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I go back the piano and start picking out the melody to my song. I don’t sing, though. I’m too angry for that.
I want to ruin these men. To take away all the riches they’ve been given, but don’t deserve. Including the woman they’ve wounded.
I play until I feel some of the anger leave my body.
“Hey, are you okay?” She comes to stand behind me and drapes her arms over my shoulders. I tip my head back so that it rests in the middle of her chest. I open my eyes and look right. Her breast, bare, flushed, and mauve tipped comes into my view.
She has a beauty mark next to her light brown areola that I’ve never noticed. Unable to resist the succulent sight, I stick my tongue out and lick it. She sighs. It’s a sweet sigh of relief and so, I do it again.
A shudder runs through her and she presses her body into my back and slides her hands up my shoulders and twines her fingers into my hair.
My breathing is fast and my heartbeat quickens and my fingers slip off the keys. And she falls into my lap and wraps her arms around me. Hugging me.
“I want you to find a way, Carter. I do.” She says in my ear.
I have an idea. “What if we got married, claim the money and give him his half. I don’t need it, with the contract I’m going to sign, I could take care of us.”
She stiffens against my back and then moves to sit beside me.
She looks at me intently.
“No.” Her voice is harsh and unequivocal. “Even if we could. And we can’t because my father has to approve. And I don’t want my father even to know about us. He’ll find a way to ruin it. And I don’t want to lose you again.”
I don’t have anything productive to say. I don’t have anything to offer her.
“How long do we have before they’re back?”
“A month or so. They’ll both be here for my father’s campaign kic
koff.”
“He’s running again?”
She laughs at the surprise in my voice “He’s like the Susan Lucci of the Governor’s race. Personally. I enjoy watching him lose.”
I don’t laugh at her little dig. I hate this. “Do you have to be there?”
“Yes. I have to be there.” She puts her arms around me “Don’t worry. Once I’m out of here, nothing will stop me from coming to you.”
She kisses me and when her tongue slides against mine, I almost believe her.
34
Beth
Exile
I’m floating in a pool of contentment and levity. I’m lying in the arms of the man I love, naked, wet and clean. We got into the bath after we fucked in the shower and I’m dozing off. I’ve been cradled in his lap, my head lolling on his chest while he hums and sings and massages my scalp.
He shakes me gently and I crane my head to look up at him. His eyes are so tender and a little sad. “Did you know they call the Statue of Liberty the Mother of Exiles?”
“What?” I blink away my grogginess and try to focus.
“Yeah, that’s the name in the poem that’s on the plaque there. It says, Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
“It would be amazing to visit one day. It’s on my bucket list.”
“I want to be with you when you finally heed her call.”
