Part 1- ‘All Night Long…’
They say it’s not the fucked up things in life that should have you worried, it’s when the fucked up things start making sense that you should be worried.
Guess Logan should have been pretty worried when the sight of her long legs making their way across the dirty bar floor had him turned on in an instant, he was distracted enough by the sudden tension in his entire body to miss the punch the ox opposite him threw, he rolled with it and the hit barely registered.
It was brawl night at the bar and Logan was only part way through his nightly ritual, get drunk, fuck and fight. With his healing factor because getting drunk proved a bitch, he took extra pleasure in the rest.
He should have known they’d end up in the same place sometime or other. He was as much in her head as she was in his. He watched her intently as she hitched up her shirt above her waist and tied it into a knot just above her stomach, the skirt is pulled just a little lower, and she takes the band out of her hair shaking the ponytail loose.
Logan took a long drag from his beer, watching all the time, willing she’d turn around and look at him and at the same time hoping to God she didn’t, she freezes, the sensation of eyes boring into her back registering at last, she turned to look directly at him. The white bangs of her hair fall across her eyes and she almost drops the tray of drinks she’s holding.
There’s a fine sheen of sweat over the top half of his naked body, it ran down his chest, moving gently over the ripples of his stomach, showing each muscle off beautifully. Her eyes took in every inch of him, from his mussed up hair, his hand entwined in the wires of the cage to his bare feet, then her eyes fleet for the briefest second to the spot behind him before she smiled slightly and turned to walk away.
Logan’s grip on the steel wire cage tightens and he grits his teeth, dammit girl, ya know I hate it when you walk away from me. Except the times when I pushed you away, yeah you got a right to be pissed, but what the hell are you doin’ here, in a shit-hole like this?
And he knew why she’d smiled, but he’d heard the guy coming a mile away there was no way he was gonna be caught off guard again, Logan put him down with a swift punch to the gut and another to the face, before picking up his drink and walking out the cage to the sound of being declared a winner and the jeers of the audience.
A half hour later he was propping up the bar, cigar in one hand, beer in the other watching her as she moved through the crowd. Strange how they’d ended up the same way, finding her in a bar after a fight, but it was different this time, a year after the cure, months since she’d left the academy and months of trying to convince himself that he hadn’t missed her.
Truth was he’d long felt something for her, when he’d first seen her as a scared mutant kid, to their last minutes together that night she’d approached him and given him one last chance to do something about it.
But he’d fucked that up, just like he fucked up everything that mattered, he hadn’t needed the hassle, he was a walking train wreck when she’d met him and worse by the time she’d packed her bags five months ago.
He’d told her they’d both do so much better if she walked away, she’d feel so much better, managed to convince her and himself that he’d loved Jean, and for a while he hadn’t felt such a piece of crap ‘cause he’d done the right thing.
Transferring all his attention to Jean had been so much easier; she was the right age, the right side of sane and enough together for both of them. He’d needed that, something normal, something simple. And apart from the fact Jean had pretty much shot him down every time he’d approached her and aside from Scooter, it had felt pretty normal.
And then even that had been shot to shit, the Professor was dead, Scooter was dead and Jean…he’d killed Jean. Marie left soon after that, packed her bags and left in the middle of the night, he’d watched her close the gate behind her and couldn’t deny the fact that he was just a little bit glad thinking maybe she’d gone for good.
No more complications for him, he’d done the right thing, turning her down, pushing her away, telling her he didn’t need this, and to just forget ‘bout it, ‘cause it wasn’t gonna happen.
But he’d been lying and she knew it, a damn coward she’d called him, making sure he knew that if she left now it was forever.
Now here she was, the cure giving her the freedom to show off as much skin as she liked and too much for Logan’s liking. He’d seen the ways the guys in this place leered at her, he’d seen the way she reacted to it, knowing all the while it pissed him off all the more.
Marie knew his eyes followed her around the room, took in every inch of her as she bent and leaned, and she hoped the bastard got off on it ‘cause that’s all he was gonna get. Just look Logan, ‘cause believe me there ain’t no way in hell you’re gonna get to touch.
She’d convinced herself that she’d forgotten about the Academy and more importantly that she’d forgotten all about Logan. She had felt so much better; walking out of those gates, convinced that she wasn’t wrong and pretty soon he’d miss her like crazy. And when he did she’d be long gone, and forever just like she’d promised him.
If Logan hadn’t wanted her, and the Academy no longer needed her, she wasn’t gonna stick around, that world wasn’t hers anymore, she’d forget about that life and go somewhere they would want her. It was gonna be so much better, and she’d be glad she’d disappeared.
And that’s how she’d ended up here, at Starkey’s, a remote bar the far end of the Canadian border, she’d never thought he’d turn up here as well, he hadn’t come looking for her, she knew it was all a matter of coincidence…damn coincidence.
