Chapter 8
"I don't know why you let him stay here." Max mumbled around a mouth full of cereal the next morning.
"Because," Syl replied patiently as she picked up her own bowl, her heels clicking on the floor as she dropped it into the sink. Unlike Max, who was still lounging around in her robe, Syl was dressed and ready to walk out the door in her dark green pantsuit, her hair braided back into a classic French twist. "The poor man looked asleep on his feet, and he was looking at almost a thirty minute drive to get back to his place. It just wouldn't have been safe for him to drive."
"So, he's currently sleeping in Tinga's room. Ok, Syl, that was smart." Max said with a huff.
"Max, you need to relax!" Syl admonished as she brushed a loose wisp of blonde hair off her face. "It looks like we are going to working with Logan for a while, and it is only going to make it more difficult if you make some rude comment whenever his name is brought up. Why don't you try something new and innovative, and be nice to someone for a change."
Max stared at Syl wide eyed. "Now why and the hell would I do that?" She sounded genuinely confused.
"Because, Maxie," Syl said leaning against the table on her elbows. "We need to kiss this guy's ass. If he finds out we are working to get his godfather put away for a long, long time, then he could tip Costello, and our six months of work would be shot straight to hell. Logan might even be able to inadvertently help us, if we play this right."
Max sulked into her cereal, knowing perfectly well that she was right. "Man, this sucks." She muttered after a minuet.
Syl smiled one of million dollar smiles that were just as big of a weapon as the explosives she excelled in. "You know what else sucks, Maxie my dear? The fact that you have exactly twenty minutes to get ready if you want to get to base in time."
Syl had the joy of watching Max's head whip around to look at the clock hanging on the wall behind her. "Shit." She swore as she flew out of her chair.
"Maxie? Do me a favor and wake up Logan why you're up there." Syl shouted after her as she fled the room.
Max swore again as she ran up the stairs towards her bedroom. Hell if she wanted to see Logan more than she absolutely had too. Max stepped up to the door, which was normally Tinga's, and taking a deep breath, she opened it.
For whatever reason, seeing Logan sprawled across the bed on his stomach, deeply asleep, Max took a moment to simply stare.
It wasn't as if she hadn't seen a man sleep before, she had over eight brothers and at times lived with all of them. But the fact was, that even if she hated the man with a passion, he wasn't her brother. 'And he is good looking.' Max conceded as she tapping a finger against her lip. The fact that he wasn't wearing glasses at the time totally changed the way he looked. Max fleetingly wondered if his eyes were more or less noticeable with them off. 'It's a shame he's on the very top of my very short hit list.' Max thought.
Logan was quite glad there was at least one X5 who didn't want various pieces of him in a pine box. Syl was nice enough to offer to let him stay, which was good because after a week of non-stop work, getting kidnapped, getting thrown into a couple of walls, well it was bound to make a guy tired. So after a quick trip out to the trunk of his car, and grabbing the bag he'd always kept in the trunk containing extra clothes, he'd fallen face down onto the floral print quilt and hadn't moved until Max's words interrupted his slumber.
"Yo, if you plan on coming to the base with us, you might want to join us in the land of the living." Max said in a cold voice. When Logan dared to crack an eye open, he saw her standing in the doorway, her hand on her hip as she spoke, her face impassive. 'God, she had nice legs.' Was Logan's drowsy conclusion as he picked up his glasses from the nightstand.
When he looked up again, Max was gone, the door empty. As he rolled out of bed, his feet hitting the floor with an unbalanced thump, he heard the sound of a shower turning on.
He quickly dressed, ending up in the kitchen doorway a few minuets later. It was kind of odd being the only normal person, per say, in a kitchen full of X5s, very late X5s, and all he wanted was a cup of coffee. All he wanted was a damn cup of coffee. 'Please, just give me coffee!' Logan mentally begged as he pulled off his glasses for a moment to rub his eyes.
