Sleeper

by Katherine Rhodes

  “Right, right.”

  Fischer stared down into the coffee mug and swirled it a bit. “My parents adopted my older brother with the hopes that once they had one child, it would be easier to get pregnant with a second. It’s a common occurrence—adopt one, get pregnant immediately because no pressure. Didn’t work for them. At all. They finally just conceded defeat when Colman was twelve and adopted me. I was the icing on their perfect family, and really, I had an awesome childhood. Colman was such a great big brother.” He shook his head. “I had an awesome childhood. I’m not kidding. I don’t hear many people say that, but I did. I loved it, I love my parents, I loved my brother.

  “But he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He told me the whole story, and I believed him. I never had reason to doubt him. He said he was walking by the dorm room when someone fired a gun. A bunch of guys ran by, bumping up against him, and dragging him with them. The cops were waiting at the other end of the street and arrested all of them, including him. He explained he had just been walking back from class and got caught in the mess. Cops didn’t care. He didn’t expect them to.

  “They found a quarter key of cocaine in his bag, as well as a gun. Someone had shoved it in his backpack as they were running, he was sure. He was confident the lawyers would get him off, explaining what happened.

  “Then the murder charge came down, tied to the gun he’d been found with in the backpack. He still believed the system would do him right and release him after they realized the gun didn’t have his prints or his name attached to it.

  “He was found guilty of nine charges, including the murder. He was sentenced to forty years, with no chance of parole for twenty-six years. We have had lawyers upon lawyers and I’ve even contacted the Innocence Project—but they’re overwhelmed and it could take months to even hear an assessment. Meanwhile, my brilliant, loving brother sits in a fucking jail cell, rotting. Because the legal system failed him. Time and time again.”

  “Jesus, Fischer...”

  “So I don’t like to get involved in this shit because it just fails. It gives the wrong people the wrong conviction and there’s nothing I can fucking do to change that.”

  My finger ran around the rim of the mug. “It doesn’t always fail.”

  “Forgive me if I don’t believe that.”

  I let out a breath. “I can’t give up on the system. It’s my lifeline. It’s the only way I can make progress, the only way I can hope to get some of these kids out of the system, into real homes. Away from the hell that is their everyday life, being beaten and worse.”

  “I realize that. Now.”

  “Is there any way I can get you to think about helping the ones you put back together? You don’t do a lot of those surgeries like you did on the Carson boy...maybe once a month. You don’t even have to go into the court. It’s possible to do a written statement. We can have Haden depose you and have it notarized.”

  He sighed. “That doesn’t sound like it would be out of reach...”

  I did grab his hands this time. “Anything helps, Please, Fischer. These kids deserve a chance to live.”

  “It’s not going to be easy for me to do this. I’ve been against this so long that I’ll have to be reminded now and again that I want to do this. I know Ellie deserves justice, and the chance to get away from all of this.”

  “And the others?”

  “If you can get Haden to depose me, either by written or video statement, yes. But please realize that’s all I can give. I just don’t trust the system.”

  I smirked. “You don’t trust it or you don’t want to put on suits and give the time?”

  He laughed. “Maybe a little bit of both.”

  “Laxmi squealed on you, she told us you’re lazy.”

  “Oh, she’s...” He really laughed hard. “I am. It’s true. But that’s not the only reason I won’t get involved. I hope you can understand that. I have to go see my big brother, who has a PhD in physics, in jail. He earned his whole degree behind bars. He can’t be a part of the world because the system failed him. I am terrified that he won’t ever be exonerated.”

  “I get it, Fischer. I do. I promise. But help us help Ellie. Don’t hide away if I have to deal with the courts to do something. Please. That’s where I lost it. You didn’t give us a chance to work through the courts to get her the money to stay in the hospital.”

  “Did you?” he asked.

  Taking a sip of the coffee, I studied him. “I didn’t have to. Foster never took the funds away. He didn’t fight it at all. All the money he had earmarked for the fund showed up without interruption.”

  “Curious,” he said. “Do you think it was an empty threat? Or an attack of conscience?”

  “I think we shamed him into it,” I answered. “I think he was too mortified by what we did that night for him to even think about pulling the money. It’s a healthy tax write off for him, so why would he stop the payments. I also don’t think there’s an iota of conscience in that piece of shit.”

  Fischer nodded. “I think you’re right. That’s his reputation. He has no drive except money. And if you embarrass him enough about his money, he does the right thing.”

  “Ugh, what a shit way to live,” I answered.

  “Something went wrong in his childhood.”

  “Hey, Doctor Freud, leave the analysis to the experts.”

  He cocked his head. “I’m wrong?”

  “Not even remotely.”

  Fischer

  The door to the house finally banged open after a very long string of curses.

  Most of which were my fault as my hand was stuffed down the front of Wren’s jeans and my finger danced over her clit.

  “Fischer…” she ground out as she pulled me into the house.

  I slammed my mouth over hers and took her mouth hostage. Christ, one week without her and I was like a crazed maniac.

  Kicking the door closed, I backed her up against the wall, still plundering the kiss. Her hands were on my belt and she was in much better control of that than the house keys.

