Chapter 22

Olivia was on the job today. She was glad to be there. This was her element. She could immerse herself in her work and forget her problems or better yet her problem. Her problem was she was in love with a married man and she wanted him for herself, all to herself. She missed him and she wanted him back in her bed making love to her.

This past weekend she had been on the hunt to replace him somehow. She hadn't known any type of passion for months and months. She had wanted sex and she thought she could pick some guy up at the club and just go for it. It should have been easy but it wasn't. The guys were out there. They were ready, willing, and able. She could have been fucked in the first ten minutes. Apparently most of the guys out there were looking for just that a lay in the hay. They weren't subtle at all. She had cringed thinking about the crass approaches she had experienced this weekend. They were sickening all but one.

Jake, she was considering going to bed with the guy. He wasn't bad looking in a corny weird type of way. She had to face the fact though; she was partial to tall blue-eyed White guys. Jake was tall but his eyes weren't blue. There was only one man that fit that bill and it wasn't him. It was shameful that she still admitted she loved Fitzgerald Grant. What this past weekend amounted to was this, was she willing to accept a sub? She wanted an interaction with a real live man so maybe she would have to stop being so picky.

She had gone home horny as hell the other night. Jake had moved her a little. In the end he had come on strong, to be sure it was too strong. He obviously wanted to go to bed with her. And for a hot minute she thought she wanted to jump in the sack with him too. At least with this guy he had tried to wine, dine, and talk to her first. He was a down to earth type of guy it seems. She liked him!

In the end though, she had flown the coop. She couldn't commit to the involvement and she ran. She went home wanting to have sex badly. She eventually turned to B.O.B. and he did the job. Battery operated sex was okay it served a purpose. Her sexual frustration was relieved but her emotional frustration still existed. She wanted Fitzgerald Grant just as passionately as she ever had and she was afraid that she always would! She thought another man could show her she do without Fitzgerald Grant. She was beginning to think that was impossibility.

This Jake person wasn't exactly her cup of tea but she had come to the conclusion that she may have to settle for just a sex buddy. She wasn't looking for love, love for her resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. So tonight when she got home from work she was going to call Jake what's his name and continue to get to know him and just maybe she would consider sharing her body with him.

Fitzgerald Grant meanwhile had awakened a few days ago and decided he was going to have to change his life and climb from this personal Hell he had placed himself inside. He had but one person to blame for his trouble it was himself. He had put the crystal glass filled with Scotch down days ago. And he was starting to feel the pain of this latest breakup deep in his bones. The alcohol he had been drinking for months had done nothing but dull his senses. Without the alcohol in his system his pain was raw and stinging.

He would never in his life comprehend why Olivia didn't see that the stolen moments they shared were everything. It didn't matter that he had a wife because she meant nothing to him. He lived his life for those moments with her. He knew that he and Olivia were each other's destiny, Olivia obviously wasn't so sure.

He had gone to Cyrus and told him he had finally seen the light. He was the President and he had to get his house in order. Cyrus had looked up from his desk and smiled.

"So what does that mean Sir? You want the reins of the country back? You have stopped mourning Olivia Pope? You are no longer sucking on a bottle of scotch like it is her breast? You are no longer tossing and turning on the Roosevelt couch dreaming asking her to come back to you? Are you Pope-free Mr. President? Because I swear to God I don't want to go through shit again. I know you love her. I know how much you are hurting. But Olivia can't be your entire life Sir. You are more than just a man that loves a woman. You are not a husband, I will give you that. But you are a father, a friend, and you are the fucking President of the United States. I try to keep it all in check for you because I know you will come back from this shit. You have done it before. Fitz, Olivia is young and she is foolish. She is undoubted at times the smartest woman I know. But like you, this love that she has for you it drains her of common sense."

"Why in the world this woman runs from you I don't know. She is miserable as hell and I know it. I offered to sneak her in like I use to so you two foolish children could make up and make all of our lives easier. But she is so goddamned stubborn. Why in the world you two would allow Mellie to fuck with you the way she does I don't get it?

"As long as Mellie can stay in the White House she plays super pimp willingly. She doesn't say one word for what almost four years? I am always amazed she couldn't see the love shining in your eyes. I saw it the day you came into my office begging me to fire Olivia. Of course I would have never believed you would act on it. You however knew then the path you would take if she stayed. But you couldn't help yourself."

