A/N – Thanks again for all the reviews. I did want to at least mention that eventually we'll learn why Veronica is acting the way she is, at least her reasoning for it, but you'll need to be patient because Logan isn't going to figure that out for a while. Let's face it, Veronica was never one to just open up about her feelings, and this FBI version of her is probably even a bit more closed off than teenage Veronica ever was. They are going to be struggling a little bit with each other for a while still, so you'll have to wait for things to smooth out. And it is LoVe, sometimes when things smooth out, they flip on a dime, and get crazy again. But eventually they find their way back to each other, right? I just didn't want too many people getting too mad at Veronica, so thought I'd leave a quick note about it. Logan's a bit different in this chapter too, so I can't wait to hear what people think about this one. Is it better or worse? I'd love to know what you all think.
"They don't write songs about the ones that come easy!"
Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.
Chapter 7
Logan could hear Weevil swearing before he'd even gotten out of the car. He took a deep breath and climbed out, ignoring the stream of expletives coming out of Weevil's mouth. He took off his helmet and gave him an apologetic look.
"What the hell was that?" Weevil yelled, at least starting to form sentences rather than just incoherent cuss words, most of them in Spanish.
"I barely skimmed the guard rail," Logan calmly replied. "You can get that touched up easily before Saturday."
Weevil stood there staring angrily at him. Logan gave him a shrug and started walking toward his trailer.
"Hey, I'm not done," Weevil yelled as Logan continued to walk.
"Sorry I'm late for my date with Lindsey," Logan called out without breaking his stride.
He'd decided to go back to afternoon track times after his run in with Cecilia the day before, but could only get a really late afternoon spot. He'd sent Veronica a text to see if she could just take a cab to the track since he was going to be so late and he'd be even later if he had to drive over to get her. She'd sent back a brief, 'fine' reply.
Logan was a little surprised she was there already waiting at his trailer, though given she was also early the day before as well he wasn't as shocked. She was in a dress again, a bit more casual than the one she'd worn to dinner, but it still looked amazing on her. She'd also worn her hair down and wavy instead of up like the night before. He gave her a quick smile as he walked up. She responded with raised eyebrows likely because Weevil was right on his heels looking pissed.
"You're a little early," Logan said as he walked beside her, getting out his keys to open the trailer. "You can wait inside while I shower and change if you want."
"Hold up a minute," Weevil barked out. "I need to have a word with Billy."
Logan knew he was pissed since he rarely ever called him Billy. He'd usually call him Speed Racer or some other nickname in Spanish, but not Billy.
"We can talk tomorrow," Logan replied as he held the door open for Veronica and gestured for her to go in.
"No we're talking now either in front if her, or you can ask her to wait outside," Weevil angrily replied.
Logan glanced at Veronica who raised her eyebrows and shrugged.
"Fine," Logan replied and walked into the trailer.
Veronica took a seat on the couch, while Logan leaned against a counter across from her and Weevil stood with the door closed behind his back.
"What the hell were you doing out there?" Weevil yelled at him again.
"You already asked me that when I got out of the car and I already gave you my answer." Logan gave him a petulant look and crossed his arms across his chest.
Weevil glared at him. "Let me rephrase my question then. Why the hell were you driving like that?"
Logan sighed and shook his head. "My time sucked yesterday and I was making up for it today."
"Bullshit Logan," Weevil barked back. "I know what's going through that idiotic brain of yours and you'd better let it go."
Logan let out a frustrated breath. "You're the mechanic not the driver, so go run along and do your job. You don't get to tell me how to drive and I won't tell you how to fucking fix things."
Weevil shook his head. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Don't be a fucking idiot, Logan."
"It's my last race here for who knows how long so I can do whatever the hell I want," Logan angrily replied.
"Not if I don't fix the damn car you won't. Accidents can happen off the track just as easily as on it. Just because you might be leaving doesn't make you invincible," Weevil yelled back at him.
Logan stared angrily at him for a minute. "Fix the damn car Weevil," he finally said breaking the silence.
"Promise me you're not going to do something stupid and I'll fix it," Weevil countered back with an angry glare still on his face.
"Fine, just fix the damn car." Logan quickly turned without even looking at Veronica and went in the bathroom and slammed the door.