  “Shit!”

  The exclamation came from the living room of the house and I saw a blanket fly through the air and land on a lap. I pulled away from Wren to glance into the room. She leaned her head back on the wall and was laughing already.

  Looking into the room with me, we were both giggling. Miriam sat with the blanket over her lap, her face bright red and desperately trying to keep her expression neutral.

  The blanket was not staying still.

  Wren tossed her head back and let out a good loud laugh. “I see you, Laxi!” she called.

  A hand emerged from under the blanket and flipped a middle finger at us. I couldn’t hold back my laugh either.

  Wren stared at Miriam, and a wicked grin spread across their faces. “Race?” Miriam asked.

  “Bet,” Wren said.

  She grabbed me by my belt and dragged me down the hall to her room. A moment after the door slammed, I heard the other bedroom door slam, and her mouth was on mine.

  “Make me come. They’ll pay for dinner.”

  I laughed. “You’re serious.”

  “Whoever gets off first wins.”

  “You and your roommate are perverts.” I smiled against her lips, but my hands pulled her pants down, right off her ass. She stepped out of them, I backed her all the way up to her bed and she fell backward on to it.

  With no preamble, I dropped to my knees and hiked her legs over my shoulders. Her sex glistened from her own desire that I had been stoking with my fingers.

  I’d had a hand down her pants on the way back from the restaurant. I missed her feel that much. One week. I couldn’t be away from this woman, not on the horrible terms we had been. I needed to figure this out, and I need to make sure I kept her.

  Driving two of my fingers into her channel, she gasped loudly and grabbed a pillow from the head of the bed. She stuffed it behind her head so she could watch me, but her breath was already stuttering in
her chest.

  And what a fine, fine chest it was. I could see her pert nipples poking up, pressing against the fabric of her bra and T-shirt and I was planning to get my fill of those this afternoon.

  But first, dinner.

  I dropped my mouth to her mons and licked my way down to the neat little bud nestled in her folds. Dancing my tongue around it, I couldn’t stop from being pleased at her gasp and hip jerk.

  “Holy shit,” she gasped. “Fischer…”

  “Got you all hot and bothered in the car, baby,” I breathed the words over her and let them tickle her sensitive skin.

  “You weren’t supposed to, you naughty assed bastard,” she managed to groan out between gasps.

  “You wanted my hands on you just as much as I wanted them.”

  “Will you shut up and eat me out already?”

  I nipped her clit and she squeaked in shock and delight. Lapping my tongue over her, I started moving my fingers in and out of her tunnel, but there was no finesse in it. I was rough, and she loved it by the moans and yelps and mangled gasps of my name.

  She tasted so good to me. Her silk was soft and sweet on my tongue and lips, and I couldn’t help sucking lightly on her. Her fists curled into the bed and she was begging softly, “Yes, yes yes yes,” as I stroked in and out, over her spot deep inside, but never pressing hard on it.

  I adored her murmured yeses because I knew she was lost in the pleasure I wanted to give her. There was almost nothing better than hearing this woman come, either on my fingers, my tongue or my cock. Her absolutely divine sexual confidence was addictive. She knew what she liked, what she didn’t and asked for all of it.

  I wanted this as mine. For eternity.

  …“For eternity.”

  “Forever.”

  I spiked myself deep into her body…

  “Fuck!” she screamed as my finger finally pressed against the spot deep inside and sent her over the edge.

  Between her taste, the way she abandoned herself to me and the vision, I came right in my pants. Right there, without ever having touched myself. Like a twelve year old boy who’d just discovered tits were a thing.

  “Oh Fuck, yes!” Her voice echoed in the room, and she clawed the sheets desperately. She curled in on herself, trying to claim more of the climax and I helped her on the merry chase.

  To both of our shock, when I brushed my finger over her spot deep inside, she came again, and this time there were no words, just a scream of pleasure that had her arching up on the bed, pressing her pussy hard against my face.

  I had to pull my fingers from her depths. I had the feeling that if I touched her spot again, she’d come a third time and I couldn’t ask that of her body, not right now. Using my fingers and my tongue I helped her calm from the insane height we had hit so quickly.

  “Holy shit, Fischer.”

  “Got a washing machine?”

  She squinted at me confused. “That’s not what I expected to hear…”

  “Well, I kinda came in my pants.”

  Gasping, Wren sat up, and the evidence of my not-really-shame was there on the front of the pants. She put a hand on my jaw and drew me in for a languid kiss. “So it really was that good.”

  “Yeah, baby, it was.” I smiled against her lips.

  Then, down the hall, I heard another shout of delight, echoing a bit in the hallway.

  “Yes! We won!” Wren gave a quick fist pump.

  I couldn’t stop laughing.

  I traced little circles over the naked skin of her back as we settled from the last round of mad fucking.

  After we confirmed our win, she slammed and locked the door and had her way with me. I wasn’t complaining. Her way was just as wonderful as any which way I could get her.

  “Why did you lie to me, Fischer?”

