Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

In the late hours of the night, Jerry found himself trapped in a grim silence and seemed more desperate than usual. Between the thumb and index finger of his right hand, raised a few centimeters from his face, he held a torn condom dangling, its latex irreparably ripped along the reservoir tip, still damnably slimy and shiny, filled with his "noble forbidden fluids" (in plain terms, his sperm) dripping onto the floor. He stared at it with disgust and terror, bound, as is obvious, to the complications and consequences of that failure, and suddenly, he flung the prophylactic onto the floor. Immediately after, Jerry collapsed, bending his torso forward, throwing the weight of his upper body onto his thighs, and buried his face in the palms of his hands, propping his elbows against his bare knees.
His right leg began to drum frantically, constantly tapping his heel against the floor, while the fingers of both hands clawed at his sweat-drenched hair, scratching his scalp and gripping the strands to the point of pain, keeping his eyes squeezed shut in pure distress.

«Fuck… Fuck, fuck, fuck» he murmured. For a man accustomed to meticulous verbal self regulation, as well as the fucking mayor of Beaverton, whose entire career was based on rhetorical modulation and decorum, the use of that word represented the first, evident crack in his control. His psyche was not at all used to processing such a level of horror. He was used to managing political matters, administrative negotiations, and even worse to tell the truth, without ever having to go into details (corruption), but he found himself completely powerless in the face of the brutality of a clearly irreversible biological event. He lowered himself even further, pressing his right hand over his eyes, while with his left hand he massaged the back of his neck and his trapezius muscles. «Oh no, no no… oh God, no… it’s not possible… what have I done, it wasn't supposed to go like this...» he whispered to himself.
On the opposite side of the mattress, Mabel, whose blissful sleep cycle had been interrupted by the constant murmuring, let out a faint groan of disapproval. She lazily rubbed her right cheek and pushed herself up on her elbows, sitting up. She thus found herself observing the back of her former rival, who continued undeterred to murmur almost inaudible sentences. She frowned, pushing back the blankets and exposing her naked body without the slightest modesty; and with her nose crinkled in irritation, she crossed the length of the mattress on all fours and then dropped her weight, in a prone position, next to him.

«Hey, old man…» she murmured in a playful tone accompanied by a yawn, placing a hand on his thigh. «What the hell are you muttering? I can't sleep if you keep whispering. You're annoying, go back to sleep!» She teased him with a amused grunt and, focusing her attention on his bare legs, she placed the fingertips of her right hand on his thigh and, alternating her index and middle fingers, mimicked a slow and sinuous walk on his skin.

Jerry turned his face slightly, just enough to include her in his peripheral vision. He looked at her with a frown; at that precise moment, Mabel's usual freshness with that silly little smile of hers, her physical proximity, and even the familiarity of that touch were irritating him beyond measure because, unfortunately, they were an intolerable reminder of the disaster that had just occurred. The edge of his lip curled as he let out a slow sigh. «Forgive me, Mabel. Please, go back to sleep» he replied, and Mabel raised an eyebrow, that tone was annoying her, it felt like he was speaking to one of his cheeky interviewers rather than the woman he had just fucked. «I apologize if I... interrupted your sleep» he concluded, abruptly breaking eye contact.

«Hey, Jerry…» she asked in a more serious tone this time, sitting cross-legged on the edge of the mattress, next to him. «Can I know what's wrong with you? Is it perhaps… post-coital depression or something like that? I’ve seen in several movies that many men solve it by smoking a cigarette… I know, you’re not the type, your mouth smells way too good… damn, how do you do it, Jerry?! Earlier, when we were making out, it felt like I was rinsing my mouth with mouthwash because of how fresh and good your breath smells! Now my mouth tastes like… dunno, Dior! Hahaha! You really are a hygiene freak, obsessive compulsive or something like that, right? I could see my reflection in those teeth!»

Mabel was clearly rambling and, once again, her optimism and genuine lightheartedness, besides annoying him, even unsettled him. «Oh God, Mabel, it’s not that… this is not the time, please» he told her, cutting her short as he got out of bed to grab a towel from the closet and wrap it tightly around his naked waist. He bent forward, holding it tight with his right arm, intent on picking up the condom he had flung onto the floor shortly before so he could throw it in the trash. «I have neither the desire nor the intention to beat around the bush, Mabel» he said suddenly, turning toward her with a gaze that was still visibly nervous, but when he saw that Mabel was not taking up the challenge of their classic historical disputes, but instead maintained a confused look, tilting her head to the side, he swallowed, softening his expression as his irritation turned into regret. «Well… yes, you see, Mabel… it— well, you see— we broke the condom…» he concluded, suddenly flashing a nervous smile.
He probably expected an equally dramatic reaction from her, which would have been welcomed with greater pleasure because it would have reassured him, guaranteeing the immediacy of what needed to be done; instead, he was caught off guard when he saw that her reaction was only one of cold perplexity.

«Is that the only reason you’ve been mumbling for a whole hour, Jerry?» she asked, curling her lips into a bored, bitchy smirk, clearly intending to downplay his drama and make fun of him.

«Mabel! I’m serious! This is no time to play the child, you aren't one!» he snapped, arching his eyebrows. In the heat of the gesture, he loosened his grip on the towel, which slipped dangerously downward; he caught it on the fly a moment before it exposed his groin. «Do you have an idea, even a vague one, of how serious this situation is?! And stop making that face! ....Oh God, Mabel... you are unbearable when you act like this... Do you want to understand that I am talking to you about a serious matter? It is a thing utterly unacceptab—»

«Jeeeeeerryyyyyy,» she interrupted him, using a deliberately singsong and annoying little voice while massaging her stomach. «I just got a sudden craving for strawberries with chocolate... Oh, and pickles! The baby and I are veeeery hungry, I think I have cravings!».

«MABEL!!» he shouted, literally feeling his hair stand on end on his head from the flash of panic. «STOP IT!! You are embarrass—».

«Jerry?? What's going on up there? Is everything okay?!». The voice of Mrs. Generazzo broke their argument, echoing faintly down the hallway.
Mabel, absorbed in her provocation, had barely heard it; Jerry, on the contrary, who lived in a state of perpetual acoustic alert when it came to his mother, froze instantly with wide eyes, his hair still standing on end like a cat in combat mode. Before Mabel could even form a thought, she saw him bolt toward the closet, snatch a black satin bathrobe with gold embroidery, and slip into it in a feverish rush.

«Everything's fine, Mom!!» he yelled toward the door, then rushed out, peeking into the hallway. «Mom, did you get up?!» Mabel heard him exclaim, a moment before he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him (and locking it). Alone in the room, Mabel too was washed over by a wave of panic. She gathered her clothes from the floor in a wild rush; her t-shirt seemed to have vanished, but luckily she spotted it on the ground under Jerry's jacket. She carelessly put it on backward, without even bothering to turn it the right way, and took refuge in the bathroom. She looked around with bated breath and, without a second thought, hid inside the bathtub. She drew the plastic curtains and curled up on the ceramic bottom, sitting with a comically terrified expression, keeping her gaze fixed ahead of her, frozen in the fear that even her breath might betray her. She stayed in there for what felt like an eternity, probably about ten minutes in reality, assuming Jerry was guiding his mother back to bed. That thought made her roll her eyes at the absurd sweetness of the scene, but she couldn't help but smile. Deep down, it was a quality she appreciated. Unlike her, Jerry had a wonderful relationship with Mrs. Generazzo. It only took her calling him for him to spring into action like an obedient child; depending on the hour, he did it with a grin stamped on that insufferable, punchable face of his, or with a genuinely worried expression. That was just how he was, he had a heart of gold with the very few people he considered truly close. She leaned her back against the curve of the tub, staring pensively at the ceiling. She couldn't deny to herself that a part of her felt a deep sense of unease. Someone might have thought the reason for this unease was the age gap, but that was Jerry's personal torment, not hers. As far as she was concerned, if she were a nymphomaniac, which she absolutely wasn't, she could have gone to bed with every forty year old in the county without anyone daring to utter a word. No, the reason for the unease was different. Much more radical. The problem was...

well, it was Jerry himself.

If only a few months earlier someone had told her: «Look, we won't build the highway, but only if you kiss Mayor Jerry on the lips. And do it passionately, French style maybe!» well... to be honest, when all was said and done, she would have accepted, sure... but only on the condition of a colossal hangover and, preferably, a mini lobotomy once the job was done. And she would have had to kiss him right away; because if she had let too much time pass, the anxiety of the horror would have consumed her to the point of making her back out, giving up on the opportunity, retracing her steps, and driving her to take refuge in their usual and reassuring, yet nerve wracking, political dispute of constantly uncertain outcome. And instead now... oh, Mother Nature, now it was all different... so very different!! Ever since they had spent those months together reforesting the glade, they had grown so close that... Ah... there was no even need to explain it. Fact was, now they did nothing but exchange stupid messages to organize "formal" meetings, under the pretext of having to discuss environmental issues or green field surveys, both with the very clear and mutual awareness that they would end up studying entirely different fields as soon as they found the famous first corner that was isolated and secluded enough. And, damn it, on top of that it was almost always up to her to make the first move, because he, regardless of the situation, had to maintain the facade of the responsible man. Damned hypocrite. Jerk! Who, the moment she pulled his pants down, had exactly as much of his formality left as remained that very night he exposed her to the risk of a pregnancy. In a way she still detested him; there were sides of his character that her mind, already confused enough, still had to process. Like, for example, the fact that Jerry was somehow germaphobic to the point of fanaticism. If it was a quick oral sex session out in nature, he could even turn a blind eye, but lying down on the grass for something complete was categorically out of the question. And heaven forbid suggesting doing it at her place, he wanted nothing to do with it; her little cottage was too messy and dirty for the little old prince, he was even terrified of the idea of sitting on the couch for fear of catching ticks or fleas that would eat his clothes, he said; a fear that was perhaps not entirely unfounded, to be honest. But beyond that, Jerry was of an unparalleled stubbornness; it was a substantially near impossible feat to make him change his mind about anything. So much so that, as a result, they were forced to consume any kind of relationship almost exclusively at his house when his mother wasn't around, or late at night, forced to muffle screams and groans. In this aspect, it almost felt to her like she had hooked up with a college classmate, with whom they would secretly try their first sexual experiences, in his bedroom, under the same roof as his parents, rather than with an experienced over-forty-year-old, on top of being a fucking politician who, technically speaking, was supposed to represent nothing less than the very face of the entire Beaverton, but in the end these are details. And there was no shortage of arguments. There was no shortage because His Highness, deep down, but not even that deep down, felt terribly guilty about that affair. Obviously, only after emptying his seminal ducts did he allow himself the luxury of lecturing her, as if she had been the one to extort the intercourse from him by force.
He was really an idiot, sometimes, Mabel thought, crossing her arms against her chest. He never knew how to take responsibility. He had never apologized for anything, not even for his stupid and useless highway. He acted as if it was all in the past; and yes, he had done her the favor of rerouting it, fine, but he hadn't given up on it. After all, when all was said and done, the citizens of Beaverton wanted that damn infrastructure almost as much as he did, and as usual, she was the only crazy one who wanted to see it reduced to rubble. Perhaps, though, her college classmates weren't entirely wrong: Mabel really was crazy, because now she was fucking that insufferable man hard, and, damn it, she even hoped to see that utter dickhead of a face more often.

