Reesa Ch. 02

He remembers going home and waking Marcie up when he returned and giving her one hell of a bang. It had happened before, coming home horny from some dinner, she never realized that it was from his ogling other women. She didn't seem to mind though.

But usually, that was it, you meet some amazing people at these dinners then never see them again. The DC crowd is quite a merry-go-around of people coming and going, in constant flux. Thus, he was quite taken aback when he received a phone call one evening from the young Kimberly. She explained that she was working on a paper for a class and was wondering if he could help her, maybe they could meet for coffee. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he thought to himself but he was just a guy and she seemed so innocent and vulnerable, how could he refuse her.

The whole time they were chatting over coffee she kept looking up to him with her youthful eyes, making sure he accepted what she was saying. After about an hour of talking, he got up to leave. She followed him out, she grabbed his arm as he walked down the sidewalk, holding it tight against her. Looking up into his eyes, she suggested that perhaps he had a little more time to help her with another problem. A friend of hers had an apartment nearby, maybe they could go there. Stupid, stupid, stupid, his mind was telling him, but he followed her, like in a trance.

She sucked his cock like a pro and gave her body to him. He used her, fucked her first gently, barely able to enter her tight pussy, but then with vigor. She came a lot, at least he assumed she did. Of course she did, she was dripping wet. He fucked her three times! Three times! Plus the blowjob. Four orgasms in one afternoon! Not even when he was in college did he ever cum like that. The little minx brought out the man in him. Yeah, what an idiot he was.

He tried calling her a few times, but each time she refused to see him, telling him that her father suspected she was seeing someone and was afraid they might be caught. Yeah, what an idiot. But that mouth, god, what a blowjob she gave. Laughing as he exploded in her mouth, cum spilling down her chin. She loved it, like a little girl playing house.

Ryan left Stephen's office crushed. He returned a half later with the letter, sealed in an envelope addressed to the President. He then left to face his biggest challenge, confessing to his wife that he fucked this girl that looked like she was 16 years old, only a few years older than his own daughter.

Stephen had written drafts of the two press statements. He needed to bring Bridgette and the Press Secretary on board with everything, but thought it could wait until they came in in the morning. Besides, he kept hoping for some good news from Jack about finding the men.

In the mean time he called the hospital, the cell number of the night nurse who was responsible for Reesa; she had kindly given it to him before he left. He told her that she remained in pain so they had increased her medication and as well gave her something to help sleep. Both she and her grandmother were sleeping. There were no further indications of any serious injuries. But they would give her another MRI later in the morning and take some x-rays to confirm that diagnosis.

Stephen then curled up on his couch and was just falling asleep when his cell phone rang. He saw that it was Ryan calling, wondering what he had to report. It wasn't Ryan though, it was Marcie.

"Stephen, tell me the truth, this story of conspiracy sounds like a crock of shit. Was he really set up? Was it really an attempt to embarrass the President? I mean, he still did it, I'm not going to forgive him for that. And so did you. You fucking men. Goddamn you bastards. I can't believe this. Tell me Stephen, is it true?" Marcie was crying into the phone.

Stephen confirmed with her the story and everything he learned from the FBI. It was a setup, but affirmed that Ryan made his own choices too. That she had to figure out what to do. He mentioned to her that Ryan had also submitted his resignation and that it would be presented to the President first thing in the morning. Ryan apparently hadn't told her that part. She gasped.

"He can't do that. It was a setup, why should he have to resign? You can't make him do that!"

Stephen realized where Marcie's priorities laid, with power and position, not fidelity. Before he gave the letter to the President, he would call them again and find out where they stood, but if he guessed right, it was going to be with Ryan's position, doing all they can to protect it.

He finally did get about two hours sleep before his secretary woke him up at six a.m. He grabbed a suit he always had ready from his closet and headed down to the gym. Though he didn't have much time, he got on one of the treadmills and jogged for twenty minutes before showering and dressing for the day. He grabbed a few Danishes and a coffee before heading back to his office.

