It was a long day for Ocean.
In D.C., no one cared about Aaliyah and his not-quite-a-fail-but-not-quite-a-success publicity stunt. Instead, he focused on the endless meetings with his constituents, lobbyists, special interest groups, and his staff. Ocean was so wrapped up in meetings, he ate lunch at his desk.
He was only able to send Aaliyah a text earlier in the day and wished he had more time to talk or at least text with her. It was business as usual in Capitol Hill and Ocean knew his colleagues wouldn’t be sympathetic over him missing his…friend.
Not girlfriend, but not quite a friend. Dating? Boo thang? Boo?
Aaliyah.
He wasn’t one for titles and preferred his actions spoke more than words. Aaliyah was insistent she was not his girlfriend and Ocean wondered if that was the case, why did she let him spend the night? It was clear she wanted something more than she vocalized.
Worrying about what his relationship status wasn’t a priority and Ocean felt silly for acting like a love struck high-schooler. When he had free time later, he would call Aaliyah and ask about her day and if her meeting with the network went okay.
He knew he took a risk coming back into Aaliyah’s life and was more than prepared for her to tell him to fuck off. Well, she did tell him that many times. Eventually, herfuck offmorphed into afuck meonce they made love.
Just when he was about to head into another meeting, his secretary rang his phone. “Ocean, you have a visitor. His name is Ricardo Montez. He says he just wants a few words with you before you go to the committee meeting.”
Ocean felt coldness still in his body. Ricardo Montez had a lot of pull in D.C. and anyone who knew him, knew how much his reach was. He had connects seemingly everywhere and was on generally good terms with everyone who wasn’t a Republican.
The fact he wanted a private meeting with Ocean after the disastrous date with his daughter did not sit well with the younger man. Ocean knew better to burn any bridges would potentially need to cross. Unless Ricardo was coming in to apologize for his boring and uninteresting canned responses daughter, one of them was going to be insulted by the end of it.
Ocean already knew it was going to be him. “Send him in.” He hung up and waited for Ricardo’s appearance.
A short time later, Ricardo strolled through Ocean’s office door and smiled at him. “Hey Ocean,” he held out his hand and Ocean promptly shook it. “Thanks for meeting with me on short notice.”
Ocean knew he didn’t have a choice but didn’t say anything. He just admired how Ricardo looked in his business suit. He reminded Ocean of a godfather-like figure or even a mafia boss. The sixth sense in Ocean told him it wasn’t a wrong feeling and probably something every person felt once they encountered Ricardo.
He was a tall man, with salt and pepper hair that sprinkled his beard. He commanded attention no matter where he went and he quickly owned a room even if he wasn’t a guest – pretty much what he was doing in Ocean’s office.
He had big dick energy and didn’t hesitate to tell anyone about it. A well-versed man in everything politics and even pop culture, he was often a favorite on CNN, MSNBC, and had an impressive Twitter following. Younger and older women adored him. Younger and older men respected him.
There were numerous calls for him to run for office, but he’d always declined telling everyone he was very much a background player. What he didn’t tell anyone was how much power he had being hidden and secluded.
It didn’t take long for Ocean to realize Ricardo wanted to meet with Ocean and was going to get a meeting with him, one way or another. Now it became thewhyhe was in his office. “May I offer you a beverage?”
“Oh no, I won’t take long.” Ricardo sat down before Ocean and Ocean followed. “I wanted to talk with you about the other night. You went out with my daughter, Ximena, yes? She said you had to leave early to go back to Atlanta.”
“That I did.” Ocean’s voice remained flat and emotionless.
“Were there any problems?” Ricardo asked. “She said she had a lovely time and it was one of the best dates she’s been on in a long time.”
With how dry she was?Ocean was bored out of his mind with Ximena and was thankful it was only a one-time event. Ximena was canned and rehearsed; Aaliyah was free and unbridled.
Aaliyah conversed about everything under the moon. She took an interest in basket weaving and coding. The interests were so different from each other, yet Aaliyah had a solid interest in both. That was the type of enigma she was.
Ximena, on the other hand, merely pretended she cared. Ocean figured if he asked her about why black women didn’t support a black man when he was gunned down by the police due to his anti-black statements, she wouldn’t get it.
Ocean got the feeling he was already giving Ximena the go-ahead to pick out china patterns when he didn’t even want to bed her. “There were no problems.”
“So, this means you will see her again, right?” Ricardo smiled. “She took a liking to you.”
“Mr. Montez…”
“Please, call me Ricardo.”
Mmhmm.The older man was making more of their newfound friendship than what it needed to be.“Ricardo, you have a lovely daughter but I can’t give her the same attention she deserves. I’m sure there are a lot of other candidates…” Ocean wanted to saysapsbut kept it cute and mute. “…who would gladly oblige her.”
Ricardo was silent for a short moment as he tapped his finger on the armrest. He chewed his lips briefly before he spoke. “I hope your opinion has nothing to do with whoever is in Atlanta.”
