Shannon Murphy (shantastic) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2021-09-09 19:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, caden, caden x shan, shan |
Who: Shan and Caden
When: midday through late night, Sunday, June 17th
Where: Shan’s apartment, Atlantic City, then Point Pleasant
Status: complete
The first thing Shan was aware of was that almost everything hurt. Her joints, her head, her stomach, between her legs. She made a tiny sound of protest against being conscious, and buried her head a bit deeper into the pillow. But her bladder hurt too, and the need to pee dragged her out of the deep sleep she’d been in. Before she moved, she slowly became aware that there was someone in bed with her. A man, judging by the timber of the snoring. Shan struggled to remember who he was before she lifted her head to squint over at the body next to her. He looked vaguely familiar ... fuck, what had even happened the night before?
Pushing her hair out of her face, Shan slowly sat up and looked down at herself. She was in a dress, one of her cute short sundresses, but it was rumpled and a mess and was that a tear? Twisting to try and look made everything hurt worse, so she decided she didn’t care. She had to pee, then maybe she could remember. Not bothering to be careful or gentle about it, Shan crawled over the legs of the man in her bed and made it to her feet without falling, which felt like an accomplishment. Eyes half open, Shan started shuffling toward the bathroom.
Caden felt the body moving over his legs on the bed and in his disoriented state, thought it was Roxy. But when he cracked his eyes open, his surroundings were one he didn't really recognize and it took a moment for Caden to remember he and Max had gone to Atlantic City. The rest was a bit fuzzy. Strip club. Some chick named... something. He was naked now too and Caden groaned at the throbbing in his temple. "Fuck," he groaned before scrubbing his hands over his face. Clearly he'd had a one night stand though he couldn't remember any of it. Fantastic.
Forcing himself to sit up, Caden tossed the blankets from his body and began to scan the floor for his clothes. He needed to get dressed and get the fuck out as soon as possible. Max was probably wondering where he was.
Unfortunately Shan didn’t have her own bathroom, just the shared one in the hallway, but her roommates all either seemed to not be home or they were sleeping. She closed the door and plopped down to pee, her fuzzy mind attempting to go over the previous night’s events. She’d been working ... Frank was an asshole ... cute customer ... was that the guy in her bed? Shan wasn’t sure yet. She worked her jaw back and forth a bit, noting that it was sore. And so was her pussy, damn. She’d apparently forgotten a fun night, goddammit. There were a few flashes here and there -- making out with someone, falling on her ass on the floor at the club, popping pills ... It wasn’t until she reached for the toilet paper that Shan realized she had a ring on. She didn’t usually wear rings, but there was a simple gold band on her left ring finger. “What the fuck,” she muttered as she stared at it for a beat. Shan hurried to finish up her business, because if that was what she thought it was ...
Caden was tugging on his jeans when he noticed the ring on his finger. He stared at it for a moment, the throbbing in his temple growing. What the fuck was that. A joke, probably. It had to be. Grabbing his t-shirt from the floor, Caden pulled it on before sitting on the edge of the bed to tug on his boots. The papers on the nightstand caught his attention and Caden grabbed them, a strangled sort of laugh escaping his lips as he read the marriage license. His name was there. And Shannon Murphy. Who the fuck was Shannon Murphy. Standing, Caden stalked from the bedroom to the bathroom with one boot on. He pounded on the bathroom door. "Open the door," he called, crumpling the paper in his fist.
Shan jumped at the sudden noise, hissing out a little “shit” as the ache in her head intensified. All of her roommates were women, so her one-nighter must be awake now, great. “Hang on, Jesus Christ,” she called back, wincing again at the throb in her temples. She stood up and flushed, then moved to open the door. Seeing his actual awake face jogged a few more memory pieces from the night before, but none of it was very clear. Shan glanced down at the paper he was holding, crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned her shoulder against the bathroom door frame. “What’s that?” she asked.
"I was going to ask you that," Caden said, shoving the paper at her chest. "Is this some kind of joke?" He held up his left hand so she could see the ring on his finger. "I don't remember a damn thing about last night." It was Atlantic City but no one would have let them get married with how drunk they were, right? As stupid as it was, he was hoping she had just conjured up this ridiculous prank to freak him out. Admittedly, it was kind of working.
