A young woman, pretty in a rural sort of way, was coming towards them. She brushed past Rissa, almost knocking her from Alec's side and was begging for a picture with him. Rissa could feel her heart racing and her breathing accelerated as two knee-high children were at her legs, touching her. She was surrounded, and she couldn’t breathe. She felt panic take over and she started looking for Hyde. Where was he? She quickly pressed the charm on her bracelet several times in rapid fire, alerting him to her danger.
Hyde saw the crowd encircling them both. Responding to her call, he moved in, so he can get closer and jostled people aside to step as close behind her as he could. He could see she was uneasy, but not in danger. He softly touched her back, low on her spine where no one could see and spoke to her, "Relax, right here, just breathe."
Just as Hyde spoke to her, she was jostled by the crowd, and let go of Alec’s arm, where the crowd quickly stepped in to fill the void. Her face reflected her panic, as she was separated from Alec and she cast a glance over her shoulder at Hyde.
Hyde instantly stepped up, placing his hand at her back, as he led her through the crowd. "Relax, Rissa, nothing will hurt you, I’m right here. Keep smiling. I’m going to lead you through this throng of people. Shake hands, smile, and keep moving."
Rissa let him lead her through the crowd as she tried to take a few deep breaths and calm herself. She had lost sight of Alec now, and wondered if he was even aware she was no longer on his arm. A little girl with messy hair and a hand-me-down dress approached Rissa. She carried a bundle of hand-picked wild flowers that were wilting in the heat. Rissa stopped in her tracks. Why me? Why the fuck am I always attracting these brats?
The little girl smiled up at Rissa and handed her the small bouquet, as she welcomed Rissa to the fair and wanted to know if she could have a picture because she was so pretty. Hyde spoke to her softly through her earpiece. "Take the flowers and smile for the camera."
Rissa gritted her teeth through her smile as she accepted the flowers. "Thank you so much, of course, you can have a picture."
Rissa watched in horror as a huge woman, the size of a tank, stepped forward in shorts and flip flops with a cell phone to take the picture. Reluctantly, Rissa squatted down next to the sweaty child, as the woman clicked away. Rissa was wondering if this would be the picture on their damn Christmas cards.
Hyde stepped in and said they needed to keep moving, and Rissa couldn’t wait for this to all be over and she could meet up with Alec again.
59
Braden woke early, showered, and wrapped a towel around his waist before retrieving the morning paper left outside his hotel room door. He turned on the TV to the local news coverage as he opened the paper to scour for any news. He's pretty sure the reporter that was with them all day yesterday would have something.
As the local TV news focused on weather and traffic, Braden flipped through the pages of the paper until he saw the large photo of Rissa, squatting down next to a child who was presenting her with some wilted flowers. The child was looking up at Rissa with a giant smile on her face, as Rissa was caught with a look of disgust, trying to remove the child's hand from her skirt.
Braden cringed at the image. He started to read the article which gave a glowing view of Alec, and how he charmed the crowd with his rock star good looks, but went on to state, ‘While the Senator seems in his element working the people, Mrs. Canton would clearly like to be anywhere else but here. Her disdain for the people is evident in her reluctance to touch or be touched, and the plastic smile never reaches her eyes.’
Braden tossed the paper aside just as the local news coverage swung to the county fair. There was footage of Alec working the crowd, smiling, posing with his potential voters, shaking hands, accepting hugs, and lifting babies in the air and making them laugh, and their mothers smile.
In contrast, they showed footage of Rissa, stepping gingerly through the fairgrounds, trying hard not to dirty her shoes, and constantly patting her hair into place. She reluctantly bent in close to people requesting selfies, careful not to make contact. And then, there it was again, the child running up to her with the flowers and the look of horror on her face. Hyde could be seen leaning in, whispering something to her, and she responded with her fixed, plastic smile. Rissa was seen kneeling down to the child but was more concerned with controlling the child's hands than accepting her gift of flowers. Her body language would tell the viewers everything they needed to know about Mrs. Canton, and how much she wanted to be with the people.
The news anchors were making a joke of the encounter, noting the Canton’s didn’t have children of their own, when one of the female newscasters laughed and said, "No wonder!"
Braden turned off the TV and pulled on a robe, not bothering to dress, when he grabbed up the paper and stormed out of his room and down the hall to Alec's suite, where Mateo was on guard. Brushing past the warrior, he was banging on the door, not caring any more whether they were awake yet or not.
Alec rolled over in bed, awakened by the pounding at the door. As he was grabbing a robe, he shook Rissa. "Wake up, darling. That sounds like Braden. You'll need to get dressed."
Rissa begrudgingly rolled from bed and headed for the bathroom to shower as Alec opened the door.
Braden stormed in. "Have you seen this?"
Alec shook his head, and looked for his cigarettes, lighting up and taking a deep drag. "No, Braden, I haven't seen anything. I'm standing here in a robe and the sun hasn't even come up yet. What the hell has you so worked up now?"
Braden shook the newspaper in his face. "Her! She has me worked up. Alec, the last time I ran a campaign for you, she wasn’t in the picture. If I’d known what a liability she was going to be, I’d never agreed to run this campaign for you. She's a disaster! And she won't listen to me. So, you better get this female under control or you can kiss the election good-bye."
Alec growled back at him. "Calm down. The sky isn’t falling, Braden. Let me see the paper."
Braden handed him the article with the photo. As Alec read, Braden looked for the remote to turn the TV on, hoping for a replay of the coverage at the fair. Alec read his own glowing reviews, and then read the negative impression Rissa made on the reporter, supported by the damning photo. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and exhaled, trying hard to control his anger. He’d given her everything she’d ever asked for, and all he needed from her now was a little play acting, but she was digging in her heels.
Braden was pointing at the TV. "Listen!"
Alec's attention was drawn to the video footage of him at the campaign, and the crowds fawning over him, compared to the footage of Rissa looking like she was walking through a leper colony. Alec had seen enough. "Rissa!"
Rissa was stepping out of the shower when she heard him yelling for her and she could feel Alec was about to go beast level. Biting her lip, she tried to think what in the hell she’d done to make them both so damn pissed off.
Wrapping a towel around her hair, she slipped back into her robe before she flung open the bathroom door. She saw Alec was in no mood for a conversation when her attention was drawn to the television and the images of her at the fair. She balled her fists at her side. "You bellowed, master?"
Alec shook the newspaper in front of her face. "Don't cop an attitude with me, we both know who’ll win that battle. I’ve asked one thing of you for this campaign, Rissa, just one. And that’s to at least pretend like you give a damn. Can you for once get your nose out of the air and realize you aren’t any better than the rest of us? I won’t lose this campaign. Do you hear me? I’ll do whatever it takes to come out on top. You use the term master so glibly, but don't ever forget I am your master. Don't push me in a corner. I won’t hesitate to make whatever changes I need to make to achieve my goal. Is that clear enough for you? Or do I need to spell it out?"