by M. T. Pope
“What I want isn’t important,” she said, placing her hand on his chest. “This is about you.”
“The flip side is I’m not sure about the campaign trail. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You remember what Victor Trugonoff said. It’s all theater. All you’d have to do is learn your lines and stick to them. The decision will have already been made in your favor.”
“That’s another part of this that bothers me,” Orpheus said. “It might be old-fashioned but I believe in democracy for the people and by the people. The idea of ten people overriding the system and making the decision without any input from the people is troubling to me.”
“Of course it is, darling,” Raven said, stroking his chest. “It troubles me as well. But what can we do? It’s the real world. But what people like you can do is make it work in your favor so you can make the positive changes you’d like to see in the world.”
“That’s true,” Orpheus said, yielding a fraction.
“Part of me thinks it would be a bit irresponsible, even selfish for you to turn an opportunity like this down.”
“Selfish?”
“Well, yes,” she said cautiously. “How many people in the history of this country have had this opportunity? To turn it down would be almost the same as saying you didn’t care about the future of America.”
Suddenly Orpheus saw images of spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountains, and fruited plains in his mind. Patriotism was hardwired into his genes. For the Roulette men, it was God first, country second, and family third.
“You know I love my country,” he said defensively.
“I know you do, baby, and this is the way to show it.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“I know I am, darling, but this is your decision. I don’t want to influence you one way or the other.”
Her work was done for the evening. Raven kissed Orpheus on the lips and turned off the light. “Good night, darling,” she said, rolling onto her back to him. “I know you’ll make the right decision.”
Chapter 8
A week had gone by and still there was no word from Darius. Orpheus called him several times a day and even went to his apartment on one occasion but there was no one home. He left a note on the door.
I’m sorry, Darius.
Please call me.
Orpheus
The meeting with Governor Fredericks went as expected.
“General Orpheus Beauregard Roulette, will you join in my bid for the presidency of the United States of America?” the governor had asked.
“I’m honored, Governor. May I give you my response in a week? I have to discuss this with my wife and children.”
Orpheus logged into the chat room every night at the stroke of midnight on the chance that he would see the beautiful screen name, Kiss-n-tell. But every night he was disappointed. The inane chatter held no interest for Orpheus. He was only interested in seeing Kiss-n-tell in the roster of people in the room.
Like clockwork, on Friday night Orpheus logged into the room. He didn’t expect to see him there but there was always a chance.
Piped: anybody need a blow job?
Bicurious: never been with a guy before. looking for my first time.
Need2now: on my way to the club. hope to find mr. right 2night.
And then the name appeared on the roster. Orpheus lunged for the keyboard and typed.
Generalone: hello
Big14u: hello Generalone. how are you tonight?
One4theboys: what are you into Generalone?
The greetings continued but none from Kiss-n-tell. So Orpheus tried again.
Generalone: im sorry
Onceaday: why what did you do?
Favoriteson: probably couldn’t get it up.
Boi4boi: LOL ...
Generalone: please call me
Kiss-n-tell: go to http://www.xp3bb251-111/gov-8/en-us/room.aspz .
Enter the fake name you gave me as the password. i will call you in exactly 10 minutes
Kiss-n-tell disappeared from the roster as quickly as he had come. Orpheus hurriedly scrawled the Web address onto a notepad before it scrolled off the screen. He was so relieved to hear from Darius that he didn’t question the unusual instructions. He carefully entered the cryptic address and waited as the page opened.
The site opened and the screen was totally black except for a white box in the center under which was the word “Password.” Orpheus typed “Michael.” His heart ached each time his fingers touched the keys to spell out the lie that had driven away the man he loved so deeply. When he hit the Enter key the screen blinked off and on; then his name appeared in the center of the screen in bold white letters, “GENERAL ORPHEUS BEAUREGARD ROULETTE III.”
Then instantly a tape of Darius’s living room played on the screen. Orpheus’s heart warmed when he saw the familiar space. The sectional couch on which he had made love to Darius. The yellow, green, and blue ottomans on which he had rested his feet, and the giant photographs taken by a gifted eye. Orpheus longed to be in the room again.
Orpheus leapt to the edge of his seat with what he saw next. Orpheus and Darius walked into view hand in hand. They stopped in front of the couch and embraced. They were talking but there was no sound. Still in a tight embrace, the two men were looking lovingly into each other’s eyes as they spoke. As the tape played on Orpheus knew exactly what was going to happen next. He remembered the afternoon in the apartment as if it had been that very day.
Beads of sweat began to form on Orpheus’s brow as he gripped the sides of the desk. His heart pounded in his chest as he prayed the tape would end. But it played on. The two men stopped talking and their lips met in a passionate kiss that seemed to last forever. Their hands probed each other’s heads, backs, and down the back and front of their pants.
“No, no,” Orpheus pleaded to the screen. “Stop! Darius, please don’t do this to me.”
His hidden love and forbidden passion was on the Internet for the entire world to see. The gentle probing slowly evolved into lustful gropes and probing kisses on their necks and chests. Orpheus could see the bulge in the front of the khakis he wore that day. He slid his hands under the waistband of the green sweatpants Darius had on and lowered them until they dropped to the cement floor. The man in Orpheus’s arms was now naked from the waist down.
