Guile.. Parts One & Two.. (Revised.)

At first she is not sure if he is real or imagined, as he slowly moves along the fringes of the crowd of people that have become so much a part of her daily routine. As she travels on foot to and from her work at Faversham’s book store on Prospect St; he does seem to have a familiar presence to him, that carry’s with it the slightest scent of danger. He is tall dark and handsome and his appearance is well groomed making him look slightly out of place in this crowd.. Perhaps he is nothing more than the fanciful imaginings of a bored, plain looking young woman, who craves mystery, romance and intrigue in a life, that has offered her little and delivered even less. Still. She wonders. What if?She pushes him from her mind as she crosses over the eighth street bridge and begins her descent into the lower east side of the city, and then makes her way along Canal Street. She stops at the door of The City Café, then looks back to find that he is not only still there, but has moved closer. She opens the door and steps inside of the small room of the diner, and approaches the counter, the older woman that works there knows Maxine Greer all too well, and warmly greets her favorite customer.

“So the usual then Max?”

She offers a soft smile and nod in return. Ruth Carney has worked behind the counter at The City Café for all of the past twenty two year’s and has become a fixture on Canal Street. And she knows every street person, hustler and sidewalk vendor that has worked, hustled and walked the length of it. In all of that time, she has never seen the young man who enters the café as Maxine Greer excuses herself to the ladies room. When she returns to the dining room it is as though an ice cold chill has passed through her body, when she sees him sitting in the booth in the corner, he is drinking black coffee and reading the newspaper, she begins the process of taking mental notes of his appearance. Long shoulder length black hair, a slender face with features that speak of European lineage. Eyes of a color that she could not distinguish because of the dark glasses, seated he looks to be in the six foot something range, he is well dressed in a full black suit with a tie,covered by a top coat..

For the first time she can feel the nervousness creeping in on her, she quickly returns to the counter casting uneasy glances in Ruth Carney's direction, she notices the slight change in Maxine Greer’s demeanor and now she too begins taking mental notes. Until he rise’s up suddenly and exit’s the café, it is only then that Maxine Greer realizes that she is being followed. She opens the door and returns to the sidewalks of Canal Street, pulling her coat up and around her shoulders as the snow begins to drift to the ground, the five o’clock crowd has thinned itself somewhat and her eyes begin to dart in and out of it taking swift notice of every single face there. The young man in the black suit has disappeared, but she can feel it in the pit of her stomach. He is still there. She closes her eyes and tries to focus on his face, and suddenly they re open as though startled from sleep. She knows that she has seen him before, in all of the same places as today, now- she must go to the police.

