by Sin
“Umm … I’m not sure, let me go find out what he wants.”
Let it be me … let it be me.
“Hey, hope you don’t mind,” Maxim said, as I approached the table.
I sat in the seat across from him and searched around for his buddies. I didn’t mind him here, but I did mind Dag. That little weasel turned my stomach, and after the attack, I followed my gut instincts. They told me he was nothing but trouble.
“I’m alone,” he said.
“And you read minds too, how convenient.”
“No, you seem anxious, and I noticed you looking around. I just guessed that you were checking to see if any of the others were with me.”
“Ahh,” I said, leaning forward to take another sip of my coffee. “So perceptive, but not a mind reader, it’s a start. You can stay.”
He flashed a set of white teeth at me and looked over at the specials board. “What do you recommend?”
“Guess, Mr. Perceptive.”
He leaned forward. I could smell the scent of his aftershave, mixed with ivory soap. My inner thighs tightened, and liquid pooled in my panties. I’d never had a man’s scent make me horny before. I really needed to start dating again. This had to be the first sign of sex withdrawal. Maybe they had a group for that. I could stand in front of a crowded room and announce that I hadn’t gotten laid in over a year. Maybe, they’d hand out condoms after a certain number of days as a reminder that I wouldn’t be needing them.
Maxim grinned at me and I wanted to lick his dimples. “Let me seem … you’d recommend coffee sweet enough to rot my teeth and....”
I nodded and let out a tiny laugh. He did a tiny hand gesture signifying that he was trying to read my mind. I decided to help him out, and told him I ordered pancakes. He did the same. For a second or two it was awkward, no one said anything. The food bit had only lasted so long, and then we were left sitting across from one another with nothing to say.
Finally, I broke the ice. “How’d you become friends with those guys?” Yep, that’s me. I’m nothing if not to the point.
Maxim shifted in his seat. His wide shoulders moved around slightly and he seemed unable to get comfortable. It was plain to see that he didn’t care for my icebreaker. Still, it beat just staring at him, or did it? “Well, saying that they’re my friends is a stretch, you could say that we’re sort of family.”
I thought about the large black man named Terrance and inwardly laughed at the lack of resemblance. I didn’t say anything because my co-workers had become like family to me, and we looked nothing alike either.
“How’d you get the scars on your hands?” I asked. He pulled his hands off the table from my line of sight. Great, I was batting a thousand in the small talk category with him. If I pushed harder, I might cement the fact that he’d never ask for my number. “I’m sorry, I just....”
“No, its fine, I got them helping someone a couple of years ago, that’s all.”
Melvin brought our food over and saved the day. He gave Maxim the evil eye, no doubt trying to look menacing for my sake, and slammed the plate down in front of him. Melvin had never seen me in his diner with a man before. He acted protective and that was fine by me.
Maxim and I talked during our meal about our interests. We didn’t have too much in common. He wasn’t much into watching movies or reading books, and he had little interest in plays. He said that his work kept him busy, and that he didn’t get much free time to take up any new hobbies. He did confess to liking to paint and draw. I thought that was a step in the right direction.
“I’ve been here for two years and I don’t remember seeing you before,” I said.
“I used to live around here, years ago, but, like I said, work has kept me pretty busy. Now, I’m back, and I’m hoping to stay awhile.”
“What brought you back?”
“Work.”
“What is it that you do?”
“I’m self employed.” That didn’t really answer my question, but it was all he offered up, so I took it. “What about you?”
“Well, I thought that was obvious. I’m a waitress.”
He moved his plate aside and looked at me. “No, what do you really do?”
“I’m a dancer … was a dancer.” I heard myself blurt it out and had no idea why I did it. I hardly knew the guy and here I was giving him my life story.
“Was?”
I thought about the last night that I worked as a dancer. I remembered leaving Trevor’s apartment and walking to find a cab. The only ride I got that night was to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. I shook the image from my head, and pulled my purse up to dig my wallet out. Discussing this any further with him seemed pointless, hot guy or not.
