19-03-2025, 03:11 AM
"Oh, Patrick, you feel so good," she whispered. "I want you to use my body, Patrick. I want you to take as much pleasure from me as I can give you. I just want to give myself and give everything I have to you."
Finally, I felt that familiar feeling start as my groin muscles started to tense up. We were both breathing fast and heavily and a mind-blowing and earth-shattering simultaneous orgasm started to grip us both.
"Oh, God, Patrick! Fill me up, fill me all the way up! I want to take every last inch of you and every last drop of you!" God, the things she said were so hot!"
"I can't hold it anymore," I said. "I'm gonna cum!" I tried desperately to position myself to pull out but Shannon stayed locked into position. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," I moaned as I finally released a massive load. Shannon stifled her own pleasure by firmly but gently biting into my tbangzius muscle in my neck.
We stayed there, locked firmly in each other's embrace for five minutes or more, all the while the gentle but firm contractions of her pussy muscles continued to spasm in their post-orgasmic bliss, milking every last drop of semen from my spent cock. We were interrupted by a strange sound that I soon realized was the sound of my own semen dripping from Shannon's pussy, onto the base of my cock, running down my nut sack and splattering on the floor. It was as continuous as a leaky faucet and the whole episode caused Shannon to giggle, which felt incredibly good on my cock when she did, which would cause me to spurt out even more cum and just added to the post-coital chaos.
"My goodness, Sean Patrick Quinn," she said, nibbling on my ear lobe and neck. "Just exactly how much do those balls of yours hold, anyway? I didn't know a man could fill a woman up the way you just did!" God, this woman totally knew how to stroke my ego.
"Well," I said chuckling, "to tell you the truth, it has been so long since I had sex, I sort of forgot myself." Suddenly, a dose of reality hit. "Oh, shit! Duh! I didn't use a condom! Oh, my God!"
"Relax, cowboy. I just ended a visit from 'Aunt Flo' yesterday morning. So there is almost a zero percent chance of getting me knocked up and sperm can't live inside a vagina for more than about 48 hours. Considering it will probably be another week or more until I ovulate, we should be pretty safe. Trust me. Not only am I a super nurse but I'm also Catholic and have a terrific understanding of the rhythm method," she giggled.
"You're awesome," I said, leaning back. "Remember the other day when I said that I probably wouldn't want to leave here tonight?"
She smiled. "Yes, I do."
"I really wish I didn't have to leave here tonight."
She leaned in for another sweet, passionate kiss. "I wish you didn't, either, Patrick. No matter what happens after tonight, you're gonna be a heck of a tough act to follow."
"What exactly was this tonight, then?" I asked.
"I don't know, Patrick. Maybe it was something that was just so amazing you can't label it with just one word."
"I don't want this to just be a one-night stand, Shannon. I don't want this to just be a notch in either of our belts. We both deserve more than that."
"Yes, we do, Patrick," she said, finally sliding off of my still semi-rigid cock and snuggling up with me on the sofa. "And, I'll be honest with you. If the day should come in the distant or not-so-distant future and you find yourself single and available, I'm going to really give you the full court press, mister."
"I wish I could promise you more, Shannon," I said. "But I can promise if the day comes when I am single and available, you will most definitely be my first phone call."
Shannon kissed me deeply and passionately again. I picked up my glass of wine and raised it up.
"Here's to promises," I said.
"No," Shannon corrected me. "Let's just drink to possibilities for now."
"Perfect." Shannon and I continued to cuddle and talk for quite some time before either of us bothered to remember that we were cuddling naked on her couch. We would have had a lot of awkward explaining to do if Bridget had awoken and come to the kitchen to look for a glass of water. I finally dressed and prepared to leave the warmth of Shannon's companionship and embrace for the cold of the early December chill to head back to my motel room. We exchanged cell phone numbers, which would make setting up any future dates easier and less awkward than having her stop by the sheriff's department. We also exchanged email addresses and Shannon reminded me that I still owed Bridget a date to the sledding hill to break in the new toboggan.
