by Brian Ewing
Sisto continued, as they both walked over to the kitchen table where she had hung her purse over the chair, “Honestly, I was really nervous.”
The comment paused Caden’s movements.
“Nervous? Don’t you go on dates all the time? Not that this was a date.”
“I date here and there, but it’s nothing substantial. I live a very off-kilter lifestyle. Not many people can relate.”
Caden nodded, understanding the feeling all too well. “I had a really good time tonight too, and if I am being completely honest, I was a little nervous as well.”
Fuck it. Sisto walked to close the distance between them and he went in for a kiss. He couldn’t in his right mind let her leave, or he would beat himself up all night and probably well into the week ahead. Before he could connect his lips to hers, she had already thrown the purse down, indicating she felt the same, and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. Their lips connected and it was as if his face was like melting ice cream. While sensual, the intensity of their pent-up sexual attraction erupted, both falling back to the wall nearest them with not a step out of place. Sisto ran one hand up her hair behind her neck, pressing her face to his, as his other hand ran down her curves, wrapping around behind her waist and down to her butt. He was wondering if he was moving too quick, but she responded by taking her free hand and wrapping it around his neck as well. He supported her as she leapt up slightly and wrapped both legs around him. Nope, not too quick, he concluded. The heat and friction growing between them was causing Sisto to grow an erection and within moments, he was rising to the occasion. Feeling his friend press against her, she broke away from his kiss, putting her legs down and standing while unbuttoning her pants. He did the same and almost tripped as he still had them around one leg while Caden was able to disrobe her jeans in one fluid motion. She lunged towards Sisto, but he was prepared for her approach.
He caught her and directed them to the bedroom as they continued to connect. Groins pressed together, Caden broke away again from the kiss and took off her blouse while still in Sisto’s arms. After the top was off, Sisto, in a single motion, pinched the clasp behind her black bra. Feeling the swift flick of his fingers and the support at her breasts loosen, she broke apart to look at Sisto in surprise. Realizing that he was thinking he’d messed up, she turned her shock into a smile ear to ear, and helped Sisto remove his shirt. Caden stood on the carpet and as Sisto had his shirt halfway over his head, she shoved him backwards, falling onto the fresh linens. Sisto tossed the shirt to the side and looked down as Caden climbed up to meet his face. He noticed she must have taken her thong off when she had pushed Sisto back and was climbing up to him completely nude. Sisto, keeping pace, removed his boxers and was completely naked, letting his member free and grazing Caden’s soft stomach as she kissed his chest on her way up to his face. She bit his neck gently and he flipped her over onto her back. In that moment, there was no hesitation, no regrets. They smiled at each other, rubbed each other, and as he entered her, they both moaned a release of pleasure.
After a release of long-lingering desires finally being set free, the two lay in bed after an hour of constant exploration of each other, to the point of orgasming not once, but twice each. Winded, they looked at each other and laughed and talked more and even showered together, where they started a third round of exploring, but it was cut short by the ringtone of The Unforgiven from the living room. They dried off and Sisto started to get dressed as Caden walked out to the living room, wrapped in a towel, to see if she had missed a call or just a text. She walked over to the open curtains by the kitchen table and shut them for privacy. Sisto had thrown on some new boxers and lay back in the bed, hoping that when Caden re-entered the room there would be no realization of regret. Caden came back in with her phone, and sat on the bed, wet towel still wrapped around her.
“Important?” Sisto asked.
“Nah, nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.”
Sisto walked his fingers across her shoulder, making their way down her bare back. Caden turned back to him, serious mode plastered across her face. Shit, Sisto thought. The ecstasy of hormones finally subsided and she now regretted the moment of weakness.
“I think I should head home,” Caden said reluctantly.
“You are welcome to stay,” Sisto replied.
“I appreciate it, Tom. I have a meeting at eight with everyone in the detective’s hub about case statuses, boring stuff.”
