Shan had made it onto the short list of people Shane actually used his phone for, at least for now. His interest in people tended to be fleeting so there was no guarantee this would last, but he still texted her on Thursday afternoon just to make sure she was okay. Her husband was a dick, that much was clear, and while it was none of his damn business what Shan did with her life, well, he wanted to make sure she was at least alive. She was and they agreed to meet on Friday afternoon. He kind of regretted it when the time came, the weather was shitty and uninspiring so he almost canceled. He wasn't even sure why he actually went, home was just so tempting, but he found himself at Joyland around four, darting from the parking lot and inside to escape the rain.
He wasn't really surprised Shan wasn't there yet nor was he bothered by it but he also didn't feel obligated to wait for her before ordering so he got himself a mocha and a pastry and browsed his phone as he waited for her to show up, He was half expecting her to cancel just like he'd been tempted to but that was okay. Leaving the house was good, he needed a change of scenery on the regular or he'd go stir crazy.
It was sweet of Shane to check up on her, and Shan had “aww”d out loud when she’d gotten the text on Thursday. Shan had been too drunk to remember a whole lot about what had happened when Shane and his boyfriend had dropped her off, but she’d gathered enough to assume that Caden hadn’t exactly given them a warm welcome. So she was anticipating an interesting sort of catch up.
The rain didn’t bother her much, she had a pretty cute raincoat with a hood so her hair didn’t get wet, and she arrived at Joyland only a few minutes late, since she didn’t have much else to do while Caden was at work. She could have been cleaning the house, she supposed, but that was boring and she’d made it clear that she wasn’t Caden’s maid. Shan spotted Shane already at a table and gave him a little finger-wave and a smile as she got in line to get some sustenance of her own.
Once she had a muffin and some iced coffee in hand, she went to join him. “Hi there, hot stuff,” Shan said breezily, leaning in to plant a quick kiss to Shane’s cheekbone before she sat down across from him. “Beautiful day, huh?”
Shane was half expecting her to be bruised, but either she wasn't or she was a master at make-up and Shane wasn't sharp-eyed enough to tell the difference at a quick glance. She looked chipper though, fresher than he felt for sure. "Oh, gorgeous," he replied sarcastically. "Think I might just book it somewhere hotter if this doesn't clear up." Funnily enough, snow and ice was easier to deal with for him because he didn't really get cold when things were dryer. This rain though, it almost made him feel chilled if he was out in it for too long and he was decidedly not a fan of being wet in general. "You look good," he said. "For someone with a dick husband." He grinned faintly and cocked a brow at her, not really expecting her to get defensive on Caden's behalf.
Shan hadn’t come from too much further south, and she kind of liked gloomy days, so the weather was fine by her. The sound of rain was soothing to nap to. Maybe she would get one of those in after she got back home. “I always look good, darling,” Shan said with a smirk and a toss of her head. She snickered and rolled her eyes to show she was kidding, then gave Shane a little wince. “Was he an asshole to you?” she asked. She was pretty convinced already that the answer was yes, but she was curious now about the details. She wasn’t going to jump to Caden’s defense, but being the jealous sort herself, she couldn’t say she didn’t get it.
"Is he ever not an asshole to people?" Shane murmured with a smirk and he was pretty sure he'd never seen that guy smile. Not that he frequented the Back Porch but it was easy to picture Caden Lucas as the sort of guy who was always serious, manly to a fault. "The more important question is, was he an asshole to you? He didn't look happy to see you escorted home by another guy." He supposed he could relate now. He wasn't a jealous type but it was one thing to decide on an orgy and another if Reza came home with some random man Shane hadn't met or approved of. Was that what he was being reduced to? A jealous dick? He cringed a little at the thought and hoped that if that ever happened, he'd just flirt with the guy and invite him in.
She shook her head and shrugged at the same time. “He wasn’t happy about it, but not an asshole in any way I can’t handle,” Shan answered. Caden hadn’t beaten her up or anything, he’d believed her that Shane was just a friend and had a boyfriend anyway -- which to a guy like Caden made him much less of a threat. She was just glad she hadn’t drunkenly blurted out that she and Shane had slept together. She gave a little wince of her own and looked vaguely apologetic. “He doesn’t want me to accept any money from you though. We talked more in the morning.” For some reason she felt like that would be more offensive to Shane than Caden being grumpy that he’d brought her home safe and sound while having a penis. She doubted funding a small dance studio in a tiny town had been his heart’s greatest desire, but men got weird about money sometimes, obviously. “He wants to pay for everything.”
Shane's eyes widened a bit and for a split second he almost got pissed off because who was this guy to stop Shan from doing whatever the hell she wanted to. But then she continued and clarified and his anger simmered down as quickly as it had risen. "He's gonna pay for it?" he asked, not even trying to hide the fact that this surprised him. "He better come through then - and if he gets weird about it I'll buy him out." Shane did get weird about money, but more in the way that he really had no idea what to do with it. He'd never needed it growing up and then he'd never had it when he needed it and then suddenly he'd had a lot of it and it just seemed to keep growing like some kind of hydra regrowing its heads every time he took a chunk out of it. So yes, he was weird about money but not in the way Shan was anticipating. If anything, money was weird to him. "But hey, good for him being all supportive husband and shit."
