Chapter 17

MARIAH

She couldn’t be angry at herself for giving in to her desire for River. It was like there was a driving force deep in her soul that pulled her toward him that day. Certainly, there was nothing wrong with her wanting River. Well, besides that he was a client, had assaulted the governor and was likely going to lose all his money; besides that, River was a really good guy.

Mariah was young, at 22 years old she hadn’t fully decided what it was she wanted out of her life. She certainly hadn’t decided the kind of guy that she wanted in her life either. But she liked being around River. There was an energy between the two of them that she just didn’t have with other people. Sure, there was a big age difference. River was 38 years old, and Mariah obviously much younger. But Mariah had never dated men her own age. She didn’t like to go out partying, and she certainly didn’t like the games that young guys played.

With River, Mariah felt the most like herself. Except, he made her so nervous. It was a good nervousness, though. The kind that sent tingling to every part of the body upon seeing someone. River did that to Mariah, and she had never felt that strongly around a man before. It was unique to her. A fresh new emotion that she just couldn’t be without.

Mariah couldn’t help laughing to herself as she thought about everything that was going on for River. He was actually handling things miraculously well for a man on the brink of losing everything.

“Are you laughing to yourself?” River said as he pulled Mariah toward him.

It was getting dark outside, and they had spent most of their day in bed together. Mariah was perfectly fine with spending the rest of the night there as well. There was something about being in bed with River that made it really hard for her to leave. Pretty much everything about River made it hard for her to leave.

“Yes, I was thinking about what a catch you are,” she said with a giggle.

“I am the most eligible bachelor in Portland,” River said as he puffed up his chest.

“Um, I think you lost that title when you punched the governor on national television.”

“Well, the guys in jail still teased me about it.”

“Are you going to tell me what it was like in there? Why wouldn’t you let me come see you? I mean really. I’m a grown up; I could have handled it.”

“Mariah, I got my ass kicked the first night I was there. See this,” River said as he pointed to a scar near his left eye. “I couldn’t invite you to come see me like that.”

“You got beaten up? River! Why didn’t you tell someone?”

“Mariah, people get beaten up in jail. It’s not like it’s a college dorm room. You don’t go telling on people. I made up with the guys, and things calmed down. But I just needed to have that time to myself and think of what to do next. I didn’t let Edward or April come see me either. I just talked to them on the phone.”

Mariah felt herself pulling away from River a little. She had hardly gotten to talk to him on the phone either. Most of her communications were with Edward and April as to what would be best for River’s image as they moved forward. The few times she had talked to him, Mariah did all the talking and River just listened.

She felt the conversation tension building up, though, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. They’d had such a great evening together, and she didn’t want to ruin it by talking about things that made River uncomfortable.

“It doesn’t matter now. We are moving forward from here,” Mariah said as she tried to forget about her hurt feelings.

Maybe River was right not to invite her to the jail. She obviously was more emotional about the situation than she had expected. She and River weren’t anything more than a fun fling; she needed to get her head straight and start thinking about work and less about River.

“I’m going to call Kimberly. Do you think she will answer?” River said as he tried to change the subject.

“I don’t know. A lot of people have reached out to her, and she hasn’t answered anyone’s calls. On a positive note, she also hasn’t given any interviews or anything like that.”

Mariah had really expected that Kimberly would have stepped up and defended River at least a little bit. She had met Kimberly, and Mariah thought she seemed very level headed. But Kimberly and River had gotten along just fine, and Kimberly was originally very interested in helping River preserve their secret together. It just seemed odd that Kimberly wouldn’t have tried to set the record straight on what had really happened between her and River. Surely, it would have been better to admit to an affair than it was to live a lie about the father of her child. But then again, Mariah didn’t know everything that was going on for Kimberly, and she certainly hadn’t gotten to talk to her to set the record straight.

River sat up in bed and reached for his cell phone as Mariah looked on with anticipation. A phone call to Kimberly was exactly what they needed to get her back on River’s side. But Mariah suspected there was a lot more going on for Kimberly than anyone knew, and it was going to be hard to convince her to work with them.

“It’s ringing,” River said as he covered the phone’s receiver. “Hello.”

