Page 12 of The Deceived

“Lila, he was huge and his presence, even in the dark, was imposing and overwhelming to me.” I was scared and angry and had I known who he was then, maybe I would have knocked the hell out of him and I damn well should have.

“I ran as fast as I have ever run in my life while holding up that humongous dress, trying not to trip and fall. I could hear him right behind me.” Chills scatter across my arms as I recall his heavy footfalls closing in. “I bobbed and weaved through the forest trying to lose him. I knew there was no way I was going to outrun him. He was so fast but then suddenly, I was facing another man.”

“Oh hell, Winter. What in the world did you do?” Lila asks as she clutches her comforter in one hand.

“I stopped short and he immediately started telling me his plans for me. How he was going to fuck me. His laugh was terrible, Lila. I couldn’t imagine a worse fate than being at that man’s mercy.”

How wrong I was.

“So, I hit him with the nearest thing that I could find; a big tree limb.” Had I known what fate had in store for me, I should have just gone with the jackass.

Lila gasps again, my eyes cut to hers, dragging me out of my thoughts and back to the events of the night.

“So, I turn and there the hooded stranger is, just looming over me. I yell that I’ll kick his ass too. I was walking backward trying to put some much-needed distance between us while I tried to formulate a plan. And then I tripped over the guy that I had just knocked out.”

“Oh no! You didn’t?” Lila cuts in.

“Oh yes, I sure did. So, I basically screwed myself over.”

“Then what?” Lila asks.

I take a deep breath, composing myself for the truth of the matter that haunts me now, that will continue to haunt me.

“He rushed to my side and I sat up, swinging the limb at him but he deflected it with his hand and I lost my grip on it. I knew then that he’d won.”

It was over then and I knew it.

Lila is patiently waiting on me to gather my thoughts and finish this story but when I tell herwhowon me, I can’t imagine what she’s going to say. Lila is the only person in this world that knows my truth. She’s the only one that knows whathedid to me and my family.

“It was him, Lila. It was Rex Dean. And worst of all, he didn’t even recognize me by my name.”

And maybe that fact bothered me the most.

The man had ruined my life and I wasn’t even a blip on his radar.

CHAPTER6

REX

“And that’s how we keep the great state of Tennessee on track. Thank you for coming out today and remember your vote matters!”

I smile and wave to the adoring crowd as they shout and chant my name.

They ate that speech up.

As I exit the stage, I am rushed by my constituents like I’m a fucking rock star.

“Thank you for coming out. I appreciate your vote!”

Men clap my back and shake my hands and invite me to have a beer. Women kiss my cheek and whisper raunchy things in my ear as they sneakily slip me their phone numbers. Mothers hand me their babies and I fucking pose with them for pictures. Fake smile after fake smile and I hate every fucking minute of it.

This part of my job is exhausting and just drags the fuck on. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being the Governor. I’m fucking good at being Governor but I hate the fucking schmoozing side of politics. Not that the voters aren’t worth my time, but there are so many better uses for it.

Like fucking Winter’s tight pussy.

There it is. The one thought, or rather the one person who seems to occupy my every waking moment now.

“Governor Dean, is it true you’ve got your eye on the presidency?” A reporter asks as he shoves the microphone in my face, waiting for a reply.

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