Loving the Senator (Capitol Affairs #1) (14 page)

“Well, how have you been? Are you living in New York?” I asked.

“No, dude, I didn’t go. My grandma died, and I got my money when I turned twenty-one. I stayed here, and met Charlie at the video store where we both work. He’s the manager, and we moved in together last year. Guess what? I am expecting a baby in February. Can you tell?”

She moved her coat apart so I could see her stomach, which was barely showing. I don’t think it could get any worse after she told me that. Veena bringing a child into the world, as messed up as she was, could only be a recipe for disaster.

“Wow, that’s fabulous. Are you happy?” I tried to act excited for her, not knowing what else to say.

“I guess. I always wanted kids, and Charlie likes the idea of having boys running around the trailer. Did you hear about Maggie?”

“No, what about Maggie?” I asked.

“She overdosed one night and died. She just gave up, Prudence. Now I have no one but Charlie.”

“Oh, my God. I didn’t know that, Veena. What happened to her children?”

I couldn’t understand what I was hearing. First, Veena always dreamed of moving to New York City to become a fashion designer. That was all she talked about, and would draw out sketches of clothes constantly. She and her sister, Maggie were to inherit a good amount of money when they turned twenty-one from their parents. Their parents passed away when Veena was just eight years old and they were very wealthy. The only relative they had was their grandmother, and she lived in Whispering Willow. Maggie had been the homecoming queen at our school. She was tall, gorgeous and the envy of all the girls. She got pregnant by a guy from the trailer park, and then continued to have two more children with him. Her life went downhill from there. They lived in complete and utter poverty while he sold drugs and she took them. Beulah said she blew through her inheritance in one year.

“They went to foster care. Her husband, Davey, left her a year earlier. He never cared about the kids. Hell, Davey Junior found her and went running down the street crying he couldn’t wake up his mom,” said Veena.

“That’s so awful, Veena.”

I was so thankful I had gotten away when I did. I could have easily been in the same boat; I am sure, if not worse. God knows what could have become of me if it weren’t for Beulah.

It was obvious Charlie was bored with our catching up. He lit up a cigarette while I was talking to Veena. He whispered to her that this was the last place he wanted to be. They both laughed and Veena kissed him, slipping him the tongue in front of me.

Veena had so many dreams when we were in school. She had more dreams than I had. I was appalled by what I witnessed.

Veena was one of the statistics of Whispering Willows. I wanted to take her back to Virginia with me, but I knew that couldn’t happen. I wanted to save her and let her live with me in the condo. I wanted to clean her up and get her away from that character she was with. But, just like my mom, there was nothing I could do.

Before I left, I hugged her tight and whispered in her ear. “That’s not true about having no one. You have me and don’t forget that. I will always be here for you.” I slipped my business card in her coat pocket. She hugged me back and said nothing. I don’t think she realized what I did. Somewhere deep inside her, Veena was still the there. I hoped she was not too far-gone that she could not come back. I watched her drive away to her grandmother’s old trailer in a beat-up Ford that looked like it had been in too many accidents.

My heart ached for her.

***

Beulah and I brought my mom back to Virginia with us. Beulah wanted her to be next to my grandfather in the family mausoleum. She was able to bring the urn with her on the plane in her carry-on bag. I was a little uncomfortable with the idea, but tried not to think about it.

When we landed in D.C., I received another text message, and this one was nastier than the first.

Hey, trailer trash. Mom just died of AIDS. I hope she didn’t give it to the senator. I hope you don’t have it.

I could not wait to tell Jade what a classless bitch she was. I had half a notion to call her, but she blocked her number when she sent the text. I told Alex when he picked me up at the airport. After he bombarded me with hugs, kisses and promises of hot sex, I showed him what she sent to me.

“Alex, look I got another text. Did you talk to Jade yet?” He couldn’t keep his hands off of me and wasn’t listening.

“Alex? Did you hear me?” He had his hand under my dress trying to feel me up.

