The Trooper's New Fuck-Buddy

Author's Foreword: This is shorter story about an unusual man finding a new fuck-buddy in an unusual set of circumstances. Skimmers, please go away as there is nothing here that would make one wish to read it in private. Thanks for all the private feedback.

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Tom Sullivan was a State Trooper temporarily assigned to be part of the safety perimeter of an emergency highway construction work zone. Work was ongoing using temporary lighting in the darkness of late afternoon this mid-winter day. The Trooper's extra duty was offered after he had pulled his regular shift as a highway patrolman in the bitter New England winter wind and occasional blowing snow. He was exhausted beyond words. Tom smiled to himself when he saw his replacement vehicle and patrolman friend approaching the construction area. He signaled 'greetings see you later' and drove his tired aching bones toward his home.

His residence was a townhouse community near the center of his patrol assignments and he habitually drove the state owned and vividly marked vehicle home and parked it in the numbered parking space of his Townhouse Parking Lot Complex. He removed weapons from the vehicle and walked into his unit and secured them as prescribed. He then showered and changed into street clothes to enjoy his after-work time off. (Obviously, he reversed the process when going on shift). His privately owned car was a nondescript sedan which he used for transportation when off duty and was assigned the parking spot beside the highly visible state owned vehicle.

Of course he inadvertently 'advertised' what he did for a living and every neighbor knew where he lived. But all of them considered him a nice guy personally and applauded his and the state police's efforts to remove aggressive drivers from the highways. He often could be found at the complex's swimming pool or tennis courts in the warm months and frequented the complex's gym otherwise. And, sometimes he showed up at the bridge club meet to play a few hands if someone needed a partner.

Tom was just over 6 feet, early 40s and had been divorced 15 years. His son was grown now and brought his two grandchildren by to see him regularly in the summer to swim in the complex's pool. He lived alone and considered himself in a 'fishbowl' as far as his private life went so that when at home he was a model of the perfect citizen and gentleman. A handsome man, he turned down many come ons from ladies who lived in the complex. He had a sex life and was enjoying a two year running but uncommitted relationship with a divorcee who lived 15 minutes away. When visiting her he drove his sedan.

The trooper could barely remember what his ex-wife looked like now. But he did remember with frustration that a womanizer neighbor had seduced his wife. This was when Tom, then even more so than now, worked erratic hours and often double shifts. She had asked him for a divorce wanting only child-support from Tom. She then moved in with the neighborhood Randy and the whole affair caused little net financial cost to Tom and there was scarcely any talk of the incident around the complex. The young child actually lived in both units while growing up for three years after their separation. But then the ex-wife's paramour relocated and refused to take Tom's ex-wife with him, so the son moved back in with his Dad to finish school and his mother moved in with two of her co-workers to share an apartment. The son commuted to high school and later trade school. His son never talks about his mother anymore, except to say, "She still lives with two roommates not far from here."

The action starts on this cold New England winter's evening. The parking lots and highways had been plowed and sanded from previous snowfalls and the temperature had been forecasted to fall to 15 degrees in that clear night. Tom Sullivan sat in his warm apartment very much engrossed in a detective story movie on screen. Suddenly there was a panicky pounding on his door and Tom went to see who it was. Through the port he saw his Latino neighbor señora Sanchez. He didn't know which unit she lived in but remembered seeing and chatting with her and her husband many times. He had learned that they were immigrants from Costa Rica or Panama or some place like that and had been American citizens for many years. Not dressed to be outside, the woman was shivering, so Tom hurriedly opened the door and invited her in. She said with a barely noticeable Spanish accent, "My husband is going to kill me. Please protect me!"

Tom's first response was breathing, "Oh no. Just what I need - a crazy neighbor." He said to her, "Celina, why do you think Juan is going to kill you?"

He listened to her frightened but incoherent chatter and finally said, "Would you like for me to walk to with you to your unit as your neighbor and let's both talk to Juan?"

"Please do, Mister policeman," obviously unable to remember Tom's name although, he remembered hers.