“Listen, Caden, Cami, I hope this doesn’t ruin what we have. I really like you and if you feel like this was a mistake I will understand, but what I can’t handle is if you keep your distance from me or act weird around me.”
“Tom, I will be honest. I regret mixing business with pleasure. It’s not what I normally do. That being said, it wasn’t the drinks that made my choices tonight. I have had growing feelings for you for a while. I don’t regret anything we did.”
Visibly relieved, Sisto exhaled in response. He pulled her face to his, melting once again into her embrace. She reciprocated and then her willpower being stronger than Sisto’s, allowed her to break away, leaving her towel on the bed as she stood naked in front of him. In most first interactions, there was usually a shyness that neither Caden nor Sisto felt. Sisto didn’t know how the newly-planted relationship may go, but he knew his friendship with her was strong and felt comfortable about waiting to see where the future took them. Caden grabbed her thong from the floor and started dressing. She slowly gathered her articles of clothing from the random spots their primal instincts had thrown them and disappeared into the living room to get her jeans and jacket. He heard the rustling of her grabbing her keys out of her purse; she re-entered the doorway of the bedroom to tell a half-naked Sisto that she had to leave.
Sisto got up and walked up to the front door to let her out, looking at the containers of food spread around the table.
“You want to take any of this with you so you can have it tomorrow?” he asked.
Shooting him a devilish smile, she leaned in and gave him an intense kiss, then replied, “Put it in the fridge. I’ll come by tomorrow if you want the company?”
He kissed her again, heart warming up with every response. “Absolutely.”
She exited the apartment and Sisto popped his head around the side to watch her walking towards the elevator.
“Don’t forget your handcuffs tomorrow night, Detective.”
CHAPTER 26
The one bad thing about not having a full-time job was if you had free time, most of your friends were not available to converse. Sisto realized that unless there was a break in the case, he wouldn’t be requested at SCPD. He wanted to follow up with Ama but figured that she was probably on her way to her regular job as well. He turned on the Hell’s Kitchen channel to make his concoction of cold fried rice and oranges seem like a delicacy, compared to what the angry host referred to someone’s presentation of chicken as resembling Ghandi’s flip flop. Sisto realized that insulting people in a British accent opened up so many more doors, laughing because the irate man pronounced it as “Gandy’s flip flop.”
The day went by pretty fast, but knowing he may have a round two from last night, did seem to have an effect of making the minutes crawl by towards lunchtime. He had done his groceries, gone to the parking structure and washed his car, turned the engine on to ensure the purring of the neglected vehicle remained, and after that decided to peruse the World Wide Web. While sitting in his desk chair, a text popped in. It was Ama, telling him that she would be done with work around five and should be home by six. She asked him if he wanted her to come to him since Ojibwe was now back home from her short visit with friends and family, so they could go over whatever her program was able to dig up on Michael Dyer. Sisto, who had all the time in the world during the day, realized his evening was packed. He had his C.O.S. meeting at six, then would be spending the night, hopefully the same way he had the night before. He replied and told her that he had a few things to figure o
ut but would let her know. Phone in hand, he decided to throw a courtesy text to Caden, breaking the ice but hopefully not the love spell he’d mesmerized her with earlier.
Sisto: Hey, hope the meeting went well. Let me know if you and Bell need anything from me for the case. I don’t have much going on today.
Less than a minute later, his phone buzzed.
Caden: Hi. I was just thinking about texting you. The meeting went very well. Hope everything pans out. Bell and I are sifting through stuff. Nothing we can’t handle on our own.
Sisto: I forgot; I have a support meeting I am helping the owner run tonight at six. I should be home by seven-thirty or eight if you are still interested in coming over again?
Feeling like he was in high school asking a girl out to a movie for the first time, his stomach turned as he waited for a response.
Caden: You think I am going to bail on a fridge full of Chinese leftovers? You’re crazy.
Crazy about you, he thought.
Sisto: Ha, great. See you tonight.
