SEAL of Approval

by Lynn Faye

  I was excited. I downed the coffee Matthew had brought me and headed over to work with a renewed excitement for the weeks ahead. No matter what was really going on between Matthew and I, that didn’t matter. What mattered was the publicity that was about to go down when Matthew was invited to be the Vice President.

  We had to navigate the turmoil that would happen around Senator Masson without looking bad ourselves. It was exciting and invigorating to be on the cusp of making national news. Really…we were about to make history.

  I held my head up with confidence as I made my way into the office right at eight o’clock on the dot. I moved my things to the desk area right outside Matthew’s office and took a moment to talk with his secretary about how to handle inquiries from the media.

  Everything I did that morning was filled with confidence. I couldn’t look like I didn’t know what I was doing. I had to appear totally and one hundred percent confident in every task I handled.

  “We want to talk to the Media. Anyone who calls please make a list of which organization they are from and the time of day they intend to show their news piece. We are most interested in prime time spots; so if that’s what they are offering make sure I see it right away.”

  “Sounds good. Are we making comments on the Vice President?” She asked.

  “Yes, you can say ‘Senator Storm is deeply saddened by the new of Vice President Howard’s death. We send our deepest sympathy to his family and friends’, nothing else should be said on that matter.”

  “Yes, I’ve got it,” she said as she wrote down what I said word for word.

  “Is Matthew in?” I asked as I looked at his closed door.

  I paused for a moment as I tried to decide just how I wanted to approach Matthew for the day. I couldn’t be a baby about things. This was work and I was determined to keep things as professional as possible.

  “Yes, he’s been in for a couple hours.”

  I made a point to knock on Matthew’s door and then leave it wide open as I went in to talk with him. We were done having sex in the office. I was going to make sure things were kept professional at work so everyone around us would know that I was working my ass off in my position. I didn’t want them thinking that Matthew and I were fucking all the time, everyone needed to see that I was working. If only for my own personal well-being, I needed to separate work and private life a little better.

  “Kayla, good to see you. How are you doing?” Matthew said as he stood up when I entered his office.

  “I’m doing great. Here’s some key points I want you to talk about when you have media interviews. Your secretary has a statement about the VP, please go take a look at it and make any changes that you would like. But I think it’s pretty good.”

  “Kayla, I asked you how you were doing.” Matthew said as he reached across the desk and held onto my hand.

  I quickly pulled away from him and shook my head no. We couldn’t go there again. Things in the office were going to be professional even if I had to stand ten feet away from him at all times.

  “I’m doing great. We need to stay focused, though. Right now people are going to be calling for interviews about Senator Masson and maybe even about the prospect of you becoming Vice President. You need to focus. Until news breaks about Masson, we need to stay as neutral as possible.”

  “Are you afraid of me?” Matthew asked out of the blue.

  He caught me off guard. Yes, I was afraid of him, but no I wasn’t about to tell him that. I knew that Matthew was capable of a lot of things. I felt like he was mostly capable of buying people off and bribing people, but I really didn’t know if he was capable of more than that. Deep down I still wondered if Matthew had something to do with the Vice Presidents disappearance and murder. I wanted to believe he didn’t have a thing to do with it, but I still had so many questions.

  “No Matthew,” I said with a fake smile.

  Matthew stood up and made his way to his door and shut it. He quickly walked toward me and pressed me up against his desk. His hands moved to my face and held onto my cheeks passionately as he looked in my eyes.

  In that moment, I wasn’t scared of Matthew at all. His eyes were passionate and I saw love in them. I didn’t see hate or anger at all.

  “Then what is it? What have I done? How can I fix this?” Matthew said passionately.

  “Stop lying to me. I can’t take it, Matthew. My mind plays so many worse possibilities than if you would just tell me the truth. Tell me, Matthew! Tell me the damn truth!”

  Matthew pulled away from me as I yelled at him. I could tell he hadn’t expected me to release myself like that. His hand went to his hair and he paced the room for a minute while I waited for him to answer me.

  “Kayla, I’m trying to protect you.”

  “From what? Matthew, I can decide for myself what I need protection from. I’m here with you Matthew. I need to be your partner or not here at all.”

  Matthew looked hurt by my words and sat down on the couch as he continued to run his fingers through his hair. He was processing the pro’s and con’s of finally telling me everything. I could tell he wanted me to stay involved with him and with his office; but was he really ready to be honest with me? Was I really ready to hear the honesty that he had to tell me?

  I sat down next to him and grabbed his hand. Together we sat there silently for what seemed like at least fifteen minutes.

  “You won’t like me if I tell you everything,” Matthew said as he drew in a deep breath.

  “Try me. Matthew, I’m here aren’t I. Try me. I might just surprise you.”

  “Tonight. Dinner. We can discuss everything. Will that work?” Matthew asked as he turned toward me.

  His lips moved toward mine and I felt my body give in to my desire for him. As much as I wanted to avoid all physical intimacy at the office, it was impossible to avoid it. When Matthew touched me, my body felt on fire with desire. Every muscle in my body reacted to Matthew and wanted him near me. I couldn’t resist him.

