“This is it?” Marie clambered off the bike and immediately fell flat on her face.
Alarmed, Logan was crouched at her side a scant second later. “Jesus, kid. You okay?” Despite the concern in his voice, once it was clear she hadn't broken anything, she could tell he was trying not to laugh at her. Well, hell. Who wouldn't?
Furious, she pushed herself to her knees and picked tiny pebbles from the palms of her hands.
“Yes, I'm fine!” Was she forever doomed to make a fool of herself in front of this man? Sure looked that way.
Never having ridden on the back of a motorcycle before, she was admittedly still a little shaky, and not just from the ride. Before firing up the bike, he'd pulled her arms around his chest and held them there, telling her to hang on. Then he'd twisted his broad back against her breasts, and although it might have only been a way to settle them both more firmly on the bike, she didn't quite think so.
Taking his outstretched hand, she let him help her stand up. She staggered a bit and tried to get her head screwed on straight. Hanging onto him and getting a real good idea of just what that magnificent chest must look like, as under her hands the contours of his body were impossible to miss, made her a tad lightheaded. Then again, that tight white t-shirt left little to the imagination.
Marie took a look around. When he'd said he had a place to stay, she'd assumed he meant a house or a motel room or at least someplace with a roof. The clearing in the woods, however, a mile or two from the nearest paved road and edged by a gurgling stream, held only a rolled up sleeping bag, the remains of a dampened fire, a few assorted packs - and that was it. Not even a tent. Oh, fine! Where was she supposed to sleep? In his sleeping bag? With him? She started to wonder just what she'd gotten her foolish trusting self into.
With an angry shake of her head, she decided she was being an idiot. No one wanted her. No one. She'd had that little fact slammed right in her face, front and center, not two days ago. Her self-worth, shaky to begin with, had taken a decided turn for the worse.
“I gotta tell you, mister, I'm not much of one for camping. You might have mentioned the arrangements a little sooner.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and then blithely ignored her concerns. “You hungry? I already ate but I can make you somethin'. Coffee, at least.” He hunkered down and got the fire going again.
Well, well. What a host. “Coffee sounds good, actually. Um, what do I call you?” They'd never gotten as far as introductions. Which, frankly, seemed incredible, considering where they were.
Logan stood and wiped off his hands. The smirk was back. “Answer to your dreams?”
Her eyes widened and she could feel a heated blush rising over her face. Thank God it was dark enough that he wouldn't see it. She heard him chuckling under his breath as he went to grab the coffee fixings.
Marie continued to watch him and damn if he wasn't right. Tall, dark and handsome didn't quite cover it all, and there was a lot to cover. He wasn't anything at all like her thin, wiry, fresh-faced former boyfriend. One good shove, and she figured he could flatten Bobby without drawing a breath. The thought, for some reason, made her supremely happy.
She cleared her throat. “My name's Marie.”
He stood and dropped his eyes over her, a slow slide from head to toe and back again. The intensity of his look made her unconsciously stiffen her knees, not wanting to collapse in a girlish swoon. Could she be any more pathetic?
Logan tossed her a banged-up blue enameled coffee pot. “Okay, Marie. Get us some water? Stream's right behind you.”
Marie juggled and fumbled the thrown kettle, finally gaining control of it. “All right, but - seriously. What do I call you?”
He hesitated before answering, and it occurred to her that he wasn't a man to give up anything lightly. Not even his name. She wondered why that might be.
“Name's Logan.” He pointed, indicating the stream at her back. “It ain't deep but don't fall in. And watch for snakes.”
Snakes? Snakes? Without quite realizing she was doing it, she stumble-stepped up to him, her eyes wide. “Can you come with me?”
Logan shook his head with a laugh. All fire and bravado one minute, a scared kid the next.
He took her by the wrist and led her down the embankment to the stream.
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Sitting on her heels, Marie trailed her hands idly over the lip of an overhanging rock and let the cool water take the sting out of her palms. A breeze had kicked up and it cut the dank humidity to a fair degree. Branches swayed above them, leaves chittering in the gusts of wind.
She pulled the lid off the coffee pot and dunked it below the surface. The current gave it a good tug and she concentrated on not losing it. The lid, however, she sort of forgot about. As she shifted a knee, it went speedily rolling along the flat surface of the rock as if late, late, for a very important date, sailed off the edge, and disappeared from view.
She gasped and looked up at Logan. He wasn't paying any attention, however. Standing a few feet away, his eyes were locked onto a patch of darkness on the other side of the stream.
“Logan?”
He jerked a hand up, indicating quiet, and she froze. Something was moving thru the black woods just upstream. A heavy thump, a few rustling noises, and whatever it was bounded away.
Marie shot to her feet, sloshing water over his boots from the too-full coffee pot. “Snakes?”