“Yes, I left her a message to leave you alone,” he said, as he kissed my neck and put my hair up to his nose breathing.

“I love how you smell,” he said.

“I just got another one that is very mean.” I showed him what it said, and he didn’t say much.

“I am going to call her again. Don’t answer it, Prudence. It will just give her ammunition to do something else. I have people that can handle her if it gets too out of control. God I have missed you.” He had his hands up my skirt and was fingering me before we left the parking lot.

“I think she’s out of control. This is awful, Alex.” I was talking, trying to catch my breath as his fingers pressed deeper into me.

“I will get it handled tonight. Right now, I need to get you home before I explode,” he assured me.

I agreed, and forgot about it once he had me in the bed fucking my brains out.

Chapter Fourteen

The next few weeks went by in a crazy rush. I loved getting back to my job, and I loved living in Washington D.C. around the politics and excitement. Victoria asked me out for lunch again, and told me things improved in her marriage. She planned a surprise trip to Europe with her husband and I found out his name was Frank. She asked me to take over her cases. Of course, I nervously agreed. It was going to be a lot of hard work, and long hours to prepare to “tear them a new one” as she referred to it. I wanted to do it, and was excited for the opportunity to prove myself as a tough prosecuting attorney.

I began seeing Alex every night that he wasn’t working late at the Capitol. It was a wonderful distraction at night being with him. We usually ended up at his house since he had Becket, and it’s secluded.

Jade must have been doing detective work of her own, because it came out in the paper we were officially dating. The papers seemed to be concerned with our age difference. Alex again assured me he called her and left several messages, but she never returned his calls.

All of a sudden, it splashed over the paper that Alex had dated my mom. It went on to say that my mom died of AIDS and she and Alex had been lovers. Then there were pictures of him and me out at various places, holding hands and kissing. They stated he was seeing his old girlfriend’s daughter and reported that my grandfather was the late Senator Romaine. Alex didn’t let it bother him, but I went hysterical. He was a great senator and a great political leader, and I didn’t want this to affect him. I also worried about what Beulah, Toby, and my law firm would think once they read the lies. I had an image to uphold and these articles made me sound trashy. Once again, he told me not to worry because he would take care of it.

Alex and I both immersed ourselves in our careers, spending long hours at our offices. Thomas had been teasing me about coming out with him again to the club. When my phone rang one morning, I thought it was him calling to be funny. He would call me during the day so Victoria didn’t see him out of his cubicle. I was trying to concentrate and wanted him to leave me alone.

“Listen, you big queen, I am not going out again so you can get me drunk on more of those
dirty butt whores
,” I whispered, when I answered the phone.

“Excuse me,” the voice on the other line said.

“Oh, god, Alex, I’m sorry. I thought this was Thomas begging me to go out with him again,” I said, laughing out of control.

I looked over at Thomas, and he gave me the thumbs up and I was totally embarrassed.

“Can I just ask what a ‘dirty butt whore’ is? Please tell me that’s not your nickname or something? You can tell Mr. Thomas you are mine this weekend. I haven’t seen you all week, and I intend to have you every way possible.” That made me squirm in me chair.

“That is not my nickname. It’s a drink Thomas and Bruce gave me when I went out with them. It made me crazy. I even danced on a stripper pole. It was before we started dating and not one of my better evenings.”

“Is that what I need to give you when we’re together? Let me write that down and order a stripper pole for the bedroom.”

“Alex, you don’t need to give me anything when I am with you. The stripper pole would be fine.”

I lowered my voice to a whisper and cupped my hand over the receiver so that only he could hear.

“All I do is look at you and I am drenched and ready for you.”

“Don’t do that to me right now. I have a huge bill to vote on tonight, and it’s going to be a long night on the floor surrounded by old senators. If I have that image in my mind, I will not be able to concentrate. Listen, I have huge and tremendous news. You are not going to believe this.”

“What?” I asked.

“I was just asked to give the keynote speech at the Democratic convention. It’s big, Prudence.”

“Alex. Oh my God. That is incredible. Do you have any idea what this means?” I asked.

