"Yes, me, too. Please tell Will I'll call him later." He prayed Will would answer. "My cell phone is charging back at the cabin."
"Will do."
Wilson held the phone out to Joey. "Hector needs to talk to you."
After Joey took the phone and stepped away, Wilson took a healthy gulp of the Jack and Coke. It burned going down, but he needed it. He pinned his eyes on Jayden. "Is there any way to stop this?"
"Not really." Jayden's shoulders were slumped, the man clearly dejected. "The only way you can stop a story like this from being front page news is to give the rabid dogs something else to sink their teeth into."
Wilson thought it was strange for Jayden to call them rabid dogs considering he was one of them, but he didn't comment on it. He needed to put all of his efforts into figuring out how to save his son.
"Something else to sink their teeth into?" he questioned. "Like what?"
Maybe he did need a mistress.
"A bigger scandal," Jayden replied. "You've been in the spotlight long enough. You know how the game is played. The media will be on you like white on rice until something juicer comes along."
Several ideas passed through Wilson's head. He dismissed all of them. Drinking a gallon of alcohol and crashing his car into a tree wouldn't garner the interest of the media. Like Jayden said, the story needed to be juicer than that.
"Any ideas?" Wilson asked Jayden. "What kind of story can we come up with that will get the media off my son?"
"I tried to steer Marv toward your ex-wife. I even asked for a copy of your divorce decree to keep his mind going in a different direction, hinting that she was sleeping with someone else and that was why you divorced her."
"She was, but that's not why I divorced her." He hated to admit it, but maybe that was an angle they could go with. "My father paid her two million dollars to marry me. I found out when his will was read. Is that juicy enough?"
"Only if you want them to know why she had to be paid to marry you."
"I'm gay," Wilson replied. "My father wanted me to marry someone appropriate for politics, and twenty years ago, marrying a man was not appropriate."
"Oh snap." Jayden sat up straight. His eyes rounded. "I know what will get the rabid dogs salivating so much that you having a son won't even register on their radar."
Wilson's interest was piqued. "What?"
"Marry a man."
Chapter Eleven
Jayden winced just as soon as the words were out of his mouth. It would be the perfect story. Unites States Senator Wilson Khor II marries a man. The media would eat it up for days, if not weeks. Maybe months.
Jayden didn't think he could stand to see it.
"That's actually not a bad idea," Wilson said. He started rubbing his chin as he paced back and forth across the room. "The publicity alone would keep the spotlight firmly on me and whoever I married." Wilson chuckled. "As an added bonus, it would drive my mother and ex-wife crazy."
"Do you have someone in mind?" Jayden asked.
"Yeah." Wilson looked straight at Jayden. "You."
"Me?" Jayden squeaked. Was he insane? "Are you insane?"
"You got me into this mess. You're going to help me get out of it."
"We can't get married."
"Why not?" Wilson asked. "Gay marriage is legal in every state in the United States. There's no law against it."
"We don't love each other," Jayden insisted, but his excuse sounded weak even to his ears. True, he didn't love the senator, but he sure liked him a lot. Still…marriage?
A snort of laughter burst from Wilson's lips. "In my experience, you don't marry for love."
