"Your move, city girl," Logan raised an eyebrow challengingly.
I stared at my options, taking each of them into consideration, "Big talk for a guy with only one king."
"That's all I need."
I pushed my checker onto another spot, slowly scooting it across the board, "Take that."
"Take it like I took the last game," Logan snorted as he picked up his king and tapped it across the board, taking four of my checkers.
I groaned as I laid back in the tub, sloshing water around, "That's not fair."
"How so?" Logan chuckled.
I flicked some suds at him, "I just learned how to play checkers today."
"Oh yeah, because the chick who can beat the queen at chess can't master checkers in an hour," Logan laughed and wiped off the soap, "You wrinkly yet?"
I raised a hand and studied my fingers, "Hmmm, nope, not yet. I don't resemble a prune."
He groaned exasperatedly, "I'll tell you what's not fair- this."
I chuckled as I laid back in the tub leisurely, "You're fine."
"I do need to take a shower too, you know."
"Then join me," I raised a suggestive eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Nah," I giggled.
"Tease," Logan skulked, leaning against the side of the tub heavily.
We both looked at the door when we heard scratching and whining. Nix was a bit of a clingy dog. We soon figured out that she didn't like to be separated from me for long.
"See, even Nixie wants you to hurry up," Logan sighed, standing up.
We had been waiting on touring hours for the geysers, so I'd hopped in the tub for some me time. I eventually got bored and figured I'd get Logan to entertain me.
I rolled my eyes and pushed in the tub drain with my big toe, "Fineeeee."
Logan threw a towel at me and I wrapped it around myself, leaving the bathroom to go pick out an outfit for the day.
I laid everything out and turned to pull my hair out of its bun. I got dressed while Logan took a quick shower.
I turned when Nix growled playfully and gasped, "No! No, no, no Nix!"
I scrambled to snatch my bra away from her, clutching the towel to my chest, "Come here!"
She danced away from me, thinking I was playing. I growled as I grabbed a strap, pulling on it, "Give."
She growled louder and shook her head roughly.
"Go get your teddy bear!"
I reached forward and finally yanked my bra away from Nix.
"What's going on here?" Logan wandered out of the bathroom, a towel around his waist.
"Nix is a tiny asshole," I grumbled.
I gasped when she grabbed my towel and tore it off, running away as fast as her claws on the wooden floor would allow.
"I love that dog," Logan said wistfully.
••••••••••••
Logan and I were waiting for the yellow bus tour. Apparently, there was a huge, off road looking vehicle that resembled a big yellow bus. We figured we'd take that instead of walking.
Today was a hot one and I worried about Nix being alone in the cabin, Even in a tank top, I was sweating my ass off.
We wandered over to a big stone building and sat in the shade to wait.
I looked at my watch, bus tours started at 1. We had about five minutes. Some others were eagerly milling about to wait too. I watched Logan play with his camera, cleaning the lens and adjusting it.
I was startled when a monstrous, elongated jeep looking vehicle pulled up. It was bright ass yellow and was missing it's roof.
"All aboard," a cheery guy opened the door and gestured to come up.
We all piled on and I picked a seat, pulling Logan into it with me.
The guy introduced himself as Mark and went over some safety stuff.
"Alright guys. Once we get to a destination or see anything cool, you can stand up and look out the roof," Mark said, waving his hand above his head.
He pressed on the gas and we were flying down a dirt road. I completely ignored all of the facts and trivia Mark was talking about for Yellowstone.
Much of the land was all dry grass and dirt but there were forests off in the distance. The terrain was rocky and started to rise steadily.
It took a good thirty minutes of driving to completely get into Yellowstone and get near Old Faithful. I regretted leaving my hair down, as this guy liked to fly sixty down a dirt road in a bus that had no roof.
I quickly pulled it up into a rough ponytail and hoped Logan was more interested in taking pictures of the geyser instead of me.
"Here we are folks! Old faithful herself, queen of the geyser valley!" The tour guide belted out.
He stopped the bus in front of a large platform that had at least a hundred or so people standing on it, straining against the railing to watch.
"There are about nine other geysers around Faithful, but none of them frequently shoot as high as she does."
Everyone clambered out of the bus in a hurry, as if the geysers were going to get up and leave.
Logan took my hand as we stepped out in the heat, "Wow."
With Logan as a buffer, we managed to make it to the front of the crowd by some polite pushing. I stepped onto the bottom rail and looked out over the valley.
I grinned as I saw some local wildlife. Bison and Mule deer seemed to get along just fine.
"Aren't the geysers supposed to spray water?" I looked at Logan after nothing happened.
You would think out of ten geysers, at least one would be shooting boiling water into the air.
"Well I-"
I gasped along with everyone else as the ground rumbled thunderously before a huge plume of water shot into the sky, high above us.
Some mule deer scattered out of the way, startled.
