Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.
-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-
"I already gave you your cut!"
"And I got some tires to go replacing this time around kid, so cough it up."
Peeking around the corner, Marie saw Jubilee giving Logan her infamous stink eye before reaching into her jeans for a wad of crumpled bills.
"What the heck's goin' on here?" Marie asked, strolling up to the pair that had been raising a ruckus in the kitchen.
"Just getting a little compensation for my tires after our firecracker here went riling up that punk last night."
"Rile up? Like that took much, dude was just pissed Daddy's money didn't drop my panties for him. I mean I could tell you every store down on Fifth Avenue he shops at just by what he was wearing last night."
It wasn't hard to believe the girl had grown up in Beverly Hills once she got down to some shopping, she had a presence to her left the staff waiting on her like she was a celebrity. Raised in a family that was on the end of what most folk considered the poor end of the middle class, Marie couldn't even dare do more than window shop on her first trip to the Big Apple until Jubilee dragged her in damned near kicking and screaming as Kitty push her from behind.
"What's this I'm hearing about a cut then?" Guilty, thy name was Jubilation.
"Uh, I set 'em up, he knocks 'em down?" Jubilee offered a huge fake grin usually reserved for moments when she figured she was going to get in some kind of trouble.
"Ya mean you're hustling them? This that King o' the Cage stuff ya were talking about hun?"
Now even Jubilee looked curious leaving Marie to think it must have been even before her time too, though from the sounds of things they had a history of gambling on bar brawls given how easy they had been bickering over the purse.
"I could use a hand collecting my bike if you're not doing anything." Logan offered, counting out the cash.
With classes over, a late afternoon drive was a tempting offer, especially if it was going to be in that old beat to hell pick up he used as a project car for auto shop, it reminded her so much the one he sold back up in Alaska.
"Let me just go get my purse." Marie purred, the prospect of snagging a beer down at the Roadhouse too tempting to pass up.
She found him out front enjoying a smoke up against the fender of the truck, there were a few new spots of primer here and there that hinted at some new body work having been done. Logan wasn't against taking a hammer to the old truck if it meant the kids could practice. Climbing up on the running boards, Marie peeked in to see if any more work had been done on it since she'd last gone for a drive.
"New bench seat?"
"New to me, got it from the wreckers." Logan said as he climbed in, turning the stubborn old engine over with a bit of gas to coax it along.
Holding tight for a fun little trip down the drive, a childhood spent growing up around field trucks had her knowing how to drive stick long before she could go telling who had the right of way on the road. Back then it'd been all about riding on the tailgate or running boards with the breeze in her hair, screaming her head off every time they found a gopher hole or dipped into a tractor rut lost in the tall grass.
"Any chance we could take the long way down?" Marie asked as she climbed on in.
"Got a full tank for what that's worth with the way this ol' girl guzzles it down."
Taking every back road they knew would still get them where they were going, each hill was an excuse for Logan to floor it just to hear her scream louder than she did riding a roller coaster at the county fair. The green boughs above were speckled in diamonds as the sun sparkled beyond their leafy branches, winding their way through the woodlands dotted by grassy fields that swayed to the willowy breeze.
It was a route she loved, she knew it like the back of her hand after learning how to drive proper like years ago with Logan, even if he spent most of those lessons dozing in the passenger seat, the ultimate sign of trust in her books.
"Oh that's just wrong." Marie growled as they pulled up out front of the Roadhouse.
Logan's Harley sat looking sad with two flats, looked lonely without the stately line of bikes that usually lined up out front of the bar. Pulling up beside it, Logan climbed out to go have a rummage in the bed of the truck, digging out a sturdy plank of wood to use as a ramp.
"Where ya got your ratchet straps babe?" Marie asked, if there was one thing she knew it was that they never stayed in one place for long.
"Check behind the seat." Logan shouted as he dropped the tailgate.
Finding them in a tangled mess, that was something that pissed her off every time, wondering just who the culprit was that couldn't put things back as they found them.
"On three." Between a mess of grunting, huffed breath and every cuss word she knew, Marie helped him push his bike up onto the truck.
"I hope ya kicked the shit outta the sorry sonovabitch coward that did this." Catching her breath holding the bike steady for Logan as he strapped it down, Marie was going to have to ask Jubilee for a blow by blow recount once she got back to the school.
Riding in the back for a trip around the gravel lot, Logan backed up under a shade tree with a few of the regulars that could always be found enjoying a beer and a bite after a days work. This was the Roadhouse she knew, shying away from late night trips because of how crowded the joint got, because of how rowdy some folk could get.
"Need a hand?" Logan offered.
