Chapter 10: When it Rains it Pours
The rain was overdue. The few days before had been heavy and thick with humidity, and the Veracruz skies seemed weighed down with tears that had yet to be cried. When the storm finally arrived that morning, the rain came down in torrents, waking Logan with the plunking melody of its powerful raindrops on the roof of the villa and the scraping and tapping of palm branches on the windows.
Logan slipped quietly out of bed, where he’d been laying next to a sleeping Marie, and opened the front door, stepping out onto the veranda to watch the downpour as the tempest ripped across the beach. He needed to run an errand in town before Marie left, but it would have to wait until the storm let up a little. He took a seat on the railing, one foot up on the wooden beam as he leaned back against the post, and noted to himself how the violent tropical storm seemed to mimic precisely the storm that raged inside of him.
They hadn’t spoken of what happened the night before. Instead, Logan had simply held Marie close to him in the rocking chair until she had fallen asleep again, and then he scooped her up and took her inside to bed. She seemed to have slept relatively well, which was more than he could say for himself. His own rest had been fitful and shallow; it almost felt as though he’d awoken the rainstorm instead of things being the other way around.
Marie leaving was a good thing…at least that was what he kept telling himself. Hector seemed genuine in his claim that this Charles Xavier character could help Marie, give her a home and maybe even help her get her high school diploma. God knew she needed to feel safe, to have that sense of belonging and security. She deserved the chance to be young again, to know what life was when it wasn’t spent running from one thing or running toward another. As much as he’d come to care for the young woman sleeping inside, Logan knew he couldn’t stand in the way of that.
Logan remained under the shelter of the veranda’s awning for another hour, after which the rain had reduced to a few drops here and there on the aluminum above him. The weather in Mexico could be erratic and unpredictable at times, so Logan wasn’t too surprised to see the sun starting to peek through the gray clouds not long after that.
Going back inside, Logan quickly changed his clothes and took a lingering glance at the sleeping woman in his bed before heading out again, this time into the warm morning sun.
~*~*~
Prepared though he may have been for Marie’s inevitable departure, Logan still could not help but feel a small twist inside when he returned to the villa that afternoon and found Marie standing in front of the kitchenette counter, brown paper package in hand.
“Hector stopped by this morning,” she said wistfully, and there was a faint smile on her lips but not in her eyes as she held the package up for Logan to see. It wasn’t as though he should have been surprised. They had both known something would be arriving for her any day. Now that the day was actually here though, reality was quickly beginning to set in for them both.
She was leaving.
Logan said nothing in reply, only crossed the room slowly, coming to stand before Marie as he gently took the package from her hands and emptied its contents onto the linoleum. Out spilled an American passport, a train ticket, a map of New York, and directions to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Logan met Marie’s eyes across the counter for a few brief moments before lifting the ticket off of the countertop to inspect the information typed on it. It was an open pass, valid for any trip departing that day. There was a station about twenty miles from where they were now, and according to the schedule printed on the reverse, the last train would be departing at eleven o’clock that night.
“He did a pretty good job with the photo,” Marie said softly, this time not even making another attempt at the smile that had failed the first time around. “Y’know…considering.”
Logan gave her a small nod in response, and Marie looked back down to the contents splayed on the counter.
“Come outside for a sec,” Logan said, after a few moments of silence. “Got somethin’ I wanna show you.”
Marie followed Logan outside, the sun now out in full force and scorching at their shoulders as they made their way around the porch to the back of the property. Parked on the ground behind the villa was a shiny green Vespa.
“Can you ride one of these things?” Logan asked, nodding toward it.
“Yeah, I had to ride one to make deliveries for the diner,” she replied.
“Good.” Logan said, taking her hand, uncurling her fingers and dropping a set of keys into her palm. “It’s yours.”