Logan bit his lip, hard, before turning his head to look at her. He tried to say something but laughter snorted out his nose; speech was momentarily beyond him.
“Well, darlin', I don't think there's any snakes around these parts that weigh three hundred pounds and walk.”
Her voice went very small. “Oh.”
He shook his head with a grin, shook the water off his boots, and helped haul her up the embankment.
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Marie sat on the grass and watched him crouched on the other side of the fire, snapping and crackling in the breeze. A small plate sat on top of the coffee pot, a hastily improvised lid. He'd cocked an eyebrow at her when she 'fessed up that she'd lost the lid, but mercifully, he didn't comment further.
He'd already opened up the sleeping bag, spreading it out on a mossy surface, assuring her the spongy growth was quite comfy to sleep on. She doubted it wholeheartedly. A light blanket lay folded on top. No pillows. She sighed.
“You really going to help me with the truck tomorrow?”
Logan glanced up. “Watch that cup. You're don't wanna burn yourself.”
She gasped and looked at the cup in her hand. It was tipping dangerously past center point. She righted it, too quickly, and scalding hot coffee splashed over the rim and onto her thigh. “Damn it!” Hurling the coffee cup off into the darkness, she tried not to howl.
Logan was becoming more than a little exasperated with his young guest. Kid was nothing but trouble. He scooted over to her on his knees. “Here, lemme see.”
She had curled herself up, her head lowered on her knees, arms encircling her shins. He could smell tears but she wasn't budging.
“Kid, come on. Let me take a look.” He tried to get her to unfold.
She at last lifted her head, her face a tear-streaked mess - not just from the pain but from her whole world seemingly coming apart at the seams. Still, she tried to make a show of indifference. “It's nothing.”
Logan ignored her and pried her knees open. An angry red blotch was visible just below the hem of her shorts, but there were no blisters. He sighed and got to his feet. “Hang on.” He dug a couple of bandanas out of a pack and strode off to the stream.
Back a moment later, he knelt and laid a dripping bandana over her leg. “It ain't much, but it's probably the best we can do.” His finger touched her chin and he gave her the other bandana. “Sorry, darlin'. I know it hurts.”
Marie shivered at the cold water but the sting began to lessen almost immediately. She started to wipe off her face with the spare bandana. “Thanks, mister. Don't mean to be a pain in the ass.”
He laughed quietly then sat down next to her. She was quite surprised to feel his arm slip around her and he tugged her closer. She held herself stiffly at first, but it only took a moment to give in and she gratefully laid her head on his shoulder.
His voice was low, soft. “Had a pretty rotten day, haven't you?”
“You could say that.”
“Where you headed?”
She shrugged. “Dunno. Just had to get away. I left New York yesterday.”
New York? He was headed there himself, but decided not to mention it.
“You know, darlin', getting away might be accomplished a little better with a different vehicle. That truck - I'm surprised you got fifty miles.”
“Well, it's not really mine.”
“Oh?” There was a moment of silence. “Kid, you runnin' from something? Somebody lookin' for you?”
She laughed bitterly and lifted her head. “Hardly. Nothing more earth-shattering than a bad break-up.” How pathetic.
Logan watched her carefully. “How bad we talkin' about? He hurt you?” It surprised even him, the vehemence behind that last question - but the thought of someone raising a hand to her pissed him off in the extreme.
A bit confused by his suddenly sharp tone, she flopped her hands in her lap. “Physically, no. Never even kissed me.” The cowardly little snot.
Logan was somewhat taken aback. “Never kissed you? Why the hell not?” She only looked away. At a loss, Logan asked, “How long were you together?”
“About three years.”
Logan's antennae went on high alert. Something wasn't right here. Marie was the very definition of beautiful girl; she had the most gorgeous mane of sable hair he'd ever laid eyes on. And her body - lithe and graceful (when she wasn't falling on her face, at least), toned limbs and creamy flawless skin, not to mention a perfectly astounding rack - was something he could easily salivate over. In his imagination, he already had. Couple of times, as a matter of fact.
She was far younger than the women he usually went for, and as such he certainly had no intention of pursuing her. He'd only picked her up in the first place because she amused him. God knows, he had little enough of that in his life. Still, none of that stopped him appreciating the view.
Did she say three years? Perplexed, he turned her face to him, again with a finger on her chin. “You're with this creep three years and he never even kissed you? What is he, stupid?”
“No. Gay.”
Logan blinked. “Say that again?”
Marie waved her hands about, totally flustered, and jumped to her feet. She started to pace in agitated circles. “You heard me. Turns out he's gay. He only used me for cover, the slimy rotten spineless snail!”
Snail? That was a new one on Logan. Kinda fitting, all the same.
While there was nothing wrong with being gay, knowingly using someone else to deceive the rest of the world about your sexual orientation had to rank near the top of the list in underhandedness.
