In Hot Water Pt. 03

We step off outside my first class, and I don't want to let go. My sister either senses it in me, or has the same thought. She pushes her fingers through my newly darkened hair behind my ear and five knives poke gently into my scalp. She pulls me close, with her lips to my ear.

"Text me what you find today. On the blue one, of course."

"I'll let you know." I put my hand on her hip, and kiss her.

People whirl all around us, as they had that first day, and each morning since. I wonder if the other travelers are getting used to the show. Aggressive PDA is probably a brazen thing to continue doing, considering how careful we'd become in other areas. The commercial building across the street is bustling with activity, and workers are repainting the sign with the black bars and the silhouette mascot. The bird now stands taller, and looks straight at Jessica and me.

But as I stand there, lost in my sister's arms, I don't care. I kiss her, and run my hand up her back. When her nails leave my head, I let go. Jessica smiles and turns up the sidewalk, before the dense crowd steals her from my view. The last thing I see is green. Serrated jade daggers, they'd been the other night at dinner, but they're not sharp when she points them at me.

A horn honks in front of me.

A man rides on a forklift, carrying a pallet covered in plastic wrap, with blue aluminum machinery entombed within. It looks like a Mark IV. The man waves, as he crosses my path, and a red-striped badge dances around his chest, to the tune of his arm motion. I look up at the silver mirror globe on the ceiling, and it's clear to cross into the manufacturing facility. Steel cages flank me on either side, and something beeps off in the distance. As I'm part way across the cavernous facility, a man up ahead scans his badge on a door, which produces yet another type of beep.

I cross into Building Four, and take note of column A12 nearby. I decide elevators are too confined, and find the corner stairwell. I don't want to run into anybody and have to explain who I am, or what I'm doing. The stairs put me at the third floor variety of another A12, and at the corner of a vast city of cubicles, not unlike my own. A quick walk and I'm staring at post C11. I tuck my head below the shoulder-high walls and take the first right, noting the names on the corners of the cubicles. Some lie empty, some occupied.

I zig zag up one row, then turn and go back down the next. About half of the cubicles hum with signs of life. Coats, lit computer screens, lunches, and coffee cups mark their owners. As I snoop past the vacant cubes, a couple posters hung on the sides lead me to believe this area of the campus has something to do with human resources, though I don't know enough to discern anything further. Then, at the end of the second to last row, by what looks to be a broken copy machine, I find Todd's cubicle.

Old technology litters the cube. Several computer towers lay on their sides on top of the desk, with nothing plugged into any of them. A printer rides on the chair, with a tangled mess of cables laid over the top. Multiple dusty computer monitors stand in an upright row, like dominoes wedged under a grey metal shelf. An extra office chair squeezes itself into the corner, taking up most of the floor space, with a broken fax machine atop it.

I squat down in Todd's cubicle, and my ID badge hanging from my neck dangles between my legs. I pull the badge over my knee to get it out of the way, and send a blue dot text to my sister.

"Found Todd's office. It's full of junk. Nobody works here."

Before I put my phone away, it buzzes.

"You sure?" -- Jessica

I take a picture and sent it to her.

"Wow. They're using it as a trash can. What does that mean?"

"It means he's not here. He could be in a testing facility somewhere, but I doubt that's the case. I think I would have seen him by now. And he's never checked his email, or at least he's never responded to me."

My brain and thumbs both tire from typing the message out. I'm not as good at texting as my sister, and it takes me forever.

"Did you find his boss?"

"He reports to Kirsten. A bunch of other people report to her too, but the rest are all at the Seattle campus. He's stationed, or whatever, under my boss, but his actual direct boss is Kirsten."

"Who does she report to?"

"Lol. Dad."

"Knew it."

"And who does he report to?"

"Fuck, I didn't even check before I came down here. I'm heading back."

I poke my head up, and start back to the stairs of Building Four. As I round the flights of stairs back to the first floor, I keep thinking about the '-c' on all the account names. I don't know what that means. When I get out of the stairwell, I pull out my phone again, and send a blue dot to Garrett.

"What does a '-c' mean at the end of someone's account name?"