"We don't have time to wait for her." Zack snapped, standing next to the door in a dark suit, his ID clipped to his lapel, a black laptop bag hanging off his shoulder. Zane was dressed similarly, a set of headphones on his ears as he quietly hummed along with the violin concerto that was currently in the CD player he carried in his hand. He would have looked like any shrewd businessman, but the backpack thrown over his shoulder confused the picture.
"Then go, she can take her car. As fast as she drives, she very well might beat us there." Syl said complacently as she finished off her mug of coffee. She glanced up and saw Logan standing uncomfortably in the doorway. "Good morning," She said brightly.
"Hi." Logan muttered. 'Caffeine…'
"Did you sleep alright? I have no idea what state Tinga's room was in before she left, could have been absolutely immaculate or it could have been a hell hole." She continued while standing to dump her dishes into the full sink.
"It was fine." Logan's voice was distorted with sleep. The four hours of sleep he'd gotten didn't even begin to make up what he'd been lacking.
"Coffee's over there if you want any." Syl offered, pointing to a glass decanter on a counter.
Zane, Syl, Zack, and Jondie, who'd just walked into the room, admired how quick Logan had moved to the coffee pot. Especially for a norm.
"Ok, Krit already left, Zane and I are taking my car, Syl, you and Jondie going taking hers?" Syl nodded her agreement. "Ok, then, let's go." Zack urged as he pushed open the back door.
Syl rolled her eyes as she and Jondie took their good old time. "Well if your nice, Logan, Max might let you meet Ramon." Jondie said as she picked up her oversized handbag.
"Ramon?" Logan asked as he inhaled the beautiful sent of Columbian coffee.
"Yeah, she'll enjoy your reaction to Ramon. She's sick like that." Syl added.
"Whose Ramon?" Logan repeated.
"Max and Ramon, they've had a long and dramatic love affair." Jondie said with a sigh as she headed towards the door. "Its kind of sad how much of her free time she spends with him."
'So Miss Max had a boyfriend,' Logan thought, and wondered why he felt disappointed.
Syl and Jondie exchanged a look. This whole Logan Cale situation was going to be more interesting than they had expected. "Well, tell Max we have mission briefing at ten if you see her."
Logan watched the two blonde women walk out of the door and heard the roar of an engine as they drove off.
He had just been finishing off his second cup of coffee when Max walked quickly into the kitchen. She was wearing a lovely little black skirt and red dress shirt that showed off the legs that he so admired and her still-wet hair was knotted loosely on top of her head. When she spotted him leaning against the center island, she scowled at him for a moment before saying "Ugh, your still here?"
Logan had to smile at that. It was so easy, and so much fun, to patronize her. "'Fraid so. Syl told me to tell you 'Mission Briefing at ten.'"
"You aren't coming to the base today, are you?" Max muttered as she threw various food products into her shoulder bag. A girl had to eat, and there was absolutely nothing on Manticore's base that was worthy of human consumption.
"Oh, you wound me, Max." Logan said with a grin. "Of course I'll be there."
Max scowled. What were they thinking letting the godson of the man they were doing the mission briefing on near the base. Lydecker had to be doing some extracurricular activities involving a crack pipe. "Whatever." She said as she pulled a travel coffee cup out of a cupboard. "Just stay the hell out of my way."
"Max, can we make a deal?" Logan asked quietly after a moment, her anger quickly losing its appeal. "It's obvious that we aren't going to be able to agree on this, so why don't we say this. I'll stay out of your way as much as humanly possible, and you'll cooperate with me when I absolutely need you too."
"Now why would I agree to do anything to help you?" Max asked in an overly friendly voice as she headed towards the door.
"Because this article is obviously going to be done no matter how much you piss and moan about it, Max." Logan said in a deadly calm voice that made Max stop in her tracks. "So lets just make this as easy as possible on us both."
