Justin
was waiting for Jean the moment she stepped out of the small house
the next morning.
"How did he find you?"
"He's
good at what he does."
"Is he the reason why you ended
things."
"Justin, he knows me. It's not good for you to
know me like he does."
"He said you were old
friends."
"We are," she nodded.
"How long
have you been together?"
"It's never been like that,
timing was bad," she sighed.
Justin watched her,
understanding that look that so often eluded his thinking. "He's
leaving soon."
"It's best for everyone right now. I need
to get to work."
"You're in love with him."
"Yes,"
she answered, and headed to the barn to begin her day.
Jean
felt bad for Logan, stuck in the house like a prisoner when Mac had
acres of land to roam around; but it wouldn't be good for him to be
seen and bring his hosts under further suspicion. She could feel his
eyes on her, following from window to window as she went about her
day. After last night she thought keeping her distance from Logan
would be a better choice, but for his wounded pride or her safety,
she wasn't entirely sure. Her stoamch was just beginning to complain
from skipping lunch when she felt a strong arm wrap around her
waist.
"Logan," she hissed, nearly knocking the
pitchfork into his head as she spun around to face him.
"Jean,"
he lodged the pitchfork into a bale of hay.
"You shouldn't be
out here," she looked over his shoulder with a worried
expression.
"Nobody saw me."
"Good," she
pushed him away gently. "Bored enough to offer some help,
then?"
"No," he grabbed her arm carefully.
"What
is it?"
"Read my mind," he raised her hand to his
temple, holding her fingers there with his hand.
Closing her eyes,
she sank into his surface thoughts. They came so fast it was like
fighting whitewater rapids; some would argue he had attention issues,
but Jean knew he just couldn't stop thinking, analyzing, planning.
Adjusting quickly to his familiar stream of thought, he concentrated
on a certain thing and she grabbed it like an errant kite string,
letting it suck her in.
Flashes of recent memory engulfed her.
Their incarceration and escape, their parting, and his life on the
run. He ached to see her face in a crowd as he blended in, wondering
if she was just feet away as he hopped contintents. The it skipped to
just that morning, seeing her tell Justin she was in love with Logan,
and he pushed her out of his mind.
Standing there with that
question in his eyes, she nodded and stepped toward him, wrapping her
arms around his neck. He held her close, able to feel her heart
racing as his hand traced along her back.
"Do any of them
come to check on you," Logan's mouth brushed over her ear.
"Not
often."
Logan raised his head, looking at the loft above
them.
"I'm all sweaty," she reasoned.
"Doesn't
matter," he muttered, taking her hand.
"I smell like a
horse," she tried again as he put her ahead of him at the
ladder.
"No, you don't," he jerked his head to tell her
to climb up.
They climbed up into the loft, and Jean was surprised
to see that an old blanket had been left there from the time Justin
took the girls there and scared them half to death with stories that
even Jean had shuddered at. That memory faded as Logan turned her to
face him, bringing his mouth to hers. Everything seemed to go still
when he kissed her, the feel of his lips were all she could
concentrate on, so that she was surprised to find them laying on the
blanket, clothes gone. He pulled back to look down at her, stroking
her hip the same way that she had tried to calm him the night before.
It was then that she realized she was shaking. She raised her head to
kiss him, and felt him sink into her body. Sex for Jean used to be a
pleasant enough experience, though she always had her mind clearly
present and accounting for everything going on. This however was
nothing like she had known, his thoughts invaded her mind without her
reaching for them, leaving Jean in a severely heightened state of
want for him. With him in control, she dug her fingers into his back,
trying not to make too much noise as each of his movements drew her
close to the edge. He groaned low in his throat, nipping the side of
her neck with his teeth.
A small rush caused Jean to cry out, and
Logan mistook the noise for discomfort, trying to slow his
pace.
"No," she groaned in desperation, pressing her
heel into the back of his thigh.
He growled, the strength of his
thrusts increasing until her back lifted off the blanket, pressing
into his chest; his own pleasure slammed into her head, drawing out
her own physical response. Logan nuzzled his nose against hers,
causing her to stir and capture his lips in a long kiss. He stayed
there, lying on top of her as their kisses became soft and short in
their weaker state. Jean drifted off to sleep, letting Logan pull her
onto her side with him.