"Whooooo!" I cheered with everyone, raising my arms as lukewarm mist gently sprayed over us.
"Alright!" Logan yelled behind me, holding my waist so I didn't fall as I leaned back to look up.
I shaded my eyes as the geyser continued to gush water. I turned when another geyser erupted near old faithful.
It was like a chain reaction. Geysers all over the valley began to erupt, creating a bowl of mist. Rainbows were cast everywhere in the streams of water.
The noise was almost as loud as the Niagara Falls were.
Everyone settled down when the last geyser finished with a rumble. The wildlife had paid no mind to the jets of water or the people and continued to graze happily.
"That was so awesome!" I giggled, jumping off the rail to give someone else a chance to see later.
"I got some great shots," Logan grinned, showing me some pictures. I grimaced at the ones of me. My hair looked god awful but I knew he'd never delete them.
"Attention yellow bus tour four- we are leaving to tour the trails in five minutes!" Our guy said with a megaphone.
"C'mon," I smiled, taking Logan's hand to lead him back towards the bus. I hoped he didn't mind my sweaty hand because to me, it felt like I had dipped it into a bucket of uncomfortably warm water.
We sat down in our seats and Logan handed me a bottle of water. I sucked half of it down before I took a breath.
"Why did it have to be so hot today?" I whined, pulling my legs off the leather seat as they painfully stuck to it.
Logan chuckled, "Its summer, Eva."
I gave him an exasperated look, "Well sorry I'm no Alabaman that could live on the suns surface and call it a cool day."
Logan laughed, "I'm just as hot as you are."
"You wish," I smirked.
Logan rolled his eyes. I squealed when he ducked his head and rubbed it all over my arm and shoulder, wiping his sweat on me.
Gross.
"Logan!" I growled, shoving him away, "You're nasty!"
He just sat there and smirked immaturely at me. I shoved him as we bantered back and forth like juveniles.
Finally, Mark got his ass into gear and started stirring up dust as we flew down the road. I appreciated the violent breeze this time.
We began to slow down and I raised an eyebrow.
"Folks were going through a thick wildlife patch, so if you'd like to stand and look, be my guest."
Logan and I stood up to look over the roof of the bus. I held onto the sun heated rim to keep my balance.
"You see anything?" I asked Logan. He shook his head as he swiveled around.
"What's that?" I pointed to a large rocky hill that was the base of a mountain range.
"What's what?" Logan asked over the wind.
"That thing moving right there."
"And if you look to the only mountain in our range of sight, there's a group of bighorn sheep making their way down," Mark said loudly.
The sheep blended in well with the terrain and I wondered how I even spotted one.
"Wish I could let y'all out to look but unfortunately, this is bear country and us rangers have a three strike warning for passenger loss. I'm on my second strike so to speak," Mark laughed jokingly, getting some chuckles out of people.
I hoped he was joking anyway.
We continued on and the land sloped down, turning from shrubbery to marsh. We could see a wide but shallow river coming up. A large wooden bridge was strung across it.
"We going to drive over that?" I asked Logan.
He shrugged.
Mark was adamant to get over the bridge and just drove straight over it, knocking us around.
"What did I tell ya huh? Bear country. To your right folks, one of the baddest hunters out there- getting fat. To your left? A big guy who doesn't give a shit about the apex predator down stream."
We turned and saw a mammoth of an animal to the right. A grizzly, who definitely weighed more than Logan, Mark and I combined, shuffled through the water lazily.
It stood on its back legs as it saw us.
"Jeez," I mumbled as Logan's camera whirred.
I looked in the other direction and my eyes widened, "Holy shit what's that?"
"Moose," Logan grinned, raising his camera.
I'd never seen a...deer thing so large. I could sit in it's antlers like a butterfly chair. It raised its head nonchalantly at us, chewing weeds.
"Wow."
We drove for a while, watching the scenery and enjoying the view. We circled back around to the road to the parking lot.
"That was awesome," I grinned as I followed Logan off the bus.
"You think everything is awesome," he beamed at me, throwing an arm around my shoulders.
"Well yeah, because everything is awesome," I chuckled.
I continued on to the truck while Logan went to go get some more water, since we'd already drained ours.
We went back to our cabin and started getting ready for bed after saying hello to Nix. She must've been bored her by herself all day. I felt terrible about leaving her but it was better than staying in a hot truck.
I put on one of Logan's T-shirts and started brushing my teeth.
"Eva, want something to eat?" Logan asked from the kitchen.
"Nah, brushing my teef," I mumbled around the brush.
I braided my hair back as I wandered back to the living room when I finished my routine.
Logan was laid across the couch, half asleep as Nix lay on his chest. I grinned at how cute it looked and grabbed Logan's camera, snapping a quick picture.
He opened his eyes at the sound of the click, "Hmm?"
"It's seven thirty, why sleep?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Because tired."