Frowning, she took the paper and uncrumpled it, glancing between it and the ring on Caden’s fucked up left hand. She definitely didn’t remember putting that on him. Shan’s eyes skimmed over what appeared to be a marriage license, and sure enough, there were two signatures scrawled at the bottom. It was messy, but she recognized her own handwriting. “Looks like ... oh my god, we got married,” she said, a laugh bubbling up out of her throat. She turned the paper over to glance at the back, then back around. It looked official, not like anything a drunk idiot would print out as a joke. There was the state seal and everything. “Is that your signature?” she asked, turning the paper around and pointing.
She was laughing. Why was she laughing? This was the furthest thing from funny that Caden could imagine. His gaze fell on the signature and yes, that was his messy scrawl. What the fuck had he been thinking? "Did you drug me or something?" Caden asked. That was the only explanation he could think of. And he had no memory of fucking this woman, or getting married. Okay, so maybe he had some memory of fucking her. But the marriage thing? No way. The only way he could even imagine doing something so fucking stupid would be if he was completely and utterly wasted. Which... if he couldn't remember last night... he probably had been.
Shan didn’t remember any of it either, except for a few flashes of them having fun together, but ... getting totally fucked up on various substances and doing dumb shit was right up her alley. Caden looked super upset about it, but Shan still thought it was kind of funny. It was just so stupid. “No! ... At least not to like, trick you into marrying me or some shit,” she said. “Whatever you took, it was willingly, I don’t do that shit to people. I never even want to get married, so just chill, okay?” Taking the paper with her, Shan moved to slip past him and out into the hallway. She wanted to change her clothes and get some coffee so she could think about this like a rational person.
He wasn't too fond of being told to chill, but Caden could admit that she was likely right. He had come to Atlantic City with the urge to get fucked up and apparently he had succeeded. Now he was married? Jesus. Like Shan, that wasn't something he'd wanted either, despite proposing to Roxy. A headache was already forming in his temple at the thought that he was going to have to get this taken care of. Maybe they could get an annulment and be done with it. It could be a hilarious story he told people later. "You got coffee?" Caden asked wearily. He needed to be able to function and think.
“The pod thing is in the kitchen, help yourself,” Shan said over her shoulder. “Be there in a minute.” He was a big boy, she was sure he could make his own coffee. She stepped into her bedroom and stripped out of the ripped dress she had on, unmindful that she left the door open. She and her roommates had seen each other naked countless times now, and apparently this guy had gotten to see plenty of her the night before, so whatever. Shan examined herself in her dresser mirror for a second while all of her was exposed -- there was a handprint on her ass, her vulva and her right cheek were tender like they were bruised, and she found a few finger-bruises on the sides of her neck. She chuckled faintly as she pulled on some yoga shorts and a tank top, then swept her hair back into a messy ponytail before she refreshed her makeup a bit. Shan found Caden in the kitchen and shot him a little smirk. “That must be some incredible dick game you’ve got there,” she commented as she went to fetch a mug for herself. “I’m pissed I can’t remember now.”
Caden knew how to work a coffee machine so he worked on getting himself a cup of coffee. His own body felt a bit sore and he was fairly certain that she had scratched up his back pretty good. Caden supposed if he couldn't remember the sex at least he knew on some level that it had been really good. Sipping his coffee when Shan appeared, Caden couldn't help but chuckle. "I've never had any complaints," Caden said as he leaned against the counter. "But I'm kind of pissed that I can't remember it either. I can certainly feel it. Pretty sure I've got some gouges in my back."
“Oh yeah?” Shan asked, glancing over at him with a grin as she prepped the machine for her cup of coffee. “Can I see? You left some marks on me too, fair’s fair, I guess.” She wasn’t at all surprised to hear that she’d scratched him up, she tended to do that when she was really into it. And god, she must have been to get the fool idea in her head to marry this stranger. Shan wouldn’t even remember his name if it wasn’t on the marriage license. Caden Lucas. So did that make her Shannon Lucas? It wasn’t a bad name, a little less Irish than Shannon Murphy. Maybe it was strange, but she didn’t feel panicky at all about the situation -- it was too ludicrous to worry her too much. They would figure it out, whatever, it was all in a night’s stupid fun.
