Broken Dreams

FOREWORD

This my contribution to the "Hanging by a Thread" event and I'd like to thank Randi for inviting me to take part. Please bear in mind this story is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual people and / or actual events is purely coincidental.

*

The young uniformed policeman outside the front door of the small apartment stepped smartly aside as the two plain clothes detectives approached.

He knew well enough who they were, but the senior of the two was a stickler for Police Scotland procedures and produced his ID card. "I'm Detective Inspector MacDonald and this is Detective Inspector Campbell. Where's the body?" he asked.

"In the bedroom, sir. Second door on the left."

"You haven't disturbed anything, have you?" asked MacDonald.

"No, sir. I followed standard procedure and checked there were no vital signs, otherwise I left everything untouched."

As MacDonald nodded in acknowledgement, Campbell spoke up. "You're looking a bit pale. Is this the first dead body you've seen?"

"I've seen a couple before now, but they were junkies who had overdosed, sir. To be honest, I've never seen anything like this. The neck's more or less severed and the head is hanging by a thread. There's blood everywhere and a meat cleaver on the floor next to the bed."

"Alright then," said MacDonald. "Go outside and get some fresh air. Keep an eye out for Doc Green from Forensics. He should be here shortly. In the meantime we'll take a look round the place and then see if the neighbours can tell us anything."

*

Ann jerked awake, panting with anxiety.

Once again, the same dream had taken her writhing back down into the depths of frustration and despair. Just like every other time she'd had the dream, she dreamed she was in a railway station, desperately trying to push through a crowd of people in the booking hall to get to the platform.

In her dream she recognised some of the individuals around her, as they scowled at her and deliberately thwarted her efforts to get through. These people were Richard's family, friends and colleagues and although they gradually gave way, no matter how much she begged them to help her, no one would speak to her. Stuck in the middle of this unfriendly, uncaring crowd and realising she would never find him before the train arrived, in a terrible panic she screamed his name over and over again, hoping he was not too far ahead of her. The enormous stress of the nightmare brought her gasping back to consciousness in the dim early morning light of the bedroom, her throat aching from shouting Richard's name.

The real world was a refuge from her nightmares, but far from a happy existence for Ann. In her mid twenties, she was living a frugal life on her own now, scrimping to pay for the small apartment and avoiding unnecessary expenses. She had sold the car and used public transport to get to work when she felt up to it. Looking back, she still found it difficult to believe what had happened.

Less than half a year ago it had been very different. Energetic, young and happy, with a loving husband, Ann had no shortage of opportunities for socialising. Richard was a good cook and they often hosted cosy dinner parties with their friends. Ann still lived in the apartment, but she no longer considered it much of a home. The joy and laughter of friends enjoying themselves within its walls endured only as a memory tinged with deep sadness and the place itself was devoid of any residual feelings of homeliness or happiness.

*

It was Richard Thomson's caring nature that had first attracted Ann MacRoberts. There were lots of other boys in her class at high school and Richard wasn't particularly handsome, but any time he smiled at her it brightened up her day. As an awkward teenager, his offer to help with her homework marked the beginning of a love that blossomed sweetly. From that day forward, Richard had been her other half.

Ann was Richard's queen and he was her knight in shining armour. Their romance was the envy of many of their friends, starting out with shyness and hand-holding, followed by their first real dates as a couple, hugging and kissing whenever they found the opportunity. Both sets of parents were pleased that Richard and Ann were so much in love and equally pleased they were not taking things too quickly.

Richard had made Ann very happy, always supporting her as she developed into a young woman. Ann was not unattractive, with a pretty face framed by shoulder length strawberry blonde hair, but she was short and definitely curvy. Her voluptuous figure resulted from a combination of a generous bust, a fondness for deep fried food and an aversion to healthy exercise. Richard made sure she gradually changed her diet and ate more healthily. He even got her to improve her stamina and fitness by going hill-walking with him. Gradually all the curves were in the right places. If there was one word to describe Ann, it was 'homely', an attribute much valued by Richard.

