“Kelley. Your name is Kelley, isn't it?" He didn't wait for her confirmation. "Yes. Well. Tell me...that bit just now...was that from Dante's Inferno?"
Uh...no," Kelley stammered. Her face felt hot.
Really?"
I'm in for it.
Are you sure?" he continued. "Because it most certainly wasn't from this play. And it bloody well sounded like hell.”
“Believe me, Kelley. If I’m not…it’s because I’m already dead.” He stroked her hair, and she could feel his breath warm on her forehead, like a kiss. “Because anyone that would seek to hurt you would have to kill me first.”
“sonny had circled three words in gold ink: i love thee.”
“Kelley-"You know that story ends horribly, right?"
Sonny-"What did Shakepeare know? He probably would have rewritten that bit if he'd thought about it.”
“Well. I think it's safe to say that, in my absence, the power grabbing and backstabbing and political intrigue has officially reached an all-time Otherworld high.
”
“Then she began to mutter to herself and gesture to the empty air.
oh. Sonny sighed. Just another central park crazy.”
“She felt his arms tighten around her, as they spiraled up, borne aloft on wings that were dark as the night, bright as a new star.”
“She drew herself up and took in a breath, concentrating on her inflection so that she could indulge him in his game. Then she leaned forward and, in her best, most sincerely love-struck voice, breathed, "I love thee."
Sonny's face was just inches from hers. His storm-gray eyes flashed, and the dark silk of his hair drifted across his cheek as he leaned in his head. "Perfect."
So was the kiss.
Perfect.
"I love thee," Sonny murmured, all pretense gone.”
“The Janus Guard will also be out that night,” he said, one hand reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. “Just as we have been and will be for every night of the Nine.”
“Good.”
“Speaking of which—Kelley…” Sonny seemed suddenly exhausted. He turned his face to the west, and she could see the fatigue etched into the lines and planes of his face. “It’s getting late. You need to leave the park. Please. Don’t argue with me this time. Just go. The sun will set soon, and I have to go to work.”
He squared his shoulders as though he expected her to put up a fight. She did—a little—but only out of actual concern for him. “Shouldn’t you be taking it easy? I mean, you try to hide it with the whole tough-guy-swagger thing and all, but I saw the bandages. You’re really hurt. Aren’t you?”
“It’s not so bad.”
“Wow. You are a terrible liar.”
He frowned fiercely at her.
“You also look like you haven’t slept in a week.” She took a tentative step toward him and put a hand on his chest, looking up into his silver-gray eyes. He put his hand over the top of hers, and she could feel the rhythm of his heart beating under her palm, through his shirt and the bandages.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
With his other hand, Sonny reached up and brushed a stray auburn curl out of her eyes.
“I’m sure.”
He smiled down at her, and she felt her insides melt a little. His whole face changed when he smiled. It was like the sun coming out.
“But,” he continued, “I’ll be even better if you are safe at home and I don’t have to worry about you for tonight.”
“I can take care of myself, Sonny Flannery,” she bristled, halfheartedly.
“Please?” He turned up the wattage on his smile.
“I…okay.” She felt her own lips turn up in a shy, answering smile. “I’ll be good. This once.”
“That’s my girl.”
Kelley was silent. Those three words of Sonny’s had managed to render her utterly speechless.”
“All business in Iran is like first time sex: first there are the promises, then a little foreplay, followed by more promises and perhaps a little petting...at that stage things get complicated - you're not sure who's the boy and who's the girl, but what you do know is that if you continue, you might get fucked...so you decide to proceed cautiously, touching here and touching there, showering the other party with compliments, and whispering an undying commitment, and then maybe, just maybe, it will all end in coitus, but it is rarely as satisfying for one party as it is for the other.”
“How often had men sat around dinner tables and discussed women’s lives, their choices, and the reasons why one woman reached across the bed to touch another woman?”
“The wounds had healed, but the scars would be mine forever.”
“people are working harder than ever, but because they lack clarity and vision, they aren’t getting very far. They, in essence, are pushing a rope...with all of their might.”
“Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.”
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