Caden shook his head with a smirk before sipping his coffee again. It made him feel somewhat human, which would be just enough to get his ass back to Max. Or Point Pleasant. "So what'd we do about this?" Caden asked after watching Shan start the coffee maker again. "Get an annulment? Divorce?" As pissed off as he'd been when he had first woken up, Caden was starting to feel rather amused by what he had done the night before. He had hated the idea of marriage - still did, really - and avoided it for years. Now one night with a strange, yet hot woman, out on the town and he had gotten married. It was ridiculous and so very unlike him. Maybe that was what he had needed. He just hoped it didn't fuck up his life.
She felt a tiny bit pouty that he didn’t want to show her what damage she’d done, but whatever. “I guess,” Shan answered with a shrug. She didn’t know anything about what it took to get married -- though apparently it had been easy enough to accomplish while they were both black-out high and drunk the night before -- and she knew even less about ending a marriage. “Can we just tear it up and forget about it? Ugh, there’s probably paperwork though, fuck,” she muttered. “Let me get some coffee in me and I’ll start Googling.” Once the machine finished, she pulled the mug free and took a sip. “Or we could just ... be married,” she added, smirking at him and shrugging one shoulder again.
Caden nearly choked on his next sip of coffee. He managed to keep it from dribbling from his chin to his t-shirt. "What was that?" he asked, once he had cleared his throat enough to speak again. "Be married? How exactly do you propose we do that?" He realized that was a really poor choice of words and Caden grimaced briefly before continuing. "I don't even live here," he pointed out lamely, like that was the only reason why they couldn't stay married. Just the idea of it was ludicrous.
That little choke made the comment totally worth it, and Shan grinned a bit before she took another swallow of coffee. “I dunno, we just ... do it however the fuck we want to, right?” she suggested. “Not like other people do though, because that’s bullshit. Just for like, a while.” Even she wasn’t sure that she was being serious. Sometimes Shan had very impulsive ideas, but they’d led her to some interesting places before. It wasn’t like they had to stay married their whole lives, people got divorced all the time, but maybe it could be a fun diversion for a few months or whatever. “Take me home with you, then. I’m like, bored of this fucking place anyway. Plus, I think I got fired last night?” Shan wrinkled her nose and squinted in thought. She was pretty sure she remembered that. Then she grinned as something else occurred to her. “Bet it would piss your ex off.”
Take her home. To Point Pleasant. To the dysfunction of his family. To the dysfunction of that town. The crueler side of him wanted to do it, to push her into that hellhole, just to make a point. Only Caden had no idea what the point was. "Point Pleasant is nothing like Atlantic City," he said, sipping his coffee again. "It's not even a city. It's the smallest fuckin' town you'd ever see. You'd be bored in a day." And of course it would piss off Roxy. Instead of crying she would probably come around and try to beat his ass. It was a pleasant sort of feeling, to think he could hurt her the way she had hurt him. But it didn't feel right to jump on that particular reasoning right away.
Shan shrugged at the first part and then just kept hunching her shoulders up. It was crazy, but now that the idea was in her head, she kind of really wanted to do it. “Sounds like you need some entertainment, then,” she said, sidling in a little closer to Caden. There was something a bit wicked in her eyes as she looked up at him. “I’ve lived in small towns before, I know how to handle myself. This place is kind of a shit hole, so ... could be fun, right? You had fun last night, right?” Smirking, she reached out to grab the lower front of his shirt to pull him in even closer. Shan had almost certainly had fun, even though she didn’t remember most of it. The constant ache between her legs was evidence of that.
Caden eyed her, well aware of how batshit insane the idea was. She seemed batshit insane just for suggesting any of this. Most women with any semblance of rational thinking would be on the phone trying to figure out how to annul this batshit insane marriage. There was a glimmer of crazy in Shan's eyes and for some reason, Caden found it pretty appealing. He was probably crazy too. "I had fun last night... at least I think I did, since I can't remember it," Caden reminded her with a smirk of his own. "But my place isn't a palace either. But, if you're coming with me, we're getting some shit signed when we get there." There was no way he was going to let this woman take half of his shit when they finally got bored of each other and ended this.
