A Wifey for the Bad Boy(103)

“No, I don’t think I have enough time. Talk later?” she asked and Mackenzie nodded.

“Sure.”

As Athena walked out to the restaurant parking lot, she could feel her heart racing and she was not sure whether it was the excitement of going back to the office or the relief of finally coming clean to Mackenzie Either way, she was super excited. She looked at her reflection in the tinted windows of her car and a smile played on her lips. The black fitting skirt and floral long sleeved V-necked top she had on was doing wonders for her plus size curvy body. She climbed into the driver’s seat and secured her seatbelt before she pulled out of the parking lot.

At twenty-eight years of age, Athena was finally living the life she had always wanted: finally free of her parents’ influence. Growing up as the only girl in a family of over achievers had really taken its toll on her. Surgeon mother, politician father and a big sister that had followed in her mother’s medical footsteps and even though her mother was hell bent on having both of her daughters in the medical fraternity, Athena had gone with her gut and settled on law school. But that had not been the end of her parents’ long reach in her life. As far as Martha and Allan Wright were concerned, their children were an extension of themselves and that being said a reflection of themselves. So, Martha and Allan were always on Athena and Amanda’s case about every little aspect of their lives. Amanda had managed to live with the whole situation but Athena who had always been the more rebellious one just couldn’t handle it. She’d had to live with her parents’ intrusion in every aspect of her life and somewhere in high school she began eating to hide her feelings. It was the only way she could live with the pressure. And as a result by the time she got to college, she had gone from being the perfect size six cheerleader to a size eighteen. Gaining weight had done a number on her self-esteem and Martha’s constant bickering was not doing her any favors. But as far as she was concerned, shit hit the fan when her mother set her up with a guy and not to date, to marry. Even though it had been years since it happened, she could still remember the conversation almost as if it had just happened.

“You got me a man to marry? Did we suddenly turn back the wheel of time and land in rural India or something?” Athena had asked.

“Well, I know this is not the ideal way to throw you into the institution….” Martha started and Athena shook her head.

“There are no words I can think of that would be the perfect ending to that sentence,” she said, cutting her mother short.

“Well, in a perfect world you and Aubrey make for really cute photos,” Martha said smiling and Athena shrugged.

“Really, mum? That’s all you care about? Cute family photos?” she asked and Martha shook her head.

“I set up your sister the very same way and she is happy. Why don’t you trust that I can do the same for you?” Martha asked and Athena rolled her eyes.

“I am perfectly capable of getting myself a boyfriend, mum. I don’t need your help in that department,” she said.

“Well, you know that the family cannot afford another of your scandalous relationships, Athena. Your father is on his campaign trail and anything negative the press gets from us…” Martha started before Athena stood up and walked to the window. “Baby, you know that all this is a family affair. I mean, I quit my job so that I could support him in this.”

“I am not about to quit my life so I can help dad get ahead in the polls,” Athena said.

“Athena Marie! Aubrey is a great guy and a great CEO in a leading Fortune 500 company,” Martha said. Her tone told Athena that her mother was as serious as a heart attack. “Your father needs his endorsement and we are going to move heaven and earth to get it.”

Athena could hardly believe what she was hearing at that moment. In so many words, her mother was telling her that she was willing to pimp her out to get her father to the senate.

“What if I say no?” Athena asked and Martha sipped on her drink.

“Then you will be cut off,” her mother said and just like that, she had signed her life away. Which didn’t make any sense to her because she had always heard her father’s ‘Be Free To Be Who You Are’ speech since she was a little girl and it didn’t make any sense that to her that she was being forced into something just to further her father’s political career. And it took every bone in her body to cut ties with her family, which meant living on her own dime, but compared to being pimped off, it was heaven.





Chapter 2

It was almost nine when Athena finally finished up with the paperwork she had started on earlier the previous day. A smile played on her lips as she got up and slowly made her way to Mason’s office. She took a long deep breath and gently knocked on his door. She was not even surprised that he had been working this late. She was used to seeing him working late for the last month she had been working at Alexander, Fleming & Associates.