While he was out, Jack had called. He returned the call immediately, nearly dropping the coffee in his rush to call him. They had five men under arrest and had picked up Kimberly and were threatening to charge her with conspiracy and treason. She confessed everything to them. Two of the men also turned on the organization for leniency. While they did not report any plan to assassinate the President, Ryan decided to keep that in the press statement. He would have to discuss it with Bridgette and the Press Secretary first.

Calling Ryan, he informed him about the arrests and reconfirmed his assumption that Marcie wasn't going to dump him, wasn't go to make him move out, she was going to be the good wife and stand by her man. And she had the nerve to call men pathetic, Stephen reflected. He never did like her, but understood from Ryan that she was amazing in bed and had the incredible skill to deepthroat him.

Stephen then set up an emergency meeting with Bridgette and the Press Secretary and spoke with Anna, the First Lady's personal assistant to find a time to squeeze him in later in the morning. She was flying up to New York for the afternoon, but there was some time in her schedule just before her departure.

As expected, Bridgette flew off the handle blaming both Ryan and Stephen for this mess. She took great pride in her own ability not to be seduced, though Stephen knew it had nothing to do with her being wise to a potential scandal, rather it was her own inhuman ability to recognize her own sexuality. Stephen stayed calm though trying to direct the conversation to the task at hand, creating a story to circulate to the press. They were eventually able to focus on the story and all agreed that having letters of resignation ready was a good step. They didn't want to report that, yet, as that itself would indicate a focus on the sex story and not the militant group and possibility for assassination. They also agreed to wording the story with the "capability and interest" to assassinate rather than "plan." They also agreed to keep Ryan out of the White House for the next few days and see what happens. If the story blows up, then they could honestly report that he had taken leave and had submitted his letter of resignation.

At nine o'clock they met with the President to debrief him on the situation. He was furious and looked at Stephen with great skepticism. Throughout the conversations he had, except with Jack, Stephen never emphasized his emotional interest in Reesa, it was merely a special interest that went beyond his normal flings. In front of the staff the President admonished him for his sexual misconduct, and told him it wouldn't be tolerated. But then Bridgette stepped forward,

"Mr. President, this is obviously a grave concern, but the real focus should be on the militant group behind the scandal. We have to remember that they planned this attack and Ryan and Stephen were targeted. The women they chose spoke to each of their particular histories, meaning the group was able to get a lot of personal information about each of us. We have to be very diligent, not knowing what else may be in the works already. Fortunately for me, their research wasn't very well conducted. I don't think we should be blaming Stephen for what happened. Ryan made a bad choice, but he was intentionally led in to making that choice. Sir, the story isn't the sex, the story is the militant group. I've called over to the FBI and they are sending a report on all such white supremacist groups and their militant activities over the past decade, particularly their threats against you. With this information we will be able to define the story rather than be defined by it."

"Brilliant!" the President exclaimed. "However, we have to remember our immediate work at hand -- we have the Chinese negotiating team here and the President will be visiting in two weeks. We have to nail out an agreement on security in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran by then. We need the Chinese support. I hope to hell this story doesn't create any hiccups in these meetings."

"Sir, we are all focused on the negotiations," Bridgette continued, "this story is just a little bump along the way -- we'll have to expect these kinds of things over the next few years, they are going to happen. We have to remember, none of us planned this or acted recklessly, it was a set-up. The group, perhaps intentionally planned it for this week to upset the negotiations -- we can play that up in our story as well. The attempted undermining of strategic US foreign policy negotiations! I think that adds to the potential destructiveness of these groups, their attempted interference in US policy. There is one issue we need to settle though when developing the press statement -- do we call this a terrorist attack? A terrorist group? Or use the word terrorism at all? It's a tricky situation, sir."

"That's a damn good question," the President replied. "I need some thoughts on this."

Throughout Bridgette's discussion, Stephen sat stunned. After their meeting this morning when she had blown up at him, Stephen had not expected any support from her, and here she was defending him in front of the President; and not only defending him, but also had already initiated a story line by communicating with the FBI on her own. Stephen was touched by her support.

