Read Online Absence of Faith by Anthony S. Policastro - Free Book Online

books."
    "Think of it as an investment in
your afterlife," she said moving to sit on a canvas cot on the
other side of the tiny room. "Besides, you don't have to pay with
money."
    Kyle looked at her strangely. His
stomach seemed to be lifted inside his body, but he liked what he
was feeling.
    "That's ok," he said placing the
books on a small table nearby.
    The woman moved her long legs up
onto the cot and posed seductively. Kyle ran his eyes from her toes
to her milk-white thighs. She smiled and deliberately turned her
head towards the light of the candles. Her skin was flawless,
white, smooth, and clear as if she had never been in the sun. A
tiny round black object protruded from her lower left cheek. At
first, Kyle thought it was mole, but when she turned, he saw it was
an earring with a black polished stone about the size of a shirt
button embedded on a silver mounting. A silver star was etched into
the black stone.
    "Thanks, but no thanks. I got to
go," Kyle said and rushed out of the room. The woman followed and
stopped at the door staring at Kyle. He looked up at her as he
started his car and she smiled sweetly. Kyle drove out of the
parking lot into the stream of traffic.
    That night, Kyle couldn't keep her
out of his thoughts. He kept thinking of what would have happened
if he had stayed. She would have taken the robe off revealing her
body. He would have touched her all over with his hands, and then
with his mouth, putting kisses everywhere. He would go slowly,
discovering every inch of her body, until the final moment of
pleasure. He would ask her to do the same to him, first slowly
peeling away his clothes, then his bad feelings, and then his
dreams for he was in a dream and didn't need any others. He
couldn't sleep.
    The next day he returned to The
Other Syde and found the store closed.
    "Shit!" he grumbled.
    The mural on the glass display
window caught his eye again. He focused on a gargoyle pulling a
thin, bony naked man down into a fiery pit. The gargoyle seemed to
laugh at him. He turned away suddenly, and thought he saw his face
on the unfortunate figure.
    "Screw all the weird shit," he said
to himself. "I'm not letting this one go," he stammered and got
back into his car and drove off.
    He returned the next day, and the
store was open. He walked in wearing his tightest fitting jeans and
a black t-shirt. The store had several customers milling around the
tables. He walked toward the counter.
    "I'm looking for the girl who was
working on Saturday," he said to a thin man with a white pasty
face.
    "She's in the back. I'll get her,"
he replied.
    The pasty-faced man returned with
the girl in tow. She walked towards Kyle wearing black stretch
pants and a purple stretch top, which accented the size and curves
of her breasts.
    "Hi. Good to see you again. Are you
looking for me?" she said.
    "Yeah, I was thinking about those
books..."
    "You're going to take
them?"
    "No, but I'd like to learn more
about them and you. Would you like to go for a drink sometime?" he
said.
    "That depends on what you want to
talk about...me or the books?" she replied.
    "Honestly, I could give two shits
about the books. I'd like to talk about you," Kyle said.
    "Ok, you're on. I'll meet you at
The Ink Well say around eight tomorrow night?"
    "What? Where?"
    "It's a small cafe in the West End
on Canal Street," the girl explained.
    "I'll find it. Ok, see you then,"
Kyle said. "I didn't catch your name?"
    "That’s because I never gave it to
you. It’s Chantress."
    "That's a nice name," he
said.
    "It was my great grandmother's.
What's yours?"
    "Kyle."
    "Nice to meet you," she said
holding out her hand for him.
    Kyle took her smooth white hand and
shook it weakly. Her hand felt like velvet in his hand.
    "Nice to meet you, too," he said.
"Can I have your phone number?"
    "I'll give it to you at the cafe,"
Chantress said. "Let me have yours. I'll call you if I can't make
it."
    "Yeah, ok," Kyle said.
    Chantress walked behind the counter
and grabbed a