THE ILLUSIONIST WOMAN

sixteen. Be There

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THE DECISION WAS MADE. Logan was leaving. He stood over the table while Professor Xavier showed him exactly where he needed to go. All he had to do now was to pack up whatever was left of his things and go.

"There's an abandoned military compound at Alkali Lake in the Canadian Rockies, close to where we found you. There's not much left, but you might find some answers." Charles glanced at Logan meaningfully from where he sat, hands pistoled underneath his chin.

From his point of view, Logan looked torn. Stuck between wanting to go to find out more and deciding to stay. He didn't want to look through his mind to see the cause of his apprehension and hesitation, but he also knew Logan wouldn't be very forthcoming with the answer himself.

"Thank you," He answered instead.

"Are you going to say good-bye to them?"

Logan stood up straight and slid a hand over his bearded face in exasperation. There he was again. Torn on a decision.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Professor Xavier leant back with wisdom filled ease. "May I offer some advice?" Warily, Logan nodded once and despite his reluctance, he took that as his sign to go ahead. "There are people who are around for only a season and those who are meant to be around for a lifetime... I think you need to identify with yourself who exactly those people are and if you're are willing to let them."

The Professor left Logan alone with his thoughts. A stirring erupting in his stomach which wrought nothing but dread and anxiety. He glanced around the room austerity, wishing he didn't have to think like this or about this situation. He was between a rock and a hard place.

Tell her he was leaving or simply slip out the door without a trace.

Suddenly, Ximena's words about cowardice entered his mind and he often found when they did, he couldn't shake them. She was a hypnotist to her very center. Bewitched through and through.

He thought about her while he was packing his duffle bag. The sounds of the students laughing and talking to and fro of the halls filled the silence, but didn't sustain his loneliness. Logan honestly didn't know what'd she say if he asked her to come with him.

When he somewhat confessed his feelings for her in the lab, she was gobsmacked beyond words. Speechless. And in the heat of the moment, she changed the subject to looking over his injuries. Such a blow didn't deter him from what he felt but it damn well made him wary of saying anything else on the matter.

Even still, he zipped up his bag and left it abandoned as he left his room. 

...

 XIMENA TURNED OFF THE nodule of the shower as she grabbed a towel to dry herself off. She, much like her counterpart, was stuck in her own thoughts. Ximena operated on auto-pilot, wiping down her body before strapping on her black bra and slipping into her underwear. The usual routine.

She wrung out her hair as it hung damp in loose curls. Growing frizzy at the roots, she immediately scowled at herself in the foggy mirror. Redden cheeks, swollen lips from biting on them all morning. She didn't look or feel herself, slightly feverish.

Sighing tiredly, she pushed her arms through her loose fitted top and shoved her head into the middle opening. The silky, pattered fabric sat low on her chest, showcasing her collar bone and upper chest. Her bare feet padded into her bedroom while simultaneously shrugging on a pair of shorts, leaving the top button undone as she mulled about.

Running her hands through her damp tresses, she groaned to herself. Ximena was beating herself up for changing the subject when she was with Logan. His words were so sincere and heartfelt. He was trying, something she hadn't thought about doing in a while, and she practically shut the door of opportunity in his face.

She wondered how mad he was at her. Raking a brush through her wet hair, she realized all too quickly she cared about his opinion. Logan's ideas, thoughts and feelings mattered to her. If she was on his mind, she knew her heart would speed up just being aware of it. 

Being desired was a novelty she didn't get often and she was starting to regret not taking it for granted.

Suddenly, a knock sounded at her bedroom door.

Ximena turned away from her mirror, lips parting with hope. Setting her brush on her dresser, she padded towards the door and pulled it open with baited breath.

Jean smiled towards her gently and Ximena fought hard to not show the utter disappointment she was feeling at seeing her and not someone else. "Hey, what's up?"

"I wanted to tell you we've got a game of pool going if you want to join. Scott's making a bet -- what's wrong?" Jean knew her friend well, she didn't even have to read her mind. The air of false neutrality was see through. It made Ximena want to pout in annoyance.

Shaking her head, she brushed it off. "Nothing, just been thinking is all."

"About... someone we know?"

"Yes, well. I said somethings -- actually, I didn't say anything at all." Jean arched a curious brow, laughing shortly.

"I'm sorry, what? Elaborate, Mena."

 "That was the problem, I didn't say a damn thing because -- I was just caught off guard and... didn't know how to handle being put on the spot like that." The ginger stared at her friend like she suddenly understood everything she was talking about.

The epiphany was marked on her freckled face. Although, she wasn't there when it happened, she could connect the dots enough to know it was about something Logan said. Especially, by the flush decorating her friend's face.

Moving forward into the door frame, she leant against it with a subtle frown. "And what would you say now that you've had time to think on it? Do you care about him too?"

Ximena licked her bottom lip, glancing up at the ceiling for some solace to dissect her thoughts. She was reluctant to say, but it was on the tip of her tongue. "I-I'd well, I'd tell Logan that he's had my heart for a long time now."

She sucked in a breath, not believing she said it aloud. Jean smiled in sympathy before knowingly glancing behind her to the guy in question. Logan seemed just at a loss for words as Ximena was. The ginger tapped the door frame as a signal of her departure. "I'll leave you guys alone to talk," She muttered with a secretive smile, walking down the hall.

Logan padded one step at a time into Ximena's room. She backed up with every step he intruded into her space, like a predator to its prey. The slam of the door shutting with the push of his hand caused her to jump. Suddenly, she was as meek as a mouse.

"So you can tell Jean back there, but not me?" He arched a playful brow, smirking down at her nervous frame as he acted offended.

