Chapter 6: Crossroads
Logan switched of the TV. "All them cable channels an' there ain't nothin' on," he grumbled as he sat up and put the remote on his nightstand. He picked up a book and tried to read, but he couldn't focus on the words. Giving up that attempt, he put the book back down and sat for a moment.
What he really wanted to do was go bar hopping. In the two months that Jubilee'd been home, he'd been spending a great deal of time with her, getting to know the polished, sophisticated young woman who had emerged from the energetic little firecracker he remembered. He found himself constantly amazed by the new depths of character he'd never seen in her before. It was like a whole new world opening in front of him, and he'd explored her mental landscape in long conversations with her just as he'd spent his nights (and parts of some days) exploring her physical landscape. She didn't mind, especially the latter!
There had been some stir the first time Bobby caught Logan sneaking out of Jubilee's room early one morning. After that, sensing the cat was out of the bag, he hadn't bothered to hide their relationship any longer. The reactions in the mansion had run the gamut of disapproval, mild anger, and finally acceptance. Jean and Ororo had a great deal to do with the other residents' eventual acceptance; when dissenters (mostly Bobby and Remy) had tried to object, Ororo had gently but firmly shushed them. Scott's dislike had run much deeper. He frowned at Logan, made scathing remarks about his age and Jubilee's taste until Logan had been ready to throttle him. Jubilee had been none too pleased either with his attitude, and Logan still snickered when he remembered her explosion of temper after one particularly intense session in the Danger Room made worse by Scott's refusal to speak to Logan.
"Enough!" Jubilee had stopped Scott on his way out of the Danger Room. "I've had it with this attitude you're putting on about Logan and I. We're not going out of our way to annoy you; so why are you going out of your way to annoy us?"
Scott tried to brush past the young woman, but she didn't back down as she might have in days past when she was younger. That had surprised Scott no end. Logan had ducked into the men's locker room, to find all the others crowded against the door listening.
"Jubilee, you wouldn't understand," Scott tried to brush her off, but she refused to be waved away.
"So make me understand," she challenged, deliberately stepping up to him. "What is it?"
"You're a young girl," Scott fumbled, trying to put into words the exact reason for his disapproval. "You've got a long life ahead of you, and Logan seducing you and making you love him when you should be finding someone your own age to hang around with--"
"Hold it right there," Jubilee ordered, and Scott actually shut up, which made Logan snicker. "First, no one is 'making' me do anything. Second, what makes you think Logan 'seduced' me? We've been pals for a long time. Do you know how much seducing I had to do to get him to see I wasn't a kid anymore? Hell, Scott, I practically had to throw myself at him! If anyone was doing the seducing here, it was me. I'm an adult now, no matter what you still think you see, and I know what I want. Life's too short to waste time trying to decide what I want and what I don't want."
"Watch your language," Scott snapped, his leash on his temper fraying a bit.
"As if I haven't heard you say worse," Jubilee grinned maliciously at him. "The other day, when you--"
"All right, all right, that's enough!" Scott said, the tips of his ears turning pink, as they did whenever he was embarrassed. "I just thought maybe you should find someone closer to you in age to hang around with."
"Scott, I'm twenty-four and I have a Ph.D. in physics," Jubilee snapped, beginning to lose her temper. "How many other twenty-four year olds do you know can say the same? Most guys my age are still slacking in college and wasting their time. I certainly can't see myself with someone like that. And you are not authorized to make my life's decisions for me. So leave me and Logan alone." And Jubilee had turned and stomped off.
It hadn't been the end of the cold shoulder, by any means, but it was the beginning of the end. Scott had eased up on them a bit, but the end didn't come until one day when Jubilee and Jean were doing dishes in the kitchen. Logan hadn't been part of that chore team, but he remembered Jubilee rushing out of the kitchen red-eyed and angry, and Jean coming out moments later with her lips pressed into a thin line, and marched off to find Scott. She'd slammed down a tight psychic shield around her and Scott's mind, but the indistinct shouting coming from the garage where Scott had been working on his car had given everyone a fairly good idea what was going on. After that, Scott had restricted his disapproval to mild looks whenever he saw them together.