"Poor beleaguered Mellie finally got it that you were doing more than screwing Olivia on the side, you love her and voila, she suddenly becomes a woman scorned and she wants to yank you back to her bosom! What a crock of shit! Mellie hates your guts and she certainly doesn't want you for anything other than forward mobility. Knowing that you actually love Olivia has made Mellie more insane, if that is possible."

"I am for real Cyrus. I am out of the fog. What I am saying to you is that I have put the bottle down. Drinking isn't going to solve anything. I know that now. Don't get this wrong though. I will never be finished with Olivia. I love her Cyrus and I will get her back. In the mean time I have a country to run, not you. I am grateful for all you have done but I am back. And I intend to do my job. As for Mellie she had better get back into what you call her pimp mode because I won't let her keep me from Olivia once she comes back to me. And she will come back to me because I know she loves me too. We will get through this. We have to because we are meant to be together!"

"Mr. President I want to believe this is the end of your madness I really do. But each time there is a glitch in the road with you and Olivia you fall. And you fall so deep I can't get you out of the pit. You plunge your heart and soul into such a dark place I can hardly bare to watch. I am too old for this Fitz. I have never been in love. I know that now because of you and Olivia. I have been in lust a few times. When a guy I thought I loved walked away from me I barely flinched. And I have walked away so many times because I just didn't care anymore. So this love thing has me very leery of it. I think I want to avoid it like the plague. The type of leverage you and Olivia wield over each other I don't won't anyone with that type of control over me, ever. This do or die shit isn't for me. I digress though Mr. President. What I need from you are assurances you won't go there again into this place where I can't reach you. I need your word of honor to continue on in this thing. I really do."

"Cyrus my friend you mean more to me than you will ever know. You have been a part of my life since I was twenty-eight years old. You have been mentor, father, and friend to me. I have shared every secret I have ever had with you but one, Olivia. I didn't tell you about her right from the start because I knew she was my weakness. All those years I denied I was even a man because of my desire not to be the type of man my father was, I wanted to be an honorable man above all things. I was clinging to a wife I didn't love and that didn't love me simply because to do otherwise was to admit that I was my father's son."

"I didn't want you to see that in me. I had turned and looked into Olivia's eyes and I wanted to weep openly because I knew she was the one I should have waited for. I asked her who she was, when I already knew it didn't matter who she was, because she was mine. I am hopelessly and irreconcilably in love with Olivia Pope Cyrus, I can't change that. But I promise you to be a better father, a better man, a better friend and to be a better President. She is my heart Cy and without her the functionality of that heart is questionable. But I am made of sterner stuff than what I have exhibited over the past seven months. Take me at my word Cy I am back!"

Cyrus closed his eyes and asked for the help of the creator because the President of the United States was indeed the best politician he had run into in a quarter of a century. The man was made to be great and to lead. Yet he had been brought low by a one-hundred pound mocha colored woman that had done nothing other than to love him back. Silently he said to himself, "Jesus help me help them because if they fail I fail too. And I am too old to fail. I could be the President of Harvard right now; instead I chose this life with these people. Jesus be a fence!"

To his friend Fitz he said, "Do your best my friend. At this point that is all I can ask. I have a meeting with the Russian Ambassador in fifteen minutes to discuss some funky shit they are trying to pull. Let me brief you and then you can come with me and do your goddamned job for a change Mr. President. What do you think? Can you handle being President today?

"I can Cyrus fill me in."

Meanwhile Olivia Pope has picked up the phone and called Jake. She had kept hesitating because in her heart of hearts she knew this was really going to lead to nowhere. She had a small amount of attraction to him and he seemed nice but she really wanted to lay down with this guy the way she wanted to suck on a lemon without lots of sugar. However at the moment she was still perpetuating that fantasy that somehow she could get over Fitzgerald Grant by lying down with another man.

"Hi Jake it is me Carolyn, how are you?"

"You called, I didn't think you would. Hey look, I wanted to apologize right out of the gate for the way I came on to you at the end of the night. It was rude and unmannerly. I lost my head. I swear I don't usually act like that. But when I saw you were leaving, I didn't want you to go and I tried to keep you there with me a little longer. I had such a great time Carolyn. I didn't want the night to end. I hope you will accept my apology."

"Jake your apology is accepted. I didn't really want to go myself. But things were moving so fast between us. I want to see you again but I want us to slow it down a bit. I think I told you I was getting out of a bad relationship that ended less than a year ago. I don't want to rush into anything deep right now. I hope you can understand that. I will admit I am attracted to you but I may not be ready for anything other than a date or two at the moment. I don't know for certain what your primary goal is but I don't want to lead you somewhere where I may never go. I am just being honest with you. I seem to enjoy your company and I would like to see where we will go. So if you are up to the game plan I would like to see you again?"

