Kings Among Runaways - Chapter Eight (Logan/Veronica) PG-13
Title: Kings Among Runaways
Author: Tina
Word Count: 27,662 so far
Rating: PG-13 to R
Characters: Logan / Veronica
Summary: Pre-series. Even if Lilly had lived, things still would’ve been screwy.
Spoilers / Warnings: Set pre-season, but references to first season are fair game.
AN: Hearts to taken_with_you for the beta!
Disclaimer: Not mine. I’d probably break it.
Previous Chapters
Chapter Eight
“What did your dad say to you?” Logan asked, for what seemed like the hundredth time. He pulled the Xterra up a few driveways from Madison’s and killed the engine. When Veronica reached for her handle, he tapped the door lock, trapping her.
Veronica sighed, her hand lying tacitly on the handle. “I just want to have fun tonight,” she said softly. “I don’t want to have to talk about it. I don’t want to have to think about it.” Veronica lifted the lock and climbed out of the car. Logan scrambled after her, easily matching her short, quick strides.
“Fine,” he conceded. “But don’t just disappear if you’re going to party like this. At least stay close.” Not that he thought that anyone would be stupid enough to do anything if Veronica said no, but someone might push harder if she were alone, especially since she wasn’t speaking to Lilly.
Her eyes darkened. “I don’t need a bodyguard.” And when Madison’s door opened a moment later, she disappeared into a crowd of half-drunken teenagers.
. . .
“Dude!” Dick stumbled toward Logan, narrowly avoiding an end table. “Déjà voodoo, man.” He slung his arm over Logan’s shoulder.
“Dick, you smell like a hobo. Get off me.”
“Man, what’s with you guys trying to bring back tights? Fucking ridiculous.” Dick shook his head, slouching against the wall. “No way, man. I’m so not feeling that.”
Logan shook his head. “Alright, Dick. Great. Have you seen Veronica?”
Dick made an impressive attempt at looking stricken. “Yeah. She’s at this awesome party that you’re totally missing.” Dick clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go get you a drink. Vee’s probably wherever the booze is anyway. Damn, I did not know that Snow White could take a shot like that.”
Logan felt his stomach drop as he followed Dick toward the kitchen. Since they’d gotten to the party, Logan had only managed to catch Veronica twice, and both times she had quickly slipped away from him.
He could not understand how she was evading him so successfully. From what he kept hearing, Veronica could barely stand upright.
The kitchen was, not surprisingly, void of Veronica, but Duncan quickly spotted Logan and made his way over.
“Dude, I am not drunk enough to be seeing double,” Dick said, glancing from Logan and Duncan, then down to his drink. “Fuck, man, what the hell did I take?” Dick wandered back toward the living room without waiting for an answer.
“What the hell?” Logan asked, looking over Duncan’s very similar Peter Pan outfit. “I told you that Veronica and I were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. You couldn’t come up with your own costume, DK?”
Duncan seemed genuinely surprised at Logan’s comment. “Lilly didn’t tell you?” At Logan’s blank expression, he continued. “I’m getting back with Veronica, so I thought I’d cut in on your costume so we’d match. Lilly was supposed to tell you.”
“Did you clue Veronica in on this plan?” Logan snapped. Duncan’s smile began to ebb at the tone in Logan’s voice.
“Not yet,” Duncan told him. “I wanted it to be a surprise, and I haven’t found her yet.”
“And you think she’s just going to go for this?”
“What the hell’s your problem?” Duncan asked. “Look, it was nice that you looked out for her and whatever, but everything’s all sorted out now. Everything can go back to normal. She doesn’t need you to be her watchdog anymore.”
“You think I was just babysitting her for you?” Logan shook his head, only then realizing that they had a growing audience. “Whatever.” His fists were clenched at his sides, and he was visibly trying to restrain himself. “Look, she’s had a bad night tonight. Why don’t you just wait until later?”
