Page 85 of Sleep

“Anything you want to share?” he asked, getting up and walking over to his row of fancy office cupboards. He opened one to retrieve two glasses and a bottle of something that looked old and…good.

“I met someone. Someone truly special, and my life is being…well, turned upside down, but for the better.” It felt exhilarating, saying it out loud, telling people I had formed a connection with another human being. I needed to talk about it. To be normal. Actually live.

“That’s usually the way. Life-changing when it’s right, isn’t it? I met my husband at university. I was a right miserable wanker before that.”

I laughed out loud. Absolutely laughed as I tugged at my tie, loosened up, and let my suit jacket fall from my shoulders. I hadn’t realised how hot I was, wound up, the familiar stress creeping up into my shoulders. I hated other people’s offices, but Thomas Wu needed his ego massaging on a regular basis. He despised emails and would only entertain face-to-face discussions.

“Husband?” I repeated, just to make sure I’d heard it right. Oh God. I’d just done it, hadn’t I? He’d said something completely different, no doubt, and now I was being an idiot.

“Husband,” he said carefully. “Married fifteen years now. Two children.”

“Wonderful,” I hiccupped out.

“Is that a problem?” He leaned heavily on the glass table between us. The bottle was right there.

“Absolutely not,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t pick up the bottle and hit me over the head. He was that kind of guy, and I was still blurting out words. “I’m gay.”

“Thought so.”

Oh. That again?

“My new partner is gender-fluid,” I clarified, feeling my face catch fire and my chest constricting. “They are the most amazing human I have ever met. It’s very new, but…it’s lovely.”

“I can tell,” he said, shooting me a smile. “We should toast, not to grand business ventures this time, but to other, more important things. We should toast to the good people in our lives. And love.”

“Love,” I agreed, clinking my glass clink against his. “Love. Because when you find it—”

“It changes everything,” Thomas Wu finished, and he was right. It did.

I almost skipped down to my waiting car and smiled all the way home. I picked up parcels from the concierge and allowed a little giggle slip as I got in the lift. An embarrassed giggle, because…well, let’s just say I’d made some purchases. Items I needed to open and inspect in peace and quiet. Carefully consider their use.

Damn.

I tapped myself into my flat, which was starting to feel awfully lived in. Everything was clean and tidy, but the once-dust-covered dining table was stacked bags of fabric and a few neatly stacked clear plastic boxes containing Mabel’s belongings. Haberdashery, they’d said. Buttons. Miles of sequins and lace. They’d shown me, letting me trail my fingers over things I had no idea what to make of. I’d liked it, though, that these things made them happy.

And now I was standing here, ripping open my purchases, wondering if the contents would be something that would make me happy.

I almost chickened out, lifting the first item out of the box. I had no idea what I’d been thinking because this…monster of a dildo was nothing like Mabel’s magnificent cock. This thing was…ginormous.

“Oh God,” I exclaimed into the silence as I weighed the heavy rubber dick in my hand. Artificial veins. A suction cup on the base. Or was it a handle? I’d just clicked on it because it looked…exactly like what it was. Frightening.

Which was, of course, when my front door swung open for the wonderful love of my life, to find me standing there with a giant rubber dick in my hand.

“Good grief!” they shrieked. “What the hell is that?”

“Well…” I swallowed. I was ridiculous, and I knew it. “You mentioned toys, so I…got some.”

“I said toys. Not weapons of mass destruction.”

They weren’t wrong.

And finally I fully took them in—the black suit, the shirt open all the way down to that cute belly button. Oh, the hair. And lipstick. I leaned over and kissed them. Because…

Irresistible. Even with a giant dildo in my hand.

Then they were diving headfirst into the box, unpacking things and laying them out on the table.

“You got some…Jonny…what…? God. I love it!”

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