Part 22- ‘Show And Tell…’
‘Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
From the pain you drive into the heart of me
The love we share
Seems to go nowhere
I've lost my lights
I toss and turn I can't sleep at night…’
She strode purposefully down the centre of the walkway, knee high stockings, black leather short shorts and barely concealing leather top, laced all down the front, stopping just above her mid riff.
Black stilettos clicked together as she stopped halfway; pulling the brimmed hat she wore further down her head, hands encased in long leather gloves ending in long pointed sharp nails, her lips moistened and shining underneath the lights were curled into a seductive smile.
Logan had been wrong, she hadn’t turned herself into the fantasy of a dirty old man, she’d turned herself into the fantasy of a hundred dirty old men, all now with hands down their pants and practically drooling, lips hung on the edge of the stage, panting away.
His teeth gritted as she caught his gaze, layered heavily with mascara and shimmering slightly, she licked her lips as she swayed from side to side, hips punctuating every beat of the music, tongue teasingly ran along the tips of her fingers, hands blazing a path slowly down her neck, across her breasts, tapping gently across the flat of her stomach, before slowly dipping between the apex of her thighs.
She smiled and bit her lip as she sashayed to the floor, her back arching, hands running down her thighs as she balanced on her heels, spreading her knees outwards and swaying slowly.
‘You don't really want any more from me
To make things right
You need someone to hold you tight
You think love is to pray
I'm sorry I don't pray that way…’
Raising herself slowly to her feet, her head bowed she rushed the rest of the way down the stage, arms and legs wrapping effortlessly around the pole as she jumped and clung to the metal, sliding downwards slowly, the inside of her thighs rubbing down the cold hard steel.
Her legs unwrapped as she got closer to the floor, stiletto heeled shoes spinning slowly in wide circles as she finally reached the bottom. She rolled her hips, crawling to the edge of the stage, hanging from her finger tips as she gave the audience a paramount view of her cleavage.
Breasts pushed together she swung her hair from side to side before flipping on to her back, legs pushed upwards to her knees, before she spread them wide, running her fingers up her thighs she balanced her legs in the air, spread eagle and wanting.
‘Don't touch me please
I cannot stand the way you tease
I love you though you hurt me so
Now I'm going to pack my things and go
Touch me baby, tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love…’
Thrusting her hips upwards she pushed herself up to her elbows, and then braced herself on her hands, reaching for the pole she pulled herself upright and to her feet. Spinning around and around the pole, one arm grasping the metal, hips thrusting in time to the music, grinding against the pole.
She stared at his direction under hooded eyes, Logan straining to keep his anger in check, gripped the beer bottle tightly. She was still slightly in shadow, the spotlight aimed from behind the stage, blinding him slightly as he stared down the crowded room.
Gritting his teeth, he watched as she smiled, the hat obscuring her features only her glistening lips and her laughing mouth visible to him. The rest of her face overshadowed, and Logan suspected the assholes in this place weren’t exactly trying to figure out the colour of her eyes.
Still holding the pole she reached for the lace front of her top with one hand, her fingers gripping the thin straps teasingly, before a further roar from the crowd saw her pull the material away. The top fell away revealing satin sheen underwear, material silky and sensual, moving as smoothly as she did.
‘Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love…’
Dancing effortlessly to the rhythm of the music she reached for the buttons of her shorts, undoing each one slowly, she peeled the top of the material away to reveal the top of her panties, driving the crowd wild as she turned her back on them bent over at the waist and hooking her fingers in the waistband of the shorts pulled the material down.
Slowly, so slowly the shorts rubbed down her thighs, wiggling her ass she rolled the leather downwards over the stockings, leaving the shorts to pool at her feet, stepping out of them she kicked them away.
Stood now only in the hat, stockings, stilettos and underwear, the spotlight suddenly shifted to illuminate all of her and Logan was given full view of her. She had her back to the crowd still, one knee hooked up and around the pole, Logan saw her clearly for the first time or at least the back of her, above the black g-string panties, and when she turned around climbing up the pole, reaching backwards to hang upside down in a death defying pose, the hat fell away from her head and he smiled.
