Box Shaped Heart Ch. 18

He was functional enough when came another, playful knock on his door. Where was Mark, anyway?

"Come in," he shouted, a bit annoyed now.

He wanted nothing else but to go home, eat something, and drop dead. The day had been eventful enough.

"How's my Instaking doing?" Aron called cheerfully.

"Oh, shut up already," he snorted. "I did that just so I won't do the tour."

"Tour? What tour?" Aron smiled and walked towards his desk.

Of course, the guy wanted to kiss him. Well, he was a dutiful husband, so he let himself smooched. At least, Aron was more decent than Simon, and settled just for a short peck on the lips.

"For that organic line," he shrugged.

"But you love tours," Aron leaned against the desk and watched him carefully.

"Eh, didn't feel like it. I'd rather be close to home. And to you," he added without giving his words too much thought.

"Wow," Aron chuckled. "So you love me or something?"

"I suppose. We got hitched or something," he joked back.

"Excellent. Well, seeing how lovey-dovey you are these days, I came to take you out someplace nice tonight."

"Ah, you finished your work early, then?"

"Yeah, do you still have work to do?"

"No, I think I'm set. All checked."

Endorsement tour avoided. Checked.

Chasing down Yolanda around her desk. Checked.

Interview for the organic line. Checked.

Spanking the lover on the side. Checked.

Yes, everything was in order.

"Then, let's go," Aron offered his hand.

"Wait, I need my phone," he started looking around.

Where the hell did he put that thing? It seemed to be nowhere on the desk. Aron moved away and he started pulling the drawers. His eyes landed on that offending object too late, and by how silent Aron fell next to him, he knew he fucked up.

"Um, what's that?" Aron asked, as he tried to push the drawer back and pretend it didn't happen.

"That is ..."

Fuck, what could he say? He could not just blatantly lie. Aron was not mentally challenged, and he wasn't 12, either.

"Wait, let me see," Aron pulled the drawer from his hand, and took the leather paddle.

He examined it carefully, while Carter held his breath.

"Care to explain?" Aron looked straight at him.

"I ... ahem ... bought it for us?" he said hesitantly.

"For us? Or for you?" Aron began smiling.

Oh, no. He was pretty certain that thing had to hurt.

"No, for you," he said snappily and grabbed the paddle from Aron's hand. "I want to spank your ass."

"What for?" Aron asked, smiling.

"I thought you'd like it," Carter said brightly. "You seem to, um, enjoy a little punishment."

"What gave you that idea?" Aron played dumb. "I'd rather try this on you," he added and quickly snatched the paddle back.

"Ha, ha, don't even think about it," Carter said dryly. "And you're the one who likes being fucked in the mouth."

"Oh, baby, you're sure you want to go out still? Because if you keep running your mouth like that ..."

"Give it back," he reached for the paddle, but Aron just held it higher. "It's okay, I don't need that to kick your ass."

Aron was clearly surprised as he rammed into the guy, making him lose balance and end up on the carpeted floor. Carter got on top quickly, and grabbed Aron's hands, pining them to the floor. The man was still stubbornly holding the spanking paddle.

"Whatcha gonna do?" Aron teased.

It was clear as day that the guy had no intention to break free, as he could easily do it.

"I'm going to ... tickle you," he said triumphantly, as he sank his fingers into Aron's flanks.

"Fighting dirty?" Aron laughed and he grabbed Carter, turning the tables, and trapping his enemy under him.

"Aron, we're at work, my work," he said sternly, or as much as he could manage, as Aron was blowing hot air over his face.

He had no idea the proximity to his best friend could have that effect on him. It was like his mind was slowly going blank, and he could not tear his eyes away from that handsome face. Aron captured his lips into a kiss, and now this was no casual smooch, like earlier. This was the sexy, I-want-to-fuck-your-brains-out, kind of kiss.

Who needed to breathe anyway? All he needed was Aron's tongue in his mouth, Aron's big hands reaching under his t-shirt to torture his nipples, and Aron's big strong body keeping him down like he was nothing.

"Ahem, boss?"

He had no idea if he wanted to kiss or kill Mark right now. Aron had at least the decorum to let him go and even helped him to his feet.

"Sorry, Mark," Aron said cheerfully. "I don't think we've met. I'm Aron, Alex's husband."

At least, Aron had the decency to sound a bit embarrassed. Mark shook Aron's hand with a happy expression on his face.

"I know, I wanted so much to meet you!"

Aron threw Carter a small look, as the assistant just continued to shake the man's hand.

"You're even more handsome than I imagined!" Mark continued.

Wow, there-there, tiger, this man's taken! Carter felt some weird sense of possession kicking in.

"You two are so amazing together!" Mark spoke again.

"Thanks," Carter smiled.

Why the fuck was he saying that? Aron looked happy together with Alex, not Carter. So they were not an item. Although apparently, he was doing a hell of a job to keep it up. It was okay, really. He was just taking care of Aron's marriage.

Well, if someone leaves you to take care of their plants, you water them and give them fertilizer, and all that, right? You keep them happy.

Yes, but you're not fucking them.

Screw you, brain.

"I want to celebrate Alex's decision to become the new sensation on Instagram," Aron chatted away happily with Mark.

