Too much is vanity.

- Francis Quarles, Enchiridion (1640)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anna surveyed the room before giving Leanne a deep head bow. She fixated for a moment on Leanne's muscular physique, and then clasped her hands and squared her shoulders.

"Ohayo, Leanne-sama," she said, with another slight bow. "You are not who I am here for."

"No, I don't imagine so," Leanne said, taking note of the PEP Center I.D. card Anna wore on a lanyard around her neck. With grace, she offered her entrance. "You two know each other, I think?" Leanne asked of Hank.

Now standing on a doormat inside the apartment, Anna bowed towards Hank. She then returned to painting Leanne with respectful stares. "Hank-sama is one who I've come for, but now is not his time."

After bounding around a corner, Bumbles skittered on the hardwood floor between the carpet and a hallway wall. He stopped an inch short of the luggage Anna had carried up the stairs and circled both them and her, sniffing everything. He then sniffed Leanne and Hank, and then proceeded to go nuts, running around the apartment.

"I don't suppose you've come for him?" Leanne asked half-jokingly, referring to the dog.

Hank positioned himself where he could see out the door and past Anna, towards the stairs. Rio stood there, at a point where she could see the back of Anna's head. She focused a stare on her that was terrifying, causing Hank to shift uneasily on his feet.

"Leanne, please," he said. "I need my clothes, if you don't mind."

She put her phone on mute and headed towards the dryer. "I think at least your undies should just about be done," she said sweet as pie, before unmuting to continue her business call.

Hank and Anna watched her disappear into the laundry room. They then locked eyes on each other, until he glanced at the luggage.

"Yeah," Anna said with a smile. "That's your stuff."

Hank stuttered while retreating to the dining table. "Ah… Well, that's nice."

Anna entered more fully, mindful that she was wearing shoes. "Your landlord let me in once I told him you were a Genius and I'm your PEP consultant. After seeing you had packed your bags, he let me bring them to you."

"And why is that, exactly?" he asked, sipping cold coffee to calm his nerves. Anna only smiled. "Coffee?" he asked next, noticing her staring at his mug.

"I'll have some tea, please," she said before turning and facing Rio, still standing in the hallway. She bowed deeper towards her than all the rest.

"You are Rio-sama. Yes?"

Rio moved only her lips. "I am."

"I'm Anna from the PEP Center, here consulting for Hank-sama."

"So I see."

"At the request of our best PEP Sponsor, I'm asking that you please consider sponsoring my Hank…" Anna cleared her throat. "Ah… my client, that is."

Rio approached until she was close enough to throttle Anna. "Aika," Rio said, and nothing more.

Anna bowed again, keeping an eye on Rio. "Yep. That's the one."

"I already work for a Genius."

"Oh. I'm very sorry. I wasn't aware. Is it the man you work for?"

"Hai. Otoko."

Anna straightened to her full height, making Rio look small. "This man. Your otoko. He is rich?"

Rio glared at Anna so hard that Hank thought someone would surely die. He very much wanted that person to not be him. "Anna," he said nervously. "Rio…"

Both women gave him an icy stare, forcing him to shut his yap. After proving she could dominate the room, Anna waved a hand to end the game.

"Ah, let's cut it out. I'd like my tea," she said to Hank, as a way of dismissing him. "Black with sugar, if you please. Get a cup for Rio, too. I'm terribly sorry, but right now this matter involves only her."

Anna offered Rio a business card, one with Fuji's name crossed out and hers penned in. "Please," Anna said while taking off her shoes. "Call Fuji. She's my team leader and I report to her."

Rio's glare never faltered. She also never took the card. "I'm not calling anyone."

"Ah… okay," Anna said guardedly. She unslung her purse from her shoulder and set it on the floor between her and Rio, bending towards Rio's feet. "Rio-sama. Dōzo." Anna gestured at a stool by the door. "Sit."

Slowly, Rio complied. Now close and alone, Anna spoke in hushed tones, using a voice of authority.

"Okay. We both know Aika. That much I know."

"And how do you know?"

Anna rolled her eyes while removing Rio's shoes. "Aika knows everyone," Anna said. "She knows more people than me."

"More than I," Rio corrected.

Anna remained squatting after finishing her task, resting her forearms on her haunches. She huffed at Rio before speaking.

"Hai. Yes. More than I. Hank-sama is a special case, and he is my special case, given to me by Aika." Anna leaned in, giving Rio a greater reason to kill her. "Aika-sensei, Rio-san. A very important Sponsor. Do you know how big this is?"

Anna rose and stood tall. "Aika-sensai sent me here to speak to you, Rio-san, to formally request that you sponsor Hank." She looked at the mess Hank and Leanne had made on the dining table, first by fooling around, and then by eating cookies. "I say formally because it seems what Aika wants has already happened."

