Chapter 31 Max #2
“I can’t go out like this,” Lily yelps, opening the door, a big towel wrapped around her body.
“Why? It’s nothing we haven’t seen before.” Logan shrugs. “Be grateful I even let you wear a bikini.”
“You heard him,” I say, kissing the pout off of her lips. “It’s just us, baby. No need to be nervous. And I’m sure the bikini looks perfect on you.”
She grumbles something in response, not looking too happy as I go to my room to change into a pair of swim shorts.
Soon, we make our way over to the lakeshore. Even Logan is daringly showing some skin today, and maybe that’s why he has enough of Lily’s antics the moment we reach our spot for today.
He yanks her towel off of her and throws it on the ground for her to lie down before he does the same with his.
“We should send Ruby a bouquet with a thank you card,” I say as I look at Lily and the tiny, glittery pieces of fabric covering—or not covering—her pretty body.
“Thank God I said no to the shopping trip.” Logan pulls on the tie of Lily’s bikini bottoms, and she tries to push his hand away, but her frown turns into a suppressed smile as soon as Logan puts his arm around her waist.
“I bet you’d have bought one of those—“ he says, gesturing over his chest and stomach.
“Swimsuit? Tankini? Swim dress?” I guess, and Lily laughs as she lies down.
“You’ve got some sort of secret I should know about, sunshine?”
“I have three sisters.”
“I forgot.”
“We should meet up with them someday. They keep asking about you.”
“I’d rather not,” Logan says dryly, and I fill the silence between us by forming a pillow for Lily out of my shirt.
“What the fuck is a swim dress?” Logan asks all of a sudden, as if the words just now made sense to him.
“A dress for swimming,” Lily explains, earning herself a glare.
“Yeah, pretty self-explanatory, Logan,” I add with a grin.
“But is it like a real dress? Or does it have built-in pants or something like that?”
“Built-in pants, I suppose,” I say, and Lily snorts next to me.
“No swim dress thing for you then,” Logan tells Lily, reaching for his cigarettes. “None of that shit. Ruby gets to dress you from now on.”
“Do I have a say in this matter?” Lily asks, turning onto her side to look at Logan, gracing me with a marvelous view of her ass.
“No,” he says, taking a drag from his cigarette. “Ruby said we should talk to you, so go on, talk. Wanna cross this off my list.” He lies down, his gaze following the trail of smoke rising up above his head.
“What an elegant way to start a conversation,” I say, unlocking my phone. “I found something: 50 questions to get to know each other.”
“Hard no. Five questions, eight at max.”
“Fine,” I grumble, holding my phone out to Lily. “Pick one.”
“What’s your favorite fun fact?”
“Easy. Elephants can grab things with their dicks,” I say.
“Oh, I got a good one,” Logan says. “The T-Rex lived closer to the moon landings than it did to the stegosaurus.”
“I’m gonna wrap this up with a third animal fact,” Lily says. “Crows have accents, depending on where they are born. They have best friends, and this part isn’t really fun, but when they are separated, they get depressed."
After googling how to get two best friend crows to do some research later, I hand Logan my phone so he can pick the next question.
“If you could have dinner with anyone—living or dead—who would it be? I’ll go first. Someone who works in Area 51 and has high-level clearance.”
“Why? You don’t even believe in aliens?”
“Yeah, but you do, sunshine. And I know it would drive you crazy if I knew ‘if the truth is out there’ or not.”
“What makes you think I won’t pick the same guy?”
“Because then you couldn’t talk to that tiger lady and find out what happened to her husband.”
“Damn it. You know me too well.” I am a little surprised and delighted by the fact that Logan actually seems to listen to my babbling from time to time.
“I’d talk to the Area 51 guy for you,” Lily whispers, and I give her a kiss on her cheek.
“Okay, next one,” Logan says, still holding onto the phone. So much for doing rounds. “What was your dream job when you were a kid, sunshine?”
“Food tester, but I doubt that’s a real job. Basically, I just wanted to sit in a comfy room all day while people brought me all kinds of ice cream, chocolate bars, and chips.”
Shaking his head, Logan laughs. “What was your plan B? Professional puppy cuddler?”
“No, pyrotechnician,” I answer, grinning. “And I kind of went that route, if you think about it. Just less fireworks and more demolitions, but I’m sure six-year-old Max would be thrilled to hear that I get paid for blowing up stuff. And that I have access to a flame thrower.”
“What about you?” Lily asks Logan, who starts stacking some smaller rocks.
“Wanted to be a doctor,” Logan says, focusing on the steadily growing pile next to him.
This conversation made me realize how little I know about him, especially when it comes to personal stuff.
“They were always nice to me when I ended up in the hospital. I kinda liked the idea of being able to fix people. I don’t know, it’s stupid,” he says, counting how many times the stone he just threw bounces off the water's surface. “I wouldn’t call it a dream job. Even as a kid, I knew I would never have the time, the money, or the patience for school. Let alone university. And you don’t need a degree to operate on people. Technically.”
“You, sweetheart?” He asks after a few minutes, cutting through the awkward silence.
Lily sits up straight, crossing her legs. “I love working with kids. Started tutoring when I was still in school, so becoming a teacher felt like the logical next step,” she stays, stealing one of Logan’s rocks.
Hers doesn’t even bounce once, and Logan tsks before he leans over to guide her movements.
“You want some of your own, too?” I ask, and Lily shakes her head.
“Maybe ten, fifteen years in the future, but right now? No way.”
“Me neither,” I say, and Logan turns to look at me with a raised eyebrow. “I’m fine being the cool uncle with unrestricted access to explosives, but anything more than that—it’s not optimal. Our line of work… I mean, you see how it is.”
“No one asked me; thanks for that, by the way,” Logan says, and Lily mutters an apology, but I know he’s just messing with her.
“I’m sure you two would be great dads, though,” she says to lighten the mood, and I tense up. “If you find a way to keep work and private life separate, obviously. Like all the superheroes do.”
Upon seeing the look on Logan’s face, I pull Lily up with me. She trips over her own feet as we rush to the water. To prevent any accidents and to get away as quickly as possible, I lift her up.
“Max?” Lily shivers as the cold water reaches up to her stomach, looking at me completely confused.
“You know the moment in a movie when someone defuses a bomb, and everything gets super quiet? Right before they cut through one of the cables? That’s exactly what we are going to do right now: Be really fucking quiet and pray he doesn’t detonate.”