“Please don’t do this, Darius,” he begged, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Why are you doing this to me?”
Darius unfastened Orpheus’s belt buckle. Orpheus stood up from the desk abruptly and shouted, “No!”
But the tape continued to roll. Darius unzipped the khakis and put his hand into Orpheus’s pants. Orpheus’s lips parted and he threw his head back as Darius fumbled and probed in the front of his pants. The weight of the belt buckle caused his pants to fall to the floor, forming a pool of beige fabric around his ankles.
Orpheus dropped down hard into the chair in front of the screen and covered his mouth with his hand.
“Oh, God, please, please make him stop.”
But the camera continued to roll. Darius slowly lowered himself to his knees in front of Orpheus and the tent in his white boxer shorts pointed directly at his face. Orpheus lovingly stroked the back of beautiful young man’s head that kneeled before him.
“Stop it, Darius. Please don’t do this to me,” Orpheus whispered to the screen. “You can’t do this to me.”
Darius slowly tugged at the hem of the crisp white boxers and in one swoop the nine inches of evidence of Orpheus’s desire for the man kneeling in front of him bounced on to the screen. Orpheus lunged for the power button on the tower and immediately turned off the computer, and in the process sent the telephone and a stack of files, labeled TOP SECRET, tumbling to the floor.
He jumped from the chair and began to walk frantically around the room. His hands were shaking and sweat covered his forehead and neck. How could he do this to me? he thought as he paced from one side of the room to the othe
r. I know I lied but I don’t deserve this.
As he frantically walked the length and breadth of the room the cell phone in his pocket rang. Orpheus had forgotten that Darius said he would call in exactly ten minutes.
“Darius!” he yelled into the phone. “What are you doing? Why did you make that tape? You’ll ruin my life. Take it down immediately.”
Orpheus’s demand was met with cold silence. “Are you there? Darius? Hello.”
“Do not speak. Only listen,” came the reply.
“What?”
“If you speak I will disconnect this call and you will never hear from me again, but the tapes will be made available to anyone in the world who wishes to view them on the Internet. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Orpheus said angrily.
“Good. I’m sure you’re wondering why I taped our affair.”
“Yes, I—”
“I said do not speak!” Darius shouted into the phone. “My entire apartment is wired. Whenever I invite a stranger into my home I record everything for security reasons. Your trained military eye must have noticed the thousands of dollars worth of video equipment. You should know I have four other videos of our time together. The one, I assume by your tone, you have seen. Two in the bedroom and one in the kitchen. You remember when we made love in the kitchen, don’t you, General? As I recall it involved you on your knees and a stick of butter.
“You hurt me very deeply and, unfortunately for you, you’re going to have to pay for it. I opened my heart to you and you ripped it out and trampled it under your feet. I want you to feel exactly the way you’ve made me feel. Humiliated, betrayed and exploited.
“Your indiscretion is going to cost you one of two things. Which one is for you to decide. You will pay me two hundred thousand dollars in cash in three days. If you choose to not pay, I will remove the password block on the Web site and distribute the link throughout the Internet. Is that understood? You may speak now.”
“Darius, I understand that you’re angry,” Orpheus said pleadingly. “But you have to believe me when I say I didn’t intend to hurt you.”
“Your intentions mean nothing to me. The damage is done. Do you have any questions for me or have I made myself clear?” he said curtly.
“Darius can we talk about this? I don’t have that kind of money.”
“That is not my concern. Borrow it from one of your rich friends. Take a second mortgage out on your home. I don’t care how you do it, just know that I am serious and at midnight on Saturday the tapes go live if I don’t have the money. Your hopes for being vice president will be over and your distinguished military career will be ruined. I think I’ve said all I have to say at this point. I will contact you on Saturday with instructions. Good night, Mr. Vice President.”
The line went dead. Orpheus’s heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his head. He collapsed onto a leather couch in the center of the room, buried his head in his hands, and cried.
Orpheus remained in the room for another hour before stumbling up the stairs and crawling into bed next to the sleeping Raven. He was physically drained, emotionally exhausted, and dizzy from the loss of love and the sting of betrayal.
Raven stirred restlessly when he pulled the covers to his chest.
“You’re just coming to bed,” she said, still half asleep. “What were you doing down there?”
“Thinking.”
“About what?”
“Everything,” he replied wearily.
“Have you made a decision?”
“About what?”
“About what? Are you joking? About Milo’s invitation of course,” she said, now fully awake.
Orpheus turned on his side away from her and said, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to accept his invitation.”
Raven bolted upright in the bed. “Why not? We talked about this. I thought—”
“Well you thought wrong,” he snapped. “Now please leave me alone, I’m exhausted.”
“I will not leave you alone,” she said, pulling him to his back. “Why can’t you do it? You’re perfect for the job.”
“I’m not perfect, Raven. Nothing is perfect in my life right now.”
“What are you saying? You have the perfect family. A stellar career. They think you’re perfect for it and so do I.”