Aaah! How annoying!! How unfair!!
Not to mention that it was almost never him text-messaging her first. Mabel lived with the constant fear that, if she stopped looking for him first, His Highness wouldn't even deign to give her a second glance. When all was said and done, the only true love of Jerry's life was the success and glory that Beaverton guaranteed him. What did she represent? Maybe just some kind of trophy, a passing amusement. INSTEAD! Maybe, because of her persistence, he just considered her a nuisance. «I only have sex with her because the little girl seems desperate to have me, heh-heh, and I have a certain urge to empty my scrotum, since I'm so handsome and a bachelor, and we all know very well that the girl is just a nobody and no one will believe her, in case something goes wrong. After all the hate campaign she ran against me, the foolish girl has lost all credibility by now. Blah blah blah,» Mabel mimicked him. Pff. ...It wasn't a nice thought she had, though, because unfortunately, deep down, she truly feared that Jerry's hyper-precise and paranoid side had already planned an eventual plan B to deny her and throw the blame back on her in case they ended their relationship violently or the matter of their affair fell into the hands of the paparazzi, becoming public knowledge. This paranoia had intensified about a couple of weeks ago; it seemed like for a few days... Jerry hadn't been... the same with her. Then she shook her head violently, even giving herself a small punch on the temple. Alright... okay, she needed to calm down, she was clearly exaggerating. Jerry could be reckless, stubborn, and sometimes a major dickhead, but he wasn't malicious, he wasn't at all. She knew on a logical level that he would never do such a thing (She hoped). And she had all the reasons in the world for having fallen completely and utterly for him. That idiot, once you managed to strip away his celebrity mask, something that was, moreover, extremely rare even within his own four walls; turned into a literal Prince Charming. He was sweet, so incredibly sweet, an aspect of him she didn't think could be authentic, almost unsettling to see; she would have never believed him capable of such apprehension. He really cared about Beaverton, maybe he was one of the few who sincerely did. Damn, there wasn't a single pothole in the entire town! The problem was that his need to maintain a high self-regard bordered on obsession, pushing him toward choices based more on personal gain than on morality. He had never harmed anyone; his only fault had been his apathy toward the local wildlife... and to be fair, he wasn't the only one, and maybe not even the worst, but before the experience with the Hoppers project, she had never judged him with different eyes, given that he got on her damn nerves. In fact, in all honesty, she deeply hated him.

But George was right.
In the end, she just had to give him a chance.

Many citizens had contributed, to some extent, some more, some less, to the restoration of the clearing, but Mabel's most precious memories remained tied to the help of George and Jerry. Having become, by an ironic twist of fate, the paw of both Kings, she had realized that they truly listened to her, following her advice. Jerry had put his heart and soul into that work and, after his... interlude in the body of a beaver, he had developed a genuine curiosity for the animal kingdom, and was willing to understand it more deeply than he ever had before in his life, or to be clear, even for animals that weren't, horses. After all, the two of them had shared an experience that was inconceivable and insane to anyone else; if they had told the truth, they would have been locked up in an asylum. Only Dr. Sam, Nisha, and Conner served as a safety valve for that secret, and her former rival was among the few who had become, initially half hearted, aware of everything. He had collaborated alongside the animals to free George and the others, and their long chats while planting trees had become, for both of them, an anchor of release.
Mabel, since she had known him, had never considered him a handsome man, to be honest. She didn't understand the collective frenzy surrounding him; he had women in love, ready to fall at his feet wherever he went, and not even some men were any less. How the hell did he do it? He didn't even have a sharp jawline; in fact, he was bordering on a double chin, he had an aquiline nose, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, an endless amount of gray hair, and not even a particularly athletic physique. He wasn't ugly, he looked more like a retired former model from at least a decade ago, for heaven's sake, but she still didn't get the enthusiasm. He had an unconventional beauty, perhaps, not that she knew much about it. But he clearly had enough charm to manipulate the masses. That was for sure.

But with annoying awareness, in the darkness of the bathtub, Mabel admitted to herself that she was lying. She could draw up a list of every single one of Jerry's flaws, but the truth was that, somehow, as a whole, everything resonated in perfect harmony. Her college classmates were right: when she insisted on calling him hideous, they would reply that she only talked like that because she detested him. And boy, what a pain it was to discover they weren't wrong. Because as soon as she had begun to suspect that that feeling, first of hatred and then of friendship, was starting to mutate into a crush, the more she tried to push away the intrusive thoughts, the more that damn man became fucking beautiful. Especially when she saw him focused, frowning in an attempt to grasp her ideas, or since he had agreed to let himself be slathered in George's royal oils—even though he hadn't yet passed the phase where he curled up like an armadillo, squeezing his eyes shut in disgust every single time he underwent the process.
She had found herself, from one day to the next, going from considering him the ugliest and most hateful man to the most beautiful and charismatic in the world.

And obviously, without a shadow of a doubt, she had been the one to kiss him first.

Good heavens, if only she hadn't.

Jerry had gone into a total panic, as if the devil himself had appeared right in front of him. He had scolded her in every possible way, barely managing to hold back vulgar terms; he started pacing back and forth, improvising incredibly boring and obvious rants about morality and consent when she hadn't done anything other than try to kiss him.
She had invaded his personal space, sure, it's true, but only because she believed the attraction was mutual, and he, in response, kept snapping, repeatedly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as if he had been kissed by a toad. And it hadn't ended there. For days, he had avoided appointments, and when he crossed paths with her at the Glade for work, he would reroute, shooting her glances full of disapproval. A month later, he had resumed writing to her in private, demanding explanations as to why she had done such a thing, and it was practically useless to keep apologizing to him; he seemed to care nothing for her apologies. Mabel had found herself trapped in an absurd loop on the messaging app, which spun between being blocked and unblocked countless times over the course of two weeks, until, by dint of exchanging digital essays steeped in anger and justifications, they had drawn closer again due to the emotional roller coaster. But with one condition, imposed by him, obviously: he would pretend that kiss had never happened as long as such a stupidity was never repeated, otherwise this time there would be "legal consequences" from which he had abstained out of "pure courtesy toward her."

Mabel gave a little smile to herself, hugging her knees to her chest.

«Haha... legal consequences, yeah sure. As if, Jerry...» she said, still feeling the heat and moisture between her thighs.

Mabel heard the bedroom door open and shut abruptly, followed immediately after by Jerry's voice echoing in the room, still full of irritation, unfortunately.

«There, Mabel! You must be happy now! You made me wake up my mother! You know you shouldn't get me worked up like this, I am asking you nicely! Now let's clarify this mat-... ...M-Mabel?» He said suddenly, clearly aware that she was no longer in the room.

«...Mabel!?» he called her again.

Through the bathroom door, she heard the creaking of his footsteps on the floorboards; and in all probability, he must have noticed the absence of her clothes. Right after, she heard the sound of a window being flung open, and she sensed that Jerry was checking if she had used it as an escape route.

«Damn it...» he muttered. Mabel couldn't hear that, but she clearly perceived his pace growing heavier and faster, followed by the sudden opening of the wardrobe doors.

«Oh no, no, no! She won't get away with it that easily! Now I'm going to look for her and take her immediately to a 24-hour pharmacy! If that foolish girl thinks she can act like a spoiled, selfish brat with something this serious, I have truly overestimated her!».

The clinking of a belt buckle followed. He was getting dressed in a hurry, terrified by the idea that she had fled into the night, and he was ready to get on her trail to hunt her down. For an instant, an almost tempting idea flashed through Mabel's mind: letting him go out on a wild goose chase in the dead of night to look for her all over Beaverton, while she would simply lie in his bed, sleeping blissfully until morning. He wouldn't even have a reason to get angry; a generic excuse would be enough. She would simply tell him that, overcome by the exhaustion of waiting, she had fallen asleep in her temporary hiding place and that, when she woke up a little later due to the discomfort of the bathtub, she had headed to the bed without finding him. And she hadn't looked for him because maybe he was still busy with his mother, or maybe he had fallen asleep on the couch, and she wasn't allowed downstairs. And besides, when you're half-asleep, you lose track of time, right? Yet, she brushed that brilliant idea away with a sigh and made to call him, but before she could utter a single syllable, she heard Jerry's footsteps heading toward the bathroom door. The lock clicked and the door opened, and he shut it immediately behind him. Through the opaque texture of the white curtains, Mabel saw his dark silhouette approaching the bathtub, and with a swift and rather nervous gesture, Jerry grabbed the curtains and ripped them back.

He found Mabel curled up at the bottom with her knees pulled tightly to her chest, waving at him.

«Hi, Jerry. You found me. Did it perhaps dawn on you that I might be hiding in the room next door, the only other one I have access to?» she said in a slightly ironic tone.

He did not take it well at all. «Mabel, there was no need for you to hide in my bathtub. The door was closed, and my mother never comes upstairs without assistance; why didn't you answer when I called you?»

«Oh, stop nagging me!» Mabel replied quickly, grabbing the edges to pull herself up. «I hid as a precaution... or rather, for your precautions!»

As soon as Mabel hopped out of the tub, Jerry did something that left her jaw dropping; he grabbed the showerhead and turned on the cold water, starting to rinse the bottom of it.

«Are you kidding me, Jerry?! It's not like I'm dirty! You could have at least waited for me to leave the room before doing something this insulting right in front of my eyes!».

He turned to her with a genuinely bewildered look, failing to understand the reason for such outrage. «What are you talking about, Mabel! It's because you got into the tub with your shoes on! The ones you use every day to do literally everything! I bought you a new pair, and it never even crossed your mind to put them on. You left footprints on the bottom!».

Mabel scoffed and nudged him away with her elbow, leaning in to examine the inside of the tub. «Oh, come on, Jerry, they're practically invisible. They would have washed away with the next shower. There's no need for you to start cleaning right now!».

Jerry didn't answer her. He turned off the water and headed toward a cabinet, pulling out in rapid succession an arsenal for biohazard decontamination, which included a disinfectant spray, a roll of paper towels, a bottle of diluted bleach, and a microfiber cloth.

«Okay, you're doing this on purpose...» she said, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning her back against the wall tiles.

«Those "practically invisible" footprints risk becoming my future fungal infection, and I would highly prefer to avoid that, Mabel».

