under the skin, part 2

August 2083 - Maxwell Shaw 37, Valerie is 42, Angelo is 13, Devon is 7. (Cecilia Dawson is 14, Cameron Gibson is 32, Bella Bradshaw is 27.)

* soundtrack: "Trouble," by Coldplay. Warnings: vulgarity? lol! You know, it is Max ;) *

Maxwell Shaw starts the day like any other man, though maybe a bit later. Valerie looks over him as she pulls back their sheets. He's almost peaceful, almost calm, with the covers pulled up to his chin and snoring lightly. But she knows better. He isn't peaceful in the least. Especially not lately. He confided in her about it, because this is about her now too. In truth, it always was. The closer he gets to the top, the more people there are just waiting to knock him back down.

The power must be going to his head a little, because sometimes it does feel good. The clubs are stable, and his work requires nothing more than hooking up the right people. He has time to actually be home in the days, which surprises his children greatly. They startle every time he enters a room, not expecting him, their natural habitat put off balance. They stiffen like small animals with some strange mixture of fear and delight.

Otherwise, he almost feels like an ordinary man, having an ordinary morning. He showers and comes downstairs for breakfast. He even drinks a cup of coffee while reading his newspaper.

On the weekends, he cuts his own lawn, just because he can. And he even has time, in the few spare minutes before he strolls out to work, to scold his children as if he were any regular suburban dad. "Hey," he shouts. "Take it easy on your sister."

The success came up so fast. He doesn't feel prepared for it. But in a line of work like this, you don't decline success. You don't shirk the responsibility off to someone else. Either you step up to the plate and perform, or you don't, and if you don't, it's not going to be pretty.

And with all this sudden free time, he only has more time to feel anxious. He has the time to step back and look at his life, everything he has, and worry that it might all come crashing down. There's always someone younger, smarter, or hungrier, ready to knock him off his feet for his place. And he has so much to lose. For once in his life, he feels like he's finally headed somewhere. For once in his life, he's almost somebody. And all his life, he's just been trying to become somebody.

But how he got here is purely circumstantial, being in the right place at the right time, fucking the right person maybe. Somehow he's managed to position himself quite well in Lake City's underground. Max has never been a very skilled man, and he's certainly never been very smart (though he does know better than to screw around with this bartender, this time), but his clubs, sleazy yet perfectly legal, have become the ideal arrangement for cleaning up some dirty money. His clubs are haven to the shadiest people in the city already, so nobody notices a damn thing.

Nobody notices that his bosses have set up in one of his back rooms to host some illegal materials. They bring in a sorry-looking crew to maintain things, but Max has good word that these people can be trusted.

Still, he has James keep watch on them, to see them in and out of the place with as little trouble as possible.

He doesn't trust his own judgment of people most times, and trust is something Max is thinking a lot about lately. He knows he's been foolish in the past, picked the wrong one to mess around with, someone who seemed unsuspecting but turned into trouble.

After Ana, he's learning to be more discreet. Ana was a little too sensitive, and she had to go. No, he didn't make her "disappear" or anything. But he did send her away, scared shitless so she wouldn't even think about coming back. And then he bought her a nice little cottage out in Bluewater.

He's more careful now, in work and in play. And that's the thing about Dana, or Heather, or April even, he's narrowing down his encounters to a list of trusted lady friends.

Maxwell tries not to make a habit of screwing his friends girls - really, honest, he does! So he felt bad about the whole thing with James, but who's going to turn down Dana Gilmore if she's asking for it? Really?

So maybe that means James isn't a friend. And in this line of work, you have to know a true friend when you see one. And Dana, she's a good friend. Dana is one of those slinky lounge singers with a fetish for the bad boys it seems. But you'd never know she was a singer, because she fucks like a whore, and she keeps secrets like one too.

***

So Max is home more often, and his children aren't used to such business going on in this house, at normal hours of the day. Or going on at all, between their parents, who seem to be making up for lost time or something. Shouldn't they wait until night time, after bed, and lock the door?

But his parents aren't the only ones getting action around here. Angelo is dating Cecilia Dawson because she's almost as gorgeous as that sweet thing Melissa Fortney. Or at least that's why he started dating her anyway. But it turns out, she's really nice, and pretty in her own way, and well, the fact that she'll go out with him at all is a plus in itself.

She's even nice to his sister.

She's really smart, and rich, and a year older, going into eighth grade, and already talking about which college she'll get into when she grows up. He didn't know all of this until they already started dating, because stuffy girls aren't really his type, if you could say he had a type. He might have a type some day, but for now, his type has warm lips and soft breasts, and thus Cecilia passes!

He listens to her talk about school and her future, for as long as he thinks is appropriate before they can move on to the kissing stuff.

Because she does let him kiss her, and though she won't let him take off her bra (or even her tank top, the jacket only if he's lucky), he does manage to brush by her chest "by accident" sometimes, and sometimes she doesn't bother moving his hand away. This is good, he thinks.

Except that she told him she loves him, which freaks him the hell out! They only just met this summer. But he says it back, because he figures that's what you're supposed to do. He figures this for good reason. You see, not only does he love that fine thing Melissa Fortney, but they're actually something of friends. They email to each other, and chat on the phone, so he figures he's been granted a special glimpse into the female mind. And the most pertinent information is this: that Melissa's boyfriend told her he loved her too, and now she's thinking about doing all kinds of stuff with him.

