The Shape of Things to Come (Hypernaturals 15)

I Am Loved

We came out of the master bedroom and to the breakfast table as a group. Vera and Angel, along with their bed guest, were having coffee. Their scent told me they had a morning rinse in the shower.

Mike looked up as we came into the room, and his expression was pretty anxious. "Have a good night?" He asked Janie.

Janie was happy he asked her first and smiled. "The best. Good night. Good morning. A woman could get used to being pampered like this. How about you?"

"I can't complain." Mike said.

"Because it would do you no good?" I asked.

"Pretty much exactly that." Mike agreed.

"Mike is not used to have two women in bed with him and having nothing going on." Angel said.

"News flash: Two women at once? New." Mike said.

"Shame to waste that nice boner." Vera complained.

"Now dear..." Angel said.

"No. I get it. I do." Vera said. "I am just saying it is not something I normally walk away from. You know: If he is a decent sort and all. I don't mean a decent screw. That was obvious. I mean an OK kind of guy. Bathes regularly. Takes care of his kid kind."

"Can I ask why you didn't?" Janie did in fact ask.

"We didn't have your permission." Vera said. "Your guy. You have to say it's OK, and you need to believe that down deep in your heart, and trust me when I say, you can't fool my Angel about stuff like that."

"I am well aware. I have known Angel forever." Janie said.

"After your last night, you might be on board now. I know you had a great time. Been there. You get more of that, we get some of him. Bet I could get his boner back up in no time." Vera nodded at Mike in case Janie was not sure who 'him' is.

The series of looks that went across Mike's face was easy to decode without being Angel. Some of them were directed at Vera's assumptions about him and the implicit idea that he is a competent oarsman, and also a semi-accusing one sent to Morgan.

"Yes Mike. I did not ask." Morgan told him. "Would you have said no?"

"No. No... Of course not." Mike said, pinned down by Morgan's raised eyebrow.

"There you go. Not being Angel, I could not read your deepest heart on the matter. I asked her, she said yes. That was enough for me." Morgan said. "It was a very nice way to get reacquainted with Janie. Remember why she and I happened for each other in the first place. Better now for the time that passed and the maturity we each have gained."

"So good." Janie agreed.

"I can only imagine." Mike said.

"Literally, as Vera was evaluating you for future use of heavy machinery." I added for him.

"I think he would be an adequate Jack Hammer operator." Vera said serenely.

"So pneumatic." Helen commented.

Janie looked at me with an 'ah ha' expression. "That is another reason you didn't join us. Besides that stuff we talked about. You did not feel you had permission."

"More or less. It is more that I would want a very serious discussion about that. A heart to heart. No BS. I would need you to be sure you were on board with the consequences if we did." I said.

"What consequences?" Mike asked.

"Technically speaking, you all never married. That is a technicality in that you stayed together. More or less. Even though you have both taken field trips, none of it has been serious. Janie does not like it when you get your wick wetted at the gym, and you don't care about random guys she very occasionally has decided to gift with her presence. In the same way that Janie and Morgan are more serious than that, so would my involvement be. I would not be a one-night stand. It would be a serious relationship. We would know that going in because we talked about it. Therefore: the consequences might be where you might decide to leave her. Not in anger. You feeling you are no longer needed. Heading off to sow your wild oats." I explained.

"I. Well. I can't see me doing that." Mike said.

I actually knew that about him. I just don't think he does. "Really? Then why are you sitting still with Janie? She is a special lady. A family-first kind of woman. I am on the outside looking in, but it sure looks like to me that you are not all in. There is an arms-length kind of deal going on between you. This is my point. Janie will not be held at arm's length by Morgan. Or, should it come to it, by me. I am not saying it has to only be the two of you. After last night, that is pretty much impossible now."

"Damn right." Janie declared. "Not going to lie: I would like some of what I saw happening next to me in the bed this morning. That looked amazing. Showing love through sex. Want it. More of it."

"Your life works perfectly for you and your chippies." Helen said. "I have side loves too, so I am not criticizing. We finally talked this side love into being more." Helen nodded at Rachel, who smiled. I smiled too. I am the one that proposed to her.

Helen went on. "I would give up all the side sex in a heartbeat if I thought it was keeping my family from feeling like I am not bloody damn committed to them. In nearly losing them not all that long ago because my head was tucked up where the sun does not shine so far I only saw what I wanted, I learned in the hardest possible way what I had to lose. You are the same."

To Mike's credit, he went over to Janie, took her in his arms, and looked into her eyes. "We should talk."

"OK. Just don't expect me to give up my Morgan. Because... damn." Janie semi-seriously said.

"I do not expect that. I understand better than anyone what that is... Well: Better than most." Mike amended, realizing he is surrounded by people that know what that would be like. "But... Last night? No sex. We talked. We cuddled. I found out some things about me. The same as you have about you." Mike said.

"We came here to save 'rox'. It seems like there is a lot more going on than that." Janie said.

"So much more." Mike agreed. "If we move here, and open a club here, there is going to be a lot of change. A lot to deal with. So much stress. I need us to be partners in ways that were sort of there, but we never talked about. We just kinda assumed."

"Sounds good." Janie agreed. "Just so you know, I am not going to the gym, losing weight, and I am not bleaching my hair. I am not changing me because this is who I am. I am a fucking great dancer and a great mother, and... I am loved. Just for me. One night. I learned. I will not lose that."

"I don't want you to change. One of the things I forgot about Morgan is how far away from my type she is. Was, back then. You are you, and that is who I care about. The mother of my son. My partner. If I can ever get Helen's foot out of my ass, we'll see what else I can be."

"Don't count on it, bub." Helen told him. I am not sure if that is about Helen's opinion of Mike's ability to change or her feelings on the idea she might be extracting her foot anytime soon. Probably both. Helen is going to help them, which at this point she would do for Janie alone. I don't think Helen has given up on Mike. I do think Helen will keeping kicking him around, the same way she did me until he shapes up to her liking.