"Jean is very easy to talk to and you're..." Logan stopped but an inch from her person. She tilted her head back to get a good look at him, feeling her pulse rise under her skin with a vengeance. She swore Logan could hear it. "Intense,"  She sighed with a dazed glint in her chocolate eyes.

"I make you nervous, Mena?" He asked for the second time in her presence. His voice lowered into a toe curling timber, saturating all her senses like brandy sliding down her throat. Logan swallowed audibly, his Adam's apple bobbing attractively under his unshaven scruff.

"Not even a little bit."

"You're lying," He made a confident, wolfish grin and Ximena was sure her nervous system short circuited. "Listen, I'm going to be leaving for a while... I need you to come with me."

Ximena's eyebrows raised, her expression affronted by the proclamation. "Just pack up and come with you? You need me?" She back tracked as if hearing that vital piece of information again. Her lips threatened to pull into a smile.

"Yeah, well you're smart and good with people... your abilities could go a long way --" Logan joked, but she cut him off by placing her hand over his lips. Her eyebrow arching as if to challenge him to say more.

"Don't ruin it," She warned, sliding her palm down to rest on the side of his neck. The scratch of his facial hair tickled her palm, enticing her with the addictive desire to repeat the action again and again until she was sated. "You can say you just want my company, James... I won't judge. I happen to think I'm great to have around."

Ximena shifted her bronze gaze between his own, full of sentiment and playfulness Logan couldn't quite compete with. He just wanted to hold her to his chest and that thought unconsciously carried his hand down the side of her waist, carrying out his desires on auto pilot. A pause in the intensity of their moment permeated around them, between them. Her nose scrunched adorably, drawing Logan's eyes to her parted lips. "You however, are unbearable. I don't know if I'll last two days," She muttered, her volume lowering once she figured out where his attention had gone.

"I could give you a trial run, let you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Yeah?" She mused in a short sigh. He brushed her damp hair away from her face. A few strands sticking to her tanned cheek as he nodded.

Logan's fingers combing through her hair made her want to purr like a fucking cat. It was embarrassing. A form of persuasion she couldn't compare to anything else in the world. His face neared hers in a slow, tempting dip. His nose brushing against the tip of hers and her thoughts completely shut down. Fully offline.

A contented sigh sounded in the back of her throat when their lips met. It was like fireworks ricocheting off the boundaries of her mind. Splitting and curling back into one another, the explosions went on and on till she was seeing lightheaded stars behind her eye lids.

His lips were rough and warm, languid catching her own in a tundra being hurdled by the great sun. She was inexplicably warm. The source sprouting from her lips and blazing a trail throughout her entire body. Ximena slid her hand behind Logan's head, delightfully slipping her nails through his wild tresses up the back of his neck. Her heart sung a disastrous theme, building the climax that she was heading down a treacherous path.

Danger be damned she was willingly breaching the door to her destiny.

Ximena parted from him to catch her breath. His lips not far behind as he captured her in another kiss, backing her a step as passion consumed them. Ximena's back hit her upstanding dresser. The cherry wood build nudging into her back although she didn't have it in her to mind.

His facial hair scratched her face, adding to the dexterity of the act. A lock between two desirous people who reveled in the hedonism of it all. Logan dragged his large left hand down leg, eyebrows furrowing with deep satisfaction at the feel of her bare skin connecting with his own. She was unbelievably soft, curved in many places that he was sure she was insecure about but he didn't give a damn. As far as he was concerned, he couldn't get enough of the Hispanic Illusionist. 

A groan sounded from his unattached lips. A mutter of incoherent bliss that rippled a shock of electricity down to her core. Lips brushed with an attractive red, just like her cheeks, from the pressure in which they devoured each other. She was dizzy, she was flying.   

Biting her bottom lip, she inhaled sharply. "So I'll be getting that whenever I want, huh?"

"All the time," He rumbled in agreement, using his grasped on her hair to tilt her chin upwards. His finger fiddling with her strands as he comprehended just how hard his heart was beating right now. How much of an adrenaline rush she gave him just by co-existing with him.

Curling her lips in a airy smile, she hummed in delight. "Add a box of hot donuts and you've got yourself a deal Mr. Howlett."

"I'll get your fucking donuts," He chuckled in exasperation, bringing her head closer to satisfy the hunger within himself. Her smile was hard to kiss, but he didn't give a care to the logic or reason. He just wanted her. Smirking down at her newly lustful expression, he tightened his grip on her hair momentarily and watched the fire in her eyes grow.

"Pack a bag. We leave within thirty minutes," He restated to her like the many times before when the roles were reversed. Boy did it drive her crazy to be commanded like that. She only wondered how being on the road with him would be now that their relationship had changed.

A mischievous streak riled within her, causing a cheeky expression to mare her face as he walked out. "I'll be ready in forty-five." She wanted to test him, the authority he was exuding.

Logan glared at her over his shoulder and his gaze alone shout volumes of dominance she couldn't wait to play with. "Twenty five or no donuts."

Rolling her eyes, she nodded. Ximena didn't play with her food. "Deal... thirty." Closing the door in his face, she grinned a triumphant smile. Her heart to pounding from the kiss of a lifetime. She laid her head on back of the door and sighed.

Logan Howlett was a wild, wanted man walking,

and Ximena couldn't wait to be his accomplice.

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Unedited. 6/24/21

End of Act One | X Men Origins

I hope the kiss lived up to the building hype. I didn't want it to be a first kiss in the rain or a run back to him after he's already leaving kiss. I wanted it to feel natural, and cater to them as characters so I hope you liked it! Feel free to comment, vote! 

Next Act we're heading to X-Men 2