The Bad Boys of Capitol Hill by Jordan Silver Read Free Book Online Page A

to her. Not that I needed their permission, but for all their backward ideals they were friends and I valued their opinions when it came to the presidency, too bad they couldn’t separate the man from the office.
    ***
    “Marcus we’ve got the numbers here from the last poll.” Colvin Samuels started off the meeting as per usual. As the eldest of the bunch the others usually gave way to his seniority.
    “And which poll would that be?” There was always a poll about something or another. I’d stopped paying much interest after the first year. I wasn’t here to win a popularity contest but to run the country that I loved the best way I knew how and keep us on the path of prosperity set down by the forefathers.
    “The one pertaining to your single state, did you look over that list of hopefuls we sent you?” I looked at Kayla out of the side of my eye. I knew this couldn’t be easy for her, hearing talk of the man who’d just been buried balls deep inside her marrying another woman. I couldn’t reassure her, as much as I might want to, it was neither the time nor the place. That didn’t mean I had to like it.
    “I thought we decided to table this until the thing in the middle-east calmed down?” I shifted my attention to the table of suits at large.
    “Yes well, the people have spoken and fifty-four percent would feel better if their commander in chief was married with a family. It shows a sign of commitment and stability, and if you want a shot at that second term we think that you should give this some serious thought.”
    “I would think the fact that I’ve managed to avoid an unnecessary war and get twenty five percent of the country back to work would be a good showing of what kind of man I am. I don’t see why my being single would have anything to do with my ability to make decisions as I’ve already proven that it doesn’t.”
    “That’s all good and well, but you took the last election with the help of mostly women, most of them housewives two to one. Those same women are looking for you to make a commitment, you don’t want them thinking you’re running wild behind closed doors do you? If you’ll excuse me Ms. Stevens but may I be frank sir?”
    I sat at the edge of my seat, how did he know about Kayla and I? I thought we’d been so careful. He carried on before I could interject. “This may not be polite conversation for mixed company but we’re all adults here and you are part of this team. Now Mr. President, you’re a young man in his prime, very soon those women are going to get to wondering exactly what it is that their president does to relieve his baser needs, we all know you weren’t a monk before you took office.”
    I relaxed back into my seat with a slight smirk. “I see your point, but still, I don’t see the need for the rush…”
    “But there very much is a need sir.” Thompson piped in.
    “We’ve pared the list down to the five most suitable. Jensen passed me another portfolio which I flipped open absentmindedly. I was very aware of Kayla as she sat tight lipped her head down and that look of sadness that I hated to see on her face.
    “The Truman girl is the best of the bunch, she’s got good breeding and she has an unblemished reputation, nary a blip on her record.” Sure, some mealy mouth little mouse who would probably squeak in terror if I tried to do half the things I needed to do to a woman to get off. My eyes once again went to Kayla, now instead of sadness she was pissed. I frowned slightly at this, I could understand her discomfort but we’d had this conversation and she knew I had no intentions of marrying any of these women.
    The meeting dragged on forever before we turned to other more pressing matters. As soon as the meeting was over she got up and strolled out of the room without so much as an acknowledgement. The others didn’t seem to notice her odd behavior but I was aware of her every breath. I guess she was more upset than I thought, didn’t