Page 385 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

That was disloyal to the man in the bedroom. But loyalty had never been her strength.

She put her arms around his waist and pressed her body to his.

For a moment he held his hands in the air, away from her; then he gave in, and put his arms around her again. Perhaps loyalty was not his strength either.

"Junkies don't have much sex," she said. "It's been a while."

Dave felt shaky. At some level, he realized, he had known this was going to happen, from the moment she drove up in that red convertible.

He was shaking because he wanted her so badly.

Still he said nothing.

"Take me to bed, Dave," she said. "Let's fuck like we used to, just once, for old times' sake."

"No," he said.

But he did.

*

They finished the album the day FBI director J. Edgar Hoover died.

Over breakfast at noon the following day, in the kitchen of Daisy Farm, Beep said: "My grandfather is a senator, and he says J. Edgar liked to suck cock."

They were all amazed.

Dave grinned. He was pretty sure old Gus Dewar had never said "suck cock" to his granddaughter. But Beep liked to talk that way in front of guys. She knew it turned them on. She was mischievous. It was one of the things that made her exciting.

She went on: "Grandpapa told me Hoover lived with his associate director, a guy called Tolson. They went everywhere together, like husband and wife."

Lew said: "It's people like Hoover give us queers a bad name."

Walli, up unusually early, said: "Hey, listen, we're going to do a reunion concert when the album comes out, right?"

Dave said: "Yeah. What's on your mind?"

"Let's make it a fund-raiser for George McGovern."

The idea of rock bands raising money for liberal politicians was catching on, and McGovern was the leading contender for the Democratic nomination in this year's presidential election, running as a peace candidate.

Dave said: "Great idea. Doubles our publicity, and helps to end the war as well."

Lew said: "I'm for it."

Buzz said: "Okay, I'm outvoted, I concede."

Lew and Buzz left soon after to catch a plane to London. Walli went into the studio to pack his guitars into their cases, a job he did not like to leave to roadies.

Dave said to Beep: "You can't just go."

"Why not?"

"Because for the last six weeks we've been fucking our brains out every time Walli nodded out."

She grinned. "Been great, hasn't it?"

"And because we love each other." Dave waited to see whether she would confirm or deny this.

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