Logan tapped on Jubilee's door before he opened it. "Jubes?" he said. The room was empty.
He checked the rec room. No Jubilee. Same with the library and the sitting room where Jean, Rogue, and Betsy were playing a board game. "Hey, Jean," he said to the redhead, "ya seen Jubilee anywhere?"
"Down in the lab with Hank," Jean said, not even turning around. "Said she wanted to work on her new paper. She's been there probably a good five hours now."
Mystified, he went to the levels of the mansion hidden underground, where Hank had his lab. He tapped on the door before opening it, just in time to hear Jubilee exclaim, "Damn, damn, and double damn!"
He paused in the doorway and leaned against the doorframe, surprised.
Hank's lab had a new occupant. Jubilee was sitting with her heels hooked on the rungs of a high stool, a clear box sitting in front of her. An isolated reaction chamber, some part of his mind identified, but his attention was focused on the swirl of colored plasma particles inside the box. As he watched, Jubilee thrust her hands into the holes cut into the side of the box again, and the swirling colors increased their rapid spinning. She frowned, concentrated, and it looked for a moment like the particles in the box were trying to form some sort of coherent shape. Then it collapsed and started to swirl again, randomly, and Jubilee slammed a fist down on the table and released a string of epithets that made Logan raise an eyebrow. Scott would definitely have something to say about her language if he heard her now.
Hank turned away from his own table at the other end of the room, turning on his own stool. This one was much more substantially built than hers, to accommodate his extra mass and weight. "Now then, Jubilee," he said mildly, taking his glasses off, "Language! Perhaps you have been working too hard over the last few hours, and your powers are exhausted. Logan is here; presumably for you, as I have no pressing business with him at the moment. Maybe if you took the night off, and resumed work tomorrow, you would find that things go your way a bit more smoothly."
Jubilee looked up, saw him in the door, and jumped up, coming over to where he was standing to kiss him. "Hi, Logan," she said cheerfully, her temper gone. "What's up?"
"Wanted ta go out fer the night," he said, "wanted ta let ya know where I was goin'."
'You weren't planning to invite me?" she pouted. Oh, he loved that protruding lower lip; he wanted to…
He cleared his throat, looking at the floor at his feet, trying to clear his head. "I thought maybe ya'd be too busy ta go hang out--"
"With you? Never," she said cheerfully, going back to the table. She did something with a switch at the side of the reaction chamber and the colored plasma of her powers winked out in the box. She noticed him looking. "Like it? I designed it," she said. "Hank was nice enough to adapt some of the Shi'ar technology so I could actually perform experiments with my power, instead of having them fizzle out. It's been a big help." She bounced over to Hank and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Same time tomorrow?"
"I would not miss it for all the tea in China," Hank said amiably, and watched as Logan and Jubilee left the room before turning back to his own work.
"So where did you plan on going?" Jubilee fell in step beside Logan.
He thought. He'd been planning on going to Crossroads, his and Remy's favorite bar, but it was a rough place, and he wasn't sure he wanted to take her there. "Harry's," he said finally.
Jubilee planted her feet as she stepped in front of him, and poked a finger in his chest. "You think I'm not game for Crossroads?" she challenged.
"Huh?" Had she been taking mindreading lessons from Jean?
Jubilee sniffed. "Heard the Cajun say he was going to hit Crossroads tonight," she said. "Heard him ask if you wanted to go. I assume you were going to try to catch up with him there?"
He nodded dumbly.
"So let's go to Crossroads," she said, stopping at her room door. "Let me change, and I'll join you outside. What are we taking, your scoot or the pickup?"
Logan found his voice. Oh, he was going to have fun tonight. He'd show the little minx what a night bar crawling with him was like. "My bike," he said. She grinned and disappeared into her room, and he continued to his own.
He dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, then pulled his new leather jacket and the custom helmet she'd gotten him, and surveyed the effect in the mirror. Not too bad. He slipped out of his room, went out to the garage, and lit a cigarette. Girls always took a while to get dressed.