Logan narrowed his eyes. “So how'd you find out? He finally do the big confession and all?” Man, that must've been a conversation for the books. No wonder this kid was on the verge of falling apart - hurt, pissed off, on the run and stranded. He supposed 'hurt' was the topper, though.
“No. He didn't even know I'd found out. Left him a note, though. A really nasty one.”
At that, Logan grinned. He hoped it knocked the little shit off his gyros.
“So how did you find out? You sure you're right?” Young guys tended to horse around a lot, an unending game of one-upmanship, calling each other decidedly swishy names and acting like morons. Then again, if the idiot had never even kissed her… That was a pretty goddamned big clue. He wondered why she'd stuck it out as long as she had.
Marie turned around and gave him a pitying look. “How do you think I found out? Opened the wrong door at the wrong time.”
Logan continued to press her. “And saw… what exactly?”
“Oh for Christ's sake! What do you think I saw? He was on his knees sucking his best friend's - ” She suddenly quit talking and marched off into the darkness.
He wasn't terribly surprised to hear a splash a moment later.
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“Hell, just take it off! I'm not gonna look at you. You can put on one of my shirts.” Logan held out a long-sleeved chambray work shirt. “You coulda told me to grab the bag from behind the seat but you sort of failed to mention that.”
Marie stood there shivering and dripping and miserable. No, she hadn't told him to grab her other bag - the one with her clothes in it. She only had the pack he'd taken off the front seat of her truck. It wasn't much more than a purse. Way to go, Marie.
The dank night air wasn't chilly, exactly, but the wind certainly wasn't helping matters any. And the water from the stream was more than cold. She'd slipped on a loose stone on the embankment and fallen in. Just call me Grace.
She reached for the shirt and twirled a finger. Logan dutifully turned around. The grin on his face would no doubt have pissed her off but good. He stood there listening to her peeling her wet clothes off and wished for a handy mirror to suddenly materialize.
“You done?”
“Yes, you can turn around now.”
He stepped closer and briskly ran his hands along her arms, warming her up.
“How about we just turn in? You think you can manage not to injure yourself while sleeping?”
She looked up at him with a pout. “Very funny, Logan.”
He only laughed and pulled her into his arms. “Things'll look better tomorrow, kid. They always do.”
She cuddled herself into the solid wall of his chest, tearfully grateful for the comfort he offered. “Hope you're right.”
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Marie tossed and turned and slithered over the sleek material of the sleeping bag. Opened into a single layer, it was plenty wide to accommodate the both of them; she didn't even feel all that weird lying down next to him. He wasn't exactly close or anything.
Logan, one hand behind his head, stared up at the sky, intermittent starlight peeking behind wispy clouds. He'd kicked off his boots and gotten rid of his tee shirt but having to sleep in his jeans was starting to piss him off.
His free hand lashed out and he grabbed her by the arm. “You wanna quit all the squirming?”
She sat up, torn between bunching up the light blanket for a pillow or leaving it on her bare legs to keep the chill away.
“Sorry. Not used to sleeping without a pillow.” She craned her neck, hearing a distinct pop. “You're right about the moss, though. Makes a nice bed, but I just can't get comfy without a pillow - “
Before she knew what he was doing, he'd yanked her down into his arms and her head landed on his chest. “There. That do you?”
Oh my yes, this will do nicely. She tucked herself closer and tentatively lay an arm across him. “Thanks, Logan.”
“Don't mention it.”
They lay there, listening to the quiet of the still night, and Logan finally spoke.
“Somethin' I don't get, Marie. That so-called boyfriend of yours. How come you stuck with him if he never even kissed you?” And did that mean they'd never done anything else, either? What a fuck-up that kid had to be, stringing her along like that.
Marie didn't know what to say. She certainly didn't want to tell him she was a mutant freak. He'd probably climb on his bike and leave her flat.
“It's kind of - complicated, Logan.”
He thought that one over for a minute. “Complicated how?”
“Um - there were some problems with my skin.”
Logan hitched up on an elbow and turned her under him. His eyes roamed her face-looked flawless to him. “What sort of problems?” He couldn't imagine there being a thing wrong with her.
He saw her chin tremble and she turned her head away. “Can we just drop it?”
She'd gotten control over her deadly skin barely a month ago, eagerly expectant the entire four weeks that Bobby would finally stop being a coward and touch her already. That he'd avoided it, making one excuse after another, should have told her long before walking in on him with another guy just what the score was. She had to be the most naive person alive.
And here she was, lying in the arms of this gorgeous hunk of man who'd gone out of his way to help her, taking all her idiotic moves in stride with good humor and a sympathetic ear, and all she wanted to do was hide. She felt like the most undesirable, most clumsy, most stupid girl on the planet.
