by Blair Grey
I felt alive again. She did things to me that made me feel immortal. She would always need me, but I had the feeling I would always need her too. Moving my mouth off hers, I pressed my lips to her neck.
Her hands fisted in my hair. “Axel, please don’t stop.” She tugged my shirt, untucking it, then running her hands up my back, scraping her nails back down it.
I felt the burn as she left her marks on my body. So, I bit her neck, sucking it, leaving my mark on her as well. The moan she made as I marked her made my cock nearly burst through my pants.
She put her hand between us, trying to unzip my pants. But I had to stop her. “Rocky’s in the car, waiting.” Being a club prospect, he would feel it to be his duty to report anything unusual he saw going on between me and Sarah to her father.
In a flash, she’d gotten away from me, throwing her hands in the air as she walked away. “Fuck!”
“I know. I’m not happy with this situation either. But we’re letting it make us crazy. We’ve gotta figure things out.” I tucked my shirt back in, then made a quick run-through of the two-story townhouse while texting Roy, one of our prospects, to come stake out her place to make sure no one came nor went anywhere.
When I got back downstairs, I found her sound asleep on the sofa. Getting a little blanket she had thrown over a chair, I covered her up, then kissed her on the forehead before leaving.
I have got to figure things out.
Chapter Twelve
Sarah
Waking up alone and on my couch the next morning, I found myself groaning as I sat up. “Ugh. My head.” I’d never drank so much, and I’d never been so sexually frustrated either.
My cell phone was tucked into a small pocket sewn into the bodice of my dress. The vibration it made startled me and I jumped up, thinking some kind of a bug had gotten inside my dress. Peeling it off, I stood in the middle of my living room, wearing only a pair of black panties.
Spotting the ringing cell on the floor in the puddle of black silk, I leaned over to pick it up. The movement made me dizzy and I ended up sitting on the floor. Although my vision had blurred, I could make out the four letters on the screen.
Swiping the screen, I answered the call, “Yeah, Axel.”
“You doing okay this morning, Sarah?” he sounded chipper.
Nothing like me. “No.”
“Well, I thought as much. Why don’t you take the day off? I think I can do the reports by myself. You deserve a break anyway. Plus, I’ve got the security guys coming to wire your place this morning.”
“I’m just about naked right now. When will they be here?” I rubbed my temple as my head began to throb. “I just want to take a nice hot bath. I don’t really feel like dealing with anyone.”
“Go take that bath. I’ll meet them there and deal with them. After I get them set to work, I’ll go do the reports. If you don’t want to come to the club tonight, I’ll understand.”
It felt like he was ready to cut me out of the business already. And I wasn’t sure what I thought about that. Maybe it would be for the best. “I’ll unlock the front door for you.”
“No need, I took the key with me on accident last night. I’ll let myself in. You go take that bath. I’ll take care of everything else. You want a bagel and cream cheese, like usual?” He was being so nice, it made me feel like I was being sort of an ass.
“Axel, you don’t have to do all this.”
“I want to.” He got quiet for a moment, then said, “Sarah, I’m sorry for how things have turned out. I’m going to figure things out, I promise you that.”
I had some figuring out to do myself. “Axel, I don’t know what there is to figure out.”
“Well, just let me try. I’ll be there soon. Bye.”
Knowing I was about to have people all over my house, installing a security system, I pulled my ass up off the floor. I had a bath to get to, then I needed to pull myself together.
Gathering my dress and heels, I took my things, heading upstairs. I didn’t want to feel this way any longer. Depression wasn’t my thing. I’d dealt with it when my mother died and didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
Tossing my things onto my bed, I dropped my panties before going to the bathroom to start the tub filling up. Looking at myself in the mirror, I didn’t like what I saw looking back at me. “What the?” A dark purple mark stood out against my white skin right on the side of my neck. “That son-of-a-bitch. No wonder he wants to give me the day and night off. He knew he left that mark on me.”