It probably was insane. Shan hardly knew this guy from Adam, he could be a complete piece of shit and dangerous, a drug dealer, a murderer, she didn’t know. But that didn’t matter in her mind. If he ended up killing her, then she ended up dead. That could happen anywhere at any time anyway, that was just life. Shan wasn’t going to avoid living it out of fear. The fact that Caden seemed to be coming around to it delighted her for some reason, and she set her coffee down before she pressed in close against him. “We’ll figure it out,” she murmured, definitely not interested in talking about paperwork at the moment. Shan slipped her hands up under the back of his shirt to touch skin. “I don’t need a fucking palace. Just a change of scenery. And good dick, of course.” She grinned.
Caden sipped his coffee, looking down at her as she moved in close. He had to be crazy to agree to this. But now he was thinking about his family's reaction to Shan. And Roxy's. It gave him satisfaction that he hadn't felt in a long time. And if she drove him too crazy, he could kick her ass out. Let her deal with the fallout on her own. Now he was thinking about Max, and then Aya. He wasn't about to bring this woman to his friend and his bizarre fairy roommate. "You're going to have to drive," he told her after a moment of thought. "My friend brought me here and he's going to want to stay. I'm ready to go home."
“Duh, I’m not leaving my car behind,” Shan answered as she stroked her hands up his back. She could feel some raised streaks in his skin and she smirked up at him again. “I did get you, didn’t I?” She dipped her head in to plant a few kisses and nibbled against his neck, breathing him in. It had been a long time since she’d had anybody she considered a boyfriend, and she sure as hell had never been married. She’d never wanted to be either, but life was always full of surprises, wasn’t it? This definitely wasn’t going to be what anybody would consider a traditional marriage, so the idea of it didn’t bother Shan. It would be a pain in the ass to end it now or later, so she might as well put it off. “You wanna leave today?” she asked, nibbling lightly on his neck.
His skin stung a bit where her fingers brushed against the raised welts. It also added a sliver of pleasure, and he knew he definitely had enjoyed the sex last night. Roxy used to scratch up his back when they really got into fucking. Thinking about his ex stiffened his resolve and Caden nodded. "Yeah, I do. Go get your shit together." He had no idea what she planned on bringing, but he was hoping it wasn't a lot of girly garbage. He had to text or call Max anyway and let him know what was going on. His friend was going to give him so much shit for this, but in a roundabout way, this was Max's fault for disappearing on him.
“Okay,” Shan said, dimpling. She gave a little bounce and nipped the side of Caden’s jaw before she pulled back and turned around. Snagging her coffee mug, she headed toward the hallway to go back to her bedroom. The furniture she had was kind of cheap and old anyway, so she really only had to take her clothes and stuff. It wasn’t the first time Shan had dropped everything and left a place, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. She liked to keep her life portable. Her roommates would likely be pissed, since it was late in the month and rent was due soon, but Shan didn’t give a shit. After another couple of swallows of caffeine, Shan started pulling clothes and bags out of her closet to start packing.
Caden knew this had to happen quickly or he was going to have too much time to really think this through. And if that happened, he'd probably ditch out and leave Shan here to figure shit out on her own. But he sure as hell knew that some women became absolute shrews when they felt scorned and his gut told him this one was a shrew in disguise. Setting his coffee down, Caden pulled out his phone to call Max. It would be a quick call, short and to the point. There was a sudden urge to get home and back to his life, to show everyone he didn't give a shit what had happened with Roxy. That he was fine. When he and Max hung up, Caden chuckled and wandered down to Shan's room. "You ready yet?"
Shan looked up from where she was still stuffing things into bags and arched a brow at him. “Dude, I’m like ... moving. It’s been five minutes. Have another cup of coffee and wait for a bit, or help,” she told him, her tone halfway amused. She knew it had to happen quickly too, but she hadn’t even gotten all her clothes stuffed into bags yet. “I’ll be ready in like, a half hour.” It was a rough estimate, but Shan was pretty sure she could make that happen. She wasn’t taking everything, but she wanted the stuff that she wanted, and she didn’t want to feel rushed about it. There was nothing else to think about, to her. The decision had been made, and it was all happening, good idea or not.