Max turned on her heel and frowned. "Fine, you stay the hell out of my way, I'll stay the hell out of yours. Shouldn't be all that hard. Now if you'll excuse me, I am late, and I need to be getting to my mission briefing."
"One last favor." Logan said as Max was walking out the door. "Mind driving me? I have no idea how to get there from here."
"Didn't you drive in here last night? Just go backwards brainiac." Max said as she rounded the side of the house, Logan in tail.
"No, someone drove me back to my car in Seattle, I drove in from there."
"What happened to staying out of my way?" Max asked perplexed as she pulled the keys out of her bag.
"Your not going to let me get lost, are you?" Logan frowned as Max unlocked the door to her MG. "This is your car?"
"Yeah, that why I am getting into it." Max said as she shut the driver's side door.
"Do you realize that you almost killed me?!" Logan said, his voice rising.
"You're going to have to have to be more specific to the situation you are referring too, I remember several times where this has occurred." Max said, smiling evilly.
"I'm talking about last night when you ran me off the road!" Logan snapped.
"Blue, really ugly looking car?" Max asked with a big happy smile glancing over her shoulder to look at Logan's Aztec that was currently parked on the other side of Syl's car.
Logan was completely confused when Max burst into uncontrolled hysterical laughter. "What?"
"Oh, I'll drive you, mainly because your car sucks and you shouldn't have to be seen in it." Max said after she'd controlled her laughter.
"What's wrong with my car?" Logan asked, scratching the back of his head.
She chuckled again. "Do you want it alphabetically or chronologically? Because I am embarrassed just having that thing in my driveway. Now hurry up and get it, I'd like to get to base before Lydecker sends out a search party."
Logan was had just sat down in the seat and was closing the door when Max gunned the engine and threw the car into reverse. Logan was thrown forward against the dashboard, tires squealed, and Max pushed the car to about sixty as she flew up the driveway.
Logan grabbed the door handle with one hand as he quickly pulled on his seatbelt with the other. "Max," He yelped as she fishtailed onto the main road. "Aren't you going a bit…uh…fast?"
Max grinned as she changed gears. "I'm barely going seventy. This is rather slow for me." She said handling the sharp curves between the trees with relative ease.
Logan was fairly sure she wasn't kidding, especially when she tore out of the trees she had been weaving though, out onto a bright, open road.
Max pulled to a skidding halt at a stop sign, and with barely a pause, executed a left hand turn.
"You shouldn't be allowed to drive. Your insane." Logan muttered grumpily as Max passed a slow pick up truck.
Max turned momentarily in her seat to flash a grin at Logan. "Ramon and I usually get along pretty well, but right now he's mad at me."
Logan scowled at the mention of Ramon. 'Sounds like some sort of Spanish twit.' Logan thought. But his curiosity got the best of him. "So how long have you and Ramon been together?"
"We met a little over four years ago, and besides some basic maintenance, we've been inseparable ever since."
The obvious affection that carried in Max's voice made Logan want to roll his eyes. "Why's *Ramon* mad at you?" Logan asked, spitting the name like it was the plague.
"Oh, he's pissed because I haven't ridden him in like a month."
Logan's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?" 'She doesn't mean…. Oh god.'
"What?" Max asked, stroking the steering wheel lovingly. "It's not my fault. I was all over the country for a couple of missions. Not my fault."
Logan took two steadying breaths. There was just something really, really wrong about hearing about her sex life. "So, your boyfriend doesn't mind your work?"
Max glanced over at him. "I don't have a boyfriend." She said somewhat confused.
Logan was just as confused. "You don't have a boyfriend? Then who's Ramon?" 'Please don't say something crude…' Logan mentally begged.
"This is Ramon." Max said gesturing her arm around. "Ramon's my car. Who are you talking about?"
'Riding…oh thank God…' Logan laughed. "Never mind."
"What?" Max asked confused, turning in her seat.
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Logan said still laughing. "Now watch the road before you get us killed."
