A Sin For A Sin

I lean against the counter and watch as Dom finishes loading groceries into the cupboards. When he's done, he grabs his keys out of his jeans pocket, gives me a kiss on the forehead and walks to the door.

"See you at the house." he says. I nod at him and he walks out the door.

Once he's gone, I go through the fridge and the cupboards to see what he bought. Lots of chips, cookies and junk food in the cupboards. Beer, lunch meat and condiments in the fridge. I grab a couple cookies out of a package and snack on them, then make my way into my bedroom to change for dinner. I kick off my tennis shoes and pad barefoot over to my closet. After flipping through my tops for a minute, I pull on a red sweater with elbow length sleeves and a deep vee-neck. I slip into some strappy black heels that add about four inches to my height, then I go into the bathroom, take my hair out of it's pony tail and fluff it up and sprucen up my make-up. When I'm done, I'm pretty satisfied by the finished product. I go back out to the kitchen, put on my leather jacket and grab my bag, then walk out the door.

It takes about ten minutes on a good traffic day to get to my parents house and I slide right in behind Carmine's car which is parked behind Frank's. Dominic isn't here yet. I blow out a sigh, check myself out in the rear view mirror one last time and then swing my ass up to the house. When I walk in, I'm almost blown away by the smell of my mother's lasagna and the sound of a baseball game playing in the living room. I peek into the living room and see my dad, Carmine, Frank and Frank's boys, Frankie and Michael. As soon as I say hello, they all stand up to greet me. Frank nudges both boys to stand up and I smirk. Frank trying to teach manners is almost comical. I give them all hugs and make small talk for a few minutes, before retreating into the kitchen where my mother, Sophie and Angela are. My mother is standing at the stove and Sophie is sitting at the table with Angela on her lap. My mother would never allow a guest to help her in the kitchen. I sit down at the table with Sophie and take my coat off. My mother turns to look at me, and then turns back and crosses herself.

"God, Isabelle, so revealing. No wonder you can't get a man. You leave nothing to the imagination."

"Maybe I'm not trying to get a man."

"Well, I heard about you fooling around with John Kristaldi. Don't you think I approve, either. That man is nothing but trouble." she says, stirring red sauce in a pot on the stove.

"We're just friends, Ma." I tell her.

"Friends. Ha! A man and a woman can never be just friends, Isabelle. Someone always wants something more."

"I am not having this conversation." I say, standing up.

"Fine, then you can make yourself useful and set the table." she says. I blow out a sigh and go over to the cupboard where the plates are stored.

I look up at the clock in the dining room as I set the table. 5:45. Dinner is always served at six and God help you if you are the reason dinner is held up. Dom better show up soon. I don't know what the hold up could be. Carmine wanders into the dining room with a beer in his hand.

"Where's Dom?" he asks.

"How should I know?"

"Well, he better get here soon. Ma's gonna freak if he's late."

"I know, Carm."

At ten minutes to six, I start helping my mother and Sophie bring out the serving dishes. I put out a bottle of red wine, putting it right in front of my seat. God knows I'll need a couple glasses before the night is over. Five minutes to six. I look out the front door. Still no Dom. At two minutes to six, everyone starts making their way to the table. And that's when the front door opens and shuts. Everyone turns and sees Dom standing in the doorway. Frank nudges me from behind.

"Look who finally decided to show up." he grumbles. I elbow him in the stomach.

"Be nice." I warn him.

"I'm always nice." My mother rushes over to Dominic.

"There you are, I've been worried sick!" she says, fussing over him like a three year old.

"Hey Ma. Sorry I'm late. I was working." he tells her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"It's alright. You're here now, that's what matters." Dom comes over and gives the rest of us hugs, before we all make our way to the table. I sit down and immediately pour myself a glass of wine and take a long sip. My mother looks down the table at me disapprovingly and I shrug.

"It's been a long day." You know, full of naked perverts, guys with guns, making out with John in the hallway. I need a glass of wine right now. I deserve it.

Two glasses of wine, one giant slab of lasagna and two pieces of garlic bread later, I'm sitting at the kitchen table, watching my mother make a doggy bag full of leftovers. You don't leave my mother's house without leftovers. It just isn't done. Once she's finished, she hands me the bag and gives me a kiss on the forehead like she always used to do when I went to school each morning.

"I love you. Behave yourself." she says.

"I will. Love you too." I say, then leave the kitchen. I yell goodbye to my dad, who is sitting in his chair in the living room, then walk outside. Frank is standing in the yard, watching absently as Sophie loads the kids into the car. Dom and Carmine left first, Dom making an excuse about work and Carm making an excuse about watching a boxing match with his buddies. I walk over to where Frank is standing and he glances down at me.

"You look like you have something on your mind." he says.

"What kind of trouble is Dom in?" I ask.

"I don't know. I'm not on the case."

