I Was the Adult Store's New Human Doll novel · Chapter 3 of 12

Chapter 3: Six-Thirty

Maximo moved faster than he ever had in his life.

He grabbed his pants, hopped on one leg, put his shirt on backward, and disappeared behind the nurse mannequin without making a sound.

I pulled the sheet up to my chin.

My shorts were still tangled on the floor with my white stockings.

Daylight streamed in as my mom pushed open the door, a suitcase in one hand and a bag of bread in the other.

"Honey!"

"Mom."

My mom stood in the doorway, looking at me.

She was forty-seven, with short black hair, huge gold earrings, and eyes that had seen everything.

Her gaze slowly swept around the store.

She saw the rumpled bed, the shorts on the floor, the sandals far away, the man's shirt hanging from a shelf.

And the leather belt, with its metal buckle, lying at the foot of the bed.

"Sleep well?" she asked.

"I got stuck."

"I know. Don Maximo told me."

My heart sank.

"When?"

"Last night, in a voice message. He said you'd gotten stuck in the bed and he was staying to look after you."

"Oh."

"What a gentleman. Looking after you."

My mom set down the suitcase and the bread, walked over to the bed with her arms crossed, and picked up the belt from the floor with two fingers.

"How careless of our neighbor," she said. "He left his belt behind."

I pulled the sheet over my face.

Something creaked behind the mannequin.

My mom looked at the mannequin, glanced at the ceiling, then put a hand to her chest with a huge smile.

"Don Maximo," she said loudly, toward nothing in particular. "If you're going to stay hidden, at least put your pants on the right way."

A heavy silence.

Then a hoarse, embarrassed voice came from behind the mannequin:

"Good morning, Doña Nelida."

My mom burst out laughing, loud enough for the whole street to hear.

Maximo came out slowly, his shirt buttoned wrong and his head bowed.

He was red all the way up to his shaved head.

"Forgive me, Doña Nelida. I..."

"Maximo," my mom said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I've been waiting two years for this."

I peeked out from under the sheet.

"Mom?"

"Honey, I know who peeks through my window and who looks out through hers. I'm not blind."

"And the sign? 'Test model, touchable'?"

My mom shrugged with an innocent air.

"It was just advertising."

"And the eight-hour lock?"

"Sometimes things lock themselves, honey."

Maximo and I looked at each other.

My mom came over, put the belt in my hand, and said softly:

"If you hurt him, honey, I'll sell you to a carnival. And if you take good care of him, I'll give you the store."

There were tears in her eyes, but she was laughing.

Then she clapped once.

"All right. We open in half an hour. Don Maximo, you don't have anything to do at your hardware store, do you?"

"I do, Doña Nelida."

"Later. Right now, help me roll up the shutter."

The day passed in a blur of customers, boxes, and jokes.

My mom never stopped smiling.

At ten, with the store packed, I got a message from a number I hadn't deleted.

"Saw your window display story. Still playing doll for your mom? How ironic, haha. I miss you, gorgeous."

It was Brayan.

I hadn't heard from him in six months. I hadn't thought about him in six months.

My stomach twisted into a knot.

I deleted the message, blocked the number, and told myself it didn't matter.

At one in the afternoon, with the store empty for lunch, I went to the back room to look for a box of lingerie.

The back door was ajar.

It was the door my mom had had built years ago.

It connected the store's stockroom to the hardware store's storage room, so they could move merchandise through on rainy days.

A huge hand reached out, grabbed my wrist, and yanked me inside.

I wound up pressed against a shelf of nails and screws, with Maximo's body covering me completely.

He smelled like machine oil and soap.

"Good afternoon, doll," he whispered.

"Good afternoon."

"I've wanted to do this all morning."

He kissed me.

It was a deep, possessive kiss, his hands on my face and his beard scraping my chin.

I grabbed handfuls of his shirt and pulled him closer.

He lifted me against the shelf, and the boxes of screws rattled.

When we pulled apart, we were both breathing hard.

"My mom's going to hear us," I whispered.

"Your mom's going to give us a medal."

We both laughed quietly, pressed close together.

His hand slid down my side to my thigh.

He squeezed my ass so gently I forgot all about Brayan's message.

"I'm closing the hardware store at eight tonight," he said against my ear. "What do you have to rehearse?"

"The window display... on Saturday."

"Then rehearse with me."

My knees went weak.

"At nine," I said. "When my mom leaves."

"Nine o'clock, in the window display."

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