She rolled her eyes. In her entire life, she had never had a foot fungus; Jerry always worried in a pathological way, sure, but this wasn't his normal fussiness, that nervousness in his cleaning was definitely down to the condom business.
Mabel looked away, letting her eyes linger on Jerry's figure. In his earlier rush, wanting to go look for her when she was actually just three meters away from him, he had thrown his clothes back on haphazardly; now he was wearing a white shirt, completely disheveled and unbuttoned, leaving his chest and abdomen entirely exposed, and he had put on his classic blue trousers held up by his belt. He was damn attractive. Mabel almost felt like laughing at the thought of continuing to find him attractive even in a moment like this, while he was acting like a total hysteric.

«Oh, come on, Jerry... Don't start doing spring cleaning now. Let's go to bed, please! For your information, I am dying of sleep, and I want to fall asleep burying my face in that stupid, sweet-smelling bear chest of yours and cling to you like a baby panda until late morning».

«I am sorry, Mabel!» he replied with a sharp voice, and she had to admit she was surprised when she saw that he wasn't embarrassed at all like usual at her remark, starting to stammer random things with nervous smiles and frequent hair-scratching. She watched him pull on a pair of wax-yellow rubber gloves, then kneel on the bathroom floor. He tore off two paper towels and began wiping them across the basin of the tub to dry the remaining water.

«But it is absolutely necessary that we stay awake a little longer. Something of unprecedented gravity has happened!». He accompanied his words by spraying the disinfectant onto the ceramic, starting to scrub with the microfiber cloth.

«Jerry, you need to sleep. Tomorrow you'll surely have a billion commitments. And, if I may, so do I! I have to go to the lab and study! How do you think you're going to flash your classic fake smile if you don't have any energy?».

«I won't sleep a wink anyway unless we get to the bottom of this matter first. You know that well, Mabel, so please don't make me repeat it at every turn... We need to talk about... very important things.» he replied, stubbornly keeping his back to her, his head bowed over his polishing work.

«Jerry, there's absolutely nothing to get to the bottom of! Look, getting pregnant is a complex process, you must have studied it in school! There are fertile days, there are probabilities—»

«It only takes once, Mabel! Just once!» he interrupted her. «I have absolutely no intention of tempting fate!».

She rolled her eyes again, exasperated. «Look, I was joking earlier! You're having a full-blown panic attack, Jerry! You need to calm the hell down!» she shouted at him, though in a hushed voice, grabbing the fabric of the white shirt on his shoulder and yanking it to force him to look at her.

Jerry snapped around, once again totally unwilling to have any further physical contact with her. «Mabel! Lower your voice immediately! If you wake my mother up again, I will get seriously angry! And, for the record, I am not in the least bit in the mood for jokes!». He said, slapping her hand off his shoulder, and without adding another word, he turned back toward the tub. He poured a capful of bleach directly down the drain, then onto the basin of the tub, and went back to scrubbing the ceramic with the cloth, and this time he put more strength into it than before, so much so that Mabel could catch a glimpse of his shoulder muscles straining beneath the fine fabric of his shirt.

Usually, his muscles were rarely visible due to his far from lean or athletic build, so this had to mean that he was straining them well beyond what was necessary for the job. She smiled faintly as she pulled her phone from her shorts pocket; she opened the camera and snapped a photo of him to imprint that moment firmly in her mind, hoping, at least in part, to manage to separate his appearance from the current circumstances. It was truly hateful to feel so vulnerable and dependent on him, on his body. Sometimes she just wanted to go back in time to stay far away from that man. As she had already noticed, Jerry hadn’t always been like this; yet, the more time they spent together, the less intimate they became; he was showing himself to be increasingly nervous, elusive, and detached. One way or another, Mabel felt he was deliberately pulling away from her, erecting an emotional wall to mask his own paranoia.
She photographed him again and, as she edited the lights and colors of the image, her fears resurfaced. A condom breaking can happen, after all. It wouldn't have been an irreparable tragedy even if they had rowed without protection and he had come inside her; it was obvious she would have taken the morning-after pill, like practically any girl her age. Perhaps, precisely because of the age difference, he considered her naive, and maybe he even judged her ideals as naive. That thought made her scowl.
She saw him straighten up, spray an additional layer of disinfectant, leaving it there to stagnate on the ceramic, this time without wiping it down, and pull off his rubber gloves. He passed right by her, ignoring her completely, and put the whole decontamination arsenal back in the cabinet.

«Jerry... this behavior of yours is seriously getting on my nerves! Stop it!» she snapped. «It happens, nothing happened! I'll take that stupid pill, okay? Happy?»

He merely shook his head, walked out of the bathroom, and turned off the light. Mabel took it as a downright personal insult and followed him with long strides into the bedroom.

«Jerry, that's enough! You act like a teenage girl on her period when you do this! Do you hear me when I speak, or is old age making you deaf?! I said I'll take that damn pill, and I would have done it anyway, even without this perpetual brooding of yours!»

«I understand,» he replied, forcing himself to maintain a tone of fake and exhausting tranquility. «The thing is... ahhh, Mabel, you're right. We moved too fast... I moved too fast. And a torn condom has finally opened my eyes... ah, damn it».

Mabel walked up to him furiously, grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, and forced him to turn toward her. «What the fuck are you talking about, Jerry?! Have you become even stupider than usual?! Hey, look me in the face while I'm talking to you, you coward! What the hell is wrong with you?! Up until two weeks ago you didn't have all these problems! We were fucking like rabbits! In your office, in the industrial area, in motels, practically everywhere! And now you suddenly wake up a moralist just because a condom got a hole in it?!»

Jerry clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, but he couldn't hold her gaze. Mabel purposely moved to re-enter his field of vision, but after not even three seconds of forced eye contact, he would turn his head away, always staring at the floor.

«Mabel... it's not your fault, I'm not reproaching you, I'm not angry with you... but I...»

«I should damn well think so!» she interrupted him, yanking his arm again. «But so what are you doing... are you breaking up with me?»

Jerry wore an expression somewhere between sorrowful and playing dumb that made Mabel lose her temper; he noticed it and was almost frightened to see her so furious.

«We... we were never together, Mabel»

«Don't you dare twist things around with this bullshit, Jerry! Are you leaving me or not?!» she screamed, completely losing her patience. He, with a thread of a voice and yet another shred of fear, tried to ask her to lower her tone.

«Mabel, I... I am too old for you, for heaven's sake!» he suddenly blurted out in a frightened tone, stripped of any authority. He knew he was dead wrong: according to his own rigid mental schemes, the entire moral responsibility for this affair weighed on his shoulders, after all.

«But that's not true! I'm an adult, Jerry! I'm a future biologist, I'm graduating, and then I'll be a scientist in all respects! In fact, if you really want to know the truth, sometimes you seem like the naive one in this couple, damn it! To me, the age gap has never been an issue! Almost all celebrities are with younger women; it's a cliché for a politician to marry a girl twenty years younger than him! And in any case, where is the problem?! You love me, don't you?! I know you love me! You don't need to tell me, I understood it perfectly! I love you too and I don't even know why anymore, I swear! Maybe I stayed clung to the smart and sweet version of you! If we love each other, there is no obstacle! Why do you have to make it a tragedy?!»

«Because to me, it is» he cut her short without hesitation. He turned his back on her and walked slowly toward the bed, and it was a fatal mistake. Mabel saw red and lunged forward, reached her hand upward, and grabbed his hair with a death grip, pulling it backward with all the strength she had.

«OOw!! OOW!! MABEL! NOT THE HAIR!!» Jerry yelled, desperately trying to grab her wrist and regretting an instant later having raised his voice in that house.

She, in response, didn't loosen her grip by a millimeter. She literally leaped onto his back, locking his chest between her thighs like a vise and starting to pelt his head with punches. They weren't heavy blows, but angry enough to give him a migraine.

«Mabel!! Let me go!! Get off me this instant! Ouch!! Ouch!! Stop it!!»

«To you it's an issue, huh?! You should have thought about that before shoving your dick inside me at least twenty times in the span of five months, you old, stiff-necked swine?! Thanks for reminding me why you disgusted me!! You think exclusively and solely about your own fucking convenience! Never, NEVER about mutual well-being! You're a piece of shit!»

Mabel kept striking, screaming at him. And tears were starting to well up in her eyes.

«Today too! Why the fuck didn't you think to tell me this bullshit before cumming inside me, huh?! If you had been a real manipulator, like all you fucking politicians, you would have at least pretended you cared about us! That way I would have taken the pill in peace, under the illusion of postponing our future to a later date, and you could have thrown me out of your life like trash! Instead, you're such a coward that your true feelings got the better of you, and now you want to hide your filthy cowardice by justifying it with duty and morality! You stupid prick!! And now you even expect to dump me?! You absolute asshole!!»

In total panic, not knowing what else to do, Jerry threw himself backward onto the bed, crushing Mabel between his shoulders and the mattress.

«Ouch! Get off me, you fat load!!» Mabel screamed, continuing to rain blind punches onto his skull.

In the end, throwing his arms behind his head with a desperate movement, Jerry managed to grab her wrists and flipped quickly toward her, pinning her on the bed beneath him, trapped between his legs, and pressed his right hand over her mouth. Jerry's hair, unfortunately for him, was completely disheveled; several grey and black strands fell in front of his eyes, sticking to his sweaty forehead.

«Mabel! Stop it this instant! Or I'll be forced to take drastic measures!»

«Whaff? Mwolesf me?! I wouldn'f be fuprized if you rwed to rhape me!!»

She tried to say, her voice muffled against the palm of his hand, while using her free arm to scratch his forearm with her nails.
He made a grimace of pure disgust at that remark. It was a phrase of extreme, squalid vulgarity, one that clashed even with Mabel's brazen character; hearing her utter such horrible and unfounded malice caused him a pang of deep bitterness.

«Legal measures, I meant! I am ready to call the police and report you for trespassing and assault!»

«Then you'd better do it!» she managed to spit through his fingers, almost biting his skin. «Because I won't stop until I've torn every last hair out of your stupid head!»

«Mabel! Enough! I beg of you!» He pleaded with her, and this time his voice was sincerely pained to see her in such a pitiful state. «I don't want to hurt you, and I won't hurt you! But now you're exaggerating, you look like someone possessed! This is no way to behave! I messed up, I know... I messed up everything! But now calm down, please». He stared at her intensely, imploring her with his eyes. «I'm letting you go now, all right? But you have to promise me you'll take a deep breath and compose yourself. Agreed?»

Mabel's expression, however, didn't shift a millimeter; the whites of her eyes were still bloodshot with rage, and her eyebrows were arched in a glare loaded with pure hatred. Yet, unable to tolerate the idea of keeping her pinned down like that, Jerry decided to trust her and released his grip. It was a mistake, though, because the first thing Mabel did the moment she was freed was re-grab his hair with both hands to yank him down heavily onto the bed; she leaped on top of him, straddling the lower part of his stomach, just above his groin, and leaned forward, grabbing the collar of his shirt and yanking it.