He was a creature of habit and walking into The Mud Mix at five, gave him an hour to drink his coffee and relax before going into the support center across the street. It was slightly chilly for the time of year they were at, so instead of a titan-triton-triple-xl-diabetic-sugar-fest, he opted for a hot medium roasted coffee blend with hazelnut creamer and a packet of Sweet & Low for good measure. He took his drink out the patio, thankful he had done his laundry and was wearing his clean and heavy-clothed grey hoodie with the stitched-in black denim vest. Not a cackling swarm of teenagers in sight, thank goodness. Sisto’s ritualistic, borderline OCD traits, always gave him a surge of ecstasy as they came to fruition. He would not lose his shit if for some reason he didn’t make it to The Mud Mix before his session, but he would also not try to find obstacles to test the theory either. The person before him left a folded newspaper on the metal chair accompanying the table but upon grabbing it, to his dismay, it was only the sports section. There was a brief recap article of an MMA fight from Saturday night, which gave Sisto a distraction for all of five minutes. Pulling his phone out, he saw that it was just after five-thirty and while he wasn’t ready to dive into the favor he had promised to Laura; he wanted to make sure he had time to wipe down the seats and set up some fresh coffee for his group.
Walking through the entrance of the leased building off Reckman and Hollister, he passed the office to his left, which had the door closed and lights off. He remembered Laura had said she would be in before his session was over, so she must have already left to take care of errands, leaving the four-thirty session group leader, Ted, to tend to his flock. Passing the corner, he did indeed see Ted wrapping up a session and waiting on a man in the circle to stop sharing. The man was in his early fifties and looked like he’d driven right in from Barstow Farms. He had a John Deere hat, a flannel shirt, dirty denim jeans, and work boots only blue-collared men got away with wearing. The man was bawling his eyes out and talking about a “whore” named May that broke his heart. Not trying to get wrapped up in the next greatest reality show pitch ever, he walked past the circle, getting a nod from Ted, and went over to the table where the two commercial grade five-gallon insulated coffee carafes were located. He grabbed the handle above each one and one felt half full, the other one bone dry. He took the empty to the office and turned the knob to find it was closed but not locked and the lights were turned off. He flipped the switch, turned on the two coffee machines, and started to brew a double batch to cut his time in half.
He heard the shuffling of feet pass the office door a few minutes later and Ted walked in with the insincere grin he forced anytime he saw Sisto. Ted had been coming to C.O.S. for three or four years and had a thing for Laura. Sisto never stood in the way but had the feeling that Ted may have made his move one night and Laura had probably used Sisto as an excuse. The offensive brightness of Ted’s veneers assaulted Sisto as he shut the door and sat in the second office chair.
“Hey, Tom. How the heck have you been?”
“I’ve been doing well, Ted. You look good. You doing okay?”
“Right as rain,” Ted spewed unapologetically. “I have been working on my master’s thesis for the last eighteen months. And guess what?”
“You . . . finished?” Sisto shrugged.
“You bet your stars I did! I turned it in, got my master’s degree in psychology, and now I can open my own practice.”
Not sure if it was the fact that he wouldn’t have to see Ted’s face around C.O.S. again or the still lingering effect of his new connection with Caden, but Sisto was feeling generous in that moment.
“That’s fantastic, Ted, I mean, Doctor Ted. Congratulations.”
It was obvious no one had verbally called him doctor yet and trying it on for size, Ted’s eyes shone with a glimmer of joy.
“Dr. Ted Young. Dang, that sounds nice.”
“Sure does,” Sisto agreed. “How was the session?”
“Oh, you know. Most of the same people spilling the same stories, but we don’t do it for the thrills, am I right?” Ted chuckled at his own statement.
“You are, Ted, you are.”
Thank god, the second double batch was finished. Sisto poured both pots into the top of the black, insulated dispenser.
“I better get this out there and get the chairs wiped down. Congratulations again, Ted. See you around.”
