Page 6 of Boo-ty Calls
Grabbing all of the bags from my hands, he nudges the cart toward me, and I slam it into the corral of them. It’s one of my little pleasures in life, pushing the cart as hard as I can until it crashes into the others. Archer always rolls his eyes, but never stops me.
After we get into the car, I reach over and grab his hand. “Babe, seriously, what’s wrong?”
“Just got in my head. It’s nothing.”
“No, I’ll cancel tonight, and we’ll deal with this. Miscommunication isn’t the trope we follow, and it never will be. Every strand of our web of games is fragile, and I won’t let you bruise under your thoughts.” I lower the volume on the radio and turn on the air conditioning.
“I don’t know, Sloane. Every other time you’ve done that finger thing, it makes me hard. Today felt weird. I can’t explain it.”
Reaching over to him, I stroke the hair off his forehead and launch myself closer to kiss his lips. “I’ll scale back for a while.”
“Don’t cancel tonight. I’m excited. I’m sorry for getting in my head.” He starts the car, and I put on my seatbelt.
Archer kisses my neck, then wraps his hand around my headrest to look out the back before pulling out of the space.
“We can’t be sorry for our feelings. We have them for a reason, like everything else. Just use your words next time. I’ll never do anything to hurt you on purpose.”
It’s true, I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it. He makes my darkest days brighter and always knows when I’m overstimulated before I do and knows how to reach parts of me I didn’t know needed someone.
“Promise I’ll use my words in the future. Did you want to have a nap when we get home?”
I glance at the clock on the dash and stare out the window, calculating everything I need to do. “No, there isn’t time. I’ll chug an energy drink and it’ll be okay.”
We pass by cookie-cutter subdivisions until we turn onto our road, and the places are more spaced out. It’s not a fancy house, but it’s ours, and that’s what matters.
“Darling, I’ll do dinner and worry about the chores if you want to get your rest.”
Archer is so good to me, but I squeeze his bicep and shake my head before getting out of the car.
We fight over who can carry the groceries inside, and he wins, as per usual.
“I have some work to catch up on, and then after we eat, it’ll be time to get ready.”
The afternoon sun has passed over the front of our house, and a gentle breeze flows through my hair. I told him yesterday I didn’t have to work today, and it’s mostly true. Just a few things to finish, and I’ll be ready.
“You said…” he huffs out as we reach the stoop.
“I know what I said, but I forgot something. It'll be fast, don’t worry. I’ll be done by the time you’ve gotten the groceries away and work on dinner.”
“It’s sandwiches, not rocket science.”
I unlock the door and roll my eyes. Archer disappears into the kitchen, and I head to my office. Booting up my computer, I make sure every email is blind carbon-copied and send them out. Setting my email to away status until tomorrow, I close everything down.
Walking into the kitchen, I flip on the fan and head to the fridge for an energy drink. “I’ll start the bath and see you there?”
Archer nods and goes back to making sandwiches, cutting off the crusts exactly like I love.
Tonight, Mason is coming over. He's been our third for a long time. He’s flexible in what we do and dominates me in the exact way I need.
Stripping off the clothes from today, I walk into the bathroom and fill the bath. Tying my hair, I think about tonight and what we’ll get up to.
We only include a bull or third every other month, usually, although I’ve thought about mentioning it to Archer for our fifteenth anniversary. Sinking into the hot water, I wonder if it’s something we should do or if the focus should be on only us.
“Here, I ate mine already. I’m going to go use the other bathroom and shower, and I’ll be back to get you ready.” Archer’s words interrupt my thoughts as he hands me a meat and cheese sandwich before heading out the door.
Leaning against the cold porcelain, I take a bite of the sammy, thinking about what to get for our anniversary. It’s not for another month, but I like to get weird things, and they need to be bought early.
He’s always loved the skulls and horror items I’ve gotten him. Archer is the perfect amount of nerdy and what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-you. Last year, I got him comic books he lost when he was a kid, and a six-foot figurine of his favourite horror character.