  His hands gently stroked my leg as we let our mouths move together and play with each other. Each twist and turn of our lips made our kiss deeper and more passionate. I wanted to know everything about this Man. I needed to know it all if I was going to decide my future.

  “Yes, tonight,” I said as I stood up and opened his office door. “And let’s keep this open from now on,” I said with a smile.

  Matthew smiled back at me and I felt like things were a little better between us. I still had no idea what the truth was that he was going to tell me, but I hoped he would, at least, tell me who that man was that he had paid off.

  I hoped the man had just been the guy who checked my house and his for listening devices, but it seemed like an awful lot of money for that job. Deep down I worried that he had paid the man off to murder the Vice President. It was a horrible thought and I hated that it was even in my head, but hopefully it was not the truth.

  I loathed myself for even thinking that Matthew was capable of something like that. But on the same token, I couldn’t be naive enough to think that Matthew wasn’t capable of hurting someone. Maybe he hadn’t planned for the VP to be murdered? Maybe he had only planned for him to get caught in a brothel; whatever the truth was…I needed to know it if I was going to continue on with Matthew.

  Throughout the day, we had several requests for interviews and picked which ones would be best for Matthew to participate in. I was ecstatic at how well the interviews went and the information and personal Matthew was able to get out to the public. Each interview went off without a hitch and we were both very excited with how the day went. It really couldn’t have gone any better if we had planned it.

  “Matthew, I’m going to head home,” I said when I realized it was well after five o’clock.

  “I’ll come with you if you can give me twenty minutes.”

  “Actually, I’d like to get ready before we go to dinner. I’ll just see you at my place in a half hour.”

  As I made my wa
y down the corridor and to the elevator, I noticed Senator Masson standing outside his office. He was also heading toward the elevator and had just said goodbye to his secretary for the day.

  I could have run the other way, but instead, I decided the professional thing to do would be to have an actual conversation with him. I couldn’t be afraid of Senator Masson forever; sooner or later we would have to move past what had happened between us. Somewhere done the road I might have to work with him or go to a meeting with him, I had to try and smooth things over with the man.

  “Hi, George,” I said as we stood in front of the elevator and waited for it.

  “Kayla, it’s good to see you. How is Matthew treating you lately?”

  It was a dig at the news Matthew and I were a couple now. But I was above that. I wasn’t about to stoop to his level and we weren’t commenting on our relationship with anyone. I knew that George was jealous that I was laying in bed with Matthew at night, but he was going to have to get over it.

  “Things are going well with me. I hear you are getting the VP nomination. Congratulations. That’s pretty major.”

  “Well, you never know. I’ll believe it when I see it. The tides turn quickly around here.”

  “Good luck. You’re a good man George and you deserve that job. Maybe someday we can work together again,” I said with a smile as we entered the elevator together.

  “Maybe we could work something out,” George said as he took a step closer to me and was clearly in my personal space.

  What had started as me just being nice to him had quickly turned into him pressing against me and talking sexually to me. I should have been more prepared for what happened, but I wasn’t. I felt totally caught off guard as George pressed his pelvis against me and I felt his cock hard for me.

  “Now, now George, let’s keep things professional,” I said as I pressed him away gently.

  “Kayla, if I’m going to be the Vice President, you are going to want to stay on my good side. I’ll be able to help you a lot more than Matthew will.”

  “Thank you for thinking of me George, but I’m not with Matthew because he can help me. I actually care about him,” I said as I went against my better judgment and commented on my relationship with Matthew.

  “You’re such a little whore. I guess Matthew has you satisfied enough that you don’t need to fuck anyone else. Good luck to you and your whoring ways,” George said as the elevator door opened and he rushed out.

  I was left standing there in total disorganization. His words had cut into me harshly and I felt like I was going to cry. I hadn’t expected Senator George Masson to act like that at all. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would turn so nasty so quickly.

  Instead of crying, I walked quickly behind George to see where he was going in such a hurry. He didn’t turn toward the parking garage when he got off the elevator and that was unusual. That was enough to distract me from the tears that had started to form.

  My footsteps were soft and I stayed back far enough that he didn’t see I was there. George went out the side door and to the parking lot of the market across the street. I had to go down a block and then cross so I wouldn’t be seen, but when I arrived at the parking lot, I couldn’t believe what I saw.

  My heart pounded as I tried to make sense of what was going on in front of me. I clearly saw Senator George Masson standing under a tree with a man that looked exactly like the man that Matthew had been talking to the night before.

  I quickly circled around the store so I could get closer to the men and still hide behind the side of the building. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get close enough to hear what was going on, but I did see George hand the man a stack of money. A stack that was almost identical in size as the stack of money that Matthew had handed to the man.

  My mind was blown as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on. I had assumed Matthew was paying the guy off for some dirty work but was Senator Masson doing the exact same thing? I had no idea what was going on and continued to stand next to the building until George and the other man left.