Dance..

~~~~~~~~~~~

She enters the 13th precinct at 6:05 pm, and walks up to the front desk requesting to speak with the desk sergeant. He comes to the desk with a slight wobble to his walk and the glazed over uninterested look, tells her that he’s been drinking and that speaking with him will get her absolutely nowhere..
“ I have a problem and would like to speak with a detective please.”
The frumpy overweight desk sergeant gives her a quick look up and down.
“You got a name Missy?”
“Maxine Greer.”
“So. What’s yer beef lady?”
“Someone has been following me.”
“How do you know?”
“I see him in all the same places as me every day.”
“Lady. Do you know how many people are in this city?" She doesn’t answer.
“Come back when you have more proof and then we’ll talk..”

She walks out onto the frozen sidewalk, feeling more frustration than when she went in, she begins to head east towards her tiny one bedroom apartment on Lansing blvd. she gets a half of a block when she hears the faint voice calling out from behind her.

“Oh miss! Oh miss!"

A younger man has emerged from inside of the precinct house. She has barely stopped when he extends his hand to her.

“Excuse me, Detective Joshua Kirkland, sorry about the sergeant, he was born an asshole, he just grew bigger.”

She tries to laugh but finds little humor in her situation. He tells her that he’d overheard her conversation with the desk sergeant, and wanted to buy her a cup of coffee and talk it over with her. They return to the City café and get a Booth and Detective Kirkland listens to her story, he doesn't dismiss it.

“This happens a lot Miss Greer, sometimes they just pick you out of a crowd and just start following you to learn your routine, they could be lining you up for a scam, heres my card with my cell number on it, if you see him again. Call me.”

They shake hands outside of the café and go their separate ways, she once again heads east.

She enters into her cramped one bedroom apartment and examines the room for signs of anything other than the way she left it that morning. Still exactly the same. Confident that she’s alone she slowly close’s the door behind her; and walks into the small galley style kitchen to make herself a hot cup of tea. And as the water slowly heats she resigns herself to the bathroom for a quick hot shower, she undresses and slips into the cascading steamy water and pauses in its warmth as it envelopes her body in its wet warm cocoon. She steps out moments later and quickly towel dries herself as if fearful that someone will actually look upon her naked flesh. She pulls the clean dry terry cloth robe around her and ties it tightly at the waist and returns to the kitchen for her tea. Finally at 9:09 PM she rests her hot cup of tea on the nightstand and slowly sinks into the comfort of her warm bed and drifts into a deep peaceful slumber.

It isn't long when she first feels it, a cold dark presence that slowly pulls her away from her dreams, she knows its there but cannot move. Her eyes bound tightly at the lid; teeth grinding together, her robe is open revealing her nakedness to this unseen intruder. She feels his hands slowly moving up and along the inside of her thigh pausing only slightly to feel the moisture slowly growing between her legs. Deep throaty moans rise up from deep inside of her in a voice that she knows is her own but fails to recognize. She slowly opens her eyes to see him standing over her. His hands gracefully gliding over the contours of her perfectly proportioned breasts, he is smiling at her, telling her how truly beautiful she is. Her body rise’s to meet his touch but he pulls away as if to tease or prolong the enticement. And just when she doesn't think that she can take anymore he bends down and softly kisses her slightly parted lips.

“Very soon Maxine my pet,” he softly whispers to her. “Very soon. You will be mine.”

Startled she jumps to find herself alone, eyes open wide and darting around the room to search for clues that never appear. The double doors that lead to the small balcony outside are wide open, and slight traces of snow drift across the empty floor where she stands alone in her confusion. Leaving her to wonder. was this a dream? or.

Dreams of Love and Pain..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She enters the book store at 8:00 am and her boss is just unlocking the front door, he warmly greets her and she asks if he’s made any tea yet. She moves to the back to the office, and even to sixty nine year old Jason Faversham, Maxine Greer does not appear to be herself. He walks up beside her and a look of concern briefly crosses his face.

“Maxi girl are you okay This morning?”

At first she doesn’t answer, her eyes dance nervously around the room looking for signs that tells her that she is indeed awake now. Jason Faversham gently puts his hand on her shoulder.

“Maxi honey. Maybe you should go home, take the day off with pay if you like. Honey you need to rest.”

She slowly nods her head, and began to put on her coat, he studied her for a moment, and decided that there was no way that he would let her walk all of the way home. He calls for her a taxi and upon arrival pays the driver in full to take her home. She gets in at 8:30 am and they drive down Prospect Street and then turn onto Eighth and slowly head east across the snow covered bridge.