A moment later the garage door slammed, and he nearly dropped his cigarette. Jubilee was dressed in a pair of black leather pants that stretched tightly over her slim legs and molded to her backside, and a skimpy, very low-cut turquoise top that was little more than a bit of sequined material with laces tying it across her tanned back. She wore a form-fitting leather jacket that hugged the curves of her waist and hip, and the helmet she carried was a mirror version of his, just a little smaller to fit over her own head. Her hair hung loose, the raven locks tumbling over her shoulders, and her skillfully applied makeup accented her sensual lips.
She noticed him staring, grinned, and twirled in a circle. "Like it?" she said, giving him an eyeful of her backside. Logan dropped his cigarette and crushed it out, then grabbed her around the waist and pushed her up against his bike. He lowered his head, pursed his lips, and breathed, ever so gently, just a hairsbreadth above the skin over her cleavage, making her shiver as his hot breath caressed her bare skin.
"Logan," she breathed out, almost a groan, and he opened his mouth, bared his teeth, and lowered them to her bare shoulder, nipping her skin, not hard enough to hurt. Just hard enough for her to feel it. His stubble abraded her skin, and he swore to himself silently. He should have shaved.
Jubilee leaned backward over the motorcycle, ignoring the hard chrome that dug into her hips. God, this felt sooooo good…only Logan could make her feel like this. Her face flushed with pleasure, and her hips rose unconsciously toward his.
Logan broke it off with an effort. He wanted to forget about the night, and just spend the evening with Jubilee draped over his bike, panting under him. But he firmly quashed down the impulse. When they got home there'd be plenty of time for that…
His head cleared somewhat as they got out into the cool air. Though the late August night was sticky, the breeze washing over them as they sat on the bike cooled them sufficiently that the jackets became necessary. It was intoxicating, riding in the moonlight with a hellaciously desirable, beautiful girl behind him. He grinned as he felt her shift on the back of the bike, the vibrations of the motor between her legs fanning the flames of the heat between her thighs.
The smell of her arousal dimmed a bit as they walked into the bar. It was filled with the usual Friday night crowd, some gyrating on the dance floor in front of the ancient jukebox, most sitting at tables around the room drinking, some at the bar. He opened the door for her and she breezed in, immediately catching all eyes in the bar. One guy in the corner eyed her openmouthed, and his female companion…wife, Logan thought, seeing the glint of a gold band on the ring finger of the left hand…kicked him under the table. He smiled to himself as he led Jubilee to an empty table and pulled a chair out for her. She took off her jacket, slung it over the back of the chair, and sat down, as Logan did the same, and one of the bar girls came over.
"What can I get you tonight, Miss Lee?" she said. Logan's jaw dropped to the floor. Betty, that was her name. He'd been in here many times, but it was Jubes the waitress spoke to first?
"Uh, yeah, Betty, I'd like my usual," she said, "And I'm sure you know Logan's preference, he's been here often enough." Jubilee gave the waitress a smile. "What's the special tonight?"
"Uh, we're offering spare ribs, off the grill, and fries," Betty said. "Or there's the clam chowder and salad."
"I'll do the ribs and fries," Jubilee said. "Thanks, Betty." She accepted the glass of ice water the woman handed her and stirred it for a moment with the straw before she sipped it. Then she looked up, and saw Logan's look. "What? I missed dinner. So did you, by the way."
He shook his head. "How many times ya been here? The barkeep knows you better'n they know me!"
She laughed at him. "A few times," she admitted. "Found this place when I followed you here years ago. After my twenty-first birthday I came in here for the first time." She looked around. "Four years and the place hasn't changed. Hey, look, there's Remy!" She waved to a shadowed corner, and Logan saw the Cajun sitting in the booth, engrossed in chatting with a pretty blonde. He smiled, said something to her, and they both slid out of their booth and came up to Logan and Jubilee at their table.
"Remy t'ought you not comin'," he said to Logan. "Change your mind?" He leaned in close to Logan. "Or did de p'tite change your mind for you?"
Logan punched Remy in the arm, firmly but gently, and Remy grinned. He turned to Jubilee. "Glad t'see you join us, p'tite," he said, kissing Jubilee's cheek. "You tell Logan you been here b'fore?"
"No," Jubilee ducked her head, looking a little sheepish. "I didn't. Remy, he tried to take me to Harry's instead of here!"