«For once in your life, Jerry, act like a human being and give me an answer! That's all I'm asking you! How long had you been planning to do this to me?! Why did you wait until I grew attached to you?! Did you want the satisfaction of seeing me like this so you'd feel less guilty about having to leave me?! Did you want to turn me into a pathetic simp just so you could feel disgusted?! What kind of a piece of shit are you, Jerry?!»

Jerry grabbed her forearms and, this time with much less patience and gentleness than before, threw her off him, flinging her onto the side of the mattress and, without hesitating for a single second, stood right back up, reached his arm toward the nightstand, grabbed his smartphone, and began typing.

«All right, Mabel. You leave me no choice».

She sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, watching him from behind as he initiated the call; then, realizing the situation was now compromised, the adrenaline began to fade, leaving behind an immense void. She let out a long, shaky sigh and rubbed her hands over her face, exhausted, while Jerry brought the phone to his ear, straightening his spine with narrowed eyes.

«Hello? Yes, good evening. This is Mayor Jerry Generazzo... Yes, exactly, patch me through to the Beaverton dispatch immediately, please... Officer, forgive the disturbance at this hour of the night. I need to request the immediate dispatch of a patrol to my private residence. There has been an infraction... Yes, a young woman, Mabel Tanaka, you know her. She sneaked inside my property, into my bedroom to be exact. Essentially, she carried out a physical assault against me... No, no, she is not armed. I cannot provide you with a rational motive for this action; admittedly, I had lowered my guard around her, given the recent municipal projects we had collaborated on together... No, currently the situation is under control, she has calmed down... Yes, I am safe, officer, do not worry. Right at this very moment, she is sitting on my bed... Ah, no, she shows no signs of movement or further reactivity, she is simply...»
Jerry paused for an instant, turning his head slightly to check the situation behind him.

Mabel, meanwhile, was stroking the hair near her ear, recovering from the violent raptus of two minutes prior, but despite keeping her lips closed, her breathing was still accelerated; you could see it from her sternum rising and falling rapidly. She felt a terrible shame and deep disappointment in herself, but above all, a sadness that was killing her inside. She began to feel a sharp pain in her stomach, accompanied by a sudden backache. Her face wore a dull, listless expression rather than a desperate one, but instead, unfortunately, tears began to fall on their own. She wiped them away angrily with the back of her hand with an annoyed grimace. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair at all that she was crying her heart out and he wasn't shedding a single goddamn tear. Jerry's eyes weren't even misty; she, on the other hand, looked like a fountain. She knew she had gone too far, she knew that from a legal standpoint he had every right in the world to call for backup, but actually watching him do it hurt like hell.

Not being able to blame him was the worst part; it was exhausting, because it was that feeling where you want to throw yet another fault back in the other person's face, accuse them of hurting you, but you know perfectly well that you have absolutely no right to, because your rage has put you in the wrong. To keep her soul from tearing apart any further, Mabel brought her hands to her ears and pressed hard to drown out his voice. The things Jerry was saying to that police officer were horrible. And then, of course, once again, the priority in that moment was protecting his image. He could have at least spun a half-truth; he could have said he had invited her over to discuss the parks and that the discussion had then escalated into a nasty argument. But no. He had painted her as a criminal madwoman. But above all, an intruder! How could he say and do what he was doing with such casual ease?
She pressed her ears even harder, and now she could hear nothing but the incessant pounding of her heart, which felt as though it were about to explode.

Then Mabel felt the mattress give way slightly under Jerry's weight as he sat down right next to her, his phone now resting on the nightstand, she wasn't sure if he had concluded the call or if he had abruptly cut it off much earlier. She quickly wiped away her tears, and this time, she was the one to avert her gaze.

«...Look, Jerry... Don't mind me, you know usually I don't go that far, but I've always been... terrible at controlling my impulses... Ah, well, certainly—» she sniffled and passed the back of her hand under her nostrils «—certainly I wouldn't be your mistress today if I weren't, right? Sometimes it's a virtue, and sometimes it's a curse...» In a way, Mabel truly hoped those words might spark something in him, even if it were just embarrassment; anything was better than the coldness that had settled over the situation. She cursed herself for doing what she had done; she was ruining everything. Maybe she could have been better, convinced him that she was worthy of him... WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING!! Why on earth was she turning into a pathetic simp?! Why the hell should she be so afraid of losing this piece-of-trash man! Vain, overbearing, narcissistic, self-centered, and cowardly! Just because he knew how to cook like a god and fuck like a dream didn't mean she had to become dependent on him!

«...Damn, Jerry, you're getting bruises on your forehead... maybe we should put some ointment on it before—»

With uncertainty, she reached her hand toward his forehead, but, as she expected, he pulled his face away and, what's more, shifted further toward the edge of the bed, putting a safe distance between them. He was afraid of her... Fuck.

«The... the dispatch recorded the report and they've routed it to the local patrol; they'll be here in less than six minutes» he said. His tone was tired, perhaps even something more, but he still maintained that hateful, fake composure of his. When he finally found the courage to turn and look at her, he saw her curled up, her eyes swollen and somehow still hopeful, and this caused him an obvious jolt, which he immediately stifled, swallowing hard and averting his gaze once more. «Look, Mabel. If I had had a moment of greater clarity, I assure you I would have held out too and wouldn't have done it... but the procedure is already underway now, and I can't revoke it without raising suspicion. When they arrive, the best thing is for you to let them escort you to the station without resisting. It will be far more appropriate for everyone involved if you allow yourself to be taken into custody without creating further complications. It will keep the situation from escalating in public.»

Mabel looked at him with a mixture of disgust and incredulity, letting out a bitter half-laugh, though by now she had stopped wiping away her tears. «An excellent plan indeed, Mr. Mayor. Having me arrested to protect your reputation seems like a great idea to me too.»

«No! What the— look, Mabel, you won't be arrested! ...Not for long, at least!» he retorted, once again slightly annoyed. «I'm coming with you! I'll follow the patrol in my car and then talk personally with the Chief of Police as soon as we're at the station. I'll formalize the details of the dispute to downplay the offense; if I can manage it, I'll even aim to have the trespassing charges dropped, saying it was a misunderstanding due to stress. And I'll pay any bail or fine myself. No one is going to hurt you! I won't leave you in there for even a single night, you have my word. I will resolve this... reckless choice of mine before the news can so much as touch the local press... Oh, God...» He passed both hands over his entire face. «But you have to do me the favor of listening to me for once and going with them, and I beg you not to fight back!»

She felt like smiling again out of sheer despair. Tsk... It was his perfect modus operandi, after all: apply the law to protect his image, and then use his position and his money to clean up the mess, ensuring that no one could tarnish the facade of the wonderful Mayor Generazzo. She began to rock slightly, ignoring the pain in her back. The anger had vanished, leaving only awareness. In the end, she brought up the exact same question again; she knew the verdict, but she still wanted him to say something to her, anything that wasn't about matters outside the two of them. In all this chaos, she would have wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed with him and sleep.

«For once, please Jerry... I'm asking you as a friend then, look at me... as if... as if you cared even a fraction. How long had you been planning to leave me?»

And once again, he almost didn't answer. He squeezed his hands tighter and massaged the bruises that were beginning to form on his face while the sirens, in the distance, were just starting to be heard through the streets of Beaverton.

«...I should... cover them up...» he said, referring to the bruises. «Otherwise, it'll be very hard to try and withdraw the charges... I—» Jerry cut himself off immediately when, shifting his gaze toward her, he saw she was looking at him with a face corroded by pain and soaked in tears; he bit the inside of his lower lip and sighed.

«...Mabel, I... I didn't actually— ...I never planned it. You know, to plan something means there are certainties, right? That I know perfectly well where we stand and the emotions we feel for each other» he admitted, then swallowed nervously. «The truth is... you know it, Mabel; in reality, I've done nothing but run away since the very first day you thought it wise to place your lips on mine.»

Mabel stopped breathing for a second, wiping away the tears that seemed to have absolutely no intention of stopping.

«I was very angry, so angry! I was angry with you because you had decided to ruin everything with that kiss! We were friends, and we were finally understanding each other! But after that cursed kiss, nothing would ever be the same again! And I was angry because I couldn't get your lips out of my head, and it scared me! ...Then I was... foolish, and... I practically... used you to clear my head, to figure out what I felt, and I won't lie, Mabel, I like having... intimate relations with you! ...Oh God, that sounds awful, I know...»

It was the only thing that sounded right in his whole speech, though, thought Mabel, who had leaned half-reclined to relax and hold back the whimpers of her crying.

«But every time we met in my office or in those motels outside of town, I just tried to convince myself it was an insignificant phase for both of us, a passing relationship that would end naturally, in a way... I don't know, I thought it would make us realize we were better as friends than as lovers, and I was stupid. Because for me, it was working, and I took for granted that you felt similarly, at least in the beginning, and instead...»

He paused for a moment, staring into the void, lacing his fingers together.

«It wasn't just your kiss that dealt me an emotional blow, it was... what I think was, or still is, love on your part. It was your love that scared me, because damn it, Mabel, I wanted to return it! But I kept telling myself that a man in my position, and especially at my age, couldn't have lost his mind over a girl who is the same age as my novice assistants! We were playing with fire on our very skin, Mabel, and what happened tonight... the condom issue, I mean... Well... it made me realize we were crossing the line, and that I couldn't go on like this... I don't want to lose my career, and honestly, I don't want to become a father! I have neither the time, the space, nor the desire for it!» He concluded, returning to a tone more vexed than sad. Mabel, on the other hand, turned to look at him with sincere contempt and gripped her wrists tight to keep herself from throwing a punch straight at his nose.

«It might annoy you, but it's because you can't understand it, obviously! After all, you were born in a different era than the one I was born and raised in, and what's more, our opinions are barely compatible! I have a reputation, and it matters to me, Mabel. I have my work, to which I dedicate most of my time, and the rest, if you don't mind, I would like to dedicate to my mother, since I don't know how much longer I'll be able to do so!» And the moment he said this, there were about ten seconds of silence, with Jerry nervously massaging his knees. Mabel, despite still wanting to land that punch on his nose, felt awkward at those words too; she knew all too well what it meant to lose the person dearest to you.

«Beaverton looks to me as a point of reference... They count on me, I cannot let them down... What happened tonight... made me realize the game is over. If the reality were to come to light, it would destroy me, my career, and the memory of everything I've built. And it would destroy you too, Mabel, turning you into my scandalous whim, stripping away all your credibility as a scientist, and perhaps even as a woman, though I wouldn't want to exaggerate, of course, but unfortunately, I know this business well and what even the slightest scandal provokes. Many might even take you for an easy girl, or a sort of... um... gold digger, or whatever they call it. I've seen colleagues and rivals of mine drunk in the street late at night over things that from the outside seem like nothing, but can destroy your life!»

