Author's Note: I seriously hate knowing everything that's supposed to be going into the chapter and the chapter actually making me work for it. It's just unfair and you all have to know about it because I had to be annoyed by it. I'm not going to make any actual comments on my opinion on the chapter because I just yelled at, so yea that's all I'm gonna say. Oh and see Idlehands this weekend, I sat down and refused to get up until it actually finished because I promised you it would be done.
Chapter Twenty One
Confrontations
"Hey Max"
Dark brown eyes shot open as her roommate called her name while shaking her. Dream, her mind started to comprehend what was going on, it was just a dream. Her mind took in her room instead of the warehouse, the bright morning sun filling the room, showcasing all of the colors, instead of the almost monochromatic darkness of her dream. Her dream…She shifted as Original Cindy continued to talk, but Max was unable to fully awaken instantly as normal. No Logan…Another shift as she pushed herself up. Heat…
"I'm gonna call Logan," Original Cindy said as she left Max's side.
That caught her attention, broke through the layers. "No," she called out after her and shot up to her knees to go and stop her.
"Max," OC began with a nod, "you're sick. I know you hate being weak, but this isn't your normal dealio. Gotta to call Logan I'm sure-"
Fuck, fuck, fuck…Aww damn, not the word to be thinking of. Normally she woke up from heat cursing heat itself, right now though she was cursing being awoken. The feel of Logan over her…
"See," another shake of her head, "what did I tell you? This isn't your normal shit, you've got a fever or something; your skin's all clammy, like you just rode across town without stopping."
Rode…Oh crap, she was really going to have to duct tape Original Cindy's mouth for the next 48 hours, everything was sending her flashing right back to her dream.
"I'm calling Logan," she said once more turning to go grab the phone. Max was listless, clammy and had slept until morning…That was all kinds of unnatural.
Max's face fell and she let out a small sigh of disgust with what she had to call out, but she did it anyway, "I'm in heat," she said rather pathetically.
Oh…Yea that would explain it…"So that tossing and turning?" she asked as she turned not really wanting to hear the answer she already knew.
"Yup, kinda dream that would have you blowing chunks for weeks," she nodded and stood finally having enough control over her emotions that were already starting to run rampant.
" Logan again?"
Why Max confided things in moments of weakness to her girl she'd never know because she never heard the end of them.
"You know maybe-"
"No," Max shook her head and moved to grab clothing out of her closet for the day, "no maybes, we've gone over this before. We're just friends, we're staying just friends and friends don't jump their other friends because someone screwed up their cocktail while making them. Now I need to know you have my back on this and you're not gonna let me ride off to his place."
Original Cindy ignored Max's attitude and rolled right on past it, "If it comes down to peeling you off Normal or sending you off to the amazingly more than normal, you don't need to doubt Sug, Original Cindy will do what's right."
Max gave a sharp shake of her head, "Why are you home so early?" she asked taking in the clock that read just past six.
"Suga' girl starts work at 6:30, wasn't about to be alone in no tiny apartment with an unknown male," she shook her head. There was just something unnatural about that and she hoped that the male roomie didn't mean her Trix swung both ways and she sure as hell hoped she didn't expect her to too, the girl wasn't that cute.
ooOoo
…
"How you feeling?" Original Cindy asked as she handed over a cup of coffee and wondered if it was a mistake giving the girl anything more to stimulate her.
"Better," she nodded. "Sorry if I snapped at you."
"It's all good," she said as she moved to look through the cupboards. "How do you feel about PB and J for breakfast?" she asked, then shook her head, "Who am I kidding, you'll eat anything."
Max laughed and moved to grab the J part of that from the fridge as OC moved to grab the bread. "Umm," she said opening the jar, "looks like it's just the PB today," she tilted the jar so her friend could see the bare jar, with just splatterings of grape jelly clinging to the side.
"Damn," she shook her head as she doled out bread, "why is it we never have any real food in this joint?"