I reach the intersection marking the transition to the manufacturing complex, and carefully eye the silver globe on the ceiling, noting that the path is clear. The alarm is no longer beeping out in the cages. I step into the corridor, and just as I put my phone away it buzzes.

"It's a contractor. They don't work for us." -- Garrett

"What's that mean exactly?"

"They only work here for a set amount of time. Usually employed through a staffing agency."

"But they still work here on site, right? And have a boss?"

"Yeah, if you looked at their badge you'd see a different marker, and their contract agency name, but otherwise they're indistinguishable. From a payroll standpoint, it's one step removed. Our company hires a contract agency, who in turn hires contractors to be placed here. Sometimes they're hired in batches."

"Cool, thanks."

I reach the row of steel crossings over the exterior windows, and pass by cubicle after blue cubicle on my left, then I splash down in my chair, and resume my search. I find my dad in the database again, and then I click the up arrow.

I text my sister immediately. "Kirsten is Dad's boss."

"WTF. How does that work?" -- Jessica

"Not sure. It shows him as her boss. And her as his boss. I'm just reading it on the screen here."

"Who are they accountable to? Each other? No one?"

"Not sure. And I found out something else, but I don't know what it means. All the people who report to Kirsten are contract employees, including Todd. They technically work for another company, even though they're here."

"Hmm."

I want to ask Garrett more, but I don't want to text, even with the safety of the blue dot system. Plus, my thumbs are tired, and I have too many questions to ask.

"You got a break coming up? Can I buy you a coffee and pick your brain about some things?"

My phone buzzes before I set it down.

"I'm about to head to the building one café. Meet me there?"

"Sure."

I lock my computer, and text Jessica as I once more pass the giant steel beams crisscrossed over the exterior windows.

"I'm going to go get some information from Garrett about how everything works here."

As I turn left down the corridor to building one, my phone buzzes.

"Be careful what you say."

"I'm framing this as new hire curiosity."

"He's a good guy. Don't drag him into anything."

"I know. I'm just going to ask him about corporate structure."

"He'll talk your ears off on that."

I go to pocket my phone as I reach the crossing into building one, but it buzzes before I can stow it.

"Order me the biggest black coffee they have. I'm going to be a few late. Some huge fire drill in accounting about--"

A horn honks, and I look up.

But it's too late.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER 17

Mom says, "Make sure you ice it in cycles." She steps into the hall, while I stand by my bed and fumble with the cold pack against my shoulder.

The kitchen door slams shut, and stomping approaches. Jessica pushes past Mom, and wraps her arms around me. Two lips touch my cheek, and I tense. My sister lets go of me, and jerks away, like she's touched a hot stove. The breeze from her movement rushes past my face, and my cheek burns cold where her lips had been.

"Jessica," says Mom. She steps back into my room, looking down at her phone. "Be nice to your brother. He's had a rough day."

"Okay," says my sister.

Mom turns and leaves once more. Her padded shoes retreat down the hallway.

Jessica pushes the door closed with one finger, so the latch is touching.

"That was bold," I whisper.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking." Her whisper is lower than mine. My sister stands in front of me, and cocks her head, examining where I hold the ice. She scrunches her nose up. "Are you okay?"

"Just my shoulder hurts."

"Mom said you got hurt at work. Something about a forklift?"

"I got hit by a Mark IV still in a shipping crate. I forgot to look both ways."

"How bad is it?"

"Bruised. It's mostly right here." I adjust the ice.

"Mostly?" Jessica stands tall, but the worry has not left her face.

"I bumped my head on the wall. Like, it barely touched, but they had to check me for head trauma. I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"So I can touch you?" Jessica's question is an even quieter whisper.

"You can do anything you want to me."

She leans over my arm holding the icepack and gives me a kiss on the lips. "Did you have to go to the hospital?"

"Nah, EMT's checked me out at work, and said I was fine. I'm really okay, like I said."

"Mom's text was very alarmist." Jessica gently rubs my non-hurt shoulder. "This one is okay?"

"Yeah, that side is fine. And worrying is her job."

Jessica leans over and kisses me again, but there's tongue this time. I kiss her back, until footsteps in the hall grow louder. My sister whisks away from me, as my bedroom door flies open, with our mother behind it.