We shared one last long embrace at the door as I got ready to leave and one last long and tender kiss. It seemed like a long walk to my vehicle even though I was only parked across the street. When I arrived back at my motel I decided to forgo the shower until later. For the time being, I was content to just lay on the bed and think of her. I could still smell her everywhere on me and I could still taste her on my lips. Suddenly, my heart ached as if I had just been roundhouse kicked to the chest by Chuck Norris. As I lay on the bed taking in every last nuance of Shannon that my senses could possibly detect, I was hit by one amazing and overwhelming reality -- I was falling in love with Shannon Sullivan.
I woke up the next morning feeling amazing. I still had to pinch myself to see if the events of the night before were even real or not. When I stepped into the shower and let the warm water run over my face, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the dried juices from Shannon's face came to life again in the shower. Suddenly, I could taste her and smell her all over again and I knew that what had happened had not been a dream. I felt so good that I decided to drive out to the farm and steal my boys for the day and go have a little fun.
Clarissa was absolutely pissed to see me and even more pissed to see me in a ridiculously good mood. I decided that the boys and I would make a day of it with pizza, endless amounts of video games and top it off with a movie that evening.
"So, you have time to do all of this today but you couldn't make plans to see them or spend time with them last night?"
"Nope." It was the only answer she needed.
"I just hope you know, Patrick, how much you're on Bud's shit list for this. If you thought it was bad before, you have absolutely no idea what you're in for now. You could have at least been smart and played the game the way Bud wanted you to but you just had to go and be an immature asshole about it."
I knew she was trying to goad me into an even bigger argument but I wasn't going to take the bait. I decided in my mind to hold my cards, slim as they were for the time being, close to my chest.
"I'm just going to give you some food for thought, Clarissa. Instead of being so crass and shoving your affair in my face now that it is out in the open, you might want to still be careful and use some tact and discretion. All I'm going to tell you is that this whole thing might not end the way YOU want it to. Just keep that in mind, that's all I'm saying."
"You're delusional, Patrick, if you think this is going to end with you and I staying together."
"Hmm. I never said that you and I staying together was what I even wanted."
"Well, what the hell else could it be then, Patrick?"
"God, you are an arrogant twat! How the hell did I not see that before we got married?"
Clarissa never got a chance to answer as the boys came bounding down the stairs dressed and ready to go and headed out to my truck. We headed into Red River Falls and spend most of the day at a local pizza joint that has about three acres of video games, ski-ball and about eighteen lanes of bowling. I splurged and the boys and I spent almost $400 on food and games during the day. We ended our guy's day out on the town by hitting up the Cineplex in the mall and feasted on snacks, soda and popcorn while we took in a 3-D movie on the new Imax screen. We were all completely blown away by the experience and we all agreed that it was worth the extra cost.
I brought the boys home afterwards and found Clarissa curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine and a book. She didn't look the least bit happy. I couldn't help but smile to myself. I stuck around long enough to tuck the boys into bed and then made a hasty exit so I didn't have to listen to any more of Clarissa's bullshit.
The next morning was Sunday and I decided to shower and go grab some breakfast at Denny's. After a so-so omelet and pancakes, I decided to go to late morning Mass over at St. Matthew's. I hadn't been to Mass in a while, what with everything else in my life going on, and I missed the experience and missed running into people I knew. I thought a little church and companionship would help ease some loneliness of being away from my boys.
Mass ended right at noon. As I was walking to the rear of the church to shake hands with our priest, I heard someone shout, "Patrick!"
I looked to my left and saw Bridget running toward me and I scooped her up in my arms for a big hug. I was delighted to see Shannon approach behind her and wearing her million-dollar smile. There was another couple with Shannon and I assumed them to be her parents. Shannon and her mother looked like they could be sisters as her mother looked incredibly good for her age.
"Shannon! Gosh, what a surprise!" I tried to feign not being too friendly or familiar to her.
"You, too! So nice to see you again," she said, obviously following the same playbook.
"Patrick? Are you gonna take me sledding soon?" Bridget wanted to know.
"You betcha! There's supposed to be a big storm coming this week with lots of snow! We'll do our best to be the first ones on the hill. Sound good?"
"Yes!" came the enthusiastic reply. Our little group moved to the side so the rest of the parishioners could exit the church more easily.