"We have real food just none of it goes together," Max said pointing out the fact that they had things like pasta with nothing to make a sauce, enough ground meat for about half a burger, a can of carrots, flour, though neither of them had ever baked anything from scratch but even if they could they wouldn't have the other ingredients to make it.
"This is one of those moments makes me just miss my mom, this is pathetic," she said giving a lingering look down to where Max was quickly and efficiently making the sandwiches, the girl handled a knife with an ease that was shocking.
ooOoo
…
Original Cindy's mind flashed back to her last run in with the very feline Max as they ate in near silence, Max already pacing around the living room.
"So that was your twin curled up in a ball almost four months ago crying about cheatin' on Logan?" Original Cindy knew her words were harsh despite her soft tone, but sometimes that was the only way to get through to particularly dense friends.
That friend didn't turn and glare, instead she flipped her head away quickly to avoid looking her in the eye, "Yea well that's when I though Logan and I could be more, I was wrong."
Funny, Original Cindy had thought more too, hell she still did, but she had really thought it when Max hadn't turned up for over a day after going to Logan's the day after their anniversary. She'd woken up to hear two people entering the apartment the sound of Max pushing her bike slightly off...
She poked her head out the doorway and she saw them come to a stop, the off noise was two sets of wheel instead of ones. Max turned to face Logan and he just moved towards her. He didn't say anything, he just held her as she melted into him in, the living room only lit by the morning sun.
She'd watched them for a few seconds longer trying to figure out what was going on, like how Logan was walking (again), but she didn't stop them to truly question any of it. Just took what it was at face value, Logan was holding Max, holding her in a way that she'd normally stiffen or try to toughen up when one of them would do it or at least break free a hell of a lot sooner. He was holding her and he had pushed in a bike, those two had seemed like pretty positive signs to Original Cindy.
So she did what she had done that first night, backed off. She still hadn't had much interaction with Logan at that point, a moment at the bar, being reamed a new one for flushin' Max's meds, a brief glimpse of him picking up Max. The only time she'd spent any real time with him was as he sat on the floor of her job hovering over Max, waiting for Bling to arrive. Original Cindy had rode in the back with Max's head upon her lap as Logan alternated between looking back and staring dead ahead, the worry being replaced by icy focus.
He hadn't done much better when they'd gotten back to his crib, he sat and he watched Max, asked Original Cindy if she wanted anything to eat or drink then went right back to watching Max. Original Cindy knew the truth right then and there, it wasn't just friendship. Could've been that with the whole meds thing, could've just been a guy appreciating Max's beauty before the wedding, but it couldn't have been anything other than true, pure love how he watched her, the fear and worry in his eyes as he tried to appear calm…
Needless to say she'd been pretty shocked to hear the door open and close a few minutes later after some muffled words. She'd walked into Max's room expecting all the juicy details of the past 30 hours, instead she'd found her staring out the window.
"Boo," she began softly, "what happened?"
Max remained silent, not ready to speak, not knowing what to say.
"Boy's got his legs back, must've been a damn good belated anniversary," Her voice held a joking, light tone trying to offset the coldness of the room.
Max had chuckled softly to that, " Logan walking was gonna be my anniversary gift, instead I got it after telling him I fucked Rafer," she shook her head in ironic amusement to that. "Zack busted in telling me he found our sister, only by the time we got there she was already," that had been followed by a drop of her head. "And now they have Zack too, all because I wanted a normal life." Her words had grown softer at the end of that. It had taken a few more details spread across a few more hours to fully get the significance behind it, no Logan, no sharing the words of love.
Original Cindy had seen it though every time since, the fights, the bickering, all the fun times, like New Years, even just the completely normal and mundane things. Finding Max and Logan holed up in the apartment instead of coming out like they promised, a Scrabble board between them filled with words Original Cindy had no chance in hell of understanding.
Still though last heat had gone much the same…
"You said there wasn't a problem right?" Original Cindy had asked midday as they rode through the town together as Max openly ogled every male that they rode past.
