The next day Alec stood in the elevator that lead to Logan's apartment. He absently watched as the numbers ticked smoothly higher. The thought of seeing Max in a few moments was strangely unnerving. The events of the night before were still an uneasy memory, even more than eight hours later. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened. It wasn't like him to lose his cool like that; and it wasn't like Max to, well to push it so hard. Sure she was kind of an emotional loose cannon, but when he pissed her off enough she usually just gave a verbal parting shot and left. Last night things had progressed past the verbal; Christ, they'd practically gone at it right in the middle of Crash and a room full of Ordinaries.
He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. It was strange how muddled his head was while everything was going on and yet how clear and bizarre the entire experience had seemed only moments after leaving the bar. Maybe he needed a vacation; a real live trip far away from the stress of TC, work and especially MaxGuevara. Maybe he was experiencing that demon that the Ordinaries fussed over so much – stress.
The elevator doors opened onto Logan's floor and he stepped out. He was going to get along with her today if it killed him, he promised himself as he opened the front door.
"Where the goddamn hell have you been!?" The frigid blast of her voice could have made a polar bear shiver. Alec would have sworn he felt a cool draft waft by him.
He closed the door carefully behind him and walked into the living room. The usual assortment of characters sat around the coffee table – O.C.Joshua and Sketchy on one couch; Mole and Dix on the other; and Logan at the computer.
"We are here for our weekly board meeting, are we not?" Alec asked, keeping his voice carefully bland. "They start precisely at one o'clock – I'm here two whole minutes early."
Max stalked towards him from her place by the window, "I told you to be here this morning, so that we could get our gear together for tomorrow night." She was fairly bristling with animosity and Alec realized with renewed amazement that his own anger was rising at an usual rate.
He took a deep breath and held it for a moment. You're going to get along with her, he reminded himself. But getting along and being her lapdog were two entirely different things.
"I thought you were joking." He replied nonchalantly and flung himself into a recliner.
"Joking! We almost came to blows over it!" Confusion flickered across her face for a millisecond and then was gone, "When I tell-"
"Enough!" Original Cindy raised her voice slightly and instantly commanded the entire rooms attention. "Let's move on. We have things to get done, remember?"
There was a long silence and then Logan calmly began to speak. "As long as tomorrow night goes well, we should be set with enough guns for awhile. Our food situation is going to get critical soon though and our cash flow is down to almost nothing. Any ideas?"
Alec slunk down in his chair and resolved not to say another word. He never did at these things anyway - give 'em long enough and they usually came to the right solutions on their own. If he were to suggest those same ideas though, Max would shut them down, so it was better to play mute. He let his head fall back and closed his eyes – maybe just a quick little nap…
"If you're bored Senior Alec, please feel free to exit the premises at any time."
He came awake with a sudden jerk and opened his eyes immediately. Max stood between his outstretched legs, her gaze shooting fiery darts into him. He yawned deliberately and clasped his hands behind his head, smiling sleepily up at her thunderous expression and ignoring the ire that shot to the surface of his emotions.
"Not quite the face I was hoping to wake up to." He remarked.
"If we bore and disgust you that much, then really, don't let us keep you. Leave." She said between gritted teeth, "I'm sick of your snoring."
"I'm genetically incapable of snoring." He was finding his own jaw difficult to relax. "What the hell is your problem – is it that time of the month?"
Max braced her hands on the arms of his chair and shoved her face inches from his. "You're sleeping through my meeting – that is entirely unacceptable soldier. Either start contributing something or do me an immense favor and get out."
His gaze zeroed in on the lush lips that were only inches from his, slowly enunciating the last two words of her sentence. Her breath smelled incongruously of chocolate and he attributed the sudden hollowness of his stomach to hunger.
"Why the sudden bitch-mongering?" He snarled, "I've slept through nearly every other meeting and you didn't seem to notice or care."
"Would it kill you to actually contribute something or maybe give the topics a little thought? Is that just asking too much from your over-taxed brain, Alec?"
He stood up so quickly that only her abnormal reflexes saved them from a painful collision.
"What the hell do you want from me?" He yelled, "You want me to say that TC needs to become more self-sufficient? That we need to start mass producing our own food rather than relying on the Ordinaries? That our cash flow is a relatively insignificant problem that we shouldn't be worrying about right now? Why? So that you can ignore and belittle me, Max? Is that why you're mad, is my silence depriving you of the opportunity to rag on me?"
"I don't know when you decided that you were so important," Max yelled right back, "But get over yourself, Alec. You don't mean-"
"ENOUGH!" Original Cindy threw down the stack of papers in her hand and shot to her feet, anger turning her cheeks red. "I don't know what kind of moon is out but it is turning both of you into Werewolves!"
Alec reluctantly broke eye contact with Max to stare in amazement at O.C.
"What are we turning into?" He asked.
Max turned and walked restlessly back to the window, staring out into the afternoon broodingly.