The two tone hair wasn’t the right colour, not streaked natural white, but red, this girl had red highlights, she may have been the same height as Marie, same build even but this wasn’t her. She didn’t have the tattoo splayed across her lower back, no bleeding skull being strangled by snakes.
Fuck, he doubted he had been more relieved of anything in his life, and almost ashamed to say horny as hell, the idea that it could have been Marie, dancing as she stared at him, the idea frustrated and thrilled him.
Something at the far end of the bar caught his eye, he half turned to look at the booth in the corner of the bar. And then he saw her, her white streaked hair, those long limbs, those beautiful legs and that tattoo. No mistake this time…Marie.
She was pushed into the corner of the booth, propped up on her elbows, her legs wrapped around a guy who had his face buried in her neck. Her short skirt was riding up about her waist; her top pushed upwards exposing her bra. She arched her back pressing her breasts up and firmly against his chest, her hands under his shirt and on the nape of his neck buried in his hair, she smiled wickedly.
And as always she could almost sense Logan’s presence in the room, she caught his gaze and her smile grew, she held his gaze even as she whispered in the ear of the man draped all over her.
The asshole in question pulled back away from her, she kissed him deeply, and he grinned and grabbed a handful of Marie’s breast before reaching for something in his back pocket. Logan watched it all, just as she wanted him to, his face grew into a darkened scowl, but she simply smiled and blew him a kiss.
He growled loudly, startling the guy who was sat drinking next to him. Logan’s claws itched, and he fought to control the urge to slice something open, the Wolverine inside screaming at him to go and spill the guts of the asshole pawing all over Marie.
Instead he took another swig of his beer, draining the bottle and sending it clattering back on the bar behind him. Logan stared as the guy removed a small plastic packet from his back pocket, Marie smiling all the while, her chocolate brown eyes glistening as he dangled the packet in front of her.
He couldn’t have been anything more than a college senior, but Logan’s rage and blood boiled all the same as the prick removed a small white tablet from the packet and placed it on Marie’s ready and waiting tongue. She swallowed and did the same for him, a small tablet placed on the base of his tongue, she closed her eyes and kissed him again, deeper this time, pushing him upwards, until he was sat upright and she was straddling his lap.
She leant in close and Logan believing he knew exactly what would come next, turned away, it practically killed him to watch her like this. But what had he expected, had he really thought she would change? He’d been wrong, all that they had been together the past few days, hadn’t changed anything about the way she saw him.
To her he was that asshole, that friend who had pushed her away when she had needed him the most, and now, now what? She hadn’t changed, stronger, tougher, as much as a bitch as she ever was, never mind that she had saved his life, down in the river, when she had pulled him from drowning, nothing had changed and it had meant nothing.
He ordered a whiskey, double and neat, growling deep in his chest, the image of her wrapping herself around that guy, practically screwing him right there in the bar was burned into his memory. He screwed his eyes tight, wanting it to die, wanting it to fade away, willing, and aching to forget.
‘Enjoy the show…?’
He opened his eyes at the soft voice, a familiar Southern lilt, her scent pervading every one of his senses until he thought he would drown in it. Drown in her; helpless just as he had been in the river, only she wasn’t saving him this time, she was slowly killing him.
Drowning with her, drowning in her, the scent of her, the soft voice tinged with all its bitterness, drowning in the images burned deep within him, flashes of memory, of her laughing, screaming at him, teasing him, killing him.
He gripped the glass tightly, hissing in a breath, he turned to her with a cold smile, ‘that depends, which show was ah supposed to be watching?’ he asked her.
Marie stared at him unflinching, ‘whichever one works for ya sugah…’ ordering her drink seven-seven straight up, and draining the glass in two quick gulps she slid the glass across the bar and towards him.
Logan caught it before it fell to the floor; he looked up at her as he fished his dog tags out of the bottom of the glass. Shoving the chain in his back pocket, he ordered another whiskey.
‘You make a habit of popping pills with strangers…?’ he asked her quietly, the anger and disappointment in his voice clear. Marie smiled, passing a hand through her hair, shaking the locks free; she then took up a straw from its holder on the bar and began to twist it around her fingers.