"Huh?" She asked still riding.
"You and Logan…Getting it on?"
"Aside from the fact that we're just friends?"
"More along the lines of the bullet in his back." She had to admit she'd always been curious about that, not knowing what was located exactly where on the spinal cord, not to mention her knowledge of the male body was slightly limited.
"Doesn't matter, we're just friends."
"And friends help each other out," she said firmly.
Max had actually turned her attention away from the street and glared at Original Cindy for that comment, "Never gonna happen."
"Fine," she said with a shake of her head and an eye roll. "Well then maybe we should stop over at the Treasure Chest."
Of course Original Cindy would mention a sex shop when all Max could already do about how great that construction worker looked with his shirt soaked through as she salivated imagining the taste of it under her lips. "Didn't I just say I wasn't fucking Logan?" her words and her tone held a bite, the bite that came with snapping herself out of her previous lust induced daydream. Of course, now everything that lined the shelves and hung waiting to be bought and used invaded her thoughts and the construction worker was kicked out and replaced by Logan as they all did whenever given the chance.
"Didn't say anything about no male being involved did I?"
Max had stopped to that and just looked at Original Cindy.
OC was confused for a moment as she realized Max was no longer beside her, she stopped and turned back, she laughed, "Don't worry boo, Original Cindy loves you, but not that way. Meant you keep this bitch in check yourself."
Max didn't know if her brain ran slower while in heat or if it was just her normal reaction to half the things Original Cindy had to say. "Oh," she said once it dawned on her, "uh doesn't work that way. It's pheromones or something." Well pheromones, visual, touch…Definitely needed to be something halfway resembling a real guy, even though Normal- Ugh, she couldn't even go there.
"What are you saying boo? You all only swing one way?"
"Uh," Max said truly shocked thinking about it, though not shocked enough to not want to turn her head to figure out where the new scent was coming from. "Good question," she said with a tilt of her head finally as she realized she was coming up with no answers.
Cindy laughed, "Never thought about it did ya? So what do you say wanna give Good Ol' Original Cindy's suggestion a try?"
Max had just looked at her with eyebrows raised, seriously the girl was off her rocker, sending her into a sex store the way she was right now? She'd probably jump the first guy she saw or worse clear off shelves and make a dash over to Logan's.
"Guessing that's a no," she said taking in Max's expression.
"It's that accept no substitutes thing." She shook her head and her feet found the peddles again, "Can we stop talking about sex now?"
"Ooh, sorry girl."
Original Cindy smiled to herself, she had a feeling Max would have the real thing this time around.
ooOoo
…
Crash (The Next Night):
Original Cindy had to stifle a laugh into her beer as she watched Logan struggling to control his focus. His eyes were narrowed on the ball as he leaned over the pool table, but he hadn't taken the shot yet, his mind unable to draw upon enough focus as Max was leaned up alongside him. Not an uncommon occurrence, the two would regularly try to psych the other one out. It rarely worked and today was that exception. Logan's game would have been a great game for most, but not him and Original Cindy had watched on in amusement as he missed several different shots.
Poor Logan, he'd tried to get out of going to Crash once Original Cindy had uttered the words of 'Good I could use the backup, Original Cindy can't handle this bitch alone,' after he'd said he was still down for going out tonight as he'd promised earlier in the week after meeting up with them after work and kicking Max's ass, well marginally beating Max's ass in a game of pool and promising a rematch later on in the week since he had actual work to get back to.
He of course tried to get out of it, asking if him going really was the best idea given her condition. A few well placed words to invoke guilt and remind Logan of the consequences if Max wasn't watched made him change his mind, albeit rather reluctantly.