"Sir, if I may," Stephen replied, moving away from his marveling at Bridgette's performance, "Bridgette's question on terrorism is important. First I'd like to second what she had to say about defining the story around the militant groups. Second, as such, I don't think we should shy away from using the word terrorism. However, I don't think it would be in good taste to refer to this particular scandal as a terrorist attack. I wouldn't over play it, in fact, thinking about it now, I suggest we throw the term out there, don't use it extensively in defining these groups, maybe something along the lines of "terrorist-like" or "potential terrorist threat" and leave it at that. Let the journalists pick up the term and debate its usage. That will keep them busy for awhile!"

"Excellent idea Stephen," Bridgette piped in. "I think we can toss the term out and we already know some will take it and run others will probably be offended at the usage, but they will then be calling in their terrorist experts and that itself will become the story. Perfect."

"Good job, now I have another meeting with the negotiating team before they meet with their Chinese counterparts again today."

With that the staffers began to file out of the Oval Office. Stephen moved quickly over to Bridgette and gently touched her elbow as they started to walk out. He wanted to say something, but then the President called him back in for a "private word." Bridgette rolled her eyes at Stephen, almost joking with him that now he was in trouble! He silently chuckled to himself, more at the fact that his and Bridgette's relationship was entering a new phase.

Now alone with the President, he expressed to Stephen his concern about how Lynda was going to react, she had been a good ally. Stephen was going to have to work on her. He then questioned Stephen on his relationship with Reesa.

"Its complicated sir, and I'd rather not go into it at the moment. But trust me sir, I have been fully upfront with Jack Snyder. I have nothing to hide sir, just lots of personal confusions I have to work out."

"Are you meeting with Michelle?"

"In about thirty minutes," Stephen replied, chuckling at the President's assumption.

"Stephen, be careful, I can't afford to lose you."

"Yes sir, thank you for your vote of confidence, sir. And, as for the Chinese negotiations, you saw my updated briefing? I think we need to hold out sir and toy with the idea of brining in a team of Afghans to participate in the negotiations. The Chinese will hate that. At least float it as a possibility, make them want to avoid their inclusion might give us something to get out of them."

The President then thanked him for staying on top of the work and not letting it slip despite everything that was going on. He then asked how the girl was doing, Stephen giving him a brief medical update.

Upon leaving the Oval Office, Stephen made his way directly to Bridgette's office.

Before he could even say anything, Bridgette said, "Don't say anything you might regret later, Stephen!" though, while saying it, she did have a smile.

"I don't regret anything Bridgette, that ever happened between us, except for perhaps some of our early antagonism, but look where that led us? What a pay off!"

"Shut up and don't ever go there ..."

"Oh, but I do go there, a lot! Seeing you naked ..."

"Seriously Stephen, there's been a lot of water under the bridge; I have no regrets either, but we both know what the possibilities were. We made choices, good choices. We work well together and we have some good years ahead of us, I'm sure. But tell me Stephen, do you love her?"

"Who, Reesa?"

"Of course, who else would I be talking about, Santa Maria or perhaps Michelle?"

"I'm glad you can laugh, it's still not so easy for me. I don't know Bridgette what I feel, except confused, but how did you know?"

"Stephen one thing you are not is a good poker player -- you are an open book to read. You can say what you want, and speak very diplomatically, hiding your true agenda, but your face shows too much. I saw it in your eyes when you were speaking to the President. That's when I got the idea about focusing the story on the militant groups."

"What? You mean you hadn't called the FBI beforehand? You just made that up?"

"Well, I just called them now and they are sending the report. We'll have a full statement with briefing papers to the media outlets by early afternoon for the nightly news."

"I owe you. Thanks. It means a lot that you were so supportive and covering for me. Seriously, I'm indebted. Though, I must confess a certain sadness over the fact that there aren't sex pics of you circulating around the internet -- I have no doubt they would go viral and you'd be the hottest thing since Paris Hilton's blow job."

