Free Indecent Proposal by Molly O'Keefe Page B

loyal pet. “There are other things to talk about.”
    They turned into the living room, where Mom and Dad, dressed in carefully calculated casual clothes, were sitting with the Southern Living staff. There was the writer, the photographer, and a videographer, becauseapparently there was going to be some special bonus material on the website. As well as a lighting guy and a sound guy.
    And all of them turned to look at him when he walked in.
    “Son!” Dad said, coming to his feet, his wide smile revealing the dimples Harrison had inherited. A former high school football star, Ted was still a big, strong man, with a barrel chest, who carried himself well. Harrison was the exact same height but without the football player build.
    Ted’s years of alcoholism were physically obvious only in the broken blood vessels around his nose and eyes. All of which were now carefully powdered over.
    His blond hair was growing silver, his shoulders just slightly rounded. His blue eyes were still sharp.
    There were times it was eerie looking at his father, times when the physical resemblance between them was so strong. So unbelievably real that Harrison lost himself for a moment.
    That is exactly how I will look in thirty years , he thought for perhaps the thousandth time.
    It was nearly surreal.
    As a boy, watching crowds cheer for his father, men line up just to shake his hand, women press newborn babies into his arms so he could kiss them—it had only solidified his perception of his father as a hero. A god.
    A man to emulate in all things.
    And that’s what he’d done. He’d emulated his father’s overblown wealthy-white-man sense of privilege. His sense of destiny and entitlement. Of course he should get what he wanted. Of course he deserved the best. He was Ted Montgomery’s son, after all.
    And then he turned twenty-two and his father ran for Vice-President, and there had been Heidi and the car crash.
    And Harrison found out who his father really was. Who all of them really were.
    The memory of it, of finding out about it and feeling part of himself, his identity, his plans and goals to be just like his fucking father, shattering—it stopped his blood. Even years later, he looked at his father, remembered Heidi, and stepped away from Ted’s outstretched hand.
    “Harrison,” Mom said, also coming to her feet, smiling so wide to cover the cold silence between the two men in her life. “We’re so glad you could take a break from your busy campaign schedule to join us. I was just telling everyone about your work at VetAid.”
    Right . He would play the Montgomery game. Like he always did. Because it was a means to an end, a way into Congress and beyond that, the White House.
    “I’m glad to be here, Mom. Are we ready to eat?” he asked, rubbing his hands together. “I’m starving.”
    By three o’clock in the afternoon they still hadn’t eaten and Harrison was getting ready to end a ridiculous discussion on Montgomery holiday traditions, when Dad’s head of security walked into the sunny room.
    “Is there a problem, Jeff?” Dad asked.
    “There’s a man downstairs,” Jeff said. “Says—”
    In the hallway, someone yelled and another voice answered back, just as the door behind Jeff opened up and a stranger burst in.
    “I didn’t feel like waiting,” the man said to Jeff, flashing a malicious grin behind a trimmed beard.
    They all jumped to their feet, but Mom was the first one to speak.
    “Can I help you?” she asked.
    “No. Actually,” the man said, and pointed to Harrison, “I’m here to talk to your son.”
    “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until we’re done,” Mom said.
    “I’m guessing you didn’t see my badge. Let me give you a good look.” From the back pocket of his black jeans, the man pulled out a badge and held it out toward the family.
    DHS. Homeland Security.
    The guy wore jeans and a tee shirt. Beat-up boots. He didn’t look like any agent Harrison had ever seen. What the hell