Page 1 of Independence Bae

Chapter One

The filing cabinetbanged against the smoked glass divider separating the two recording studios. The “recording” light was on and the door was locked but the last thing I wanted was to clue anyone in to the fact that we weren’t actually recording commercials.

“Love, we have to be quiet.”

“You said this place was soundproof.” Marley panted, grinding into my lap. The hair that had been tied in a perfectly neat ponytail was a wild mess down her back and tickling against my chest. “Right there Ted, don’t move. Let me.”

“Mrs. Tucker, I love this new demanding side of you. Taking without asking for permission. Directing. Unabashedly pursuing exactly what you want. God.” I drown in bliss, with every movement she forces me deeper inside her and I became delirious with the need to come. It was quite the shift. This new side to Marley. Chocolate cookie sweet and Saturday morning cartoons innocent Marley had evolved into quite the demanding exhibitionist of late. Where she used to blush and be demure, she frequently not only requested, but demanded her needs be tended to. It was hot. So fucking hot. She pushed her ass into my groin, forcing my cock as deep as she could take it. With a final rotation of hips she shattered, trying to remain quiet underneath the palm of my hand. I was right behind her, coming with a ferocity that I felt all the way up in my belly button.

“Mm.” I lay my head against her shoulder, loving the bright apple fragrance of her freshly washed hair. “To what do I owe such a wonderful post-work surprise?”

Marley hopped up, wiggled her ass back into her jeans, jumping softly to get them resituated before trying to finger comb the mess of her hair into some semblance of style that didn’t hint at our tryst.

“Dress shopping,” she replied, turning her head upside down and gathering all of her honey-colored strands before tying her rubber band around them. “I’m picking up Raven so we can go find dresses. Thirty days Mr. Tucker.” She turned toward me, holding my face between her palms and kissing me with such sweetness I was nearly convinced that there was no way she’d just been ordering me around.

“Can’t wait my little Independencebae.Fourth of July won’t be the only reason for fireworks this year.” I held her against me and doubled down on the sweet kiss she gave me.

The wedding. She and I were getting married in almost exactly thirty days. She’d suggested wrapping it around the Fourth of July weekend so people would have a long weekend—in case they had to take time off to attend our wedding.

I’d take her to the Justice of the Peace tomorrow if she decided to do away with all these plans and elope. I was down with whatever, as long as it meant she’d be mine forever. We’d been riding a roller coaster of wedding planning. Marley battled between desperately wanting to be the bride with the big princess wedding, only to be met with the crushing realization a few moments later that our circle was small and lacking in key members that normally play a part of that picture book fairytale. My lovely fiancé teetered betweenwhat’s the pointandI want to shout from the rooftops to anyone who will listen.

I understood, of course. Her mom had been her best friend. It was the two of them against the world, until the day Marley stood alone. I’d secretly hired a private investigator. While surprising Marley with the other half of her DNA specifically for the wedding definitely wasn’t the plan, I did want to give her the peace of knowingwho. To take away that burden of wonder. So far, nothing had surfaced. I hoped though. Every day.

The moment I turned the recording light off, and I mean like, I was barely tucked back into my jeans, Raven pushed in barely cognizant there was anyone other than me in the room.

“Did you see the text from Hannah?”

The answer was a very obvious no, considering I’d been balls deep in my fiancé until three seconds ago. I picked up my phone to see what Raven was talking about. Hannah, our agent’s executive assistant, wanted to schedule a phone call between us and Leon in fifteen minutes.

“Yeah, strange that Leon didn’t just call us directly. Why go through Hannah to make sure we were available to take a call with Leon?”

Leon was our agent. While technically given the tiny market WNPL existed within, having a New York agent was excessive. However, he’d been with us since day one, and big contracts or small, he had our back.

It’s one of life’s ironies that when you want it to slow down so you can take a breath, absorb every detail, and bask in every way your life has aligned, suddenly life fast forwards into hyper speed. Every day since I proposed to Marley seemed to be memorable in some way. Whether it was our relationship, Raven and Penn, or our show, karma had combed through her records, realized we’d been royally bent over the barrel for a couple of years and dropped a glitter bomb of greatness on us all in one fell swoop. It almost made me nervous. This progression that was near perfection. Almost. I’d experienced too much heartbreak and disappointment to not gluttonously drink from this fountain of bliss. That didn’t mean I wasn’t looking every which way for a falling anvil.

Raven shut the door to the recording studio—this was as good a place to have a phone call as any. Probably better since unlike our office, the soundproofing of this studio gave us total privacy. Marley took a seat next to Raven, which caused Raven first to jump, and then cut me with a look that broadcast she knew exactly what we’d been doing in here before she came in.

“Hannah,” I didn’t wait for her to confirm she was on the line before putting her on speakerphone and positioning the phone on the desk between Raven and me. “We’re both here, where’s Leon?”

“He is just wrapping up a phone call. I’ll patch you through now.”

Raven raised her eyebrows in question, shaking her head at me clearly as confused with this rigamarole as me. She gave me her I’m smiling but I don’t mean it smile. We both had cell phones, we both had office lines, and typically we were joined at the hip ninety percent of our days. If Leon needed us, it was fairly easy to contact us and have pretty good odds the other was within shouting distance. This going through his assistant thing was strange to say the least. My first fear of course was that Drew—the station manager—had decided to withdraw our contracts and was taking the scaredy bitch route and letting us go through our agent. It seemed as though it was at least a thought that was being entertained in Raven’s head as well. I guess you could say too many years working in radio had given us our own form of contract termination PTSD.

“Guys.” Leon came on the line, “I’ve had a very interesting phone call about the two of you.”

“Interesting how?”

I hated bullshit tap dancing around subjects. Rip the Band Aid off, cut to the point—however you wanted to say it.

“How familiar are you with Hursch Enterprises?”

Something tickled somewhere far back in my memories but it didn’t provide any immediate insight. Raven shrugged at me and shook her head at me as well.

“We’re drawing a blank here, Leon. Who are they?”

“The name Lucas Hursch may ring a bell. He was the CEO of Hursch Industries and Media.”

“Leon, I feel like I should know who he is, but my brain just isn’t making the connection. By the face Raven is making at me, I would wager that she too isn’t as familiar about Lucas Hursch as she should be either.”

---