‘A coupla tabs of ‘E’ does not a drug habit make Logan…’ She laughed slightly as she reached for something in her boots, taking out a wallet she pulled out every last green dollar. Counting the money quickly she separated a few notes she handed it to the barman, who took it with a grin, ‘seventy- thirty…right?’
The barman nodded his agreement, pocketing the money Logan watched as he lined up another drink for the both of them and chucked the wallet into a box jokingly marked the lost and found. Another cool Molson for him, while she opted for another round of the seven-seven, Logan stared at her as she replaced her half of the money into her boots.
Turning around on his stool Logan saw the college kid being dragged out of the bar by a heavy bouncer, shouting loudly the kid claimed he had been robbed, the bouncer not caring snarled ‘you’re done kid, get the fuck outta here.’
Dragging him by the shirt he chucked the kid out on his ass, like an age old Western. Logan turned back to Marie who was laughing quietly, her shoulders shaking slightly as she enjoyed herself.
‘Dumb-ass college kids, blue blooded and rich as hell, but thick as shit. They’re so damn easy it ain’t even funny, most they’ve known of a gal is their Playboy centrefolds, their blow up dollies, or the hard on they get for their best friend’s moms.’ She shook her head, ‘Shake a pair of real tits in front of them and they’re practically drooling…’
Logan shook his head, ‘Well guess ah wouldn’t know ‘bout that…’
She laughed, ‘Nope, ya really wouldn’t.’ She turned around on her and watched as the stripper began to remover her bra, she caught Logan’s gaze and smiled, ‘She’s good isn’t she, her name’s Abby or Sunset Strip if ya can stomach anything so corny…’
He drank his beer and mumbled, ‘Yeah, well ah was half expecting ya to be up there…Stripes.’
Marie stared at him a while before she smirked, ‘Dancing, wrapping myself around a pole while a group of hands on perverts stick a couple of ten’s and twenty’s down my g-string…no thanks, too much like hard work. Ah prefer the easier gigs…’
‘What…the drugged up college kids…?’
She nodded at his remark, ‘They’re all marks Logan, every last one o’ them, easy marks, the fat bald guy who can’t get anywhere without payin’ for it, the dumb-ass college kids lookin’ for a little experience, and these assholes…’ she pointed behind her at the crowd whistling at Sunset strip as she got rid of her stockings, ‘getting’ off on watching girls strip, thinking that an easy lay with a whore makes up for the fact that their wives jus’ don’t appreciate how hard they work.’
She added the last remark with a sarcastic tone. ‘They’re pathetic, with their needs, easy marks, every single one of them.’
Logan stared at her over his bottle, ‘that why ya hopped on the happy pills, jus’ to remind yourself you’re in charge, you’re in control right Marie, they’re the marks, the john’s…the asshole’s you fuck for an easy hundred.’
Marie laughed, ‘An easy hundred huh? Logan, are ya really gonna sit there and analyse the shit out of this? The ‘E’ ain’t a regular thing; its jus’ tonight ah need to stay sharp.’
‘Yeah…why’s that?’ He asked her, not entirely convinced. She picked up her glass and twirled the liquor around and around. Her words came in hushed tones he strained to hear.
‘Ya brought along some not too friendly ghosts with ya…they followed ya here Logan.’ She was referring to the soldiers, the ghosts they’d struggled to shake off the past week. He shook his head, he’d been careful, it was impossible he’d checked and double checked, there had been no-one there, no one following, she had got it wrong, she just had to have it wrong.
‘Shit…’ he stared at her, ‘I called Eddie, thought I’d been doing the right thing, buying us some time. They must have figured it out…I let them trace the call, made one set of tracks and doubled back…shit…’
She leaned closer and smiled at him, ‘Don’t worry ‘bout it, it wasn’t somethin’ ya did Logan, it was me, ah did it.’
‘What are you sayin’?’ he turned to face her fully the gap between them closing to mere inches. She sat there unmoved.
‘Ah made sure they’d follow ya, ah needed the time to make sure ah was ready…ah needed ya to bring them to me.’ She explained, but every word seemed to confuse him all the more.
‘You made sure…?’ he asked, ‘how...?’