“Raven, there’s more to my life than the perfect image you have tried to create all these years.”
“Is there something you’re not telling me, Orpheus? What is going on? I deserve an explanation. Whatever it is we can work it out together. We’re a team, remember? There’s nothing we can’t figure out together.”
“Let it go, Raven,” Orpheus shouted. “This is my problem and I have to solve it on my own. I don’t need your help. Stay out of it. It doesn’t involve you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” she said, matching his tone. “Everything you do involves me. Every decision you make involves me and every fucking mistake you make involves me.”
“I’m warning you, Raven. Leave me alone. I’m on the edge right now and if you keep pushing me I think I’m going to snap.”
“I don’t give a fuck if you snap. You can’t make decisions like this without me. I’ve given up too much to be your wife and done too much to get you this far in your career. You owe me.”
“I don’t owe you a fucking thing,” he said, jumping from the bed. “Everything you’ve done in this marriage has been for you, not for me. You wormed your way into politics for yourself. I never wanted to be a politician and I’m not going to be one just to please you.”
Orpheus walked quickly to the adjoining bathroom and slammed the door shut but Raven was on his heels. She swung the door open and found him dowsing his face with water from the sink.
“You can’t run away from this, Orpheus,” she said, standing in the doorway.
“I told you I’m feeling very fragile, Raven. Please leave me alone. I can’t deal with this right now.”
“Well you’re going to deal with it. Now tell me what is wrong with you.”
Orpheus held his face in his hands and began to weep. “I can’t talk about this, Raven. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
Raven had never seen her husband cry before. The hulking man stood hunched over the sink sobbing like a child, but she felt no sympathy.
She positioned herself lower than his chest and pushed him into an upright position. His face was dripping with water and tears. “What is going on, Orpheus? I insist that you tell me this instant.”
Orpheus leaned down on the sink and said, “I had an affair, Raven.”
The initial shock passed almost instantaneously. A minor obstacle, she thought. An affair never stopped anyone from getting to the White House.
“Of course I’m hurt, Orpheus,” she said gently, “but that’s no reason to not run for vice president. You’ll break it off with her and that will be the end of it.”
“It’s not that simple, Raven.”
“Is she pregnant?”
“No.”
“Then what?” she asked, unable to conceal her anger.
Orpheus bent lower to the sink and said, “It wasn’t with a woman.”
Raven looked puzzled. “What?” she asked as if she had been presented with a riddle.
Orpheus looked up from the sink into the mirror, into the face of the man he had become. He felt numb and exposed. There was no place to hide.
“It was with a man,” he said through the water dripping from his face. “And now he’s blackmailing me.”
Raven froze, standing over the crying man at the sink. She then turned and walked slowly to the bed. Orpheus came out of the bathroom moments later and saw her sitting on the side of the bed, staring directly ahead.
He sat down next to her and said, “I’m sorry, Black Bird. I don’t know how this happened.” He placed his hand gently on her thigh.
“Don’t touch me,” she said, pausing after each word. “How much does he want?”
/> “What?”
“I said, how much does he want?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
“When?”
“Saturday.”
Raven continued to look straight ahead. “Pay him,” she said coldly.
“Don’t be ridiculous. We don’t have that kind of money.”
“I’ll get the money.”
“How?”
“That is not your concern. You are never to be seen in his presence again. Make the arrangements to drop off the money and I will deal with him from then on. Is that clear?”
“Yes.”
Raven slowly lay down on the bed, pulled the covers over her chest, and said, “It’s late and I’m tired. Please turn out the light.”
Orpheus did not sleep the entire night. The video of him and Darius on the computer looped in his mind like a nightmare that refused to end. Several times during the night he got out of bed and nervously paced the floor of the bedroom, holding his head in his hands, trying to shake the images from his mind.
Raven didn’t sleep either. She lay still in the bed with her eyes closed and the blanket pulled to her neck. When Orpheus’s back was turned she would steal a peek at the distraught man walking from one side of the room the other. She was repulsed by the idea of her husband and the father of her children making love to a man, but at the moment that was the least of her concerns.
She could feel Washington slipping slowly from her grasp. I’m so close, she thought as Orpheus passed the bed for the twentieth time. Fucking idiot, couldn’t keep his dick in his pants for one more year. If I can fix this mess and we get to Washington, then he can fuck every goddamned White House page and faggot in the city. I won’t give a shit.
Raven could clearly see the strain Orpheus was experiencing as he wore grooves into the carpet. She didn’t care. He deserves to have a breakdown, she thought, turning her back to him. If he hasn’t already ruined everything, I’ll pump him with medication and prop him up with a stick up his ass to take the oath of office. Come to think of it, he might like that.
In the face of her husband coming to terms with his sexuality, Raven never questioned her desirability. The thought never entered her mind that she could have, in some way, contributed to his attraction to men. It had nothing to do with her, she reasoned. Instead she attributed it to a flaw in his personality. Maybe being around all those soldiers for so long got to him. Her attractiveness and self-worth was never questioned. She had learned long ago that if a man did not find her attractive it was because they either had poor taste or some strange fetish that could not be satisfied by a beautiful woman.