While Bridgette had a smile on her face, she also showed some concern. "Stephen, I was so close to going home with that man. I can't tell you how many times today, once I learned of the set-up, I've thanked my lucky stars that I held back. It wasn't easy though. I didn't get to this position on my back Stephen, you know that, those pics wouldn't go away, I'd be over."

"I'm sorry, it isn't something to joke about. You are lucky, I'm lucky, Ryan wasn't quite so lucky, but he also missed a major life-destroying episode. I know pics don't go away that easy, but neither do rape chargers or accusations of pedophilia. This was close. With your suggestions we will even be able to control the damage and move on quickly. Bridgette, I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"What didn't work out, you and I, another guy? You know what set me off this morning, it wasn't jealousy Stephen it was both the fear that I was almost destroyed and ... yes, it was jealousy, but not of you, we do have something special, but it is your confused love for Reesa, who ever she may be. I'm jealous of your potential for love Stephen. Lynda was bad for you and I hope things with Reesa work out. Besides, you need a good black woman to train you properly."

They both laughed, Stephen recognizing that that was probably the first time he'd heard Bridgette make any reference to race. She was very cautious and hated being defined as a black woman, being seen as someone who got to her position because she was black rather than because of her skills and abilities. Because of that, she could never be just herself, and Stephen finally recognized that in her, why she had such a façade of coldness. Different women undoubtedly developed different strategies, Bridgette's was perhaps not the best, it was just an open realization on Stephen's part of how a brilliant woman like her had to negotiate with the racial and patriarchic power structures that be. He even had more respect for her at that moment than ever before.

Both of them recognized that the conversation and their personal thoughts were perhaps getting too personal and returned to their professional selves, discussing Stephen's briefing paper on the Chinese security negotiations. Stephen then ran off, not wanting to miss his opportunity to meet with Michelle before she left for the afternoon.

As Stephen rushed out he was torn and confused by his own emotions for Bridgette, but having to put them on the back burner yet again. In the office of the First Lady he was warmly welcomed by Anna with a big hug.

"Rumor has it there are some unpleasantries, I hope this doesn't affect your position Stephen, you have a lot of supporters on the staff you know.

Stephen was a little taken aback first by the fact that the rumors were already spreading and second by Anna's show of support.

Before being ushered into to meet the First Lady, Stephen quickly texted Bridgette to move quickly on a press conference, as rumors were spreading amongst the staff and they were bound to soon filter their way out onto the street. If they wanted to control the story, they would have to be the ones to make it public, not be seen as responding to a question.

Anna then showed him in to the First Lady's office where he was warmly greeted by Michelle with a hug and kiss on the cheek. With some unease, Stephen shared with her as many details about the "scandal" and the story, without mentioning anything special about Reesa.

"Sounds like everything is under control though," Michelle replied, "nothing too serious, except for Ryan, but with Marcie behind him I'm sure he'll come out unscathed. But I don't think reporting this to me is why you are here. What's going on Stephen? What aren't you telling me?"

"Michelle ... It's complicated!"

"It always is, with you; though it rarely is as complicated as you imagine. Let me guess, this girl Reesa, that's her name yes? Is it lust or is it love? Oh, love, I can see that in your expression. How old is she?"

"Twenty-three..."

"What are her feelings towards you?"

"I think she loves me too, at least she says so."

"'You think'? 'At least'? Are you doubting her, or yourself? Stephen, listen, I don't know this girl, but to have seduced you the way she did, she must be special. She's young, but it's not like you are the first older guy to be with a younger woman..."

"But that is just it, or part of it, Michelle. How is this going to be read? Just another older guy getting some from a beautiful, intelligent, sexy, engaging, beautiful, did I say that already, young woman."

"Oh I get it now. It isn't the emotion it is your inability to control the story. To put your stamp onto it."

"No, it isn't that ... Well, damn, maybe that is part of it. Michelle, let me be frank, what I need is your approval. It's crazy, but every girl I've ever started to be serious about, without your ok, it was dead in the water."