Jerry stood up and buttoned his shirt, sensing that the police had finally arrived, and turned his gaze toward the window, where the blue lights of the patrol cars were already starting to reflect against the bedroom walls.

«Yes, I had fallen in love, Mabel, in truth, I'm still not sure, but I think I am. I like you very much; perhaps more than your appearance, I love the person you are... You are truly... everything that I am not, and sometimes, I won't hide it, I envy you. But I also love myself; I love my stability and my success, and perhaps I love those things more than anything else. I don't think there is a woman... well, other than my mother, who could make me think otherwise... Unfortunately, I am not the one who governs my preferences and emotions, Mabel, try to understand that. I admit it. I am selfish, Mabel. You deserve decidedly better... I hope that one day you can find the strength to forgive me, Kid, but I'm doing this for both of us.»

There it was. He had gone back to calling her that. Mabel was still tearing up, she couldn't help it, but she didn't answer him; the nausea his words induced struck her dumb. There was no response that would have been worthy of those foul statements he had uttered. Perhaps only a kick straight to the testicles, just to render him sterile and wipe out his stupid fears. Then the doorbell rang, and both turned their faces toward the bedroom door. With a sigh, Jerry adjusted the collar of his shirt.

«Stay here, Mabel. I'll go talk to them...» Of course, he received no reply, as Mabel was completely in another world at that moment, as if in a sort of trance. She seemed to hear nothing anymore; it was clear she was trying to wake up from a nightmare in which she felt trapped, but from which she might never awaken. She stared straight ahead, refusing to look at Jerry under any circumstance, or she would break down completely. Jerry watched her for a few moments, then, with clear unease, moved toward the closet to grab one of his countless jackets, but he didn't want to take a tie.

He hurried down the stairs while putting on the jacket and adjusting his cuffs. Even before setting foot downstairs, he once again saw his mother, wide awake and looking deeply worried, also trying to make her way to the door.

«Mom?! Are you up again?!»

«Oh, Jerry! I couldn't sleep, I heard such a racket! What is happening, Jerry? You screamed! I tried to come up the stairs, but I couldn't manage it! Please don't tell me someone hurt you? Did you call the police?!»

«Mom, nothing is happening, don't worry, I've got this. Go back and sit down!» he told her as he buttoned his jacket and opened the front door.

«Mr. Mayor! Good evening! We were routed here on a Code Red emergency!» said the first police officer, looking more worried than usual but still maintaining a respectful tone to avoid being awkward. «On the phone, you spoke of an infraction and a domestic assault. Are you injured? Is the girl still inside the building?»

Jerry nodded wearily, running his hand through his hair out of habit, a nervous tic, since without a splash of hairspray or a proper comb, the front strands wouldn't stop falling over his eyes. He was about to speak when his mother appeared behind him, gently tugging at his sleeve.

«Jerry! Can you tell me once and for all what is going on?! You are making me terribly worried! Why won't you tell me anything?!»

«Mom, please, not right now. But you need to calm down, everything is great. Just... a minor disagreement, it's all sorted out now. As soon as I'm done speaking with these gentlemen, I'll take you back to bed, truly. Stay calm, Mom». He said all of this while trying to maintain a peaceful face, even forcing a slight smile.

The second officer took a step forward, entering the house, and looked toward the staircase. «Sir, stay behind us. We will proceed to check the upper floor»

«There's no need» a voice said, and everyone turned toward the sound coming from the top of the stairs, everyone except Jerry, who closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

Mabel was slowly walking down the stairs; her hair was a total disaster and her face was still visibly streaked with tears, but her gaze was hollow. One could sense only sadness; she certainly didn't give the impression of having any violent instincts. The two officers recognized her immediately, letting out a simultaneous sigh. Mabel was well known at the station for her heated, loud environmental protests, but no one would have ever expected to find her in the middle of the night inside the mayor's house.

«Good evening, Jerry's mom... sorry for making a scene... I'll get out of your way now» she said, trying to force a bitter little smile and an ironic tone. But Jerry's mother stood paralyzed at the sight of her, lacking the strength to answer, though she wanted to. That was Mabel, the sweet, pretty girl who often came to visit them to work on Beaverton's environmental issues. Without another word, Mabel walked up to them, passing Jerry and his mother, who instinctively clung to her son in worry. Then Mabel held her arms out, bringing her wrists together to invite the officers to do their duty and handcuff her. They looked at her bewildered and with a hint of regret, but in the end, they put them on.

«Sorry, kid, but this time you went too far...»

Jerry stood frozen for several moments, watching the scene as if hypnotized. When they led her out of the house, his tic kicked in again and he went back to running his right hand through his hair, scratching a bit harder. When he snapped out of it, he immediately turned to his mother. He took her gently by the arms and guided her toward an armchair in the hallway, seating her in front of the television.

«Mom, I beg you, don't look. Everything is fine, it's all under control, don't worry. I'll be right back, I promise» he whispered, still trying to keep up a smile to calm his mother, who instead seemed completely unable to calm down and kept pulling her son toward her, clutching the fabric of his suit jacket.

«No, no Jerry! You are very sad, I know you! Why won't you tell me right now what happened?! I'm afraid for you, I've never seen you like this! Please, tell me at least something, or this distraught face of yours will haunt me until you return! Why was Mabel upstairs at this hour? Is it even possible that you work this late?! Did she do something to you? It doesn't seem possible, Jerry... she seemed so good and kind! What did you say to her?!»

He knew it was fundamentally useless to keep up a facade even with his mother; she read him like an open book. He squeezed her hands tightly and kissed her forehead. «Matters of the heart, Mom... it's my fault... I can't tell you anything else now, I absolutely have to go with them...»

«Matters of the heart...? Mabel... the girl you couldn't stand until a few months ago... your former rival... was upstairs with you? Oh, Jerry! What have you done?!» she asked him desperately, taking his face in her hands. He stood still, feeling a wave of mortification rise inside him, then pulled back from her with a heartbroken look, completely shattering his mask.

«Forgive me, Mom, I have to go. I'll explain better later». With great effort, he pulled away from her grip, grabbed his car keys, and hurried out of the house without wasting time, forcing himself to ignore his mother's calls. This was one of the most terrible things about the evening, because never in his life had he ignored his mother with such blatant disrespect. But what else could he do? «Sorry, Mom...» he murmured as he headed toward the car. The police cruiser was still parked there; he wasn't sure if they were waiting for him or if they were finishing radioing details of the case back to dispatch. Regardless, he opened the door, got into his car, and the moment he sat down, he let his back fall against the seat, taking a long breath before rubbing his hands over his face. He put the key in the ignition without starting the engine, using the pretext of waiting for them to move to catch his breath for a moment.

He shouldn't cry; he shouldn't cry for any reason in the world. He was no longer a child, and he had an obligation to face the consequences of his actions like a mature man. Not to mention that if he broke down right now, he would find himself in an intolerably embarrassing situation; shortly, he would have to meet the Chief of Police, and he absolutely could not afford to show himself in such a state of weakness. And so, he wiped his eyes, which were beginning to grow misty, and shook his head.

«Oh, come on, old man! You need to pull yourself together!» he ordered himself in a low voice. «Nothing will be resolved if you keep being so damn nervous! It had to happen sooner or later, so stop blaming yourself more than you should!»

However, he had to admit to himself that this was not at all how he wanted things to go. In that moment, he even felt a slight pang of irritation toward Mabel, but he was clear-headed enough to understand that a girl like her might process the end of a relationship in an impulsive and violent manner. Perhaps he should have foreseen it even twenty minutes prior; he should have been more cautious, and he wasn't just talking about tonight, but about many nights ago. Mabel was right; he shouldn't have waited until she grew so attached to him, though he never would have imagined that this bond had become so vital to her.
He, too, cared for her immensely. She was a fantastic girl, extraordinarily intelligent, and in their moments of intimacy, she really knew how to be sweet and caring. Thinking about it, Jerry had no earthly idea how he would ever manage to forgive himself for consuming her innocence; he felt as though he had taken possession of a precious gift that didn't belong to him at all. He had made too many mistakes, had prioritized the wrong things, letting himself get dragged into what, for him, in many respects, had been merely a temporary phase, whereas for her, it represented something permanent.
To be clear, when he thought of that affair as a "game," he did so with the absolute conviction that it was a story with the timer already running. If he had to be entirely honest, once he had overcome the initial terror of having relations with her, even a sort of "friends with benefits" arrangement, as the youth of today called it, wouldn't have displeased him at all, if only to relieve daily tension. But he realized, now more than ever, that he could offer her nothing more. She, on the other hand, despite sometimes forcing herself to appear colder and more detached than necessary, had made it beautifully clear what she desired from him, and he was incapable of giving it to her.
To love means to put the other person first, after all. Granted, if he had to analyze it through a philosophical lens, he wouldn't know how to give a precise definition; everyone, after all, possessed their own interpretation of love. But of one thing he was certain: he would be lying if he claimed that Mabel occupied the first place in his life. He loved her to pieces, especially after everything they had shared and overcome together; perhaps he would have even given her his own blood if she had asked him for it. But he would be lying if he said she was his absolute priority, and, not desiring them at all, neither would their hypothetical children be. He would have imposed it on himself out of a sense of duty, but never out of genuine free will; and that concept, Jerry knew all too well, was as far removed from love as anything could possibly be.

When the police cruiser started up, he did too, following them toward the station, still intent on soothing the nervousness that was exhausting him. While driving, he took advantage of the headlights of the car ahead of him to check his reflection in the rearview mirror, pushing aside the strands of hair that, tonight, seemed to have absolutely no intention of not falling forward. He saw that the redness of the bruises was intensifying; he lightly touched his forehead and felt a dull pain, but it would certainly give him a migraine for the rest of the following day. He thought that, for once, it would be necessary to cancel all his appointments to dedicate himself to his personal health; he thought he deserved it, within the span of an hour, everything and more had happened to him.

«Jerry, don't cry! Don't do it! You are stronger than this!»