He shook his head at himself. Damn Weevil figuring out what I was planning. He rested against the closed door for a moment, then stepped away to strip down for the shower. He heard the door open as he was pulling his shirt off. Luckily he hadn't pulled the suit down past his hips yet. Fuck, why didn't I lock the door? He spun around to see Veronica giving him a questioning look. Although knowing her, she probably would have just picked the lock if I had.
"I was trying to take a shower, so unless you want to join me to make our little charade more believable or just for old time sakes, then I'd suggest you leave," Logan snapped at her. He was already pissed off from fighting with Weevil and really didn't feel like playing nice at the moment with her.
"What was Weevil talking about, Logan?" She asked with her arms crossed over her chest in a defiant stance.
"It's Billy," Logan corrected her.
She gave him an annoyed look. "So Weevil can call you Logan but I can't?"
"He's not supposed to call me that either, but I wasn't going to piss him off more than he already was." Logan sighed. "Seriously, I'm going to take a shower now." He reached over and turned the water on.
She gave him a defiant look. "Logan, tell me what the hell Weevil was talking about out there." She looked down in the direction of his thigh and then back up at his face, "Was your accident last year not really just an accident?"
He froze for a second. Of course she saw the scar at my house on Sunday and would have read about the accident in the report they gave her for the case. "No one can prove that it wasn't." He blew out a frustrated breath and ran his hand through his hair. "Last warning, I'm seriously getting into the fucking shower now, so unless you want to see me in all my naked glory again, get out."
"So you've intentionally just gotten second place in all the races since you've been back?" She asked, either not caring that he was about to strip down naked, or just not listening. Knowing her, she's probably just not listening since it's me that's talking.
"Why does it matter Veronica." He shook his head and turned his back to her, dropping the rest of the suit off and climbing into the shower. He sighed as he heard the door to the bathroom close. Could you have been a bigger ass to her? You know it's not her you're pissed at about this. Of course Weevil's right and if I'm going to help her, I'd better stay alive to do it. He stood in the shower for awhile, just letting the hot water run over his body. He already felt like crap and he had to go pretend to be falling in love with Lindsey Evans all evening at the club. Guess we'll see how good of an actress Veronica can be since she's likely pretty pissed at me now too. Maybe I'll get lucky and when I go out there, she'll have just left and given up on the whole club idea.
He finally turned off the water and reached for his towel. He dried off and wrapped the towel around him. Damn it, why didn't I grab my duffel bag with my clothes from the other room. Oh right, I was acting like an immature ass and stormed in here after my fight with Weevil. He took a deep breath and reached for the door handle. He was actually surprised that Veronica wasn't in the trailer. Wow, I really didn't think she'd give up that easily. He grabbed the duffel bag and headed back into the bathroom to change so he could drive back to the hotel. Maybe I should call her and apologize. Although if she'd just waited and not barged in when I was going to take a shower, then I wouldn't have snapped at her. So in a way it's just as much her fault as mine. He looked at himself in the mirror and realized he didn't really believe that. This whole thing is so screwed up.
He threw his dirty clothes into the bag to take back to the hotel to have them cleaned and then opened the door to leave. He didn't expect her to be sitting there waiting for him again. She must have noticed the surprised expression on his face and gave him a questioning look.
"What?" She asked when he didn't say anything. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because you weren't there when I came out for my clothes," he replied. "Where did you go?"
She gave him a devious smile, "Ah, were you hoping you got out of playing the role of my date tonight?"
Same old Veronica, answering my question with a question of her own. Good to see she's still able to deflect like a pro. He shrugged. "You didn't answer my question."
"And you didn't answer mine, so I guess we're even." She quickly snapped back. "Are you ready to go, or do you need to go squabble with Weevil some more?"
Logan shook his head in annoyance at her. Oh this evening is going to be so much fun. "Let's get this over with."
He headed for the door and stood outside waiting for her. He had a scowl on his face as she came out of the trailer. He reached up to close and lock the door behind them. As he turned from closing the door, she was standing right in front of him and stood on her tiptoes so she could lean up closer to his ear.
"Don't forget you have to play nice now," she whispered. She stood back on her feet and looked up at him, with a big friendly smile on her face. She reached up and ran her hand along his cheek.
He leaned down so their foreheads were touching, and plastered on a smile. "I'm not really in the mood to play nice," he whispered back to be sure no one could hear him.