Duncan scoffed. “Who are you to tell me about Veronica?” He took a step closer, and Logan could tell that this could go bad very, very quickly. “You think you know her. Whatever. She loves me. So you can just back off now, Logan. She won’t need you anymore.”
Logan shook his head. “She came looking for me, DK, because you wouldn’t give her the time of day. I didn’t go looking to be her bodyguard.”
“There were things going on. It’s all been sorted out now.”
“Did you ever clue her into those things?”
“This isn’t any of your business.”
“Veronica brought me into this. I’ll step out when she tells me to.”
Then he turned and left the kitchen.
. . .
Veronica was lying on a lounge chair beside the pool, debating whether or not she could make it back inside. Several people were in the pool and the hot tub, but only a few people were actually just sitting outside. The steam from the hot tub made it slightly more bearable, but the light breeze was quickly reducing Veronica to shivers.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of green, and her face broke into a small smile.
“Logan,” she cooed. “I knew you’d find me.” She opened her arms. “I’m cold. Take me inside?” She blinked as the figure got closer, tilting her head slowly. “No. You aren’t Logan.” She dropped her feet to the side of the lounge as Duncan sat down.
“No, I’m not. Hi, Veronica.” He rested his hand on her knee, and her eyes slowly followed the movement.
“Duncan?” She blinked again, shaking her head. “But you don’t talk to me anymore.” She looked back at the hand on her knee, and Duncan squeezed gently.
“That was just… well, it’s over now,” he told her. “So we can just… we can go back to how things were.”
She sat up a little straighter. “What are you talking about?”
“You and me, Veronica,” Duncan explained. “It’s supposed to be you and me.”
“Why did you dump me, Duncan?” Her voice was soft, her eyes still trained on her knee. “What did I do?”
“It wasn’t you, Veronica,” Duncan assured her patiently. “It was never you.”
“What was it? What happened?”
“You’re not going to remember any of this in the morning, are you?”
“Damn it, Duncan, stop it.” She pushed his hand off her knee, and Duncan’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t just drop me and pick me up and pretend like nothing happened in between. I’m not just a doll for you to play with whenever you like.”
“Veronica, you’re everything to me.”
“I don’t want a pop song, Duncan.” Her voice was nearly a screech now, and people in the hot tub were starting to pay attention. “I want to know what made you treat me like a leper.”
“Did Logan tell you to do this?” Duncan asked, his voice low and restrained. “Is that what’s going on?”
“Logan doesn’t have anything to do with this.” The adrenaline of the fight and the alcohol were making Veronica feel more than a little light-headed, and she was starting to wonder if she was even going to make it through the conversation. “This is about me and you and whatever the hell is going on here. What happened?”
“It was…” Duncan shook his head. “You don’t want to know, Veronica.”
“This is how you all treat me,” she bit back accusingly, somehow managing to get to her feet without falling. “Like I’m some porcelain doll that you have to protect. But that’s not going to work this time, Duncan. You can’t just…” Veronica swayed, losing her words in the motion. “No.”
“Veronica - ”
“Tell me what happened!” Her voice was dark and menacing in a way that Duncan had never heard before. “Tell me what was so awful it could make you completely forget my existence.”
“You don’t want to know,” he pleaded.
Her fist connected solidly with his chest, but she stumbled more from the force than he did. Closing her eyes, she regained her balance, shaking off Duncan’s hands when he attempted to help. “Damn it, Duncan, I want to know, and if you can’t tell me… if you can’t tell me, then this is it. We’re through. And just… you can just keep forgetting that I exist.”
She’d managed to turn herself around and find the outline of the back door when he spoke.
“I thought you were my sister.”
She spun back around so quickly that yard and lights around her kept spinning even after she was sure she had stopped. Duncan’s hand on her arm was even less welcome, though, than it had been before. “What?” she sputtered, pushing him back again.
“You mom and… my dad,” he explained. “My mom told me. She said it had been…” He took a breath. “For a while. But Lilly did the paternity test, and it isn’t true. We’re not…” He swallowed. “So it’s okay.”
