Free Beyond the Edge by Elizabeth Lister Page A

bottles of Astroglide lubricant. And we had strict instructions as to how we were to carry out this errand. We were not allowed to use a basket or a cart. I was to find each item and give it to Sebastian to carry; Sebastian was to carry all the items and put them on the counter. I was to pay for them and we were not allowed to purchase a bag for the items, or to buy anything else, and if Sebastian were to drop anything in the store, I was not permitted to help him.
    It was a brilliant idea, because at ten o’clock on a Saturday morning, that Shoppers would be packed. We had another list of things to buy at Wicked Wanda’s, and I knew we could have gotten the items on the Shoppers list there, but that wouldn’t be as humiliating as gathering them in the middle of a crowded pharmacy. And, obviously, the things we were purchasing would give any observers a pretty good idea of what the two of us were up to this weekend. It was diabolical, actually. But, it was what I’d signed up for.
    As I’d expected, the Shoppers was crazy with people. James had given me the list and I wasn’t to show it to Sebastian, so he really had no idea what we were in for. He said hi to some people and thanked someone who offered him a basket, but I took it from him and replaced it. “We can't use that.”
    He looked at me like I was nuts. I held up my list. “It says so on here.”
    Comprehension dawned, then worry, then, when I led him toward the condom aisle, a fine pink blush began creeping up the skin of his neck and face. “We have to buy condoms?” he whispered, horrified. “But people will think we're gonna…with each other.”
    I snorted. “Haven't you ever bought condoms before, Sebastian?”
    “Of course,” he said quickly, “but never with another guy. What if they know we're gay and we're planning to use them with each other?”
    I shrugged. I found two boxes of the kind we needed and handed them to him. “You're supposed to carry this stuff,” I said, starting to worry about his reaction when he saw what else we were buying.
    He took the packs of condoms, looking around to see if anyone was near. A middle aged woman and her kid stood in the middle of the aisle, looking at ass cream. She glanced over, saw us, saw the condoms, and grabbed her kid by his jacket, pulling him down the aisle.
    “Bitch,” I muttered under my breath as I grabbed two large bottles of Astroglide from the shelf and handed them to Sebastian. “Here.”
    “Oh my God.” He blushed furiously. “Why didn't James stock up on all this stuff beforehand?”
    I laughed. “Oh my dear Sebastian. How little you understand about James and the art of Domination.” I headed over to find the most embarrassing of the items we'd been sent for.
    Sebastian followed me, managing the items I'd already given him with relative ease. But when I found the Fleet enemas on the bottom shelf in the Laxative aisle, and gathered up four of them, he looked at me with wide eyes. “Oh no. Really? Those?”
    “Yes, sir,” I muttered, handing them to him. He looked around frantically, tucking the condoms under his arm and trying to hold all four Fleet enemas in one hand. He dropped two of them and barely held onto the Astroglide.
    “Shit!” he said, bending down to grab them. I stood motionless, feeling some empathy for his situation, but unable to assist him. A woman nearby saw Sebastian scrambling for his boxes, gave me a mean look, and picked them up. As she held them out to him she must have realized what they were, because her face reddened and she said, “Sorry… here you are…” and as soon as he took them from her, turned tail and got the hell out of Dodge.
    Jesus Christ, did anyone in this goddamn town have a sense of humor?
    When he'd stood back up with the items in hand, his face beet red and a look on his face of profound humiliation, I started leading us to the cash. People stared at us, no doubt more from Sebastian's state of obvious embarrassment than