They head east on Canal and seven blocks later they pull up in front of the old building that Maxine Greer has lived in for the last ten years. She thanks the driver and heads up the narrow flight of stairs and enters her one bedroom apartment and cautiously locks the door behind her, even then knowing somehow that it will do her no good. She makes tea and resigns herself to the living room and sits by the double doors looking out as the traffic outside passes by below her, she sits and wonders if he himself is even real. She picks up the phone and begins to dial a number a slight hum at first followed by five short rings. Click..

“Hello. You have reached the residence of Abigail Henry, I’m not available right now which means I’m either in the Shower or throwing one into some cute young hottie that I picked up in the bar last night. ha! please leave your name and number at the tone and I’ll get back to you at my earliest inconvenience. Thank you.”

She leaves a message stating that she needs to see her best friend and asks her to come over that morning if possible, Abigail doesn't rush to pick up the phone until she hears the stress and tears forming in Maxine Greer’s voice, and then she hurries to catch the call before Maxine can hang up.

“Hello? Maxi? Are you okay sweetie?”

The voice at the other end is not a calm one, and it doesn't take long to convince Abigail that her friend needs her, and she agrees to come to Maxine’s apartment so the two can talk. She place’s the phone in its cradle and returns her attention to the hot cup of tea, slowly her thoughts begin to fade back towards the events of the evening past. She calculates every little step she’d taken up to the point when she had first felt that cold presence standing over her bed. She pulls her blouse up around her tightly and goes to the closet to retrieve a sweater to wear, outside of the door and down the hallway she can hear footsteps fast approaching, and it cause's her to hold her breath until she hears the knock on the door and Abigail Henry’s voice on the other side.

Abigail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She listens intently as Maxine Greer relates to her the strange occurrence of the past evening. The entire thing played out there in her words as Abigail Henry tries to offer her support.
“So what do you think Abbey?”
“I think I would need a cold shower after having a dream like that Maxi.”
“Abbey. I’m not sure it was a dream. It seemed so real. I just don’t know.”
“Even though Maxi, having dreams about hot sex, beats sharing a bed with a pair of cold feet any day of the week. Honey look. When’s the last time a guy has shown interest in you like this? I mean really? You’re a good lookin woman Maxi, and no matter how hard you try, you’re not gonna be able to hide it forever. Okay. So you saw a hot guy that looked like he may have been following you. And you had a hot dream about him. And now you feel a little guilty. Its normal. Relax. Take it easy. What’s the worst that could happen? He comes up and asks you out? look I gotta go to work sweetie, I’ll see you later. Okay?”

Abigail Henry is three years older than Maxine Greer, and drop dead Gorgeous. She has long flowing brownish red hair and a hot body to match.

Abigail Henry is young and energetic and has a great modeling career ahead of her, she has the world by the ass and she knows it. As she leaves Maxine Greer’s apartment and steps out into the cold morning air and heads for the Ault modeling agency.. She doesn't even notice the tall dark haired young man that moves in behind her and begins to follow her along the snow covered side walks of Canal street. She enters the sidewalk café called Baroque’s Palace and saunters up to the counter and orders herself a orange juice with a bagel, she still has not noticed the young man that now has entered behind her and takes the seat across from hers. When she feels the cold presence there in the room with her, she raise’s her eyes to find herself locked into his stare. He rises from his seat to leave and without even the slightest pause or thought, she rise’s up and follows him out the door. She ignores everything around her, the cold air, the snow drifting from the sky. The traffic and people there have all but grown silent to her.. He turns left on Ardmore street and she follows. He enters into the slightly run down hotel called The Gateway and pause’s to look back over his shoulder at her.

Abigail Henry is still following him. He waits for her to enter into The Gateway, and she follows him up to the room.. He opens the door and Abigail Henry enters. He close’s the door behind him. She is there, but she isn't, she is thinking, but her thoughts are not those of a rational young woman. He removes her coat slowly letting it fall over her shoulders onto the floor, she doesn't resist. He pulls her close to him and slowly runs his hands over her firm round buttocks, she is staring into his eyes. They seem to swirl in their sockets in gray and dark smoldering hues. She has never seen such a color before. And as his lips slowly moved towards hers, she finds her own rising almost too willingly to meet them, and as their tongues meet and slowly slide around each other, he begins to undress his prize. One button. And then two. And soon her blouse and brassiere are on the floor. He slowly begins to unzip her skirt. And she almost consciously holds her breath as she feels it sliding down the back of her thighs, and she moves slowly to the bed and lye’s down, allowing him to remove her panties. And as his hands skillfully caress her firm young body, Abigail Henry closes her eyes.. She thinks to herself that if there is heaven on earth that this surely must be it. When in fact there is no place farther from heaven that she could ever be..

Scratch.. ABT Copyright© 2006