“I don’t know. She never meets my eye.” She pouts and opens herwide-set dark brown eyes to stare at the ceiling. I cup her chin and turn her face toward me.
Her shoulders sag and she sighs. “So, tell me about the Governor. What did he say?”
“There’s about to be a vacant seat in the US Senate. The Senator from Virginia is resigning ahead of a scandal.”
She grins, eyes wide. “What? Are you giving me a scoop?”
I shake my head. “No, just talking to my girlfriend. Or should I have asked you to sign an NDA first?”
I sound more irritated than I should; but not as irritated as I feel.
She blanches. “I’m just kidding,” she mumbles. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“I know. Sorry. I’m tired too. Anyway, that’s not even the news. He wants to appoint me to the seat.”
“Wow, that’s wild.” She flops down on the bed and her eyes flutter closed. “As if you’d turn down the AUSA for that.”
“I didn't get the job,” I say. My tongue feels as heavy as lead.
She opens one eye and then the other. Her mouth forms a perfect “O.”
“It's okay.”
“You wanted it so much. I’m sorry. You found out today?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure what to do. I'm not staying on at the firm.”
“Won’t there be other roles at the DOJ?”
“Yeah, but…I don't know, Sin. I don’t want to talk about it. At least not until I eat. I’m starving.”
“Me too. Let’s go eat.”
I grab her wrist to stop her from getting up.
“Or, I could just skip dinner and have you for dessert.”
“Anything you want, K.”
Her words illicit a flash of trepidation at how insatiable I am for her. She says anything I want but all I want is her. And the more I have, the hungrier I become.
Being here has made me anxious about us in a way I can’t explain.
Maybe it’s that I can’t stop thinking about my mother while I’m here. I wish we’d been closer. I wish I’d had the chance to get to know her.
I don’t want to make the same mistake with my dad.
I withdrew myself from consideration for the AUSA job after my meeting with the Governor. There is no way to take that job without selling my family out and inviting trouble to my own doorstep.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Sin
Game Day
“I have a surprise for you,” Kwame says as we make our way up the granite-paved path from a private pool that’s only accessible through this wing of the house.
“I don't like surprises,” I admonish, but I can't help but give a smile.