Remy chuckled, amused, as Logan glared at him. "Hey, don' be too hard on him, p'tite," he said. "Remy try t'do de same t'ing de firs' time I took you bar-crawling." He pulled out a chair for the blonde, and then sat down himself. "Logan, Jubilee, meet Cyndie. Cyndie, meet two o' my closes' frien's, Jubilee an' Logan." They shook hands all around.
Jubilee's ribs arrived at just that moment, and she dug into the meal with enthusiasm, alternating between bites and sips of her beer. Logan gritted his teeth. He was definitely not used to Jubilee drinking beer like he did, though it seemed like she'd done it several times since her twenty-first birthday. She didn't pass out after the second one.
All was quiet until after Betty had taken Jubilee's plate and dropped off another beer. A man sitting at the table next to them, with about six of his buddies, leaned across the intervening space and grabbed Jubilee's arm. "Hey, gel," he said. "Looks like you got a quiet one over there. Want things a little livelier, you come on over here. Me and my buds, we know how to show a lady a good time."
Jubilee smiled and disengaged his hand from her arm. "Thank you, I like my company fine." And she turned back to her conversation.
There was some whispering at his table, then he slid a hand over Jubilee's bare shoulder. "You sure you don't wanna join us over here, baby?"
Jubilee didn't even bother turning around. She grabbed the man's hand where it rested on her shoulder and squeezed. Logan's eyes widened as the man gasped. She kept up the pressure for a couple of minutes and then dropped the man's hand. There was a red imprint of her fingers on his hand. "I said no," she said evenly.
The man whined. "She broke my f***g wrist!" he said, staring surprised at the imprints on his hand.
The other six guys stood up and moved over to their table. Cyndie suddenly got up and vanished into the crowd as they surrounded the three X-Men.
"You broke his wrist, gal," one man grabbed Jubilee's arm. "Better apologise, now, before you regret it!"
"I didn't break it," Jubilee said evenly, tensing ever so slightly. Logan and Remy glanced at each other, each reading the gleam in the other's eye.
The man who had spoken reached out and grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking back, making her yell with surprise and sudden pain. "I said apologise," he snarled at her. Jubilee tensed, and reached back to where he had grabbed her hair. Logan smelled flesh heating up, and then the man yelped and dropped her hair.
Without missing a beat she got up, shoving the chair she'd been sitting on into the front of the man's knees. The guy dropped to the floor like a stone, howling. Two of the others reached for Remy and Logan, and the fight began.
Jubilee felt a grin spread over her face as her fist nailed one guy in the eye, and her knee caught another man in the crotch. So this was what bar-crawling with Logan was like. She could understand now why he came here whenever he was looking for a fight. This was fun. Out the corner of her eye she saw a man grab Logan from behind as another punched him in the stomach. Logan doubled over with a grunt, and the man took the opportunity to kick him in the middle. Then Logan uncurled from the floor with all the speed of a striking snake, and swept the man's legs out from under him with a sweep of his own leg. The man crashed to the floor, followed soon after by his friend, and didn't move.
Her attention was only half on what she was doing, so it came as a surprise as a fist came from somewhere off to the side and connected with her eye. She yelled in surprise and pain, and her brief moment off guard was enough. The man who'd started it all shoved her backward over the table, and draped himself over her with a grunt. His hand fumbled with the button on her pants.
A sudden flashback froze her momentarily. Bastion, on top of her, laughing as she screamed in pain…she reacted almost on instinct.
Logan was just finishing off his third opponent, and Remy had punched out the fifth man when a flash of light came from the other table. Jubilee, pinned under the man's weight and trying to twist her hips away from his drunken efforts to remove her clothes, had unleashed her power. The man flew backward, struck another table nearby, and fell to the floor. He didn't move after that.
Logan took her arm, pulling her off the table. "Ya okay, Jubes?" he said as the bouncers started dragging the unconscious bodies out of the bar. Remy dampened a cloth napkin in her water glass and handed it to her, and she gratefully held it to her stinging eye. Logan let her hold it there for a minute, and then pulled it gingerly away from her eye. "No, Jubes, lemme see," he said. He sucked in a breath. "C'mon. Let's getcha home."