DUTCH AND GINA: A SCANDAL IS BORN (14 page)

“It’s good,” Max said, “or I wouldn’t be here.”

“So what you got?”

“Not so fast, Jackson.
 
What you got for me?
 
What assurances are you willing to give to me?”

“What assurances do you want?”

Max exhaled.
 
Here goes, he thought.
 
“I want you and the Republican leadership to support my candidacy for the Massachusetts Senate seat, which I plan to announce after this is all over.”

“Support you?” Oscar said.
 
“You must be mad!
 
You’re a freakin’ Democrat!
 
Why would we support a freakin’ Democrat?”
 

“I’m a Democrat now,” Max said, “but after this comes out I’ll no longer be welcomed in the Democratic party.”

Oscar and Jackson exchanged glances.
 
This had to be too good to be true.
 
Jackson leaned forward.
 

“Are you telling us, Max,” he said, “that you, the president’s chief of staff, plan to flip to our side?
 
That you, the chief of staff to the head of the Democratic party, will become a Republican and run for the Senate as a Republican?”

Max swallowed hard.
 
“That’s what I’m telling you,” he said.

“Well I’ll be,” Oscar said, grinning.
 
“Does the president know?”

“Of course he doesn’t know!”
 
Max snapped.
 
“And he’d better not find out until this is over.”
“Until what is over, Max?” Jackson asked, his gaze never leaving Max’s.

Max looked from Jackson to Oscar to Pauly and back to Jackson.
 
There was a time when he couldn’t bear the sight of these GOP operatives.
 
But now they were his lifeline.

“You’ve heard about all of the speculation surrounding the Harber baby?” Max asked.

“That his wife’s been doing the do with that Johnnie Cochran wannabe Roman Wilkes?”
 
Jackson asked.
 
“You know we’ve heard about it.”

Max looked Jackson dead in the eye.
 
“It’s true,” he said.

Oscar, amazed, touched Jackson on the arm.
 
Jackson, however, continued to stare at Max.
 

“What’s true?” he asked, to be clear.

“Regina Lansing-Harber, the First Lady, has been carrying on torrent affairs with numerous men inside the White House.”

Oscar smiled.
 
Jackson, however, wasn’t so easily persuaded.
 

“How do you know?” he asked Max.

“I caught her on various occasions.
 
I even escorted a couple of the men into the Residence myself, usually when the president was out of town or at some extended conferences on Capitol Hill.”

“Who were these men?” Jackson asked.
 

“One was Roman Wilkes,” Max said.
 
Oscar, beside himself with glee, grabbed Jackson’s arm with elation.

“And the other man?” Jackson asked.

Max didn’t skip a beat.
 
“That’s up to you,” he said.

Oscar’s smile left.
 
“Up to us?”

“You supply man number two, somebody willing to admit to an affair, and I’ll provide the eye witness testimony to the affair.”

Oscar frowned.
 
“How the hell would we know who was bonking the First Lady?
 
How are we going to supply him?”

“By getting him and bringing him forward,” Max said, looking more at Jackson than at Oscar.

Jackson smiled.
 

“But I still don’t get it,” Oscar said.
 
“Even if we provide you with the second guy, and you accuse Wilkes, all Wilkes and the other guy will have to do is take a DNA test.”

“The results won’t matter,” Max said.

“How you figure that?”

“Because it’ll be too late.
 
The damage would have already been done.
 
And even if they believe the results, which they won’t, it won’t matter.
 
Those two men won’t have to be the father of the child.
 
They just have to be in the running.
 
Which means, no matter how you slice it, Regina Harber doesn’t look real good.”
 
Especially, Max hoped, in Dutch’s eyes.

“I like it,” Jackson said.
 
And then he laughed.
 
“Dutch Harber must have done something pretty awful to you, Brennan.
 
I never would have dreamed you’d turn on him.”

“I’m not turning on him.”

“I hear he loves his wife.”

Max seemed offended by the comment.
 
“He doesn’t know his wife.
 
We’ll going to make him know her.”

“On your terms?”

“That’s right.”

Jackson laughed.
 
“This is going to be interesting.
 
But I think I should be able to dredge up that second guy.
 
If the offer is right.
 
Finding phantom lovers have always been a particular gift of mine.”

“That’s why I called you,” Max said.
  
Then exhaled.
 
“So is it a deal?”

“Oh, it’s a deal, all right,” Jackson said.
 
“I’ll be the fool of fools to turn down this deal.”

Max nodded.
 
