Ah, that added another problem that required attention soon: his stomach’s grumbling.
Tom leaned his head against the shower wall, sucking his fingers into his mouth as he continued to quickly jerk off. It wasn’t the same thick heat of Cypress’s cock, but it was enough to mimic the memory and tip him over the edge, spilling his load as he remembered what a good boy he’d been.
He finished washing up and got out to dry off, selecting a fresh set of gray scrubs to wear for the day. He wasn’t expecting to work any funerals, and he still had at least one clean suit still hanging in the bag from the dry cleaner’s in the back of his car if he needed it.
After brushing his teeth, he glanced through his bathroom toiletries for some cologne. He’d been wearing the same one for years, a very common masculine scent he could buy right down at the drugstore. Not great, nothing special, but it worked.
He couldn’t help but think about how good Cypress had smelled, and if he had to see him again today, maybe it was worth taking a bit of a risk.
He picked out a neglected bottle he’d gotten for some birthday or Christmas, a cologne that had a strong herbal scent with hints of citrus. He had loved it but worried it was too much to wear at the funeral home again.
The first time he’d worn it to work, Mr. Crosby had politely asked if he’d spilled a new chemical.
Tom hesitated to put it on but decided he could dare to live a little. He wasn’t some quiet, shy embalmer. He was bold, brave, and sucked dick in hallways. He could do this.
Fuck it.
After Tom was enveloped in the new aroma, he marched out of his little house with his head held high as he reviewed his brewing plans for the day.
Grab some breakfast, have the morning huddle with his co-workers, fix the inventory, confront Cypress while smelling amazing, get the money back, have a light snack, then pay Junior and make it clear he was absolutely done working for him.
Despite his new scent giving him a fresh boost of confidence, he could feel the strings of his carefully woven plan starting to unravel. He’d already told Junior many times before that he was done, and it still kept happening.
Shit.
He still had to try.
Tom swung through a fast-food joint to grab a sausage biscuit and some tea, adding a ham biscuit to the order for Earl to thank him for borrowing his handkerchief yesterday.
He arrived at work a few minutes early, coming through the back door into the hallway from the side parking lot. He noticed the majority of the empty stretchers were now gone, most likely having been used last night by Bosco and Scott.
Tom paused to check the login sheet for the walk-in cooler, noting at least four new names. He heard someone punching in the code for the back door, turning around to see Aaron walking in.
“Morning,” Aaron grumbled, blearily nodding a greeting over a large to-go cup of coffee. His tie was hanging loosely around his neck, and his shirt wasn’t tucked in.
“Good morning,” Tom said. “Long night?”
“Scott and Bosco had a worse one,” Aaron replied hoarsely. “Don’t expect to see them for the morning huddle. They’re sleeping in. Got four new calls last night, all back to back, including this poor ol’ bastard who died in the tiniest bathroom ever made by man.”
“Wait, you had to go out? But you weren’t on call.”
“Bosco and Scott couldn’t get into the damn bathroom,” Aaron explained, dragging a hand through his curly hair. “This guy died on the toilet, fell forward, and his body was blocking the door. Nobody could get it to open more than a few inches because it kept hitting his damn head and shoulders.”
“Oh, shit.” Tom grimaced in sympathy.
”Shit, yeah. Like literally shit because like, it was everywhere. It was such a mess.” Aaron slurped at his coffee noisily. “There was no way Bosco and Scott could fit their big asses in there, so they called me, Mr. Skinny, to come save the day.”
“So, wait, what did you do? How did you get the door open?”
“Oh, man,” Aaron groaned. “It was horrible. After I wiggled in there, I had to take a sheet and wrap it up around the dude’s neck, and like, sit back on the edge of the tub and pull as hard as I could. My feet were sliding in liquid poo the whole time, and I was finally able to lift him enough for Bosco and Scott to push the door open the rest of the way to get to him.”
“Never a dull moment, huh?”
“Ha, right? Ugh, that was at four o’clock this morning, we finished up around six, and I never went back to sleep.” Aaron made a face. “I swear I can still smell the poo. There was so much poo.”
Tom began to lead the way to the office door, asking sympathetically, “Why didn’t you stay home and crash? Gerald, Junior, and Mr. Crosby are all here to call those families.”
“Because we got four,” Aaron protested. “I’m not leaving them hanging with four new families to see. We can each take one and divide it all up.”