Caden snorted. "Thirty minutes. After that, I might be changing my mind, especially with a second cup of coffee." Sure, she was moving but he had to assume she wasn't taking everything. He sure as hell hoped not. He left her in the bedroom and went back to finish off his coffee and make a new cup. This was batshit crazy and his family would probably think he went mental, but that was part of the appeal. The other was that he'd have a sexy woman in his bed every night and that sure as hell would help him get over Roxy for good.
If Caden changed his mind, he changed his mind. If that happened, maybe she would still just throw all her shit into the car and take off, start over somewhere new. As it turned out, Shan was ready within the time limit. She was leaving quite a bit behind and the room a mess, but she didn’t give a shit about either of those facts. She could call her roommates later and let them know just to divvy up what they wanted and sell the rest, because she wasn’t coming back. Shan had a good wad of cash and an even better supply of her favorite drugs, she felt like she was set. With Caden’s help, they got her bags down the steps and loaded into Shan’s car, and then they were settling into the seats. “Okay ... Maine,” she said, opening up the maps app on her phone. “Where?”
The dull throb in Caden's head had diminished some, thanks to the coffee, but he felt like he could sleep for a few hours. Shan seemed like the type of woman who wouldn't need constant attention and he hoped he was right about that. The thought made him chuckle a little. He had a fucking wife and he didn't know the first thing about her beyond the fact that she was a stripper. Or used to be. Who the hell knew what she would be doing now because Caden sure as shit wasn't going to be okay with her showing her tits at Cherries. He knew way too many people who went to that club. "Point Pleasant," he said. "Don't let the name fool you. It's anything but."
Shan wasn’t bothered by the warning. She plugged the name of the town into her phone and grimaced a tiny bit at how far it was -- over nine hours away. This was going to be an interesting road trip. A lot of people who’d been together for years couldn’t stand to be stuck together in a car for that long. But in for a penny, in for a pound, right? If Caden really pissed her off, she could kick him out of her car and leave him to figure it out himself. Now that the idea was in her brain, she was just ready to be starting over somewhere new. “Okay, Point Pleasant, here we come,” she said once she had the route ready. Shan flashed him a smile. “Gonna stop up here first for some drinks and cigarettes though, you want anything?”
It was a long drive and Caden actually regretted not asking Max to find Aya to take him back home. If he wanted to get rid of Shan, he probably could have done something as simple as that. Any rational human being would take off screaming if they saw what Aya could do. Hell, Caden didn't even like it, but it was convenient. Now he was in a car with a woman he barely knew with a ring on his left hand for the next nine hours. Fuck. "Nah, I'm fine," he told her. He may want to stop later but for now, he just wanted to recline his chair, close his eyes and sleep.
The trip itself was uneventful but long as hell. The first chunk was pretty easy, with fresh coffee flowing through her veins and Caden asleep beside her. Shan listened to some music and enjoyed the open road as much as she could. They stopped a couple of times for restrooms and food, neither of them feeling overly chatty. It was impossible not to talk at all, so they traded a few basic facts about themselves, but that was about the extent of it. Shan was fine with that. She didn’t need his entire life story, because she sure as fuck didn’t want to share hers. All of that was in the past, it was best left there. This was her future, no matter how brief this chapter would end up being.
Nine long hours later, the GPS led her into Point Pleasant. Shan’s back and hips were aching a bit from sitting so long, and she muttered a “finally” as they passed the sign welcoming them to Point Pleasant. It was late at night, and the road leading into town had been creepy with the deep black woods looming on either side of them, but as she drove through the town itself, Shan relaxed a bit. It looked normal. Quiet and shut down because it was late, but still kind of quaint and like a small seaside down. “This is the farthest north I’ve ever been, I think,” she murmured as she navigated through the streets toward the address Caden had given her.
Caden grunted a response, feeling achy and tired even now. The longer they drove, the harder it was for him to believe that this was really happening. He knew a bit more about Shan now but she was still a stranger. He had gotten drunk as fuck and married a stranger. The stubborn side of him blamed Max. And Roxy. He wouldn't have had any desire to go to Atlantic City if she hadn't bitched out on their relationship. At the same time... he felt oddly calm. It was funny in a very strange way and he was looking forward to seeing the faces of his brothers when they found out. Whenever that happened. He was in no hurry to introduce her to the Lucas clan. "About a mile ahead turn right," he directed, eager to get home and stretch his legs.
