In Your Shadow (12 page)

John resisted the urge to tip her chin up and run his tongue over her mouth. Letting her stand in front of him he studied every inch of her fantastic body. Her long, thick hair laid against her back. She really was the whole package, beautiful, smart, and very attractive. All of a sudden she is in his arms clutching to him. For the first time he seen a dark ring of deep blue almost green circling her irises, her eyes are so beautiful. She was stunning, taking his breath totally away. Her body is pressed against his, he could feel her heat through her shirt. He was getting aroused one again. Closing his eyes, he inhales the sweet smell of her hair. When he opened them she was staring at him, begging him, her eyes was on his mouth wanting his lips to touch hers. He covered her mouth with his lips and they were so hot. The elevator opened with their lips still pressed against each other. He reaches over and holds the button so the door won't close. He hears footsteps approach as he releases his lips.

Breath, Katie breathe, she tries to catch her breath.

John realized that this wasn’t his floor, as he watch a couple get on. He nods his head as the couple is standing in front of him. He could hear Katie’s small giggle.

“Saved by the elevator ,” he whispers in her ear.

“Who said I wanted to be saved.”

John starts to laugh as the couple gets off on the next floor leaving them by their selfs again. He reaches over and pushes some codes in the elevator keyboard.  Before anyone could say a word the door opens and they step out to this very large foyer. In the middle of the room there is a large table with a huge vase of white flowers. They walk through a set of double doors and the white theme continues across a wide corridor. It main living area, was larger than the first floor of her condo. The far wall was nothing but glass and lead to a balcony that overlooked Manhattan. When she looked to her right there was a L shaped sofa. It set right in front of an tall marble fireplace. On the other side of the room was the entrance to the kitchen . She was amazed at how he decorated this penthouse. There was art of all sizes on the wall. This place looked more like a gallery than anything.

“Here let me take your jacket.” John took her jacket and her things.

She hands him her jacket just standing in this gallery of an apartment feeling way out of place. She knew he had his own company but wow.

“Come” he hands out his hand. He lead her to a room down a large hallway. He opens the door to a master bedroom. He sits her luggage down beside the dresser. Before she could even say a word he leads back to a large living area to a set of double glass doors. He opened the doors and they walk out on this large balcony. The cold wind blowing hard against her face. She looked out and she could see few of the city. It was spectacular, the sun was easing behind the tall building making a shadow on the ground. She had never seen it from such a high view. John looked over at her face and he noticed the bumps running down her arm.

“ Beautiful view isn’t it” he said as lead her back in and closes the door as. Grabbing a wrap from back of a chair and puts it around her shoulder.

“Thank you.”

He walks to the kitchen, and she sits down on a bar stool.

“Well I am going  to cook. You can make yourself at home.” He smiled.

It was so hard for him to resist her. He popped a bottle of white wine and poured her a drink.

“Here this will warm you up.” He hands her a glass.

He walks over to the corner and pick up a remote and pushes a few buttons. The fireplace came on the right side of the room, and she could hear music slowly in the background.

With a slight grin on his face he started pulling out pans to cook with.

Katie sipped on her wine as her phone started to ring. She looked down at it was Olivia.

“Oh crap” she thought , she had forgotten to call he back.

“Hello.”

“Where have you been? I have been trying to get a hold of you for days.”

Katie gets up from the barstool and walks away from the kitchen, she keeps John in view. As she watches him start to cook.

“Nice to hear from you too.”

“Katie I have been calling for days, you haven’t returned my calls. I came by you apartment but no one was home. You never leave your house, so what up.”

“I have been busy.”

“That is the story of your life. At least I know you are breathing.”

“Yes Olivia I am fine.”

“So you got your dress for your dad’s New Years Eve party.”

“Oh crap, no not yet. I will pick one up tomorrow.”

“Can I come.”

“Sure Olivia , but I have to tell you we will stay the night.”

“That sounds fun, I will be your date.” She laughed.

“I have a date,” Katie answered before thinking.

“Oh , what you do call the escort service again?”

“Olivia I have to go,” she was getting agitated with her.

“You don want to talk to me now, I was just kidding. Besides I have already called your dad looking for you and he told me you had a boyfriend. I hope I get to meet him.”

“ Oh! What did my father tell you?”

“Just that he was a nice man and he owned his own company. I am so happy for you. I have to met this guy.”

“Olivia I have to go,we will talk soon.”

“Are you with him now.”