“Yeah, we’ll see what comes of it,” Shan said, just so Shane knew she wasn’t being completely naive. Caden had stayed married to her when he sobered up, but that didn’t mean he truly wanted to or would fund her passion project. If he didn’t, it was nice to have a backup plan in Shane. Sure, that might lead to a fight or a divorce or something, but Shan didn’t expect this whole thing to last forever anyway. She was going to take care of herself regardless. “Who knows if he would’ve offered if there wasn’t competition, so you’re helping me out either way,” she added, shooting Shane a little grin. He knew how ridiculous men could be, all territorial like animals sometimes. Shan kind of liked it out of her husband, if she was being honest with herself. She could still feel the soreness from the bruises and hickeys Caden left on her neck the morning after, currently covered with concealer and her hair and a scarf. It was kind of hot to be marked out in public. “Now I just have to find a space!”
"Oh I know," Shane replied smugly before tittering because he had no doubt that Caden would never have offered it if not for this dominant alpha male bullshit he obviously had going. "Happy to help," he added and raised his cup in a playful salute before sipping his mocha. "I can ask around, I've been busy making connections here and everything. We just wanna get it going soon so I can take some lessons." He wiggled his shoulders and yes that was probably terribly impatient of him but if he was honest, he wanted to start today. Every time he thought about it it started getting more and more tempting to just put up a pole in the house he was renting and get some private lessons there.
“I can always start you on some basics without a pole, or floor moves,” Shan said, pleased that he was so eager to try things. She tried to picture Caden doing any real dancing and it almost made her laugh. Shane had that lithe sexy thing going on though, Shan was betting he would be good at it. She knew from experience that he knew how to move his hips. She bounced her eyebrows at him and pinched off a piece of muffin to pop into her mouth. “But yeah, let me know if you spot anything open. I’ve already been pricing poles to ship in. I’m so excited,” Shan declared, her voice rising an octave as she gave her own happy wiggle.
Her excitement was contagious and Shane beamed back at her and let himself be affected by it. "If you want some extra shit he doesn't want to pay for, it's not like he needs to know where the money's from," he said cheekily. "Are your finances all - you know..." He clasped his hands together, failing to find the right words but he doubted Shan and Caden had merged all their finances already, this seemed to be a glorious mess of two ships failing to pass at night and smashing straight into each other instead. Unless that shit happened automatically. All Shane knew was that prenups could be signed and wills could be altered but the basics of marriage itself were kind of lost on him.
Shan understood what he was asking with the hand gesture and laughed as she shook her head. “God no,” she said. “And they probably never will be. I haven’t even submitted anything to change my name yet. I’m sure he doesn’t want me to financially touch anything to do with the bar, so ...” She gave a shrug. “If he backs out, I’m doing whatever the fuck I want.” She might catch hands for it, but Shan felt prepared to handle that eventuality. No man fucked the way Caden fucked without getting violent in other areas of his life too, at least in her experience, and he obviously liked to have his way. She didn’t think she’d really pissed him off yet, but it would come eventually, and then Shan would deal with it. She knew how that would sound to Shane though, so she was going to keep that to herself.
"I totally thought about marrying Reza," Shane admitted. "Just, you know, it's fucking crazy. He's turning me into a romantic sap. I haven’t even fucked anyone else since... Fuck. Spring? But you know, I suggested it very un-romantically and that pissed him off so I'm not gonna bring it up again just yet. The marriage thing, I mean, not the fucking someone else. I'm shit at romance, fucking was always more my game." He shook his head as he stopped rambling and idly tapped his fingers on the table. "Your marriage is... so not about romance though, is it. That guy is all dick and you know, I get it, but do you guys have anything else in common?" There was no judgment there, more amusement than anything because if anyone could afford to judge it was not Shane.
The most surprising part to Shan was the fact that Shane hadn’t fucked anyone else in months, especially since he and Reza had been playing around about orgies and sex parties while they’d all been hanging out. Shan had more or less assumed they just weren’t monogamous and both cool with that. Her brows lifted briefly, then she hummed at the question. “I mean, depends on what you mean by romance, I guess,” she said with a wry little smile. “He stood up for me in the club before we went on our bender, kicked my asshole boss’s ass, that was kind of romantic. We both had shitty childhoods, awful fathers ... we are definitely in sync in the bedroom, and it’s a big thing for both of us.” Shan shrugged. Maybe that didn’t sound like enough, and maybe it wasn’t for the long term, but for now she was enjoying herself. “I dunno, I just feel like ... don’t ask me his favorite color or movie or whatever, but we get each other. And when it’s over, then on to the next, you know?” Shan paused to sip on her coffee, her eyes on Shane’s face. “How did you suggest it? Getting married.”