  The question wasn’t unexpected, but I thought I had a little longer before she asked it. She didn’t sound too angry, so I took some comfort in that. “I don’t know. It just didn’t occur to me you’d be okay with me having visions too.”

  She lifted her head and rested her chin on me to stare at me. “That’s why you insisted they were visions and not hallucinations.”

  “Yes.”

  Her fingers trailed on my arm this time. “How long?”

  “My whole life,” I answered. “I thought everyone had them. My parents were horrified when I told them.”

  Her lips twitched in a smile. “Over reacted?”

  “Understatement.”

  Wren smiled and laughed lightly. “What did they make you do?”

  “Therapy and the Rosary.” I smirked.

  “Wow, I got away with therapy.”

  I shrugged. “It made them happy, and Father was a good guy.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t mind the therapy. It helped me work out a lot of stuff not related to seeing weird shit in my head.” She sighed and laid her head back down. “Fischer?”

  “Yes, little bird?”

  “We can’t have this relationship if we lie to each other. I always want the truth from you. And I promise the same. Always the truth.”

  “I know. Always the truth. I don’t want to go through this week again for anything,” I answered. “I mean, it’s probably insane I want you this much, that I feel bereft without you, but it’s the damn truth. You’ve…changed me. I wouldn’t say softened my heart, but opened it up. Made me willing to see things I haven’t before.”

  “Good.” She smiled. “Because this week did suck. I hated not having you around, or be able to sext you.”

  I let out a huff. “Is that all I am to you? Just an easy sext?”

  “Please. If you were any more willing, you’d walk in wearing a condom.”

  “Who said I didn’t?”

  She slapped my arm, then settled against me again. “Do you think the visions really mean anything?”

  “I like the name that Laxi gave them. Darsana. It has more of a connotation that we’re getting a peek at something else. Because even though we both have them, they don’t…connect to anything. They’re not things going on in the world, I don’t even know where they take place. They seem to feed off our emotions more than anything else.”

  “Have you ever seen the place where they come from?” she asked, and seemed confused by her own question.

  “I have, kind of,” I said.

  “Green fields, bright sky, but not blue.”

  Nodding, I played with the ends of her hair. “Not here, but not really any place you can name. Not like another world, or another dimension feel.”

  “Exactly. It’s here. But still not here.”

  “I’m just glad I have people I can talk to about them now without getting looked at crookedly, or immediately locked into Belmont.” I quirked an eyebrow.

  She flexed her hand, the bad one, over my chest. I reached down and brought her knuckles to my lips. “Hurts?”

  “A little. Not so bad right now.”

  I ghosted my hand down her back and over her ass. “I can take your mind off it.”

  Wren cocked her head to consider me. “And just how do you propose to do that, Doctor?”

  “Mmm, an old practice called ‘laying of hands’.”

  “Oh?”

  I rolled so she was under me. “Yeah. Imma lay my hands all over those gorgeous tits.”

  The images of the room were shocking.

  It was honestly one of the most horrifying pictures I had ever seen, and it really made me reconsider my promise to Wren. Until she kissed the top of my head and leaned over the tablet with me.

  I remembered quickly that this was her lifeline, her driving force.

  And she smelled good.

  Down, dick. Down. We had agreed to try not to let our lust get the better of us. I didn’t think we were long for that, but I was willing to try. Just for a challenge.

  “What do you think?” she asked.

  “I think this is one of the most fucked up things I’ve ever seen.”

  “Wait until you see
this...” Wren hit a few buttons, and the lights went out in the room, and the four projectors started up. The images from the small screen were tossed on to the walls and it was suddenly way too real.

  Three walls and the ceiling were covered with the pictures. I could see why it took them a day to get the picture of the guy out of the images. The whole terrifying thing was a third angle perspective of the ringleader leaning over her, fists on the bed. His grimy face took up most of the ceiling, but tapered down so that it was possible to see his chest, his hips, his penis and his thighs.

  There was no doubt about what was going on at that moment.

  The back wall was her legs and feet and the crests of her breasts. Jesus Christ.

  The right wall was his arm, and some background images that seemed to be a door with a light on behind it, possibly a bathroom. There was a wardrobe in the corner and the edge of the window near the closest edge of the image to the wall behind us.

  The left wall was more of a dark room. A nightstand, a clock, a lamp, a dresser, and a set of windows. It was also possible to see the outline of the city in the windows.

  Pointing to it, I walked over and studied it. “This is from Fairmount park, up by Belmont Hospital.”

  “Yes, somewhere by the hospital or the zoo,” Wren agreed. “Haden had a few people casing the area looking around to see if they could get a close match to the skyline.”

  “Was that where the first bust came from?”

  “No, it was up by West Girard, behind the museums.”

  “She got moved.”

  “Yes, and doesn’t remember it. Which means she was drugged.”

  I nodded, and looked back at the nightstand. The clock read 4:07 a.m. and there was something behind the clock, next to the lamp. I cocked my head and squinted. I stepped back and looked at it again. It was familiar. I walked back to where Ellie would have been laying to look at it again.

  “Holy shit. That’s a CPAP machine.” I whipped my head around and looked at Wren.

  “She told us he used one.”