Logan woke up with a start and sniffed the air. Still New Jersey. But this time Marie was nearby, her scent sweet and warm beside him. She was curled into the comforter breathing easily, deep in sleep.
He got out of bed, careful not to wake her; even though it was early afternoon, and stalked toward the bathroom. Everything was clean, cleaner than it had probably ever been. He was embarrassed by how completely she'd taken care of him. Not only had Marie fixed and cleaned him up, she'd also removed all traces from his room that anything out of the ordinary had happened. Even hand washing his clothes after spending a night on her feet at the diner.
Worthless heel. That's what he was. He'd been off doing his own thing again and run into trouble, then hardworking Marie had to clean up his mess. He was no better than the weasel of a manager who had tried to take advantage of her.
He took down her dry clothes and folding them neatly and laid them on the seat of the chair by her uniform. Taking a shower he thought over the situation. The thugs that shot him after he left the fights had been a chance encounter. It took them a second, but when they thought they recognized him they opened fire. He'd been lucky to make it back to the motel before collapsing.
Logan had a vague idea what it was about, but he would need to do some poking around. First, he wanted to put some distance between himself and Marie. The last thing he needed to do was drag her into something deadly.
When dried off, he pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and sat on the edge of the bed to put on his socks and boots. She was awake now and stretching, trying to keep the comforter in place.
"I need to leave." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marie sit up, hugging the comforter to her chest. "Got to check out some things."
"Can't you do that here?" Logan felt the bed move as she crept closer. He wanted to tell her to stay put he needed her to keep her distance, but she smelled so tempting.
"No." He tensed as her fingers danced across his back where the bullet holes had been. "Don't want to bring trouble down on you."
"I don't want you to go." There was something in her voice, her southern drawl skimming over his senses like silk.
He stood abruptly, letting his socks drop to the floor by his boots. Wanting to put space between them, he took a couple steps to clear his mind. She exhaled softly in disappointment.
Logan turned back to face her, to try and explain his drive to keep her safe. That he would only bring her grief and earlier had been but a small taste of it.
Looking at her with the comforter fallen away, eyes full of desire, was a miscalculation on his part. The need in her eyes matched the fire he could feel burning steadily within himself. He wasn't strong enough to stay way and found himself standing by the bed in front of her.
Logan could smell the spike in her arousal. Those same light fingers followed by butterfly kisses blazed a path across his chest, making his already hardening cock throb.
He set his jaw; he should put an end to this, explain and walk out the door. She placed several more kisses along his jaw. She saw his hands move slightly as if he wanted to touch her, but he fought the reflex and held them firmly to his sides. "You don't have to make any decisions, let me do that," she murmured, tracing her fingertips down his arms and hands.
He felt his resolve beginning to weaken; he had to put an end to this. Removing all trace of emotion from his face, he stood there, trying to look unaffected. Poker was a game he was good at and he'd played for far too long for this slip of a woman to figure out his tell.
"I know you think you might love me." Logan flinched almost imperceptibly at her words. He tried to hide his reaction, but when the corner of her mouth twitched in a little smile, he knew she'd seen it. Marie was right there. He was pretty sure he'd fallen in love with her some time ago when he hadn't been paying attention. "I love you and I want to do this with you."
Her hands dipped down, pushing his boxers and jeans lower on his hips. He was warring with himself because he couldn't hide the fact that he wanted her. However, he could deny himself the ability to guide her in what he liked.
She had unfastened his jeans and pushed them down off his thighs. One of her hands was making tentative strokes with his cock, the other fondling his balls. He watched her, breast swaying slightly with her movements and he had to ball his hands into fists at his sides.
He let his eyes slide closed as she bent to take him into her mouth. She was leisurely exploring him with her tongue. The way Marie was concentrating on him was making it very difficult for him to be passive. Unclenching a fist he put his fingers on her chin and gently pushed her mouth from him.
She had a look on her face somewhere between an impish grin and a pout. He could feel the smile spreading across his face and forced it away with a growl. Though the growl didn't have the intended effect on her.
Marie almost fell off the bed grabbing for one of the condoms on the desk. Ripping open the foil packet, she fumbled it, at which point he helped her roll it down his shaft. She pulled him down on top of her, crashing her lips into his for a kiss. In a hurry, she guided him until he slipped into her in one smooth motion.
With her sharp intake of breath, Logan stopped instantly. He admonished himself; he should have put it all together and known this was her first time. Then maybe he wouldn't have let his resolve melt at the touch of her hands.
She put a finger to his lips. "Don't you dare apologize."
Logan placed a kiss on her finger, unwilling to disobey her since he hadn't fought her over the decision making. He rested himself on his elbows, tangling his hands in her hair. As she relaxed beneath him, she pulled him down for a kiss and began to move experimentally. He started a slow rhythm that brought little gasps and moans from her.
It was better than any of the fantasies his imagination could summon. He was mesmerized at the sight of her and placed kisses across her chest and up her throat. He held back and watched as she withered underneath him in pleasure.
