DUTCH AND GINA: AFTER THE FALL (20 page)

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Again,” Dutch said, “what were you two up to?

Where did you go?”

Jade hesitated. “We just went for a drive,” she finally said.

“And I suppose you pushed Chris an up to taking you?”

you?”

“No, sir, she didn’t,” Chris an said. “It was all my idea.”

Jade knew her father saw right through that lie, and the First Lady too probably, but Dutch was s ll too in mida ng for her to have the courage to set the record straight. She hadn’t piled up any good will with her father the way Chris an had. She couldn’t afford to be any more problematic than she already was.

Gina looked at her. She would have hoped to see that courage anyway, but she understood the posi on she was in. She was s ll trying to win Dutch’s approval, although she already had it.

And Dutch, Gina though, as she looked at her husband. He was in a state. He exhaled, paced some more, ran his hand through his hair, that white tux as out of place now as it had to have been in that hospital.

He finally stopped pacing and stood in front of Jade.

Jade’s heart hammered.

“You’re young but you’re grown,” Dutch said, “and I know you want to spread your wings, to enjoy DC and all it has to offer. I understand that. This is a new world for you and I’m new to you. But I think you misunderstood me. So let me be clear. You will never, under any circumstances, disobey me. Not when it deals with your security. You’re the daughter of a president. You may not like that fact--”

“I do like it,” Jade quickly interjected.

“ The point is,” Dutch said, s ll too upset to coddle her, “you can’t live the same carefree life you lived before you knew who I was. That’s an impossibility.

I’m sorry that it is, but it is. I want you with me, we s ll are trying to get to know each other, but you will have to understand the parameters. You and Chris could have been killed tonight. . .”

Dutch’s voice cracked as he said that and he just stood there, his eyes glistening with the fear of what could have been, unable to con nued. Gina immediately le her chair and went to her husband.

She stood beside him, her hand rubbing his back for comfort.

He exhaled. “Go to bed,” he finally said to his daughter. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Jade squeezed Chris an’s hand as she stood, tears in her eyes, and hesitated. She wanted to apologize, to make clear it was all her idea to leave the White House in the first place, but Dutch moved away from her. He didn’t want to hear it tonight. She went to her room.

Chris an stood up too. “Please don’t blame her, sir,” he said. “It was all my doing. She was just going along with me.”

Dutch walked over to Chris an. “ The fact that you’re lying to me right now is beside the point. You’re trying to protect Jade and I respect that. The fact that you assisted in placing my daughter in harm’s way is the point. I am deeply disappointed in you, Chris an. I expect you to come to me if there’s an issue with my wife, my daughter, or my child. I make the decisions regarding those three and I don’t farm out that responsibility to you or anyone else. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Chris an said, figh ng back his own tears. “Goodnight,” he said and extended his hand.

Dutch looked at the hand and then looked at young Chris. “You don’t want me touching you right now.” Christian’s heart sank. “Yes, sir,” he said, and left.

Dutch then turned to Crader. “Any word on the person who was driving that van?” he asked him.

Crader moved toward him shaking his head.

“Nothing new. He’s still in critical condition.”

“But it wasn’t Christian’s fault, right?” Gina asked.

“It wasn’t his fault,” Crader acknowledged. “They

“It wasn’t his fault,” Crader acknowledged. “They have at least four witnesses that said the van was going in the wrong direc on when the head on collision occurred. It clearly wasn’t Chris’s fault.”

“Good,” Dutch said. “All right, Cray, you can go.”

“Good night, sir,” he said to Dutch. “Good night, ma’am,” he said to Gina.

“Good night,” Gina said, and when he was gone, she looked at Dutch.

“You don’t think you were a li le hard on him tonight?”

“On who?”

“Christian.”

“Absolutely not! If he would not have placed my daughter in his SUV and drove her away from here, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, Gina.”

“And if Jade hadn’t begged him to take her away from here, and you know that’s exactly what she did, we wouldn’t be having this conversa on, either,” Gina replied.

Dutch stood there and nodded. He knew when he was beat. “I’ll apologize to Chris an tomorrow,” he said.

“And stop thinking about what coulda, shoulda, woulda, please? Just thank God for what is.” Dutch smiled. He really loved this woman. He pulled her into his arms. “Right now,” he said, “you and I are going to check on our baby, get out of these gorgeous monkey suits, and take ourselves to bed.”