Recognising her daughter's innocent and trusting nature, Ann's mother had a heart-to-heart talk with her, making sure that Ann would take appropriate precautions if or when that was necessary. Soon afterwards, Ann went on the pill.

With stable family backgrounds in a supportive social environment, Ann and Richard progressed steadily from teenage sweethearts through their college years to becoming a young married couple with a place of their own. Ann had studied hairdressing while Richard was getting his qualification as a domestic gas and heating engineer. They both found jobs locally.

When the time came, their wedding was typical for the community in which they had grown up. The small church was packed with family and friends, including all the members of the amateur football team that Richard played for as goalkeeper. At six feet tall, Richard was steadfast and reliable as the last line of defence and the team held their lanky 'keeper in great esteem. Proudly, the team lined up to provide a guard of honour as the couple left the church in a blizzard of confetti.

The modest wedding reception had been paid for by both sets of parents and it was held in the local community centre, with outside caterers supplying a buffet lunch for the wedding party and their guests. Speeches were made, there was an abundance of joy and laughter and a disc jockey provided the music for the evening's entertainment.

The happy couple danced the first dance to enthusiastic applause and gradually the floor filled up with other couples joining in to celebrate the happy occasion. Richard and Ann circulated amongst the wedding guests for a few hours until it was time for them to slip away quietly to start their honeymoon at a local hotel, before catching an early morning flight to the Costa Brava for a week in a three star resort hotel.

*

"The spare bedroom's empty and we could always use the extra money," Ann conceded when Richard discussed the idea with her, "but we've only been married a year and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable sharing our home with a lodger."

"It's not about the money, Ann," Richard replied. "Juan's a team mate. It's more about him having somewhere to stay. His landlord kicked him out with no notice whatsoever. Look, I'm sure it will only be for a few weeks until he can find somewhere else to stay."

Richard's willingness to help others was one of his characteristics that Ann found both endearing and annoying. He had a kind heart, with an optimistic, 'glass half full' approach to life, and Ann thought he was a bit of a sucker for a hard luck story. His mother often talked about how, as a boy, Richard had cared for an abandoned baby hedgehog until it could be released back into the wild. As a teenager, he frequently babysat for his parents, looking after his younger brother, instead of going out with his friends. Richard's latest good deed was using some of his spare time to help one of his best friends restore an old Triumph Spitfire in a nearby workshop.

Sometimes Ann wished Richard was less altruistic and that he would eventually learn to rearrange his priorities. She knew she was the light of his life, but she thought he got distracted from time to time and on those occasions she felt frustrated she wasn't always the centre of his attention.

*

Most people who met him would describe Juan Miguel Lopez Moreno as a charming and handsome Spaniard. It was true that Juan was a sociable type and his black hair, brown eyes and bronzed olive complexion reflected his Iberian heritage. A touch of Moorish influence in his genes resulted in a good-looking young man, albeit of smallish stature at just over five and a half feet tall.

Juan was no country bumpkin. He came from a part of Madrid that was predominantly middle class. His parents were not enormously wealthy, but they were nonetheless comfortably well off. Consequently, Juan got just about anything he asked for while he was growing up and his two older sisters also spoiled their good-looking young brother.

Juan lost his virginity at an early age, but not to one of his sisters' many female friends. It was his attractive thirty five year old aunt who claimed that special prize. Juan was fairly certain most of his family knew when it happened and they all turned a blind eye, including his uncle. Consensual incest between adults is legal in Spain and, as far as the rest of the family was concerned, it was as if Juan's aunt had simply given him a generous gift to mark his transition to manhood. It was simply a brief dalliance and not some sort of love affair.

From then onwards there was no shortage of female companions for the handsome young man. He got together from time to time with his aunt, but he never had sexual relations with any of his other relatives, including his sisters. In the pursuit of women or, as the Americans might put it, 'chasing tail', Juan was a winner from the start.