Marie didn’t need this and she sure as hell didn’t need him, so she served her drinks and flirted with the customers knowing just how much it was churning him up. ‘Fuck you Logan…’
Logan ordered another beer; draining more than half of it one cool drag, the barman clearly impressed hovered by Logan’s end of the bar pretending to clean glasses but actually waiting to see when this guy would drop. He’d had enough heavy drinkers prop up the bar, but the last time he’d seen someone drink as much as Logan, he’d seen them carried off in an ambulance. An ambulance he had called.
‘Hey…’ Logan called out to him, ‘how long has she been here?’ he nodded over to Marie’s direction.
‘Marie? Not long, coupla months, sweet kid just not the most reliable girl; this is the first I’ve seen of her in over three days.’
Logan’s eyes narrowed and he looked back towards Marie, closer this time, ‘Three days? But she’s still here.’
The barman shrugged, ‘anyone else and the boss’d have fired their ass by now but she’s turned out to be the best thing for this place.’
‘How’s that?’ Logan was still looking at her, still wondering.
‘Look at her, half the guys in this place just keep comin’ in on the off-chance she’s working, she’d take most of them in a fight and the rest she’d drink under the table, plus come on man…she’s got that killer rack.’
He trailed off at that, seeing the way Logan had turned to look at him he’d clearly crossed the line, and he’d seen the way Logan fought, he went back to cleaning his glasses at the other end of the bar.
She’d changed, couple months ago she’d never have the guts to dress the way she was now, knee-high black go-go boots, short skirt, and a shirt deliberately hitched up. And she’d cut her hair, it was shorter now, falling to just above her shoulders, she had kept the white bangs, for some reason she’d decided against cutting them out.
And over the last few months she’d felt so much better than she’d ever done, so much more alive. She smiled slyly to herself as she served drinks to a bunch of roughnecks. This was her sort of crowd; yeah she liked the quiet ones, the ones just glad to be served, who tipped extra to be served by a pretty face.
But the bunch of guys sat around the table she was now serving had paunch bellies, greasy shirts and god-awful trucker hats, and more often than not they turned out to be mean drunks. Good enough for her, her sort of people, fucked-up, lonely and pissed off at the world.
It was then that she felt a hand on her inner leg, it snaked upwards, past her knee and heading for her thigh, coolly placing the last bottle on the table she grabbed the hand and pushed it away.
She looked at the guy with a sweet smile, he sniggered at her, leaning close she spoke low and quiet, ‘Look mister keep ya hand to yerself, or you’re gonna lose it.’ She warned him, but he still laughed and instead of doing as he was told shoved his hand right up her skirt.
Marie sighed and tilted her head to one side, holding the drinks tray in one hand she smacked him square in the face with it, she put all her weight behind that swing and was rewarded with a satisfying crunch as she broke his nose. He fell backwards clutching his face, Marie placed her heeled boot in the hollow of his throat and pressed down choking him.
Taking his arm she twisted in one direction and grabbing the hand he had touched her with twisted in the opposite direction; she used her leg on his neck as leverage and bent the hand backwards above the wrist, until that inevitable snap.
Logan heard the screaming pretty much as soon as everyone else in the bar did, he saw Marie, his little Marie take down a man more than twice her size and he couldn’t help but be proud, he smiled slyly to himself, he’d taught her that move. Glad to see she hadn’t forgotten everything.
‘That happen a lot?’ He asked the young barman; whose name he had since learned was Joe. He was still cleaning his glasses, watching Marie as she dusted herself down and went back to collecting empty glasses.
‘Marie can handle herself, like I said she could take half the guys here, everyone knows you don’t touch Marie unless she wants you to.’ It seemed like a warning he had issued before.
Logan shook his head, damn right, nobody touches Marie. ‘Ya know she’s underage right?’
Joe looked at him suspiciously, he leaned close, ‘Hey she didn’t say and we didn’t ask, that’s the way things work around here, not a cop are you?’
Logan threw him a look as if to say, do I look like a cop?
And then Logan saw something that was a punch to the guts. He saw Marie walk over to a guy sat in the corner; she stood in front of him for a while before she leaned closer and whispered something in his ear.
His reaction was to pull her into his arms and Logan had half expected Marie to give him the same treatment she had offered the last asshole, but she didn’t she settled comfortably in his lap and pushing his hat back kissed him. More than that she began to move in his lap, grinding her hips against his groin, and rising up and down, doing her own little lap dance just for him.
They stood up like this, his hands under her ass holding her flush against his chest, before making their way towards the door and out the bar.
‘That happens a lot too…’ was all Joe got to say before Logan got up and followed Marie out.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
My first fan-fic for this site. Logan pushed Marie away just when she needed him the most, now he's back for a second chance, but since she's not in the habit of forgiving and he's too proud to beg...