“I am one damn good senator, and my peers respect me. You see, those stupid stories didn’t amount to anything, just like I told you.”

“It was only because Senator Stevenson took the lead story by being caught with that male prostitute. That was more interesting than you dating a woman seventeen years younger.”

“Well, that did help too,” he laughed.

“You know President Obama was the keynote speaker in 2004 and elected president in 2008,” I said.

“That’s my dream, baby. Now get yourself together and get to work or I will have to come down there and take matters into my own hands,” he said.

“Did you just say ‘take matters in your own hands?’ I’m wrecked for the whole day. Are you sure you don’t have a few minutes to meet me later?”

“I would love nothing more than to spend a few minutes with you as your wet, hungry pussy orgasms on my hard thick cock, but today is just out of the question. I will take you up on it this evening. Be prepared for some fun,” he whispered.

I could not speak as he was talking to me.

“Prudence, are you there?”

“What? Yes, I’m just out of sorts, Alex.”

“I’ll call you later, baby. Work hard.”

Around lunchtime, I was still over the top excited from our morning conversation. I thought I would play a game with Alex. Grabbing an envelope from the mailroom and shoving it in my purse, I headed to the ladies room. The lace thong I wore was one of Alex’s favorites. I took it off and put it in the envelope along with a note.

This was on me when I talked to you this morning. You made me so wet. Congratulations on the speech.

I stuck the note and my thong in the envelope and sealed it.

Since I could trust Thomas with anything, I walked into his cubicle and told him it must be delivered to Alex Conrad as soon as possible. He was under the impression it was very important campaign information and was to be hand-delivered to his secretary and no one else.

Thomas headed to Alex’s office across town. I continued my workday and then got ready for the show.

That afternoon, Victoria and I were due in court. We were up against that same guy she’d told me about earlier. It was going to be a long drawn-out trial with witnesses, scientists, and experts in different fields. Along with that, it was a big story in the news, so the press was everywhere when we entered the courtroom. She wouldn’t answer any questions, and I loved that she ignored them and keep walking. The look she gave the reporters was enough to send them on their way.

“Those animals don’t need my comment. They can wait like everyone else when the trial is over. It should be going to the jury today,” she said.

The man we were prosecuting sat next to his attorney in shackles. He blew Victoria and me a kiss when we walked in. He must’ve been either insane, or too stupid to know who he was dealing with.

Victoria gave her closing arguments and held the jury in the palm of her hand. They watched and listened in awe as she made her case to them, one last time. After that, the defense team and their client looked defeated. They knew his fate before it was even handed down to him. The day ended with the jury deliberating for the night, and we headed back to the office.

I had a long night ahead of me to complete other work. I planned to stay late and order something in. Victoria was exhausted and left after we went over the schedule for the next day. There was no one in the office but the cleaning crew. I liked working alone at night. The quietness of the office helped me to stay focused.

I grabbed a cup of coffee from the cafeteria and walked to my cubicle. To my surprise, Alex was sitting in my seat. I gasped as I saw him playing with items on my desk.

“Alex, what are you doing here? You scared the crap out of me,” I said, clutching my chest. He had that look he gets in his eyes when he is hungry for me.

He stood and pulled my thong out of his suit coat pocket. Moving in close, he put the thong to his face and inhaled, closing his eyes.

“You think you are funny sending me your panties in the office mail? Come with me for a few minutes,” he said, looking seriously handsome.

He grabbed my hand, and we headed to the elevator. He looked very out of sorts, and I loved having that power over him.

He didn’t speak while we got to the elevator. Once the door shut, and we were alone, he pushed me up against the wall as we descended to the first floor. He grabbed my hands and held them over my head as he kissed me roughly pressing his body against mine. His cock was hard and stiff as he rubbed it against my thigh. Silently, he continued to kiss me forcefully letting his tongue dart inside my mouth. My body trembled and my muscles strained as he took his one hand and ran it up my thigh pushing my skirt with it. He stopped short of touching between my legs.