That all actually sounded romantic to Shane who made some mooney eyes at Shan while she talked. It was more romantic than fake shit anyway and he supposed there was that appeal when a hard man showed any kind of softness but just for his lover. His expression went from soft to amused again at the question though and he'd much rather talk about Shan's odd romance than that but he'd been the one to tell her so he had nobody else to blame. "Uhm, well, I said it'd be smart to marry 'cause if I die then he'll just automatically inherit everything," he said and maybe it hadn't been completely like that but he couldn't remember what he'd said word for word. "Otherwise I'd have to fly to Chicago to talk to my lawyer and shit so you know, practical. Not romantic."
Shan wasn’t sure that would have pissed her off personally, but she could see how someone in love with Shane and harboring romantic ideas about their future could’ve been offended. She cringed a little and then laughed softly before her expression changed again into something more puzzled. “Wait, what do you mean if you die?” she asked. “Like ... do you have cancer or something?” Shane really didn’t seem like the type to think really far ahead about practical matters, but maybe she had him pegged wrong. He did successfully run a business or two -- or more? Shan didn’t really know.
Whenever Shane thought about actually ending up with someone 'for keeps' he'd pictured someone more like himself - like Shan - someone who didn't really give a shit, who could share his life without caring too much, someone who'd be happy to party and fuck around without any concerns. It had been the only viable scenario in his mind, but then he'd met Reza and he was still adjusting to how wholesome and full of emotion his man was. Reza was bringing up a side of him he hadn't thought he possessed and it was definitely a steep learning curve and one that wasn't without hurt and terror. Funny how it was scarier than that persistent thought of dying and he let out a dismissive little laugh at Shan's question, even if it was a very valid one. "I've been on my way out since I was a kid," he said with a shake of his head. "I mean, I'm just always ready for the big sleep, you know? Didn't think I'd make it to twenty, then didn't think I'd make it to twenty-five. Now I'm... Fuck. I'm old now, it's weird, you know?" And if Reza hadn't been around, he might have kicked the bucket during his last insane overdose so it wasn't like it was a completely unreasonable thing to think. Of course he also had AIR hanging over him like a black cloud but that wasn't something he wanted Shan anywhere near. He hadn't wanted Reza involved either but at least he was powerful and not painfully human and vulnerable.
She wanted to be able to roll her eyes and call Shane a dramatic bitch, but Shan related to what he said too closely. She’d lived her life pretty fast and loose too since escaping her shitty family, never really giving much thought to how long she wanted to live. What mattered was the moment ... but she was beginning to see beyond that, at the same time. Nobody could run full throttle for too long without burning out. Reza had apparently inspired Shane to find his brake pedal. “And he’s making you actually want to keep getting older,” Shan surmised for him. Her little smile turned into a grin. “That’s so sweet, dude. Look at you, all in love and stuff, aww.” During their brief time together, Shane had certainly partied like he didn’t care to see dawn, so it was kind of heartwarming to hear he had someone that special in his life. And Reza seemed like a good match, from what she’d seen hanging out with them both. “So yeah, I’m backing him up here, he deserves a more romantic proposal. Think you’re gonna nut up and do it for real?”
"You know, that involves meeting his family," Shane replied a bit snarkily as if the answer was no, but he was sure she could read between the lines. He was going to propose properly and put up with Reza's family and all the things, as gross and sappy as it all was. His expression softened again and he tittered, shaking his head. "For some reason that's scarier than anything I've ever faced so far. I think I'm a little fucked in the head." Of course Shan had no idea just what he'd faced in his life and just how strange it all was, but even if her life might have been more 'normal', he could feel that same hurt and trauma in her that bubbled inside of him. Maybe they'd talked about it during their crazy weekend but he could only remember parts of it, like a fever dream of sex, drugs, dancing and roaming around the city. Maybe some of what he did remember had been a dream. It was all real and unreal at the same time anyway.
Shan completely understood where he was coming from. Her family had been shit and caused her almost nothing but pain and suffering and a lifetime of issues, and she got the sense that Shane hadn’t had a good family life either. Shan didn’t really need to know the details, she’d seen it over and over and over again. “Listen, I just went through all that, and trust me, I was scared shitless too,” she said, nodding sagely as she lifted her coffee for another sip. “And like ... Caden was bringing me to his family like ‘here’s this random stripper bitch I married on a bender in Atlantic City,’ you know? At least Reza’s probably already talked about you to them and everything, y’all have a relationship.” She smiled, obviously unbothered by the difference in their circumstances. “It was way less scary in real life than it was in my head. You’ll be fine. Just flash that pretty smile around and offer to help with the dishes.” Shan nudged his leg playfully under the table.