How will I ever be able to explain a thing like this to my father?
Or maybe that’s exactly what he’d wanted when he did it. Axel had said something the night before while we were arguing about me acting like a little girl around my dad. Maybe this was his way of making me be the one to step up and tell my father that I wasn’t going to listen to him anymore and I was going to see Axel if I wanted to.
Well, he’s nuts if he thinks that’s going to happen.
Climbing into the tub, I put my head underwater, trying not to think about anything and hoping the hot water would make the throbbing stop. Floating there, letting the water soothe me, I wondered if I should go back to work at the strip club at all.
I could help Axel over the phone if I needed to. I’d laid out all the groundwork. He’d not only watched me do the reports and other things he would need to do - he’d done them too. We’d done quite a few practice sessions, showing him what needed to be done each day.
Maybe leaving Baltimore would be the best thing for me. I was sure the realtor could find someone to buy the townhouse I’d just gotten. Rhode Island was nice and Nana was probably lonely. She would most likely love it if I moved back.
Soft thuds had me pulling my head out of the water and I realized someone was knocking at the bathroom door. “Who is it?” I looked around for something to cover myself with just in case someone stepped inside. I hadn’t locked the door and wondered why I’d left it that way. “Idiot.”
“You okay in there?” came Axel’s deep voice.
“Yes.” I bit my lower lip as I pulled a towel off the bar, covering myself with it while staying in the water.
“You decent? I’ve got your breakfast.”
“You can come in.”
Opening the door slowly, he held out a brown paper bag and a large coffee. He tried not to scan my body but failed. “Here you go.”
I watched his eyes go up and down my towel-covered body. “Thanks. Set them by the sink, please.”
He put the things down, then leaned against the vanity. “You mad about your neck?”
“A little.” I couldn’t help but smile as I recalled raking my nails across his back. “You mad about your back?”
Grabbing the hem of his black t-shirt, he pulled it off over his head. My nipples went rock hard and my nether regions began to throb as I took in his amazing torso. Then he turned around so I could see his back. His very tattooed back. “You can’t really see the marks you left.”
“Wow, that’s some ink you’ve got going on, Axel. I had no idea.” The man was really into being part of the MC. He had the club’s patch tattooed on his back, then the date of his inception at the very bottom. “You’re very proud to be a member of the Iron Cobras, I see.”
Leaving his shirt off, he turned back to face me. “That, I am.” His eyes zoomed in on my hard nipples. “And I can see you like what you see.”
My entire body heated as I blushed with embarrassment and put an arm over my tits. “Damn, Axel!”
“I guess I should leave you alone to enjoy your bath and breakfast. You can climb into bed when you get out. Take it easy. Catch up on all the sleep you’ve been missing.” He put his shirt back on, much to my regret. “I’ll take care of everything else.”
I figured now was as good a time as any to ask him what he thought about me stepping out of the business now. “Wait. I want to ask you something.”
His smile told me he was happy to listen as he leaned ag
ainst the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest, making his biceps bulge. “Ask me anything.”
“Do you feel like you’re ready to take the club over on your own? I mean, I’ll never be more than a phone call away if you need any help.” I didn’t know what I wanted to hear him say but knew I had to ask the question.
His lips pulled up to one side as only one brow raised. “Are you shitting me, Sarah? I don’t want you to walk away from what we’ve both worked so hard for. We’ve only been open one night, honey. I need you. And I want you there with me. Don’t think I want it any other way.”
I had no idea how happy his words could make me feel. “I just thought that you telling me to take the day and night off meant you were ready to run the place on your own. It is your dream after all.”
“Yeah, it is.” He came toward me, kneeling down then kissed me on the forehead. “But now, that dream includes you. I don’t want to do this without you. I just thought you’d had it rough and might want to rest is all.”
“I should probably take the time to catch up on my sleep.” I reached out to run my hand over his bearded cheek. “Axel, have I ever told you how wonderful I think you are?”
