Business and Pleasure SLASH, MxM

Chapter 10

"Claudette's throwing a surprise party and she wants me to help her out, but I'm not sure."

Marshall raised an eyebrow at his wife before grabbing a box of cereal off a shelf. He glanced at it for a moment  before throwing it in the cart. "Who?"

 Anne rolled her eyes and swatted him on the arm. "You know her. She's in the Canfield Woman's Club with me? We met her at Harry's when she was with Patrick." She answered as she picked up the cereal Marshall put in and inspected it. It had to get her stamp of approval or it was going right back on the shelf. "Actually, I think the party is for him, anyway. It's supposed to be for his birthday."

Suddenly Marshall remembered the buxom blonde woman that was with Patrick when he saw him on that irritating night the man interrupted their dinner date. Besides being tits with legs, he didn't think she had much else going on for her. "Let me guess, you want me to come along?" He said sounding annoyed. He had been avoiding the man pretty well and was certain that Patrick had gotten the idea by how well he made himself unavailable whenever Patrick needed something.

Anne decided that the brand of cereal wasn't acceptable and swapped it out with another. Marshall shot her a glare but said nothing.  She pretended not to notice. "Well yes. You don't expect me to go alone do you? Besides, he's your boss. It'd be rude if you snubbed him by not showing up."

"Can't I just say that I'm sick? I hate parties as it is."

"C'mon." She whined, squeezing his arm. "I'll make it worth your while." She sung as she reached for the cereal she just put back. "I'll buy you this."

He rolled his eyes at her and smiled. "You do know I can buy my own cereal?"

"Take the bribe Marshall."

He raised his hands up in defeat. "Fine. Fine. I'll go. But I refuse to yell 'surprise', when he walks in."

"Good." She winked and put the box back in its rightful place in the shopping cart.

-

"Streamers? You put up streamers?... Anne, you do know he is a grown man, right?"

"Oh shut up and help me take out the food."

As per Anne's wishes, Marshall was there to help out along with a few other people he didn't recognize. And some he did. He recognized Claudette immediately and saw that she was currently arguing with Michelle over what kind of cake Patrick preferred.  Michelle insisted that the man preferred homemade vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and that Claudette was an idiot if she believed he would eat the grocery store monstrosity that she had purchased. The blonde woman countered by saying Michelle didn't know a thing she was talking about and that she should have been grateful she was even invited. Marshall had hoped to see more of the likely ensuing cat fight, but Anne grabbed his shirt and pulled him into the kitchen.

"God, he has the most beautiful apartment." She sighed as she reached into the fridge to pull out some snacks.

Marshall glanced around the kitchen and back at the living room before he nodded as if he hadn't been there before. "I suppose it's nice."

She pulled out a bowl of dip and popped it open. She swiped her finger in it and licked it off, moaning at the taste. He tried not to berate her for how gross that was and instead went to work opening a bag of chips to put in a bowl Claudette had set out.

"We should redo our kitchen." She suggested as she carried the dip out into the living room. Marshall followed her with the chips, noting that more people were starting to arrive. He thought their kitchen was just fine but he didn't want to make her angry. She had been snapping lately over even the most minute things.