"I don't know why you let him stay here." Max mumbled around a mouth full of cereal the next morning.
"Because," Syl replied patiently as she picked up her own bowl, her heels clicking on the floor as she dropped it into the sink. Unlike Max, who was still lounging around in her robe, Syl was dressed and ready to walk out the door in her dark green pantsuit, her hair braided back into a classic French twist. "The poor man looked asleep on his feet, and he was looking at almost a thirty minute drive to get back to his place. It just wouldn't have been safe for him to drive."
"So, he's currently sleeping in Tinga's room. Ok, Syl, that was smart." Max said with a huff.
"Max, you need to relax!" Syl admonished as she brushed a loose wisp of blonde hair off her face. "It looks like we are going to working with Logan for a while, and it is only going to make it more difficult if you make some rude comment whenever his name is brought up. Why don't you try something new and innovative, and be nice to someone for a change."
Max stared at Syl wide eyed. "Now why and the hell would I do that?" She sounded genuinely confused.
"Because, Maxie," Syl said leaning against the table on her elbows. "We need to kiss this guy's ass. If he finds out we are working to get his godfather put away for a long, long time, then he could tip Costello, and our six months of work would be shot straight to hell. Logan might even be able to inadvertently help us, if we play this right."
Max sulked into her cereal, knowing perfectly well that she was right. "Man, this sucks." She muttered after a minuet.
Syl smiled one of million dollar smiles that were just as big of a weapon as the explosives she excelled in. "You know what else sucks, Maxie my dear? The fact that you have exactly twenty minutes to get ready if you want to get to base in time."
Syl had the joy of watching Max's head whip around to look at the clock hanging on the wall behind her. "Shit." She swore as she flew out of her chair.
"Maxie? Do me a favor and wake up Logan why you're up there." Syl shouted after her as she fled the room.
Max swore again as she ran up the stairs towards her bedroom. Hell if she wanted to see Logan more than she absolutely had too. Max stepped up to the door, which was normally Tinga's, and taking a deep breath, she opened it.
For whatever reason, seeing Logan sprawled across the bed on his stomach, deeply asleep, Max took a moment to simply stare.
It wasn't as if she hadn't seen a man sleep before, she had over eight brothers and at times lived with all of them. But the fact was, that even if she hated the man with a passion, he wasn't her brother. 'And he is good looking.' Max conceded as she tapping a finger against her lip. The fact that he wasn't wearing glasses at the time totally changed the way he looked. Max fleetingly wondered if his eyes were more or less noticeable with them off. 'It's a shame he's on the very top of my very short hit list.' Max thought.
Logan was quite glad there was at least one X5 who didn't want various pieces of him in a pine box. Syl was nice enough to offer to let him stay, which was good because after a week of non-stop work, getting kidnapped, getting thrown into a couple of walls, well it was bound to make a guy tired. So after a quick trip out to the trunk of his car, and grabbing the bag he'd always kept in the trunk containing extra clothes, he'd fallen face down onto the floral print quilt and hadn't moved until Max's words interrupted his slumber.
"Yo, if you plan on coming to the base with us, you might want to join us in the land of the living." Max said in a cold voice. When Logan dared to crack an eye open, he saw her standing in the doorway, her hand on her hip as she spoke, her face impassive. 'God, she had nice legs.' Was Logan's drowsy conclusion as he picked up his glasses from the nightstand.
When he looked up again, Max was gone, the door empty. As he rolled out of bed, his feet hitting the floor with an unbalanced thump, he heard the sound of a shower turning on.
He quickly dressed, ending up in the kitchen doorway a few minuets later. It was kind of odd being the only normal person, per say, in a kitchen full of X5s, very late X5s, and all he wanted was a cup of coffee. All he wanted was a damn cup of coffee. 'Please, just give me coffee!' Logan mentally begged as he pulled off his glasses for a moment to rub his eyes.
