Kayla
My hands shook because of the anger I felt building up inside of me. I wanted to punch him. I wanted to scream at him. There was no way his little press conference was a surprise. Matthew Storm had planned for those people to be there. He had planned to use me as his alibi and he had planned to undermine all my efforts and hard work by making me look like his office fling instead of the knowledgeable assistant that I really was.
My hard work didn’t matter. My abilities didn’t matter. The only thing anyone would know was that I was the first year Washington D.C. employee who had spread her legs for her boss. In exchange, they will say I was given a position that I didn’t earn or deserve.
Maybe I really had not earned a damn thing. My mind swirled with all the things that had happened in the last few months. I felt used. As much as I wanted to think that my skills and abilities had gotten me to the position I had in Matthew Storm’s office, there was no way around it. Matthew had favored me because I was sleeping with him.
My stomach churned and I felt like I was going to be sick. I really had felt like I made a difference in our office. I felt like I had worked so hard to understand and integrate myself into Washington politics. But with that one move, Matthew had undermined everything I had done.
Sure, I was good at the meetings with other senators, but I didn’t know the first thing about the political back and forth that went on beyond those meetings. I had been guessing and doing a really good job of it, or at least I thought I was. I couldn’t tell anyone what the Senators had voted or what the most prominent issues were in the current administration, but all that would come with time I was sure of it.
I walked into my apartment, I sunk into the ground against the door and started to cry. I had been used, I had clearly been used. There was no way I could justify my position or the things I had been able to do in the short time that I had been in Washington. But what could I do about it? Was there anything I could do that would help me take control of my political future again?
My mind buzzed with ideas of how I could turn the situation into something good for me. I didn’t want to stay with Matthew, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave. My political future was unfortunately tied in with Matthews, at least for the time being.
My phone had been off from our flight and I flipped it on so I could call my mother and warn her about the news. But as I flipped my phone on I was instantly overwhelmed by the alerts that filled my screen. Phone calls, texts, Facebook messages and tweets littered my system and my phone promptly rebooted in an effort to come to terms with the massive amount of data that it was rushed with.
When I finally got the phone to reboot, I started with the voicemails. It was mostly people I knew. My mother, uncle, even my college professor; everyone calling to ask what was going on. The text messages were similar in nature. But when I got to the Facebook messages I started to see people asking me for interviews, or berating me, or calling me names; it horrible.
I dialed the one number that I knew would answer their phone and not have judgment. I called Phillip Clifton, the previous chief of staff for Senator Matthew Storm. He had abruptly left Storm’s office right before I arrived, but he had been the one who helped me to get the job.
“I’m glad you called,” Phillip said without an ounce of sarcasm in his voice.
“Why did you leave?” I blurted out before I could say anything else.
Phillip was quiet for a minute and I let the silence fill the call. I didn’t have anything else to add. I needed to know why he had left. Something had happened for him to leave so quickly and I hadn’t thought to find out before, but I needed to know.
“It wasn’t some sordid thing. I just didn’t want to get trampled by Storm on his way up. Alex was interested in my job and I knew I could leave without a big incident.”
“Did you know anything about the girl that disappeared?”
Another silence filled our conversation. That woman who disappeared had been on my mind since I had heard about her. It was just another thing that I didn’t believe at all when Matthew told me what had happened.
“No. I don’t know what is true in that situation. But the police did clear him, so I guess we have to trust that they did their job.”
“Were you afraid of him?” I asked, afraid of what his answer might be, but still I needed to hear it.
“I wasn’t afraid that he would cause me physical harm. But politically I was afraid of him and his willingness to deliver damage. He has the ability to take out his enemies with one swift motion. I would never want to be on his bad side.”
I knew exactly what Phillip meant and I also knew that I didn’t want to be on Matthew’s bad side either. But I was in a much different position than Phillip ever could have been in. I was sleeping with Matthew and working with him.
“What should I do?” I said in a hopeless voice.
My gut said to leave him right away; leave him personally and professionally. But my mind said to wait. I needed time to process everything and see what answer would be the best for me in the long run. So, at the very least, I knew I needed to stay with him for a short while.
“You need to go with it. If you are going to fuck your boss you need to be willing to fuck him in public and in private.”
His words permeated my skin and I shivered. Everyone would know now that I had been sleeping with my boss. There was no way to hide it. There was no way to pretend anymore. People would look at me in the hallway and know that I was the girl who slept my way to the top. It made me sick to think about, but I couldn’t think of a better scenario if I left.
“No one will respect me.”
“People will respect you if you give them a reason to. Don’t sulk and hide away. Show up to work. Do your job. Make sure everyone thinks that you are perfectly fine with people knowing about your relationship. Hit him harder than he hit you,” Phillip said calmly.
“What do you mean?”
“He needs you now, Michaela. He just announced to the world that you are his only alibi and that he had broken his ethics as a Senator to sleep with a staff member. Matthew Storm needs you more than you need him. He needs you to stand by his side and support him and you’ll be able to manipulate him any way you would like.”
I hated that word ‘manipulate’, but Phillip did make a very good point. Why was I so devastated that Matthew had announced our relationship? It was true, Matthew had been with me; even though I still thought he had somehow had something to do with the Vice Presidents’ disappearance I had no proof.
“So I should just go to work? I should still date him?”
“I can’t tell you what to do. But anyone in power has made decisions on their way to that position. I don’t think that staying with Storm would be a bad decision for you. I need to get back to sleep. You can call me anytime if you need something,” Phillip said as he suddenly seemed very distracted.
“Ok. Thanks,” I said, totally not wanting to get off the phone yet.
“Kayla, you watch out for yourself, though. He’s dangerous. I can’t prove it and I can’t justify the thought; physically, emotionally and for your career. You watch out for yourself.”
“Thank you, Phillip.”
As he hung up the phone, I felt afraid. I looked around the apartment Matthew had purchased for me and I felt afraid. I suddenly thought that he might have bugged the apartment or even installed cameras. I wondered just how far Matthew was willing to go to get what he wanted and what was it that he really wanted?
Matthew Storm was dangerous; at the very least he was dangerous to my heart. At the most, Matthew could be dangerous to my safety. But I knew for sure Phillip was right about one thing, Matthew needed me to stand by his side. He needed me to show my face and make everything seem perfect between us.
When I finally fell asleep that night, it was out of pure physical and emotional exhaustion. I couldn’t think about Matthew anymore and I couldn’t try to decipher what the best next move was. All I knew was that I needed to show up to work the next day and I was going to shock everyone.