His sisters enjoyed pimping Juan out to their female friends and then observing how these brief liaisons proceeded. Sometimes they were able to watch Juan and his women 'in flagrante delicto', but they also received post hoc reports, reviews and ratings, which they elicited from both participants. Juan rapidly became an accomplished lover, learning how to greatly please both his female partners and himself.

Although it might have appeared that Juan loved women, it was far from true. Juan was a lover of women, or more accurately a user of women. He was never in love with any of the women to whom he made love. He adored them and they adored him. He was short in stature and he wasn't particularly well-endowed, but he was a handsome young man and the skill with which he used his mouth, hands and penis was undeniably superb.

Juan's father was immensely proud of his son and vicariously enjoyed the young man's amorous adventures. In conversation with his men friends, he often referred to his son as "Don" Juan, alluding to the famous Spanish Casanova.

At the same time that the world of women was denying Juan very little, he found the world of men was not going to grant him any special favours, despite his good looks. Fortunately, although he had been spoiled while growing up, Juan had also been taught good manners. To get what he wanted from the men with whom he had any dealings, he established a courteous and charming facade.

Generally, the men he encountered were indifferent to his existence. Juan's comparatively short stature represented no obvious physical threat and he was well-mannered. Thus it was that Juan completed his formative years, easily capable of getting what he wanted by using his personal skills and attributes.

Juan was not ambitious in a conventional sense and avoided full-time employment. In his mid twenties, he was still living with his parents in their large villa and could come and go as he pleased. He enjoyed an easy life of self-indulgence. Simply put, he felt he was entitled to whatever he wanted, whenever and wherever he pleased. With the morals of an alley cat, he never gave much thought to the possible consequences of his actions and he was usually able to deal with any short term difficulties whenever they arose. Hiding in a wardrobe or leaving rapidly via a window was no big deal as far as Juan was concerned.

Upset husbands and boyfriends could normally be expected to take their anger out on their women. This was more or less an unwritten rule in Juan's social circle. The prevailing view was if a woman couldn't keep her legs closed it was entirely her fault. However, there are exceptions to some rules, particularly unwritten ones. Having charmed the knickers off a South American businessman's wife, Juan was alarmed when he heard from friends that her irate husband had sworn to kill him.

In fear of his life, Juan opted to go into hiding and his parents provided the necessary financial support for a year of temporary exile in the UK. Having studied English at school and with plenty of exposure to English in television and other media, Juan already spoke English with considerable fluency. He was offered and accepted a place on a business studies course at a college in a small town near Edinburgh in Scotland. His parents thought it would be so far from Madrid that it would be difficult for anyone to find him. They also expected the college course would lead to job opportunities when Juan returned to Madrid once the wrath of the South American businessman had abated.

Short term rented accommodation close to the college was easily affordable and there was a train station on the main east coast railway line. The fast inter-city express trains didn't stop there, but there was a local train service to Edinburgh with all its attractions.

Like many Europeans, Juan's sport of choice was football, or soccer as it's known in other parts of the world. In Madrid he enjoyed playing in an amateur team every weekend and was fit enough and sufficiently competent to play in attack, favouring the wide right area of the pitch. Despite his ability, his form was unpredictable and depended on the extent to which he was interested on the day. When his energy levels were not overly depleted from the previous night's exertions, he could outpace defenders and cross the ball fairly accurately.

Shortly after arriving in Scotland, Juan rented a room within walking distance of the college and not far from where Ann and Richard lived. Having played a game as a trialist, Juan accepted an invitation to join the same amateur football team that Richard played for.

A month later, when a brief dalliance with his landlady unfortunately came to the attention of her husband, Juan found himself suddenly looking for alternative accommodation. Being unaware of the exact circumstances behind Juan's temporary homelessness, it was almost inevitable that the kind-hearted goalkeeper would offer the Spanish midfielder a place to stay for a while.