“It’s okay?!” Veronica stumbled back from him, caught between tears and nausea. “Oh my God, and Lilly knew.” Duncan reached for her again, but she brushed him off.
“Veronica, are you alright?” He stepped closer again, and she stumbled back towards the door.
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
. . .
Logan finally found Veronica curled up in the empty hallway at the top of the stairwell. He assumed that she had passed out, but as he got closer, he saw that her shoulders were shaking. Muffled in her arm, he didn’t hear her crying until he was practically on top of her.
She jumped when he laid his hand on her back, drawing her knees closer for protection. “Veronica?” he asked, suddenly overcome with concern. At the sound of his voice, she propelled herself into his arms, nearly knocking him backwards. Her tears almost instantly soaked through the shoulder of his shirt, and for a stunned moment, all he could do was stand there.
When his arms finally came around her, her sobs started to calm, and he swung her up into his arms. “I think it’s time I took you home.”
Instantly her body went rigid. “No.” Her arms around his neck had tightened, and her whole body was practically glued to him. Somehow, through the whiskey and tequila that seemed to radiate from her, he could still smell the light vanilla spray she always wore. “Don’t take me back there.”
“Veronica.” Logan’s hand smoothed down her back, running gently across her bare shoulders. “Veronica, did something happen? Are you okay?”
Her response was the softest whisper in his ear. “Please don’t leave me alone.”
He nodded gruffly, already making lists of possibly contributors to her current condition and planning the appropriate retribution.
Duncan was the number one - and only - suspect.
Distracted by that, he nearly walked into Lilly and Weevil at the bottom of the stairs.
“Wow, Logan,” Lilly commented. “You really seem to be a great influence.”
“I didn’t see you taking any shots out of her hand, Lilly,” Logan threw back. “I need to get her out of here, so bitch at me later, okay?”
“Is she alright?” Surprisingly, it was Weevil who asked.
“Does she look alright?” Logan snapped.
Lilly sighed. “You can’t take her back to her house like that. Come on; let’s get her into my car.” Veronica’s arms tightened, almost imperceptibly, around his neck.
“No, that’s okay.”
Lilly raised an eyebrow. “You’re taking her to your house?”
“It’s not like she hasn’t stayed there before.” Lilly trailed after him as he shuffled Veronica’s weight so he could gather their coats.
“That’s nice, Logan. Good to know that there’s no such thing as too far gone in your book.”
Logan’s spine stiffened, and Veronica pressed herself closer to him, silently offering him comfort. With a deep breath, he turned back to Lilly. “Don’t even start this, Lilly. When was the last time you came through for her.”
“I’m her best friend.”
“That’s not a life-long title.” Logan already had the door in sight. “And you’ve got to actually be present to keep it.”
“Fuck you, Logan. You think you’re such a good fucking guy? I’m the only reason you even took her home that night.”
Logan paused in the doorway. “You know, Lilly, you’re right. And I think you still owe me one for that.” Veronica shifted in his arms, pulling her jacket more snugly over her shoulder. “So tell your brother to back off of Veronica.”
“You think that gives you a chance?” Lilly asked him snidely. “Are you going to tell Veronica that she’s not allowed to talk to him either?”
“If Veronica wants to see him, she’ll go to him,” Logan answered. “But he’s not going to put her through what he did tonight ever again.”
The door slammed in Lilly’s face.
. . .
“You don’t have to tell me what happened,” Logan told Veronica as he carried her up to the guest room. “But… are you okay?” She was awake, at least for the moment, and Logan sat beside her on the queen bed. “Nothing… happened to you, right?”
“No one touched me, Logan,” she assured him. With her hands on his shoulders, she pulled herself up on her knees. “You’re always looking out for me.” With clumsy balance, she leaned in to wrap her arms around him, and he caught her waist to steady her. Awkwardly, she swung her leg over his thighs, planting herself in his lap without releasing her hold on his neck. “You stood up to Lilly for me.”
“You stood up to her for me, too.”
She leaned back, and Logan tried not to focus on the feel of her legs pressed against his or the sheen across her lips left by her tongue.