Shane had to agree that Caden's family was probably intimidating as hell in completely different ways from Reza's family, but he could handle dysfunctional. It was the healthy, functional part of Reza's family that made him worry he'd feel like a gremlin. He could handle homophobia from people he didn't like but people he wanted to impress? Not at all. What if Reza's family wasn't as chill with it as Reza thought? What if and what if and what if. He laughed a bit uneasily, looking momentarily overwhelmed. "I'm gonna do all the dishes, all the time. Fuck." If only Reza would agree to marry him before the shit hit the fan, maybe he'd just die before he ever had to meet the Mansour family.
Shan was probably pretty lucky to have run into a guy with such a screwy family, but the odds had pretty much been in her favor for that, considering the circumstances. The Lucases may have been white trash in this town and had their fair share of problems, but all of them had been nice to her so far. Maybe Reza’s family wouldn’t treat Shane with that same level of courtesy, rich people could be weirdly vicious in that unrelenting polite way, but maybe they would welcome him with open arms, who knew. “Is he not worried about it?” she asked, arching a brow at Shane. He looked distressed, and Shan could only talk out of her ass about Reza’s family, so she wondered what the only expert around on the Mansours thought about it all. “Like his family knows he’s gay and they’re okay with it and everything? Or is it not even the gay stuff you’re worried about?”
"I honestly don't know why I'm freaking out," Shane replied, though he did. It was just hard to explain to Shan that families were like aliens to him and he barely remembered his own. "They know he's gay, they're not crazy religious, they're nice. But that's all coming from him, you know. The only son, the apple of his mother's eye, all that... you know?" He shuddered a bit, but it was more playful than cringing and then he laughed, mostly at how stupid he was being. "Families just freak me out. Unless they're chosen families where everyone is as much of an idiot as me." He felt like the only person who would really understand all of these chaotic feelings was Diego and he was now family, no doubt about it. Haisley was still young and she'd stumbled upon Oliver and Diego so Shane felt like there was still hope for her. "So what was it like? Meeting Caden's family? Are they all fucking terrifying or what?"
She didn’t know all of the details, obviously, but Shan thought she understood a bit where he was coming from. Growing up with a fucking terrible home life, she’d thought anyone who had a loving supportive family had to be lying about it. Or they were some brainwashed cardboard cutout people, living on a TV show set. It had taken Shan accidentally stumbling into some of that found family herself to even really believe love was real. She nodded her understanding and reached out to briefly squeeze Shane’s wrist. “I was nervous at first, but no, they’re ... well, he’s probably the scariest one,” she said with a little smile. “One of his brothers is a sourpuss grumbly kind of guy, but the other’s pretty sweet. I was more scared of the women, to be honest. I think one of the sister in laws doesn’t like me, but.” Shan shrugged to show how many fucks she gave, which were not many. “There was no like ... shooting guns or overt racism or anything you might expect. I grew up with much worse. Hey, at least Reza’s family probably aren’t like, known criminals in the community, right?” Shan grinned at him
"Maybe I'd get along with them better if they were," Shane tittered, but what she said made him realize he was more afraid of meeting the women in Reza's life than he was of meeting his dad and he had no idea why. Maybe it was that old stereotype from movies and such, if dad didn't like him, Reza could rebel, but if his mother didn't - and god forbid, his sisters - it might taint his view of Shane. It might not even make sense with Reza's family, maybe his dad had way more sway over him than that. "Is Caden's family a crime family?" he asked, amused. "I mean, they strike me as the kind of guys who all know the inside of a jail cell but..."
Shan snickered along with him, because yeah, he might be more comfortable with an unpolished family like the Lucases. She hadn’t spent a lot of time with Reza, but he seemed to come from good stock. If Shane’s background was in any way similar to hers, Shan thought she could understand where his anxiety was coming from. “Haven’t you heard yet?” she asked with a grin, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “There’s all kinds of rumors about what they get up to in the back rooms of the Porch, they’re like ... the redneck mafia around here.” Shan tittered, because it really didn’t seem all that serious, it amused her more than anything ... but in the back of her mind, she knew someone connected to them was buried in Blackwater Woods. Maybe there was more to those rumors than met the eye. “Take that with a grain of whatever though, Caden hasn’t told me anything for sure. I’m not like, initiated yet, I guess.”
The Lucas family, criminals or not, were not high on the list of things Shane worried about but Shan had married into it and he had a little experience with getting too close to the underworld. He wrinkled his nose and gave her a somewhat pained smile. "Word of advice," he said. "If you do get initiated, you don't know anything. You've never seen anything, heard anything, the rumors are silly, you know, all of that." If her husband was running some dodgy business behind the curtains, the last thing he needed was a chatty wife. Shan didn't strike Shane as the type but she was sitting here, chatting with him about it so what the hell did he really know.