"That's great," Mark agreed. "Did you decide what you want to do? Because I bought some tickets to the basketball game tonight. I wanted to go with a friend, but they're busy ... I know it's just the local team playing, but ..." Mark fiddled with his man purse to extract two tickets.

Carter was so quick to snatch them, that he almost bumped Aron aside in the process.

"Are you kidding me, right? It's their first chance in forever to make it to the big league!" he said, excited.

He had read about the game online, but it had not crossed his mind one second to go until now. The opportunity was too good to pass.

"Mark, I would kiss you, man, but I'm your boss and I don't want you to sue me for sexual harassment," he added.

Mark grinned, and he seemed happy just because his boss was happy. What an awesome assistant!

"Aron," he turned towards the other man in the room, "we're going to see the frigging game!"

He froze in place. Aron looked at him, but there was no muscle in the guy's face moving. It was like he had been struck by lightning. Oh, right, Aron had planned a night out and it wasn't, most probably, including a basketball game.

Why was he such an idiot? Alex could not have been so much into watching the game, right? The guy was doing ballet, for fuck's sake! Okay, now that had the effect of a bucket of frozen ice on his excitement, and he could not remember signing up for that kind of challenge.

He looked down in embarrassment, but also as a means to avoid Aron's eyes.

"Sorry," he said. "I should have asked what you wanted to do. Mark, thanks," he turned toward the assistant to hand him back the tickets. "But I cannot accept these."

"Hey, I didn't say I don't want to go," Aron finally spoke and moved to place one hand on Carter's shoulder.

And then, he picked up the tickets from Carter's stretched hand, while smiling affably at Mark.

"Thanks a lot, Mark. You're the man," Aron spoke.

"Great! Have fun at the game!" Mark said cheerfully. "See you tomorrow, boss! I will make sure to pick the first swimwear you will need for the first shooting session for Instagram. Nothing too revealing right from the start, I know," the assistant raised his hands in surrender. "Now I have to hurry home. Taz will surely tear down the walls if I'm not home on time."

"Who's Taz?" Carter murmured, too taken aback with everything to compute.

"My dog. He's this awesome golden retriever. I canceled the dog sitter, so I have to go," Mark spoke quickly.

A golden retriever. Just the breed he liked most. Suddenly he felt very jealous of Mark. His folks had never let him have a dog. They were away too much. So he had fantasized about it only. Now, if he thought about it, what was the name he had given his imaginary pet? Nah, his brain was playing tricks on him. It wasn't possible that Alex's assistant had a dog named just like the imaginary one from Carter's childhood. Although he could now distinctly remember how many time he had played imaginary fetch with Taz, his very not real pet.

"Baby?" Aron called for him. "Are you upset? You don't want us to go to the game, after all?"

The regret in the man's voice was almost tangible.

"No, sorry, I was just thinking of stuff," he replied. "I'd love to see the game with you."

Ah, ah, it was coming to him. It was dishonorable like hell, but it was going to offer the proper explanation.

"I read about the game today, and I know how much you love to play basketball, so I just thought how cool it would be if you could see it when Mark offered the tickets," he said it in one breath.

Aron squeezed his shoulder and placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Ah, so you're doing this for me? But it's your celebration."

"What better way to celebrate than this? If you're happy, you'll take care of making me happy, too," Carter joked, remembering something about what one of his ex-girlfriends had once told him about how women could get men to do all kinds of stuff for them. Wait, weren't those girls divulging too much of their arsenal? Well, it was true that they had also often said that they liked how comfortable they felt in his company.

"I like your way of thinking," Aron hugged him. "And, really, baby, if you wanted me to fall for you even harder, you could not have thought of a better way."

"Well, it was all because of Mark ..."

His assistant had vanished. He was probably in a hurry to see Taz, his golden retriever. Not that he could blame the guy for it.

"Your reaction when he took out the tickets was priceless," Aron chuckled. "Alex," he turned Carter to face him and for a couple of seconds, they stared into each other's eyes. "Carter's mom told me you visited them to apologize. I'm sorry I was hard on you. That was so nice of you. I so need to apologize. On my knees, how you want me. I should not be so quick to judge you ..."

"Stop," Carter covered Aron's mouth with one hand. "I need to make things right, you know?"

No, Aron couldn't know. But Carter knew he had so many things to fix. And if he was going to get up from that hospital bed, ever, he was going to hug his mom and tell her how much he loved her.

"You're doing one hell of a job so far," Aron took his hand and kissed him quickly. "I love you, Alex. And I was in the wrong, too, talking about Carter the way I did. It was just so childish of me. Carter was ... is just my best friend. You are my husband. I really hope that, when he wakes up, you could be friends with him."

"Yeah, right," Carter snorted. "I mean, why not?" he hurried to add. "I'll try."

There was no way he was going to be friends with that cheater. Aron had no idea who his real husband was. But Carter was no better. He could not ever be friends with Alex, for the simple fact that Alex had Aron. And that was the only person Carter wanted in the whole wide world and couldn't have.

TBC

*****

Author's note: Thank you for reading! Also, for your support. You really are great. JP, Carter's small spiritual voice will become clearer and clearer, I hope :) Nina, you're awesome, as always. And The_VampirePrince, I'm glad you're enjoying the story!