The raw truth was that he simply wanted to appear stronger than he actually was. He wanted to bask in the vantage point of the one who, in the end, had been the first to reject, convinced that this would feed his ego; instead, he felt like garbage, he felt awful, with his heart hammering wildly in his chest.
He had to get Mabel out of that station for two main reasons. The first was that, despite the violence of that night, she didn't deserve jail at all, and he wouldn't be able to stand the thought of knowing she was rotting in a cell while he continued to enjoy the perfect, comfortable routine of his life. The second reason, decidedly more pragmatic, was that Mabel needed to take emergency contraceptive medication as soon as possible; it was highly unlikely that she had gotten pregnant, but if she didn't take the necessary countermeasures, the paranoia would end up eating him alive for a whole year. The first step to definitively ending the relationship had been taken; now all that remained was to resolve this terrible incident, and everything would return to normalcy... or almost. Certainly, after tonight, he would never be able to stand looking her in the eyes again.
What a horrible contrast, to feel anger and affection simultaneously toward a person you have so clearly wounded yourself, but whom, deep down, you can't help but blame at least a little. Why did she have to kiss him? What was the need for it? They had become friends, and it had been wonderful spending time together; exhausting, often, but extremely enlightening. Why did it have to be so damn difficult, between a man and a woman, to avoid ending up in bed? It wasn't what he wanted, he had never desired her that way; why did she have to push herself to that point? And in the end, his male instincts had gotten the better of him, and he had given in to sin.
She's just a kid, Jerry! Just a kid! he chided himself mentally. How did it even cross your mind to indulge her erotic dreams and make them yours in record time? Since when did you ever care about her in that way? In normal times, it wouldn't have even entered the back of his mind to sleep with her.
To the Jerry of the past, the one intent on designing the Highway right over the swamp clearing without a single qualm, in fact, with a certain brazen pride, even the thought that Mabel, in the future, could enter his inner circle of friendships would have given him the shivers. He never would have wanted anything to do with that lunatic!

Those who loved the mayor would receive his favors,
Those who hated him, and above all challenged him, would taste his power.

Who knows what that old Jerry would have thought of all the rest... Oh, irony of fate, perhaps that past self of his would have even liked this situation more than the Jerry of this very moment. Knowing he had managed to "tame" the girl, in a way, would have thrilled him; after all, with no emotional ties to act as a deadweight, getting rid of her afterward wouldn't have been problematic at all. Today, however...

He tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. By now, the police station was close, and his thoughts began to shift rapidly to what he would have to concoct in front of his former college mate, Sergeant Cooper, to salvage what he could.
Once they reached their destination, Jerry turned off the engine but made no move to get out. He deliberately waited for the two officers to exit the cruiser ahead of him and escort Mabel inside the station. The truth was, at that precise moment, he did not possess the fortitude required to walk by her side; truth be told, he didn't even have the strength to be in this situation. He wished only that he could erase the entire event, or that he had found an alternative, less destructive way to tell Mabel the truth. He knew well that in certain cases it is better to cut ties cleanly and quickly to prevent feelings from stagnating and rotting, but the outcome of this night would leave an immovable trauma in her. And, to be entirely honest, he would never rid himself of the terrible memory of these hours without Mabel's future forgiveness either. A forgiveness that, however, he highly doubted would ever come.

Mabel slowly turned her head, looking straight toward Jerry's car, and when their glares locked through the windshield, Jerry was seized by panic. He immediately grabbed his smartphone and brought it to his ear, pretending to answer an urgent call and instantly averting his eyes from her.
Mabel understood perfectly well that he was blatantly faking. She remained motionless for a few seconds, waiting for him to stop playing the fool; she hoped that, even if he didn't love her, he would have at least had the courage and decency to stand by her in such a damn humiliating circumstance. But it was not to be, unfortunately, and instead she saw him sputtering to himself inside the cabin while nervously opening the car's glove compartment, starting to rifle through fake papers just to look busy.

Suddenly, Mabel felt a light tug on her arm.
«Come on, Mabel, let's go... don't look at him. It's not the time to look at him...» the female officer beside her said in a low voice.
Mabel was rather taken aback by it. The officer had spoken in a strange way, as if she understood the entire dynamic perfectly, and the profound reason why she was staring at the mayor of Beaverton. Well, perhaps people in Beaverton weren't all as stupid as Jerry hoped with his lies. Thank heavens there was someone in this town not willing to blindly believe that she had sneaked into his house just to assault him in the middle of the night; they knew such a gesture was far too crazy even for her, and furthermore, the obvious closeness that had blossomed between her and the mayor over these last few months had not escaped anyone. Mabel didn't reply, limiting herself to following the order, and averting her gaze, she entered the station with her head bowed.

Only when the glass doors of the entrance closed behind them did Jerry crane his neck over the dashboard to verify that they had moved far enough down the hallway to avoid any close encounter. At that point, he got out of the car, slipped his phone into his jacket pocket, and followed them inside.

Before he could even approach the reception desk, he was immediately surrounded by a group of on-duty officers and station staff, who crowded around him, asking en masse what had happened. Evidently, the news that something had happened to the beloved mayor of Beaverton had already spread through the building at lightning speed.
Contrary to what anyone might have thought, considering the situation of enormous stress, Jerry took a deep breath and, in a split second, flashed a charming, magnetic smile and brushed his hair back with his fingers. This time it was a clearly deliberate movement and not a tic, as it perfectly highlighted the bruises and scratches on his forehead, causing many of those present who hadn't noticed them right away to gasp. The officers crowded closer and closer, but he did not lose his impeccable posture. In that moment, he looked like a sort of golden idol surrounded by worshippers, and in his manner, he seemed almost to emanate his own light, alternating words of comfort with light chuckles as he reassured his subordinates.

«Haha, I'm fine, my boys, I'm doing great! I was just caught a bit off guard, nothing serious» he recounted, flaunting a fake modesty. «The girl sneaked into my house, presumably driven by a desperate attempt to steal some confidential documents regarding the new railway project. I had assured her that my administration would protect the local wildlife in every possible way, but... haha, you all know what Mabel Tanaka is like. Obviously, she didn't believe me and... well, unfortunately, I had to suffer the consequences. But it's nothing I couldn't handle. I even got the impression that the girl was under the influence of alcohol, but I could be mistaken; I don't want to presume to insinuate anything, and after all, there's nothing wrong with that, she's an adult, right? Haha!»

Jerry paused briefly, passing a hand over his face to exaggerate his exhaustion. «Oh, heaven... what a night. Tomorrow I might be forced to take a day of leave. I think when I get back home, I'll really struggle to catch any sleep... I will get straight to work on drafting a plan that can guarantee greater security for private properties in Beaverton. I cannot allow similar episodes to repeat themselves; fortunately, this time it happened to me. I would have never been able to stand knowing that such violence could strike another citizen under my mandate!»

At those words, the station lobby filled once again with a buzz of voices, a mix of consolations, expressions of deep esteem, and further questions. Some officers, to show their closeness, kept touching his arms and patting him on the back.
Deep down, Jerry was feeling a visceral hatred for those contacts. Tonight, he hadn't even tolerated Mabel brushing against him, let alone them, perfect strangers! He felt everyone's hands on him and perceived them as filthy; every single touch made his skin crawl with annoyance and repulsion. Yet, he didn't move a millimeter, nor did he let the slightest disgust slip through. He stood there, motionless, with a sweet, understanding smile, continuing to reassure his community.

«But Mayor Jerry, are you sure you're alright? Look at those marks... do you want us to call an ambulance for a check-up?» asked one of the officers, leaning forward and reaching a hand toward his forehead, only to withdraw it at the last second upon seeing that Jerry, despite smiling, seemed to shift his torso away from his hand.

«An ambulance? Look at him, Miller, our Jerry is a rock!» exclaimed another policeman a bit further back, crossing his arms. «Though, Jerry... how on earth did that unhinged girl manage to get into your house?»

Jerry kept the smile perfectly plastered on his face and shrugged his shoulders, even though with every question he felt the pressure rising and the space around him growing tighter, suffocating. These guys were starting to get too close to him, the smell of coffee and sweat was grating on his nerves, and every single voice seemed to echo directly inside his already aching temples. Under normal circumstances it wouldn't have bothered him, but right now, every single thing that didn't concern the matter of Mabel was getting on his nerves.

«I wouldn't know, I'm no expert in safecracking, I've never done it in my life» he replied, and that admission brought light laughter. «My window faces the porch, after all. I fear it only took a bit of agility and a decent dose of... recklessness, I should say!»

«But did she steal anything from you?» the dispatcher suddenly asked, peering out from the back office door with a notepad in her hand.

«Fortunately, I surprised her before she could remove any document of significance. Evidently, the girl did not know that the most critical documents are hardly kept at my house; rather, they are carefully filed away in the city hall archives» Jerry lied with absolute fluency, adjusting his blue jacket once more. «She only had the time to create a bit of a mess and, unfortunately, to react in that unusual manner when I caught her red-handed»

«She certainly has a hell of a nerve» commented the sergeant from behind the raised counter, shaking his head as he continued typing on the computer keyboard. «Coming to pull a stunt like that at the Mayor's house... But did she threaten you, Jerry? Did she say anything in particular while she was assaulting you? Because if she made politically motivated threats, this becomes a federal matter, you know»

At that question, Jerry playfully rolled his eyes in exasperation. «Oh come on, she's just a college girl, she doesn't understand anything about those things! Heavens, you're overestimating her! ...Just the usual environmentalist delusions we've grown accustomed to, as I was saying, in my opinion, probably caused by having a few too many glasses. She was screaming senseless phrases about nature, about how I am some sort of threat to environmental preservation... the usual nonsense, in short. Nothing that could have any real criminal or political relevance»

«Well, the fact remains that she assaulted you in your own home, Jerry. Look at that» he insisted, pointing a chin back toward the mayor's forehead.

«How is your mother doing? Was she frightened?» asked another officer, who presumably had read enough about him to know that he lived with his mother.

«My mother is a strong woman, but obviously the shock was considerable» Jerry replied, and this time he seemed more sincere, driven by his fierce protectiveness toward his mother. «I left her at home to rest, and that is exactly why I wish to close this matter as quickly as possible, but above all because Beaverton doesn't need this kind of publicity.»

Suddenly, a stocky man with a grizzled mustache forced his way through the crowd, urgently separating the group of subordinates who continued to encircle and press Jerry.

«Alright, come on, the party's over! Can't you see you're suffocating him? Everyone back to work!» he ordered in a raspy voice and a rather vexed manner.
Ah, that was Chief Cooper, the local police director of Beaverton. A sharp, perpetually nervous fellow, as well as one of the very few influential individuals in the county whose vote Jerry had never managed to secure. It was obvious they didn't like each other, the best option for leading the city, let alone what arguments he would have to concoct tonight to convince him to release Mabel. Nonetheless, he felt a genuine twinge of gratitude for freeing him from that suffocating situation.

«Ah! Chief Cooper,» Jerry uttered, letting out a sigh of relief.

«So the girl finally broke into your house, huh?» Cooper commented, sizing him up from head to toe with his hands on his hips.

«Unfortunately, yes... but thank heavens no one was seriously hurt, and that’s the only thing that matters!»

«Oh, yeah? And what are those supposed to be?» Cooper indicated with a nod of his head the contusions that were beginning to turn purple on his forehead.

Jerry merely shrugged, keeping a little smile plastered on. «Nothing that can’t be managed tomorrow morning with a bit of concealer and foundation.»

«Foundation... I’d really love to see how efficient your sissy foundation is going to be when those scrapes turn into lumps» Cooper pulled a pack from his pocket, lit a cigarette, and motioned for Jerry to follow him. Before putting the pack away, he offered him one, but Jerry declined with a slow shake of his head.

