Chapter 10

When I woke up, I had a similar problem as yesterday. This time though, I left it alone and got dressed for the gym, selecting a pair of running leggings that would show off my legs, ass and bulge a little more than yesterday’s outfit had. I wore it occasionally, but more often, I picked something less revealing.

When I got to the gym, several of the ladies were there earlier than normal, just hanging around. I started my warm-up and stretches, aware that they were watching me intently. I studiously ignored them, zoning out while I thought about Melody and I moving against each other, naked and intent on each other and like magic, the ladies were treated to another show even more revealing than the last.

I took my mat to the front of the class again and now that Belinda was aware of what I was doing, she ignored this change in behavior for now. Once again, Mary took up position to watch me, but she hadn’t said anything to me today. That made me wonder about what was going on with her.

I didn’t have time to find out because Belinda started the class as soon as we were all in position. I was aroused the whole time, thinking about Melody’s desire to have me perform this naked for her at some point. I was distantly aware of the groans from the women in class as Belinda indulged them with some of the lewder poses. I was a piece of meat in that class and was startlingly okay with that. It was flattering in its own way. All these women looked fantastic and they were admiring me.

If it hadn’t been for Melody, I’d have been tempted to make a move on some of them. Of course, that’s the kind of thing that would probably get me kicked out of the class and possibly the gym. After class, I took my time packing up, but Mary stayed away. Instead, Belinda came to talk to me again.

“You’re doing really well for the poses,” she said quietly. “Unfortunately, you’re disrupting the class. Can you tone it down?”

“Sure,” I said lightly. “I’m going to put a look on my face like I’m not taking it well, and I might skip tomorrow’s class. Mary hasn’t spoken to me today. I think she might have been embarrassed by this whole thing.”

“Are you kidding?” she asked. “She had her eyes glued to you most of the class. Maybe I should start worrying.”

“Belinda, you could trust me alone with your girlfriend, naked and forced into one sleeping bag. I’d never wreck a relationship like that. Not for anyone. Not even to make love to Melody,” I told her gently.

“I know,” she said softly. “She’s just been out of sorts since class yesterday.”

“Alright,” I said. “I’ll keep my hangdog look and go get showered,” I said. “If I skip tomorrow, even if I miss Thursday’s class, I’ll see you that night at the group.”

“I’ll call you if we need to halt the prank,” she promised.

I nodded and put a slightly hurt and confused look on my face while gathering up my things. I headed to the locker room without talking or acknowledging anyone. I got showered and changed in the locker room and on impulse, I emptied my locker. I put the lock back on, but I took my mat with me, thinking that I’d probably do a little extra in the morning at home, since I was skipping the class tomorrow.

I put my head down so I wouldn’t make eye-contact with anyone. I was afraid that if I did, I’d start laughing. No one stopped me, but I heard my name a couple of times in conversation as if they were talking about me. They probably were. I took my stuff out to my car and put it in the trunk before getting in and driving to work. I gave the building one last sullen look as I opened the driver’s door - as if I’d been kicked out of the gym - and then I got in noticing a couple of the women watching me from the windows as I left.

Work was another day filled with rumors and wild speculation. The newest rumor was that we were shutting down because we were getting a military contract to make explosives, and everyone had to be investigated before we could be cleared to work on the project. I just shook my head. I was tempted to inject myself into the rumors, but I’d promised not to. Instead, I pointed out that we weren’t equipped to make those kinds of compounds here.

“We’d need to spend at least two years overhauling the plant,” I told the lunch crowd in between bites of the last piece of pizza cake. “We’d need bomb chambers for QA, way different equipment to mix compounds that volatile and our security is kind of a joke to be making anything more exciting then MRE packs. Wasn’t it last month when we found the guy walking his dog through the loading docks? Can you really see us making C-4 here?”

That got a few of them thinking and by the end of lunch, most of them claimed they really hadn’t believed it anyway. I saw my boss catch my eye across the lunch room and went to talk to him.

“Thanks,” he said. “I have no idea where that rumor came from, but if I’d quashed it, even if I’d be saying the exact same words, they’d have thought I was covering up the truth.”

I nodded. “I think we’ve gotten to the point that something official has to be said,” I suggested. “Every day you wait pushes the anxiety level up another notch.”

He nodded again.

“I agree. They’re making the announcement this afternoon. Your suggestion about the housing and schools is moving forward. They’re assigning a couple of people to do the work of getting those families situated over the holidays, so the kids can be in their new schools for the start of the January session. The sooner they know, the sooner they can start preparing the kids and begin packing,” I nodded in agreement.