“Oh yeah, of course,” Shan said quickly, lifting her fingers to her lips to make a zipping motion. She already knew a huge secret she wasn’t even tempted to hint at, and she knew she could keep more of them. “You know I couldn’t last in my business with a big mouth,” she added with a smirk. A lot went on in a strip club that shouldn’t see the light of day, even in the classiest places. Shan always looked after her fellow dancers, and a lot of the time that included keeping one’s mouth shut. “I’m just talking about how my new family is perceived in this town, unsubstantiated rumors, you know.” She waved a hand and picked up her cup for another sip. “Reza doesn’t seem like he was raised in a trailer park, that’s all I’m saying. They can’t be too scary.”
"The scariest people I've ever known looked pretty normal," Shane said with a little shrug. "It was the junkies and the petty criminals who were the safest, you know? People with money are just, yikes." He paused, then let out a slightly self conscious laughter. "And yeah, I have money now, I'm fully aware that came out weird but honestly, yeah, I'm a dickhead so..." He shrugged in an exaggerated manner and pulled a face at the whole thing. "I take care of my own though so, hit me up if your grumpy man lets you down."
Shan’s brows lifted a bit as Shane kind of talked himself in a circle, and she smiled at the last part. “You’re New Money, I think that probably makes a difference,” she said. “Maybe not like, a huge one, considering how some of the tech bros out there act ... but in my experience people who weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth are way more down to earth. I dunno, I don’t know Reza’s family or anything, so anything I say won’t be very comforting, but just try to have some faith in your man, you know? Even if they don’t like you for some weird reason, he does, and they obviously don’t control him, or he probably wouldn’t be here with you.” She gave him another little grin to show she meant no offense.
"My faith in Reza is solid," Shane replied. "I'm not worried about that at all. Though yeah, I sometimes feel like he's gonna come to his senses, you know?" Maybe when the fight was over and if they actually survived it, the nobility of it all was gone and Reza realized he was stuck with a huge man-baby who didn't know the first thing about being a real boy. That fear wasn't as big anymore, but it was still there, lurking underneath the surface, trying to get him to believe in it. "I'm just scared of his family, like if they were a pack of werewolves I'd be less worried, you know? Actual monsters versus sweet and normal families..." He tittered again, well aware how insane that sounded but Shan understood, he knew that much.
She did understand, and if Reza’s family was anything like Shan was imagining, she probably wouldn’t be comfortable with them either. She’d worked some high end parties before, rubbing elbows with the rich, but she was always a Working Girl in those settings. Shan was just trying to make Shane feel better about it, but that probably wasn’t possible until he was there and found that it wasn’t a disaster. She laughed a bit at what he said, because of course werewolves and actual monsters weren’t real, but something nagged at her in the back of her mind. Vague warnings she’d gotten from people here. “Just don’t let any of them bite you, just in case,” she said, pinching off more muffin to pop into her mouth.
"Now I gotta make sure not to go visit them on the full moon either," Shane joked and felt very relieved that if Reza's family was in any way supernatural, Reza would have told him by now so that was at least one less thing to worry about. "I hope werewolf bites only count if they're actually all werewolf'ed out or sex would be super fucking awkward for them." It felt a little surreal to talk about werewolves so casually but that's what he'd done just a few months ago when he had no idea they were actually real. Just like Shan now - probably. Vampires and werewolves and ghouls, oh my. People talked about them casually because they were such a cultural staple. Knowing at least one of them was real made the casual chat feel a bit bizarre.
“I always thought it was more like a virus thing, like it has to break skin ... I knew you and Reza had fun, but damn, kinky,” Shan teased with a grin. She picked up her coffee to take another sip, her eyes on him over the rim. Shane hadn’t told her much yet about their sex life, and she had to admit she was curious in a lecherous sort of way. Who wouldn’t be, damn. She knew he probably wouldn’t give her all the juicy details, but even just hearing about their general vibe would be fun. Shan missed gossiping with all her girlfriends back in AC. “Are you all covered in bites and bruises under there? Does Reza discipline you?” Her tone was playfully suggestive and she lifted her eyebrows at him.
"You sound like you'd be into that," Shane murmured back at her, smirking at the implications. In a sense, Reza did discipline him, just not during sex or in any physical kind of way. Shane was the more dominant one in that area but at the same time he knew he wasn't really in control of anything. Reza had him wrapped around his finger, dumb with emotion and lust. "He is very bossy," he admitted and made a little whip sound before tittering. "Doesn't mark me often though, he's subtle. How about you? You all messed up under that scarf?" Now that his attention was on it, it did kind of look like there was something hiding there but it could just be a play of shadows underneath her dark hair.
“Aw, so coy, you’re really in love,” she chuckled at his tactful answer. Maybe he was picking up on some of Reza’s subtlety. Really, she didn’t even know if Shane was the type to fuck and tell, they hadn’t done a ton of talking during their time together. Shan wasn’t going to give him too much shit about it though, people were entitled to their privacy. She would just have to keep letting her imagination run wild. She hummed and reached up to adjust the scarf without thinking about it, giving Shane a wicked little grin. “Nothing that would turn me into a werewolf, just a little love bite. You made him feel a little territorial.” It was obvious that she didn’t mind it. Stirring up a little jealousy could be exciting. “He can get rough, but I’m into that, you know,” Shan added with a small shrug.