"Patrick, I would like you to meet my parents. This is my mother Suzanne."
"Hello. Pleasure to meet you," I said extending my hand. Wow! It was easy to see where Shannon got her amazing looks from.
"Thank you, Patrick. A pleasure for us, too," she replied, graciously.
"And," Shannon continued, "this is my father, Jack."
"Nice to meet you, sir," I said as he gripped my hand quite firmly.
"The pleasure is all mine, Patrick. Words can't express everything that you've done for our family. We're all deeply indebted to you."
"Nonsense. Just doing my job."
"A janitor mopping a floor is just doing his job, too. He doesn't go to work everyday facing the possibility of getting shot," Jack replied.
"True," I said. "I'm just glad I could help out and that everything turned out well."
"How are you recovering from your injuries?" Suzanne asked.
"Oh, I'm pretty much back to 100 percent. Thankfully, I had an amazing nurse." I could see Shannon blush. "And how have you been lately, Shannon?"
"I'm doing okay," she replied with a devilish grin. "Life is good these days. It has a good rhythm to it."
Oh, my god! I almost choked on my own spit. Here we were in the middle a church and Shannon was making a very-much-inside joke about what happened the other night in her living room. I struggled to maintain my composure, though it was very hard to do. Thankfully, her parents weren't the wiser to it all.
"So, Patrick," her mother went on, "do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"
"Uh, actually, I'm going to be meeting some friends here in a bit to watch the Vikings game this afternoon. We usually get pretty crazy whenever they're playing the Packers."
"Well," Jack chimed in, "the game will look pretty good on our new 60-inch plasma TV. You're welcome to come on out to our place to watch it with us, if you're interested. My wife makes a mighty fine roast beef, too."
"That's a very generous offer, but I just ate a late breakfast before church. I'm sure my buddies and I will fill up on plenty of beer and appetizers while we're watching the game. Plus, I have a tendency to swear a lot when I'm watching the Vikings, especially this year," I said, patting Bridget on the head.
"Yeah, I hear you," Jack chuckled. "Well, the offer is still open if you're interested."
We exchanged pleasantries for about another five minutes before parting ways. As we headed outside into the cold December air, I couldn't help myself as I simply watched Shannon and her family walk toward their vehicle. But, much to my joy, Shannon looked back one last time and gave me a smile and a wave.
I kinda lied about meeting with my friends that afternoon as I didn't want things to get uncomfortable with Shannon's parents, which was too bad as I would have loved another home cooked meal. I spent the afternoon watching the Vikings/Packers game at a local sports bar called the End Zone. I actually knew a lot of the people there and a couple of them actually bought me beers for my handling of the hostage situation last week. The beer was good but the game wasn't as my beloved Vikings played hard but dropped another close game to the Pack up in Green Bay.
The next morning arrived too soon as I made sure to be at work right away at 8:00. Bud didn't show up until a little after 9:00 but made a point of stopping in his doorway and giving me the stink eye before settling in behind his desk.
I had spent a good chunk of the night last night stewing about and pondering what I needed to do in order to try and nail Bud and Clarissa for everything that was going on. The more I thought about it the more I realized that there had to be some kind of trail left behind. As I thought back to conversations with my boys, I remembered one conversation in particular in which my son Nick had mentioned his mother being on the computer a lot while I was at work.
Wheels began turning in my head and I began to explore the idea that maybe there would be some evidence of the affair, as well as Bud's long-term plans for me, which might show up in any kind of email correspondence between the two of them. I needed to find someone who could help me but I had no idea who knew a lot about computers. As I glanced out towards the cubicle area where the deputies all had their work stations I saw my good friend Danny Larson. He looked like he was just about finished with a report and probably headed back out to his cruiser to finish his patrol.
"Hey, Danny. Can you wait up a sec?" I called out to him.
"Sure, Pat. No problem. What's up?"
I quickly glanced towards Bud's office to see if he was watching but he had his back turned to the door of his office and was on the phone with someone.
"Let's go grab a cup of coffee and chat for a couple minutes." We headed down the hall to the break room and I dropped some coins in the vending machine for a couple of cups of coffee and we sat down at one of the small booths.