"You were staring bullets into each other at the table tonight."

"We're not each others favorite people right now." he says.

"Do you think he did it?"

"I don't know. I don't want to believe it, but after the past few months, I don't know what to believe about him anymore. He's not who he used to be." Sophie finishes loading the kids into the car, so Frank turns and gives me a one armed hug.

"See you around."

"Yeah. Be careful." I tell him. We both go off to our separate cars and drive off.

I take a left down Olsen St and then a right on River Dr. I pull into John's driveway and park behind his truck. I stuff my doggy bag into my purse and look out my window at John's massive mastiff, who is chained to his dog house in the middle of the yard. He's straining at his chain, barking at me. John steps out onto his porch then, yells something at the dog, which makes him retreat a few feet from my car. I hop out of my car and walk up to the porch.

"Hey." I say.

"Hey. How was dinner?" he asks, leading me into the house. I follow him into the kitchen.

"Fair. Nobody got shot."

"Are you drunk?" he asks in a somewhat hopeful voice.

"No. I had two glasses of wine. I deserved it after the day I've had." he eyes me up as I take my leather jacket off.

"You want to tell me about your day?" he asks in a voice smooth as old whiskey.

"It's not something I'm willing to repeat."

"That good, huh?"

"Yeah."

"OK. Where's the bag of leftovers, then?"

"Excuse me?" I ask.

"If your mom is anything like mine, you have a bag of leftovers for tomorrow. Where are they?"

"Is this the price for your computer services."

"Maybe." I stifle a sigh and reach into my purse and pull out the brown bag of leftovers. I toss it at him and he catches it and starts examining the contents. He pulls out the container of pineapple upside down cake. My favorite.

"You eating this?" he asks.

"I guess not." he grabs a fork from a drawer behind him, opens the container and starts scarfing down the cake. I drop my purse onto a chair and watch him as he eats my cake. When he finishes, he dumps the container and fork into the sink and then turns to me with a look that suggests I'm the next course. My pelvic muscles contract at the thought of the last time he looked at me like that. It was in a public bathroom stall with my skirt pushed up over my hips and my panties in his pocket. Not a memory I'm likely to forget anytime soon. Hell, that memory has gotten me through some lonely nights the past couple months. But, I have to remember I'm not here for sex. I'm here for business. John and I drew a line in the sand months ago regarding feelings and every time we end up in bed together, the line blurs.

He crosses the distance between us and draws me into him, brushing a light kiss across my lips. I take a deep breath as he kisses down my jawline. I run my hands over his arms as he kisses my neck, just under my ear.

"It's been a long time, cupcake." he whispers. Reality comes back to me and I pull away gently.

"This isn't why I came over."

"I know."

"I have priorities..."

"Oh trust me, honey. I have lots of priorities."

"Not that kind of priorities." I say, crossing my arms over my chest." He blows out a sigh.

"You're still pissed at me because I didn't call."

"No."

"You are." he smirks.

"No, I'm not."

"Fine. The computer is in the living room." he says, leading the way.

His laptop is sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. We both sit down and I look around the room, while he pulls up the search program. You can almost feel the testosterone in the room. His three year old daughter has left her little marks though, with coloring books, or barbie shoes left on the table.

"OK, here we go. Who are we looking up?" he asks, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Eddie Gazarra." I say. He turns and looks at me.

"How am I not surprised?"

"Every cop in town wants to put my brother away for life for something no one knows even happened. Nobody tells me anything, but I want to try and help."

"You need to stay out of it."

"I can't do that. So, either you help me or you stay out of my way." he blows out a sigh and types in Gazarra's name in the search bar. A moment later, a profile comes up, complete with pictures. I've seen Gazarra around town over the years, but we've never talked. I know facts. He's Frank's age, married to Anna Defonte, no kids. He's been a cop in Lawrence for three years. Before that he worked in Methuen. We read over everything in the profile, which is so invasive, I feel kind of funny reading it. Once we've scrolled through the page twice, John looks at me.

"Done?"

"Yeah. Check the wife, Anna." he does as I say and even though I know he doesn't want me to get involved I can see his wheels turning as he reads.

A profile on Anna comes up. I never knew Anna. She's a year older than me and always from what I could tell, kept to herself, didn't have a lot of friends. John clicks on the picture, a professional shot. She has glistening auburn hair, dark blue eyes and a killer smile.

"Pretty girl." John says, closing the picture.

"Do you know her?"

"I've seen her around, but not up close. We've never talked or anything. You?"

"Same."

We scroll through the profile for Anna. Her and Gazarra got married five years ago, moved to Lawrence when he got his job here. She was raised in Lawrence though. They live in a modest home not far from where Frank's family lives. She's a housewife, gave up her job as a hair stylist two years ago.

"Such a pretty girl, with a pretty boring life." I comment.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. No wonder Dom looked so good to her. She wanted some excitement."

