It was cold. The thermometer hanging outside the dive bar read -5 C, but fuck if Marie knew what that was in Fahrenheit. Sometime in school she'd learnt a conversion, but she was too tired and hungry and just plain depressed to even care.
It was hot and smelly inside the bar, and for a moment she considered going right back into the cold. But the trucker who had dropped her a mile down the road when she'd had to use her power on him…he was very insistent on "payment" for the ride…had told her to enjoy freezing as there wasn't a town for miles. "Your frigid ass will enjoy it!" he'd called as he pulled away. At least she'd been able to grab her duffle bag as she fell from the cabin.
There was a large cage in the back of the bar. She made her way to the counter and ordered a water, scanning the crowd for anyone who didn't look like an absolute freak. Of course, she'd learned the hard way that you can't tell from people's outsides what they'll try and make you do once you're alone with them. Too many times she'd come close to being raped. One guy had told her he was a serial killer, and when he pulled a knife on her she thought it was probably the truth.
An announcer stood in front of the cage and turned on a squealing microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you're ready for a good show tonight! The Wolverine is back and taking on all challengers!"
The Wolverine? thought Marie. Ain't they those vicious stinky animals that tear everything up? Who would want to name themselves after that?
A man strode to the cage, tearing a white tee shirt over his head and flinging it to a stool. He wasn't very tall, but his shoulders had to be at least three times the width of Marie's. She noticed his defined muscles. Damn, dude works out! She thought. He turned and looked right at her. His gaze was intense and she couldn't look away. He was probably twice her age and clearly the type Mama had always told her to stay away from. But Mama had not said a thing when Daddy had sent little Marie packing, so what did Mama know?
The large man finally look away as he entered the cage. "And in this corner," the announcer continued, "the undefeated, unbeatable, unstoppable, Wolverine!" Hot Damn! Thought Marie.
She watched, intent, as challenger after challenger went up against the Wolverine…and as challenger after challenger fell. Every so often, she caught him looking at her, a smug grin ghosting around his mouth.
The night dragged on and drunken people slinked out the door into the frozen Canadian winter night. The Wolverine exited the cage, pulled on his shirt, and ambled to the bar stool next to Marie. "That all you're having?" he asked, gesturing at the water she'd been nursing for close to three hours.
She looked down. "Ah don't have any money."
"Give her a hot chocolate, Lou," he directed at the bartender, "and gimme a Molson and rye whisky. Leave the bottle." The bartender scurried to fill the fighter's order.
"Thank you," Marie said, glancing up again to the Wolverine's intense hazel stare.
"What is a girl like you doing in a place like this?" he asked, throwing back half the Molson.
Marie smiled. "Is that meant to be a pick up line? Cuz I hear that all the time."
The Wolverine leaned close and growled in her ear. "Baby, I don't need no pick up lines."
She shivered and nodded. No, you probably don't. Not at all. "Ah had a … disagreement…with a guy who was givin' me a ride. He wanted payment ah didn't wanna give. So he dropped me about a mile down the road. This was the first place Ah found with heat."
The Wolverine frowned. "He dropped you, in this weather? Wouldn't it have been easier to just give him a blow job or somethin'?"
"Ah don't do that. Not for just anybody!"
The Wolverine laid his hand on her upper thigh and squeezed. "No, I don't imagine you do."
Marie let him keep his hand there as she drank her hot chocolate. They sat in silence for a few minutes while Lou the bartender wiped glasses with a dirty dish towel.
"Can you give me a ride?" Marie asked.
"To where?"
"Anywhere."
The Wolverine looked her in the eyes and asked, "How you gonna pay me?"