Unavoidably, after spending several hours on Thursday night talking in bed and making love, Friday morning arrived. Braden and Adam were flying out to Pittsburgh to avoid a five-hour drive and they were leaving at ten, so I said goodbye to him before I left for work in the morning.
“So, you’ll text me to let me know you got there okay?”
“Right, and you’ll text me to let me know that you and Bruno had a good day?”
“Yes, and you’ll call me to say goodnight?”
“There’s some kind of cocktail thing. Should I call you before or after?”
“After. Then you can just relax. You and Adam are sharing a room?”
“Yeah. I’ll probably leave the party a little early so I can speak to you privately. In case I get mushy. Or horny. Or both.” He kissed me and then he said goodbye to Bruno and we parted ways.
I dropped Bruno off at doggy day care and made it to the office by nine. I didn’t have court that day as so many prosecutors and judges would be out of town. Jess and Cam and I were all planning to take the afternoon off to go in search of costumes and finalize plans for Operation Cole. Mark would be coming by at noon the next day.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
It took some searching but we finally found what we needed at a place called Tony’s Fantasy Land. It was a little scary finding out what other people fantasized about.
“Who has fantasies about being a tampon?” Jess asked, looking over a long white fleece tube.
“People are weird,” I answered.
“Wasn’t there a member of the royal family years ago?” Cam asked.
“Don’t talk about it. The poor man will never live that down,” I replied.
“What in the hell is that?” I asked.
“I believe that’s a dildo, in size,” Cam checked a label, “men’s extra-large.”
“I think I see a pattern here,” Jess offered.
“Newsflash, men fantasize about being inside women’s vaginas,” I said dryly.
“Oh look! A naughty nurse costume. I think I like that one,” Cam said with a smile.
“I don’t think it would fit you.” Jess laughed.
“A nun?” I asked.
“To a priest that might be pretty enticing,” Cam explained.
“Hmm. Here’s your pirate suit, Cam,” I teased.
“And here’s a wench costume. Which one of you wants to put it on for me?”
“I found one! Sexy school teacher,” Jess announced.
“Do they have two of them?”
“No, just one, and one naughty school boy.”
“I guess that I’ll have to go for another dominatrix look,” I said, disappointed.
“The S&M stuff is in the next room,” Cam shared.
“You’ve been here before, haven’t you?” I joked.
“There’s a sign over the door,” he said defensively.
Finally I found a pair of shiny rubber hot pants, (Who knew that hot pants came in rubber?) a patent leather bustier and some boots that I think that Gene Simmons from KISS once wore. It had a matching leather mask. I imagined that this was a very stylish ensemble in the BDSM world. Cam picked out some leather pants, a leather vest, leather hat and a collar. I really hoped that he didn’t run into any more of his clients, dressed like that. We also grabbed a black wig for Jess and masks for them and for Mark. Ah, if Bubbe could see me now! When we got back to our place, after picking up Bruno of course, we ordered Chinese and went over the plan.
We would sit Mark down, tell him about the notes, describe the cast of characters and explain why we needed to be careful about suggesting anything without some kind of proof. Then we would outline our plan, which was fairly simple. Mark and Jess would go in as a couple. Jess would approach Cole, tell him he was a bad boy and that she wanted him to write down all of the nasty things he had done. If necessary, she would spank him with a ruler. Then they were out of there. How bad could that be, right? Yeah, I know. Those famous last words again.
Since it was Friday night Cam and Jess decided to go out for a drink. I stayed in and tried to relax. Bruno happily kept me company but he seemed a little perplexed about the fact that Daddy wasn’t around. He kept going to the door and sniffing around the covers on Braden’s side of the bed.
Wow, suddenly that sunk in. Braden had a side of the bed. We had been together for a month and we were a real couple. We had survived our first argument – even if it wasn’t a very big one. We had talked about the future; we had met each other’s parents and we shared a dog. Although we still argued in court, still did plenty of naughty sexy things and still engaged in plenty of snarky banter, we had also developed a very natural affection with each other and we had both acknowledged that this relationship was special and that we wanted to be together for a very long time. I knew what it meant, and I wanted to tell him, but I was still kind of scared to go there. That night I watched a documentary as Bruno snuggled into his doggy bed and I waited for Braden to call.