"I love your honesty and I respect you for putting the truth out there in the open. I want to see you again Olivia you can't imagine how much. Whatever terms you want to apply I am game. We can take this as slow as you want. You are in the driver's seat. We go at your pace. I want what you want."

"That is good to know that Jake. Where would you like to go for our first date, my treat? I hope you took the wine home as I suggested. Who knows I may actually get over to your place some day and you can treat me to a glass. It is a delicious wine. Did you taste it?"

"No I didn't taste it but I did bring it home. You have expensive taste in wines Carolyn but I don't mind it one bit. You can tell me more about yourself on our first date. You pick our option whatever you want to do. I just want to see you again."

"There is this old theater in Georgetown that shows the best old movies. It is called the Ritz. They serve some of the best air popped corn in the world and you can get it plain or buttered. And the wine isn't bad either. I love old romance movies Jake. Do you think you could sit through one with me?"

"I think I could sit through anything with you Carolyn. You just tell me the time and place. Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No Jake, I will meet you there. Do you play during the week or would prefer a weekend date?"

"For you Carolyn you just name the day and time and I will be there!"

"Great, let me see what is playing this week and I will get back to you. It has been nice talking to you again Jake. I will talk to you again soon, good-bye."

"Good-bye Carolyn I can't wait to hear from you."

Oh my god, she had called him. Jake was euphoric he had been dreaming about her day and night. And he was all but obsessed with that sex tape he had of her. He hadn't watched it for a couple days because he knew he could become addicted to what he had been doing. And in truth that wasn't really his thing, jacking off to a sex tape, that was for boys and men who couldn't pull in women. He wasn't that guy. And look what had happened she had called him, she was interested! He was eventually going to get the real thing. All he had to do was wait.

In the mean time Wendy had called and he had apologized for calling her that morning for the booty call. They had made up and she was letting him tap that when he felt like it. And since he had seen "Olivia" doing herself he had been tapping it every time he got the urge to watch the tape. Hell Wendy was enjoying all the attention he was giving her and the girl would do anything in the sack. So as of right now Jake was a happy camper. He left the job smiling. He called Wendy to see what she was doing tonight. She told him to come over around eight-thirty. Wow, he was a lucky guy!

Olivia left work with a little pep in her step. Maybe just maybe she had gotten Fitz out of her brain for a hot minute. She checked the movie schedule at the Ritz and one of her favorites was playing starting Friday night. She was trying to decide on Friday or Saturday with Jake. She would call him later with the particulars.

She had gone to the market and purchased her some real food because she knew she had to start eating again. She had purchased mostly high end organic stuff directly from freezer. Olivia didn't cook but she knew she had to eat. She had lost almost eight pounds since she left him. Not only did she need to rebuild her life, but she had to recharge her body as well.

Olivia set down and did some home work from the office and then she sat down and watched Fitz on the news feeds. She was ate up with the man and she knew it. She finally got up and force fed herself a frozen dinner. She looked at the time it was a few minutes before nine o'clock, was that too late to call Jake? Of course not, no man went to bed before nine. She dialed the number. She didn't get an answer. She would call him tomorrow. She went back to watching news footage and feeds of Fitzgerald Grant.

Jake didn't answer his phone because he was buried deep inside of Wendy banging her brains out. If only she wasn't so pale he thought to himself as he smiled at her. He started to bang himself home. He ended it with a roar. He pulled out of her and lay on his back. When he had recovered enough he went into her bathroom. He removed the condom, took a leak, and flushed it all down the toilet. No sooner had he walked back into the bedroom when Wendy went straight for his johnson and started sucking. When he was good and hard she pulled another condom from her stash and gave it to him. She turned over and reared her ass up to him. He knew what she wanted. He got behind her and gave it to her.

He left her apartment at about twelve-thirty in the morning. Wendy loved to fuck. If he could get it up she would jump on it. He was exhausted and needed to get to sleep. He had a big case coming in tomorrow. He jumped in the shower and was about to call it a night when he checked his phone. He had a call from PRIVATE CALLER. He was sure it was Olivia. When she had called the other day it had rung in PRIVATE CALLER. Dammit he had missed her call! He would have to wait until tomorrow to hear from her. She had yet to give him a number where he could reach her.

