Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 4

The end of a rather unusual day
[KIRK ATTWOOD.]

'Oh - you've just been flashed.'

'What?'

Max turned her head towards me.

'I think we just passed a speed camera. I saw a flash.'

I glanced into my rear view mirror and saw nothing but passing trees and hedges.

'You sure?'

She nodded.

Damn.

Getting a fine was the last thing I needed especially considering the fact that I shouldn't even be on this road.

The image of my wife standing there with the letter from the highway enforcement agency suddenly filled my head. We had a good marriage but even she would wonder why I had taken a detour. 

I could already see the excuses.

'I'm sorry my darling. I was overtaking a lorry. I didn't see the camera.'

'Yes I know I don't normally take that road. I must have gotten lost.'

Or better still.

'There were road works darling. We were diverted and I never saw the camera until it was too late.'

All really pathetic ones I know when in fact what I should really just do was admit that I took a turn away from my normal route because I was helping a damsel in distress.

Only she was no ordinary damsel, was she?

She was in fact one very provocative damsel who had just sat there in her very tight fitting denim shorts and her well tanned legs sucking on a chocolate bar in a way that any adult movie director would have been very pleased with.

She smiled sheepishly and put the bar down but even that only made matters worse. It made me think of a whole host of questions as to what she was actually doing in my car in the first place at this time of night and why was she dressed so ... so ... damned sexy!

I started to feel vulnerable focusing my attention on the road, my mind racing through a few unsavoury scenarios. What would happen if I suddenly broke down? Would she try anything? More to the point, what would happen if her home didn't actually exist and we arrived in the middle of the night at a remote location with just Max, me and the night sky for company?

I needed a distraction and put the radio on choosing a station that had rock music and an energetic buzz to it. It helped with any unease and halted any further conversation and I was relieved to be quite honest when we eventually pulled up outside Max's house some time later although to call it a house was an understatement; it was more like a Georgian mansion complete with its own long curved gravelled drive and pillars on either side of a front door that was adorned with an array of hanging baskets.

She pulled her rucksack from the back seat without saying a word and came round to my side of the car. I wound my window down expectantly ready to say goodbye feeling the cool night air against my tired skin. It was refreshing.

'Thanks for the ride and I am sorry you were flashed,' she said adding again that it was probably nothing more than a false alarm. 'I'm sure most of those cameras don't work anyway do they? I think they're just there just to frighten people.'

I nodded appreciatively and hoped that if there was any justice in the world and I had been caught on camera then the machine would have been empty of any film but then I am never that lucky and I could already see the letter from her majesty's police force coming through my letter box.

My passenger stood watching my glazed expression and placed her hands behind her back. When I came back to my senses she thanked me again for giving her a lift.

'I really can't tell you how much this means to me. You taking me home an all. I really do appreciate it and for the coffee of course and the muffin and not to mention your kindness and I genuinely hope I haven't been too much trouble.'

She had been. We both knew that. I still had my wife to confront when I got home, but there was just something about her that made me lie and say that she had been no trouble at all. After all it was I who had agreed to take her home and it was I who had been driving too fast.

She shrugged a shoulder, grinned and then suddenly paused titling her head to one side.

'You know. You're not at all what I had expected.'

I raised an eye brow. I had no idea what she meant and was about to ask when in the next breath she was through my car window and had locked her lips around mine.

I didn't resist.

They were soft and gentle and I am ashamed to say I willingly allowed her tongue to explore the inside of my mouth as I was drawn into the excitement of an illicit kiss. My first and only kiss with another woman since marrying Cheryl and it felt surprisingly good. She pulled away and stood upright bringing her lips together before wiping them with the back of her hand as she produced another of her trademark grins. I was old enough to be her father and yet we had just kissed as if we were two star struck lovers.

'That was for the trouble I caused and for the lift of course!'

I watched open mouthed as she left feeling as if the whole afternoon had not happened and yet longing for it to last forever.

I took in a deep long breath drawing in what little scent of her perfume that still hung in the air and waited to the last moment as she reached her front door. She turned and locked faces with mine.

She waved me on. 'Go - shoo. Off now or you'll wake my parents.'

She was intoxicating. It felt as if I had known her my whole life or was it simply I wanted to get to know her more? I still had another half hour to go before I got home and used it to reflect on what had been without a doubt one of the most unusual journeys of my entire life.

They say that you shouldn't give a lift to someone you don't know, they say it could lead to untold problems much like the opening of Pandora's box and only time would tell whether I had done the right thing. I hope I had. Regardless; it had made me think about life, it made me think about fate and for a while I wrestled with the question of what made a beautiful woman such as Max sit on a park bench as she waited for a lift home.

Who was she waiting for and what had the gods in store for her. Was she destined to meet me or was I destined to meet her and if so then why had it happened and I could only hope and pray that it wasn't simply to give me a speeding fine.

Whatever the reason I still hadn't found the answer by the time I was stopped outside my own quant little white bricked cottage set on the edge of small rural village except to acknowledge that if our paths ever did cross again, then I for one would be glad of it.

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So what do you think?  Do you believe in fate? Do you believe in a random set of circumstances or is there a reason for everything we do?

Thank you as always for the read and vote where you can. Any errors then please don't hesitate to let me know :) 

JU x