“I’ve got to go,” I said and stood.
Maxim rose to his feet quickly. “Hey, wait, I’ll walk with you. I promise not to ask any more questions about why you don’t dance anymore.”
I looked at him, and tried to read his chiseled face. He seemed sincere, and it was broad daylight out. I planned to hit some local shops, all the people there knew me, if he tried anything I could get help. Plus, I’d been taking self-defense classes for the past two years. I hoped to never have need of the skills I learned there, but I would use them if I had to. It was a shame that I hadn’t thought to take those classes when I first arrived in the City. They could have changed my life.
I nodded at Maxim and watched him scramble to follow me. Waving good-bye to Melvin, I headed out the door, hoping that I’d made the right choice by letting Maxim come too. Letting a man into my life seemed scarier than facing a gang of thugs again.
“It’s cool out here, isn’t it?” I asked. The sun was deceiving. I thought it would be warmer out than it was. I pulled my newsboy hat out and put it on. Maxim looked down at me and smiled.
“So, Rayme, that’s not a common name.”
“Oh, and Maxim is?”
“Ya’ got me, and Max is fine.”
Chapter Five
It was strange having a man tag along with me while I shopped. At first, I was hesitant to linger too long in any one store. I’d had enough men come in and out of my life to know that most did not have a strong affinity for shopping. If anything, shopping seemed to be right up there with castration on some men’s lists. Max didn’t seem to share that opinion. A few questioning glances were cast in my direction when I found a sale on patchwork velvet jackets, but that was it. But really, who could pass up the chance to get a hip jacket for eight bucks? I know I couldn’t.
Maxim did make several snide comments about my lack of actually purchasing anything in most of the shops we stopped at, but that was it. I explained that part of the fun of shopping was looking for great deals, not actually buying something. He took my word for it and let it be.
Smart man.
I also managed to find a sweater and a pair of pants that I liked. I didn’t try them on because he was with me, but I was pretty sure they’d fit. If not, I’d have another excuse to hit the stores again, and if I was lucky, Maxim would join me. By the time we finished my feet hurt, I was starving, it was pushing seven, and the day had flown by.
“What now?” he asked.
Was he joking?
I’d already drug him around the city to every one of my favorite spots and he still wanted to keep going. Perhaps, he’d been Genghis Khan in his past life and this was his penance--shopping with me.
Hey, I know when I’m torturing people.
I looked at him and laughed at the sight of a manly man carrying a pink bag. He’d volunteered to carry it two blocks back and I’d taken him up on it. Turning down hunky help just wasn’t in my nature. “You can’t be serious?”
“Yeah, what do you want to do next? You said you didn’t have to work until ten.”
“Don’t you have something you need to get done today?”
“Already did it.”
He walked closer to me. My arm brushed his and I drew my breath in. He had a way of shaving the years
off me, leaving me feel like a giddy schoolgirl, and I liked that. Feeling carefree and youthful again was fine by me. It wasn’t often that I got to pretend that life wasn’t harsh and that my dreams hadn’t been crushed.
We approached my building, my insides tied into a knot. I wasn’t scared of Max, but I wasn’t stupid either. I didn’t really want him to know where I lived right now. My knee ached and there was no way I could take another step without a pain killer. I also needed to change my shoes, and drop my packages off before I could do anything else. I’d go barefoot before I took another step in the boots of death.
“Well, I guess I could meet you at Vinnie’s in about an hour. We could hang out a while before my shift starts.” It was lame and I knew it, but it was all I was willing to offer a guy I hardly knew.
“Sounds good,” he said. I took my bag from him and watched him walk towards Vinnie’s. I didn’t expect him to wait for me for the next hour, but that looked like what he planned on doing.
Turning, I walked towards the brown door. I pulled my keys out and went to unlock it. My fingers were so cold from the autumn air that I dropped my keys. I bent down to pick them up, and was struck by the smell of urine again. It was stronger than it had been before. I wrinkled my nose up and made a mental note to bring a bucket of water out and scrub down the doorway.
