Am I trailing toilet paper from a shoe? Do I have a hole in my jeans? Does my ass look big? I pick up my pace and move away from the guffawing behind...me. I walk past the doorman who has moved to open the door, step out onto the sidewalk and walk away. I turn back and, with relief, see the men striding in the opposite direction. Relaxing, I finally take in a deep breath and look up at the sky. Spring, with its mercurial temper, is here. The sun is fighting heavy clouds and the air is crisp yet. “That’s the girlfriend?” Stephie laughed.“Oh yeah. They have you and Red beat by quite a bit; he was about three months and she was about six months when they met.”“Wow! And I thought knowin’ each other since we was two was long! Think they’ll figure it out better than me and Red?”“Who knows,” I said, as we walked back to the house. “Her mom is getting divorced; her husband decided to leave her for his secretary.”“Now that’s low,” Stephie said. “It was bad enough what Rose did to Jason. But. I’ve only got thirty minutes, time to move. “You're about to find out,” my grin is somewhere between wicked and mischievous. I stand and reach for you hand, pulling you to me. I take a moment to stare into your eyes, I’m looking for any doubt or hesitation. I find neither so I stand and lead you to the bedroom. Once there, I take your face in both hands and kiss you, deeply. In the back of mind I realize this isn't animalistic need or lustful desire, but I set the thought aside for now. Time. I was a chain smoker since my days in college, and it has been a couple of years that I have been unsuccessfully trying to quit. I wanted to get rid of this bad habit of mine, but I never could. Maybe I shouldn’t be saying this so early into the story, but smoking never really found a place in my list of addictions.It was in-fact a very harmless weakness compared to my other obscene obsessions. But, that particular night, as I looked into the mirror, I saw a man in a black suit, flaunting red.