*

The charm offensive started as soon as Juan moved in with Richard and Ann. Compliments abounded and there was plenty of mild flirting whenever Richard was not present. Ann enjoyed Juan's use of a wide range of Spanish terms of endearment and did nothing to discourage him. She thought it was nice to be greeted with "Hola guapita!" and surely there was no harm in being addressed as "carina"? She wasn't so sure about some of the other Spanish words Juan used, but they sounded simply affectionate and were always delivered with a smile.

She almost didn't notice the touching at first. Juan was Spanish, so she accepted he would greet her with kisses on both cheeks, but then there would occasionally be a hand on her shoulder or an arm around her waist if he stood behind her as she was preparing dinner. Ann realised she could expect this to happen when Richard was not around. Instead of being unhappy with this tactile invasion of her personal space, she found she actually quite liked the reassurance of that occasional touch.

The occasional touching progressed to Juan massaging Ann's shoulders if they were alone together. Juan reassured her that putting his hands on her body was no big deal.

"Relax, Ann. This is something I did very often for my aunt and she loved it. A massage improves circulation, decreases muscle toxins and reduces stress hormone levels. Besides, you will sleep better if your muscles are not tight and tense."

Ann began to look forward to getting a massage from Juan on those evenings when Richard was out. Every time Richard had to work a late shift it seemed Juan was there to give her a massage before or after dinner. From sitting at the dining table while Juan rubbed her shoulders, they progressed to using the sofa in the lounge, so that Juan could rub her legs. The sofa was okay, but a bed was more comfortable and Juan explained that it would give him better access to the various muscle groups.

Juan's assertion that "I did this with my aunt" frequently became the explanation and justification for gradually increased intimacy. Although she sensed she was being a bit naughty, Ann thought if it was okay for Juan's aunt, it was okay for her.

This was the questionable reasoning that allowed her to be persuaded to lie on Juan's bed to be massaged and then, on the next occasion, to strip down to her bra and knickers, so he could use some unscented oil to give her a better rub down.

It wasn't long before Juan unclasped Ann's bra to rub and knead her back, which sent a shiver down her spine. She couldn't help getting aroused when Juan's hands rubbed up the back of her legs and his thumbs grazed the inside of her thighs.

"Do you like this, Ann?" he asked.

"Mmm, it's wonderful, Juan," she replied. "I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed and refreshed at the same time. My body is tingling all over."

"Did your previous boyfriends ever give you a massage?" he asked.

"No," she said. "I've only ever been with Richard and we didn't do anything like this."

"Perhaps the two of you can try it sometime," Juan suggested. "He can massage you and you can massage him."

"Maybe we'll do that. Did your aunt ever give you a massage to return the favour?"

"Si, Ann, por qué no? She liked to give me a massage and she was very good with her hands, but she also gave me a Spanish massage from time to time."

"I thought that was what you were doing to me?"

"Of course I am Spanish and I am giving you a massage, but what I am doing at the moment is more like a Swedish massage. A Spanish massage is a little more intimate. It provides some relief from sexual tension."

"Wow! That sounds a bit wild."

"It's not too wild, but really very simple and fun to do. A Spanish massage is when the man rubs his penis between the woman's breasts. It's nice and safe and provides both of them with some relief. Do you want to try it with me?"

Ann hesitated. "Maybe that's a step too far, Juan. I mean I really like what you do to me, but I'm not sure I could do that."

"Okay, maybe next time. You can think about it in the meantime."

*

Over the next week Ann's mind wrestled with the idea of a Spanish massage.

Richard was vaguely aware that Ann seemed distracted, but he reckoned she would talk to him if she needed his advice. For all he knew, she might be wondering about whether to buy a new dress. He had no idea Juan had been giving her massages and there was no way Ann was going to discuss what was troubling her.

Ann was pretty sure she could use her lovely soft breasts to squeeze a penis and she thought it might be fun to try it with Richard, but in her mind's eye it was always Juan she imagined, sitting naked astride her and pushing his cock between her tits. The naughtiness of that image was a big turn on and she found it impossible to get it out of her head.