I picked Nix up and sat on Logan, hearing him groan. I turned on the tv and sat back, snuggling with my Nixie.
Logan eventually scooted over to push me off and laid in my lap, wrapping his arms around my waist.
I ran my fingers through his hair as I rubbed Nix's fur unconsciously.
The channel flicked to the news and I watched a story about some tornado tearing through Ohio.
"Up next, the search is still on for seventeen year old Evangeline Rivers. Originally living in New York with her parents, it has been seemingly traceless and police have been ordered to search across the states. Mr. And Mrs. Rivers have put up a large sum of 550,000 dollars for her return. If you have seen this girl, please call your local police station."
My picture popped up on the tv. I didn't recognize that girl anymore. My eyes widened as a video of my parents came up, a reporter with them.
"Please, if you've seen our daughter anywhere, tell us. We can pay the reward and we urge you to find her. She too young to be on her own," my father said coldly.
"We just want our baby to come home safely," my mother said weakly, dabbing at her eyes, even though she wore waterproof mascara.
"I'm sorry to hear about your daughter. Do you believe shes been a victim of human trafficking-" I turned the tv off.
They were putting on a show. The publicity would sky rocket. I've seen my mother cry harder over a pair of heels. My dads been more pissed off at a broken deal. They knew I ran, they knew I left on my own and they were paying people to try and drag me back.
Why? They put a bounty on me. Adding 50,000 dollars more to hang over my head. They were paying police in each state to look for me. They were pretending.
"Eva?" Logan sat up and raised a hand to my cheek, making me flinch.
"Why?" I mumbled.
His eyes held concern and worry. The pad of his thumb wiped away a tear on my cheek.
"They don't actually care about me," I growled, setting Nix aside as she tried to lick my face.
"Eva...they are your parents. You're their daughter," Logan said quietly, taking my hand.
I pulled it away, "I'm their fucking accessory. A handbag, a pretty tie...I'm apparently worth $550,000."
"Eva-"
"They can't do that! They're lying! They don't want to protect me, they're protecting their goddamn reputation!" I snarled, fisting my hair in frustration.
Logan held out his hands as I stood up abruptly, "Hey-"
"They don't actually care. They've never cared. I'm the only thing that can make them a family company! They're probably so happy they've been splashed across every tabloid. Never mind I ran off with a stranger- they made it on the cover of People magazine!" I said shrilly.
Logan stood up and tried to approach me.
"Why?" I shrieked, "I've been nothing but perfect! I tried so hard to make them proud! I tied myself into a knot to be perfect for them! I never complained, for them! Why didn't they care?! I could only take it for so long...I just want them to care....." I trailed off, sinking to the floor as my anger started to exhaust me.
I stuck my face in my hands and knew full well I was having an uncalled for breakdown. But a person could only bottle up so much. The fury fire was pent up and burning me from the inside out.
I felt strong arms wrap around me and pull me into a lap. Logan cradled me to his chest as Nix paced around us uncertainly.
I cried into his shirt pitifully, "I was their doll Logan, a toy... my mother dressed me up and bent me in the perfect angles for pictures...my father shoved ideas into my head that weren't mine. I didn't have my own opinion..my own style, or personality, and if I did, I had to hide it. I had to hide being my own person."
Logan just rubbed my shoulder and held me to him tightly, letting me cry it out.
"I was raised by maids, I couldn't have any friends, I lived in their shadows. I fought so hard for love. I used to love them, and I hoped they would love me back if I made them proud enough. I did everything right," I sobbed quietly, "But I couldn't marry that-...that pig. And they don't love me like I used to love them. Why?"
"Because they never saw the real Eva," Logan whispered, lifting my chin to wipe my cheeks gently.
"They would never love the real Eva," I sniffled.
"I do."
My eyebrows raised as I looked at Logan with wide eyes, "You love me?"
"Goddamn right I love you," he smiled at me, "I don't know a man that wouldn't fall for such an amazing girl."
I just stared at him, totally blindsided by the fact that someone loved me. Like for real.
"I love the way you did everything you wanted to do, the way you had the courage to leave everything you knew to be you. I love the fire in your eyes when you talk about how you want your future to be. I love your hair when you first wake up, the way you see the beauty in everything, how kind and caring you are, how cute your laugh is, how you put on my shirt like it's yours, how you hugged me when I cried for my mother, how you kiss me any chance you get, how adorable your road rage is, how you cuddle up to me in the middle of the night, the way you say my name when we're acting like kids," Logan had to stop for breath and I was already blown away.
"I hate it that your parents don't see what I do. They don't deserve a daughter as wonderful as you, Eva. They may not love you or care about you, but I do," he said with conviction.
"Can I love you back?" I asked softly.
"I'd be shattered if you didn't," he whispered, taking a deep breath.
"I love you back," I smiled weakly.
"Thank god," he said as he grabbed my face and kissed me with rough passion.