“No.” He took my hand, pressing my palm against his lips. “Have I told you how wonderful I think you are?”
“I think you have, actually.” I laughed a little. “We’ll figure things out, won’t we?”
Nodding, he sighed deeply. “We will.” Getting up, he let my hand go. “So, the guys are about to be here. I’m going to go downstairs to get them started. They won’t need to come into your bedroom. You can rest. I don’t think they’ll make that much noise.”
“Thank you, Axel. And don’t you dare leave without telling me, goodbye.”
“You got it.” He closed the door behind him, and I had no idea I could feel the way he’d made me feel.
I think I’ve pegged that man wrong all along.
Hours later, I woke up in my bed, not remembering anything other than climbing out of the tub and into my bed. My room was pitch black and I was naked lying underneath my blankets. “Shit, I really was exhausted.”
Sitting up, I stretched and let my eyes adjust to the darkness. Finding a rectangular shape on the nightstand beside my bed, I reached for it and found my cell phone. Using the flashlight app, I was able to turn on the lamp to light up the room.
I found it was nine at night, I’d slept nearly twelve hours. I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping any more for quite a while, so I got out of bed, feeling reenergized. Knowing that I shouldn’t go down to the club, I got dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, put on a jacket, my tennis shoes, and a baseball cap then headed out.
On the front door, I found a note with the instructions on how to get out of my house without activating the alarm and how to reactivate it after I got out of the house. Punching in the numbers on the keypad next to the door, I stepped out, closed the door, then put in another set of numbers on another keypad that was outside the door. “Kind of a pain in the ass if you ask me.” Stuffing the note into my pocket, I took off to get into my car.
Since I hadn’t eaten the food Axel had brought me, I knew I had to get something in my stomach. But I had no idea what I was hungry for. Cruising town, I looked around for some fast-food joint to see what enticed me.
I passed one place after another, nothing appealed to me. Not pizza, not burgers, not hot dogs. But then I thought about Chinese food and headed in the direction of my favorite place to get that.
The route there just happened to take me passed Horney’s Babes. As I drove by the half-full parking lot, a scene had me slowing down. A big man was tossing a small woman around like she was a rag doll.
I didn’t even think twice as I pulled into the parking lot, leaning on my horn. The guy froze as my headlights put him in the spotlight. Jumping out of the car, I shouted at the girl, “Get in, I’ll get you out of here.”
She tried to make a run for it, but the man grabbed her by the hair, yanking her back to him. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get back in your car and get the fuck out of here. You don’t know who you’re messing with, bitch.”
I saw the tat on his massive arm. “I do know who I’m messing with, you Irish Reaper piece of shit. Let her go and I won’t involve the cops. I know you don’t want them snooping around this shit hole.”
He held his hand up to shield his eyes, then pulled the girl with him as he came closer to me. “You’re that bitch who’s been stealing our girls. The boss is gonna want to see you.” He let the girl go and she ran away in the opposite direction of the safety of my car as he came toward me. “He’s gonna be so happy with me for bringing you to him.”
“Like hell you are.” I backed up, thinking that getting so far away from my car was a huge mistake.
He lunged and ran at me as I ran backward, not wanting to take my eyes off of him. “Stop! You’ve got to pay the price for what you’ve done.”
Suddenly the door to the club opened and three more burly men came out of it, all of them running toward me. I knew I was way out of my league and scrambled to get inside the car. Slamming the door, I threw the car into drive. If I ran over any of the mother fuckers, so be it. I knew what they’d do to me if they caught me. It wasn’t like they’d be fair with me.
As I drove out of the parking lot, I saw headlights move in behind me. The other men had gotten into a car and were following me. “Fuck!”
Taking the next right, I purposely made the turn in front of another car to put it between me and the men who chased me. Then I took a left to make it really hard to find me.
But I knew they would go looking for me at the place they knew I ran. I’d really fucked up. My cover was blown, there was no doubt about it now.