Marie looked up at Logan, and he knew that she was both surprised and touched at the gesture. It had been generally assumed that she would be leaving for the station on her own, but they hadn’t discussed how she was going to get there. Now they had one less thing to worry about, and she could take her new transportation on the train with her.
“Thank you, Logan.” she said quietly. “For everything.”
“Don’t gotta thank me, darlin’.” he said, brushing the back of her hand with his thumb for a moment before releasing it.
“So…I guess this is it, huh?” she asked. Logan had never before felt so torn to answer with either a yes or a no for the implications inherent in both.
“I’ll write.” he responded, catching her gaze. Again Marie tried to smile, and again, the smile didn’t quite make it to her eyes.
“No you won’t.” she returned solemnly, and they both knew she was right. There was no way Logan would risk sending her anything that could possibly tip someone off on her whereabouts.
Marie shifted a bit, smoothing the material of her sundress, and Logan placed his hands in his back pockets as they both stood there, not quite knowing what to say. As it turned out they didn’t need to come up with anything, because the silence was interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps on the wooden veranda, nearing the back of the property, where they stood.
Logan immediately went into alert mode, grabbing Marie’s wrist and yanking her to him, eliciting a surprised gasp from her as he raised a finger to his lips in direction for her to stay silent. Logan slowly backed them both toward the outside wall of the villa, one arm held tight around her waist and the claws of his other hand unsheathed as he prepared to deal with their intruder. Marie buried her face in Logan’s chest as the footsteps approached and turned the corner.
“WHOA! Chill the fuck out dude!!”
Marie looked up just in time to see a surprised Hector standing before them with nine inches of gleaming metal grazing his jawbone. Logan hissed out a sigh, relieved that he hadn’t acted too quickly and diced his friend into a million tiny cubes.
“If I wanted a shave, I’d ask for one…shit!” Hector placed a shaky finger on the dull edge of Logan’s claw and cautiously lowered it from his throat. Marie laughed nervously against Logan, still not quite down from the shock.
“What’s up, Hec?” Logan asked, putting his claws away as the adrenaline gradually drained from his body.
“Just wanted to know if you guys are coming to the bar for dinner,” Hector said, hands held up in defense. This time, Logan couldn’t help a hoarse chuckle at Hector’s frightened expression.
“Whaddya say, dollface?” Hector asked, nodding in Marie’s direction. “One last meal before you hit the road?”
Logan looked down at Marie, who gave him a ‘why not’ shrug. She would still have enough time to eat and maybe have a drink or two before she took off…and besides, it was probably best that she wait until after dark to leave.
“Okay,” Logan answered gruffly, after getting Marie’s silent approval. “We’ll see you there.”
~*~*~
“I’ll have another beer.” Logan gave his order to the waitress, who promptly returned to the bar to fetch their second round of after dinner drinks.
They were a foursome tonight, Hector having invited one of his many lady friends to join them. The bar and grill was busy, just as it had been every night since Logan and Marie arrived looking for somewhere to stay. They had decided on a patio table for dinner - not so much for the reason that the interior of the bar and grill was packed as for the fact that it was another one of those unbearably hot nights.
Marie twirled the tiny umbrella in her cocktail, taking in for the last time the colored patio lights illuminating the darkness and the loud beats of music droning out from the outdoor speakers. The dance floor inside was crowded, and a number of patrons had spilled out onto the large patio to dance and mingle.
Marie was surprised to find that Hector wasn’t among the many dancing and mingling tonight. He could usually be seen floating from table to table, chatting it up with his many patrons, almost all of whom he seemed to know personally. Tonight, though, he seemed content to stay in one spot with one of his tattooed arms slung around Esmeralda, the young Mexican lady who served as his date.
The woman couldn’t speak English, but Hector could speak Spanish, so what little she had to inject into the conversation Hector was happy to translate. He hadn’t divulged too much information about his guests, however; as far as she was concerned, they were simply Seņor and Seņora Logan.