It hadn’t really sunk in yet that this was Shan’s new home. She retained the right to leave whenever she wanted to, of course, so it might not be her home for long, but it still felt surreal that she was going to be living here. As cute as the town seemed in the dark, it also seemed pretty damn small. Shan turned where she was supposed to, and soon enough they were pulling up in front of the mobile home that Caden pointed out to her. She parked next to his truck and cut the engine. There weren’t any lights on inside or outside, so it was hard to get a good read on the place, but she was just glad to finally be there. Shan groaned as she climbed out of the car, lifting her hands up high to stretch her back.
Caden got out of the car, cracking his back a bit before he walked around to her trunk to help her get her bags. Then he led her up onto the small porch, fishing his keys out of his jacket pocket to unlock the front door. He hadn't done much cleaning since Roxy left but she hadn't left all that long ago, so the house wasn't in terrible condition. It was just... sparse. Lacking any real personal touches since Roxy took most of them. Flipping on the light, Caden tossed his keys onto the small table. "This is it," he told her. "Home sweet home." If she wrinkled her nose at it, well, she could fucking sleep in the car.
It wasn’t the worst place Shan had ever lived, nothing seemed destroyed or disgusting, just slightly run down ... and pretty empty, but for the furniture. She looked around as she let one of the heavier bags slip off of her shoulder and onto the floor. “Looks nice enough,” Shan said, and there wasn’t anything sarcastic in her tone. She’d lived in some gross places before, and she could always liven this one up. Caden obviously didn’t care much about the interior decorating. Shan toed out of her shoes and went to explore and find where the bathroom was. And her new bedroom. God, she hoped he had a decent bed at least.
Caden felt like he did have a nice bed. And a decent house. Roxy had kept the place pretty clean and it wasn't like Caden was some kind of slob. Shrugging out of his jacket, he watched Shan wander off. This woman could probably slit his throat in his sleep. But fuck, there was really nothing for her to steal and it didn't make much sense to him that she would drive nine hours for all of this if she planned to rob him. She could have done that last night. "You hungry?" he asked, calling down the hall. "I have frozen pizzas and shit."
“Starving! Pizza sounds good,” she called as she stepped into the master bedroom. It still smelled faintly of feminine perfume of some kind, and she was reminded that Caden’s girlfriend had left him only a few days prior. That was okay, Shan would clear her ghost out of this place pretty quick. She used the bathroom -- which was surprisingly clean -- and washed her hands before she emerged to find Caden in the small kitchen. The place was kind of small, but still bigger than the apartment she’d been sharing with three other girls. Shan was already looking forward to walking around naked. She headed to the fridge to open it and peer inside. “Beer?”
Caden had started the oven and was washing his own hands in the kitchen sink when Shan reappeared. "Yeah, there's beer. Some wine too, maybe, if that's what you want." He had hard liquor that he hadn't opened yet, but he didn't feel like popping that out tonight. He figured dinner ought to be the two of them talking a little. Maybe trying to figure some more shit out about each other. Caden had no idea how long this would last but he didn't really like the idea of leaving and coming home to someone he didn't know. "You got any family that'll be coming around?" he asked, once he grabbed the pizza box from the freezer to tear open.
Shan got each of them a bottle of beer from the considerable supply in Caden’s fridge and twisted them both open before she set his down on the counter near him. She leaned a hip against it and snorted a little laugh. “Fuck no,” Shan answered before taking a sip of beer. “No family at all.” Maybe that was stupid to say, just in case Caden was some killer just playing a long game, but whatever. It was the truth. If he put her in the ground, nobody would come looking for her. “How big is yours?” He’d mentioned that he lived in the same town as his family, but hadn’t offered up any real details about them.
Caden cocked a brow at her answer but didn't respond until the pizza was in the oven and he had set the timer. "It's not too big. Two brothers living with their women, and a sister. Nephew, niece." He paused and picked up his beer to take a sip. "Got another niece on the way." Aaron and Mila would be getting married next month. He thought about Roxy being Mila's maid of honor. If Shan was still around by then, he was going to make damn sure she came to that wedding with him. "My mom's still living in town too. That's about it. My brothers and I own a bar in town. You'll meet them eventually."