"Okay, I'm headed back to the clinic. Alex, do all the things I said. I'll be home late. Jessica, take care of your brother." She turns and leaves us alone.

"Okay, Mom," says Jessica. We stare at each other and listen to the footsteps soften.

The kitchen door opens and closes.

"Mom says I have to take care of you," says Jessica in her normal voice.

"Yeah, I heard."

"You sure you're okay? Just your shoulder, right?"

"Yeah, but I need to give this a rest." I set the icepack on my bedside table.

"You let me know if something hurts." Jessica hangs her arms around my neck.

I kick the door shut from where we stand, and lean my sister onto my bed. Clothes fly off us in all directions, and pretty soon I'm deep inside her, as she's bent over with her face buried in my blankets. I work her like that for some time, until Jessica pulls herself up, and whirls around.

My sister asks, "Want to lay back?"

I spin her by the hips, then lay back on my pillow. My shoulder pulses through the waning numbness from the ice.

Jessica climbs on top of me, in what is quickly becoming my favorite position, mostly due to how much she loves it. She's great at her work, and before long I'm cumming inside her. After I finish, she rides me a bit longer, but she lets up when I start to soften.

"Sorry, you're too good at that."

"That's okay. This was for you." Jessica slides off the bed, and picks up her phone off the floor, then lays back down next to me. She rests her chin on my ribs, as she taps away on the screen.

I reach over the side of the bed, and pull a blanket off the floor that had been ejected during our fun. Ticking sounds from my sister's conversation fill the room.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Jane." Her face glows, as the phone's screen overpowers the last reaches of daylight from my window. "We're planning stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"The trip this weekend. We have to go shopping, and pick up the keys for the beach house. And figure out rides there." Jessica works her phone with one hand, while I have her other arm pinned between us.

"I'm going to play a game," I say, "so you can use two hands with that."

I peel myself away from my sister, and climb down to the foot of the bed. She stretches out into the space where I'd been, and resumes her conversation with both hands. I push the blanket above her waist, exposing her.

The tapping sounds stop. "I thought you were going to play something?"

"I am." In one lick, I run my tongue from the bottom of Jessica lips, up over her clit, to the black curls above.

"Oh!" She jolts against my face.

"Too much?"

"No, I just wasn't expecting that." The tapping resumes.

I tease her with my fingers, while I lick, mostly focusing on her clit. The tapping from above continues, as I work my sister, but when I reach inside, and hook her, the sounds from above stop. I relax my grip, teasing only with my tongue, and the tapping resumes, though more rapid, as though she's catching up on her thoughts. I let the ticking sounds go for a while, then I flatten my tongue the way she likes it. The ticking sounds from the phone vanish, and are replaced with labored breathing. I pull my tongue away, and the sounds return to taps and ticks, though it's even more frantic now. I leave her to finish her message, and my room hums quiet for a while. I bide my time, taking in the smell of the wetness. Then I'm touching her with my tongue again, but nothing else. She starts into another message, with a rapid series of ticks, and I lay my tongue flat, and pull her inside with my fingers. No tapping sounds, only quiet whimpers from above.

She clamps down on my fingers, and I stop everything I'm doing.

"You're." Jessica gasps for breath. "An asshole. You know that?"

I push down toward the mattress, and I work her as hard as I know how with my tongue. Jessica cums against my face, twitching around my fingers.

She sucks in a series of deep breaths, and flops her arms to her sides.

I manage to interrupt several more texts with contractions around my fingers, though her responses begin to blur together after a while. Eventually my tongue wears out, and I have to quit. I crawl up next to Jessica, and pull the blanket over us. She clicks her phone off, surrendering the room to darkness.

"Alex, I have a real love, hate thing with your game."

Getting to know my sister.

We lay on my bed, sticky against each other. Jessica rests her head on my good shoulder, and crosses her leg between mine. I run my fingers down the smooth lengths of her hair, and admire the dim sheen provided by the streetlight outside my window.

So much lies uncertain with my dad. I don't know what to think about him, let alone what I might do. He's wrapped up in something ugly. I knew I'd be under his shadow, but I didn't expect whatever he's doing. I push my thoughts away from him, and focus on my sister instead. I breathe orange, and her heart beats against me. The more I focus on her heart, the less I care about the other noise.