He decided to watch the live feed to see what Olivia was up to. She was sound asleep. He watched her sleeping for about five minutes just watching her chest rise and fall. She had on pajamas and he could see nothing of interest but he still started to become aroused. He wasn't going to watch that tape not after having real ass all night. He decided to call Wendy at two in the morning and say he couldn't sleep. This time she didn't say no. He went back to her place for some more. Olivia Pope was making him insatiable.

Jake had spent the rest of the night at Wendy's doing the nasty every time he was able. If he had not needed to make sure this job got off to the right start he would have just stayed home from work today. Wendy had just sucked him dry about an hour ago. He was dead weight this morning. He had gone into work and put his best guys on the new job. He informed his number two he was going home he had some type of bug. He would see them bright and early tomorrow. He was on the road headed home and his phone rang. It was PRIVATE CALLER. He answered on the second ring.

"Hello Jake, it is me Carolyn. I called you last night I guess you were out. I was thinking that Saturday night is best for me. Will that work for you? The show starts at eight-fifteen. Can you make it?"

"Sure. That's the old Ritz Theater in Georgetown right?"

"Right, arrive around seven-forty-five Jake. I can get my popcorn and wine. You can order whatever you want. They have a full menu. I told you this is my treat."

"Come on Carolyn I am old fashioned. I go out on a date with a lady I'm paying. It's the way I was raised. I know you thought of it. But to be honest with you Carolyn I am pursuing you. I want to court you the old fashioned way. Indulge me a little would you? I understand you are a liberated woman but I wish you would let me foot the bills. Also Carolyn I would like a way to get in touch with you. You can trust me with your phone number."

"I'll think about it Jake. But I don't give my phone number out for a reason. Right now this is just a date nothing more. Please don't see it as anything else. I can't see where it makes a difference which one of us pays Jake, this isn't the Victorian age. We will see on Saturday night okay? Look I have to run. I will see you Saturday at seven-forty-five bye."

She hung up without waiting for a response. What was all this old fashioned dribble about courting and pursuing her bullshit? She just asked him to go to a movie. This date could very well be a disaster. It was more than likely their first and last date. In fact Olivia was almost certain it would be after that phone call. She only felt a spark of interest and she knew that was only because she had so much sexual frustration build up inside her.

She had gone home and pulled out her vibrator and pretended it was Fitz inside her and it had taken her all of three minutes to explode into a million pieces. Of course it had been months since she had last had an orgasm and it had been at the hands of a master. One thing was for certain the bar and club scene wasn't for her. She didn't expect to die an old maid but she wasn't going start picking up random men either. She knew now that wasn't her.

As Olivia saw it she did owe this Jake fellow at least a date. He had been trying to impress her and she had stiffed him with a $180 dollar bottle of wine. He had said give the lady anything she wanted hadn't he? Anyway she would pay for the movie and even a meal if he was hungry. He could order in the theater or there were several good restaurants within walking distance of the Ritz. His taste seems to run to the mundane but hey this was going to be a one and done type of experience she expected. She wanted to say she had tried dating other men at least. But after her latest conversation with Jake she suspected that she should just give it up. No other man could ever replace the man she loved. And finding a random dick was certainly not the answer.

She had been in a certain mood after that self induced orgasm she had last week. It had made her re-evaluate where she was. She had realized that maybe where she was seeking to go wasn't her brightest idea. Her ambivalence about seeking out other men had Olivia doing some serious thinking. However she at least felt she should see if she could become interested in someone else.

She was in love with a man who was the most powerful man on the planet. He had responsibilities and she had known that when she had gone all in. She had known he had a wife and children. She had known what his wife was going in, Fitz had told her. And yet she had fallen into the Mellie trap. Mellie had known she would run because Olivia didn't want to have it thrown in her face she was just a mistress and that no matter what Fitz had told her she would never be nothing more. To be blunt Mellie was never going to give him a divorce, ever! It had stymied her, that jolt back to reality that night at the cabin. She had felt so helpless in her love for him. And Olivia Pope doesn't do helpless!

So she had run from him and she was beginning to see that maybe she had been wrong. She was starting to realize that bad times with Fitz were better than good times with someone else. Olivia was fooling herself going out on this date. It wasn't going anywhere. She should just call Jake back and cancel. She went back and forth with it for about an hour. She decided one date wouldn't kill her. She would go out and have some fun with what appeared to be a decent guy. However Saturday night would be their only night. Once that date was over she needed to go home and put her head on straight. She needed to go where her heart was. She needed to go to Fitz and see if he would truly forgive her anything!