Broken Promises [Book Two | REMASTERED]

Chapter 10: Something Borrowed

        Kat sat at the end of the rather lavish bed, silent and patient. Her legs were crossed, her hands in her lap clasping a glass of her own. She waited, listening to the conversation just outside the closed door. For a room that was made to be sound proof, her telepathy was far too trained to keep out of it. Her eyes blinked slowly as she stared at the stained wood of the door, the room nearly completely dark aside from the windows that let in what little light was left in the sky. Her eyes allowed her to see well in darkness, and at this point in the sky, she had never felt so close to the moon and so shut off from the outside world. Her tail swayed behind her, as if waiting for her a prey. The cat ears upon her head were perked as she listened for thoughts, voices, and sounds. Distractions.  

        Logan was listening to the conversation Charles and Erik had between themselves. Her anger was only fueled by the thoughts Charles kept trying to keep within his own mind. Everything ached in him, so much that Kat could feel the burn of the turmoil within herself. Why? she asked herself. It seemed Charles was trying to hide things from her, but even he could not admit his own thoughts to himself. His secrets had never been so far from hers as they were when he was faced with that metal bender.

        The chess game had begun. Kat waited, listening intently until she heard the sound of Logan standing and moving about. It was not long before he came to open the door to the room, closing it before turning towards her. It took only a moment for him to register her presence with a gasp, and in that moment she moved to grab him by his shirt, spinning them so that he was sitting where she had been on the bed. 

        "What the—"

        "Hello, Logan," Kat tried to purr, looking into his eyes as she stood between his legs. "I've been waiting for you."

        Logan's eyes barely adjusted to the dark, but he managed to meet the glowing glint in her eyes with a challenging stare. "What the hell are you doing?"

        Kat smiled, though she knew Logan could smell the hint of alcohol on her breath. "Just taking what we both want. . ."  She pressed her lips to his in a slow kiss that even he could feel had no real passion behind it. Her chest ached, filled with something false, but she couldn't stop now.  

        Logan pulled away, confused. "Hey, no. You're married to Charles."

        "So?" Kat challenged him, bringing one leg up to position herself to straddle his lap. "Never stopped him from sleeping with another woman. Loving someone else. But then there's always someone else, isn't there?" She tried to lean down to kiss him again, but he placed a hand to her chest to push her back.

        "Look, Christiana—"

        "Kat," she corrected him, sitting up straight and looking down at him. Her pupils dilated, the middle peaking like the slits of a cat's. Like she was looking at her prey. "Kat Hazel. At your service." Her hands went to the buttons on his shirt, but he grabbed her wrists firmly this time.

        "Christiana. Look at me," Logan sat up straighter, not letting her intimidate him. Her lips turned down to a pout before she tried to kiss him again, but he held her still. "Christiana Xavier. Stop."

        She stared. "You don't get to call me that. That's not my name."  Again, she tried to kiss him, but he leaned back to avoid her lips. 

        "Look, stop it!" Logan snapped at her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

        "You think I'm pretty." Kat murmured. "You want me. I can read your mind, Logan, I know your secrets."

        "Yeah? And what about yours?"

        Her smile fell slowly. "What about my husband's?" She shook her head. "Aren't I allowed to break promises?"

        "Not like this. Are you serious?" Logan looked at her incredulously, and she stared right back. Emotionless. "Charles loves you. I know that, I've seen that."

        "And you know he loves Erik. You know he's in love with the man, no matter how much he hurts him. So let's not lie to each other, Logan."

        Logan shook his head in disbelief. "So you want to sleep with me for what? To get back at him?"

        Kat rolled her eyes before swiftly placing her hand at his throat and pushing him to lay back onto the bed. She applied only enough pressure to keep him there, holding him down so he could look nowhere but at her. "You try being married to a man who had his legs taken from him by a man he still loves. Having his child. Raising him just to watch his father leave the first time he gets his legs back, and instead of coming to you, he goes and he sleeps with another woman. Have you ever known that pain? Loving someone that loves someone else?"

        "I do, yeah," Logan admitted truthfully. That made Kat pause before she understand what he was talking about. Slowly, she removed her hand from his throat, sitting back up, defeated. "It's called living with it."

        For a moment, she just looked up at him, silent. Then she moved out of his lap. She felt tempted to leave the room, but she would not let herself face neither Charles nor Erik when such raw emotions could be so evident to them on her features. Finally, she found her way back to the cupboard for her glass, selecting her choice of gin. finding her voice to speak as Logan sat back up. "I'm his wife," she murmured as she poured herself another drink. "He asked me to marry him. We had a child, a school together."

        Logan rub at his neck, staring at her back. "Yeah, I got that. And it don't care what you think or claim to know, but the professor does loves you. You don't have to be a damn telepath to know that, Kat, so calm down. He still chose you."

        Kat could not keep herself from laughing at that, the sound bubbling up inside of her before she let it out. The first genuine laugh she had in a long time. And it ached, wherever it came from. "It's too late for that."

        It was clear to Logan that there was hardly any chance of getting her to change her mind, at least for the night. He stood form the bed and made his way for the door, pausing with his hand on the handle just to say, "You know, I thought we agreed the future could be changed. Seems you've got some changing to do, yourself." When she didn't answer him, he only opened the door to seal it behind himself, taking his seat outside just as wordlessly as he had left before.

        The gin tasted bitter on her tongue, but she still craved it. She craved something. Her eyes, even in the darkness, returned to a sad look. Empty, circular pupils stared almost entirely through the plane itself. Seeking that change.