For a moment I wonder if my sister is asleep, but then she starts making circles with her fingers on my chest.

I say, "I did get some information today. Before I got hurt."

"So what the fuck was up with Dad and Kirsten? They're each other's bosses?"

"That's what the database said. Don't know how that works, in practice."

"I wonder if that's what they were celebrating way back when."

"Could be. Then there's Todd. And the other contractors."

"I was thinking about this today, before I got the message from Mom about you. I sent you a text, but you didn't respond."

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't have my phone for a while after the forklift hit me. I was actually holding it, when it happened, and it flew out of my hand. Somebody nearby picked it up, and I had to go find them later, after the EMT's were done with me."

"Someone else had your phone?"

"Somebody nice nearby set it aside. I don't know who it was."

"Was your phone unlocked? With our texts open?"

I hadn't even thought about that.

"I want to use the disappearing texts from now on," says Jessica, "so they're gone no matter what happens."

"Okay, How about 5 minutes?" I slide my phone off the table next to us, out from under a corner of the icepack. The room floods when I tap the screen, and my sister and I both squint at the needle sharp brightness.

"I'm good with that. Let's clear our history too." Jessica casts a second glow with her phone. "And do you use a lock screen code?"

"I didn't used to use one, but I set a code when we... started playing together."

"I use a code too," says Jessica. "Mine times out after 30 seconds." We compare settings, then lock our phones, and the room sinks back to darkness. "Okay, I feel a lot better now. Can you dig up more about Todd? Ask around or something"

"I can't go in to work. I'm on mandatory leave because of the accident."

"What the fuck?" Jessica pushes herself off my chest. Her face eclipses the distant light outside the window.

"Some kind of workers' compensation procedural thing. It's a corporate policy."

"Somebody hit you, and you can't go in?"

"The forklift driver probably has the same problem."

"How long does this take?"

"They said a few days. Could be the rest of the week. It's paid leave at least. But I can't look anything up until it's done."

"Could Garrett look it up?"

"Yeah, but do you want to explain to him what we're doing?"

"Fuck no," says Jessica. "Good point."

"The weird thing is that all the people who report to Kirsten are contractors."

"What's that mean?"

"It's sort of like hiring a construction crew. They don't work directly for the company. They're hired through a staffing agency. I guess it's pretty common."

"A staffing agency. Like, a temp agency."

"Yeah."

"Like, say, the Red Haired Lady's company. Can you tell which one it is?"

"Garrett said it's marked on ID badges."

"So what if they used her company?" asks Jessica "And then does Donna know about Todd?"

"I wonder if we can find out."

"I'll ask Donna," says Jessica.

"What?" I sit up and face my sister.

"I'll invite her to lunch. And I'll drop Todd's name in when I mention you. I want to see what she does."

"You really up for that?"

"Yes, I think so. There's weird shit going on, and I want to know what it is. I'll text the Red Haired Lady tomorrow."

"I'm really curious what she'll say." I touch Jessica's back above her waist, while we sit facing each other. I want to hold her tighter, but my shoulder aches. "I think it's time for more ice."

"Lay back. I'm taking care of you, remember." Jessica rolls off the bed, and I rest on my pillow. An icy chill spreads through my arm, then my sister stretches against my other side. "Let me know if it needs changing."

The ice slowly begins to work, and Jessica keeps me warm, as we lay together. I'm vaguely aware that we probably shouldn't stay naked in my bed all night, since Mom will eventually come home. I don't want another close call. But for now, we're safe, and I allow myself to rest my eyes.

I awake some time later, unsure how long I'd been out. Jessica's head rests against my cheek, her breath tickling my lips.

"What time is it?" I ask

"She won't be home for an hour." My sister kisses me as she pulls her face away, and then lays back on the pillow.

I toss the now-warm icepack onto the table, and put my good arm around my sister. Her long hair drapes down her side, across her chest. Bright silver highlights over black silk, spreading out from her nipple. It looks like the sunrays of Aten my professor uses as a presentation background. Long straight lines of light, turning to open hands when they reach the ground.