The Horny Depot

Serena left the Renford with her mind already set. The evening air was crisp and refreshing, reinvigorating her after a boring shift. Sundays always dragged on at reception. Very few check-ins made every minute feel like five. Even calls to replace batteries on TV remotes were welcome when time was moving so slowly.

But it wasn't her job that she was focused on.

It was her man.

She didn't even glance at the street in the other direction. Her feet carried her away from her car straight toward that storefront — the one she'd passed a hundred times driving to work, always with a deliberately averted gaze. The big vinyl letters in the window read "ADULT EMPORIUM", but her eyes had never lingered. She'd always imagined it smelling like cigarettes and sweat inside. Too seedy, too icky, too freaky.

Except that when it came to Joey, she could see nothing freaky at all. Maybe a store like that one was exactly what she needed to get his attention. She didn't have the advantages some of the other girls had: going to the same school, living in the same house... Serena was an outsider. She was going to have to work extra hard to get her man. Besides, Joey was young. Eighteen. Carlos’s voice from earlier still played in her head:

"Slut it up. Get on your knees and show him how far you'll go."

She smiled at the memory. Serena had put on a good show of acting embarrassed by the advice, but Carlos had no idea how literal she was willing to take things.

The door chimed softly as she pushed it open.

Clean. Bright. Not at all what she'd expected. The place had warm lighting, tidy shelves, even a faint vanilla scent. There was a friendly-looking woman at the counter, maybe late thirties, and a man in a red polo shirt straightening a display of vibrantly colored vibrators.

Serena went to the woman first. "Hi, so I've never been here before. I need some outfits. Something to really spice things up."

The woman's brows lifted. "Okay. What kind of—"

"I have a man. A really special man. I need to get his attention. I'm going to his house tonight to surprise him and I need to make sure that I'm going to close the deal."

The woman's professional smile faltered. "He doesn't know about you coming? This is consensual?"

Serena laughed softly. "Oh, it's just a surprise. We're already... I mean... we haven't... He and I are already a thing. There's nothing freaky about this. I just want to make sure he knows what he's getting with me."

The woman's expression eased into a grin. "Alright then. We get all types in here, honey. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't setting some poor guy up with a stalker." She winked. "Come on. I know exactly what you need. Let's help you level up this relationship."

The back half of the store was different — a burst of color and sparkle against black racks. Lace, latex, sequins. These weren't dresses you wore to meet a boyfriend's grandparents. These were the kind you wore under hot stage lights, fingers wrapped around a brass pole.

It was perfect.

The clerk gestured toward a rack. "This the kind of thing you had in mind?"

Looking at what the woman was pointing toward, Serena's mouth curved. "Oh, I love it."

"I'll be up front if you need anything."

Left alone, Serena sifted through the clothes, her fingers sinking into soft satin, tugging at tight vinyl. The textures stirred something familiar — memories of long studio days, sweaty photographers barking for more leg, more skin. Back then she'd felt like a piece of meat.

This felt different.

Now she was the one choosing. No stranger was in charge of her life, her body. Serena herself was in charge. How lucky she was that she'd stepped away from her modeling career, that she'd decided to reinvent herself. For the first time in her adult life, Serena Hart had enough agency that she could reject being controlled by men, and give herself fully and completely to Joey Granger. It made her feel powerful in a way she'd never felt before.

Her hand landed first on a French maid outfit. The skirt wasn’t so much short as it was a shameless suggestion of fabric — black ruffles trimmed in white lace, bouncing just enough to show everything if she so much as breathed wrong. She pictured herself in Joey’s kitchen, bent at the waist over the counter, the feather duster tracing idle little swirls across the surface while her hips tilted just enough to flash him. She’d pause, still bent, just long enough to hear his breath hitch, before glancing over her shoulder with a slow, knowing smile. The skirt would ride high enough that he wouldn’t have to imagine anything. He’d see it — all of it — and know exactly what she was offering.

Next came a naughty nurse number — crisp white with red piping, a scandalously short skirt, and a toy stethoscope swinging like a dare. In her mind, she was already straddling him on the couch, knees planted on either side of his thighs, leaning in so close that the tips of her hair brushed his cheek. She’d press the stethoscope to his chest, pretending to listen, her lips hovering just above his ear as she whispered, “Mmm… looks like your pulse is racing. I think I know the treatment.” Her hands would trail lower, not even pretending to be clinical, and she’d watch his self-control melt away under her touch.

The nurse outfit joined the maid.

Then came a black vinyl bodysuit with cutouts that would bare more than they covered, followed by a confection of pink lace and ribbons, a babydoll so sheer she'd have to be careful about turning too quickly. She imagined walking toward Joey in slow, measured steps, watching his eyes as the ribbon straps slipped down her shoulders. She wouldn't be waiting for anyone to say "that's a wrap." She'd be the one deciding when the moment ended.

It wasn't until she had all four outfits on her pile that she saw her final selection. Serena's eyes went wide. It was perfect. The night before, Serena had shown up in a sexy dress hoping that it would be enough. Joey was no normal man, though, and she was working in a crowded field. This outfit wouldn't just drive Joey wild, it sent a message of what she was willing to do, what she was willing to be, to be with her man.

Her fingers brushed the rack of heels on the way out and she spotted the perfect pair: golden, sky-high, open-toed, with a silver ankle strap. She could already imagine the sound of them on his floor — the click of each step letting him know she was coming.

Smiling through her pillowy lips, the clerk began folding the outfits into glossy black bags. "You find what you needed?"

Serena's eyes drifted to a wall of dildos in every color, to mannequins in full latex suits, to boxed sex dolls with their synthetic, glossy lips. A day ago, it might have made her squirm. But now that she had found a man that she wanted, she saw this store for what it was. The same way The Home Depot provided tools to builders, this store provided tools to Serena. With them, she would create the type of future she wanted, one where she could be sure that Joey Granger remembered her, one where she could 'slut it up' any time she wanted.

As she grabbed her bags, she thought about that fifth outfit. That was the one. The deal closer. She would head home, get ready, and go straight to Joey's. She could feel it. Tonight was the night.