"Tough," she whispered back with a bigger smile on her face. She pulled away and grabbed his hand, "Come on handsome," she said in a louder friendly voice, "let's go have some fun."
He sighed, but kept the fake smile plastered on his face. "Anything for you, Sugarpuss," he replied as he followed her. She shot back a slightly angry glare at him for a second, which actually made him feel a little better. I wonder how many annoying nicknames I can come up with for her before she uses a tazer on me?
Once they were in the car, she turned to him with a determined look on her face. "We're not done talking about what you were fighting with Weevil about."
"You can talk all you like sweetheart, but I'm not saying another word about it," he replied as he pulled out of the parking lot and merged on to the highway. He caught her glaring out of the corner of his eye as he glanced over to check his mirror as he went to change lanes again. She must have decided to table it for now at least since she didn't say anymore the rest of the drive to the club.
The club was set up with dining sections that were on a higher level than the dance floor and stage. Since Logan knew they would be running late because of his practice time, he had called the club and made a reservation for a table so they could eat dinner first while listening to the opening act and then go down to the dance floor afterwards if she wanted to. He'd been to the club several times, but it had been a few years since the last time he was there. The hostess that seated them was rather flirty once he gave her his name for the reservation. He noticed Veronica looked a bit annoyed, even though he wasn't flirting back with the woman and had his hand around her waist, clearly playing his role as expected.
As they were seated their waitress also stopped at the table to see what they'd like to drink while they were looking over their menus. Logan waved for Veronica to go first. She said she'd take a glass of wine.
"We could get a bottle and share it," Logan suggested after she gave the waitress her request.
"I thought you might want something stronger than wine after your afternoon," Veronica replied with a friendly smile on her face.
"I still need to drive us back to the hotel you know," he said giving her a questioning look.
"I can drive us back. You can drink as much as you'd like." She still kept the same expression on her face that she'd had since they'd gotten out of the car. He was beginning to just think of it as her Lindsey expression. Friendly and bubbly and happy - not Veronica.
"Fine, I'll take a scotch please," he informed the waitress who gave him a friendly nod and hurried off to get their drinks.
Logan eyed her suspiciously for a moment. "Trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me?" he asked in a teasing tone.
She kept the same bubbly smile, "Honey, we both know I wouldn't need to get you drunk for that to happen."
Is that a dig that I'm still a shallow man whore, or that she thinks I actually want to sleep with her? Whichever it is, both are completely wrong. He glared slightly at her and shook his head. She's probably trying to get me to loosen up so I'll talk about what happened with Weevil at the track. She should know better than to think that will work. The waitress quickly returned with their drinks and he picked up his glass and held it up toward hers, "Cheers," he said in a slightly mocking tone but with a smile on his face. She gently touched her wine glass to his, and then nodded and smiled before she took a drink. At least the scotch will help make this night more bearable since we're not off to a good start at all.
Luckily she was really good at playing the bubbly vapid swooning fan persona, and did most of the talking throughout dinner. Logan really wasn't in the mood for this and was thankful that all he had to do was smile and nod most of the time. His mind kept floating back to the upcoming race and how much he really wanted to beat Demétrio one more time before he left. But Weevil was right and even if he didn't do something to him on the track, that didn't mean he couldn't have something done to him after the race. Of course if he had two FBI agents watching his back, that would give him a slight advantage. He knew though that if his little vendetta with Demétrio did anything to jeopardize Veronica's case, she'd probably kill him herself.
He'd lost track of how many glasses of scotch he'd had by the time they were done eating and ready to head down to the dance floor. He was surprised at how drunk he did feel when he stood up from the table, but was able to still hold his hand out and help Veronica up. When they got down by the dance floor, he saw a few other drivers and they stopped so he could say hello and introduce them to Lindsey. It was likely the scotch, but he found himself having a hard time keeping his hands off of her, as well as noticing when other guys were checking her out. She didn't seem to mind when he wrapped his arms around her from behind as they were talking with one of the drivers and his girlfriend. She leaned back into him and he rested his head on top of hers. God, this feels just like it did back in college all those years ago. They finally moved out onto the dance floor where people were dancing while listening to the musical group that was currently playing. Given they had an audience with the other drivers they'd run into, he decided to see how far he could push things. It was most likely the scotch, but part of him just didn't care after being so close and feeling her body pressed against his while they were talking to the others. She's the one who basically insisted I get drunk, so this is just as much her fault as mine. He pulled her close to him as they danced and ran his hands up and down her back, venturing lower and lower each time. His pulse sped up when he felt her hands run across and shoulders and up into his hair, pulling his head down closer to her neck. He took a deep breath and then found himself letting his mouth place kisses along her neck down to her collar bone. He started getting a bit overwhelmed by the taste of her on his tongue and let one hand fall down onto her thigh and started moving it up her leg, under her short skirt.
