No one other than the waitress dared to approach Marie after that, which she was thankful for, she was almost too afraid to risk drinking her new drink despite that. When Logan's last break rolled around, he made a show of favouring one side, where he had been taking most of his hits that night, and gingerly stretching. If Marie didn't know better, she'd have thought he was really sore.
When he got back in the cage there were only three challengers left, Marie watched as he toyed with the first one for a good twenty minutes before finally laying him out. As the second entered the cage she couldn't help the sudden flicker of fear as she watched him move, something was wrong, Logan seemed to sense it too and began to move more cautiously. A shout of surprise went through the room when the challenger swung a sudden punch low towards Logan’s gut, when he withdrew, a short knife handle was visible in Logan's side and blood was running down into the waistband of his jeans.
Immediately the challenger was removed from the cage, receiving several punches and kicks from the audience as he was turfed outside. Several patrons followed him out, no doubt to give him a harder beating. Marie moved to the cage as Logan stood there, swearing profusely, blood trickling from the wound.
"Can you fight the next round?" the MC asked, eyeing the knife. "You got to forfeit if you can't fight it," he added.
"Fuck," Logan swore again, "I know, can you give me ten minutes, and a first aid kit?"
"Sure, use the backroom," the MC said, as the waitress appeared with a first aid kit.
"Give me a hand Marie," Logan mumbled, as he walked past where Marie was standing, grabbing her by her elbow and pulling her into a dark back room, shutting the door after them.
"God damn cheating fuckers!” Logan swore once they were alone. “Grab the gauze Marie, and a wound pad," he gestured toward the first aid supplies.
"But Logan don't you..." she started to ask.
"Yeah darlin, I do, but I got to make it look convincing that I just got knifed," he answered her unfinished question with a grin. "Wrap the gauze around, a couple of rotations below the knife and a couple above... perfect kid, now give me the pad... actually, unspool some of that suture thread too, and pass me a needle."
She watched as Logan bloodied the needle at the edge of the wound, and cut off a short length of thread, bloodying that too, he discarded them in a medical waste bag, before moving on to removing the knife. He held the wound pad against the knife and quickly pulled the knife out, letting blood run and soak into the wound pad as the wound knit itself back together.
Marie's stood there, mouth open in shock as she watched the wound close, Logan winked at her.
"Shh, don't tell," he commented, as he placed the bloodied wound pad where the now non-existent wound had been. He slid the gauze wrap securely over it, before taking a second length of gauze and adding that too. He then indicated for her to pass the antiseptic and a sterile cloth and he wiped off all the blood outside of the bandages.
Just then a knock sounded at the door behind them. "Five minutes," the MC called through the flimsy wood.
"We're coming, we're coming," Marie called back.
"I told you darlin, you're a natural," Logan chuckled, "Chuck everything back in, don't worry about making it neat, they can fix it themselves later, should have actually checked these fuckers for weapons like they're supposed to."
Marie quickly shut the first aid case and moved across the room, opening the door for Logan, who played up the supposed injury well. Favouring his side even more, he quickly moved over to the cage where the last opponent of the night was waiting, a dangerous sneer on his face.
"Has this one been checked for weapons?" Logan growled at the MC, making his anger at their first two fuck ups clear.
"Yeah, yeah, we double checked as he was going in," he assured them.
The waitress came over and collected the medical supplies as Marie took her seat again, handing over her drink too, there was no way she was going to drink it after it had been sitting out here unattended. She watched as the final fight of the night started, noting the challenger was speaking but so quietly she couldn't hear what he said, Logan on the other hand could obviously hear clearly, if the thunderous look on his face was anything to go by.
--
Logan sized up the final challenger, he would put money on the fact that he was friends with the fucker with the knife, he was going to enjoy smacking the shit out of this one. It wasn't until he opened his mouth though that he went up in the pain stakes from 'knock him around enough to hurt tomorrow', to 'one step before deaths door'.
"That's a sweet little piece of ass you got there," the bigger man taunted, "Gonna enjoy taking her for a ride after, don't worry, I'll let you watch. Tell me, she a screamer, she looks like a screamer, the pretty young ones tend to be, we can always give that knife another work out though, if she needs some motivation."
"You talk too much," Logan growled, a snarl on his lips as the MC started the round. He didn't give the asshole time to think before he buried his fist in his face, hard enough to snap his head back into the wall of the cage. As the body rebounded Logan drove two more blows in his direction, one to the ribs, the second to the gut, before the unconscious man’s body began to drop. As soon as he hit the floor Logan added a boot to the ribs before the MC could call an end to the round, listening for the satisfying sound of bones crunching.
Marie was watching, concerned, as Logan moved out of the cage toward her. "What did he say?" she asked, as soon as he was within earshot.
"Nothing darlin," he dismissed the question, and indicated for her to make a show of helping him put his shirts back on.
"Don't lie Logan, I saw him talking, and I know you heard what he said... it was about me, wasn't it," she said after a moment.
"He was just shooting his mouth off darlin, yes, he said stuff about you, I dealt with it," Logan stated.
"Is he going to live?" Marie asked after a moment.
Hearing a slight hitch in her voice Logan turned to Marie and was surprised to see amusement in her eyes, rather than the fear he'd expected. Logan's lip twitched as he tried not to smile. “Unfortunately, he'll be fine, in six to eight weeks," he replied with a shrug.
Logan collected his winnings, plus a small bonus for the inconvenience of getting stabbed, and they headed back to the motel for the night. It wasn't until they got back inside that Logan remembered, the only room they had been able to get only had one bed.
"You take the bed kid, I'll take the couch," Logan said, as he began removing clothes so he could get the bloody bandages off.
"Like hell," Marie replied, "No way am I going to make the man who just got stabbed sleep on the couch, you take the bed I'll take the couch."
"Don't argue Marie, I'm not sleeping in the bed and leaving you on the couch."
"Well I guess we're both sleeping on the couch then," Marie sassed, "Though I think us both sleeping in the bed would be more comfortable, don't you?"
Logan was walking across the room intent on a hot shower when her comment hit him, it took a moment for him to realise, he had just been played by a sixteen-year-old. "You sneaky little bitch," he commented, trying not to laugh. Marie just grinned, as she waved him off to the bathroom while she pulled out her pyjamas.
By the time Logan emerged from the shower, Marie was in bed, and the lights were turned off. He considered doing the honourable thing, and just laying down on the couch, when Marie called out from the bed, "Don't even think about it Logan, get over here." Dragging himself into the bed, dressed only in a pair of sweatpants he was pleased to note Marie stayed on her side of the bed. He planned to only stay long enough for her to fall asleep but she was still awake when his eyes closed and his breathing evened out.
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