That family sounded plenty big to Shan, who had nobody. Nobody she cared to speak to ever again, at least. Three siblings, plus their extended families? She was going to have to learn quite a few names, she guessed. Shan had no idea how close they all were, after all. She looked intrigued to hear that they all owned a bar, and her brows quirked up. “You all own a bar? That’s pretty cool,” she said. “What kind of place is it?” Shan ambled over to perch on one of the kitchen chairs, pulling one leg up to hug to her chest while she sipped from her brown bottle. “What’s it called?” This didn’t seem like a town that had a bar on every corner, so maybe they made decent money.
Caden shrugged when she asked what kind of place it was. "Just your basic bar. A place to go if you want to get drunk. We don't serve food or anything. It's called the Back Porch." There was another in town and a few places that served alcohol, but he didn't consider any of them to really be a bar in the simplest sense of the word. And they did make good money but that was probably because they ran other operations out of the bar. And that was something he definitely wasn't going to be telling Shan about. "Bought it with my brothers years ago." He wandered over to sit down at the kitchen table, slouching slightly in the chair. "We're fucking crazy for doing this, aren't we?”
A place to go and drink sounded pretty perfect for a bar, if you asked Shan. A place called “the Back Porch” was probably full of old man regulars and people watching football games and shit. She figured that she would see it soon enough. Maybe she could even think of some suggestions to liven up the place. Caden’s question made her smirk a little and she shrugged. “Maybe. Do you care?” she countered, arching a brow at him. He’d seemed crazy in a fun way to Shan already, so she hoped that didn’t turn out to be a fluke. “People do crazier shit all the time, like arranged marriages and shit? At least we’ve fucked already.” She gave him a wicked little smile.
Did he care? Caden thought about it as he drank from his beer. Despite how insane it was, Caden found he didn't really care. Maybe because Roxy had hounded him for marriage for so long and it was something he had never really wanted. She knew that too and hadn't cared. This felt like some wayward revenge marriage which was so unlike him that Caden very nearly laughed. He was as fucked up as anyone else in his family, that was for fucking sure. "We only know we've fucked because we left marks on each other," Caden pointed out with a smirk. "We'll have to make sure that first time wasn't a fluke, otherwise this shit's gotta get annuled."
Shan barked a laugh. “Agreed,” she said. Having good sex was important for any marriage, she supposed, and especially important for one like theirs. Caden hadn’t answered whether he cared about how crazy it was, but she didn’t ask again. It was done already, so it didn’t really matter. Whatever happened would happen. “And I can tell we fucked, even without the marks.” She could still feel the soreness between her legs, but it felt good, and she wanted more of it. Her vague memories of the night they’d spent together made her think that the sex had been explosive, so it was encouraging to hear that Caden wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fluke too.
Caden cocked a brow with a smug sort of grin before drinking more of his beer. If she still felt it, he had done something right. As insane as it felt, he had the thought that being married to this woman would somehow be easier than it had been being with Roxy. Shan didn't seem like the clingy type, or the kind of woman who needed constant affirmation of feelings. She could do whatever the fuck she wanted and she would let Caden do what he wanted. As long as it stayed that way, Caden had a feeling they'd get along. "I think we should agree that once this shit gets stale, we end things. I never wanted to get married before and I don't want to be stuck in that shit until I'm eighty if I can help it."
Seeing as how Shan had dumped countless guys for being clingers, Caden’s instincts about her were correct. She liked to have her space and give it too, and luckily this dude didn’t seem like someone who needed attention all the time, or like he was desperate to know all her secrets and soul bond or whatever sappy bullshit. That wasn’t really Shan’s speed. She huffed another amused sound at his phrasing as she nodded and lifted her bottle again. “I never wanted to get married either, so that works for me,” she told him. “As soon as it starts to suck, we can bail. I’m not one of those ‘til death do us part’ suckers. I don’t own you, you don’t own me, we’re just ...” Shan trailed off and tilted her head back and forth as she tried to think of a word, “... experimenting.”