“Hey, I almost forgot....”
Startled, I dropped the keys again and flung around with my leg extended, ready and willing to kick a would-be attacker in the head. Max caught my foot inches from his face, and looked down at me. “I wanted to give you my number, just in case you couldn’t make it. I didn’t think ... sorry … I hope I didn’t scare you. Umm, nice move.”
He dropped my foot and smiled at me. I felt like a heel for almost kicking my date for the day upside the head, and I had no clue what to say to make the situation less weird. There weren’t too many ways to break the ice after nearly knocking your date’s teeth out, so I decided that silence was the best answer and bent down to grab my keys. The strong order of urine hit me again.
“God, I swear when I catch the dog that did this I’m going to … well, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m sure he won’t like it. It’ll involve a pair of scissors and a certain part of his anatomy that he seems all to willing to aim at my front door.”
Max grabbed my wrist before I put the key in the door. I looked up at him, wondering if I should attempt to kick him in the head again or see what he was up to. I went with the wait and see approach. He stared at the claw marks on the door. “Have these always been there?”
“No, I found them this morning, along with the wonderful smell. You like? I’m calling it eau de stray. I’m thinking that I could market it to all the winos to enhance their already enticing aroma. Could be all the rage--there could be people lined up for blocks. Imagine how many stolen shopping carts could be recovered.” I put my hands up and laughed. “Just kidding … hope you don’t mind politically incorrect gals.”
Max looked around the parking lot franticly. I looked too, and saw nothing. “Do you live alone?”
I froze. Every alarm in my body went off. I didn’t want them to be, I didn’t want to worry about Max. He was the first guy in the city that I liked right from the start. Trevor hadn’t even earned that honor. It had taken me weeks to warm up to him and look where that had gotten me.
Nearing twenty-seven, and by no means old, I felt like my chances of finding the ‘right one’ were dwindling fast. Maxim and I had jelled. Part of me wanted to believe that he could have been the one. Now, with the creepy ‘do you live alone’, all I wanted to do was run.
I backed up from the door and looked at him. My face must have shown my concern, because he put his hands up in the universal ‘I’m harmless’ pose. If that was only true. The man was pure muscle and if he wanted to do me bodily harm then there’d be little I could do to stop him. Sure, I could slow him down, but really--taking on a man his size and with his speed was downright insane.
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, Rayme. I just wanted to know if anyone else was around in case this … dog,” he put a lot of emphasis on the last word, “comes back around. I should have known that would come off wrong. I just … shit, forget I asked.”
“Hey girl!” I heard Angie’s voice. It seemed like the voice of an angel in the midst of chaos. I turned to see her getting out of her boyfriend, Derrick’s, car. I’d forgotten that she was due in early. She looked at Maxim, and then back to me. Her face told me that she had a thousand questions, but I knew she’d wait until we were alone to ask them. Or, at least I hoped she would.
“Ang, you’re early.”
“Yeah, I wanted to spend a little time with you, sorry about the car thing. I did want to spend the day with you, I swear. I ended up listening to Fawn drone on about still married guy number four billion for the greater part of the day.” She looked back at the car she’d arrived in. “Oh, I’m borrowing Derrick’s until mine gets fixed. So, am I interrupting anything?”
Max looked at me and handed me a piece of paper. “Here’s my number. I’m guessing that I’ll be taking a rain check on tonight.” He backed away, slowly. The idea of never seeing him again scared me more than he did and I wasn’t willing to risk it.
“Max.” I said. “Would you like to come in?” He looked shocked. Angie looked even more shocked. I gave her the ‘call me in a half hour to make sure I’m not dead’ face, the one that we’d perfected over the course of our friendship, and watched her gawk at me. I wish I could have seen the look on her face as Max and I entered the building. I’m sure it would have been priceless.
I tried to flick the hallway light on. It didn’t work. That was odd. A wave of nausea hit me as we walked in from the heavy smell of ammonia in the hall. It smelled like a port-a-john.
