Marie woke up and was alone. She looked around the room. Logan’s clothes and boots were gone; so was Becky. She dressed quickly and went down to the kitchen.
What she saw made her heart want to break. Logan was sat at the counter, Becky in his lap. She was colouring a picture of a horse. Logan had his arms around her waist and his head resting on top of Becky’s, his nose buried in her hair.
It was as if he was trying desperately to hang onto her, make sure he knew her scent, and at the same time make sure that she carried his. The closest way he could mark her without actually physically doing it.
Becky was oblivious to her father’s inner turmoil. She happily coloured her horse a violent shade of purple. Marie realised that this wasn’t about her anymore. It wasn’t about her experience with Ethan, what he did or didn’t do to her. It was about Logan now, and how he couldn’t live without either of them.
Marie had finally let go of her heart and given it to another, but Logan had more to lose. He had taken a risk too. He had taken on another man’s child, fallen in love with her. Now he was faced with the possibility of losing something that, deep down, he didn’t think he deserved in the first place. If they couldn’t get a suppressant, Becky could die, and that wasn’t an option anyone was willing to consider.
She moved into the room. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Logan didn’t raise his head; his deep voice simply radiated through the little girl’s hair.
“Becky, I forgot my cell phone. It’s by my side of the bed. Can you run up and get it for me?”
“Ok, mummy. Look after my horse, dad.” She slipped off his lap and raced out of the door.
“Sure thing, kid.”
He stayed in his seat, just watching the empty door. “Thought *I* was the kid?”
“You grew up, remember?” He voice was solemn, but he smiled.
“I’m sorry.”
“What for, growing up?” He shifted but still didn’t look at her.
“No, for taking your protection for granted.”
He raised his head and looked at her for the first time. She smiled, and so did he. He got up and stood in front of her, in between her legs. He touched her cheek and let his hand trail down to her collar bone.
“So if you’re sorry, then you’re not pissed at me anymore?” He smirked at her; her scent was slowly growing in arousal. She damned herself; he always had this effect on her.
“Oh yes, I am.” She smiled and pointed to her face. “Look this is my ‘I’m-still-pissed-at-you’ face.” She giggled as he rubbed his hands down to her hips and round to her bottom.
“Well, these are my ‘You-cant-stay-pissed-at-me-for-long’ kisses.” He kissed her neck and the spot she loved behind her ear.
“Mmmm. Logan, seriously I mean it, I’m sorry.”
She moaned again when he rubbed his face into hers, then kissed her passionately. “I’m sorry too. We’ll get over this, and everything will be fine. I promise.”
“One day, making promises to young brown-haired girls will get you into trouble.”
“If I remember rightly, I was in trouble long before I promised you anything.”
“EWWW!”
They turned to see Becky standing in the doorway, scrunching her nose up at her parents kissing. Marie gestured to her to come here. She ran up and jumped into her mother’s arms. Logan hugged them both.
“I’ve got to go out for a while tonight.” He stroked Becky’s hair
“Can I come?” Excitement evident in her little voice.
“Not this time, Becks. You look after your mum for me?” He kissed them both, nuzzling and growling softly into Beck’s neck. She giggled at him.
“Tickles, Daddy!”
After dinner, he met Scott in the garage, and they got into his truck. He started the engine, and as he was about to pull out, the back door opened and Marie and Jubes jumped in. “We’re coming, too.”
“No, you’re not!”
“Yes, Logan, we are. Now, are you driving, or am I doing that too?”
“Where’s Becks?”
“With Hank.”
He growled and put the truck into drive. He knew where he was going. He had known since Ethan had been released. It took about 3 hours, but they finally arrived, outside a rundown building. It was a halfway house, for people who had been released from prison but had nowhere to go.
Scott went in and spoke to the woman behind the desk. When he came out, he looked a little worried. “Well?” Logan’s voice held hardly any patience.
“He’s not there anymore. He’s living over the top of a bar about a mile out of town. The clerk seems to think that he’s involved in some kind of organised crime group that owns the bar. Drugs, women, gambling, but she can’t be sure, hence the reason he hasn’t been prosecuted.”
“So we go to the bar,” Logan growled.
Marie was quiet in the back as Logan made the decision to go after him. He kept checking her in the rear-view mirror. Her face didn’t give anything away, but he could smell her nervousness and fear.
The bar was dirty-looking and obviously rough. The big neon sign over the door read ‘Sandy’s”. All four of them got out of the truck, but Logan stopped Marie.
“You don’t have to go in there.”
“I know. As far I’m concerned this is just another mission Logan, except the stakes are way higher.”
He nodded, and they entered the bar. It was dimly lit and noisy. A group of suited men near the dance floor were obviously drunk and celebrating someone’s birthday. There were other smaller groups of people in booths and at tables. There was a big jukebox next to the bar churning out music.
They sat down in a booth in the far corner, and all ordered a beer when the waitress came over to them. A few minutes later, she brought them their drinks.
“There’s a door and a stairway next to the bar. My guess is he’s up there.” Two hulking bouncers flanked the door. Logan took a swig of his beer, secretly wishing that he didn’t have to be here and neither did Marie.
Marie sank down into her seat when she saw Ethan, dressed in a smart suit. He came out of the door, spoke to one of the bouncers, and then disappeared back up. He looked the same, handsome, but the sight of him made her angry and sick.
“We need a distraction. If we try and fight our way up, those bouncers will have the whole bar on our backs before we can blink.”
Scott and Logan looked deep in thought. Marie had an idea: Logan wouldn’t like it, but she was past caring. She would do anything at this point. She eyed Jubes and then shot her eyes toward the birthday revellers.
