Balance

An Alleycat Crew Short

Svata stormed into his office, closed the door, and locked it. She was wearing her coveralls with the slot cut out for her tail and was carrying a comm module.

Abram recognized Calynn’s image floating above the comm as soon as Svata turned back towards him.

“Hi, Chief,” Calynn said, smiling as she always did. “We’re here to ambush you.”

Abram buried his face in his hands and sighed. He was working late on purpose in hopes of avoiding another argument with Svata, but it looked like the argument found him regardless.

“No, I just commed her to ask for advice,” Svata explained as she approached his desk.

“And my advice is still to just get naked and let your body do the talking instead of using all those messy words,” Calynn replied in a far too easy tone. “Kash tells me whatever I want to know after we have… naked time.”

“I what now?” Kash asked as his image joined Calynn’s.

“I still don’t like it,” Svata sighed as she unzipped her coveralls. “But I’m growing increasingly desperate.”

Svata’s coveralls fell to the floor and she stepped out of them. She had her shorts and sports bra on underneath, she always did, but he couldn’t help but stare at her long toned legs. His eyes trailed up to her stomach and the soft fur that was still damp with sweat from a hard day’s work.

“I don’t see the problem,” Calynn stated. “His eyes say he wants you. Being naked is undefeated.”

“But the rest of him doesn’t follow his eyes,” Svata complained, sitting on the edge of his desk and flicking her tail.

“Chief Volci,” a man said from behind the locked door.

“Is busy,” Svata shouted. “Come back later.”

“What if that was important?” Abram asked, motioning to the door.

“More important than me?” Svata asked, tilting her head.

“No, I didn’t… it’s just…”

“Then why don’t you want me anymore?”

“I do want you!” Volci shouted, sharper than he intended.

He sighed and glanced away from her, immediately regretting shouting at her. He could feel all their eyes on him.

“I think I know what’s going on here,” Kash said, drawing everyone’s attention. “Calynn and I have this exact same problem, but only on stakeouts. The balance between being her boss so we get things done and intimacy.”

Abram tried to settle his nerves. This wasn’t going to go away. He needed to address it.

“I’m her boss all day. I don’t want to feel like her boss at night too,” Abram blurted out.

“I like being bossed around at night,” Calynn quipped. “Then he calls me a good girl.”

“Gods, Calynn,” Kash laughed. “Just no filter at all on you, huh?”

“What do you mean, Abram?” Svata asked softly. “I don’t understand why you would feel…”

“Because you leave your tail out now for me,” Abram cut her off. “And wear dresses now too because I think you look so good…”

“But my reward for that is you ignoring me in bed?” Svata interrupted him this time.

“No, Svata,” Kash said calmly. “To him he’s making you work, making you keep your tail out, and then making you wear a dress. And then finally making you have sex with him. He sees it as giving you a break from following his orders all day long when he doesn’t pursue you.”

Kash was surprisingly astute and summarized it far better than Abram could have himself.

“Then why ignore my advances?” Svata asked.

“Because you’re only doing that because he wants you to,” Kash continued. “Chief, you’re locked in military mode. You can’t… well, what helped me was thinking of Calynn as being a higher rank than me when it came to the relationship and emotional part. She’s way better at it than me, anyway. But it helped me flip that switch. I’m her boss at the helm, but she’s the boss in the bedroom.”

Calynn tried to add something to that, but Kash placed his hand over her mouth.

“You two got this,” Kash said, ending the comm

“I don’t want to be bossy,” Svata said softly. “But I will be if my wants are not being met.”

“But I still feel guilty for all the changes you made for me.”

“You didn’t make me change,” Svata said, staring into his eyes. “You gave me the confidence to do it myself. You did that FOR me not to me. I’m no longer embarrassed by my tail because of you. That’s a good thing.”

“I never considered it that way.”

“Can we go home and finish what your eyes started now?” Svata asked, longingly. “I miss the way you grab me by my tail.”

Abram moved quickly to his fiancée, grabbing her by the slender waist, and kissing her deeply. When his hand found her tail, her breath hitched, and Abram swiped everything off his desk with his arm letting everything crash to the floor.

“We’re not gonna make it home.”