Tom guessed that she was in her early 40s and actually very pretty and he knew she visited the gym regularly. The few conversations they did have was about food - she was something of a self styled gourmet cook of Central American Foods. Tom remembered that in a pool side pot luck, she had brought a very, very tasty covered dish that was instantly gone because everybody thought it was wonderful.

When Celina lead Tom into their unit, her husband, Juan Sanchez, lay on the floor in the fetal position groaning. There was a small sign that a struggle had taken place in the room. The Trooper said to Celina, "Please calm down." Tom removed his coat and bent down, as he was trained to do, to see what, if any, injuries Juan Sanchez had sustained. There were none. Tom asked, "Juan, what is wrong. Where do you hurt?" Again he lay in the fetal position groaning, and not saying anything or even opening his eyes to even acknowledge Tom Sullivan's presence.

Celina, was still crying and spoke up, "Mister policeman, Juan caught his brother and me in our bed just now because my jealous husband came home early and unexpected. Juan screamed and fell down grabbing his brother's leg. When he saw us naked in each other's arms, Sergio attempted to run away. Then the two wrestled out to here. My husband told his brother, 'I am going to kill you and my whore wife.' Then Juan just collapsed into this position while my brother-in-law put on his clothes and coat and ran out the door."

The thought going on in Tom's mind was, "Damn! Damn! Damn! Why is this shit happening to me after after 14 hours patrolling and then on a construction project? Oh shit it's Juan's very large male ego collapse. After he finally pulls himself together, he probably will, in deed, murder both of them, if Juan is the textbook husband. Dear Lord! Why me?"

Tom reached for his cell phone and called a local police dispatcher and gave an identity number and a situation code number, along with the address. He concluded by saying, "I will remain here with the threatened victim until the black-and-white arrives."

After what seemed like hours but probably was more like 10 minutes there was a siren and a flashing light in the parking lot and two uniforms were at the door. Tom opened it and gave a five minute summary of what happened and introduced the two to Mrs. Sanchez. Before saying a word to her, the older of the two policemen grabbed a communicator off his side and gave a 'Need backup and a code." In about 10 more minutes a local detective that Tom had previously met came into the room. After a couple of minutes of chatting, Tom said, "I will say good night and continue to enjoy my time off. Thanks to all three of you for your quick response. In your write up please note that I am Joe Citizen and not a trooper."

It was three weeks later and Tom had been visiting his fuck-buddy, and he and his girlfriend had enjoyed a very good fish dinner prior to getting it on. Their usual procedure was to enjoy an expensive meal then return to her apartment afterwards and make whoopee. Driving home later, he felt pretty good since his tubes were cleared. He pulled into his numbered parking place for his sedan. As usual, he examined the 'company' car to be sure no vandals had defaced it and saw that someone had placed an advertising circular under his windshield wiper. It was a real estate firm's circular wanting to buy condos, so he took it with him intending to trash it inside his unit. Once inside he started to put down the items he was holding in his hand when the circular floated to the floor, upside down. On the back was penciled in bold letters, "Celina ..." The phone number was very close to his own cell phone number so that it was impossible to forget. He trashed the circular and went about his business of getting ready for bed. In bed, he thought about Celina for the first time since the incident. He mused, "She is beautiful and fit and educated and I can certainly understand that her brother in law had the 'hots' for her body - her big boobs and tiny waist are a magnet - even to me. She probably just wants to thank me, and that is not necessary and I would rather she didn't." He went to sleep.

A week later, a second circular appeared on his windshield and again Tom saw Celina's tracks. Today he called. "Hello"

"This is Tom Sullivan, Celina, thanks for contacting me. How are you and what happened to you after I left your apartment? By the way, please call me Tom?"

"Hello Tom. As for what happened to me, I spent almost three weeks in a battered women's shelter in a secret location. Juan was and remains under a restraining order and so has moved out. I am staying mostly with a sister now but I go to our house often to pick up and store things. I had to take a week off my English for Foreigners teaching job but I am back now."

Tom asked, "Where is your brother-in-law?"

Celina replied, "His daughter says he is back in our home country now."