«Have you ever smoked in your life, Jerry?» he asked, throwing open the door to his office.

«Curiosity never struck me» he replied, stepping into the office. «I took a couple of puffs purely in the spirit of camaraderie with friends during my college years, and I didn't even cough, as usually happens... or so they say, at least. But it wasn't to my taste. I prefer to preserve quite another flavor on my palate and...» he paused for a moment, eyeing Cooper's uniform with disapproval. «...on my clothes.»

«Tsk, yeah, I get it, the usual spiel. Tell me something... has anyone ever explicitly asked you if you were a faggot, or am I the first asshole who has the guts to ask you openly?»

Jerry didn't flinch a millimeter and held the man's gaze, replying with a relaxed smile and a challenging demeanor. «I, on the other hand, naturally find myself wondering if this insistence of yours doesn't actually conceal some form of internalized homophobia»

«Or maybe I'm just throwing in your face what half of Beaverton thinks!» Cooper retorted, sitting down in the armchair at the far end of the desk. He wedged the cigarette between his teeth to pull a few files out of a drawer. «What are people supposed to think when they see a forty-something guy, obsessed with fashion, who cooks, dresses like a dandy, and still lives under the same roof as his mother?»

«Or perhaps» Jerry continued, letting out a sardonic huff as he settled into the chair opposite him «you like me to such an extent that you have structured an approach attempt based on the technique of verbal aggression toward a minority. A psychological expedient aimed at testing my reactivity and verifying whether I feel the need to defend a possible homosexual identity; all for the sole purpose of granting yourself the green light to flatter me, without having to first undergo the humiliating process of taking my rejection should I be, as I in fact am, a heterosexual man» And with that, he concluded by showcasing the gleaming white teeth of his classic smile.

Cooper's eyes widened, and he remained completely dumbfounded for a few seconds, the cigarette nearly dropping from his lips in the face of that masterpiece of psychological analysis, which Jerry had presumably expressed using every big word he knew. Now the asshole was playing the cool guy, but Cooper bet he probably wouldn't be able to repeat it any better if he tried.

«My God... such an idea wouldn't have even crossed the back of my mind» the police chief muttered, visibly caught off guard. «Which, to be honest, makes me doubt your inclinations even more, Jerry. You seem decidedly too expert on the matter»

«I find it singular that a police chief considers the knowledge of basic investigative dynamics and personal profiling unusual» he countered, crossing his legs. «And in any case, I have lived my life to the fullest, my dear old college mate. I certainly wasn't among the most popular guys on campus by pure luck. I was always interested in the private confidences we exchanged back then; unlike you, it seems I possessed the rare virtue of genuinely listening to people. And I continue to do so to this day. Perhaps that is why Beaverton loves me»

«Oh, God... what a kiss-ass narcissist you are, Jerry. It seems to me, though, that when these people consider themselves environmentalists and go against your fucking urbanization, your virtue becomes being deaf!» Cooper grunted, crushing the cigarette butt in the ashtray.

«But let's put the bullshit aside and move on to serious matters»

«Finally...» Jerry murmured, feeling the fatigue throbbing in his temples. Hearing him, Chief Cooper contorted his lips into a grimace and slid the folder containing the reports, the official forms for the assault complaint, and its protocol number across the table.

«Here is the transcript of your call and the first notes from the boys who intervened at your house. Nighttime trespassing, property damage, and physical assault against a citizen... who happens to be the Mayor, no less. Heheh! There's enough material here to open a nice little criminal file that won't wash off even in ten years, Jerry.»

Property damage? What the hell were they talking about? Jerry hoped nothing had broken in his bedroom; replacing the bed would cost a pretty penny. Perhaps while he had gone downstairs, Mabel, in a second burst of rage, had broken something, but he hadn't heard any noise. He decided not to investigate further since he didn't consider it important information anyway.

«I read here that you explicitly spoke of a premeditated assault» He raised his head to study every movement Jerry made and any reaction he might have. «Yet, my boys told me that when they entered, the girl was coming downstairs, barely dressed, and with no bag or backpack to put these alleged "railway documents" she was supposed to steal from you. Doesn't that strike you as a tad strange for a burglary? Well, it certainly plays in favor of your theory that she was drunk, anyway, and they're running the test on her, so we'll know that soon...»

«Cooper, we are talking about Mabel, not a professional criminal» he shot back, and this time his voice had lost almost all the elegance he strove to maintain; he was clearly nervous about the situation, as he sensed Cooper was doubting him. «She’s a girl with obsessions, okay? Tonight she was clearly agitated, she just wanted a confrontation, and then… well, the situation got out of hand. There was no plan behind it. Okay? You can see it a mile away»

The officer noticed his sudden nervousness and made a skeptical face. «Whatever you say. Though to be fair, in this report you imply she broke in secretly and became violent when discovered, not because of an argument... The fact remains that right now, an officer is subjecting her to an initial interrogation in room two, but there is a tiny problem: Mabel doesn't seem to want to talk. She’s shut herself in absolute silence since we brought her in. She hasn't confirmed the story about the documents, she hasn't justified the trespassing, she hasn't said a single word. Nothing at all. She’s just sitting there staring down at the table! You can’t tell if it’s anger or what!».

Mabel’s silence was a double-edged sword; on one hand, it guaranteed that the intimate details of that night were not yet public knowledge, but on the other, it indicated a desperate stubbornness that risked complicating his quick liquidation plan. If Mabel continued to refuse to cooperate, things could get worse, and he had no idea what to say.
He felt his left leg beginning to tremble again, but he stopped it with a tight grip on his knee.

«This silence only confirms my thesis! That girl is aware she committed a folly, and now she’s paralyzed by the consequences. And that is exactly why I am here. We don’t need to turn a student’s delirium into a state affair.»

«You want to drop the charges, Jerry? Is that what you're trying to say?» Cooper murmured. «Because I'll remind you that personal assault is prosecuted officially if the days of prognosis exceed a certain threshold, and I repeat, that forehead of yours doesn't look good.»

Jerry brushed his skin, feeling the sweat and the heat of the bruises beneath his fingertips. «For heaven's sake, Cooper, they'll heal within three days at most, let's not exaggerate. I intend to sign a statement downplaying the event to a simple private quarrel, with no harmful intent on the girl’s part. I will pay the bail for the disturbance caused to the public peace and for the trespassing, and I demand that the matter be closed here, before dawn. This town doesn’t need a show trial that would drain public resources and precious time.»

Cooper stared at him for long moments, the silence broken only by the monotonous hum of the air conditioner. He knew Jerry was manipulating the situation; he could smell the lie a mile away, but he didn't have the leverage to crack that facade. Not yet, at least.

«You're a piece of ice, Generazzo» he finally muttered, reaching for a pen. «Always ready to clean up the mud before it soils your polished shoes. Fine. Let's prepare these administrative forms. But first... I want you to put your version of the facts down in black and white, because I'm truly starting to make no sense of this!»

Cooper didn't trust him. He had never trusted Jerry. He was a near-pathological liar, damn it, and few managed to see past his filthy mask of a perfect man; if only people knew half the illegal things he had committed under his leadership, they would banish him from Beaverton forever, and they’d banish Cooper too, since he knew too much to be innocent. Something didn't add up in this whole staging; the details didn't seem to match. He couldn't let him get away with it without knowing at least a shred of truth.

«You know, Jerry...» Cooper murmured, resting the pen on the table. «I think you're feeding me a pile of bullshit. This story about the railway documents doesn't hold up even if you tie it together. I know Mabel; it's not the first time you've thrown her in jail for a night, but it is definitively the first time you actually give a damn about it, and that is decidedly strange coming from you. She's a thorn in your side, I know, I can imagine how unnerving it must be for a narcissist like you to endure the thought of someone disagreeing with you, even if it's just a young girl, but Mabel is no criminal, you said so yourself, right? And you, rather... you are a strange animal indeed. A girl shows up in your bedroom, punches and scratches your face, threatens your safety and your mother's, And what do you do? You show up here, all perfumed, with a couple of stray hairs as if you just walked out of a quick fuck somewhere instead of handling a crime scene, and the only thing you care about is paying bail and getting her out before dawn? I know you and Mabel somehow bonded after that bizarre event with... the robot that mimicked you (my God, I still dream about it at night) and the wildfire, but there is precisely a missing gear here! And I can't figure out which one»

Clearly intent on not letting himself fall into total panic, Jerry gripped his knee more violently, but a faint tapping of his heel could still be heard on the floor. He wasn't liking any part of this situation. He had been repeatedly called a narcissist even though, clearly, he wasn't; he had been called a criminal when he had never done anything but think of Beaverton's greater good, and now that damn bastard was questioning his words. How dared he? He was the mayor, and Cooper was just a cop; he had absolutely no right to doubt the words of the man who had turned the town he lived in into a small, peaceful American paradise. Just because Cooper was a little loser back in school and now felt entitled to act tough simply because he held the upper hand didn't mean he was actually worth more than he used to be; he would always remain a loser, whereas, as Beaverton confirmed, Jerry would remain the most loved and popular. If Cooper kept pushing his luck, Jerry would give up on trying to exonerate Mabel and focus instead on how to bring down that hypocrite's career, after all, he had the power and the right connections to do it.

«I've already explained it to you, Cooper. It's a matter of pragmatism. I don't want to fuel a media circus that—»

«No, Jerry, you don't want me to dig!» Cooper interrupted him. «You're hiding something from me. There was something else that girl was looking for in your house. Or maybe there was something else you promised her. What's underneath it? Blackmail? Bundles of cash for land? Speak up, Jerry, because if I find out there's corruption behind this again, I’ll throw you both inside!!»

«You're delirious! My administration is clean, and you know it perfectly well!»

«Oh, yeah, Jerry? Clean?» Cooper replied, growing more and more agitated by his lies. «Fine, then let's put aside the bullshit you've done in the past and bring up only the most recent things! How 'clean' do you consider the installation of those fucking iron trees in the forest glade, with those acoustic speakers specifically designed to shatter the animals' eardrums and make them flee? Was that a clean matter too?! It doesn't seem to me at all that this disgrace corresponded to what you promised in the pact you signed for the construction of the highway!»

At those words, Jerry let out a long, weary sigh and began to massage his aching temples. His skull was throbbing where Mabel had struck him, and hearing Cooper flaunt the dirtiest details of the project in his face only made things worse.

«Look, Cooper, I—»

«Not to mention that those artificial trees were hyper-realistic!» Cooper interrupted him again. «How much public funding did you unjustifiably embezzle, Jerry? How much money did you drop on corrupt artists and engineers to design and assemble them in secret? At least three thousand dollars a piece, plus another two thousand each to buy their silence? I'll tell you how these things go, if you trust too many people, sooner or later the secrets come out! Do we want to talk about the fact that practically your entire team of sycophants knew about this filth? You destroyed land, tore down natural dams, and your assistants went along with it without even questioning it! How many damn high-ranking positions did you promise in exchange for their silence? You're corrupt to the core, Generazzo, so don't come preaching to me about transparency!»

