Sorry for the wait...it's that busy time of the year for us! We hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the reviews and we'd love to hear what you think about this chapter as well!
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Max lay in bed, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. Her genetic make-up didn't require that she get a lot of sleep, but insomnia had never been a major issue.
Until now.
She couldn't get Logan out of her mind, but she had to. After a deep kiss, trying to silently tell him everything she wanted to say, but couldn't, she had turned away and headed into the cabin with Zack.
She had to leave, not only to save her skin, but to save what was good about her and Logan. She had to go before the twisted up stuff in her head ruined it for them, before he knew what she really was, before everything was ruined and she didn't even have the memories left.
She could still remember the night they shared, how intense it had been, but tender at the same time. Being with Logan had been unlike any other experience she had had in her life.
But later, when she thought about it, when she reminded herself of the evening, it wasn't how he touched her, the kisses that had criss-crossed her body…no, what stayed with her was watching him pull himself into the bed, how he controlled his upper body and the rest simply had to follow.
She thought about his body and how it didn't work. And she thought about what was broken.
That's what turned her on. And it scared her.
^^^^^^^
Earlier that week
"You're not going to make me eat dinner all by myself, are you?" Logan asked as he wheeled up behind her.
Max continued to look out the window into the rain. "Do you think we did the right thing, Logan...by letting him take her back there?"
"You took her out of a bad situation, and you let her choose for herself."
Max waited and moment, then turned to face Logan. "Yeah, I guess."
Logan pivoted his chair, to head back toward the kitchen. "How'd you leave it with Zack?"
Max laughed slightly. "He grunted something that sounded like goodbye and then disappeared into the night."
"Well, you should cut him some slack. He probably had a rotten childhood," Logan responded.
Max began to follow Logan into the other room. "Worst part is he swung with Lydecker's ride. Tinted windows, class two armor...I could have fenced it for a fortune. He probably drove it off a bridge into the water somewhere so it couldn't be dusted for prints. He obsesses."
Logan stopped and turned back to face her. "You need to be more careful yourself, you know...'cause now Lydecker knows what you look like," he said, his voice and face very serious.
Max nodded, then waited for a moment. "So, you mentioned food?"
"Pasta with a shrimp basil and pesto sauce?"
"You got bread?" Max asked.
"And wine."
"Sign me up," she answered as they headed toward the kitchen to finish making dinner.
^^^^^^^
"That was amazing," Max said as she rested her head in Logan's lap. Logan was sitting on the end of the couch with Max stretched out along the rest of the length.
Logan reached his hand over to move down her abdomen and across her stomach. "I think I feel a slight paunch here."
Max sat up quickly and shot him a look. "You felt a what?"
Logan laughed. "I was teasing. But, you did eat a decent amount of the pasta."
"Shellfish is not on the regular Jam Pony messenger's diet," Max said, as she slid back down to take her previous position.
"Normal's got something against shellfish?" Logan asked, as he knit his fingers into Max's hair, lightly massaging her scalp.
"Nah, just doesn't pay us enough that we could ever afford it," Max replied. "Man, that feels awesome, Logan."
"Good," he answered. "I like being able to do something for you. You do so much for me…"
Max was quiet, then sighed. "Two way street, Logan."
"Zack asked about us."
"Really?" Max asked. "Like what?"
Logan's hand slowed, then stopped, resting on the top of her head. "Asked if something was going on between us."
"And?"
"And I said I didn't know. Cause I don't."
Max didn't answer.
"So, you don't either?"
Again Max didn't respond.
"So, it's late. You want to stay here?"
Max didn't move. "I should go. Kendra will worry."
"You could call her," Logan replied as he lightly stroked her arm. He moved to the spot along her neck bone, his hands so gentle and light on her skin.
"You're not helping," she told him, her mood lighter now.
"You should stay, Max. Stay with me."
Max slipped from his touch and stood up. "I want to…but I should go."
"You should stay. You've had a couple of hard days. You go call Kendra and tell her where you are and I'll draw a bath for you."
"Hmmm…hot bath or long ride home in the dark to a small and disorganized apartment. That's a hard decision," Max teased.
"Go call her," Logan answered.
Max didn't answer, but instead headed for Logan's office to use the phone.
^^^^^^^^
"It's really unfair that there's such an imbalance between the haves and the have-nots," Max said as she sank into the steaming water filled with bubbles in Logan's bathtub.
"But you're friends with a 'have' and if we were all the same, you might not even get access to this tub," Logan reminded her.
"True," Max said, as she sighed and stretched her legs out to the end of the porcelain basin.
Logan reached down into the water with a small cloth. After wringing it out, he leaned forward to wash the soft skin on Max's back. He moved the cloth around her shoulder and down onto her breasts. She sighed and lay back against the end of the tub, her eyes closed.
Logan continued to wash her skin, gently moving his cloth, dipping and rewetting when necessary. As he was finishing, the phone rang.
"Might be someone important," Max said, her eyes still closed.
"Might not be," Logan answered.
The answering machine picked up and they could both hear Matt Sung's voice.