“And all we’re going to do once we get in that bed is sleep, right?”

Dutch snorted. “Yeah, right,” he said snidely, as he pulled her into his arms. And even though he tried to shield it, the terror he almost endured tonight was s ll as alive as air.

THIRTEEN

By mid-morning the next day, the notoriously late Gina was in her dressing room surrounded by aides when Dutch, who had already been at work in the Oval Office for nearly three hours, stood at the room’s entrance. Her hair was done, her makeup on, her ou it, a smart Alexander McQueen pantsuit, laid out for her. She wore only her short, silk red robe, one so sheer that it hid nothing. Dutch, well aware of that fact, leaned against the doorjamb and watched her.

She looked at him. “Good morning,” she said. The aides knew to con nue their work, to con nue tweaking the First Lady’s hair and makeup and to ignore the conversa on around them. “What brings you back up here?”

Dutch, however, didn’t respond. He wanted her alone. He mo oned toward their adjacent bedroom, and headed back that way.

Gina really had li le

me to waste, given her

schedule of events and the fact that she was already off to a late start, but she also knew Dutch. He came back up to the Residence for one of two reasons only: he had something vital to tell her, something that couldn’t wait un ll she made her way downstairs into her own East Wing office, or he had to fuck her.

“Excuse me, ladies,” she said as she rose and followed him, closing the adjacent bedroom door behind her.

“What’s happened now?” she asked when she closed the door.

When she saw that he was si ng on the bed and was unbuckling his pants, she got her answer.

She smiled. “Since your recovery from that collapse you’re quickly becoming something of a sex maniac.

You realize that, don’t you?”

“Either that,” he said, unzipping his pants and pulling it out, “or I’m just a man who can’t get enough of his wife.”

Gina stood there, watching, her vagina becoming wet from the view along. And when he started jacking it, causing it to enlarge full and juicy within seconds, she was as horny as he was. Even though, just seconds ago, sex wasn’t even on her radar screen.

She un ed her robe, revealing that naked body he She un ed her robe, revealing that naked body he loved so well, and walked up to him.

“ That’s my girl,” he said when she sat on his lap and allowed him to ease his penis inside of her. She hadn’t been prepped, but she was already wet.

They both knew it couldn’t be elaborate, their schedules wouldn’t allow it, so they didn’t foreplay at all.

They banged.

Dutch held onto Gina’s bu ocks and Gina rode that rod as if it was a bucking horse. For minutes upon minutes she rode it, he even pulled her against him as she rode it, un ll his ejacula on pushed them both into a ght ride that had his cum and her cum oozing along the sides of that rod.

They con nued to ride the swooshing sounds of their mixture, hoping the aides in the adjacent room wasn’t hearing those sounds, but not really caring if they did. Dutch held Gina closer against him, straining out the last of his climax, as she wrapped her arms around him and strained out the last of hers, too.

Un ll they had nothing le and slowed un ll they stopped.

Dutch then took her chin in his hand so that her face was directly in front of his. He kissed her. “I just wanted to say I love you,” he said.

“Don’t even try that,” Gina said with a smile.

“Because saying you love me didn’t take all that.” Dutch laughed. That was why he loved her so: no bullshit with Gina.

He playfully slapped her ass. “Get off of me, woman,” he said, “you’ve got me late for work.” As Gina slid off of him she pinched his penis.

“Ouch!” he yelled.

“ There’s your late for work, buddy,” she said, and headed for the bathroom.

A er showering with Gina, and pinching her back, Dutch was once again at work in the Oval Office. He leaned back in the swivel chair behind his desk and studied the report. Crader, along with his press secretary Allison Shearer, stood beside the desk wai ng for his verdict. Both of them were leaning no, and hoped Dutch would lean that way also.

“Yes,” Dutch said, tossing the report across his desk toward Allison. “Set it up.”

Allison looked at Crader, hoping that her new boss could persuade the president to rethink this decision.

“I’m not so sure, sir,” Crader said, “that a mee ng like that is a good idea.”

“It’s a lousy idea. But I’m going to have it anyway.”

“I would strongly advice against it, sir.”

“Duly noted.”

Allison and Crader exchanged glances, with Crader giving her that
I tried
look.

“If the media gets wind of this, sir,” Allison said, refusing to give in that easily, “they’ll have a field day with this.”

