“Oh, fuck…” Logan grunted suddenly.
“What now?” Marie asked. Logan pointed at the windshield.
“It’s starting to rain…”
“Oh, fuck…”
They had been making good progress; they were only hour’s way from home. There lied the problem. Ten minutes would be long enough to turn the road to a puddle of mud. An hour would be long enough to make whole desert to a giant puddle of mud and quicksand.
“Step on it! Closer we get, better chances we got!” Logan growled.
“No shit? I was just thinking we could stop and admire the view…”
“Marie…” There was a warning tone in Logan’s voice. Don’t-fuck-with-me –tone.
“You think this is the first time this has happened to me? This happens fucking every year! We’ll be fine!” Marie said.
“This baby of yours isn’t exactly lightweight anymore! It’s slower and heavier than it was last year! If you don’t find a steady ground soon, it’ll start to sink, no matter how fast you drive!”
“I didn’t ask you to make this fat!” Marie screeched, realizing how absurd it sounded when Logan barked out a nervous laughter.
“You didn’t ask. Period. Let’s switch places. Come on,” he grunted, pulling her off from the driver’s seat and taking the wheel. It took couple of seconds fumbling and adjusting, but soon they both sat comfortably, she on the passenger’s side, feet propped against the dashboard, and Logan driving. He flipped open the radar and flicked few switches. Strange-looking wavy lines filled the small screen.
“See this?” Logan asked, pointing a red line that was much thicker than other lines. She nodded.
“It’s this road. As long as it stays red, we’re good to go. As soon as it starts to fade, we’re screwed. Or at least this truck is…”
“But it looks like we got lucky…” He muttered more to himself than to Marie and steered the truck suddenly off-road.
“Are you fucking nuts!” Marie screamed, waiting for the inevitable. Soon the truck would stop and it would start sinking. It wasn’t raining anymore. Water was practically flowing from the sky in a steady stream. She was sure she would drown if she would have to go outside.
“Yeah, I am. What’s your excuse?” Logan asked, swatting her hands away when she tried to grasp the steering wheel. Any time now… Truck was rocking and jerking. Logan’s knuckles had turned nearly bone-white, and he kept his eyes fixed forward, peering through the flood that covered the windshield. Truck was sinking and sliding, but he kept pushing on. Suddenly there was a jolt, and the truck lurched forward. Logan stopped and turned off the engine.
“What are you doing?” Marie asked.
“We’ll wait here. There’s a rock formation under us. It’ll keep us on top of this shit. It’ll stop raining soon enough, then we just have to wait few hours more and we can drive home. Or we can ditch the truck and walk. I’d prefer waiting. Hate to get wet…” Logan leaned his back against the door, lifted his feet to the dashboard and closed his eyes, crossing his hands over his chest.
“That’s it? We just sit here and wait?” Marie asked.
“Yep.”
“You do realize this might take a while?” Marie asked.
“Yep.”
“Well, at least bandits won’t try anything in this weather…”
“Always look on the bright side…”
“It has been two hours.”
“Yep.”
“It’s still raining.”
“Yep.”
“You’re still sleeping?”
“Yep.”
“Are you even listening?”
“Yep.”
“I was thinking I could move in to the settlement and become a stripper.”
“Good for you.”
“You think so?”
“Yep. It’s safer place to live than out here by yourself. But a stripper? You sure you want to do that?” Logan asked, opening his eyes. Marie lifted her chin.
“Think I’m not up to it?”
“I know you’re up to it. You have better-looking body than most of the dancers I have seen. But that’s not my point…”
“Oh, you mean the scars… Yeah. I can see why they would be reluctant to hire me as a dancer…”
“Didn’t we talk this through once already? There’s nothing wrong with the way you look. Nobody would look you twice… Fuck, scratch that. They would look. They would drool. They would want to get their paws on you. Would you be ready for that? Different men with different hands, every fucking night? Groping and grasping…” Shiver run down her spine and a knowing look flashed in Logan’s eyes.
“Didn’t think so. Do what you do the best. What ever it is that you do.”
“I have been making clothes. Now that Sam’s leaving… I don’t think it’s possible anymore.”
“Why not?”
“I need leather and pelts. Sam’s been hunting. I don’t have time to hunt and sew. And if I move in to settlement, there won’t be much to hunt around…”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Logan, no. Sam needs to live his own life. He can’t have that if he stays with me. He’s a grown man. If we lived at the settlement, he would probably have a family of his own by now. Wife, few kids… I would be a grandma.”
“Is that what you want? Would it be good for you?” Logan asked. Marie nodded.
“Have you talked with Sam about it?”
“Since when did you become this touchy-feely?” Marie asked, trying to distract him. Logan snorted.
“Touchy-feely? You have a problem. I’m trying to help you to solve it. Since you said it wouldn’t be a good idea to break the brat, I’ll have to figure out something else.”
“I have a problem. I have to solve it. Not you. Sam’s my son.”
“Sam’s our son. I haven’t been much of a father to him, but I’m responsible, too. As much as I would like to strangle him myself, the idea of him joining to the Army gives me the creeps. It’s not a life. No matter how different the situation is now than it was before, one thing’s always the same. People die. I may be a selfish bastard, but I think that we have given them enough already.”
“Where the fuck were you week ago?” Marie huffed.
“Drunk or fighting.”
“Yeah. A week ago, hell, a month ago, all these years that I have fought with Sam over this, that’s exactly what I have been thinking; haven’t I given enough to this world already? Now that I finally managed to push past that phase, you waltz in and spit it back at my face? Thanks a bunch!”
An hour later it was still raining. Marie was staring out, still fuming silently. Logan had just shrugged his shoulders after her outburst and gone back to sleep. At least he looked like he was sleeping, chest rising and falling in steady rhythm; eyes closed and almost relaxed look on his face. Slight tremble went through his body, and he opened his eyes halfway before muttering something and settling back to sleep, curling his arms tighter around his sides.
“Asshole,” Marie whispered, gazing him from the corner of her eye. He didn’t have the right to meddle with her life. Oh, it would be so easy to step back and let him take care of everything. It would be so fucking easy, and he would do it, and everything would be okay. Because he knew how to make things work. But she hadn’t busted her back over these years just to handle him the reigns of her life when he showed up. And why the hell did he even bother to try to act like a responsible parent and a friend? He had practically kidnapped her and Sam after the match in the arena, only promising to help her out with the truck and leave after it was finished. It sure didn’t look like he was going to honor his word.
She was stuck with him.
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