Sisto put the lid on the dispenser and carried it past Ted, who opened the office door swiftly for him. Sisto replaced the dispenser in its rightful place, then went to the utility closet and grabbed a white, folded hand towel from the shelf along with a spray bottle with some concoction that smelled like lemons. He gave every chair in the circle, about fifteen, a good wipe down, then put the spray bottle back and the towel in a mesh hamper in the corner of the closet. Approaching the circle, he noticed some early arrivals start to enter. He greeted them and told them to grab a coffee and settle in and that they would get started shortly. He realized that there were no snack platters, which Laura usually had accompanying the coffee, and went back into the office to see if she had anything prepared. He was expecting to see Ted, but he had already vacated; however, Ted had left a note for Laura.
Happy to help as always. If you want to get together soon, I am happy to recap. -Ted
Fucking Ted. I guess she could do worse, Sisto thought. There was a white refrigerator, something in between a mini fridge and the now standard massive home refrigerators, in the corner. He opened it and saw a tray with some cookies intricately placed throughout and accented with croissants. It was wrapped with saran wrap and written in sharpie was the name, “Tom.” He grabbed the tray and brought it over to the snack table. More people were starting to pile in, causing him to grab a coffee. He always looked for unfamiliar faces in an effort to see if it was their first time, trying to break the ice and get them more comfortable in an attempt to share their feelings. There had been one or two faces he couldn’t be sure if he had seen in the past or not, but the usual suspects were arriving.
Tara strolled in, looking like she had just gotten a combo meal from Whataburger as payment for a backseat fuck in the back alley of a vacant strip of stores. Blowing out the last inhalation of smoke from the cigarette that Sisto assumed she’d tossed on the ground right in front of the building, she made her way to the coffee station. One smooth motion, the first thing she did was take one of the croissants and put it in her mangled purse. Unreal, he thought. Then, she grabbed a cup and filled up her coffee, no cream but tons of sugar. She must have been trying to keep herself from crashing. She turned to the circle, Sisto watching off the side like he was observing a National Geographic documentary, and watched as Tara approached one of the new faces in the group, who had sat right in a chair, holding onto his quiet nerves. Good luck with that buddy, Sisto tried to telepath to the new visitor. Next week he would be sharing his trauma endured from dealing with her. The idea made him laugh.
Scanning the rest of the room, he d
idn’t see Barry with the creepy mustache, or Mickey with his sexual fetish, pity party stories. He did however recognize two visitors he hadn’t seen in quite a while. Tim and Lori, both in their late teens or early twenties, had met at C.O.S. The two had both showed up for their first sessions on a night Sisto happened to be there too. It was Tim who shared first, explaining he was there because he was trying to process the horrors of being repeatedly raped by his uncle when moving in, after his parent’s death. The shame and tears were not judged, causing Lori to speak up, stating a similar story of being raped by her roommate’s boyfriend a few months before. Her roommate had a family trip planned and was gone a whole week. About three days in, Lori’s roommate’s boyfriend rang the doorbell, claiming he left something he needed in her room, and Lori spent the next four days tied to her bed. Apparently, the boyfriend used the roommate to get close to Lori, some real Lifetime Movie shit, and built it in his head that they were meant to be together, before he blew his brains out after degrading her body for the umpteenth time. Lori remained tied to the bed naked, covered in semen and brain matter, until her roommate got home the next day. The story was horrific, but Tim and Lori bonded that night and apparently started a relationship of sorts, and Sisto never saw one without the other after that day.
Sisto started the session, introducing himself for the few faces that he felt may not have recognized him. He explained the process and purpose of the circle and while normally offering to see who wanted to start the session, decided he had a few things he wanted to get off his chest.
“I will keep this brief, but I need to share this or it will eat away at me.” Sisto tried to gather his response in a way to not scare everyone out the door, then continued, “For those of you I don’t know, I am a consultant with the Saratoga City Police Department. I have consulted full time for over a year. I have seen my share of terrible things, but this week in particular has been hard. I had to deal with the death of a close friend.”