When she opened her eyes, she flushed and looked away. Sometimes, it wasn't all bad to have someone else make the decisions.
"You didn't…" she flushed an even deeper shade of red. He had to grit his teeth as she wiggled in embarrassment. Marie's little impish smile was back when she saw his reaction.
She began again with the feathery touches and whispered longings. Logan started to move with her unable to hold back this time. He wanted to be gentle, but she was making it impossible to reason out what he should do.
Later he lay on the bed; Marie neatly snuggled into the crook of his arm. He knew this didn't change anything; he would still need to leave before the men who shot him made the connection to Marie. He hadn't been exactly discrete in his public dealings with her, even taking her to the fights. Hopefully, he would get to the bottom of this quickly and eliminate the threat.
"Logan…" She was absently tracing patterns on his chest. "I think I want to be your Persephone, but not just for a season."
Pulling her in tighter, he placed a kiss on the top of her head. He'd already considered taking her away from this life. Giving her something more than what she would ever have at the diner. "I'd like that," he said with a note of wistfulness in his voice before he caught himself. He really would like to be with her, but he needed to get this business straightened out.
She set out a small content sigh. Her fingers began their feathery light dance, following the trail of hair down his abdomen to his groin. He quickly stilled her movements by placing his hand over hers. "Marie, I can't stay." Even sneaking back to her at night would be too big of a chance until he found out what he was up against.
He brought her hand to his mouth, kissing it before untangling himself from her. Swinging his feet over the side of the bed, he located his discarded boxers and jeans. Logan pulled them on, this time he finished putting on his socks and boots.
"When will you be back?" He could hear the disappointment in her voice as he stood.
He turned toward the bed and she was kneeling naked in front of him. His attention drifted to the window on the far wall. Looking at her was more temptation than he could handle. "A couple of weeks, not more than a month."
Marie placed her hand over his heart, giving him a small smile. "It's complicated, isn't it?"
Logan snorted, running his hands over her shoulders. She pulled him closer, hugging him. He returned the hug, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I'll be back for you, Darlin'."
"You promise?" she asked holding him tighter.
He might not have done a good job of keeping the promise to her in the last timeline, but he was determined not to fail this time. "Yeah, I promise."
When they were both dressed, Logan packed his belongs in his backpack. He then made sure that Marie had all her things. If they tracked him to the hotel, he didn't need a bright neon sign advertising his involvement with her.
He fingered the wad of cash in his pocket. It wasn't much, but it would be something to tide her over. He told himself he wouldn't worry about her that way. There was also the concern of offending her by giving her cash, especially so soon after they'd had sex.
Then again any version of Marie was bound to be as level headed as the two he'd had the privilege to know. He trusted her to understand his intent, taking it out he gave it to her. "In case you have a bad week." She nodded, taking the money. "And don't skip meals."
Rogue smiled at him. "Only if you don't get shot up again." She tried to be lighthearted, letting him know she'd be fine, telling herself he'd be fine.
Smirking, he wrapped an arm around her and leaned down for a kiss. "Deal," he whispered, covering her mouth with his. Maybe this time around he would manage not to fuck things up for her, for them.
Logan waited patiently as Jubilee prattled on as she made her way to his room at the mansion. He remembered a handful of papers on his desk when he'd been back a month ago. He'd given it little thought at the time, didn't even know why they'd been kept, but there might be something to it after all.
"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Jubilee asked over the phone with fake concern. "Has anyone ever breached the inner sanctum of the Wolverine?"
He barely contained a growl. "Just do it!"
"Okay, but if I..."
He heard the door open and she took several steps. "Jubilee."
"My god, you're a neat freak. Couldn't you at least leave a shirt on the floor or an overflowing trashcan?"
"Then it should be no problem finding the papers." Maybe it wasn't too late to ask for someone else to do this for him.
"The cleanliness is blinding me here. Okay, I'm at your desk. What the hell...do you clean your windows too?"
This might have been quicker if he'd driven to Westchester.
"Detective Bowden, yep it's here. Hey, looks like you got the police report on his death." She was silent a minute or so, he could hear her shuffling papers around. "Oh man, Wolvie, if it were anyone else but you I'd ask if you were going to need help with whatever you're planning."
"That bad."
"They didn't just kill the guy, they tortured him first. Whoa, like bad."
He heard her make a few noises of disgust. "Anything else?"
"Nope. Oh, wait a minute there is an email addy on the back. Looks like you might have been in contact with his Captain."
Jubilee gave him the additional information before hanging up. Checking his email he found not only a couple of messages from the Captain but apparently Logan and Bowden had corresponded several times before his death.
Logan had no idea if Bowden had been a friend or a colleague of some kind. He was fairly certain he'd been in Jersey looking into the man's death, the Drops trade, and possibly human/mutant trafficking. Had he stirred up enough trouble with those responsible for Bowden's death, before he awoke in this timeline, to have a shoot on sight order put out on him? It appeared to be highly possible.
Well, he knew where to start his climb up to the top of the Drops supply.
~*~
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