"Do you think they knew each other back when they were growing up?"

"I don't remember him ever talking about her, but Dom and I went through a lot of girls back then. It's a possibility."

I lean forward to see the computer screen better and our knees brush together. Suddenly the air in the room totally changes. Before I know it, he's on top of me on the couch, our lips locked together, hands all over each other. I've completely forgotten about the Gazarra's. Without a word, he breaks our kiss, stands up and pulls me off the couch and yanks me towards his bedroom. He throws the door closed and I kick my shoes off and peel my sweater off. He fumbles with the snaps on his jeans, so I go over and help him, then pull his shirt off over his head. He leans down and kisses me, then goes for the button on my jeans. Once our jeans are off, he pushes me towards the bed. I fall onto my back and watch as he climbs over me. He dips his head down and starts kissing a trail from my cleavage to my hips. He kisses me through my lace panties and I arch my back into him. He slides my panties off and tosses them to the floor, then starts kissing me again. I relax into the kisses, then he slips his tongue inside me. I gasp and tangle my fingers in his dark brown hair. I'm right on the brink of release, when he pulls out and comes back up to my mouth. I take a deep breath and dig my fingers into his shoulders.

"Fuck." I whisper. He laughs reaches into his bedside table for a condom. I wait impatiently, knowing what's coming next will be mind blowing.

Then he's inside me, moving against me fast, but slow at the same time, teasing. I dig my fingers into the sheet under me and then force him into changing positions. We climax together and then fall apart onto the damp sheets. I drift asleep after a while and then wake up after a few hours. It's pitch black and the only thing I can hear is John's haggard breathing. I run my hand down his chest and feel him come awake. I drape myself over him and kiss his smiling lips.

"You didn't think we were done, did you?" I ask.

**************************************************************************

In the morning, I lay in John's bed, completely relaxed and satisfied. John stirs next to me as an alarm clock goes off next to his head. He hits the snooze button and then rolls over to face me.

"I've got to get in the shower." he says in a seductive voice. I smile and kiss him, then he gets up without another word. A younger John would have pulled me out of bed and taken me to the shower until the water got cold, the older more mature John knows his responsibilities. Of course the three orgasms he's had in the past twelve hours didn't hurt either. I lay slack limbed in bed and listen as the shower turns on, before crawling out of bed and pulling my clothes on. I stagger into the bathroom and brush my teeth with the extra toothbrush that I keep at his house and wash my face. I finger comb my hair and then turn and watch through the glass shower door as he lathers soap over his body. I walk over, pull the door open and kiss his moist, warm lips. He smiles when I pull away.

"There's room in here for two."

"Rain check."

"I'm counting on it." I grin and leave him in the bathroom and make my way into the kitchen. I pull on my jacket, then find a piece of paper and leave him a sexually explicit note about lunch and dessert and leave it stuck to my brown bag of leftovers on his table. I grab my purse and walk outside to my car.

When I get home, Dom is sitting at the table, eating cereal. He turns and looks at me with a raised eyebrow, then starts laughing.

"Just getting in?" he asks.

"Fuck off." I say, going for coffee.

"You went straight to John's after dinner, didn't you?"

"So what if I did? Like I told Mom last night. I'm not having this conversation." I say, then stomp into my bedroom with my coffee.

I get dressed in a white button up shirt and a black mini skirt and my strappy heels. I slut up my hair and do my make-up and then walk back out to the kitchen and sit down across from Dom.

"What are you all dressed up for?"

"I have to do some court thing for my boss." he leans forward.

"Listen, you need to be careful with John." he says.

"Why?"

"Just, take my word for it. He's not trustworthy."

"I'm not just going to take your word for it. Tell me why you think he's untrustworthy." I say.

"He's just...doing things he shouldn't be doing."

"How do you know?"

"Listen, either you take my word for it or you don't, but you can't say I didn't warn you."

"Don't you think that's a little hypocritical after everything you've done? Like sleeping with a married woman."

"Drop it." he snaps. I sit there for a minute in silence, realization coming over me.

"You love her, don't you?" he gives me a look that tells me everything, then stands up and takes his cereal bowl to the sink.

"Love is an emotion that I can't afford in my life. I love few so that my enemies have less ammunition to use against me."

"Maybe you've forgotten who you're talking to, Dom. I'm your sister. I'm not going to use anything against you."

"Well, it's a moot point anyways, being that she's probably dead." I can feel all the color in my face drain out.

"Why would you say that?"

"I'm looking into it."

"You think her husband killed her?"

"I'm saying it's a good possibility."

"Oh my God, Dom." We look into each others eyes and I can tell that even though he's trying to act like it's no big deal and that he has no emotions, he's devastated at the idea that Anna could be dead. I also get the feeling he knows something else that he's not telling me. But, what else is new?