The only thing I had going for me was that they didn’t know my name or who I was related to. But now that they knew where I worked, all any of them had to do was find one of our employees who’d be naïve enough to tell them my name.
I had no idea if they would be smart enough to link me to my father or not. I didn’t know much about the Irish Reapers, except that they were ruthless and not to be messed with.
But I had to go and mess with them anyway, didn’t I?
Heading toward my place, I suddenly remembered that I didn’t have my house key, Axel did. Or he’d left it somewhere in my house. Whatever happened, I didn’t have it and I had no way to get back inside my house. And going to where Axel was, wasn’t a smart thing for me to do either.
What the hell am I going to do now?
Chapter Thirteen
Axel
Pulling into my garage after closing the club, I pressed the button to make the automatic garage door close. “Wait!”
Surprised by the sound of a woman’s voice, I spun around, pulling my helmet off as I did. “What the fuck?”
Just before the door went all the way down, someone rolled into the garage with me. Dark hair, a ballcap, and tight jeans were what I noticed at first. Then she ended her roll, facing me. “Axel, it’s me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “What the hell are you doing Sarah, practicing to be a ninja?”
“No, I’m hiding.” She got up, dusted herself off then nodded toward the door. “Can we go inside? I’ve gotta pee like a racehorse.”
Going to the door, I pulled out my key and unlocked it. “Who are you hiding from?” I didn’t like what she’d told me so far, I doubted I would like anything else she had to say.
“First pee, then talk.” She did a little dance as I opened the door. Once I got the door open, she rushed in. But she’d never been inside my place before – a thing she quickly realized. “Axel point me in the right direction, please. I’m about to burst.”
I pointed the way and she took off running. “How long have you been hiding?”
“About six hours.”
What the fuck was she hiding from for six hours?
After five minutes, she came back out and met me in the kitchen. I’d alread
y begun making her a sandwich. I was pretty sure that with all the hiding, she hadn’t eaten anything. Her eyes went wide as she looked at the ham I’d piled onto the bread. “This is for you, Sarah.”
“Thank God. I didn’t want to be rude if you were making it for you. But I haven’t eaten a thing all day.” She eagerly took the sandwich I handed to her, taking a huge bite as she nodded. “Yum.”
“I left you that bagel this morning.” Going back to the fridge to put the things away, I got the jug of milk out and poured her a glass. “You didn’t even eat that?”
Shaking her head, she took the sandwich and went to sit at the small table for two in the kitchen where I’d put the glass of milk. “I got out of the tub and went right to bed and fell asleep. I don’t remember you coming to tell me you were leaving. I don’t remember a thing.”
“Funny, you grunted at me when I opened the door to your bedroom to tell you they’d finished, and I was leaving. So, when did you wake up?” I took the seat across from her, thinking she had gotten herself into some kind of trouble somehow. “And what did you do after you got up?”
“I woke up at nine. I was hungry, so I got dressed, then went to get into my car to go grab something from a drive-thru.” She held up a finger as she took a gulp of milk. “Ah. Anyway, on the subject of my leaving the house. Do you have my house key?”
“No. It’s on your coffee table. But you don’t need it anymore anyway. The door is locked by the keypad. You did activate it after you got out of the house, right?” I figured she must’ve been so hungry that she wasn’t thinking straight when she left her house.
“I did activate it again. But I didn’t know that I could just use the code to get back in. That was stupid of me.” She shook her head then took another bite of the sandwich.
I still knew nothing more than she’d told me already. “So, you thought you were locked out of your house. Okay, then why wouldn’t you call me or come by the club to see if I had the key?”
Swallowing the food, she shook her head. “I couldn’t go to the club. And I didn’t want to call you. I didn’t want to come here either. But I knew I couldn’t go to Dad’s. He wouldn’t have given up asking me questions until he found out and I can’t let him find out.” Her eyes went as big as saucers as she realized, I would be doing the same thing. “Axel, please don’t tell my father a thing about this. I’m begging you.”