"You're welcome," Shane drawled teasingly, since she was so obviously pleased with it. "I can render my services again at another time, if you want," he added with a delighted grin because if showing up and looking sexy was enough to make someone happy, well, he was down. He didn't want to be coy though and he almost delved into telling her all about his current sex life just to prove her wrong on that front. It was silly and childish though, feeling the need to impress, so he held back for now. "I bet you give as good as you get," he said instead. "I still remember the marks you left on me back in Atlantic City. You're a wild cat."
Shan beamed and sat up a bit straighter and did a little pose with her shoulders, pleased. “I do like to leave an impression,” she said. “And I’ve heard no complaints from my new hubby, so maybe I’ve met my match. For now, at least.” She didn’t think Caden would appreciate Shane turning up at their door again, and while Shan did enjoy a good mind game now and then, her gut also told her Caden could be an outright violent man, and she didn’t want that to spill over onto Shane. “I’m impressed you remember, that was a crazy ass night,” she said with a little laugh, picking apart some more muffin. She quirked a brow at Shane, smirking slightly. “Does your boo know about us? Mine doesn’t. And he shouldn’t. Just FYI.”
"I never said I remembered the night," Shane pointed out slyly. "I do remember the aftermath though, and yeah Reza knows... I think." He had to laugh because he was unsure if Reza knew, it had been kind of an unspoken thing where he never flat out said it but there were far more ways to communicate than words. "I mean he knows I've been a fucking slut my whole life and he doesn't care. Did you tell your husband you were a virgin before you met?" He put up his best pout that was sultry in that pornographic innocent way and blinked a few times at Shan before he couldn't keep his smile under wraps anymore. "I won't tell him, I doubt we'll ever really talk."
The idea that Shan was a virgin coupled with that look on Shane’s face made her laugh, probably too loud for a small cafe, but whatever. “He probably would’ve laughed in my face if I’d tried,” she snickered. “Rightfully so. No, we just ... don’t really talk about pasts, which is fine. We know we’re both experienced and on the same page. I do know he was engaged to some fat townie bitch around here before she left him. That’s what he was doing in AC, drowning his sorrows. But that’s about all I know, and I’m good with that. That’s good about Reza though -- jealousy can be fun but it gets old and dumb real fast. Was he a little party boy too? He’s so hot, Shane, ohmygod, please tell me he didn’t waste his pre-you years.”
Shan's laughter tickled Shane, it was so loud and so unfiltered that it had some other people in there looking their way and he loved that. It was so her. He couldn't help but be infected with it, a delighted cackle escaping him too. "Oh no, he was definitely not a virgin, I don't know how much of a slut he was though, we never really talked numbers. And Jesus, thank fuck for that, you know?" He had no idea how many guys he'd fucked, the women were easier to guess but he still wasn't sure about them. So much of his life was clouded in a haze of drugs and considering how many guys he'd done in one night - a few times - he wouldn't be surprised if the numbers were in the hundreds. That really wasn't something he wanted to talk to Reza about and even if he knew he was cool with it, the forced insults at the carnival still seemed to linger in the back of his mind.
Shan blew a soft raspberry past her lips and waved a hand. “Sluttiness is a state of mind, not a scorecard,” she said wisely, looking amused. She always enjoyed calling men ‘sluts’ or ‘bitches’ or the insults that were usually lobbed at women for acting the same way men acted all the time. She couldn’t even count all the times she’d been called a slut and a whore for stripping -- or just existing, even. Not that she honestly judged anyone’s sexual history, Shan was obviously pro-sex, as long as everyone was informed and consenting and all that. “Ugh, disgusting, so cute. I wanna watch you two fuck so bad,” she said with a wistful sigh, flashing Shane another grin. “If Caden wasn’t such a stick in the mud, I’d be angling for a foursome, you know? So tragic.” She tittered and sipped her coffee again.
"What a waste of a sexy guy," Shane agreed. "We keep talking about hosting an orgy, you'd so be invited if I didn't think your husband would murder me for it." He wondered if Jane was into orgies, Shan sure as hell wouldn't mind being the only woman there but she was... Well, she was Shan. Shane had a hard time imagining even the gay men in his friends' group being bothered by her presence but then again, they might all be a lot more stuck up than he gave them credit for. "But hey, if Reza's into it, I'll film us sometime and let you take a peek." He was half joking, but only half, sex was such a non-issue to him and he really thought anyone would be lucky to see him and Reza fuck. Shan was just one of the few people he knew who was upfront about it.