She was pretty amazed how well the night out was going almost two hours in. Sure Max had been inappropriately and frequently touching the object of her affections. The guy who Original Cindy had been forced to listen to Max wax poetically this heat and the last about his sexy little glasses and cute scruff, or was it cute glasses and sexy scruff? And the hair Max just wanted to bury her hands in and grab, the same with his biceps. But then again Max's interest in Logan's glasses seemed to have waned since last time, at the start of their evening Max had walked up to Logan and simply removed his glasses staring long and deep into his eyes, he'd done the same to hers almost transfixed until she tilted her head ever so slightly and was about to move in for a kiss. Logan had snapped back and his arms had shot out holding Max away from him.
Still it was funny watching that boy's reactions as he removed Max's hands from his body, Logan's treatment of her had been indulgent as if she were a child used to getting her way. His hands would simply remove hers as he continued about whatever he was doing. His focus remaining seemingly unchanged as Max would huskily whisper in his ear.
Max's focus had remained steadily on Logan with a few moments of almost interest towards others, a guy at the bar as she'd been going to refill the pitcher, which OC had promptly led her away from. A guy as they'd been walking to the bathroom, which had resulted in Max flying backwards as Original Cindy jerked her towards their intended goal.
Original Cindy had noted that with interest, the sharp contrast of who Max had been just a few months ago when this had last happened, when Logan hadn't been present. Max's eyes did focus on other males besides him, but never while she was near him. That small confine of the pool table area when Logan would leave Max's side her eyes would occasionally wander as she attempted to distract herself from him, but her eyes were always drawn back to him after a few seconds. It just proved Original Cindy's claim as had nine and a half million other things, Max was deeply in love with Logan and not just in the friends way as she repeatedly claimed.
ooOoo
…
Max had moments of clarity, they were rare but she had them. Moments she realized she might (but probably wouldn't) be able to laugh at later, though at the moment they filled her with disgust. Moments she realized Logan was steps away from being canonized, which more than filled her with disgust, there was also self-loathing, shame, a whole slew of things to make her wish she could just lock herself in a sealed vault for the rest of her life. Those were also the moments where she could stop and fully steel herself against the effects of heat, it never lasted long, that haze would start to slip over her again and well up for sainthood he would go again.
She had been in one of those moments, as she firmly held herself in place next to Logan as they watched Sketchy playing against Sky. Then she caught her approaching and the animal in Max kicked back in as it did when there was suddenly competition for her mate. Logan was hers, she wasn't about to let some skank with hair that looked like she'd just put her finger in a light socket anywhere near him.
"Asha," he smiled as she walked over and felt Max's fingers dig into his bicep at the greeting. Max had been more than vocal since meeting Asha this summer that she didn't like the girl. She'd helped her escape from the cops, but she didn't like her.
"Logan, Max," she brightly smiled stopping in front of them only slightly noticing the slight shake Logan gave his arm attempting to get Max to loosen without having to glare down at her.
"Asha what brings you here, so incredibly far away from your apartment, somehow I doubt it's the charming environment." Crash wasn't the type of place people traveled to, it was primarily a messenger bar, meant for those who worked or lived here. Max knew full well what Asha occasionally turning up here meant, just like she knew what it meant when the girl would drape herself over Logan looking at something or showing him something, same reason why she always ran to Logan with the slightest bit of trouble.
Asha tried to hold herself strong under Max's deadly gaze, Max had warped into the scariest animal there was, jealous girlfriend. That earned Max a look from Logan, which Max ignored before Asha could find the words to speak.
"My friend, Toby, he has an apartment not so far from here, I think I mentioned that the last time you asked," her words found strength since she'd seen Logan looking none too pleased at the younger girl.
"Oh that's right," Max seemingly softened, though it was just for show. Her fingers traced their way down Logan's arm, claiming him as her own, "Must've slipped my mind. How is good old Toby?" Max made a noticeable show of looking around the bar for the male she'd seen Asha with once or twice before. "Is he here?" she asked turning around.
"Uh, no I left him at his apartment looking into what we were discussing earlier this week," she said, the final words directed towards Logan.
