1
" I want you, Hank. I'm much more of an animal than you think. I wanted you from the first moment I saw you - and the only thing I'm ashamed of is that I did not know it. I did not know why, for two years, the brightest moments I found were the ones in your office, where I could lift my head to look up at you. I did not know the nature of what I felt in your presence, nor the reason. I know it now. That is all I want, Hank. I want you in my bed - and you are free of me for all the rest of your time. There's nothing you'll have to pretend - don't think of me, don't feel; don't care - I do not want your mind, your will, your being or your soul, so long as it's to me you will come for that lowest one of your desires. I am an animal who wants nothing but the sensation of pleasure which you despise - but I want it from you. You'd give up amy height of virtue for it , while I - I haven't any to give up. There's none I seek or wish to reach. I am so low that I would exchange the greatest sight of beauty in the world for the sight of your figure in the cab of a railroad engine. Amd seeing it, I would not be able to see it indifferently. You don't have to fear that you're now dependent on me. It's I who will depend on any whim of yours. You'll have me anytime you wish, anywhere, on any terms. Did you call it the obscenity of my talent? It's such that it gives you a safer hold on me than on any other property you own. You may dispose of me as you please - I'm not afraid to admit it - I have nothing to protect from you and nothing to reserve. You think that this is a threat to your achievement, but it is not to mine. I will sit at my desk, and work, and when the things around me get hard to bear, I will think that for my reward I will be in your bed that night. Did you call it depravity? I am much more depraved than you are: you hold it as your guilt, and I - as my pride. I'm more proud of it than anything I've done, more proud than of building the Line. If I'm asked to name my proudest attainment, I will say: I have slept with Hank Rearden. I had earned it. "
― Ayn Rand
4
" I was once driven north along Central Park, all the way from Chinatown. We hailed the cab in front of a building where Orthodox Jews still lived, so they shut down an elevator on Saturdays. In the taxi, I was with my mother. We were visiting her aunt, my great aunt, who was 93. She had no memory of the old country, Lithuania, but she'd been born there. Her parents escaped the pogroms so she could survived a century here. Her American prosperity was half a century of subsistence wages and thirty years of Medicare in an elevator building. The old country for the cab driver was Bangladesh, and he was a talker. He'd just graduated from college, and his prospects were good. He'd majored in a practical field, network engineering or something like that. Young and optimistic, he spoke fluent English. His big idea was to keep his countrymen out of the United States. America was great, but if he got overrun with foreigners, his kind in particular, it would be ruined. " Bangladesh is hot and crowded. Why would want to make America like that." He said this in all sincerity. "
9
" Where are we heading?”
“The closest wooded area to here is Kenwood Academy’s estate. Good place to hide, especially at night.”
“If we’re going into the woods, I definitely need to change.”
I glanced back at her as we returned to the curb where the cab had dropped us off. “Or you could just go home.”
She crossed her arms and avoided my gaze, scowling. “You’re sick of me already? That must be a record.”
I lifted my eyes to the heavens. Women. “This creature tore out a woman’s throat and busted her chest cavity open like a piñata. I don’t like the thought of it being anywhere near you.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I feel the same way?”
Surprise flooded over me. “No, it…actually didn’t.”
“I know I’m not as strong or as smart as you are, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help. We’re partners, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” I said, and couldn’t stop the smile creeping across my lips. “I guess we are.”
She tossed a quick look at me and frowned. “Quit it.”
“What?”
“I hate it when you do that.”
“You hate it when I smile?”
“No, when you make that, ‘aw, she does have a heart’ face. You look like a Disney prince.”
I laughed. “My bad. I’ll work on that. "
― Kyoko M. , The Deadly Seven (The Black Parade, #1.5)
11
" God could no longer see the faces of the men, only red and orange hazes. He heard taunting voices in his mind spurring him on, calling him a “pussy,” and old, hairy hands reaching out to grab him. His gripped tightened on the punk’s neck and he cocked his right arm back ready to do some serious damage.
“Let him go.”
God shook his head at the familiar deep voice.
“I said, let him go now!”
He felt two strong hands land on his shoulders and heat seeped its way into him from behind.
“Put him down, God. Right now before you kill him. Listen to my voice.” Day was up on his tiptoes speaking into his ear. His breath was hot on his neck and it gave him a tingling in his spine. “Cashel, stop,” Day whispered.
God put his right arm down and released the man from his grip. He didn’t wait to see the man’s body drop. He spun around and looked into his friend’s eyes, and was relieved when he didn’t see judgment, sorrow, or pity…all he saw was relief and then concern. Day grabbed him and held on to him tightly. His embrace was strong and confident…exactly what God needed to feel right then.
“Come on, we gotta get out of here.” Day gripped the back of his arm and moved them quickly out of the alley and into a waiting taxi.
“Wait…my truck.”
“It’s taken care of.” Day kept him from getting out of the vehicle.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you owe me two hundred dollars because that’s what I just paid the bartender to follow us back to my place in your truck.”
God spun around and saw his huge truck’s headlights behind them.
“You have a stranger driving my truck…my fucking guns are in there, Leo.”
“You should’ve thought about that earlier, Cash,” Day growled right back.
“If you’re going to lecture me, Leo…fucking save it.” God slid down farther and let his aching head rest on the back of the seat as the cab accelerated onto the highway.
“You know me better than that, Cash. I’m not going to lecture you. I’m going to kick your ass,” Day said matter-of-factly and turned to look out the window. Neither one said anything else the rest of the ride. "
― A.E. Via