“Olivia I am busy, I will call you tomorrow.”

“Okay, go back to what you were doing . I will talk to you tomorrow.”

Olivia listens until she hears her hang up. She was so furious at her, she was too noisy for her own good.

Katie was so glad to get her off the phone, she noticed John had been watching her the entire time she was on the phone. She walks back to the kitchen and sits down on the bar stool. She was far enough away to watch him without giving him the impression that she was desperate for his touch. Her body craved him, she was hooked and she knew it.

“You need some help.”

“No I think I got it.” He paused for  a minute. “Business call.”

“No just a friend, she was mad because I she hasn’t heard from me in a few days so she panics.”

“It is good to have a friend that cares.”

“We have been friends for a long time, so she thinks I should check in every time I leave home. She will be at my father's New Years Eve party so I’m sure  you will meet her. She is a bouncing blonde.”

John laughs.

“Bouncing blonde, I have never heard that before.”

“Well she is very lively and very out spoken.”

“Oh.”

“She is the one that dragged me to the bar the night I seen you.”

“Well I am going to have to thank her for that.”

She blushes and turns up her glass and finished her glass. His voice was so sexy the sound of it made something deep pulsated within her core.Her gaze searching his, and for a moment she rendered speechless.

John raises his eyebrows up noticing she was a little nervous. He pours her another glass this time only fills it halfway.

“I hope you like lamb chops.”

“You cooked lamb chops” surprised.

“Yes I did, I told you I can cook.”

“ I did really think you could cook I thought you just wanted me here.” Giving him a slight smile.

“So that’s what you think, well I hate to disappoint you but I wanted to cook you dinner, but yes I did want you here too.” Gazing at her bedroom eyes that rip through your soul.

She was stunning, her eyes so beautiful it had to be a sin to look at. If looks could undress she would be stripped bare, and wearing nothing but a smile on her lips. Trying to pry himself from them was hard, as if the hypnotic pull was too strong. Are maybe he didn’t want to. His whole body ached for the yearning for her to touch him. His eyes kept probing hers with an intensity that made him swallow hard. He walked to the cabinet and got to plate putting one down in front of her. She was still watching every move that he was making.

Tom had his back against the wall he knew he had to leave this apartment today, but he wasn’t living fifty miles away. He glanced over and looked at one of the pictures on the floor. It was his parents and him standing at the cabin.
“That’s it, I will have to go get the cabin ready for her. When it is all fixed up then I will come back for her. She will love it and we will be happy there. No one knows it there. The perfect place.”

He smiles to his self as he hurries and starts picking up all his pictures that were thrown all over the floor. He walks quietly across the room not making and noise. Hours had passed when he walked to the window and watched for her to get off. Looking down at his watch is was only a few
minutes before
she arrived. The neighbor was sitting on their steps watching the traffic. Still no sight of her.

He jumps as his heart skipped a beat and starting pounding rapidly.

“I called the cops they are on their way, “his landlord yelling through the door.

Harder and louder he beat against the door, then he hears the key go in the dead bolt. He tries to push the door open but the chains held it closed.

“I will return with the cops. You better be out of here by the time I get back” he yells through the small opening of the door.

Tom is trembling all over as he runs to the bedroom and gets his luggage. His heart beating so fast he could almost hear it. Standing behind the door looking out of the keyhole to see if he was still there, his hands shaking when he reached for the door knob. No one was in the hallway, he slowly opens the door and runs to the elevator. Before the door shut all the way he heard him coming down the hallway. It sounded like he had someone with him. He pushed the button again on the panel holding it down so no one could the elevator. It finally opened at the garage. He walks fast to his car and throws in his things. Getting in the driver's seat his hands are trembling so badly he can hardly turn the key to the ignition.

“Calm down, stay with the plan” he said out loud.

Pulling out of the parking lot he sees her driver leaving her house. It looked like there were two people in the back. He tries to pull out behind him but traffic was lined up. When he finally got out on the street they were gone. He couldn’t see the car anywhere, he drove by her work and it wasn’t there.

“Where did she go? Who was with her?” Questions filling up is head.

“Don’t worry Katie I am going to save you from him just like I saved before. You are mine and real soon we are going to be together. I will stop him and fix this. Forgive me for not being brave, but I am coming for you. No one is going to take you from me.” He was trying to shelter his rage and not allow it to grow, he had a plan
and had to
focus.