She gave a delighted little giggle. “Hey, peeking isn’t cheating, right?” Shan posed. She didn’t know if Caden would see it that way, but who said he had to know? It wasn’t like she would be running it on the big TV screen and making him watch or anything. It would just be for her. If it even actually happened and Reza was cool with it, which Shan was not banking on. Most ’normal’ people didn’t share their sex lives so openly, and she and Reza were just a step or two away from strangers. So she would likely just have to enjoy her fantasies of them and leave it at that. “I think he’s a little bit of a homophobe,” Shan admitted, wrinkling her nose a bit apologetically. “Like not the ‘go out of his way to be more of an asshole’ kind, but more ... easily squicked out about it. Which like, the only cure for that is exposure therapy, right? So I’m gonna start subtly watching Queer Eye and Drag Race in the background, you know?” It was her turn to only be half-joking.
"You gotta ease him into it," Shane said, laughing again even if it was a fucking tragedy. "You gotta watch something with a really cool and likable side character who then turns out to be gay but not in an intrusive way, like more asexual than gay, really. Then work your way up to slightly more gay, but still not too gay or too femme or too sexual or too-" he shook his head as he trailed off and waved his hand with a little flourish. "Straight men are such snowflakes, babe." He could agree that Queer Eye was probably safe. It was just a group of harmless and cute super gay guys who weren't threatening and didn't try to gay up their straight clients. Kudos to them but Shane always kind of felt like going over the top when he was faced with guys like that.
Shan laughed along with him at first, then sighed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t I know it,” she said. She had more than her fair share of experience with straight men being shitty and butthurt about dumb stuff. Caden was definitely not the worst man she’d ever had to deal with -- at least not as far as Shan had seen yet. “But alas, no other dashing open-minded bisexuals with great dick game have crossed my path recently.” Shan’s eyes sparkled at Shane with mischief. Ugh, being married was dumb, she wanted to go home with him and pile into bed with him and his cute boyfriend. If Reza was into it, of course. Shan finished her coffee and made an attempt to push all that away and be a good Married Woman. “So if I get kicked out for being a harlot or something, you’re going to let me stay at your place, right?”
"I've got your back," Shane tittered though he wasn't sure he'd like living with her for long. He'd still absolutely get her on her feet again, a few nights at his place, a few nights at a hotel, a plane ticket home, whatever she'd need. Maybe it was crazy to go all out for someone he didn't know at all but he really did feel like they knew each other and went way back - even if that way back was just one insane weekend in Atlanta. Sometimes people just bonded. "So you think he'd kick you out? He got some high expectations for you?" He cocked a brow at her, finding that hard to believe. For a marriage that started like it had - where it had - Caden couldn't really be expecting all that, could he?
It definitely wouldn’t be a long-term situation -- almost none of Shan’s living situations had been very long term thus far in her life. She was a rolling stone, easily made bored and restless, and prone to falling out with roommates. It would probably be easier to avoid in a goddamn mansion than a small city apartment, but people’s space was their space. It was nice of Shane to be her safety net. Shan felt the same sort of bond with him, they not only had history, they were the only people really Like Them in this podunk town. “Nah, I wouldn’t say high,” Shan answered with a little laugh. “He’s definitely got a jealous streak though. And he might just decide he’s done with me at any point, so.” She shrugged. “Always good to have a backup plan.”
"Well, I'd be honored to be your backup plan," Shane said genuinely, even if it came out as a bit joking with the way he pressed his hand over his heart. "So call me if you need me." He hoped it'd only be something as small as needing a place to crash or getting a ride somewhere, his patience and generosity was limited but mostly he just didn't want to see her actually get hurt. "Oh wow, did I tell you you were practically like my sister? While we were fucking? Because of our names?" he said as a faint memory seemed to bubble up to the surface of their time spent together. "Man, I miss being that high." If he only remembered what they'd been taking. What hadn't they been taking? It was a strange sort of nostalgia for something he wasn't sure he wanted to do again.
Shan tittered, but it was a nice warm feeling, having someone else in town she could rely on if things with Caden went south. There was no way the rest of his family would help her out in that case, so Shane’s presence gave her a great sense of security. The other part drew another laugh out of her and she squinted one eye as she struggled to remember. “I don’t know for sure, but it sounds legit to me. Shan-Shane? It’s like you’re my double, only male. Shannon can be a boy’s name too, don’t forget -- ohmygod, that’s not your real first name is it?” she asked, perking up like she’d just had a revelation before she grinned. “Shane-on? ... speaking of high though, do you have a source around here? My stash is running low, Caden only really drinks regularly.”
Shane just shook his head throughout - especially mournfully at his name not being Shannon - but her question did make him feel a pang of guilt. He'd had a stash, but now it was gone and for good reason. "The best I can do is weed," he told her regretfully and anyway, Point Pleasant might be crazy but it was in no way prepared for the two of them to get blitzed and run around in a drug fueled frenzy. "That's all I've been doing, weed and booze. Guess it's easier when you're in lurve." He snorted softly and wondered if he'd ever do hard drugs again, if a 'while' would turn into 'forever' and then if 'forever' was even that long at all.