"We don't have time to wait for her." Zack snapped, standing next to the door in a dark suit, his ID clipped to his lapel, a black laptop bag hanging off his shoulder. Zane was dressed similarly, a set of headphones on his ears as he quietly hummed along with the violin concerto that was currently in the CD player he carried in his hand. He would have looked like any shrewd businessman, but the backpack thrown over his shoulder confused the picture.
"Then go, she can take her car. As fast as she drives, she very well might beat us there." Syl said complacently as she finished off her mug of coffee. She glanced up and saw Logan standing uncomfortably in the doorway. "Good morning," She said brightly.
"Hi." Logan muttered. 'Caffeine…'
"Did you sleep alright? I have no idea what state Tinga's room was in before she left, could have been absolutely immaculate or it could have been a hell hole." She continued while standing to dump her dishes into the full sink.
"It was fine." Logan's voice was distorted with sleep. The four hours of sleep he'd gotten didn't even begin to make up what he'd been lacking.
"Coffee's over there if you want any." Syl offered, pointing to a glass decanter on a counter.
Zane, Syl, Zack, and Jondie, who'd just walked into the room, admired how quick Logan had moved to the coffee pot. Especially for a norm.
"Ok, Krit already left, Zane and I are taking my car, Syl, you and Jondie going taking hers?" Syl nodded her agreement. "Ok, then, let's go." Zack urged as he pushed open the back door.
Syl rolled her eyes as she and Jondie took their good old time. "Well if your nice, Logan, Max might let you meet Ramon." Jondie said as she picked up her oversized handbag.
"Ramon?" Logan asked as he inhaled the beautiful sent of Columbian coffee.
"Yeah, she'll enjoy your reaction to Ramon. She's sick like that." Syl added.
"Whose Ramon?" Logan repeated.
"Max and Ramon, they've had a long and dramatic love affair." Jondie said with a sigh as she headed towards the door. "Its kind of sad how much of her free time she spends with him."
'So Miss Max had a boyfriend,' Logan thought, and wondered why he felt disappointed.
Syl and Jondie exchanged a look. This whole Logan Cale situation was going to be more interesting than they had expected. "Well, tell Max we have mission briefing at ten if you see her."
Logan watched the two blonde women walk out of the door and heard the roar of an engine as they drove off.
He had just been finishing off his second cup of coffee when Max walked quickly into the kitchen. She was wearing a lovely little black skirt and red dress shirt that showed off the legs that he so admired and her still-wet hair was knotted loosely on top of her head. When she spotted him leaning against the center island, she scowled at him for a moment before saying "Ugh, your still here?"
Logan had to smile at that. It was so easy, and so much fun, to patronize her. "'Fraid so. Syl told me to tell you 'Mission Briefing at ten.'"
"You aren't coming to the base today, are you?" Max muttered as she threw various food products into her shoulder bag. A girl had to eat, and there was absolutely nothing on Manticore's base that was worthy of human consumption.
"Oh, you wound me, Max." Logan said with a grin. "Of course I'll be there."
Max scowled. What were they thinking letting the godson of the man they were doing the mission briefing on near the base. Lydecker had to be doing some extracurricular activities involving a crack pipe. "Whatever." She said as she pulled a travel coffee cup out of a cupboard. "Just stay the hell out of my way."
"Max, can we make a deal?" Logan asked quietly after a moment, her anger quickly losing its appeal. "It's obvious that we aren't going to be able to agree on this, so why don't we say this. I'll stay out of your way as much as humanly possible, and you'll cooperate with me when I absolutely need you too."
"Now why would I agree to do anything to help you?" Max asked in an overly friendly voice as she headed towards the door.
"Because this article is obviously going to be done no matter how much you piss and moan about it, Max." Logan said in a deadly calm voice that made Max stop in her tracks. "So lets just make this as easy as possible on us both."