Logan lowered his mouth next to her ear. “There's nothing wrong with your skin, Marie. You wanna tell me the truth?”
She took a sharp indrawn gasp of air. His hot breath in her ear was sending delicious shivers through her entire body. She started to melt.
Logan felt her reaction immediately. He hadn't really meant to start anything, but he couldn't stop himself from grazing his mouth along her cheekbone. Her heart rate skyrocketed. It effectively shut his brain off as if a switch had been thrown.
On autopilot, he slid a hand into her hair, turned her face to his and kissed her. The heat between them was immediate and dizzying. She whimpered under his mouth and he deepened the kiss, licking at her parted lips and plunging his tongue deep inside her. Marie thought she was going to pass out.
His hand cupping her face, he tilted his head for better access and simply devoured her, pouring all the heated eroticism he could summon into his efforts. Her shaking hands clutched at his shoulders.
It took an enormous effort of will, but Logan finally broke it off. She was blinking up at him and trying to catch her breath - and then her face crumpled and she burst into tears. Oh, shit. She tucked her face into his shoulder and started to bawl her eyes out.
This unexpected disaster brought him crashing back to earth. He held her close and tried to soothe her, not to mention to ignore the throbbing erection threatening to split his jeans. “Ssh. Hey, come on, darlin', don't cry.” He shouldn't have done that. He'd thought it was something she might want, need even. Obviously not.
The scent of her arousal was unmistakable, but she was also scared. Maybe non-experience with the boyfriend meant non-experience with everyone else, too. And what a cryin' shame that was.
Rocking her in his arms, he tried to get her to calm down. “Marie, stop. I'm not gonna hurt you, I won't touch you again. I swear it.”
Swallowing her tears away, Marie wiped off her face and sniffed. She pulled back a little and looked up at him, and whether it only made her more pathetic or not, she asked. “Not even if I want you to?”
Now really confused, Logan frowned at her. He ran a finger along her cheek, traced her mouth. “Baby, you've had some serious heartache lately. Maybe you're just not thinkin' straight.”
“Trust me, thinking has nothing to do with it.” She needed this, so badly. She wanted to be wanted. Was that so wrong?
Her voice was barely there. “Touch me, Logan. Please?”
It didn't take a whole lot of convincing to get Logan to agree.
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Marie stood awkwardly by her truck and fidgeted. She watched Logan cranking down the last lug nut on a new tire, admiring the play of his shoulders beneath his t-shirt. The day was already beginning to heat up, but she thought the weather had little to do with her clammy hands.
She looked over to his bike, fully packed up and again parked beneath the trees across from red's Gas, and tried not think about how much she'd miss riding on it with him.
“Okay, darlin', looks like you're all set.” Logan heaved her tool box into the cab and stepped up to her. She wouldn't quite look at him. Her first 'morning after.' He supposed it shouldn't surprise him she was feeling out of her depth. He wasn't handling this terribly well himself.
He rocked back on his heels and shoved his hands in his front pockets. He wasn't quite sure what to do with them. “So. Visit the old hometown then head back up north? That the plan?”
Marie smiled a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and nodded her head brightly. “Yup. Just want to take a look at the place. Might as well, I came all the way down here already.”
He considered asking her just where exactly in New York she lived. It was a big state and the chances of them running into each other were virtually nil. But both of them in the northeast, they could maybe make plans to hook up. It was a crazy idea, as her ever finding out anything about him was too great a risk. She'd no doubt run screaming. Still, he was almost willing to chance it. There were several humans on Xavier's staff, or there had been last time he'd been there - which, admittedly, was years ago. Maybe Logan could find her a position there.
He stopped spinning this ridiculous fantasy as soon as she opened her mouth.
“Thanks for everything, Logan. Have a good trip.” She'd never asked him where he was going. What did it matter? It wasn't like he was going to ask her to go with him or anything. She knew she'd never see him again.
Determinedly making an effort not to let any tears get the better of her, only wanting to get this good-bye over with before her heart fell to pieces, she settled an arm around his neck and whispered in his ear.
“I'll never forget you. Take care of yourself, Logan.”
She slipped from his arms before he could come up with anything to say, climbed into her truck and started it up.
Never forget you. It was like she already had. She couldn't seem to get away from him fast enough. Having given it up, to a man she'd just met and obviously didn't want to see again, was evidently hastening her efforts to leave.
Last night - well, last night had been incredible. He would've sworn on his life that it had been more than good for her. Maybe he was only deluding himself.
Fighting off the miserable ache in his chest, he woodenly headed for his bike and climbed on.
Driving off in opposite directions, they both watched in their mirrors as the other's vehicle disappeared around two respective bends.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Summary: He stopped spinning this ridiculous fantasy as soon as she opened her mouth.