Beautiful Claws by: Tauriel Rogers

25) Wonders of an Ice Pack

I had gained some upper body strength in the past few weeks and Logan wanted to see if I had enough strength for the monkey bars and climbing from rope to rope using only my arms and hands. The monkey bars were really fun, reminded me of my school days, but the ropes were really hard. I kept falling a little over halfway to the finish platform where Logan was standing with his arms crossed in front of him. "Try building up some momentum when you first start, it makes getting through it a heck of a lot easier," he instructed.

"How?" I asked, pulling myself up out of the foam cushions for the 8th time. 

"Like this," Logan said, jumping up to grab hold of the rope and effortlessly swinging across it. I hadn't realized that he was wearing a tank top and that his arms were exposed. I knew they were muscled, but wow and seeing them in motion like that? 

"I think it got really hot in here," I thought, "Stop it! He's way too old for you!" I scolded myself. 

"How's that for ya?" he panted as he came around to stand by me. I risked a glance at his arms that really turned into staring. He had such nice huge arms. "Anna?" he smirked. 

"Hmm?" I tore my eyes from his arms to meet his gaze. 

"I know my arms are nice to look at, but that's not going to help you get across," he pointed out. I looked down at the ground sheepishly and then got into position. I tried my best to follow his instructions and got much closer this time, but still fell. I sighed frustrated. "Hey it's OK, try again." I angrily rose up out of the foam, took a deep breath, and swung up to grab the rope, swinging my body before making each jump and trying to keep a good balance of how long I was at each part of the obstacle. My arms were getting tired by the time I made it towards the end. I swung my body once more, but my hand missed the last section, making me fall from the sudden weight distribution that was unexpectedly slumped to my other arm. It couldn't handle my full body weight, hence why I fell. I gasped when I felt hands wrap around my wrists and kept me where I was so I couldn't fall any further, but my body slammed against the foam pit wall.

"Oof!" I grunted. Logan pulled me up and I had trouble standing up straight since my knee hit the wall pretty hard. 

"I've got ya," Logan said, wrapping an arm around my back, the other around my waist to steady me as I held onto his shoulders. Our faces were really close to each others and how have I not noticed how beautiful his eyes are? They're this gorgeous hazel-green color that instantly mesmerized me. "Are you ok?" Logan asked. I put some weight on my knee to test the pain level out and winced. "Dang it, I hurt you after said I wouldn't."

"It's not your fault," I quickly replied. "And it actually doesn't hurt that much," I tried to tell him, but as I took a few steps, I staggered to my right. Logan was right there to catch my arm before I could fall to the ground. 

"Maybe you should take it easy until that's healed up."

"It hurts to walk," I complained. 

"Hop on my back."

"Excuse me?"

"You said it hurts to walk and I don't want you to be in any kind of pain. I'll give you a piggy back ride back to your room and then we can ice your knee until it feels better," he explained himself. I didn't object to being able to have a legitimate excuse to wrap my arms around him. Logan is very strong and I could tell that his whole body was pretty muscular. Logan gently set me on my bed and grabbed an ice pack from my mini fridge/freezer, putting it over my knee and resting his hand there. I was in shock that he was touching me that way, even if there was a chunk of ice in between his hand and my skin and partly from the sudden coldness, but I instinctively put my hand over his. Logan looked at me startled, so I quickly removed my hand from his. 

"Sorry, it's cold," I apologized. He didn't comment and an unsettling silence fell over us. There had been a question lingering in the back of my mind, but hesitated, not knowing if I should even ask. 

"If you have something you wanna say, then just say it," he said plainly. 

"What causes you to have nightmares?" I asked softly. Logan shifted uncomfortably and met my gaze with such an intensity that I was glued to the spot. 

"I've been in many wars and have witnessed some pretty harsh things. These claws?" he let them come out, "weren't planned. I was manipulated into volunteering for the weapon X experiment and this is what happened to me," he told me, staring harshly at his claws. I scooted closer to him and gently ran my hand over his claws, curiously examining them. I gently took his hand to see where exactly they came out of and traced where they're stored in his forearm. Logan stared at me curiously, not knowing what I was doing. 

"They're so shiny," I breathed, letting my fingers slide back down to the tip of his claws, careful to not prick myself on their ends. "I think they're beautiful," I told him, looking up to meet his gaze. 

"Like...beautiful claws?" he asked as if nobody had ever called them that before. 

"Yes, beautiful claws," I stated smiling, liking the way it sounded. 

"Nobody has ever said that before. I'm good at what I do, but what I do ain't pretty," Logan commented. 

"You don't have to be pretty for someone to think you're beautiful," I said. I mentally slapped myself when I realized how cheesy that sounded and hoped Logan didn't see right through me. 

"You're right," he quietly agreed with me. I looked at him again to see his eyes drift down to my lips and then back at me. I held my breath when he started leaning in. 

"Anna! We got a perfect score on our lab report! Plus, we've been challenged to a basketball game!" Jubilee beamed, bursting through the door. Logan and I shared a startled look and we both froze. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" Jubilee turned red, "I didn't know I was interrupting something."

"You weren't Jubilee, I was just leaving," Logan gave her a fake smile and stood up, taking his hand off my knee. I slightly frowned at his departure, but he stopped to look back at me before continuing on his way. 

"Am I missing something here?" Jubilee asked confused. 

"No, there is nothing there at all," I said rather coldly.