"What's up, Pat? Everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Everything's good. I just wanted to know if you knew a lot about computers or if you knew someone who did."
"Well, I'm no computer whiz or anything. But what did you need to know?"
"Well, I'm looking for someone who knows a lot about computers. You know, the real nitty-gritty technical stuff."
"What about Dean Strobe? He's the IT guy for the department, right?"
"Yeah," I replied, "but Dean works strictly for the county."
"Oh, you're talking personal stuff then. I see. In that case you probably want to talk to Chris Hayes' old lady," Danny said.
"Chris Hayes' old lady? Who is she? His wife or something?"
Danny chuckled for some reason. "No, no. Definitely not his wife. I just call her his significant other. Tonya is her name. Tonya Fulbright. She runs a custom computer place and a used record store downtown."
"Used records and custom computers? Not sure I get the connection between the two," I said, confused.
"That's because there isn't one. One of the businesses pays the bills and the other is more of a hobby. To tell the truth, I'm not 100 percent sure that's all she sells out of that store but I don't make it my business to know, either."
"How so?" I asked, curious.
Danny chuckled again. "I don't want to spoil the surprise. You'll understand when you meet her. She's a little different. But make no mistake about it. She's absolutely brilliant when it comes to computers or anything digital. Give her a cell phone and an iPod and she could probably hack into the Pentagon."
Danny and I finished our coffee, chatted for a little while longer and then we each returned to our work. I decided that I would catch Chris Hayes at the afternoon shift change and invite him out to breakfast tomorrow morning or something.
Later that morning I got a call on the intercom that Bud was requesting to see me. I walked into his office expecting the worst, as usual, and closed the door behind me. Bud had his back to me and was working on his laptop at the work station that took up most of the wall behind his large executive desk. The formal executive desk was mostly there for show, I had decided, which formed a physical separation of Bud's place of power on one side from the general public or departmental peons who sat across from him on the other side. Bud motioned for me to sit, which meant that he regarded me as a peon.
I sat there for almost ten minutes while Bud kept working on his computer or at least pretended to be working on his computer. Meanwhile, he said absolutely nothing. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.
"I'm sorry, but was there a purpose in asking me in here? I've got three warrants that I'm currently working on and was hoping to get served this afternoon."
Bud kept his back to me as he continued to type. "Was there a reason you felt it necessary to piss off and humiliate Clarissa this past weekend?"
"I wasn't trying to humiliate her or piss her off. I actually did have plans. But if she felt humiliated or pissed off because of it, then I guess that is a credit to me."
Bud kept typing. "Then I guess you understand the purpose of this meeting." Basically, he was daring me to get up and leave.
I played his game and sat there for another 20 minutes before his phone rang. From the sound of it, it was Margolene. Bud didn't bother saying anything and motioned for me to leave without turning around. The whole thing seemed pretty stupid and I guess it was. Bud probably knew that he had set my work back preparing the warrants and I would now have to eat part of my lunch break (no pun intended) to get them finished so the deputies could serve them this afternoon. It would be impossible to get the magistrate judge's signature on these until after lunch so Bud's little prank worked.
At 2:45 that afternoon, Deputy Chris Hayes arrived back at his desk from patrol and got ready to give report to his replacement for the 3:00 shift change.
"Chris? You got a minute?" I asked. He looked somewhat surprised and taken aback for some reason.
"Yeah, captain. What's up?" he asked.
"I'd like to have a meeting with you tomorrow morning. There are a few topics I'd like to discuss with you and I thought maybe we could grab a late breakfast or something and go over them."
Chris looked around to see if any of the other deputies were watching him. None seemed to be. "Yeah, sure. I guess that'd be fine. I mean, what can I say? No?" I hadn't expected the none-too-veiled sarcasm.
"Uh, great. Let's meet up at the Donut Hole tomorrow morning at eight."
"Okay, cap," Chris replied, sitting back down. "I'll be there with bells on."
I walked back to my office confused. Truth be told, I didn't really know Chris all that well, at least not personally. We had been co-workers now for a couple of years and I realized that my rise from patrol deputy to Captain could easily have been a source of jealousy. We were also members of the Special Operations Group together and he had been a part of the hostage rescue last week and had done a perfectly good job. Jealousy aside, it still didn't entirely explain the sarcasm and borderline hostile tone in his voice.