The waitress returned with Logan’s drink, and he looked to Marie, giving her a wink before taking a hearty swig from the bottle. Marie gave him a smile at that, and knew it was one of the things she would miss about him when she went on her way. Esmeralda caught the wink and the smile and leaned into Hector’s ear to ask him something in Spanish. Marie inferred from the woman’s hand signals that the question was about her and Logan.
“Esmeralda wants to know how you two met.” Hector said across the table.
Marie was a bit taken aback, not having any idea how to answer the woman’s question. It occurred to her that she and Logan probably should have discussed that little detail when they decided on their little cover story. Picking up on her hesitation, Logan took her hand under the table and gave it a small squeeze, indicating that he would tackle this one.
“Tell her, uh…” Logan started, his hazel eyes meeting Marie’s gaze with a flicker of something that she couldn’t quite place.
“Tell her a mutual friend showed me a picture…” he continued, the hazel of his eyes coming alive with flecks of gold in the glow of the candle on the table.
“…and…I guess you could say I’ve been chasin’ after her ever since.”
Hector translated to Esmeralda as Logan continued to squeeze Marie’s hand under the table. Distantly, she heard Hector saying something else to them, but Marie was so entrapped in Logan’s darkening gaze that she missed it. Damn it if the man couldn’t make a woman feel naked even when she was fully clothed.
“Huh?” she asked absently, finally snapping her eyes from Logan’s and returning them to Hector.
“I said Esmeralda thinks it’s cute that you can still blush about that.”
“Oh…” Marie removed her hand from Logan’s grasp and pressed it to her hot cheek. The woman had made a sharp observation. Married people didn’t blush like that.
“C’mon darlin’, let’s dance,” Logan said quickly, taking her hand and pulling her up from where she sat, saving them both from the awkward situation.
“I didn’t figure you for the dancing type.” Marie said to Logan as he led her toward a dark corner of the busy patio.
“I’m not.” he replied gruffly, pulling her flush against his muscular body. He was right about that, because what they were doing right now was not so much dancing as it was slowly swaying together to the seductive beats pumping out from the loudspeakers.
“Thought she was startin’ to ask too many questions,” he added softly into Marie’s ear, his lips brushing against it as he drew her arms up and around his shoulders. Marie shuddered at the tenderness of his touch as his fingertips slowly skated down the flesh of her bare arms, raising goose pimples on her skin when they brushed along the undersides of her arms and down over the sides of her body.
Marie could feel every taut muscle of Logan’s body as he held her tight and turned her around slowly…so slowly. And oh God, the way he was looking at her right now…it was the same look she’d seen in his eyes the night he’d caught her naked in the river; the same look he’d given her on the veranda the night before when she stood almost naked before him. It was that deep, hungry look that shot straight to the junction between her thighs, creating a warm pool of desire there.
Marie saw something else in that look as he leaned in close to her, his nose and lips nearly touching hers as they danced, and suddenly the temperature on the patio of the bar and grill shot up by another twenty degrees, if that was even possible. She gasped softly against his lips as his fingertips began to dance across the small of her back, his eyes not leaving hers, even for a second. Marie was finding it increasingly difficult to think straight, her mind replaying images of their intimate encounter the night before.
The song was over too soon. Logan held Marie in his arms for a few moments as the music faded out, neither of them quite ready to let go. It was Marie who made the first move, a bit frightened by what might happen if she didn’t pull away.
“Logan…?” she asked against his lips.
“Yeah darlin’?” he replied, and oh God, he was still looking at her so hungrily.
“I should go now.”
Logan said nothing, simply held her for a few lingering moments before relaxing his hold on her waist. Marie slipped out of his embrace. The look in his eyes told her that he also knew it was time for her to go, even if there was a little bit of reluctance in there.
“Goodbye.” she whispered, knowing that even above the music, he would be able to hear it. Then Marie turned and descended the patio steps, walking off into the darkness of the beach.
~*~
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