Always good for real estate value.
I walked up to the door at the base of the stairs and saw another huge claw mark down the center of it. Backing up, I ran into Max. He put his hands out and took my keys. I didn’t argue with him. Something seemed off and if a huge, hunky guy wanted to take the lead, I’d let him.
He gave me a questioning look and moved his body in front of mine. I pulled my cell phone out to call the police. He shook his head no. We walked to the top of the stairs and I saw another tiny gash on the last door. Max put the key in and opened the door slowly. I heard a loud screeching sound and saw a black blur flying out at Max. His arms went up and he caught it in mid-motion. It let out an ear-piercing screech I recognized immediately.
Reaching out, I snatched a very pissed off Henry from Max’s hands. I tried to calm him down, but ended up having to put him in the extra bedroom. He didn’t seem too fond of Max. In fact, he made several more attempts to attack him before I slammed the door shut. I hoped that my cat was a bad judge of character.
I came out and found Max looking around my living room, peeking out my windows. “It’s another parking lot,” I said. The view sucked, but the place was huge. I wasn’t going to start complaining now. Plus, I paid next to nothing for it, so I was a happy girl.
“Yeah, I was just checking … I wanted to … umm, yeah.” His gaze raked over me, and his face looked so serious. My stomach twisted into another knot. It seemed to be the day for developing an ulcer. “I’m not sure you should stay here tonight. You mentioned that you might go and see your parents. I think you should. I think you should leave now.”
I didn’t realize that I had backed up until I hit the wall. I turned to see how far away from the phone I was. Max made a move towards me and I ran for the phone. Beating me to it, he grabbed my arms. I screamed out and kicked him hard, but he didn’t let go. Pain radiated up my leg as if I’d kicked a brick wall instead of a man.
“Rayme! Stop! I’m not going to hurt you. Christ, I’ll go, it’s just I think you would be safer somewhere else. That’s all, baby, I swear!”
I stopped struggling and looked up at him. This had gotten so out of control a
nd I couldn’t even pinpoint when it had all happened. “It’s not a dog is it?”
“No.”
“What is it?” I heard myself ask him, but in my heart I knew what it was, I’d seen something like it before, the night I was attacked. Sinking down to the floor, I put my head down to fight the wave of tears that were threatening to overtake me. Max put his hand on my shoulder and I didn’t push it off, kudos for me. I took a couple of deep breaths and stood up. Wiping the corners of my eyes, I looked at him. I knew that I looked like a nut case, but I’d played the victim once already and it nearly cost me my life. I wouldn’t do it again. If it meant I’d have a few minor break down sessions then so be it.
“So, do you know what almost got in here?” I wanted to hear him say it. I’d waited two years for someone to give it a name--to validate it for me.
Max leaned back against the wall and it was his turn to take a breather. “Not, what … who.” He put his hand out to me, and I felt compelled to take it.
I turned and grabbed the phone to call the police. If some sociopath was trying to get in, then they needed to know. Max took it from my hands slowly. “What are you planning on telling the authorities? I don’t think they’ll view the scratches on the door as a threat. They’ll probably send animal control out to patrol the area. They’ll chalk it up to some stray dog and leave. It’s not a stray dog, and I think you know that.”
I looked into his dark eyes and knew that he told the truth. Shit, double shit. This was far from what I needed. After a millisecond of thought, I decided that what I truly did need was a drink. I turned to head to the kitchen and fix us one. After my evening, I knew that I needed one, and I’d bet that he did too. I hadn’t thought to ask him what he wanted. Stopping, I turned around and he ran right into me. A nervous laugh came from me, and a matching one fell from his lips. I found myself staring at his mouth, wondering what it would feel like on mine. I had to fight to pull my eyes away. A piece of his long, wavy, brown hair came undone from his tie and fell across his eyes. Reaching up, I pushed it back for him. His hand came up and met mine. I leaned in and let the attraction I felt for him take over. I moved my lips towards his and he bent down to meet mine.