Finally, I felt that familiar feeling start as my groin muscles started to tense up. We were both breathing fast and heavily and a mind-blowing and earth-shattering simultaneous orgasm started to grip us both.
"Oh, God, Patrick! Fill me up, fill me all the way up! I want to take every last inch of you and every last drop of you!" God, the things she said were so hot!"
"I can't hold it anymore," I said. "I'm gonna cum!" I tried desperately to position myself to pull out but Shannon stayed locked into position. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," I moaned as I finally released a massive load. Shannon stifled her own pleasure by firmly but gently biting into my tbangzius muscle in my neck.
We stayed there, locked firmly in each other's embrace for five minutes or more, all the while the gentle but firm contractions of her pussy muscles continued to spasm in their post-orgasmic bliss, milking every last drop of semen from my spent cock. We were interrupted by a strange sound that I soon realized was the sound of my own semen dripping from Shannon's pussy, onto the base of my cock, running down my nut sack and splattering on the floor. It was as continuous as a leaky faucet and the whole episode caused Shannon to giggle, which felt incredibly good on my cock when she did, which would cause me to spurt out even more cum and just added to the post-coital chaos.
"My goodness, Sean Patrick Quinn," she said, nibbling on my ear lobe and neck. "Just exactly how much do those balls of yours hold, anyway? I didn't know a man could fill a woman up the way you just did!" God, this woman totally knew how to stroke my ego.
"Well," I said chuckling, "to tell you the truth, it has been so long since I had sex, I sort of forgot myself." Suddenly, a dose of reality hit. "Oh, shit! Duh! I didn't use a condom! Oh, my God!"
"Relax, cowboy. I just ended a visit from 'Aunt Flo' yesterday morning. So there is almost a zero percent chance of getting me knocked up and sperm can't live inside a vagina for more than about 48 hours. Considering it will probably be another week or more until I ovulate, we should be pretty safe. Trust me. Not only am I a super nurse but I'm also Catholic and have a terrific understanding of the rhythm method," she giggled.
"You're awesome," I said, leaning back. "Remember the other day when I said that I probably wouldn't want to leave here tonight?"
She smiled. "Yes, I do."
"I really wish I didn't have to leave here tonight."
She leaned in for another sweet, passionate kiss. "I wish you didn't, either, Patrick. No matter what happens after tonight, you're gonna be a heck of a tough act to follow."
"What exactly was this tonight, then?" I asked.
"I don't know, Patrick. Maybe it was something that was just so amazing you can't label it with just one word."
"I don't want this to just be a one-night stand, Shannon. I don't want this to just be a notch in either of our belts. We both deserve more than that."
"Yes, we do, Patrick," she said, finally sliding off of my still semi-rigid cock and snuggling up with me on the sofa. "And, I'll be honest with you. If the day should come in the distant or not-so-distant future and you find yourself single and available, I'm going to really give you the full court press, mister."
"I wish I could promise you more, Shannon," I said. "But I can promise if the day comes when I am single and available, you will most definitely be my first phone call."
Shannon kissed me deeply and passionately again. I picked up my glass of wine and raised it up.
"Here's to promises," I said.
"No," Shannon corrected me. "Let's just drink to possibilities for now."
"Perfect." Shannon and I continued to cuddle and talk for quite some time before either of us bothered to remember that we were cuddling naked on her couch. We would have had a lot of awkward explaining to do if Bridget had awoken and come to the kitchen to look for a glass of water. I finally dressed and prepared to leave the warmth of Shannon's companionship and embrace for the cold of the early December chill to head back to my motel room. We exchanged cell phone numbers, which would make setting up any future dates easier and less awkward than having her stop by the sheriff's department. We also exchanged email addresses and Shannon reminded me that I still owed Bridget a date to the sledding hill to break in the new toboggan.