He still felt burdened, he knew all of this could still blow up in his face, but at least he was getting somewhere.

TEN

It was well after midnight but Gina remained awake until Dutch made it to bed.
 
She lay on her back, in her short, silk gown, as Dutch, in his boxer’s, climbed in beside her.
 
And he, too, lay on his back as both stared upward, like a couple with too much to talk about.

Dutch looked over at Gina.
 
He still couldn’t get over the terror he saw in her eyes when she saw Liz on his lap.
 
“You’re okay?” he asked her.

Gina shrugged.
 
“Not sure,” she said.

Dutch moved over, wrapped his arms beneath her, and pulled her on top of him.
 
He removed braids from her face and kissed her on her lips.
 
“What can I do to make you sure?” he asked.

“Have you ever had sex with her?” Gina asked, refusing to mix words.

Dutch waited a moment before responding, his eyes still seeing a little of that horror in hers.
 
“No,” he said.

Gina traced her finger around his luscious lips.
 
“Did you want to have sex with her?”

Again, Dutch hesitated.
 
“Yes,” he admitted.

Gina’s heart dropped.
 
“Why didn’t you then?
 
She turned you down?”

Dutch shook his head.
 
“I never asked.
 
I didn’t want to harm our friendship.
 
I needed her friendship.”

“Something harmed it, though,” Gina pointed out, “because I’ve never heard you so much as mention her name since we’ve been together.
 
Not once.”

Dutch placed his hand on her bare backside and began squeezing and rubbing it.
 
“We had a situation that changed things,” he said.

“And what situation was that?”

“There was some concern that she was a security risk.”

Gina’s eyes stared at Dutch.
 
“A security risk?
 
What kind of security risk?”

“It was never proven at all.
 
Just a lot of suggestions that perhaps she was overstating the severity of certain hot spots around the globe to keep the US engaged and to keep the military industrial complex in full force.”

“Why would she want that?”

“The rumor was that she had a side deal with the neo-cons, who ultimately wanted a war with Iran to ensure Israel’s security.”

This interested Gina.
 
“Well was this true?”

Dutch shook his head.
 
“No.”

“But you fired her anyway?”

“She resigned.”

“But after being forced out, right?”

“Right,” Dutch had to admit.
 
He began rubbing her butt harder, holding his squeezes longer, feeling a hard on coming as he continued to touch her.
 
“But I accepted her resignation because politically there was no other way around it.
 
I was two years into my first term, my chances for a second term were bleak, and I was feeling it from every side.
 
So I blinked.
 
I’m ashamed that I did, but I did.”

Gina studied him.
 
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.
 
I’m sure you had no choice.”

“I had a choice,” Dutch said. “And I chose my political career.”
 
He smiled weakly.
 
“Worst choice I ever made.”

“But you aren’t certain she wasn’t a security risk---”

“I am certain, Gina.”

“How could you be certain?”

Dutch exhaled.
 
“It’s complicated, babe.”

“Try me.”

Dutch looked at her.
 
“She loved me too much to have harmed my presidency, all right?
 
I didn’t accept her resignation because I believed that nonsense they were telling on her.
 
I accepted because in politics perception means more than reality.
 
And to the public, it would have been the height of irresponsibility to keep a perceived security risk in my administration.”

“So why did you bring her back to your administration?”

“Because I don’t give a shit anymore, not about any public perception, not about any of it.
 
And because she really is excellent at what she does.
 
She’ll keep you safe.
 
And that, my dear, is all I’m interested in.”

Gina smiled.
 
“So you don’t want to rub her booty?”

Dutch slapped Gina’s butt, causing her to yell ooh and then laugh.
 
“What do you think?” he asked, rolling her off of him and onto her back.
 
“The only booty I’m rubbing, fucking, or otherwise tampering with is yours,” he said, his finger on her lips.
 
“Got that?”

Gina smiled. “Got it.”

Dutch stared momentarily at her, his love for her plain but expressive face swelling within him.
 
He kissed her, and continued kissing her as he slid out of his boxers. His penis quickly stiffened and jutted against her.

His kisses moved from her mouth to her neck as his muscular thigh pushed her legs apart and his finger slid into her vagina.

“I love you, Regina,” he said as his kisses intensified.
 
“I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” Gina replied, wrapping her arms around him, her body swaying to his touch.

His kisses moved down, from her neck to her breasts to her chest to her mound.
 
By the time his tongue slid in, she was already squeezing the sheet.
 
