on things,” he says with a twist of his waist and arch of his back like he’s stretching after sitting in the same position for too long.
“What does that mean?” I ask. “I told you to stay away from me.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“So, you should leave.”
Ignoring me, he slips his hands into his jean pockets. These are a little more faded but with slightly smaller tears than the ones he had on yesterday. He’s still wearing a thick, black hoodie under the leather vest, and his blue eyes look…tired, like he got less sleep than I did last night. Not that I care. “How’s the campaign going?” he asks.
“Fine.”
“I’ve been telling people about you,” he says. “Got a group out of town willing to make a sizable donation, and Roman, my club president, would like to meet you and host a fundraiser for you.”
“What? Why would he do that?” I ask in confusion. My parents haven’t offered, and I haven’t gotten the courage or the desperation needed to ask them, even though I should since they have a ton of contacts in the city.
“Because we need you to beat Bailey.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I tell him, “Just so we’re clear, I’m not getting into bed with mobsters or outlaws, whatever it is you all are. I would rather lose by a landslide.”
“You would rather lose the election than get in bed with me?” Cannon asks with an enormous, boyish grin.
“You know what I meant,” I say, smoothing my hands over my pale blue pantsuit even though I know there are no wrinkles and refusing to give in to his teasing.
“How badly do you want to win, Madison? And why do you want to be mayor in the first place? You don’t strike me as the type of woman who enjoys the schmoozing and all that goes along with politics.”
“Schmoozing?” I repeat.
“You know, kissing people’s asses to get their money in exchange for favors.”
“I think you have what I’m doing confused with being a whore.”