“Have you given any thought to whether you’re going to take severance or transfer?” he asked.

I frowned.

“My life is here in Charlotte,” I said with a sigh. “A lot of that life is a mess, but I just started to reclaim it for my own, you know? An offer would have to be pretty outstanding to get me to consider leaving a house that’s almost paid off to move to a town I don’t know.”

He nodded. “I know that your suggestions have gotten you noticed by upper management, so they might offer you a promotion. That’s well above my pay-grade, but I said good things about you when I was asked yesterday. I’m on my way back up to say a few more after this.”

I thanked him, and went back to work. The rest of the day was particularly unproductive. The rumor of the day appeared to have been laughed out of the building after lunch. About an hour before the end of the shift, the plant shut down early, so we could all be called in to hear the announcement. A surprising number of people were excited about Mobile and most people were relieved that the rumor about New Jersey hadn’t been true.

Once the announcement was made and the reason for it, there really was a noticeable reduction in everyone’s anxiety levels. We were told that the shutdown would take place starting the first week in January and would take several weeks to complete. Some staff would have the chance to move in December to minimize the disruption to their children’s education, and that help was being organized through Human Resources to assist in finding new homes, transferring school records, and getting medical and dental records sent from old doctors to new physicians and dentists. That last was one I hadn’t thought of myself.

They admitted that they didn’t have all the details worked out, but they knew that the rumors were driving us all a little crazy with uncertainty. They promised that the details of the move would be made available as soon as they were all finalized. Then the meeting broke up and everyone was allowed to leave a little early, with pay.

I got home as the workmen were cleaning up for the day. I hadn’t seen it yesterday, but they’d laid down a rubberized mat that protected the floor and they even had runners of it on the stairs. Melody was all smiles and a little manic with nerves over me meeting Stan. Once the workmen were gone, she came to me and hugged me, trembling a little.

“What if he says something terrible?!!?” she asked. “I called him this morning and let him know, but what if he’s warming up a really awful rant?”

“Then it changes nothing,” I told her. “It’s the last gasp of defiance from a dying man.”

“What if he sees us together and changes his Will?”

“Then it changes nothing,” I repeated. “It’ll be the last gasp of defiance from a dying man.”

“It would leave me with nothing, though!” she protested.

“Then I’ll call Angela Price and ask her if she knows a lawyer that breaks wills. Someone she wouldn’t want to have to face or the person she’d want to hire if she had money on the line. Angela’s one of the Lords of Hell. She must know one of Satan’s generals personally.”

That made her laugh a little against her will. “What if it’s iron-clad?” she asked.

“Then the two of us live on the $15 million of Stan’s money that I already have set aside for the future,” I told her. “I’d take you today with nothing more than the clothes on your back and consider myself lucky to have you to share the rest of my life with.”

“I still want my own money,” she said. “Please don’t get upset about this, but I don’t ever want to feel like I’m just along for the ride again.”

I nodded in understanding.

“Mel, I get it, I really do. We just have to make sure that he doesn’t decide to make that a problem.”

It wasn’t about revenge on Stan, it wasn’t even about bringing her own share to the table. It was about her own pride and dignity.

She nodded. “Alright, let’s go. I don’t think I can hold down food until this is resolved.”

I drove this time and let her lead me into the facility. Stan was in hospice care by this time. Treatment had been abandoned in favor of caring for the patient’s comfort and dignity. She led me to his room and then looked at me with such fear that I stopped her.

“Hey. Give me one second,” I said.

I went to the nurse’s station for a pen and a piece of paper. I scribbled a quick note and then thanked them and returned to her.

“If you start to get worried or upset or angry, read that and know that it’s true.”

She looked down at the paper and opened it to read it. It said, “I love you, no matter what.”_ She stared at it and then beamed at me, taking a deep breath, her calm restored. She tucked it carefully into her pocket and then opened the door.

“Hi, Stan,” she said, leading the way. “I’ve brought Rand to talk to you, like you asked.”

I took in the sight of Stan Weaver and I could honestly say that I felt like he’d suffered enough in that moment. When I’d known him, he’d been a very beefy man of about 280 pounds. Now, I guessed he’d lost over a hundred of those pounds and his color was the waxy gray of someone who’s been ill for a long time.

“Hello, Stan,” I said quietly.

He pushed his tray-table aside and adjusted the bed to sit up a little more.