By the time he began to lick, she was arching her back and bucking against the intensity.
 
And by the time his manhood replaced his tongue, and his thick penis slid into her vagina, her body relaxed to the massaging calm of his thrusts.
 

For the longest time he thrust into her, with his gyrations slow and controlled.
 
Gina allowed every muscle in her body to feel the easiness of his in and out.
 
Her vagina began to fill with juice as his slow movements began to increase.
 
And then he pulled out, turned her onto her stomach, and reentered her from behind.
 

As soon as he did, the intensity increased.
 
And then his thrusts began to increase, as his penis moved further and further into her until his massive balls were slapping against her buttocks.
 
And she screamed out.
 
She couldn’t help herself.
 
The feeling of the man she loved fucking her brains out, rending her so overcome with the sensation of it that her control broke.

Dutch’s control broke too, as he fucked her, as his penis slid so deep inside of her that he could feel her walls constrict around him and create an encasement so tight and juicy that he couldn’t hold on any longer.
 
And he released.
 
Like a flood he poured into her and both of them reacted, with his ass jutting up and his big body slamming her down.
 
And then the final push-in as he emptied every ounce of himself.
 
He left nothing in reserve.
 
He left it all inside of her.

After a moment to ease his hyperventilation, he held onto her as he rolled onto his back, and rolled her onto his stomach.
 
He rested his hand on her vagina, grabbing it in a protective hug as they both settled down from the high their lovemaking always took them on.
 

By the time she eased off of him for her own comfort, he still could not let her go. He wrapped her into his arms, and she moved into them gladly, as they kissed once more and then gradually slid into a peaceful, companionable sleep.
 

That next morning bought anything but peacefulness.
 
It started early.
 
Gina had showered, dressed, checked in with Little Walt in the nursery, and was entering the East Wing of the White House, balancing coffee and her schedule book as she made her way to the office of the First Lady, when she heard someone talking vigorously in one of the side offices that as early as yesterday was vacant.
 
The door was opened, so she peeped in.

What she saw surprised her.
 
Liz Sinclair, dressed beautifully in a short grayish-green dress, was seated on the edge of the desk, her long, shapely legs crossed, a pair of black-rimmed glasses on her big, pretty eyes.
 
Boxes were all around the office, as if she was just beginning to settle in.

Seated in the chair in front of the desk was the president, his legs crossed also, looking his regular elegant self.
 
He, in fact, was listening intensely to Liz, as if he wasn’t the busiest man on earth but had nothing but time on his hands.
 
Gina was pleased to see him so relaxed.
 
It was the person who was relaxing him that concerned her.

Especially the way Dutch looked at her.
 
Gina could see that every now and then his eyes would trail down the length of Liz’s legs, as if he was really admiring the view, but how could he not?
 
Liz was sitting right in front of him with all but a neon light in her lap.
 

Not that Gina believed anything other than renewed friendship was going on.
 
After the way Dutch made love to her last night, after the way Dutch always treated her, she couldn’t see him entertaining the thought of going down any romantic roads with any other woman.
 
But they were living in Washington, and in this town where even a joke could get twisted into an international scandal, all bets were off.

Liz kept on talking.
 
“It really was a game changer,” she was saying.
 
“And I refused to ever again have a comedian for a client.
 
Flat refused it.
 
I didn’t care what their agents were offering me.”

“Good morning,” Gina said, moving further into the office.
 

Dutch looked over and saw her and smiled.
 
“Good morning,” he said.
 
“You’re up early.”

“For me you mean?”

Dutch chuckled.
 
“That’s what I mean.”

Gina looked at Liz.
 
“Good morning.”

“How are you?” she asked.
 
“Love that suit.”

It almost sounded like a put-down coming from a stylish woman like her, but Gina went with it.
 
“Thank-you,” she said.
 

“I’d better run,” Dutch said, rising, “before they send out distress signals.”

“Oh, don’t go,” Liz said, flapping her leg, so desperate to keep Dutch’s attention that it almost looked pathetic to Gina.

“I leave you in good hands,” Dutch said with a smile and turned to his wife.
 
“Take care of her, babe,” he said, kissing her on the lips.

Gina loved when he kissed her, loved the nearness of him, the clean, fresh smell of him.
 
“I’ll do my best,” she said.

“You ladies have a good day,” Dutch said, and left.

“You’re a really lucky woman,” Liz said in what Gina viewed as the first honest remark she’d made yet.

“I don’t know about being lucky, but I’m extremely blessed, yes.”