We shared one last long embrace at the door as I got ready to leave and one last long and tender kiss. It seemed like a long walk to my vehicle even though I was only parked across the street. When I arrived back at my motel I decided to forgo the shower until later. For the time being, I was content to just lay on the bed and think of her. I could still smell her everywhere on me and I could still taste her on my lips. Suddenly, my heart ached as if I had just been roundhouse kicked to the chest by Chuck Norris. As I lay on the bed taking in every last nuance of Shannon that my senses could possibly detect, I was hit by one amazing and overwhelming reality -- I was falling in love with Shannon Sullivan.
I woke up the next morning feeling amazing. I still had to pinch myself to see if the events of the night before were even real or not. When I stepped into the shower and let the warm water run over my face, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the dried juices from Shannon's face came to life again in the shower. Suddenly, I could taste her and smell her all over again and I knew that what had happened had not been a dream. I felt so good that I decided to drive out to the farm and steal my boys for the day and go have a little fun.
Clarissa was absolutely pissed to see me and even more pissed to see me in a ridiculously good mood. I decided that the boys and I would make a day of it with pizza, endless amounts of video games and top it off with a movie that evening.
"So, you have time to do all of this today but you couldn't make plans to see them or spend time with them last night?"
"Nope." It was the only answer she needed.
"I just hope you know, Patrick, how much you're on Bud's shit list for this. If you thought it was bad before, you have absolutely no idea what you're in for now. You could have at least been smart and played the game the way Bud wanted you to but you just had to go and be an immature asshole about it."
I knew she was trying to goad me into an even bigger argument but I wasn't going to take the bait. I decided in my mind to hold my cards, slim as they were for the time being, close to my chest.
"I'm just going to give you some food for thought, Clarissa. Instead of being so crass and shoving your affair in my face now that it is out in the open, you might want to still be careful and use some tact and discretion. All I'm going to tell you is that this whole thing might not end the way YOU want it to. Just keep that in mind, that's all I'm saying."
"You're delusional, Patrick, if you think this is going to end with you and I staying together."
"Hmm. I never said that you and I staying together was what I even wanted."
"Well, what the hell else could it be then, Patrick?"
"God, you are an arrogant twat! How the hell did I not see that before we got married?"
Clarissa never got a chance to answer as the boys came bounding down the stairs dressed and ready to go and headed out to my truck. We headed into Red River Falls and spend most of the day at a local pizza joint that has about three acres of video games, ski-ball and about eighteen lanes of bowling. I splurged and the boys and I spent almost $400 on food and games during the day. We ended our guy's day out on the town by hitting up the Cineplex in the mall and feasted on snacks, soda and popcorn while we took in a 3-D movie on the new Imax screen. We were all completely blown away by the experience and we all agreed that it was worth the extra cost.
I brought the boys home afterwards and found Clarissa curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine and a book. She didn't look the least bit happy. I couldn't help but smile to myself. I stuck around long enough to tuck the boys into bed and then made a hasty exit so I didn't have to listen to any more of Clarissa's bullshit.
The next morning was Sunday and I decided to shower and go grab some breakfast at Denny's. After a so-so omelet and pancakes, I decided to go to late morning Mass over at St. Matthew's. I hadn't been to Mass in a while, what with everything else in my life going on, and I missed the experience and missed running into people I knew. I thought a little church and companionship would help ease some loneliness of being away from my boys.
Mass ended right at noon. As I was walking to the rear of the church to shake hands with our priest, I heard someone shout, "Patrick!"
I looked to my left and saw Bridget running toward me and I scooped her up in my arms for a big hug. I was delighted to see Shannon approach behind her and wearing her million-dollar smile. There was another couple with Shannon and I assumed them to be her parents. Shannon and her mother looked like they could be sisters as her mother looked incredibly good for her age.
"Shannon! Gosh, what a surprise!" I tried to feign not being too friendly or familiar to her.
"You, too! So nice to see you again," she said, obviously following the same playbook.
"Patrick? Are you gonna take me sledding soon?" Bridget wanted to know.
"You betcha! There's supposed to be a big storm coming this week with lots of snow! We'll do our best to be the first ones on the hill. Sound good?"
"Yes!" came the enthusiastic reply. Our little group moved to the side so the rest of the parishioners could exit the church more easily.
"Patrick, I would like you to meet my parents. This is my mother Suzanne."
"Hello. Pleasure to meet you," I said extending my hand. Wow! It was easy to see where Shannon got her amazing looks from.