Her hand grabbed his wrist. "The show doesn't have to be that authentic," she said in a low stern voice into his ear. The abruptness of her tone caught him a bit off guard and he stood up straight again and took a step back from her. What the hell am I doing?
She gave him a confused look and smiled gently at him. "You okay?" she asked in her bubbly sweet tone again.
He knew his expression must have changed to be worried but he couldn't quite change it, too many concerns were racing through his head on what he was doing and thinking a few moments ago. She took a step toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck, stepping up on her tip toes again so she could get closer to him. She gave him a warm smile then pulled his head down again so she could talk into his ear. "You need to play along remember, just relax and have fun."
He let out a deep breath and rested his forehead on her shoulder for a minute. "I just need a break and some water," he replied and then stood back up and did his best to smile at her. She nodded and took his hand and led them off the dance floor. She led the way to a bar that was on the same level as the dance floor and asked for two waters. She handed him one of the glasses and then took his free hand with hers again and pulled him through the crowd, ending back over at a table by where some of the other drivers were sitting. She guided him into an open chair, and then sat on his lap, wrapping her free arm around his neck and smiling at him. I meant a break from playing the role, not moving the show to a new venue.
A girlfriend of one of the other drivers that was sitting close to them started up a conversation with Veronica, which at least gave him a short reprieve from having to deal with the situation. He was half way listening to them talk, and half way trying to sort through the conflicting emotions racing through his head. Veronica was talking about being a magazine photographer and some of the interesting photo shoots she'd worked on and the other woman was telling her about her job at a PR firm in Sao Paulo and some of the famous people she'd worked with. Veronica had set her glass of water on a table and reached down and grabbed Logan's free hand from behind her and wrapped it around her waist, intertwining their fingers together. He finally set his glass on the table and put his other hand on her knee, to which she gave him a small smile. She didn't drag him back out to dance again, and instead just had them stay at the table with the other drivers listening to the live music. After another hour or so, the crowd was beginning to thin out and she asked him if he was ready to go too. She of course kept the bubbly friendly act up until they were back in the privacy of the car.
"You need to work more on not being so tense." She said impassively as she started to drive off from the club. "Just pretend I'm one of the other random women you've hooked up with, and don't think about it so much." Her voice was completely devoid of emotion as she spoke and since she was driving, she wasn't even looking at him as she said it. "If you can't do that, then this isn't going to work and we really need it to work." She finally turned to him for a second with a scowl on her face, "Do you understand?"
He nodded and didn't say anything, but let out a frustrated sigh and turned to look out the window. He rested his elbow up on the edge of the door, so he could rest his head in his hand. How the hell can I ever think of her as some random woman after all the past we shared? He still hadn't said anything and was just staring out the window.
She finally let out a sigh as well before she spoke again. "You have to remember, I'm Lindsey when we go out, not Veronica okay? You have to forget that you ever knew me before and don't let any of those memories cloud things when we are out around other people. Can you do that Billy?"
Right, I'm not Logan anymore, I'm Billy, and Lindsey and Billy don't have any history together. "Yes," he replied. He wasn't completely convinced himself, but he would try.
"I'll call or text you tomorrow to let you know what our next steps are," she said as she parked the car in the garage at his hotel. He gave her a questioning look before he opened his door. "I'm just going to go grab a cab back to my hotel. But you could walk me to the lobby and wait with me so it doesn't look odd if any of the drivers from the club are staying here."
"Okay," he said as he climbed out of the car. He was sober enough at that point to have driven from her hotel back to his, but was too distracted to think of it until then. It was probably best to just send her on her way and get some sleep before he tried to sort through everything he was feeling.
After he watched her climb into the cab, he stopped off at the bar and picked up another bottle of Glenlivet from Adriano to take up to his room. He poured himself a drink when he got into his room, and then collapsed on the bed and hoped he wouldn't dream about how good it felt to have her body pressed up against his at the club.