Mariah bolted straight up in bed when she heard River say hello to Kimberly. She moved closer to him so she could hear what it was that Kimberly was saying as well. Everyone had tried to reach Kimberly; Mariah, April, and Edward had all called her, and she never returned their calls. But the first time River called, Kimberly answered. Mariah could only assume it was a good sign.

“How are you?” Kimberly asked.

“I’m good. Except everyone thinks I’m a rapist.”

“I’m so sorry about that River. You and I know the truth. I’m sure it will all die down soon, though.”

“Kimberly, it isn’t going to die down until you speak up and tell the truth. Why didn’t you just tell your husband what happened?”

There was a long pause and then Kimberly could be heard crying over the phone. Mariah looked at River, who seemed sympathetic to Kimberly’s tears. It was hard for Mariah to understand how after spending two months in jail, River still had sympathy for Kimberly. Kimberly should have come forward. She should have made an effort to make things right while River was away. It made Mariah really angry that Kimberly hadn’t tried to correct the public’s view of River.

“I’m sorry River, I tried. I really tried to tell him. He was so angry and just kept asking if it was true. I tried to tell him. But he wouldn’t listen. I didn’t know he made a statement to the press, though. I honestly didn’t know he had said that until the whole story broke. I’m so sorry River.”

River sat silently on the phone, and Mariah held back the urge to grab the phone away from him and yell at Kimberly. She was doing River so much harm by not coming forward. It was insane how Kimberly didn’t see how much she was hurting River. But it wasn’t Mariah’s battle, and she had to let River handle the situations. He knew what was best for himself and his situation, all Mariah could do was sit and observe for the time being.

“You need to tell the truth, Kimberly,” River said firmly.

“I can’t. It will destroy Jackson. He doesn’t know all that is going on. If I come out, he will know everything, and it will destroy him to learn that his father is not his real father. I’ve worked so hard to shelter him from the news, from everything. River, he doesn’t deserve to have his whole life handed to him and told it was a lie.”

That was all Kimberly had to say to get River to back off. Mariah knew it the moment the words came out of Kimberly’s mouth. River would do absolutely anything to protect his son. He had already spent the last ten years doing everything possible to protect him. There was no way he would risk being the person to destroy the life that Jackson knew.

“He doesn’t know?”

“No River. He’s ten; he doesn’t read the newspapers. He has no idea what’s going on at all. I promise I’ll figure something out. I promise. I need to go for now. Please go to your regular big brother meeting with Jackson; he has missed you terribly. I told him you were away on business.”

“Okay,” River said as he hung up the phone.

River looked bewildered as he got off the phone, and Mariah didn’t exactly know what to say next. She certainly couldn’t go against his son and tell River he should come forward with a statement. But the truth was that he had to come forward, or River would likely lose his entire company.

Mariah sat silently as she waited for River to say something; to react in some way. It was crazy that he was going to let his whole business be destroyed all because of a secret that was certainly going to come out sooner or later to his son. The secret had already been released through the newspapers, and although they didn’t have confirmation that it was the truth, the Portland Times was in fact right on the money with their story.

“What are you going to do?” Mariah finally asked.

“Nothing. There isn’t a thing I can do. I won’t destroy Jackson’s life.”

“We can come out against the story in public. Maybe apologize for the punching incident and then just say that the rest is private. A firm statement denying that there was an assault would be helpful. Kimberly won’t come out and say anything to oppose you. I think that’s our next move.”

“I’m not going to say anything, Mariah.”

“What? You seriously can’t just sit back and watch your whole life be taken away from you. At least, make a statement that the Seattle story was false. We don’t have to say anything else.”

Mariah felt herself getting worked up and angry at how calm River seemed about the whole thing. Didn’t he realize his corporation was going to try and get rid of him? Didn’t he understand he could literally lose his own company because of all the publicity and negativity that was going on? Mariah could hardly stand to sit still and jumped up out of bed to pace as she tried to find the right words to talk to River.

“I won’t bow down to anyone, and I’m not going to let anyone make a public statement apologizing to that jackass because I hit him,” River said as he got angry and walked past Mariah to the bathroom.