She shook her head softly, almost absently. “I don’t want Duncan back.”
Logan swallowed, then nodded. “Then don’t go back to him.”
“Do you want Lilly?”
She was so close, her breath feathering over his lips in a way that was making it increasingly hard to follow the conversation. Her hands were both braced on his shoulders, and he was struggling to remember that she probably couldn’t even stand if she tried.
“Veronica, you should probably lie down.”
Her hands slid down his arms, stilling him before he could remove her from his lap. “Do you?” Her voice was almost insecure, her hands falling away from his arms.
His throat was dry, solidifying quickly as he watched her read his face, so completely intent on him. He wondered if he’d ever seen anyone look at him like that.
“No.” The word was choked out on the last breath he managed before Veronica closed the gap between them, her lips pressing to his.
And he was so stunned, he just sat there.
And then he felt her pulling back, away from him. Her weight shifted so she could slide off of him, and then he remembered movement. His hand slid up the sheer, soft back of her dress, and her crestfallen face turned startled. With his hand tangled with the stray bobby pins in her hair, he pulled her back down to him, watching as her face changed again, softened, before her eyes slipped closed.
She tasted like whiskey, the cherry Gatorade he’d made her drink, and the remnants of her plastic-mango-flavored lip gloss. Firmly held in his lap, she pulled his lower lip into her mouth, gently biting it as he urged her closer. Her hands were on his shoulders and tangled in his hair, and his hand was running dangerously high across her thigh, bunching her dress up as she pressed down into him. She gasped at the contact, and he brushed his tongue against hers.
When she pulled back, her eyes were wide, her lips red and swollen, and the remnants of her once-tidy bun had completely fallen to pieces.
“Logan?” Her voice was quiet and rough, and she took her hand from his shoulder to run a finger over her lip. “Did you bite me?”
“You bit me,” he told her, removing her carefully from his lap. “And you are drunk, so I’ll forgive you.” He pulled back the blankets, then crossed the room and opened a drawer. “You can sleep in one of my tee-shirts, if you want. That looks a little uncomfortable.” She already looked half-asleep, the adrenaline from the moment already evaporating.
He turned toward the door and heard a scramble of sheets and then his name. He turned back, and she was on her knees, ready to trip out of the bed. “Are you leaving?”
“I was just going to my room, right down the hall,” he assured her.
She fell back on her heels, and he remembered her curled into the corner, crying.
“You want me to stay?”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
He cracked a small smile and took a step toward the bed. “So I could just be any old schlep? Way to stroke a man’s ego, Mars.” She smiled, faintly, and began to calm down. “Alright. I’ll just go get something to sleep in, and I’ll be right back. And please, change out of that dress, or I’m gonna lose a limb to it tonight.” Or my mind, he added silently, remembering the soft mewing noise Veronica had made when had his hand beneath her dress.
She nodded mutely, climbing to her feet unsteadily as he left the room.
He wasn’t expecting to find his mother standing outside his door, a tumbler of scotch in her hand.
“It’s not a good night, Logan,” she warned him softly. He nodded toward his room, and she shook her head, indicating the master bedroom at the end of the hall.
“I’ll sleep in the guest room,” he told her. “Just need some boxers.”
“Did I hear Veronica?” she asked. He nodded.
“It’s not a good night, Logan.”
“I can’t send her home.” His mother fidgeted with her glass, and Logan shuffled his feet. “Tell him she’s here. He’ll leave us alone, and I’ll… take it tomorrow.”
“Logan…”
“I’ll see you in the morning, Mom,” he said resolutely. She nodded, and Logan was in his room, changed, and back in the guest room faster than he ever would’ve thought possible. Especially since he hadn’t actually been sure how he was supposed to remove his costume.
Veronica was already lying in bed when Logan returned. Her eyes fluttered softly, and she pulled at the blankets beside her so he could climb in. As soon as he was under the covers, she rolled toward him. Tucked against his side, she fell asleep.