“ Then we had be er make certain the media doesn’t get wind of it.”

Allison exhaled. “Yes, sir,” she said reluctantly and looked again at Crader.

“That’ll be all, Ally,” Crader said to her.

She hated being excluded so quickly, but she was accustomed to it. She took the report and le the Oval Office.

Crader let out a ght sigh. “It’s risky, Dutch,” he said.

Dutch nodded. “I’m aware of that.”

“It could be interpreted as an abuse of power.”

“It could be.”

“I s ll say you should stay as far away from this as

“I s ll say you should stay as far away from this as you possibly can.”

“And I said your objection has been duly noted.” Crader shook his head as Dutch’s desk intercom buzzed. “When I agreed to become your chief of staff, I never realized how stubborn you were.”

Dutch laughed and pressed his desk bu on. “Yes, Belle?”

“A Dr. Henry Osgood requests permission to enter the White House, sir.”

Crader frowned. “What is he doing here?”

“ That accident last night is headline news this morning. I’m sure he wants to eyeball his girlfriend. I certainly would if I were in his shoes.” Dutch pressed the bu on again. “Senator McKenzie will handle it, Belle.”

“Yes, sir,” Belle said.

“ Take him to the Yellow Oval Room,” Dutch ordered as he stood to his feet and walked around the historic Resolute Desk. “And then get Gina. Ed Drake is wai ng to talk to me so she’ll have to entertain him until I get there.”

“She may have already le for that ribbon cu ng ceremony.”

“She hasn’t le ,” Dutch said with confidence. He hadn’t too long ago made love to her and showered with her. And given how long it took for Gina to get herself together, she was s ll probably in her dressing room.

“I’ll get on it,” Crader said as he headed out of the Oval Office. “Hey, Chris an,” he said when he opened the door and saw the young man walking pass it.

“Chris?” Dutch said from inside the office. “Is that Chris?”

Chris an swallowed hard. “Yes, sir, it’s me,” he said and peered into the office.

“Come here,” Dutch ordered.

“Ed Drake, the Na onal Security Advisor, is wai ng to see you, sir.”

“I know. This’ll only take a minute.”

Chris an walked in and closed the door. He had sought to avoid the president, certain that he was the last person on earth the president wanted to see.

“How did you rest last night?” Dutch asked him.

“I don’t think I did, sir.”

Dutch smiled weakly. “Understood.”

“I kept seeing that van, and hearing that noise, and seeing the terror in Jade’s eyes. I don’t know if I’ll ever rest again.”

Dutch knew what terror felt like too. “You’ll get through it,” he assured him.

“Yes, sir. I sure hope so, sir. Any word on the driver of that van?”

“He’s be er. He’s out of intensive care at least.

The doctors expect a full recovery.”

“ Thank God for that,” Chris an said, relieved. “I don’t think I could have handled somebody dying.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Chris.”

“At least the accident wasn’t. But taking Jade out of the White House was.”

Dutch considered the young man. He loved the way he took responsibility. “Regarding what I said to your last night,” he started, but Christian interrupted him.

“I deserved worst, sir.”

“Gina seems to think I was too hard on you.”

“Oh, no, sir. What I did was inexcusable.”

“I agree with Gina. Jade was as much responsible for that debacle as you were. I’m sorry for going off on you the way I did. I should have understood your pain, when all I could think about was mine. Forgive me.” Chris an didn’t expect, in a million years, that the morning a er would begin this way. He smiled.

morning a er would begin this way. He smiled.

“There’s nothing to forgive, sir,” he said.

“Good man,” Dutch said. “Now go and find Jade.

That boyfriend of hers has arrived.”

Chris an’s heart dropped. “Her boyfriend is here, sir?”

“Yes. Crader’s on his way to secure him now. Take Jade to the Yellow Oval when you find her.”

“Yes, sir,” Chris an said and headed out as Dutch pressed the intercom bu on and informed his secretary that he would see Ed Drake now.

Chris an found Jade seated along the brick-lined walkway on the southern end just outside of the East Garden Room. She was sharply a red in a short, lavender dress and heels, her hair loose and down her back, her green eyes as brilliantly bright as the grass surrounding her. She was pure beauty, he thought as he approached her. And his heart ached just knowing that she was about to be turned over to that boyfriend of hers.