While the crowd thinned a little, they still did a brisk trade before the lights came back on not too long after. Cali had included battery-operated LED candles as part of their display, so people were naturally attracted to their booth. The tablets they were ringing people out on had full charges, so they could still process sales.
When they finally were able to close up and head back to their rooms—using the back service elevator to get to their floor at the recommendation of one of the security guys because of problems with the passenger elevators causing a logjam—they could talk.
“So what happened?” Cali asked. “With Dave Stuckey?”
Eliza grinned. “Fucker had the balls to ask if I—meaning you—could get together with him later for a drink in the hotel bar. That he really wanted to show you his appreciation for being so nice to him.”
“Oh, fuckballs. What’d you say?”
Her grin widened. “I told him that was a sweet offer, but I’d already promised Sean and Max to beat their asses tonight, then I had three CBT scenes lined up, as well as a scrotal saline scene. And then if I had any time left over, I was supposed to do a penis needle play scene.”
Rusty winced and closed his thighs together inside the costume. “Holy fuck. No wonder he looked sick.”
Max and Sean burst out laughing. “Oh, man,” Sean said. “That explains why he was so eager to get the fuck out of there.”
“Yeah. I did tell him the three of us might be able to squeeze some time in tomorrow night, but that I had a full slate of CBT and electro-sounding play lined up all night.”
Cali laughed so hard she had to lean against the elevator wall. “Fuckin’ A, girl!” She held a fist out for a bump from Eliza. “How’d you know he was a Dom and not a sub?”
“Took a guess when I sized him up when he arrived. He’d actually been watching the booth for a few minutes while talking to someone at the booth diagonal to us. He also called me ‘sweetie’ instead of ‘Ma’am.’ So far, all the subbies I’ve seen today, male and female, usually called me Ma’am when I was ringing them up. The Doms and Dommes haven’t, for the most part.”
“Ah.” The elevator shuddered to a stop at their floor, and it took them a minute to find their way from the back hallway into the main floor and find their rooms. “Make sure we remember where that’s at,” Cali said. “From what I’ve heard, the elevators are a nightmare this year.”
Back in the room, Eliza helped Rusty peel off the outfit and they jumped into the shower together. Later, stretching out on the bed with the TV on, Eliza snuggled close.
“Will it hurt your feelings if I say I only want to snuggle?”
“Nope. I’m kind of tired.”
She looked up into his face. “You were about to smack Sean, weren’t you?”
He felt heat fill his cheeks. “Huh?”
“Earlier. When he pretended I was Cali. I saw you take a step forward. I literally thought I was going to have to hold a hand out to stop you.”
“Sorry.”
“No, don’t be.” She patted his chest. “I thought it was hot.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.”
He settled in. “It just…it was weird. Took me a minute.”
“Why do you think I call you barbarian? I love that instinctive nature you have.”
He kissed the top of her head. “After this many years, you must love me.”
“Ditto.” She laced fingers with him. “Any regrets?”
He sighed into her hair. “Only that Mom and Dad never got to see us get married, or meet Kailey.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
As he drifted to sleep, at least for that night he knew he’d sleep well, with only the good kinds of dreams.
Chapter Eighteen
Monday afternoon, Rusty lay on the couch with his head in Eliza’s lap as they watched Deadpool on TV. This was one of their favorite movies. She was glad he’d taken some long overdue vacation time. The convention had been fun, and a nice diversion from their daily lives, but it was sweet having him all to herself today with no pressures, no worries. He’d be going back to work tomorrow morning.
“I know what I want our couple’s costume to be for Halloween,” she said.
He glanced up, his sweet green eyes, the temporarily contented leafy mental jungle behind them. “What, Ma’am?”
“Deadpool and Harley. Suicide Squad movie version Harley.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s perfect, Ma’am.” His fingers closed around hers and he pulled her arm a little more snugly around him. “If I go as Red Tool, to match the Harley Quinn comics, hardly anyone would know who the hell I am.”
“Who said you were going to be Deadpool?”
His gaze cut back to her, but she couldn’t keep her smile hidden. His relieved laughter lifted her heart. Even though she had been halfway considering flipping the roles, now she wouldn’t. His relief was too sweet, too endearing.
“I love you, Ma’am.”
“Love you, too, barbarian.”
“I had fun this weekend. Thanks for agreeing to do it. I really needed it.”
She squeezed his hand. “So did I. We did a good deed, only cost us time and gas money, and we had fun. Can’t get much better than that.”
“Do you think Cali will have any other problems with that guy?”
She snorted. “Doubtful. I think I put the fear of me into him. Except he thought I was Cali. Any improper thoughts he might have had are probably gone now.”
“At least we didn’t get stuck in the elevators.”
She shuddered. “Damn right. Gawd.”
“So…Niall’s moving back, huh?”
“Lord, I can only imagine what that girl’s gonna go through.” She laughed. “Would serve both those guys right if she neutered them.”
He snorted. “At least me and John will fall to second place for crazy scenes. Niall’s insane.”
