Here's chapter 3. Mostly set in New York ('cos stuff happens there too) but with a little character development in Mississippi
Chapter Song
He's a good-time Cowboy Casanova,
Leanin' up against the record machine.
He looks like a cool drink of water,
But he's candy-coated misery.
He's the devil in disguise, a snake with blue eyes,
And he only comes out at night.
Gives you feelings that you don't wanna fight,
You'd better run for your life.
Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood
Logan paced the study anxiously, staring at the phone every so often. Ororo watched from the leather sofa, worrying about his current mental state. The detective they'd hired had been gone for over two weeks now and he was becoming edgy. Outside the door, he heard an argument approaching: his business partner, Warren Worthington II, and Warren's son, Warren III.
"I have told you before, Warren, you are to do as you are told! You signed the contract agreeing to this! I absolutely forbid you to see that… that… supermodel again!"
"And I refuse to marry a girl I've never met! I know it's for the good of the company but not everything revolves around business, dad!"
"But a supermodel, Warren? For all you know she could be sleeping around behind your back!"
"And for all she knows I could be sleeping around behind hers! Betsy would never, and neither would I. We have a mutual agreement to stay faithful to one another no matter what."
"Well, you'll have to break that promise. You will marry Logan Xavier's daughter and that is final."
"He won't be marrying her if that damn detective doesn't call to say either how he's doing or that he has her," Logan said, opening the door. "Y'know what, screw this!"
Despite Ororo's calming words, Logan was picking up the phone and angrily dialling Stepford Detective Agency.
"Hello, this is Amara Aquilla of SDA, Director Henry McCoy's PA, how may I direct your call?"
"I'd like to speak to your boss about the detective I hired to find my daughter."
"Of course, sir, can I ask your name?"
"Logan Xavier."
There was the faint sound of typing in the background.
"Ah, yes, Mr Xavier." More typing. "Can you confirm that the detective you hired was Remy Le… Oh…"
"'Oh'? What's 'oh'?"
"You said he was looking for your daughter?" she asked timidly.
"Yes. She's about twenty, probably nearer twenty one."
"I'm very sorry, sir. Allow me to apologise on behalf of the agency for whatever Detective LeBeau has done."
"It's not your fault he hasn't checked in or given me any contact information."
"That's all he's done?! Oh, I'm sorry. I thought... Never mind. I'll email his cell number to you."
Logan rattled off his email address to Amara, who repeated it back to him. "Yeah, that's right. What did you mean by 'I thought'?"
"Well... I shouldn't be telling you this but Detective LeBeau has a... reputation, I suppose, for being, well, a bit of a player. No relationships after his fiancée left him, only one night stands. I thought he had, uh... slept with your daughter and then left her."
The uncomfortable silence that followed was broken by Logan's computer letting out a 'ding!' as the email arrived.
"Thank you, Ms Aquilla," Logan said tersely, turning off the speakerphone and hanging up before the young woman could get another word in.
Warren II looked worried. "What do we do now?"
Logan merely grunted, hitting the PRINT button on the email from SDA, grabbing the papers from the printer and marching out of the room.
Ororo sighed, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry. Sometimes I think he was a wolf or something in a past life, he's got such a short temper."
Warren III snorted. "I think he'd've been something more along the lines of a wolverine, to be honest."
The three laughed, leaving the room to find Logan.
Remy had spent two weeks in Caldecott County. Two weeks too many. He knew who the girl was, he knew where she was, and he spoke to her every day on account of becoming a regular fixture at Blues Bar, befriending St John, the rather psychotic Australian, and Piotr Rasputin, the enormous - yet surprisingly quiet - Russian bouncer. He just couldn't understand why he was putting off telling her and bundling her onto a plane bound for New York. She would get the family she so obviously lacked, he would get his ten grand, everybody wins... So why the Hell didn't he?!
His answer arrived one day when one of the patrons was flirting with her. He felt the most overwhelming surge of jealousy and suddenly realised: he had feelings for her! He hadn't had feelings for any femme since Bella. He was thinking about her more and more. His X-Rated fantasies about her fewer in number (but not completely gone, he was still a man), replaced by ones of simply holding her, waking up with her in his arms... There were even ones of him kissing her goodnight, wedding bands on their fingers, with her heavily pregnant. It scared him to be thinking these things, these tender moments he couldn't help but so desperately wish for.
When he arrived today, he saw her burst into tears at something a patron had said. As she cried, his heart broke a little, one more break for every pearly tear that tumbled over her rosy cheeks. In a flash, he grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and pinned him to the wall. That one violent move spoke volumes. He would do anything for her, even pluck the moon out of the sky and put it somewhere else if she mentioned it was in the way, he never wanted to lose her, even though she wasn't even his. He loved her.
Special thanks to Chellerbelle for coming up with Stepford Industries, which I borrowed without asking to turn into a detective agency. If you haven't read her stories, go read them now, they're absolute genius! She's just finished the marathon story Squeaky and Stripes for the Movie universe, and another The XMen Present parody about Little Red Riding Hood.
Next chapter, it's the moment we've all been waiting for (me included, since I'm still working out some semblance of a plot)!