Caden laughed, wondering how two people who never wanted to get married found themselves married. Liquor and pills. It should be something he used as a life lesson, but he was starting to find the humor in it that Shan had apparently seen from the get go. "Experimenting?" Caden smirked and brought his beer up to his lips again. "Experimenting is for college kids. Getting wasted and married is for dumbass adults. So we're just dealing with the fallout of our dumbassery." And in that sense, he would be making sure to get some papers drawn up to have her sign that assured Gavin that she wouldn't go after the bar if they did end up bailing on this thing. "I'm not buying a bigger house and I'm not having kids. If we're on the same page about that, you might very well be the perfect woman."
Shan almost pointed out that neither of them had been married before, so it was kind of experimenting ... but his point about the dumbass-ness of it all couldn’t really be denied. “Experimenting with the dumbass fallout then,” she suggested, smirking over at him. “Like retards playing in radioactive waste. Super romantic.” Shan snickered and rolled her eyes at both of them. “I don’t need a bigger house, you saw my apartment. And I fucking hate kids, so ... guess I’m perfect.” She lifted her beer bottle to toast herself and then drained the last of it. She stood up and walked around the table to climb onto Caden’s lap, lifting one leg high as she straddled him. Settling in, Shan toyed with the collar of his shirt, letting her eyes slowly roam up his chest and neck to his face. At least wasted-Shan still had good taste. “Just fuck me how I like it, don’t break any bones, feed me until I can get a job, and remember that I’m not your fucking maid ... and we’ll get along fine,” she murmured.
If Caden had wanted a woman on the opposite spectrum of Roxy, it seemed like he had found her. He knew it was way too early to say if Caden's enjoyment of Shan would last, but fuck it, he might as well enjoy the ride. Moving his beer out of the way when she straddled him, Caden cocked a brow and rested his free hand on her hip, figuring he could abide by those "rules" just fine. "I can do that, as long as you get a job and clean up after yourself. Don't fuck around with my stuff either." Not that he had a lot, but it was the principle of the thing. He honestly didn't care if she bought shit for the house as long as she didn't turn it into some fluffy pink nightmare.
Shan felt the urge to give a pointed glance around -- this place was decent enough, but it sure didn’t look like Caden had much stuff to fuck with, but who knew what he was hiding in here. Or elsewhere. Appearances could be deceiving. She knew she would go snooping as soon as he left her alone, but Shan was a master at snooping in a way that wasn’t obvious, even to people who paid attention to details. “Deal,” she murmured with a smug little smile. “Oh, and I know you were stuck with just one pussy for a long time, but ... don’t cheat on me, okay? It really pisses me off. If you want to fuck someone else, just say so and I’ll join in, hmm?” Shan figured that was reasonable, considering neither of them thought this would last for decades or anything. If Caden got too bored of her, he could send her packing instead of cheat like an asshole dickhead.
Caden knew his house was sparse, especially now that Roxy had left. But there were things he did that not even Roxy knew about and he didn't need Shan going around snooping into his business. Her request not to cheat prompted a laugh from Caden and he brought his hand up to cup and squeeze her breast. "I'm not a cheater," he told her and he was at least sincere in that. He was an asshole, sure, but he hadn't cheated on Roxy and unless Shan really pissed him off and this thing was headed for the shitter, he wouldn't cheat on her either. He had a feeling she would be more than enough pussy for him. Especially if she was willing to welcome a third into the bed. Rubbing her nipple through her shirt with his thumb, Caden glanced at the stove. "Why don't we eat, then fuck again and make sure last night wasn't a fluke." Then he wanted to crash. He had a feeling he was going to need a lot of energy to deal with his family tomorrow when he saw them at work.
Shan liked the casual way he groped her, like he was already entitled to her body. It might have pissed her off from some other man, but this was her husband, apparently, and it was kind of hot. Her nipples tightened up under the attention and she was glad she hadn’t bothered with a bra for their long ass drive. Shan had a good feeling about the sex that was coming, she was already almost positive that the first time hadn’t been a fluke, but she was still looking forward to getting proof. A smile curling her lips, she nodded and leaned in to kiss him for a moment, her tongue delving into his mouth right as the timer on the oven went off. Shan hummed and nipped at Caden’s bottom lip before she moved to get up. “I got it,” she murmured. All she wanted to do was feed him, fuck him, then fall asleep with him in her new home.