The trooper asked, "What are your plans for living in the future?"

"I am in the process of moving back home and Juan has moved in with a son who lives on the other side of Boston. I will try to find a roommate so I can afford to keep the townhouse. That is one of the reasons I called you. Would you please be on the look out for Juan or Sergio and text me if either show up? Also, may I call you if either are banging on my door?"

Tom thought for a moment and said, "As a friendly neighbor, Celina, I will do this - but not as a policeman. If you feel your safety is threatened you must call 911. You can go to the gym when I go if you want as I would enjoy a workout partner. I am sure Juan has key access to there but I think his immediate pain has subsided by now and is not a risk to you. Would you like that?"

"Oh yes! muchas gracias."

Tom read off his schedule and they continued to chat amiably and finally said, "Good Night."

Tom's gym schedule was irregular because of his irregular hours at work, and Celina's schedule became his whenever she was not in a classroom or traveling as an interpreter in Portuguese or Spanish. He would knock on her door and call out, "It's Tom." Often in the gym they would jog side by side on two treadmills talking while they did cardio. He also helped her with the free weights, since the homeowners association had been unable to afford state of the art weight bearing equipment.

One day four or five weeks later they were walking together to the gym. By that time anyone who bothered to notice, started to think of them as a couple. At the end of each workout he dutifully walked her back to her unit and said, "Good night" or "Good Day." Tom, on this day after their workout, said, "Celina, You never cease to amaze me just how seriously you take these exercise sessions, congratulations to you. Now that I have a workout partner, I, too, am seeing the first hint of wash-board abs on my midsection that I have always wanted. I have even changed my diet to build my muscles."

She said, "Tom, that is great. I, too, have immensely enjoyed our work outs. But a change is coming, and I wonder if you would be interested in hearing about it - like driving down to Panera and have dinner after we get cleaned up?"

"An excellent idea, Celina, as I have been wanting to get to know you better for some time now." He looked at his Apple Watch and asked, "What you say, I knock on your door in 35 minutes at 4 PM?"

"I will be ready, Tom," as she looked directly into his eyes knowing that she had succeeded in getting her partner to notice her.

In the shower Tom mused, "I wonder if having an additional fuck-buddy that lived a few doors down would cause any problems for me? Damn! Celina looks good and I bet she is a hot number amongst the Latino men - it's obvious that both her husband and her brother in law was stuck on her. I wonder if an ordinary Gringo could satisfy her both physically and culturally? I wonder if she is chewed up inside with moral conflicts because of her present lifestyle that is directly at odds with her Papist upbringing? If so, do I really want to 'dip the wick' in another mixed up woman? Maybe I should just play safe and stick with my fuck-buddy who has a room-temperature IQ and too stupid to be mixed up. Tom, old boy, you are going to get to know this woman. She might be somebody worth knowing and you are not getting any younger!"

Sitting in a booth at Panera while eating Tom noticed for the first time, "Wow! Celina has humongous boobs that go with her hour-glass waistline - which I never noticed before. Those workout bras hide that fact." They smiled broadly at each other as he held her hand across the table and said,"Tell me about the changes coming?"

Cecilia said, "Juan's divorce petition was granted and we are in the waiting period. I must sell my unit and pay him half of the net profit on the sale. That means that I can not get a room mate and that means that I don't make enough money to live at Pier Point or anywhere like this. And that means that you and I can not continue the gym excursions together. By the way, you have no idea how much I have come to value being with you over the past two months or so."

Tom's mind went into a tailspin, as he thought, "Oh no! I am at the point that wanting to touch her dominates my thoughts and I can barely get it up for my 'live mannequin' anymore. What in the fuck am I going to do?" He then asked, "Do you have any thoughts about what area you might settle - share an apartment, rent a low-income apartment, or what?"

