Page 94 of State of Affairs (First Family 1)

“Will do. No one is doing arraignments until tomorrow anyway, and he won’t get bail with murder and felony assault charges looming. So you have time to go to the ER and find some makeup to cover the carnage.” He checked his watch. “You have three hours until your meeting with Mrs. Nelson.”

Sam groaned when she thought of showing up at the White House looking as if she’d lost a boxing match. “Take care of the girlfriend too. We need to find out what she knows.”

“I’m on it. Go take care of yourself. I’ll check in later.”

Sam was infuriated to have to leave the case to others at this critical juncture, but if the pain radiating from her face and hands was any indication, Freddie might be right about her needing stitches. She stomped down the stairs to the sidewalk, where Vernon met her, holding a wad of gauze that he handed to her.

“Thank you. Would you mind giving me a lift back to GW?”

“It’d be a pleasure, ma’am.”

“Stop being nice to me. It’s irritating.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He held the back door for her and then handed her an ice pack.

“You’re a regular Boy Scout, aren’t you?”

His lips quivered with the start of a smile. “I read up on you before I took this assignment. I learned that having a first aid kit handy would be useful.”

“That’s very funny. Ha. Ha.”

Laughing, he closed the door.

Sam pressed the ice pack to her throbbing cheek and used the gauze to mop up some of the blood pouring from her hands as she realized she needed to call Nick to let him know she was injured. Again. Ignoring the pain coming from her hands, she fished the BlackBerry from her coat pocket and tried to remember how to use it. Oh, right. Press 69. He was a comedian.

He answered on the third ring. “Samantha? What’s up?”

“Everything is fine, but I wanted to tell you I took an elbow to the face, and I’m on my way to GW to get it checked because Freddie said I might need stitches because I also fell into a holly bush.”

“Oh no, babe. That’s my favorite face in the whole wide world.”

She smiled and then winced from the pain of the movement. “The worst part is that I’m going to have to meet with Mrs. Nelson looking like I just stepped out of a boxing ring. There won’t be pictures, will there?”

“Uhh, well…”

Sam moaned.

“We have the network interview tomorrow too, don’t forget.”

She wanted to scream with frustration. “I’m going to need Tracy’s theater makeup again.”

“You want me to call her?”

“Nah, that’s okay. I’ll do it. What are you up to?”

“We just saw Elijah off, and the Littles are sad, so Scotty and I are keeping them busy while I wait for Terry to get here. We’re going to meet about potential VP candidates.”

“I’ll be home as soon as I can. Vernon and Jimmy are taking me to GW, and I’m going to call my buddy Dr. Anderson to let him know he can punch my frequent-flier card again. He’ll get me in and out.”

“It’s nice to have friends in high places.”

“I have a friend in the highest of high places,” she said suggestively. “He’s actually more like a fuck buddy.”

He snorted with indignant laughter. “You’ll pay for that later.”

“Can’t wait.”

“You’re really all right?”