  I stayed there as I replayed the scene in my head and tried to figure out what I was missing in everything that I had seen over the last few days. Were Matthew and George Masson both being played by this unidentified man? Or perhaps they were both paying for the man’s services and neither of them knew what the other one was up to.

  It wasn’t until my phone started to ring that I came out of my thought induced haze. I really had no idea what was going on.

  “Hello,” I said without looking to see who it was.

  “Kayla, where are you? I’m at your place,” Matthew said and I heard a hint of worry in his voice.

  “Oh, crap, sorry. I’m almost there. Wait for me.”

  I hung up the phone and didn’t give him a chance to ask me where I had been for the last twenty minutes. My heart pounded as I jogged over to my apartment and it didn’t calm down even after I stopped and walked calmly into the building.

  When I made it to my apartment, I found Matthew standing outside the door waiting for me, which surprised me. Quickly I tried to calm my breath and look more relaxed than I was. Certainly I couldn’t tell Matthew what I saw, or that it was the same man I had seen with him. Matthew would wonder why I had followed George in the first place. But then I thought of something that might be helpful…the insults that George had flung at me while in the elevator.

  “Why are you waiting out here?” I laughed as I tried to deflect the attention from me and back to Matthew.

  “Where were you?”

  “Are you waiting out here because I yelled at you for going in my apartment this morning?”

  “Yes, but where were you? It’s been almost a half of an hour since you left work.”

  “I got stuck in the elevator with George Masson. You wouldn’t believe what a jerk he was!”

  I opened my apartment door and again noted that Matthew had waited for me outside the door instead of going inside. Maybe he was listening to me when I talked after all. I wasn’t sure I could trust him at all yet. But I felt much better than I had earlier in the day.

  The fact that Matthew and George Masson had both met with the same guy seemed to lessen the diabolical nature of what I thought the man was doing for them. I knew that George Masson would not be hiring a killer or any such thing like that, so I had to rethink what both George and Matthew had paid the man for.

  It was going to be near impossible to figure it all out though without coming out and asking what was going on. I was tired, though. Emotionally and physically I was exhausted. I knew I couldn’t ask Matthew if he had hired a killer. I was just going to have to wait and see if things started to flush themselves out over the next few days.

  “Would you mind staying in tonight? Maybe old schooling it… and put a movie on and order pizza? I’m exhausted.”

  “That sounds like a great plan, but you still need to tell me what George said to you.”

  I rolled my eyes at Matthew when he asked me to tell him. It was horrible what George had said to me and I didn’t even want to repeat it. I didn’t want those thoughts to be in Matthew’s head at all when he thought about me. I hesitated before I told Matthew, but I decided if I wanted Matthew to be honest with me then I was going to need to be honest with him.

  “He just called me a whore, and that was about it. But he first pressed his old shriveled cock up against me to see if I wanted to play with him.”

  “That son of a bitch, that old man does not deserve to even be in the same room as you,” Matthew said as he pulled out his phone. “I’ve had it with him. I’ve been playing things soft and sweet with him. I’m done with it. I’m going to play hardball.”

  “Don’t call him!” I said as I reached for his hand.

  “I’m not calling him. But there is something I was holding back on and I’m not holding back anymore. I’m done with that man.”

  I stood next to Matthew and watched as he dialed a number that was in hi
s phone as ‘X’. That was it, no name, no other information, just the letter X. The man on the other end seemed to know exactly who Matthew was when he called and I stayed close to Matthew to try and listen to the whole conversation.

  “Did you get his money?” Matthew asked.

  “Yes, twenty-five thousand dollars.”

  “You keep it. I want a full out release of all the information. No more games.”

  “I made promises to him,” the man on the other end of the phone said.

  “Well keeping that twenty-five thousand plus the money I gave you should be enough to break those promises. Release it all,” Matthew said and then hung up the phone.

  I was surprised that Matthew had talked so freely in front of me. Maybe our little talk about honesty had been helpful and he had actually listened to me.

  “So do you feel like telling me what’s going on?” I asked as I made my way into the kitchen and opened a bottle of wine.

  Matthew came into the kitchen behind me and wrapped his arms around me. His head rested on my shoulder and I felt the comfort of his touch. For a brief moment, I relaxed and closed my eyes so I was wrapped in his arms and his scent. I loved the feeling of comfort I had when Matthew had his arms around me. There was no other feeling even close to that feeling.

  “I want to tell you, Kayla. I just don’t think it’s fair for you to be all wrapped up in the negative aspects of this political stuff. You have such a positive view. If you knew everything it would make you jaded like I am.”

  I understood where he was coming from. Did I really want to know everything? I thought I did, but when it came down to it; would it make me hate Matthew once I knew all that he had to go through to get the position of power that he wanted. I really didn’t know what I wanted anymore.

  After seeing Senator George Masson doing the exact same thing that Matthew had done, I was starting to feel like I had misjudged Matthew and all that was going on with him. Perhaps Matthew wasn’t dangerous at all. Perhaps he was just doing what he needed to do in order to get the position he wanted. That didn’t seem all that unusual compared to all the other Senators in Washington.