But yes, there will be girls, and his future as well. After all, he still needs to decide whether he'll end up being a sports star, or a movie star, or a rock star. There's really no one who gets what it's like to be Angelo Shaw quite like his baby sister. Because it's weird being a kid in this family, with all the secrets their parents have.

He doesn't mind hanging out with her sometimes, even if she just wants to play dolls. And this is what they're doing one night, when Angelo doesn't even hear his father come into the room. He didn't hear him at all, actually, and didn't even see him until Devon looked up to notice. "Hey, Dad," she says, largely unmoved.

But Angelo bolts up from the floor. "Oh, I wasn't playing with dolls," he says.

He doesn't know how this happens - he isn't a meek boy, but his father is something else entirely. He's seen grown men cower under his father, who isn't even an exceptionally tall man, and so he feels inclined to cower as well. He twists his fingers around themselves. "I was just showing her how to turn them into zombies," he says.

But his father isn't mad, and only smiles a mangled smile. "Hey, a girl's gotta know about zombies," he says. "You kids were just quiet, I wondered what you were up to."

Instead of going then, he just looks between them, his eyes darting from Angelo's face back to Devon's, again and again, finally resting there on Angelo. "This is good," he continues. "The two of you, spending time together. You never know how much..."

"You look after your baby sister," his father says, the friendly tone turning colder. "You never let anything happen to her, it's your job. Nothing gets in the way of your family, you hear that? Nothing."

There is anger in his face, or sadness - Angelo can't quite distinguish between the two, but he quiets under it just the same. "I know, Dad," he whispers.

Angelo is comforted when his father finally looks down to Devon.

He doesn't explain anything more, but only bends down to hug her. When he stands again, he pats Angelo's shoulder, firm yet affectionate, before he goes.

"That was weird," Devon says.

"Yeah," Angelo says. "It kind of was."

Maybe the weirdness carries on through dinner, or maybe this is just how their father is going to be from now on. He says, while gazing at their mother like he hasn't seen her in years, "Angelo, you hold down the castle tonight, I'm taking your mother out."

***

When he's out of the dark corners and the dimly lit underbelly of this town, and into the bright lights of the public world, there's only ever one woman on Maxwell's arm.

Valerie Shaw, his wife, his queen.

They've been married for fourteen years now, and Max wouldn't change a thing except to give her more, and faster. To do what he's done, but better. To do it seamlessly so he could be sure it might hold.

And dare she say she's even happy? Really happy? She wasn't always happy, but this is finally working. All those years of promises are finally becoming something tangible. She hasn't spent this much time with her husband since they first met. He promised her, one day, things would be better. He had ideas and plans. She never cared about the money. What she cared about was having him, and their children, and having a close circle of friends that they could trust not to be cops or politicians. It all sounds so absolutely ordinary, but it's worth more to her than anything he could buy.

But happy as they are, and happy as two people can be after nearly fifteen years of marriage, it's hard to beat a pair of love-birds who happen to be getting married next week.

"It's very normal," Valerie says. "I'm sure they'll get tired of it soon enough."

"I think it's sweet," Valerie says, as Bella and Cameron get up to go share a dance together. "They're like high school sweethearts or something, but older, and with two kids."

"Pretty, pretty Bell," Cameron says, not very secretly, while gazing into her eyes like he was lost there.

That's the last straw, Max decides, and shouts, "Hey! Earth to Cameron!"

Valerie says, "Maybe we'll have our friends back after the wedding?"

The two of them are finally pried apart so that Valerie and Bella can discuss last-minute wedding plans. Cameron is laughing off a case of the last-minute wedding jitters.

"What if she doesn't like me for much longer? Or what if I'm bad at it? Or even, I hear there's this yoga dude all the married ladies are getting hot for. Do you think she'd like him?"

"Don't worry," Max says. "I love being married. You guys are gonna love it."

"Ah, I know just what you need," Max says. "I'm gonna throw you the best damn stag night anyone ever had!"

Valerie's ears perk as she overhears this. Max throwing a stag night could only be trouble...

*******

(footnotes: last update, the love shack // the club bunny stalker // Angelo loves Melissa // Max's little sister)

notes: sorry about the infinite Bella and Cameron spam, lol! They were just being too cute! And sorry about the wait. This was one of those instances where I needed to get part way through part 3 before I felt secure about what happens in part 2. And geeze, this sorry, mangy thing just didn't want to be written, lol!

So this story is inspired by Max being promoted twice, in one play session, all as a result of his connections. He's working far beyond his skill level, which I figure must be pretty unsettling for him. And I swear Max must be inhabiting my head sometimes, because otherwise I just don't know how such filthy, filthy thoughts get in there, lol! It's not me, it's him! ;)

Angelo decided to play dolls with his sister all by himself, by the way. He'd loathe to know I told you all that, lol! I hope that scene wasn't too cryptic. I know they have no clue what that was about, but Max isn't one to talk about his feelings either, or even admit that he has feelings at all. I'll clarify if nobody gets it, lol!

I have some more gameplay notes and outtakes, but I'm compiling all the extras from this series of stories into one big fat post after they're finished, so stay tuned ;)