"It's a dumb ass human-type that turns hisself into a wolf at the full moon." O.C. kept her gaze on Max. "Ya'll prob'ly have some kinda transgenic that looks like it."
O.C. stayed quiet a moment longer, making sure that the throbbing animosity in the room wouldn't explode again.
"I'm bailing." Alec stepped around her and headed for the door, "I don't know why I even bothered to get up."
They had been at Crash for almost an hour and a half and Max had hardly spoken four words. Those four had been directed at Sheena upon meeting her – then she'd lapsed into dedicated drinking and sullenness. Despite understanding the whole "lesbian" idea, Sketchy was still directing most of his comments to Sheena's, admittedly impressive, rack.
"So then I was like, dude, chill out, I was just sayin' hi to her, no need to get all Terminator on me-"
Sketchy's fascinating narrative was interrupted by the appearance of a certain green eyed blond in one of the empty chairs. It was with resignation that O.C. felt the tension that suddenly skyrocketed. Max sat up noticeably straighter.
"Alec, my man, good to see you've come to partake in the nectar of the God's." Sketchy and him exchanged one of those complicated male handshakes.
Alec turned to Sheena and flashed one of his most charming smiles, "Hey, I'm Alec."
"I'm Sheena." She smiled back and it was the same predatory expression that was on Alec's face. His smile grew into a grin – hunters recognized each other.
"You here with O.C.?"
She nodded.
His sigh was one of exaggerated dismay, "Figures I'd fall instantly in love with a lesbian."
"Next he'll tell you to feel free to make out with O.C. in front of him anytime you like." Max muttered.
"She's just jealous," O.C. interjected smoothly before Alec could retort, "She wants to make out with me."
Alec snickered and stood up, "I'm going to the bar, anybody need anything?"
As Alec moved through the crowd Sheena let her gaze linger on him, "Girl, I got me a Gold Star, but I just might trade it in for a taste of that." She murmured in her smoky voice.
"You sure couldn't get yourself a better deal," O.C. smiled, "Five gets me ten – that boy knows what he's doin'."
"Well, you'd be doomed to disappointment." Max practically snarled, "He might smile pretty, but the second he opens his mouth and words come out you'd be crying over the loss of your star."
Sheena watched Max for a moment, her smile growing until it tinged on wicked. "Sorry Max didn't mean to encroach on your territory."
Sketchy started laughing, choking on his beer. Max sat up quickly, the look on her face epitomizing horror. "Mine?! Hell no! He's not mine. He's the last person on the face of the earth that I would ever even begin to want to be mine."
Sketchy chuckled and leaned close to Sheena, "Max and Alec just fight, you see. They don't even like each other. That's why what you said is so funny."
Sheena just continued to smile, saying nothing. Alec and Logan returned to the table, each carrying two pitchers of beer.
"Fresh from the teat of Mary herself."Alec said as he set them down.
"That's disgusting." Max sullenly poured herself another glass.
"Leave it to you to think that something as natural and beautiful as nursing is disgusting."
Max stared at him over the rim of her glass and set it down without drinking, "Where the hell do you come up with this stuff. I swear to God, one of your classes was Random and Bewildering Comments 101."
He pretended to ponder her statement, "I don't think I had that one, bit I was inRandom and Bewildering Insults 101. "Perhaps you're confusing the two?" He suggested sweetly.
"You went to college, Alec?" Sheena murmured, her eyebrows raised. "That's pretty difficult these days."
"Yeah, I guess you could call it a college, of sorts." Alec subsided back into his chair, realizing that this was a potentially dangerous subject.
"Alec likes to think that a few night courses in remedial English qualifies as a 'college education." Max added, then pretended to sigh, "Sadly though, he really is the quintessential dumb blond."
"Yup, that's me," Alec leaned forward as if to impart a deep secret, "A dumb blond. Clumsy too. Did I ever tell you kids about the time I fell off my bik-"
Max interrupted frostily, "Spare us."
The rest of the group stared at her and she felt a flush starting to creep up her neck. She was abruptly aware of the uncharacteristic tautness permeating her muscles. "What? It's a stupid story. No punch line."
No one said anything.
"Fine. I'm out of here." She swung up to leave.
"Alas." muttered Alec, and ruined her exit with a discreetly placed foot. She recovered her balance admirably, though her fist seemed to accidentally run into Alec's shoulder.
Logan watched the tense line of her back as she stalked towards the door and wondered.
His warm, slightly callused hands were sliding up her legs, followed closely by a teasing tongue, dipping into the hollow behind her legs, nipping at the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. Her breath was fast and shallow, her fingers gripping the silky strands of golden hair like a life-line. Her whole body felt feverish and damp, ready to ignite and burn her to a crisp as that wonderful mouth came down right where she wanted it most…
Max sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for air, disoriented by the pitch black of her room. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, willing her heart rate back down. The dream flashed behind her eyelids – wet mouths, hard hands, wicked, wicked green eyes and
All.
That.
Heat…
Her voice was a whisper. "Shit."
TBC