With that thought he hurried down the interstate until he reached an exit. His cabin wasn’t very far away from Manhattan. Maybe thirty miles. He cursed under his breath, knowing someone was in the car.

“Soon “he keeps telling himself.

He reached a gravel room as he drove a few miles as the wood cabin came in view. He stops in front of it and gets out. When he opens the door the stale air hit him in the face like a ton of bricks. He leaves the door open as he walks around looking at the mess he had left behind. He turns around and walks back to the car and gets his things out. Going back into the cabin he walks down a small dark hallway with two doors on his left and one on his right. He stands there for a moment holding his bags.

“This room will be your” he said as he opens the door to a bedroom.

The room was dusty and smell of mildew. He laid his luggage on the bed and turned around looking at a tall dresser with a small mirror on top of it. He imagined this room with a woman's accent and Katie standing at the doorway with a smile. She was the only one who kept him right, kept him happy. He come out of his trance as his eyes focused on the thin layer of dust that covered the room. Walking over to the dresser he slid open the first drawer and there was a set of soft sheets and pillow cases. He pulled them out as he made the bed perfectly with no wrinkles. Turning to the closet he walks in and pulls a quilt out and places it on top. He polished the room up with fresh flowers that he put in a bowl on the dressier. He placed a new gown across the bed, and sprayed it with a light mist body spray.

“She will be so surprised when she sees all of this. There its perfect.” He places a white lily on the pillow as he smiles.

“I going to fix this place up before you come here Katie.” Talking out loud as if someone was there with him.

He walks to the kitchen and grabs a broom and starts sweeping the litter that covered the floor. He stayed busy for hours not realizing that it was getting darker outside. He lit a small fire as the light flickered in the room sending shadows bouncing on the walls. Turning around admiring how clean the room looked. The moon was caught coming through the uncontained window, it was just enough light coming in to make larger shadows.

“I will have the electricity turned on tomorrow” as his voice echoed through the empty room.

It was so quiet all he heard was the popping of the fire and the voice’s in his head. Happier now that he had made a decision on what to do. It would all come together.

Staring into the fire his phone started to buzz. He pulls it out and looks and it was his mother. He answered it on the third ring.

“Hello”

“Tom the landlord on your new apartment said you didn’t make it today to sign the lease. He can’t hold it open but for one more day.”

“Mother I want be needing it, I have found a place.”

“Tom I told you I am not paying any more for rent and this time it was on my terms.”

“Mother that is fine, I am staying with a friend and all I need is a little money to hold me over.”

“Really, I didn’t know you had friends.”

“Why yes, everyone has friends.”

“Let me talk to him.”

“Well right now he is at work so I will tell him to call you when he gets off but it will be late.” Tom voice getting scratchy hoping she wouldn’t notice he was lying to her.

“Very well I will put a little money in your account but this is it. You have to get a job.”

“Alright I will.” He snapped back at her.

“I will call you tomorrow. By Tom.”

She hangs up the phone before he could say anything.

“Well at least I will have a few dollars now to remodel this place,” he thought.

He creeps down the dark hallway into the bedroom. The room was to dark and eerie so he lit a candle that was on the dresser. The wind was blowing through the barely opened window it was crisp and cold. A reminder that winter was still in the air. He pulled the small chair over to the window and sat down. The fresh air filled his lungs. It was a lot better than the old musty smell that lingered in the house. The wind whipped through the window stinging his face like little needles.  He closed the window when chills ran down his body. A few minutes later he walked back to the fireplace and put another log on. The room was heating up nice and cosy, but the heat still didn’t reach the bedrooms. He sat down in front of the fire trying to warm his body as his thoughts took over.

The end of this was near, his anticipation was mounting to an explosive level. Almost five years had passed since he touch her skin. And now it has come down to this. He was tired of stalking her, tried of being away from her.Tried of killing people for her. It has been a long journey and it was time for it to be over. He grabbed her shawl and sat down on his knees and wrapped it around his shoulders. He could barely smell her scent it had faded away. Holding it tight against him he stared into the fire. With his blood running cold he sat there and gathered his thoughts. Watching her face appear in the flames, smiling and laughting. Then all of sudden she stopped and stared at him with a sad look on her face and disappears.

“Come back Katie, I am sorry for all I said about you. Its my fault not yours come back.”

Staring into the flames but she never returned , he watched for hours until the flames went down to nothing. Putting a few more logs on, he sat back just staring into the red and yellow colors. Nothing at all appeared but his reflection, and the memory of his life.