Jubes looked slightly confused and then smiled when she realised what Marie had in mind. “St John’s 18th?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ll have to do it. I’m not wearing suitable attire, if you catch my drift.”
“Ok. You sort out the jukebox.” She turned to Logan, who was listening to their quick conversation with confusion. “Do you still have a spare shirt and that hard hat in the back of the truck?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Me and Jubes have a distraction. When we give you a signal, get up those stairs, get the blood and DNA samples, and get out.”
“St John’s 18th? I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” Scott looked liked he was going to pass out.
“You got a better idea?”
“No, but come on, not that.”
Marie got up and moved past Logan. Scott stood to let Jubes out of the booth, and both women went outside.
“What happened at the fire kid’s party?”
“Logan, trust me, you really don’t want to know.” He took a sip of his beer and briefly wondered if Logan would survive the show he was about to get.
“Scott, what is going on?”
“While you were off in Canada, St John turned 18. At his party Jubilee, Kitty, Rogue and Amelia gave him a…present.”
“I don’t like the sound of it.”
“It’s not the sound you have to worry about!”
Both men turned as Jubes and Marie walked back in. Jubes went straight over to the jukebox. Logan’s mouth dropped when he saw what Marie was wearing. She had his flannel shirt tied in a knot just below her breasts, his empty tool belt round her hips, and his hard hat on with her hair stuffed under it.
He immediately knew what she was going to do. He wanted to stop her, but the sight of her in his shirt and tool belt was making it hard to concentrate.
She swung her hips over to the edge of the dance floor, grabbed a chair, and shoved it with her foot into the middle of the floor. The group of birthday revellers stopped and looked at the chair.
She tipped the front of her hat with a wry smile. “Who’s the birthday boy?” A couple of drunk men shoved a blonde man with a big badge that said ‘Birthday Boy’ into the chair.
A quick glance at Jubes and the music started. Marie wanted to slap her; it was Fedde Le Grand, ‘Put your hands up’. How fitting. She began to dance around the man in the chair.
She took her hat off and shook out her hair. There was a loud cheer, and she had everyone’s attention.
Scott noticed that the bouncers on the far door had moved to get a better look at Marie. He stood up and was about to tell Logan that they needed to be quick, when he noticed Logan was still completely lost, watching his wife slowly take her clothes off.
He grabbed Logan’s arm, and when the larger man came to his senses, they both headed through the door and up the stairs. They walked directly into an office-like room. There were three men in the room, two bodyguards and Ethan.
Logan and Scott simultaneously raised tranq guns and shot the two bodyguards. As they fell, Ethan spotted Logan and Scott. Logan smirked dangerously at him, swung his arm, and punched him in the jaw.
He was sure that he had never hit anyone that hard in all the years he could remember. Ethan went down like lead, and Logan resisted the urge to kick him. Logan pointed the tranq gun at him and fired.
“Logan, was that really necessary? He’s already unconscious.” Logan just shrugged his massive shoulders as he heard another cheer from downstairs.
Logan watched the door as Scott drew a vial of Ethan’s blood and then opened his mouth, swabbing the skin with a large cotton stick. He put the stick in a little tube and then put it in his pocket.
Logan could still hear the music downstairs, and judging by the cheers, Marie was running out of clothes. “Come on!”
“I’m done. Let’s get out of here.” Scott went to the door, but Logan stood still and just stared at Ethan. “Logan, come on.”
“It would be so easy, Scott. Get rid of him, get him out of her life forever.”
“Two more hits of the tranquilliser, and it would give him an overdose. He’d die. Is that what you want, kill him? Will it kill off your feelings, Logan? Make it all go away? Will it make things with Marie and Becky easier?” He paused to let his words sink in. “It won’t. It will only give you more problems, Logan, and you know it. What if Becky ever finds out?”
“She won’t.”
“Can you ever really be sure of that? Let’s say she does. How is she going to look at you then? Right now, you’re her hero, the best thing in her life. If you kill him, you just turn into the guy who killed *her father* out of anger and jealousy.”
Logan looked at the gun in his hand and then at Ethan again. If he killed him, he could guarantee that Marie and Becky would be safe. Everything would be simpler, surely? He could see Becky’s face, her perfect features, cute little nose and her smile. She smiled at him like he was the whole world. He was the one she loved, needed, and wanted. But what if she did ever find out…could he lose her? He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m her father.”
“My point exactly. Now let’s go. Now.”
They descended the stairs, and Scott nodded to Jubes. Logan caught sight of Marie, and what a beautiful sight. She was clad only in her bra and panties, gyrating in front of the birthday man. She got down low, running her hands over her pale thighs and then stood up, flicking her hair wildly. He looked at her shapely legs, flawless skin, flecked slightly like Becky’s. Logan wanted to lick every inch of her exposed flesh and planned on doing just that the first opportunity he had.
Suddenly the song stopped, and she picked up her clothes. “Show’s over boys! Bye!”
She tottered back to the entrance. She shoved her jeans back on once she was outside. Scott and Logan were already by the truck, and Jubes came out right after her.
“Nice diversion, darlin’. Care to give me a repeat later?”
“Maybe, cowboy. Is it your birthday?”
“Fucking is now!” They both chuckled, and he kissed her.
“Did you get it?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” He would have to talk to her later, when they were alone. He needed to talk about Ethan, get his feelings out, let her know how scared he was. He had very nearly killed Ethan simply because he could. Killing for him had always been a necessity, only when he had to, kill or be killed only. But just then, he would have simply because he could. The opportunity was there, and he very nearly took it.
**********END OF PART SEVEN
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to Gamma again.
Summary: Marie had finally let go of her heart and given it to another, but Logan had more to lose.
Summary: Marie had finally let go of her heart and given it to another, but Logan had more to lose.