The "Married Man"

*This is going to be a slow start as I set up background and the main character.*

Titus woke to a large weight on his chest. He wrapped his arm around it, only to discover fur instead of the smooth skin of his wife he was expecting. It was a couple of seconds before his still half-asleep brain processed that his wife did not suddenly grow fur.

"Move, Chancy." he mumbled before pushing the dog off his chest onto the other side of the bed. The empty side where his wife used to sleep. Or rather his ex-wife as of last week. Though they still lived together, it was more of a financial thing than any chance of them getting back together. Their marriage had outlasted the bets of their friends, a whole 5 years of ups and downs.

Titus looked over at his bedside clock with some . He didn't wake to his alarm, which was usually not a good sign for him being on time to work. 7am. Wait 7:00?? Suddenly his mind was not on his ex-wife, but the fact he could not afford to be late again.

"Fuck." Titus muttered under his breath as he grabbed his pants off the chair he had thrown them on, sliding himself into the soft khakis as he hopped his way over to the bathroom. He grabbed his deodorant off the counter and quickly put it on before grabbing his blue shirt from the chair as well. He buttoned it as fast as he could, his fingers fumbling. As he went to button the top button, his big fingers popped it off. Titus looked at the button sitting on the ground like a symbol of the day he was likely going to have. Then he jolted himself out of it, sliding his belt on and buckling it to the smallest hole. If there was one good thing to come from his divorce it had been losing some of the extra weight he had put on.

Titus sat down on his bed with his socks in his hands, pushing Chancy out of the way as he nuzzled for attention. Titus slid the socks on and stepped into his work loafers. Chancy whimpered at him, reminding him that now he needed to take Chancy out. Before his wife...ex-wife... had taken him out every morning as she worked later, but now Chancy was his responsibility and only his.

Titus ran downstairs with Chancy hot on his heels and searched the living room desperately for the leash. He grabbed it off the hook, cursing himself for not looking there straight away. As he opened the front door, he looked into the kitchen at the clock. 7:20. He moved a little faster, practically dragging the bewildered Chancy out the door.

After Chancy did his business, Titus hurried back inside, unclipping Titus' leash as he went. His eyes bolted back to the clock: 7:25. Chancy ran to his food bowl, eyes expectantly trained on his owner. Titus grabbed the dog food, pouring a random amount in. He had no time for precision. Chancy barked gratefully and Titus was out the door.

Titus was in the car before he realized his mistake. He had forgotten his wallet and smartphone. He cursed himself under his breath for what had to have been the hundredth time that morning and then he was slamming the door behind him as he was on his way back to his room. He nearly bowled over Lily checking the time on his phone.

"Just because I'm your ex doesn't mean you can run me over." She yelled down at him as he was already halfway down the stairs.

"I'm sorry baby... I mean Lily. I'm really late!"

And then he was back in the car. 7:37. He was late for sure. But how late was going to be determined by how fast he could go without being pulled over.