Logan braced himself for fingers digging into his flesh again, but instead had to stutter a gasp as Max's fingers decided to trail against him provocatively as she looked up and asked, "Something I should know about?"
"Uh," he fought to hold on to his focus, "what we were talking about Monday."
"During dinner?" she asked.
"Uh no, during the news."
Max smiled in her mind seeing the other woman's face fall just the tiniest fraction as their mentions of the normal, mundane interactions. "Oh," she said as she remembered Logan's talk about how the school funding had been disappearing. "Come up with anything yet?" she asked though not at all interested.
"Not yet," Asha admitted and felt her stomach fall as Max's hand trailed down Logan's arm.
"We need more beer, it's your turn," she said as she looked up at him completely dismissing the other girl.
His attention turned to the table and sure enough the pitcher only held an inch of liquid.
"I should be going," Asha began trying to save face, "get back to work right?"
Max pouted, "Aww so soon?"
Logan refrained from rolling his eyes at Max's false words, "I'll talk to you later," Logan said finally disengaging himself from Max and didn't notice the slight drop of Asha's eyes as he didn't try to convince her to stay.
"Bye," she said with a nod as Logan turned to grab the beer and noticed Max's smirk, like the cat who'd gotten the cream, Logan of course being the cream.
Logan was oblivious though as he turned and smiled goodbye with the pitcher in his hand.
ooOoo
…
"Yo" Sketch said shaking his head, "what's going on with Max tonight?" He asked Original after Max had just slid an arm around him as he was leaning up drinking his beer before walking away after getting a harsh 'Max,' from Logan.
"Just a little lover's spat with Logan."
"So they're together?" He asked at this point just totally confused.
Original Cindy looked over to where Logan had dragged Max off to trying to talk some sense into her. "What does it look like to you?" She asked as he too watched Max and Logan fighting, Logan most likely trying to talk her into going home as he'd done throughout the night, which had definitely gotten a few interesting statements out of Max.
"Looks like Logan's got his hands full," Sketch laughed.
ooOoo
…
Original Cindy watched as she'd been doing all night. Saw one of Max's hands slide around Logan's waist as she approached him. Max wasn't a particularly tall girl, slightly above average, but the heels on her boots helped her come closer to Logan's height. She pulled herself into him with that hand and flattened her body against his, Cindy watched Logan stiffen even further, but didn't really react. Then Max rose up on her toes as she realized Logan wasn't looking down at her, that finally sparked a reaction from Logan and his hands went around her forearms and pushed back at Max trying to remove himself from her grasp. A look went through her eyes as she realized what he was doing, but it wasn't one of disgust or embarrassment, but one of pure anger. She spun and tore away from him moving across the bar.
Cindy's eyes lingered on Logan who looked stunned, then relieved, but that was quickly replaced with one of annoyance and frustration as he realized Max was no longer under his watch. Cindy's eyes watched Logan's fill with determination as he began to stride across the bar, her eyes moved ahead of him and to his target. Max already flattened up against a bar regular, Todd, a seemingly average guy more around Max's height than Logan's. Ordinary to his extraordinary, which was a big part of why she thought they belonged together, they were well suited on that front anyone else would bore them.
She watched as Logan said something to the two entwined and watched as Max ignored him. She could see the frustration grow in his eyes even across the bar; he appeared to be keeping his words and expression almost calm. Then it happened as Max's hand found its way to the back of Todd's short brown buzzed hair and her lips were almost upon his. Original Cindy watched as she was jerked away from the guy in blue plaid, by the guy wearing the casual blue fitted shirt.
Max had lurched back by the unexpected action, fallen away from Todd and towards Logan. Original Cindy had watched it all in his expression in that second, the anger, the frustration, the jealousy…She recognized it as what it was, his breaking point and saw as Max continued being pulled towards his body, watched as they met up in an angry, violent, passionate kiss.
She realized she'd been right about the combustion that would come once they finally came together as Logan's other arm roughly pulled her even closer to him. Todd was left staring at them from the background as they seemingly devoured each other in the corner of the bar.
