Page 30 of Desire

“Mrs. Harris, do you realize you’re a pawn in his ploy to win votes?” The woman then turned to face the crowd. “Mayor Harris hasn’t been in a serious relationship in his adult life, and he used a matchmaking company to find a wife right before announcing his decision to run for a second term because he’s trying to win the votes. That’s not a coincidence, people. Do you really think this is anything more than?—”

“Excuse me.” I waited until she turned to face me. “I appreciate your concern, but please don’t waste what little brain cells you seem to have worrying about my husband. I’m sure you can find something better to do with your time. You can start with a class on professionalism and interview etiquette.”

The words stumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. I heard rumbling from the crowd, but I didn’t care.

“That’s all the questions for today. Thank you!” Aziel shouted into the mic.

He took my arm and guided me off the stage. Mark was already waiting for us with the truck's back door open. We slid inside, and he closed the door, hopped in the driver’s seat, and drove away.

“I’m sorry,” I said right away.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“For what I said out there. I didn’t mean to?—”

His phone rang, and Tammy’s name flashed across the screen. He answered it and put it on speaker.

“Wassup, Tammy?”

“What the hell was she thinking? That’s not what we went over last night. If she?—”

“Hold on a minute. The person you’re referring to is my wife, and I didn’t see anything wrong with what she did.”

“Of course, you didn’t. If she?—”

“Excuse me, Tammy. You’re on speaker,” I told her, interrupting her rant.

“You know what? We’ll talk later.”

The call ended, and when Aziel looked at me, my eyes were already on him.

“Is she always like this?”

“No, but this is a new dynamic for us. I’ll talk to her about it. Listen, I’m cool with what you said up there. You don’t need to apologize or explain. That reporter was out of order and has had it out for me since I took office. If you see or hear anything negative in the media, she’s probably responsible for it.”

“Interesting. What’s her name?”

“Karsyn Keeting. If you search our names together, I’m sure you’ll find several articles from the past three years, not one of them positive.”

“Why’d you choose her to ask a question?”

“I didn’t and hadn’t noticed her until she started talking. I was pointing to the guy behind her.”

I didn’t know what to make of that bit of information, so I let it go.

“Well, today’s been interesting.”

“It didn’t scare you off, did it?”

“Of course not. I’m tougher than you think.”

“Based on how you handled that reporter… and this dick, I would have to agree. You’ll do just fine as my wife and the first lady of Onyx City.”

My phone pinged a few times, alerting me of text messages. I unlocked it and saw messages from my parents and sisters.

Dream: Okay, sis! Put that ho in her place!

Destinee: I bet her bird-brain-looking ass wasn’t expecting that clap back.

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