Mika wants to talk

When Sister Margaret left, the small hidden apartment felt even more empty than before. The Oracle, now wearing Madam Wanda's dress, looked slightly worn out and allowed himself to be guided back to one of the comfortable couches to rest.

No sooner than the Oracle drifted off into a deep slumber, Adam excused himself abruptly and fled to the solitude of the boiler room. The sight of the new caramel-skinned Winlay dressed in her provocative costume was more than he could bare; she looked so sexual, so provocative in her islander clothing but Adam knew better than any man just how innocent she truly was. The memory of her body arching under his hips as he plunged into her sent blood surging to his cock stiffening his member painfully in his shorts.

The worst part was that Adam knew she wanted him just as badly as he needed her. Even after the way he had been avoiding Winlay the past days Adam knew that if he took her hand in his he could lead her into the other room and feast on her body again.

It wasn't just the flash of skin on her belly or the swell of her full breasts beneath her bare shoulder that Adam found so appealing. Winlay really did look like an island maiden from the Barrington archipelago, a young woman who might well have been offered to him or his men for their pleasure, just as she had offered herself just two days ago. The effect was nearly impossible for him to ignore and so before this situation overran his crumbling defenses he retreated like the coward and knave that he knew he was.

He stared again at a complicated wiring schematic that he barely understood in an attempt to clear his mind, but when the door opened he waited hopefully for Winlay to walk through. Instead of Winlay, it was Mika in her ragged shorts and dirty tunic who stepped through the door and approached him with a determined look on her face. Even dressed as she was Mika was beautiful, she was nowhere near as curvy as Winlay but her lithe form moved with the grace of a dancer and Adam new how smooth and soft her skin was.

"What in the name of Old Earth do you think you are doing?" She scolded him. He half lifted the book of electrical diagrams, but she was having none of his evasions. "Don't give me that crap Adam! I don't know what happened between you and Winlay, but don't try to pretend that nothing is going on." She put her hands on her hips and glared at him fiercely. "I've known you longer and better than just about anyone, so don't be an ass and tell me what happened."

"I couldn't help myself, Mika." He admitted not even pretending to evade her question. "I pulled her into my arms and took everything from her." He wiped the sweat from his face and added softly "I've ruined her." Mika sat next to him and leaned her cheek against his shoulder.

"What makes you think that you could possibly ruin someone like Winlay?" She asked just as softly.

"Mika!" Adam glanced sadly at his longtime friend. "We've already destroyed her lifelong dream to be a Sister of Xelta, and then when she was at her most ****, like a cad I took her virginity. What does she have left?"

"She has us Adam." Mika met his gaze confidently. "But because of the way you've been acting, she's not even sure about that. Right now she doesn't know what to think." Adam listened doubtfully as Mika seemed to calmly accept his betrayal of her best friend. It had been almost five years ago that Mika had crawled into his bed and begged him to take her, was she remembering how she felt when he sent her away untouched? But Mika didn't seem surprised or angry that he had taken Winlay's maidenhead, in fact she was encouraging him to continue this improper liaison. "Adam," Mika continued after a slight pause "I know you are afraid that you won't be able to protect her, but that's not how Winlay sees this. She thinks that you are done with her, that you don't want her."

"Of course I want her, now more than ever!" Adam snapped irritably. "But what if Beldan and his thugs find us?"

"Do you really think that what you did will change anything?" Mika challenged him immediately. "If anything don't you think Winlay would prefer to have had a loving experience with a man like you, before being thrown to those dogs?" Adam could see his knuckles whiten and he knew that Mika was right about what Beldan and his fellow Templars were capable of. For just a second he wondered if Mika had shared that kind of love with a man, he hoped so.

"But," he tried again, sensing that he was losing this argument in part because he had to fight his own desires as well as Mika's arguments. "What will happen to her if we do get away, I won't be there for her if, no, not 'if' but 'when' " Adam corrected himself "the council sends me on my next mission." He tapped the wooden table for emphasis. "I might be sent on a suicide mission, then where will she be?"

"You're a self-centered pig Adam!" Mika's bright laughter startled Adam and took the sting out of her words. "Do you think you are the only man on Pandora that sees how wonderful Winlay is?" Adam's mouth opened and closed but no words came out. "And do you really think that any man worthy of her love will really care if she is a virgin?"

Mika got up and walked to the door. "I'm going to see if Winlay still has any interest in you after the way you've been acting. If she does then she'll be sashaying in here soon enough, so get ready." She turned back when she reached the doorway and added with a grin as she pointed her finger at him "You'd better treat her right this time."

Mika headed out the door leaving Adam to wonder if he'd really see Winlay joining him and if she did what he could say or do.