"You are here for Aika's sake, and for her I will listen." Rio said. Anna smiled expectantly, but Rio walked away. "I'll call her to ask what's going on."

Anna's smile fell. Hank appeared with two cups of tea as Rio passed by on her way to her room. She gave him a look he knew well.

Go die. Now.

She shut the door to her room with a slam. Hank gave Anna her tea while still holding Rio's, and offered her the chair at the table where he'd sat earlier with Leanne. Now alone in an apartment with three women he'd been making out with, and naked beneath a borrowed robe, as six bags of his crap stunk up a public hallway, Hank set Rio's teacup on the table. Despite an overwhelming desire to walk out the door and never return, he heaved his bags into the place where the women were. He then latched the door and squeezed into a chair at the table, facing Anna.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, feeling mousy and meek.

Anna sipped her tea. "Oh, just saving your life."

After another day of Rio and her killer looks, he couldn't disagree. For a short while, they shared conversation about the weather and the day. Then Anna got back to business.

"Think about it," she said with girlish enthusiasm. "I mean, look at this place! Honestly, it's magnificent. Rio leaves sometimes for days, or so I hear, working for otoko."

"Milton?"

"Oh, that's his name? Milton? Dōmo. I never knew."

Hank felt like a fool, having been tricked by Anna. "It must be nice, you know," she said, speaking casually. "Working for a millionaire."

Billionaire, he thought.

"Billionaire," she corrected.

Hank got up to break the creepy tension. He planned to fuss about the kitchen while waiting for Leanne to bring his clothes, but Anna wouldn't allow it. She rose in sync with him and centered a hand on his chest, using it to shove him across the room until his butt fell into Leanne's big armchair. She then lowered herself to her haunches, much like she had done for Rio. But rather than tending to his feet, which had on no shoes, she splayed his legs wide open, gripping both his knees.

Still without his underwear, Hank now feared for something more important than his life.

Anna smiled like an angel. "Do not toy with me," she said into the almond butter of his eyes. "I will be your dog, your alsatian on a chain, but your life is like a zoo. And I will break you for sure, one thousand ways from one, right here and right now. You are nice and you are handsome, but don't fuck with me, Hank-sama. Do not fuck with me."

She moved in close, until her boobs rested gently on his prominence. Her eyes glowed dark with passion, her smile gritted teeth.

"God damn, you are too yummy. I could devour you."

"Anna. Please."

"No. I'm serious. Fuji and Sue Marie—do you know all they talk about?"

Anna leaned in further, until his penis disappeared beneath the fullness of her breasts. She fought to keep from panting, her breath hot in his face.

"You," she said, answering her question.

Fresh tea brewed black rode on the scent of jasmine steaming from her bosom. Fruits and flowers poured from Hank, thanks to the soaps in Rio's bath. Anna lowered her body, slyly positioning herself until what lay between Hank's legs had the perfect angle to penetrate her blazer, blouse and bra.

"If you choose life with Rio, I'll serve you forever," she said, contemplating doing so right now.

Hank's brain sizzled like crazy. "Why?" he asked over the roar.

Anna laughed, too loud for intimacy. "Ha! Come on! They're gay!"

"Not that I've noticed."

"Really? Well, they are in love. That much I have noticed." She gazed into his eyes. "Ah ha!" she cried in triumph. "I'm right! They're in love!"

A long silence followed, firing further passion. He then pushed her away before animal nature took over, allowing himself to stand. He forced her to choose between falling on her fanny or standing up along with him, but she sought another option—remaining on her haunches, she grabbed his ass to keep her balance. Her mouth now had the perfect angle to do what her boobs were in position for before.

From someplace deep inside himself he didn't know he had, Hank abstained from using Anna for pleasure. He gasped his next words more than spoke them. "Please. We can't. Not now."

She paid him no mind, her attention on what hung before her. When she did finally decide to stand, a paperclip couldn't fit in the space she allowed between them.

"I will have you, lovely Hank. And it will be glorious."

"It will," he found himself saying, without realizing he had said it.

Anna got up on her toes to kiss down hard into his mouth. She then held his head to the crook of her neck, letting him admire the orgiastic glow spreading across her cleavage. As the lovebirds tortured one another, Leanne slipped by unnoticed. She called out while peeking from the doorway of her unlit bedroom.

"Hank? Dear? Can you come here?"

Despite being on official PEP business, Anna had no intention of acting professional. She looked red with fury into Hank's white face, her anger magnified by their closeness. She then huffed before turning and walking away.

After tossing back her perfect hair and adjusting the lay her clothes, she retrieved her cup of tea from the dining table. She turned to face him and stuck out her chest, its glow more prominent than ever. Then grinning after taking a sip, she watched him bark a shin on an end table as he scrambled away to be with Leanne.

The Book of ABSTINENCE - Chapter FOUR

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