I missed my Wednesday deadline for the blog – sorry. But it’s a self-imposed deadline so I’m not losing a lot of sleep over it. But because I’m late, I’m giving you a peak today at what I do on Patreon. Yes, I have a Patreon page – I may have mentioned it before. Patreon is a place where for a buck a month, you can get a story from me. I spend an hour (I know, right? That’s so far below minimum wage…) anyway, I write for an hour based on a random line. For a little more per month, you can set the terms of the story – you provide the random details. The story below is one of the latter – a Patron sent me a random scenario and this story is based on that input. All in an hour. I’d love to hear your opinion – please leave a note.

(The image above isn’t mine, btw – a house with five cats does not need a dog)

by Rosaire Bushey

Rex was a stud. He knew it, Masterson knew it. Even that girl from down the street knew it. In fact, Rex felt the woman wanted more from Rex than he might be prepared to give her, and he felt bad that his roommate seemed to be oblivious she had her eyes on him.

Masterson had been working with Rex for a few years, it was probably only two or three, but it felt like twenty, and in that time he had always been treated with respect – even like family at times. But after a visit to the local doc, Masterson started getting moody and weird, like he was excited about something but at the same time checking his enthusiasm in case it didn’t pan out.

“Rex, what do you think of that red-haired Irish girl in the other apartment?”

It was difficult at times to know if Masterson was asking if he thought the redhead would be good for him, or for Rex. It didn’t matter really because all Masterson thought about these days was money, and it was cruel to think he’d be so callous as to bring the redhead into his web of ill-gotten gains. Rex was aware of the redhead. He’d seen her walking in the park. He knew instinctively where she would be at almost any time of day and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt that she would be attached to Marcia.

Marcia was perhaps the single most demanding roommate Rex had ever seen or heard of and she was always on to Masterson, trying to get him to visit, or find a reason to visit him.

In all the preambles that people used to begin a courtship, Marcia chose the weirdest possible one – she came onto Masterson heavy; batting eyelashes, pronounced cleavage, and shorts that were quite possibly painted on. But whenever she saw Rex, it was as if Masterson didn’t exist. The woman had no filter. She would unabashedly run her hands through Rex’s hair and on more than one occasion had even leaned forward to touch his nose with her own in a coarse imitation of an Eskimo kiss.

Rex didn’t know if it was an immorality show or if Marcia just had a thing for non-monogamous sex, but she hinted more than once that the four of us should get together, but I’d never heard Glory, the redhead, mention it before, and Marcia casually assured Masterson that she’d be fine with it – perhaps that it might even be fun.

Being his roommate, Rex had seen letters in magazines and videos that Masterson owned and watched but never admitted to and everything going on between Marcia and Masterson right now, Rex thought, was the beginning of one of those letters or movies.

With that thought in his mind, it was almost unnerving when the doorbell rang followed almost at once by three sharp, but light knocks. Rex knew it was Marcia. Even as he approached the door, he could smell the perfume wafting under, around and quite possibly through the door. She wore it thick, like it would reach out and grab the man she sought and hold him for her. It wasn’t pleasant either – some combination of aromatic flower mixed with what companionably be described as human piss. Either that or it had a shitload of pheromones in it. Either way Masterson didn’t seem to notice. But she was wearing a bikini top, so he wouldn’t. That was the problem with Masterson, all his thinking happened three feet below his brain.

Physically Rex couldn’t fault Masterson for losing his mind every time Marcia stopped by. But if he spent any time listening to her, he’d know she only visited to hit on him. In fact, it was happening now. She walked right into Masterson, pushing herself into him and kissing him on the cheek, all the while running her hand through Rex’s deep, dark curls, and teasing his ears with nimble fingers behind his roommates back.

It was shocking and distasteful, and wait a minute, Rex thought, Glory came with her.

Glory stood by the door, not quite leaning on the door frame, wondering when all the nonsense was going to end. She looked around the small, undecorated apartment with a sniff of European indifference. When her eyes locked with Rex, she remembered her manners and quietly entered, kicking the door closed behind her.

The two spent time getting to know each other while Masterson and Marcia kept themselves busy in the kitchen. The view from the apartment’s living room window was mostly unobstructed, offering a view just beyond the tree-tops of the city’s enormous and inviting park. Rex and Glory said hardly a word to each other as they looked toward the park. It was a rare and almost magical moment they both felt equally – as if something primal told them they were both exactly where they needed to be.

From the other room Rex noticed a lull in the discussion and he could feel the others staring toward him, their thoughts silently creeping into the quiet island he and Glory had built between them. It was intrusive and Rex held himself from turning his neck to give his roommate a withering look. In the small apartment the two males had little in the way of passion, but when the occasion arose, Rex would always give Masterson his space. He didn’t appreciate the imposition now, and he was sure he would not be up for anything involving the four of them.

As the talk in the kitchen increased, Rex relaxed and Glory did as well until the other suggested taking a walk in the park. It would have been nice, Rex realized, if the other two had taken their own walk and left he and Glory to themselves, but it was a nice day, and they had been staring at the park for what seemed like hours. Getting up from their place by the window, Rex and Glory were the first out the door.

Across the busy street and through a winding passage of sidewalk where the smell of street vendor sausage reached out like hands to pull Rex in, he wouldn’t be deterred. Glory and Marcia ran off ahead, to speak, as women like to do, by themselves for a few moments. Masterson asked if Rex wanted a hotdog – it was a nice touch by way of apology for butting in at the apartment. They waited silently and ate their food quickly by the cart before following the trail the others had taken minutes earlier.

Rex spotted Glory across the park, her hair radiant in the sun, wet from a sprinkler she must have inadvertently walked through – or possibly, he realized, purposefully walked through, because Marcia was wet as well.

Even at this distance, the spark they had shared in the apartment crossed the distance and Rex saw Glory lick her lips, a slow and methodical swipe of her tongue that expressed the heat in the air into motion. Rex looked at Masterson and blinked and the man nodded. “Have fun, buddy.”

Rex and Glory met under the shade of trees where they thought no one could see them and they fell on top of one another as only lust will allow one to do. They weren’t thinking of fines or jail time or the children who wandered past only a tree and bush distant. They thought only of the moment, and Rex knew that the lovely redhead he was with now would be the love of his life. This year.

On the other side of the trees, just in sight of the carnal activity, Marcia took Masterson’s hand in her own for a moment before pulling back. He looked at the envelope she had placed there and thanked her.

“It’s not often you find a Catahoula Leopard Dog in the city. Where did you find him?”

“He was a rescue, actually. The veterinarian spotted the breed and I did some research, found out where he came from and put the pieces together. Between Rex and your Irish Setter, I can’t wait to see the puppies, they’ll be gorgeous.”