She said, "Tom, you have already demonstrated that you are not a vain Randy womanizer so I will tell you straight. I want to be near you. I want to be seen with you. I want you to want me sexually in an exclusive relationship although you are reluctant to even think thoughts like that now because you are fully aware that I was married to one man who the church and society says I betrayed for another before I divorced my husband. The second man was a complete disappointment also, because he cared nothing for me and wanted no responsibility at all - he delights that no one can depend on him to do anything. You Gringos call men like Sergio, a 'Randy.' Both men also failed at being lovers. My marriage when very young was arranged so that I could get educated and travel. So, I took advantage of the opportunities offered. In time I took a lover since the husband chosen for me was completely a misfit. And, in the bedroom even the lover, his brother, was a bummer - albeit orders of magnitude better than my husband. In fact, Tom, I have a sneaking suspicion that all such lovers are bummers for everybody who takes them. At the end of the day, the bottom line is that I have never been in love until..."

Tom, noticing that she did not complete her sentence, changed the subject to ask, "I hope you are not infatuated with my uniform, Celina, because naked I look like any other man? Also, what exactly is it about me that attracts you - yes, I will have wash-board abs in a couple of months, but what will be can not attract you now."

Celina said, "Your uniform? Heh heh Whoever designed the state police uniforms did so because they draw a minimum of attention and that was probably mandated. Aside from that, I want to see you naked and do so before you are ripped - so I can compare how you look now with afterwards. I like your mind, your calmness, your complete confidence in yourself and how you live your life. When was the last time you had an argument about anything with anybody?"

He chuckled and said, "Several years, I guess. I try to not get excited ever when dealing with any person or people, on and off the job. In fact on the job, I couldn't deal with a hotheaded aggressive driver if I were argumentative - and life in general works that way as well, I find. And, Celina, staying calm does not mean that one can not enjoy life - in fact the opposite is true if one thinks about it."

After he had driven them back to the complex Tom said, "I have a pretty good bottle of wine if you would like to have one glass before going to sleep - it makes me sleep very soundly."

Celina said, "Yes, I would love that."

Chatting while sipping their wines, the lady continued, "Do you dance, Tom?"

"No. After my wife and I got married and before our son came we started taking group dance lessons and I guess we learned a few steps and patterns, but when she split with the neighbor I never danced again."

She put her wine down and and stood holding her arms out and said, "Let's see what you remember. I will lead - though that is the man's job normally."

Tom stood up and with a big smile on his face said, "I'll give it a college try." They moved the coffee table back and she guided him through three basic dance rhythms without music.

In about 10 minutes she said, "You do know what you are doing. You must be holding out on me?"

Tom said, "Well after my ex- had already started having an affair, unbeknownst to me at the time, while I was on duty, I sensed that I was either losing or had lost her. So I tried to please her - e.g., I excelled in our dance classes thinking that would please her. But, of course, it didn't since she was already focused on her Randy. As a result, I think I could come back up to speed with you as my mentor..."

After another 15 minutes of conversation, Tom held her coat for her and they began walking to her unit. Celina asked, "Whatever happened to your ex-wife?"

At her door, Tom said, "My son says she lives not too far away with two other women and dates and 'fights to take off pounds 24/7.'"

The smirk on Celina's face was one of, 'Well, there is a sucker born every minute.'"

He kissed her on the cheek and said, "Goodnight."

Back in his house, Tom looked in his Son's former room that was now scattered with the grand son's toys and clothes and asked himself, "How would Celina take the idea of renting a room from me? And, since I live in a fishbowl I wonder if that would cause trouble at work? It shouldn't because two troopers I know have significant others and that causes no ripples. Suppose she moved in, then what would having a woman in the next room do to me knowing that I am always horny?"

His alter ego said, "Damn it, Tom! She cheats and two people almost lost their lives as a result of that. Is a mild mannered man like you ready to confront a hurricane of a woman? Well, your 'Mannequin' has multiple lovers and that doesn't - or should I say, didn't - bother you, why would this particular Latino with multiple lovers bother you? Because you have developed strong feelings for her! I know she flies to Latin America countries as a Portuguese and Spanish interpreter and she flies with Anglo businessmen - I wonder if she always insists on sticking to business?" His last vision as he dropped off to sleep was of her very large breasts and her tiny waist line.