She blew a disappointed raspberry, but smiled anyway, because it was actually pretty sweet, if he was trying to clean up for Reza. “You’re gonna make me puke,” she said affectionately. “Even weed would be good, if you know somebody. Or you’ll sell me some.” Shan wasn’t opposed to finding her own source in town, but it was always way easier to get a hookup through a friend. Point Pleasant was such a sleepy-seming little town, and there were always a lot of drugs in places like this where there wasn’t a lot to do. She supposed she could ask her husband, but the independent part of Shan wanted to figure it out for herself, have something that was hers.
Considering the real reason Shane was cutting back, he didn't really mind Shan thinking it was only for 'love' and not for the overdosing and freakiness of Point Pleasant adding extra risk. "Yeah I can hook you up," he said. "I know a guy. They should have dispensaries already, it's fucking lame that they don't." It was kind of funny that by only drinking and smoking weed, he was only doing things that were actually legal. Recreational weed was still illegal in Illinois but being in Maine, Shane wasn't very much of a bad boy anymore. It made him feel a little old in a dumb way and he opted against pointing it out to Shan because he could definitely lose some cool points with her and he didn't want that.
“I know, right? Maybe that should be your next business venture here,” Shan said. She knew absolutely nothing about opening a dispensary or what all the technical bullshit laws were, so she didn’t know how plausible that actually was, it might be a huge pain in the ass. But Shane already knew about running bars, why not diversify? She finished off her coffee and took the last bite of muffin she wanted, starting to wrap up the rest. “How is your pretty man keeping himself occupied while you’re out?” she asked lightly. If they were so madly in love, she figured Shane was probably almost ready to get back to him. It had been sweet of him to check on her, it was nice to know she had at least one friend like that in town.
"Working, socializing, playing games," Shane said with a shrug and he did feel that pull to go home, she was right. He still liked that they could be independent of each other and do things apart. He needed his alone time even if it didn't seem to last as long as it used to. He always felt that pull to go back and lounge with Reza, even if they weren't doing anything in particular. Reza might be working and Shane might be playing a game, but there was something really comforting about having him nearby no matter what they were up to. "He wasn't going to stay this long, I pretty much brought him here to be my entertainment for a week or two. God I was so naive!" He tittered, pushing his empty mug aside and picking up his phone. "I'm gonna text that guy your number, he'll probably call you soon. That cool?"
“Yeah, that’d be perfect,” Shan answered. She wondered vaguely if this dealer was someone Caden knew, if he would flip out if he happened to see the number pop up on her phone or something. It was kind of an exciting prospect, if she was being honest with herself. Once the text was sent, Shan stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. She held off on gathering up her raincoat for the moment, stepping in closer to Shane and spreading her arms a bit instead. “Give me a hug before you run off to go be gross and cute together,” she said breezily. She was probably going to do some shopping before she headed back to the trailer to entertain herself until Caden got home. Some people had to truly work for a living.
Shane got up and embraced her tightly, grinning at being gross. "I'll be extra corny and gross, just for you," he told her and pressed a kiss to her cheek before he let her go. "We should do something fun soon, when your jealous ass husband is at work. Even if it's just something boring like dinner." He didn't think dinner with Shan would be boring, they always had stuff to talk about and things to laugh at. "Unless you wanna bring him too, freak him out a little." He was very obviously joking because honestly he'd probably be more miserable than Caden if they tried to socialize. He didn't have a lot of patience for guys like that and hanging around them made him feel itchy to leave.
Shan squeezed him back with a chuckle. She thought it would be a while before all of them could have dinner together or something, if ever. It was like having two very different friend groups that didn’t usually mix, only she was married to one side of it. Whether Caden would ever loosen up enough to have fun with Shane and Reza was a question she couldn’t answer, but she would keep her eyes open for signs, just in case. “We’ll see on the last part, but yeah definitely! I’m alone in the evenings a lot, so just hit me up, let me know,” she said. She slipped into her raincoat again and flipped the hood up before picking up her purse. “Tell you boy I said hi, don’t drown on the way home, okay?” she said lightly. “And thanks for the uh, number exchange, you know.”
"Yeah, I got you," Shane replied slyly as he sat back down. He wouldn't wait long to leave but he was maybe kind of hoping the rain would let up a little, enough to get him to the car without getting soaked, but he wasn't really holding his breath. "Don't be a stranger." He watched her head off with that sexy little sway in her step she always had and hell, it wasn't weird that Caden had decided to stay with her and be jealous as all fuck. Women didn't often get Shane's attention in more than an aesthetic way but Shan was something else. Even in a damn raincoat. He settled back into his seat and got out his phone again to text Reza and while he was still getting used to having someone to report to, so to speak, it was kind of nice.