Max turned on her heel and frowned. "Fine, you stay the hell out of my way, I'll stay the hell out of yours. Shouldn't be all that hard. Now if you'll excuse me, I am late, and I need to be getting to my mission briefing."
"One last favor." Logan said as Max was walking out the door. "Mind driving me? I have no idea how to get there from here."
"Didn't you drive in here last night? Just go backwards brainiac." Max said as she rounded the side of the house, Logan in tail.
"No, someone drove me back to my car in Seattle, I drove in from there."
"What happened to staying out of my way?" Max asked perplexed as she pulled the keys out of her bag.
"Your not going to let me get lost, are you?" Logan frowned as Max unlocked the door to her MG. "This is your car?"
"Yeah, that why I am getting into it." Max said as she shut the driver's side door.
"Do you realize that you almost killed me?!" Logan said, his voice rising.
"You're going to have to have to be more specific to the situation you are referring too, I remember several times where this has occurred." Max said, smiling evilly.
"I'm talking about last night when you ran me off the road!" Logan snapped.
"Blue, really ugly looking car?" Max asked with a big happy smile glancing over her shoulder to look at Logan's Aztec that was currently parked on the other side of Syl's car.
Logan was completely confused when Max burst into uncontrolled hysterical laughter. "What?"
"Oh, I'll drive you, mainly because your car sucks and you shouldn't have to be seen in it." Max said after she'd controlled her laughter.
"What's wrong with my car?" Logan asked, scratching the back of his head.
She chuckled again. "Do you want it alphabetically or chronologically? Because I am embarrassed just having that thing in my driveway. Now hurry up and get it, I'd like to get to base before Lydecker sends out a search party."
Logan was had just sat down in the seat and was closing the door when Max gunned the engine and threw the car into reverse. Logan was thrown forward against the dashboard, tires squealed, and Max pushed the car to about sixty as she flew up the driveway.
Logan grabbed the door handle with one hand as he quickly pulled on his seatbelt with the other. "Max," He yelped as she fishtailed onto the main road. "Aren't you going a bit…uh…fast?"
Max grinned as she changed gears. "I'm barely going seventy. This is rather slow for me." She said handling the sharp curves between the trees with relative ease.
Logan was fairly sure she wasn't kidding, especially when she tore out of the trees she had been weaving though, out onto a bright, open road.
Max pulled to a skidding halt at a stop sign, and with barely a pause, executed a left hand turn.
"You shouldn't be allowed to drive. Your insane." Logan muttered grumpily as Max passed a slow pick up truck.
Max turned momentarily in her seat to flash a grin at Logan. "Ramon and I usually get along pretty well, but right now he's mad at me."
Logan scowled at the mention of Ramon. 'Sounds like some sort of Spanish twit.' Logan thought. But his curiosity got the best of him. "So how long have you and Ramon been together?"
"We met a little over four years ago, and besides some basic maintenance, we've been inseparable ever since."
The obvious affection that carried in Max's voice made Logan want to roll his eyes. "Why's *Ramon* mad at you?" Logan asked, spitting the name like it was the plague.
"Oh, he's pissed because I haven't ridden him in like a month."
Logan's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?" 'She doesn't mean…. Oh god.'
"What?" Max asked, stroking the steering wheel lovingly. "It's not my fault. I was all over the country for a couple of missions. Not my fault."
Logan took two steadying breaths. There was just something really, really wrong about hearing about her sex life. "So, your boyfriend doesn't mind your work?"
Max glanced over at him. "I don't have a boyfriend." She said somewhat confused.
Logan was just as confused. "You don't have a boyfriend? Then who's Ramon?" 'Please don't say something crude…' Logan mentally begged.
"This is Ramon." Max said gesturing her arm around. "Ramon's my car. Who are you talking about?"
'Riding…oh thank God…' Logan laughed. "Never mind."
"What?" Max asked confused, turning in her seat.
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Logan said still laughing. "Now watch the road before you get us killed."