His was warm in her grasp, steadying herself before jumping down from her perch up on the side of the truck. Stumbling forward, she felt into his arms that readily caught her, held her as he found her footing. Stealing a peek at him from beneath her bangs, he didn't look in a hurry so she enjoyed herself, wondered what it would feel like to have his hands trial down her back, his thumbs hitch in the hem of her jeans as they danced a slow dance fit for a country dance hall.
"Got enough in your pocket to buy a gal a beer?" Marie asked, doing a different kind of two step dancing away from him.
"Maybe, I might even have enough for a bite."
Fine dining the Roadhouse wasn't, but it served up a flame-grilled menu where their idea of a salad was the mushroom, peppers, onions and tomatoes found in their kabobs. Taking a stroll on in and up to the bar, classic rock played in the background, the crack of billiard balls echoing in between shots as a pair of gents played over who would pick up the cost of a pitcher.
"Why don't ya go order for us, I gotta hit the head."
Thinking ahead to her birthday just weeks away, never again would she have to worry about getting called out. Ordering up a couple of lagers and a plate of wings, Logan came back in time for a toast to nothing between friends, finding a reason to get out of the house to pick up his bike.
"What?" Logan asked in a muttered breath.
He could always tell when she had something on her mind, tell her mood from the sag of her shoulders or from how she swayed on the barstool with a curious glint to her eyes.
"Just thinking." Marie teased, wondering which question to lead with.
"Thought I smelt something burning, figured it was the days special."
"Fine, tell me about the King of the Cage."
And just like how he could always tell when she had something on her mind, Marie could always tell when Logan would rather not think about some part of his past. It was all there in how he avoided her gaze, in how he rubbed the flesh between his knuckles like he was saying a prayer to the man upstairs, making a bargain for a favour if he'd just be a better man after a lifetime of sin.
"Sorry..." It knocked the breath out of her, confessing her apology in a dry whisper that left her thirsty for her beer.
"Don't be, was just one of those times in my life I didn't have much to live for, so I took it out on anyone who stepped into the cage. Then a lil lady helped me get back on the straight and narrow, helped me find something to live for."
"What was she like?" Every story was different, but it always came down to a girl like herself who could look past his gruff, grumpy attitude and see him for who he was.
"Eh, she could be stubborn as a mule when she wanted to be. Kept most people at arms length because she'd been hurt once, it made her afraid to get hurt again. But that didn't stop her from making friends, from knowing how to laugh."
"Sounds like someone I know." Marie teased with a sweet smile, giving his stool a kick as the urge struck her.
"I was thinkin' the same thing."
That could have described any of Logan's girls, herself included. Yet his eyes said exactly who he was thinking of and she blushed because of it, biting her lip out of her embarrassment of being held up against someone who clearly saved his life once. She knew how that went, because he'd saved her, gave her a second chance at something better than a life spent running.
Sitting there with just the music playing as they waited on their wings, it wasn't the easy quiet she normally enjoyed with him, she had too much on her mind than was good for her. The more she thought about Friday, the more she worried about it. Here they were at a bar and they'd already run out of things to say, what would it be like when it was more than just a plate of wings they were waiting on?
Squeaking in surprise as Logan took her hand in his and feeling a right idiot for it, Marie managed to smile at his smirk as she wondered at his unspoken question, but then she heard it playing in the background. It wasn't any song in particular, just the kind of song she'd grown up listening to, a bit of old country that always got couples up for a slow dance. Heading north, she always turned them up as they came on the radio, something Logan got to doing after a while that always made her smile.
"Feel like getting some practice in?" Logan offered, slipping from his stool as he held her hand.
If she felt like a right idiot before, now she felt as shy as any school girl getting asked out to the floor by her a boy she was sweet on. Hugging him close as they danced, swaying to and fro as they wandered around the bar, one song led to another and a third before their luck ran out and their dance card was full.
Standing there with a soundtrack of classic rock, she looked up into his eyes to see him lost in hers, drifting closer together by forces greater than them. His breath tickled her nose, roused a giggle from her that he silenced as their lips met. It wasn't the passionate collision of people driven desperate by their longing, it was just a sweet kiss she found her way into following his lead.
"Wow..." Marie gasped as they parted, feeling boneless as he held her near to him.
Hovering there breathless and on the verge of another, Marie cast off the last of her doubts, all it took was a look into his eyes to let go of them. Patient and kind and willing to take thing slow, if this wasn't love then she'd never know love. Their next kiss lasted longer, found more passion as they flew as close to the sun as they dared risk, pulling away as she felt for herself just what she did to him as her greedy flesh drank him in.
By the time they found their way back to the bar their wings were up, picking them apart with all the finger licking that went with it. She didn't have much to say and neither did he, but it was easy between them again because there was no doubt now that it wasn't just dancing for them come Friday. But sitting there with a fresh beer, she listened to the music in the background, wondering if another song wouldn't come to that would let them get a little bit more practice in before their date.
-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-