Summary: Months after Carla went to college, Logan returns to her life.
Based on the prompt: Choices August Challenge Day Twenty Five – Nature
Carla stares at Logan, taking in her every detail of his features. He looks just the same. His dark brown eyes, his nose, his slow smile, his lips, strong arms. Her bottom lip quivers. He’s really there with her. But before she could lose herself into his arms again, so many thoughts cross her mind. She needs answers.
“What the hell are you doing here?!” Carla asks, glaring at Logan, who is still holding her wrists on each side of her head on the grass.
“I missed you too,” he grins and his eyes roam down her toned body. “And I certainly missed this view.”
“Logan!” She scowls.
“Sorry,” he says releasing her wrists, then stands up and helps her to her feet.
“Why are you here?”
“I was doing a job for my cousin. And I needed to know you’re okay.”
“How long have you been here?”
He doesn’t answer.
“Logan, how long?” she hisses.
Carla glares at him then punches his chest several times. She doesn’t care if she’s doing it right or if she’s hurting him. She is just so frustrated she can’t think of anything else.
He doesn’t defend himself or tries to stop her. But as her punches get weaker, he wraps his arms around her while she sobs.
“I thought I’d never see you again.” She wails, tugging at his jacket and pulling him closer.
Logan kisses the top of her head. “That was the plan. But I had to know you were okay.”
She tilts her head up. “I am… But my dad told me someone connected to The Brotherhood might be following me.”
“I know.”
“Do you? How?”
“We can’t talk about this now. Meet me here after your last class.”
“Logan — ”
“I’ll tell you everything. But not now. You have your stuff to do and I have mine. Go. I’ll see at five right here.”
She nods. He is about to walk away when she turns back to him and hold him tightly. He lifts her chin up and presses a soft kiss on her lips. Her arms lock around his neck as the kiss deepens. They break apart slowly, still unwilling to let go of each other.
“Carla,” he murmurs as he tries not to lose himself into the moment. “You’re going to be late for class.”
“But I missed you so much…” her fingers tangle in his hair, her face just a few inches from his. “I can’t let you go,” she trails kisses over his jawline, his neck and back to his lips, earning a low groan from him. “Not again.”
Logan reluctantly pulls away and cups her face with both hands. “I’ll be here. I promise. We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Okay,” she replies.
He brushes her hair from her face and kisses her forehead. Before he walks away, she entwines her fingers with his.
“Walk me back to the dorms?”
He chuckles. “Of course.”
…
A couple of blocks from the park near to the dorms, Logan and Carla arrive at an old building. Her eyes scan across the empty lobby with antique decorated wallpaper and colorful furniture as they pass by. She squeezes his hand and hugs his arm.
“The owner is an old friend of Vaughn’s and he’s a Stanley Kubrick fan,” he comments. “I think it’s cool, but when he offered me apartment 237, I said no.”
Carla giggles. “One can never be too careful.”
“Exactly,” he smiles and leads her to the elevator.
The elevator stops on the fifth floor and he fishes out his keys to the apartment. The decoration is similar to his loft at MPC Auto Body. She smiles, feeling suddenly more at home than at her own dorms.
“Good to know it’s up to your standards,” he jokes.
“I didn’t say I liked it.”
“But I saw a smile and your shoulders relaxed once you took a quick scan,” he smirks.
“How long have you been here?”
“A month.”
Carla crosses her arms.
He sits on the couch and gestures for her to sit.
She sits on the other end of the couch.
“I didn’t plan to stay for so long. I had a job at Edmond and Vaughn’s friend offered a better price here, but I didn’t spend much time in town. When the job was done, I was about to go back to Detroit and stopped to put gas in my car and I saw you on your car speeding on route forty heading outside the city.”
“How do you know it was me?”
“Only a hand full of people have a pink 1969 Chateaux Panther XX in the south, Carla. And only one lives in Oklahoma,” he gives her a knowing look. “By the way, I hope you’re not driving that fast daily.”
“I don’t.”
“Anyway, that day I followed you to that trail where you were doing your research and saw a car following you everywhere when you returned. I confronted him right after and he ran away, but the next day there was someone else on your tail again.”
She gulps. “What am I going to do now?”
“Nothing. They’re keeping their distance for now. But you have to stay alert.”
“What if they try to attack me?”
“When they attack, we will be ready.”
“We?”
“Yes,” he affirms. “I’m not letting you here on your own knowing the Brotherhood is following you.”
“Don’t you think this is their plan? Following me and waiting for you show up to catch you? It’s what they did the last time.”
“And we were one step ahead of them.” He slides on the couch and takes her hand in his. “I can’t leave you now.”
She shifts in her seat to stare at him. “Will you leave me when we’re done with them?”
“I should…” He says, looking into her eyes, then at her lips.
She cups his face and kisses him hard. He pulls her into his lap, hands digging into her clothes, kneading her curves as she helps him out of his shirt and jeans. As their clothes hit the floor, he lies her down and buries himself into her in a fast, desperate pace. She matches his rhythm and their bodies rock together in perfect motion as they share long and deep kisses, gaze at each other and moan until they find release.
He rests his head on her chest, completely spent as she plays with his hair absentmindedly.
“Logan?”
“Yeah?”
“How are we going to do this?”
“You go back to business as usual, classes, extracurriculars, frat parties and I’ll keep my distance, but we’ll keep tabs on each other. I track your phone and your car, you track mine and I’ll check on you whenever I can.”
“But what about us?”
“We’ll work it out. We could see you every two weeks, away from here, maybe go on road trips while you do your research thing.”
“You know my ‘research thing’ takes some of my time and it’s not just gathering data, right? I have to write down the results, study, present it.”
“Hey, I helped you with your studies more than twice. Plus, I’m all in for a date in the wild, nature can be my thing too,” he jokes.
She giggles.
He lays beside her and brushes a wet strand of hair from her face. “I miss you, Carla. I can’t be okay if I’m not completely sure you’re safe and sound.”
“I miss you too,” she tightens her grip around his waist. “I don’t know how to live without you anymore,” she whispers, her lips quivering slightly.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a life before you,” he murmurs, his forehead touching hers and they kiss fervently, losing themselves in each other’s bodies once again.