She had never seen River get angry before, and it seemed to have come on so quickly. Certainly, things were stressful for him, but they could work on everything together. River had hired her PR firm for the sole purpose to help him with all of this. He needed to calm down and give her a chance to actually help. Although Mariah had only been with her company for a year, her father had been running it for decades. Mariah and her father had talked at length about the best options to help River when he was released, and River would do well to at least consider her ideas.

Over the years, Mariah had watched her father turnaround corporations in only months. One company looked like they were doomed for bankruptcy because of a rogue CEO that had left them in the lurch. But when Mariah’s father got a hold of the company and got some good press going, it turned everything around for them. Within a quarter, the company was back in the black and ready to take on the world. Mariah just wished River understood that she and the whole Public Waves team would do whatever it took to help him.

“I wasn’t pressuring you. I’m just giving you ways to get ahead of the publicity and turn things around. That’s what you pay me for. Right?” Mariah argued through the bathroom door.

“You should leave.”

Mariah stood naked in front of the bathroom door as she tried to figure out how things had turned so horribly wrong. One minute they were lying in bed together and everything seemed perfect, the next minute he was telling her to leave. River was angry, she could certainly tell that from the tone of his voice. But how could he be angry at her? Mariah was the one trying to help him.

“I’m sorry if I upset you, River. I’m just trying to do what is best for you. I don’t want you to lose everything that you have worked so hard for.”

“You don’t know me! You can’t tell me what’s best for me. I paid you to do a job, and I get to decide what that job is. Now leave!”

“I’m sorry River. What do you want me to do then?”

Mariah stayed outside the bathroom door and waited for River to respond to her. But instead of responding, she heard the water start. She couldn’t believe how he was talking to her. It didn’t seem like River at all. Even when they had first met, and he was cocky and rude to her, he had still been nicer than he was at that very moment.

What was she supposed to do? Mariah grabbed her things and got dressed. She went back to his room one last time before she left, just to see if he was out of the bathroom yet, but then she turned and decided to give him some time to cool off. River had never been that upset before, and she wasn’t about to continue with an argument that she didn’t even understand.

Mariah knew things were complicated between her and River. It was glaringly obvious why people shouldn’t sleep with their clients. Mariah now had to figure out how to save River’s image while also trying to salvage whatever it was that was going on between the two of them.

River was her first real client; she certainly couldn’t let his company fail. If River’s company went under, Mariah would never get her father to give her another client. She had to find a way to save River, even if he wasn’t interested in helping her with the process.

As she drove home, Mariah felt tears of anger flood her. She didn’t know if she was angry at River, herself, or the situation in general, but Mariah hated that she was so damn emotional over a client. She vowed not to let River get to her like that again. Men normally didn’t get to Mariah like River had. And clients never got to her. She had to do a better job of putting up a protective wall and taking her emotions out of the situation. There was no crying in the PR world, and her father would kill her if he saw just how emotional she was over a client.

Mariah was going to keep things professional between her and River, and that would be the end of things. She would only contact him while she was at work, and she wasn’t going to worry about him if he decided to self-destruct and not participate in his own defense. Certainly, her father had dealt with celebrities like River before.

Even if it meant that she was an assistant to the other agents in her firm for years to come, Mariah wasn’t going to take River’s defeat on as her own defeat. She would do everything in her power to help him, but in the end, if he wanted to let his company fall to the ground, there wasn’t a thing Mariah could do to stop it.

First thing in the morning, Mariah was going to go talk with her dad and see what he wanted to do. It was his company, and if he wanted to talk with River, Mariah was going to let him. Over the past two months, she had convinced her father that he didn’t need to get involved, and she had things covered. Even River’s secretary, April, had convinced her father that things were going great. But Mariah knew that things were not going well at all. She felt like all her efforts to help River were totally for nothing and that she was going to have to run back to her father and tell him everything.

Well, not everything! Mariah certainly wasn’t going to admit to her father that she had been sleeping with River. No, she would simply say that the case was getting too complicated, and she needed his help. Mariah could explain that River didn’t want to hurt his son and was refusing to make a public statement. At least, with that information, her father could help her make decisions about what else they could possibly do.

But if River continued to refuse to make a statement or be involved in his own defense, there was little possibility that Mariah could keep his business from sinking. The public image of River was already bad enough; it wasn’t going to get any better if he didn’t speak out and refute the claims that were made by the Seattle story.