"Thank you, Patrick. A pleasure for us, too," she replied, graciously.
"And," Shannon continued, "this is my father, Jack."
"Nice to meet you, sir," I said as he gripped my hand quite firmly.
"The pleasure is all mine, Patrick. Words can't express everything that you've done for our family. We're all deeply indebted to you."
"Nonsense. Just doing my job."
"A janitor mopping a floor is just doing his job, too. He doesn't go to work everyday facing the possibility of getting shot," Jack replied.
"True," I said. "I'm just glad I could help out and that everything turned out well."
"How are you recovering from your injuries?" Suzanne asked.
"Oh, I'm pretty much back to 100 percent. Thankfully, I had an amazing nurse." I could see Shannon blush. "And how have you been lately, Shannon?"
"I'm doing okay," she replied with a devilish grin. "Life is good these days. It has a good rhythm to it."
Oh, my god! I almost choked on my own spit. Here we were in the middle a church and Shannon was making a very-much-inside joke about what happened the other night in her living room. I struggled to maintain my composure, though it was very hard to do. Thankfully, her parents weren't the wiser to it all.
"So, Patrick," her mother went on, "do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"
"Uh, actually, I'm going to be meeting some friends here in a bit to watch the Vikings game this afternoon. We usually get pretty crazy whenever they're playing the Packers."
"Well," Jack chimed in, "the game will look pretty good on our new 60-inch plasma TV. You're welcome to come on out to our place to watch it with us, if you're interested. My wife makes a mighty fine roast beef, too."
"That's a very generous offer, but I just ate a late breakfast before church. I'm sure my buddies and I will fill up on plenty of beer and appetizers while we're watching the game. Plus, I have a tendency to swear a lot when I'm watching the Vikings, especially this year," I said, patting Bridget on the head.
"Yeah, I hear you," Jack chuckled. "Well, the offer is still open if you're interested."
We exchanged pleasantries for about another five minutes before parting ways. As we headed outside into the cold December air, I couldn't help myself as I simply watched Shannon and her family walk toward their vehicle. But, much to my joy, Shannon looked back one last time and gave me a smile and a wave.
I kinda lied about meeting with my friends that afternoon as I didn't want things to get uncomfortable with Shannon's parents, which was too bad as I would have loved another home cooked meal. I spent the afternoon watching the Vikings/Packers game at a local sports bar called the End Zone. I actually knew a lot of the people there and a couple of them actually bought me beers for my handling of the hostage situation last week. The beer was good but the game wasn't as my beloved Vikings played hard but dropped another close game to the Pack up in Green Bay.
The next morning arrived too soon as I made sure to be at work right away at 8:00. Bud didn't show up until a little after 9:00 but made a point of stopping in his doorway and giving me the stink eye before settling in behind his desk.
I had spent a good chunk of the night last night stewing about and pondering what I needed to do in order to try and nail Bud and Clarissa for everything that was going on. The more I thought about it the more I realized that there had to be some kind of trail left behind. As I thought back to conversations with my boys, I remembered one conversation in particular in which my son Nick had mentioned his mother being on the computer a lot while I was at work.
Wheels began turning in my head and I began to explore the idea that maybe there would be some evidence of the affair, as well as Bud's long-term plans for me, which might show up in any kind of email correspondence between the two of them. I needed to find someone who could help me but I had no idea who knew a lot about computers. As I glanced out towards the cubicle area where the deputies all had their work stations I saw my good friend Danny Larson. He looked like he was just about finished with a report and probably headed back out to his cruiser to finish his patrol.
"Hey, Danny. Can you wait up a sec?" I called out to him.
"Sure, Pat. No problem. What's up?"
I quickly glanced towards Bud's office to see if he was watching but he had his back turned to the door of his office and was on the phone with someone.
"Let's go grab a cup of coffee and chat for a couple minutes." We headed down the hall to the break room and I dropped some coins in the vending machine for a couple of cups of coffee and we sat down at one of the small booths.
"What's up, Pat? Everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Everything's good. I just wanted to know if you knew a lot about computers or if you knew someone who did."
"Well, I'm no computer whiz or anything. But what did you need to know?"