‘They weren’t jus’ tracing your call Logan…and they weren’t jus’ trackin’ the car. Think ‘bout it, things happen to cars, they fall off bridges, they break down, they get abandoned, nope it wasn’t the Buick Logan, think….’ She insisted, ‘what else did Eddie give ya, ‘sides from the car?’
He thought about it, hard and fast, thinking back to the time in Eddie’s garage, seeing in his mind’s eye, seeing Eddie throw him the car keys, and what else? The money…and the ID cards…
He stared at her his eyes wide, reaching for his back pocket he pulled out his wallet, rooting frantically inside he took out the ID cards and threw them onto the bar…pieces of plastic that suddenly spelled a shit load of trouble.
‘What did ya do Marie…?’ His voice bespoke all the anger and frustration he felt, at her, at himself and towards the whole fucked up situation. She didn’t answer him, instead she reached across the bar, gesturing to the barman she called out to him to hand her the knife he used to cut up the lemons for the margaritas.
She caught it easily by the handle, turning the knife around she used the point of the blade. Pushing it into the corner of one of the ID cards she slid it between the two sheets of thin plastic, moving the knife slowly, gently backwards and forwards she carefully peeled the ID card apart.
And there it was, an electronic chip, so small and easily concealed and clearly hi-tech. She held the card up for him giving him a clear view of both the chip and the cold smile she wore. ‘Boys and their toys…’ she stated.
‘You knew…and you set me up?’ It was a question he wished would have a different answer than the one he was going to hear.
She nodded, ‘Ah knew…’
He didn’t wait for her to finish, ‘Ya used me as bait?’ he spat at her. ‘That crap ‘bout letting them think ya were dead, ya fed me a line?’
She shrugged her shoulders, ‘If it’s any consolation you look so pretty in a trap…’
He hated her, fuck how he hated her then, stupid mistake, to trust her, all the pain she was willing to put them both through, the sick games she was playing, fuck, he should have seen through it. When she’d insisted she needed to go alone, the lies she’d told him and he’d gone out of his way to believe her, wanting, aching to believe that she needed him.
He almost reached for her throat then; she smiled as his hands flexed, claws itching to wipe that smirk off her face, for the first time in his life seriously contemplating violence against her, Marie…just not his little Marie anymore.
Instead he settled for cursing at her, ‘You’re a cold hearted bitch Marie…’
‘Course ah am Logan…but hey, ah learned from the best, ya weren’t always so kind yourself…’ she whispered in his ear. She got up and turned to walk away. ‘Ah gotta go use the bathroom…stick around, tonight’s gonna be interesting.’
She stared at her reflection in the mirror, mascara brimmed eyes staring back at her, adrenaline coursed through her veins, the last two days anticipating almost itching for a fight.
It had worked perfectly, her plan, bringing him here, still she couldn’t shake the image of Logan’s hurt and disappointment, ‘You’re a cold hearted bitch Marie…’ she whispered to herself.
‘Damn right kid…but ain’t nothin’ to regret in that, ya done good, jus’ a little bit longer, least Logan knows where he stands now...’
Turning on the cold tap she took a few quick gulps of water, she splashed some water on her face, smudging and scrubbing away at the make-up with a few paper towels she had grabbed from the dispenser.
Splashing her face one more time, she felt the cold liquid hitting her and cooling her burning skin and the pleasant buzz slowly building in her mind as the drugs and alcohol took their effect.
Raising her face slowly from the sink she watched out of the corner of her eye as another woman entered the bathroom, high heels and short skirt, she clutched her bag tightly, teetering slightly on her heels, she flashed Marie a big grin, red lipstick lips parting to show a set of sparkling teeth.
Marie offered a slight smile in return, watching the woman’s reflection in the mirror as she made her way down the stalls, something unnerved her, all sorts of alarm bells went off, there was something different, something she was unable to place about this particular bar fly.
The whispers in her mind went into overdrive… She was too quick to smile, too ready to make sure ya didn’t see her as a threat…big mistake darlin’…’
Marie smiled, eyes set hard as she watched the woman turn around and reach for something in that handbag of hers, eyes unwavering as she caught the sight of the muzzle of a gun…
Go get her kid…’
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Author's Chapter Notes:
A stripper, a Marilyn Manson song and casual drug use...and they said I'd never make the model citizen...ha!