Jerry stopped answering him entirely. He understood instantly that replying would be completely useless. Cooper hadn't the slightest idea of how the world of politics actually worked. He was presumably still anchored to fanciful, childish ideals of goodwill, transparency, and other such nonsense. Exactly like Mabel. But social reality was quite different, and when you find yourself managing power, you are forced to make drastic choices for the good of the community and for your own positioning. The truth Cooper didn't want to accept was that everyone, from first to last, plays exclusively for their own personal gain. The only difference is that when someone who has successfully climbed the social ladder does it, their moves are inevitably criticized and scrutinized, simply because they have a greater impact on the collective. Cooper was truly a fool. A fool who stubbornly insisted on believing that stainless, sinless heroes could exist in politics.

«We found your car literally destroyed at the bottom of a cliff, with several emergency calls reporting alleged driving under the influence... of what, alcohol? Some said the vehicle was being chased by a bear or some shit like that, more bullshit, probably colleagues of yours, I'd bet anything on it. What the hell were you trying to do, breaking the speed limit and—»

«Cooper, stop it... I get it, you win, I'll... I'll tell you the truth» Jerry finally gasped, cutting him off abruptly. He passed a trembling hand through his hair, gripping his fingers near the roots. He was tired, exhausted, fed up with playing that part. Faint, nervous chuckles even escaped him, but he blocked them by putting a fist over his lips as if he were holding back a cough.

«The documents have nothing to do with it, alright? And the matter of the railway or the projects has absolutely nothing to do with it either!»

Jerry massaged his hands, which were also slick with sweat. He was breathing with difficulty; his voice began to tremble.

«That girl... Mabel... she wasn't there to rob me. She was there because... well... she... she was in my bed. As she has been almost every single week for the past few months, if you really must know! We are in a relationship and... well... oh Christ... we basically have frequent intimate relations, okay? And tonight, things escalated over entirely private matters. Things strictly between the two of us, which for once have nothing to do with Beaverton»

Cooper held back a cough, having nearly choked on his own saliva. He stared at him open-mouthed, and for once, he had no intention of interrupting him.

«I know it's my fault, but she was the one who instigated me at first and—ah, no, no, that doesn't matter now. The fact is, I felt under pressure, and as much as I care for her deeply... I don't think I love her the way she wants me to. I realized I didn't love her that way only after I... observed how losing my position and my job scares me far more than losing her. Mabel doesn't deserve such a thing, I know, but I had absolutely no idea how to tell her! I was frightened, because... well, because I... oh heavens, Cooper, don't look at me like that, don't take me for some pervert, know that she is of age, she's an adult! And in some way, I do love her! Yes! Yes, I love her, is that so wrong?!»

By now, Jerry was practically rambling, and his demeanor had shifted from cold to nearly hysterical; in a way, it was almost anxiety-inducing.

«And in a certain sense, I'm grateful that an age-gap relationship like ours is unfairly looked down upon by people! Because if it weren't, perhaps I would have never understood what my true priorities were. I may love myself and my career more, fine, but that doesn't mean I can't feel something for her too... and I don't want to hurt her at all! I want her to be happy with someone who is willing to give her all the love she deserves. I will always be there for her, a phone call would be enough, anything, and I would run to her instantly... God, I think I'm going crazy...»

He cut himself off when he felt his lower lip begin to quiver, and he bit it. He had wanted to cry for some time now, but he wouldn't do it, he would stop himself at all costs.

He must not cry...

«The fact remains that I could no longer keep lying to her. She's a good girl, Cooper, and she doesn't deserve to be locked in a cell. I told her the truth and she... understandably took it terribly, because she loves me. I don't even know how it happened, she used to loathe me to the point of fanaticism before all this... But now I absolutely must speak to her because there is an urgent medical implication involved. Essentially, the condom broke, and we need to go get an emergency contraceptive that she needs to take as soon as possible. Before it's too late, in short. There is the truth. Is that enough for your report?!»

Finally, Jerry found the strength to raise his shame-filled gaze while still keeping his head tucked between his shoulders and his elbows resting on his knees. When he did, he found himself facing a Cooper transformed into a marble statue, his mouth half-open, his back completely propped against the backrest.
An awkward silence hung for several moments, where the only sound present was the hum of the air conditioner, and Jerry darted his pupils left and right, equally dumbfounded, waiting for some sign of life from the policeman.

«Erm... Cooper?—»

«WHAT?!» the police chief yelled, making Jerry jump back with a start, flattening himself against the backrest of his chair.
«You opened her up?! Mabel?! And you even came in—»

Despite Jerry still being in shock from his sudden and exuberant reaction, he nonetheless had the readiness to snap forward across the desk and plant his hand directly over Cooper's mouth, pressing hard.

«Have you lost your mind?! Shut your mouth, Cooper! Do you want everyone to hear us?!» Jerry hissed through his teeth, his eyes terrified and his heart pounding.

Cooper remained completely thunderstruck for a moment, motionless with Jerry's hand pressed against his lips. He knew this situation was bizarre, but never, not even in the back of his mind, would he have imagined that Mayor Generazzo had taken Mabel to bed.
Before, knowing him a little, he thought that if someone like Mabel even stepped within two meters of him, Jerry, pomaded as he was, would have been disgusted. So much for disgust, he had taken her to bed! In his bed! And he had eaten her right up.

Slowly, Jerry withdrew his hand, nervously wiping it on his blue jacket while Cooper let himself fall back into his chair.
«Lucky bastard...» Cooper commented. «I take it all back, Jerry. You're not a faggot. You're just a fucking politician... You get to screw twenty-year-olds while I have to screw that flabby sack of a wife of mine...» He paused for a second, passing a hand over his head with a sudden pang of guilt. «Nah, I take it all back... she's a good woman, God forgive me»

The silence that followed was grueling. Jerry had never felt under so much pressure; admitting to a wrongdoing was not exactly among his qualities, and the fact that Cooper was also slightly embarrassed by the admission was of no comfort.
The front strands of his hair fell forward yet again, and he had to restrain himself with all his might from tearing them out of his head.

«But really, Jerry... you could have just told me right away, couldn't you?» Cooper chuckled with a hint of nervousness, and perhaps even holding back a laugh. «All this mess over a hookup gone wrong with a twenty-year-old? Christ, this is literally one of the least serious things you've done in your entire filthy career!»

Jerry raised his gaze, but remained motionless and impassive to his remarks. Beneath the table, however, he clenched his fists against his knees, and if there had been silence, the cracking of his knuckles could have been heard. Hearing that slimy little provincial mock him, Mabel, and his life, both public and private, literally made him want to vomit. He felt his intimacy violated and dragged through the mud, but he knew he couldn't fire back. In that disgusting moment of submission, he had lost every right to act superior. Any attempt to defend himself would only look ridiculous.

«But help me understand one thing... If it was just a romantic matter... why the hell did you call the police? Were you so terrified of a girlie that you had to have her arrested? Did she hit you so hard she made you cry?»

«I called because the situation was out of control» Jerry replied, continuing to struggle greatly to ignore his useless jokes. «Mabel had a hysterical fit. She started screaming at me and lunged at me... there was no way to calm her down. If the neighbors had heard the shouting and called 911 themselves, there would be reporters outside my house by now! I had to protect my position and my private life!».

«Your position, right...» Cooper commented with a sigh. «And your mother? Does that saint of a woman know her perfect little boy fills his bed with someone who could be his daughter? Does she know those bruises on your face didn't come from tripping over your bedroom rug?»

At that question, Jerry’s stomach knotted into a vice. The image of his mother discovering such a truth was among his greatest anxieties. Deluding her, on the other hand, was perhaps one of his worst nightmares.

«She knows nothing, and I expect her to continue knowing nothing» Jerry hissed, narrowing his eyes and making a grimace. «She will think it was just an attempted burglary, and that is the only version that must circulate in this station. Have I made myself clear?»

«Oh, you’re perfectly clear to me, Mr. Mayor; more lies on the way to make me just as corrupt as you, milord! But then again, I’m used to it by now» Cooper said, pushing himself up to finally stand from his chair. «So what do you want to do with the girl? She’s been in room two for nearly half an hour and Miller still hasn't managed to get a word out of her. If she doesn't sign the report, or if she decides to talk and tell the truth to a lawyer, it would be a hell of a problem for you, and at that point, fortunately or unfortunately, I won't be of use to you anymore»

«I know she won't talk...» Jerry said, trying to convince himself before Cooper. «But I need to get in there. I have to talk to her, alone!! I can't wait any longer! I need to get her out of here, and you have to take care of the rest!».

«Alright, alright! Let's go. Move it then!» Cooper cut him off, gesturing for Jerry to follow as he opened the office door.
An instant before crossing the threshold, however, Cooper stopped dead in his tracks. He stood frozen for a second, letting out an exclamation of surprise. Jerry, who had walked past him, turned around to look at him with a bewildered yet serious and rather hurried expression.

«What is it now, Cooper?»

«Damn... I only just noticed,» the policeman murmured, sizing him up from head to toe once more.

«What?» Jerry asked in a tone that was a mix of anxiety and impatience, darting his eyes several times between Cooper behind him and the hallway ahead.

«You're not wearing any of your endless ties...» he noted, pointing at the collar of his shirt. «You always wear a different one every single goddamn day. Now I see this matter is serious for real»

At that comment, Jerry rolled his eyes with a scowl of pure exhaustion and, without deigning to give him an answer, stepped out of the room. Cooper let out a half-amused chuckle and followed him, pulling the office door shut behind them.

They walked down the station hallway, Jerry a step behind Cooper, trying to ignore the glances of the on-duty officers while occasionally sketching a polite smile. Reaching the end, in front of the door to interrogation room number two, Cooper didn't even bother to knock and flung the door open abruptly, slamming the handle against the wall.

Sitting in the center of the table was Mabel. Her hair was completely disheveled, and her gaze was stubbornly planted on the floor.
Beside her, Officer Miller snapped around at the sudden noise of the door. Mabel, however, didn't even flinch; she remained motionless, like a statue, the only thing she offered was a sigh of boredom.

«Miller, get the fuck out,» Cooper ordered without ceremony. «We'll take it from here. Out.»

The officer’s eyes widened in surprise, looking first at her chief and then at the mayor of Beaverton standing beside him, and she immediately understood it wasn't the place to ask questions. She closed her notepad, turned on her heels, and quickly left the room. Cooper lingered at the door for another second, casting one last uncertain glance at Jerry. Then, without another word, he locked him inside, but he didn't go far. He essentially stood guard, leaning his back against the outer wall of the room, right next to the door.