"Well, I'm looking for someone who knows a lot about computers. You know, the real nitty-gritty technical stuff."
"What about Dean Strobe? He's the IT guy for the department, right?"
"Yeah," I replied, "but Dean works strictly for the county."
"Oh, you're talking personal stuff then. I see. In that case you probably want to talk to Chris Hayes' old lady," Danny said.
"Chris Hayes' old lady? Who is she? His wife or something?"
Danny chuckled for some reason. "No, no. Definitely not his wife. I just call her his significant other. Tonya is her name. Tonya Fulbright. She runs a custom computer place and a used record store downtown."
"Used records and custom computers? Not sure I get the connection between the two," I said, confused.
"That's because there isn't one. One of the businesses pays the bills and the other is more of a hobby. To tell the truth, I'm not 100 percent sure that's all she sells out of that store but I don't make it my business to know, either."
"How so?" I asked, curious.
Danny chuckled again. "I don't want to spoil the surprise. You'll understand when you meet her. She's a little different. But make no mistake about it. She's absolutely brilliant when it comes to computers or anything digital. Give her a cell phone and an iPod and she could probably hack into the Pentagon."
Danny and I finished our coffee, chatted for a little while longer and then we each returned to our work. I decided that I would catch Chris Hayes at the afternoon shift change and invite him out to breakfast tomorrow morning or something.
Later that morning I got a call on the intercom that Bud was requesting to see me. I walked into his office expecting the worst, as usual, and closed the door behind me. Bud had his back to me and was working on his laptop at the work station that took up most of the wall behind his large executive desk. The formal executive desk was mostly there for show, I had decided, which formed a physical separation of Bud's place of power on one side from the general public or departmental peons who sat across from him on the other side. Bud motioned for me to sit, which meant that he regarded me as a peon.
I sat there for almost ten minutes while Bud kept working on his computer or at least pretended to be working on his computer. Meanwhile, he said absolutely nothing. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.
"I'm sorry, but was there a purpose in asking me in here? I've got three warrants that I'm currently working on and was hoping to get served this afternoon."
Bud kept his back to me as he continued to type. "Was there a reason you felt it necessary to piss off and humiliate Clarissa this past weekend?"
"I wasn't trying to humiliate her or piss her off. I actually did have plans. But if she felt humiliated or pissed off because of it, then I guess that is a credit to me."
Bud kept typing. "Then I guess you understand the purpose of this meeting." Basically, he was daring me to get up and leave.
I played his game and sat there for another 20 minutes before his phone rang. From the sound of it, it was Margolene. Bud didn't bother saying anything and motioned for me to leave without turning around. The whole thing seemed pretty stupid and I guess it was. Bud probably knew that he had set my work back preparing the warrants and I would now have to eat part of my lunch break (no pun intended) to get them finished so the deputies could serve them this afternoon. It would be impossible to get the magistrate judge's signature on these until after lunch so Bud's little prank worked.
At 2:45 that afternoon, Deputy Chris Hayes arrived back at his desk from patrol and got ready to give report to his replacement for the 3:00 shift change.
"Chris? You got a minute?" I asked. He looked somewhat surprised and taken aback for some reason.
"Yeah, captain. What's up?" he asked.
"I'd like to have a meeting with you tomorrow morning. There are a few topics I'd like to discuss with you and I thought maybe we could grab a late breakfast or something and go over them."
Chris looked around to see if any of the other deputies were watching him. None seemed to be. "Yeah, sure. I guess that'd be fine. I mean, what can I say? No?" I hadn't expected the none-too-veiled sarcasm.
"Uh, great. Let's meet up at the Donut Hole tomorrow morning at eight."
"Okay, cap," Chris replied, sitting back down. "I'll be there with bells on."
I walked back to my office confused. Truth be told, I didn't really know Chris all that well, at least not personally. We had been co-workers now for a couple of years and I realized that my rise from patrol deputy to Captain could easily have been a source of jealousy. We were also members of the Special Operations Group together and he had been a part of the hostage rescue last week and had done a perfectly good job. Jealousy aside, it still didn't entirely explain the sarcasm and borderline hostile tone in his voice.
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