“No, Aden’s insane. Niall’s just a very creative sadist with an extremely willing masochist.” She was about to say something else when her cell phone rang with Kailey’s custom tone. Rusty hit pause on the DVR while she answered it in speakerphone mode. “Hey, sweetie. Dad’s here, too.”
“Well, Mom, you’ll want him there for this—you were right.”
“Um, great! About what?”
“I invited Mr. Thompson to shoot a round of trap with me and Gerald today.”
“Oh? And?”
“I shot a twenty-five, Gerald got a twenty-four, and the guy shot a seventeen. We asked if he wanted to shoot another round with us but he suddenly forgot something he had to do.”
Eliza offered a palm for a high-five with Rusty, who gave it to her. “Atta girl,” she said. “Bet he doesn’t give you any more unsolicited advice.”
“No. All his friends who watched were laughing their asses off when he left. They all congratulated me on popping his self-important bubble.”
“Proud of you, honey,” Rusty said. “Who’s Gerald again?”
Eliza snickered but didn’t say anything.
“You met him, Dad. Don’t start trying to threaten him. He’s already terrified of Mom after the last time you guys were up here.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault you didn’t tell me he had a key to your apartment,” she said.
“You nearly dislocated his shoulder!”
“He’s lucky she didn’t dislocate his head,” Rusty snarked.
“Dad!”
“I’m kidding.” He winked at Eliza. “Sort of.”
Kailey made an exasperated noise. “You guys need to get used to seeing a lot of him around.”
Rusty’s voice dropped into a threatening tone, one that made Eliza’s panties wet. “Wanna make a bet?”
“I really like him.”
Eliza sensed something big. “How much are we talking? Friends with bennies like, or have his babies like?”
“Somewhere in the middle. Enough that we’re talking about maybe getting an apartment together next year.”
“Not marriage?” Eliza asked.
“No, Mom. I don’t want to get married yet. He knows that. It’d be after the Olympics at the earliest that I’d even start thinking about that. And I still need to finish my degree. Nothing’s happening until after that happens. Well, except the Olympics. Duh.”
That gave them some breathing room to come to accept their baby was growing up. “So how badly does he hate me?” she asked.
“He doesn’t hate you, Mom. Like I said, he’s legit terrified of you now.”
“He should be,” Rusty said. “Your mom is terrifying.”
They talked for a few more minutes before Kailey had to get off the phone to go eat dinner. Rusty hit play on the remote and snuggled in again.
“I hate him already,” he said.
She smiled as she ruffled his hair. “So do I, sweetie.”
“They’ll probably get married, huh?”
“I don’t know. Depends. Notice the way he always held doors for her and stuff?”
He lifted his head again. “Huh?”
“Yeah. And how he deferred to her on everything?”
He grinned. “Apple didn’t fall far from the tree?”
“That’s what I’m sayin’. I could be wrong, but I got a distinct subby vibe from him.”
“Well then.” He laid his head back down. “Maybe I won’t hate him quite so much then.”
She snorted. “You’re too much, barbarian.”
* * * *
The next morning, Rusty stopped by Cali’s house on his way to work.
“Hey, you. This is unexpected. What’s up?”
“You still do work for the animal shelter, right?”
“I run their website for them. Why?”
“I need a favor.”
“What kind of favor?”
After telling her, he had to wait for her to stop laughing before she finally nodded. “I think we can arrange that. Let me make a phone call real quick.” She did, and ten minutes later, he was following her to the shelter.
When they got there, she led him around to the back side of the building, an employees’ entrance, where a screen door stood closed even though the sturdier, outer door stood open, presumably for ventilation.
“Anyone home?” she called out.
“Cali!” A woman unlocked the door and welcomed them in. “Hey, is this your friend?”
“Yeah. Rusty, Shelly. Shelly, Rusty. You got it?”
She smirked. “Right this way. You called just in time. Would have had to dig one out of the Dumpster if you’d been ten minutes later.”
This was the back side of the shelter, the intake side where animals not ready to be moved to the adoption side were cared for. It had been the original shelter facility when it was first built. The newer adoption side was a wing added after a large expansion a few years ago. While cosmetically not as pristine as the adoption side—which he knew because it was where they’d adopted Boo—it was clean and organized, the animals well-cared for.
The garbage can sat by another door he suspected led out to where their Dumpster was located.
“Held one back for you. They pick up our garbage this afternoon.”
He stared inside. It was a mix of used cat litter, clumps of litter-encrusted poop, newspaper, and other detritus from the normal course of cleaning up after the animals.
“This is perfect, thanks.” He opened the plastic urn, untied the plastic bag, and up-ended the plastic bag so the contents landed in a section of used litter. Shelly handed him a pooper scooper shovel, and he used it to mix the ashes in with the contents of the used cat litter, making sure to get lots of poop and urine clumps in it.
After dropping the bag and urn into the garbage can, he took out his phone and snapped several pictures. Once he verified it, he returned his phone to his pocket.
“Okay. Thanks. I really appreciate this.”
“Guess you hated the guy, huh?” Shelly asked.
“Yep. You could say that. And he despised cats. He was severely allergic to them.”