"Whoa," Sketch said from behind her as he looked out to where she was looking, "guess you were right."
"Mmm," she nodded and continued to watch them going at it, wondering where exactly this was going to lead. Her guess was right back to his car; she doubted they'd even make it out of the parking spot.
Then she realized Max was pushing a willing Logan in the opposite direction of the door and she realized they were heading in the direction of the bathroom, ooh she felt bad for anyone that was in there just trying to take a leak.
ooOoo
…
Her mind ran through the possibilities once they crashed through the wooden door and she kicked in the heavy garbage can in front of the door knowing its weight would at least slow down whoever was trying to enter.
Her first thought went to the wall as the dream flooded her, then she realized that probably wouldn't work out well with the exo and was suddenly flooded with the desire for a bar for her to support her weight and control their movements.
But the warm body against hers prevented her from dwelling and set her mind back on its frantic thought pattern.
Floor? She thought as she thought of toppling him over and realized Logan would freak having his back connect with the dirty probably urine stained maroon tiles. Same went for the toilet. God she just wanted to…Her mind flooded with several more thoughts and sent her already overwhelming need skyrocketing.
That only left the counter, that two foot stretch of flimsy fake wood next to the sink that was showing signs of caving completely. She realized it was her only option though to end this torment and have him. So she pushed aside her thoughts of being in complete control as her other possibilities had allowed, which wasn't hard to do because her brain had almost nothing in it besides him. How desperately she needed him.
She realized she was right as her legs went around him pulling him closer after jumping up upon the counter. This would work…
They hadn't spoken in the passing minutes aside from groans of each others names, that didn't change as her hips went to move against his, as her hands slid in under his shirt, the short nails scraping along his back.
His movements were limited by the viselike grip her legs had taken at the top of his legs and her unwillingness to separate her hands from his back, not to mention his own reluctance to separate from her mouth as they continued to consume every bit of each other. His hands moved according to their own plan and found their way underneath her, not really supporting her, just aiding her movements, they apparently seemed to be working as she'd moan into his mouth and arch against him. Her nails dug into his back a few times…
It didn't satisfy her for long and it took a moment for him to realize that the sensation he was missing her hands upon his back. The shifting of her shoulders made him move away from her mouth for a second and look down as he realized her normally quick and skilled hands were struggling with his belt, but the break away from his mouth seemed to redirect her focus and the black belt finally came free. He looked back up and he caught sight of himself in the mirror just before his attention returned to her face, the dark eyes and hungry mouth. His mind kicked back into focus, remembered he'd just pulled her away from the other guy to stop her, not this.
This couldn't happen. He knew that, known it for months and his mind reacted in that split second as his hands pulled themselves out from her and he moved back, though still trapped by her legs.
She froze still leaning back looking over at him, seeing the new look in his face. Her legs instantly loosened causing him to take an unsteady step backwards before he began, "Max,-"
She didn't wait to hear what he had to say though she jumped down from the counter causing their bodies to come into contact again and pushed her way past him, kicking the garbage can out of the way as she flung open the door. Leaving him alone wondering what the hell he'd just done.
X-318: Told ya I'd include an Asha scene for you, sorry it wasn't more in depth and painful to her as I'd originally planned.
Babyangel: Haha, you were right, figured most of you would get that after I did it to you in Moving On. Oh and I don't really think you need to be saddened about idlehands 'stealing your job,' I mean come on this is your story first off (please remember I so did not want to write anymore) and Moving On would have totally died without you. You're good, trust me. I don't know about Dark Angel after these are done. Kinda think I just hit the end, inspiration is gone. I have one story idea which I don't like very much and most of my halfway other story ideas I managed to work into my other stories. I don't really think it would make sense to start another story when my heart isn't in it because there's a damn good chance I won't finish it then. Of course I could just be lying and the moment these are all done and there's nothing on tv I could easily be inspired again. Just not making any promises.