Jean was draped across his body,
running her fingers through the hair on his chest.
"I didn't
realize how lonely I was," she thought out loud.
"You
and me both, Red."
"I missed this."
"We
never did this before," he smirked.
"I missed being
myself."
"This has the added bonus of being yourself
naked," he chuckled.
"Logan,"she rolled her eyes
with a laugh.
"I detect a hint of a question, Red."
Unnerved
with his talent for knowing her moods too well, she slipped from his
grip and turned over, lying on her stomach and hoping he'd take the
hint and let it go. A sigh escaped her lips when she felt him turn
toward her, tracing a slow line down her spine with one
finger.
"Can't do that, you know I don't take avoidance
well."
"Will we ever be together?"
He sighed,
and she could tell he raked a hand through his hair. "I don't
know."
"Why did you take me off that list?"
"You
ask a lot of questions," he kissed a spot behind her ear.
"I
want to know."
"So you and the girls could find a place
to hide and stay still."
"I think you like them,"
Jean tried not to smile as she spoke.
"They're okay," he
grinned.
"Don't just disappear when you have to leave,"
she looked over her shoulder at him.
"I won't," he
kissed her shoulderblade, keeping his eyes locked to hers.
Two
pairs of feet running into the barn brought them back to the real
world.
"Shit," Jean muttered.
"Jean, you in
here?"
"Yeah, I'll be right there," she called,
gathering up her clothes.
"Logan's gone, did he leave?"
"I'm
here, too," he smirked as Jean stopped getting dressed to smack
him for speaking up.
"We'll come back-" they started to
back out as Jean came to the ladder.
"Let's go into the
house, he'll join us in a minute."
Logan slipped through the
door a few minutes later, smiling almost sheepishly as Kitty and
Jubliee grinned at him, and walked very casually over to Jean to kiss
her. The girls laughed, and Jean even felt Logan's chest vibrate with
a supressed chuckle.
"What's so funny?"
"I don't
know, ask those two," he shrugged.
The calm moment was
disrupted as Mac knocked on the door.
"Hey..." Jean
greeted him.
"Need to talk to him,"he answered.
"Come
in, I have to start dinner. Let's go girls," she gave Logan a
kiss as she left.
Jean was trying to ignore the girls furtive
talking and Justin's silence as she seasoned the steaks, blinking in
surprise to see Logan coming in behind Mac.
"Jean,"
Logan called hoarsely.
She grabbed his hand and took him into the
bathroom, shutting them inside.
"What."
"I have
to leave tonight. Those guys who tried to take Kitty are starting to
talk."
Jean nodded, kissing him fiercely so he wouldn't have
to see her eyes fill up with tears. When her desire overpowered the
deep ache of sadness in her chest, she broke away slowly.
"After
dinner, I'll tell the girls," he panted.
It was silent at the
dinner table, no one tried to make conversation. Mac and Justin acted
like this was any other night, and Jean was grateful for them in
their lives. Kitty and Jubliee picked at their food, knowing
something was wrong.
"Girls, let's go," Logan announced
quietly, taking them back to the small house.
Jean started
cleaning up, but Justin stopped her with a hand on her wrist.
"He's
got to go, you only have a little time left together."
"Thank
you," she whispered, running across the yard.
Kitty and
Jubliee were crying as she came in, Logan had a comforting hand on
each girl's shoulder. In his eyes she could see regret, to see them
hurting gave him the same pain. Without a word, Jean joined them on
the couch. Logan allowed Jubliee to lean into his side, and he placed
his hand on Jean's cheek, smiling as she turned to kiss the center of
his palm.
When darkness came, Logan pulled on his jacket and
shouldered his bag. He took his time hugging the girls goodbye, and
then approached Jean.
"I'm gonna be back," he told Jean,
staring deeply into her eyes.
"I know, be safe."
He
crushed her mouth to his, like if he kissed her hard enough he would
be able to taste her in the days and weeks and probably months away
from Jean.
"If they try to touch the girls again-"
"I'll
see to it personally."
He nodded and kissed her again, then
ducked out into the night.
