Page 7 of Above All Else
I tipped my head back, a tear dribbling down my cheeks, my eyes closed as I swayed to the piano’s ominous tune, my arms tucked between my breasts, holding in my heart.
No one understands.
They never do.
And they never will.
Chapter 3
Carter
My black-gloved hand splayed across the living room window overlooking her backyard, the sun dimming behind the trees.
Her soft yellow dress swayed against her knees as she wept in silence, causing me to squint as my studious gaze lingered on her plump breasts, squeezed between her arms, then fell to her swaying hips as though she were rocking a sleeping babe.
Did she long for a child?
Is this why she wept?
Or was it somethingmore afflicting?
A smile curved over my lips, a soothing heat hitting my belly.
June unzipped the back of her floral dress and walked into an adjoining room, her window higher but not out of reach for my tall frame.
I leaned against her home with my shoulder and peered in, her milky white skin appearing as she dropped the dress onto the floor with a fluidity that mirrored a cascading waterfall.
My cock thickened as she bent over, picked the dress up off the floor, then tossed it into the laundry bin.
The skinny thread of string between her butt cheeks disappeared between her thighs, concealing a piece of her I’d once dreamed of possessing.
Gone was the desire to shower her in raptured bliss.
June reached behind the bedroom door, took a robe off the hook, and turned around the corner into the hallway.
My brows lowered as I stared at the perfection in her room—the dust-free tabletop beside the window, the stain-free carpet, the bed made with a cream duvet that matched the curtains throughout the house. She had a perfect little life, living in utter happiness, despite the strange display of woe-is-me behavior in her living room.
A text lit up her screen, and I peered over the windowsill.
Bailey
Java Bliss is open. Let’s grab a decaf at 7 and forget about…
The text cut off, and the screen darkened.
I spun on the balls of my feet as the water rocked through the pipes, causing a knocking throughout the exterior walls. I made my way to my car parked two blocks over. Slipping inside, I drove to the bar, the Golden Pour, and stole a barstool.
Liquor and polished wood vapors hung in the air, intermingling with the patron’s hushed conversations and clinking glasses. Dim lighting cast vast shadows across the wooden floor, cloaking the corners of the establishment in darkness.
“It’s been a long time, Carter.”
A hand came down on my shoulder, and I shrugged, causing his hand to fall away. I nodded. “Paul.”
He sat beside me, and my heart rate picked up as the elder leaned his elbow on the bar top. A hair paste kept his salt and pepper hair to the side, the lines from the comb-like perfected cracks on a sidewalk.
“I’m glad to see you’re attending this year.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”