Shelly laughed. “You can wash your hands in the grooming room there.”
Cali led the way. He’d been careful not to get any yuck on his suit in the process, and as Cali was taking him back out, he stopped short in front of one of the kennel runs.
Inside was a depressed-looking bulldog who could have been Boo’s twin. Fawn and white, it lay there with its head on its paws, a full bowl of kibble sitting next to it.
He knelt in front of the run, the prickle of tears stinging his eyes as he coaxed the sad dog over to the front of the run. She licked his hand through the gate, but showed none of the enthusiasm of a happy dog.
Cali pulled paperwork from a plastic envelope on the front of the kennel run. “Owner surrender. She’s spayed, a year old. Said they’re moving and couldn’t take her. Up to date on all her shots, even chipped. Her hold is up end of today.”
“How do I adopt her?”
“You should bring Boo here to meet her, for starters. You don’t want to adopt her just to find out they can’t stand each other. You can put a hold on her until you can bring her in.” But now the bulldog was looking up at him with such plaintive hope he did start crying.
He pulled out his phone and called work to tell them he wasn’t coming in after all.
Then he called Eliza.
“Bring Boo. Right now.”
“Where?”
“The animal shelter.”
“Um, okay, stupid question. Why?”
“Just…please? I need you to bring her here.”
Her tone hardened. “We are not getting rid of Boo!”
“No! I…I need her to meet someone.”
Eliza paused.” Oookaaaay, can I ask another really stupid question?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“How did you end up at the animal shelter? You left for work.”
“Long story. I’m here with Cali. Please?”
He knew she was rolling her eyes from her tone, but she wasn’t going to argue. “What else do they need?”
“Just bring her. And the checkbook.”
“I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Thank you. I love you.”
“Love you, too, sweetie.”
Cali went to talk to Shelly, and they gave him a kennel lead to take the dog—whose name was Chica—out to one of the small exercise and meet-and-greet yards where they could play with her.
As soon as Chica realized she was being taken out of the kennel run, her stubby little docked tail started wagging, and she bounced her front legs off the ground and snorted almost identically to Boo. The first sign of her actually being…happy.
He didn’t give a shit who saw him cry at this point, and he gave even less shits about his clothes. Cali brought him some tissues and he sat on the ground playing with Chica with a couple of toys Cali brought to him. Then Cali disappeared for a few minutes, leaving him alone with the dog.
“You want to come home with me, sweetie? We have another bully girl who’d love a sister, I bet.” She snorted in his face, leaning against him as he scratched her chubby rump before she clumsily bounced after a toy he threw for her.
Hell, he’d be depressed, too, if he’d been with a family he thought loved him, then sent him away to a strange, scary place where he was locked away.
A happy world upended.
Cali returned, leading Eliza, who had Boo on her halter and leash.
“Oh, lord,” Eliza said, laughing. “They could be twins.”
“Right?” He managed to slip the kennel lead around Chica’s neck and they let the two dogs sniff each other.
Boo promptly sat down and lifted her left front leg for a treat.
Cali laughed. “What’s that mean?”
“She wants a bribe. Lucky for you, barbarian, I thought ahead.” She pulled a zipper-topped baggy full of the gourmet organic cookies they bought specially for Boo out of her pocket and slipped one to Boo. Then she held up one fo
r the other dog. “What’s her name?”
“Chica,” Rusty said. “But we can change it later.”
Eliza knelt in front of the dog. “Hey, Chica. Want a cookie?”
The bulldog shnurfled her way over to Eliza, nosing her hand.
She held the cookie up. “Sit.”
The bulldog sat and Eliza gave her the cookie.
After ten minutes, it was plain to see the two dogs weren’t being aggressive to each other in the least. Cali left them to go talk to the staff to see if they could bend the rules and let them adopt her then instead of waiting until tomorrow.
Eliza stared into his eyes. “Short version. Now.”
He pulled his phone out and showed her a pic he’d taken.
She frowned, then smiled, then burst out laughing. “No. Fucking. Way.”
“Yeah.” He smiled at the picture. “He’ll spend eternity mixed in used cat litter. Can’t think of a more fitting ending for him.”
She started laughing so hard she had to lean against him. Once she could finally talk again, she asked, “You tell work you’re running late?”
“I told work I’m taking another day. Fuck ’em.”
“That’s my boy.” She stroked his cheek.
“I think this was meant to be. Her family moved and had to give her up. You should have seen her in the kennel rum. She looked so depress—”
She kissed him. “Shut up, let’s get the paperwork done and get her home, and then we can enjoy our day off with the new baby. Let her and Boo explore the backyard.”
“And then?”
Eliza cupped his cheek. “Then you and I can go back to bed and see how long you can last fucking my brains out, baby. It’s good to see you smile again.”
Less than an hour later, with Cali vouching for them, plus the staff able to see how well-cared for Boo was, they finished the paperwork and headed home with their newest member after buying her a leash and harness and food bowls from the shelter’s gift shop, as well as got enough of her current dry food to allow them to change her over to Boo’s food.
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