"Better go get that," Max said.
"Yeah."
Logan pivoted his chair and headed toward his office to try and catch Matt before he hung up.
As he left, Max opened her eyes and watched Logan's retreating form. A whisper of warmth spread through her and she smiled.
Stepping from the bath, she wrapped herself in one of Logan's big, fluffy towels and then headed for the bedroom. The bath had completely relaxed her and she just wanted to close her eyes for a minute…
^^^^^
After he finished his call, Logan came back into the bedroom. Max was snuggled on the bed, wrapped in one of his better towels. She was sound asleep and looked so relaxed, he didn't have the heart to wake her.
Carefully, he slid onto the bed next to her, rolled on his side and slid his arm around her.
^^^^^^^
Through the thick haze of her slumber, Max could feel something batting her legs. She stretched, then slid from Logan's embrace.
It was his legs. They were jerking back and forth, kicking at her legs.
She looked over at Logan, but he was sleeping on, unaware of the ballet going on in his bed.
She reached down to still the spasms, but they were strong and easily slipped from her loose grasp. She moved away from his reach and sat and watched.
It was bizarre. His legs, the ones that didn't…couldn't move during the day were now taking on a life of their own. They jerked and moved like someone was operating puppet strings.
No wonder his muscle stayed somewhat toned. This was close to the type of kick-boxing work-outs they had done at Manticore.
Max reached down and took hold of Logan's right foot more tightly, easing the tightness out of the ankle joint by rotating it. Then she began easing his leg back, working the muscles like she had observed Bling doing. It seemed to be helping. After massaging and stretching both legs, she lay back down next to him.
And thought about his question.
Was something going on between them?
She didn't know. What she did know was that she cared about Logan, and that what he thought mattered to her.
And then there was the other side. The side that made her think about him incessantly. The side that made it hard for her to sleep at night. The part that filled her and made her warm.
The part that turned her on. But that part was all about Logan being in the chair. The way he looked. The way he moved. The way he couldn't move.
It made her throb.
^^^^^^
As the sun rose, Logan began to stir. He rolled toward her and slipped his arm around her once again. "Sleep okay?" he asked.
"Like a baby," she replied, not feeling the need to tell him about his middle of the night dance routine. She hadn't needed the sleep anyway. She slid out of his arms and stood up.
"Can I make you some breakfast?" Logan asked as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. He reached for his glasses and slipped them on.
"Better not. Normal's nose is still a bit out of joint after the whole saga with that potential investor, Sivapathasundaram or whatever the heck his name was…"
"Come over tonight?" Logan asked. "We can play board games."
"Board games?" Max replied.
"Chess."
She paused, wondering about the night before, about the realization she had made. She needed to cool it with him until she figured it out for herself.
But she wasn't ready to quit. Not yet. She couldn't give him up right now.
"Be here around eight," she replied, then without another word was on her way to Jam Pony.
^^^^^^
"You're going to be okay, you know."
Max turned to look at Logan as they sat in the driveway at Logan's family's cabin. She forced a smile on her face. "Oh, yeah. I'll be better than okay. It's the way I'm made. It's you I'm worried about."
"I'll miss you," Logan replied.
Max replied with a sharp laugh. "You could always ditch it all and go on the lam with me. Great way to visit exotic places...meet new people... "
"I'd just slow you down," Logan replied, his voice serious.
"It's okay." And it was. She would do anything to have him go with her. Anything except force him to stay with her. She couldn't do that.
"I have to go back. Someone has to watch out for the downtrodden. Blah blah, woof woof, right?" Logan said.
"Right," Max answered.
Logan forced a smile on his face. "Take care of yourself."
"You, too."
Max got out of the car and began walking toward the cabin. She couldn't leave him yet. She wasn't ready to give him up. She stopped and turned back. He was still watching her. She ran back to the car and kissed him. Hard. And he kissed back. Finally he broke the kiss.
"Just go," Logan ordered.
Max paused for a moment and then turned so Logan couldn't see the tears begin to run down her face. She was at the door when she heard him turn over the engine and drive away.
^^^^^^^
Max lay in bed, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. Suddenly she sat up with a start. Something was wrong.
Her heart ached. She missed him. Desperately.
But something was really wrong.
Max got up and went into the kitchen. Another sign of the haves and have-nots...the Cales not only had a cabin, but one with running water, electricity and a phone.
She paused, unsure if she should do it or not, then dialed.
"Bling? What are you doing with Logan's phone?"
She stood silent as Bling told her about Logan's collapse. She barely got his location before she hung up and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Zack called after her.
They argued for a minute then Zack got in front of her.
"Out of my way, or I go through you. What's it gonna be?" Max yelled.
The fought until Max had Zack on the ground. Once he was down, she stood back up and began to walk away.
"Do what you want, but don't think you're going to make it back out of there. You're throwing away your freedom," Zack called after her.
"Consider it a moment of weakness," Max responded as she headed toward the road.
But it wasn't a moment of weakness. It was a moment of truth. She couldn't leave him. She wasn't ready to be done with Logan.
To Be Continued.