by Harper Sloan
Page 10
Yeah, well get in line motherfucker.
I had just marginally calmed myself down over the last forty-five minutes or so. For the most part I was over my initial anger. I felt reasonably sure I was calm enough to be in the same room with the only girl I have ever loved and try to hear her out. My mind demanded answers. I wanted to know why, why she hadn’t waited…why she had married another.
No, my calm wasn’t going to come back completely. I was still worked up for another reason all together and it had nothing to do with anger. I couldn’t get over seeing her stunning face, a face that has consumed my dreams and haunted my memories for way too fucking long. Even with my rage at seeing her openly touching the men I considered brothers, I still couldn’t stop my dick from trying to break out of my pants. All it took was one look at her tight, sexy as sin body wearing next to nothing and I found myself having to immediately adjust myself. So hard my dick was aching in a way I haven’t felt in many years. I didn’t even know who she was then and the attraction was that strong, just like it always had been.
When I walked up to the bar, coming up on that firm ass encased in skin tight red fabric, I turned feral. I was like a raging bull being set free with one target in sight. My eyes traced her spine; each delicate little bump on her exposed skin, and my only thought had been getting her to a bed and following that line with my tongue until I was buried deep between her creamy thighs.
And then she turned around and I froze in my tracks. Lust left in a snap and instead of rushing this hot piece of ass off to the nearest empty room, I wanted to throw her over my shoulder, drag her off and demand answers. I have been waiting for this moment for twelve long fucking years. The last thing I expected her to do if I ever saw her again, was faint to the floor.
“What the fuck are you glaring at, Locke?” I spit out at him, I don’t feel like dealing with more of this bullshit. I’m just itching for a fight now.
“I’m looking right at you, motherfucker. It shouldn’t take a big leap of ‘clue the fuck in’ for you to realize I’m looking right at your dumb fucking ass. ” He snarls at me, snarls with such ferocity I am momentarily rendered speechless.
“What the hell? Is there a reason you seem to think I pissed all over your shit?”
He looks right at me, cocks his head to the side and I find myself shocked on my ass once again tonight when he opens his mouth. “I just sat in there and held some chick I do not know, a chick that not even an hour ago looked like she was on the top of the fucking world, happy with life and spending time with her friends. Her smile died, do you understand that, Reid? One look into your eyes and that big bright smile just died. The life went completely out of her eyes and her body gave out. Do you fucking get that? I just sat there and let her basically crawl into my fucking body with nothing but fear oozing out of her. Fear, YOU seem to have put there. That happy woman from earlier is long fucking gone and I would love to know how you are the reason. ”
Shock holds me silent, shock and confusion.
Sniffling to my left distracts me and I glance over at Dee. She was looking at me with part confusion, part anger, and a whole lot of hurt.
Shaking my head I look back over at Locke. “I couldn’t fucking tell you since I haven’t seen nor heard from her in twelve years. Bitch up and disappeared, so if you want answers, you are asking the wrong fucking person. ”
“Excuse me? This is the chick that left you? The same one you claim is a cold heartless bitch? Because, I have to say, Reid, the woman who just broke the fuck down in my arms is not a cold heartless bitch. That woman is feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. ”
“What the fuck are you talking about? This is the same shit with Greg, talking yourselves in goddamn circles. Maybe, if you want me to buy a fucking vowel you could give me a fucking hint. ” I roar right back at him.
“Alright, you want to know what the fuck I’m talking about? There is a woman in there that looks like her world just ended. She looked like she had seen a ghost. Lost and scared. So scared she is shaking. She was trembling so violently she would have fallen to the ground had I let her go. So, I will ask you one more fucking time, you sure that is the chick that left you?”
I hear another gasp off to my side. Swear to Christ this bitch needs to calm her tits.
“What the hell does it matter now, huh? It’s been twelve fucking years. I don’t think two fucking minutes of her time is too much to ask. I’m sure her husband wouldn’t mind. ” I know I’m shooting low, but I am so livid I can’t even see without red closing in my vision.
Another gasp at my side.
I look over at Dee, “Are you fucking okay?”
Her jaw is opening and closing, repeatedly. She looks like a damn fish out of the water struggling to breathe. I do not have time for this shit. “Seriously, do you need something? Water, a chair, a fucking Midol?”
Her mouth snaps shut and a thin line forms before she marches right into my space, coming up on her toes in attempt to meet me eye to eye. “Listen here you--you big bully, you will not sit here and be a little shit. You have no clue what is going on, but I promise you this, it is bigger than your need to ‘chat’. Do you understand me?” She follows that burst with a few pokes to my chest.
“No, little girl, I do not fucking understand you, not one little bit. So maybe your ass can clue a bastard in?” I feel like the walls around us could have fallen with that burst of anger from me. Any second my head is going to explode. I can feel it now.
Sighing softly, washing the frustration and anger off her face and looking up at me with sympathy, “I can’t, Axel. This isn’t my story to tell. ”
Wait a minute. “How do you know my name? I haven’t gone by Axel in a long fucking time, sweetheart, so if anyone knows what’s going on, my guess would be you. ”
“Of course I know what’s happening, but like I said, this isn’t my story to tell. ” She points over at the closed door. “It’s hers. It always has been. I just never thought I would see the day it would need to be told. ”
Again with that cryptic shit, I feel like I just walked into the Twilight Zone.
Shaking my head in exasperation, even with my confusion, I can’t stop the rage that bubbles up every time I think about just who we are fighting over. “Alright, fine don’t fucking tell me, but let me ask you this, does her fucking husband know she is out, dressed like that, flirting with anything that speaks to her?” I can’t stop the shit that is slinging from my mouth at this point and I’m past the point of caring what I’m saying. The only thing I’m seeing at this moment is that report I read eight years ago, telling me my girl hadn’t waited.
“You son of a bitch…” She sneers at me. Before I can even register what is about to happen, I catch a small hand right over my cheek. Damn, that bitch is strong for such a little thing. Before righting my head, I spit the little bit of blood her slap created onto the floor. I look over at her shocked face, “What the fuck was that for?” I rumble. Looking past her, I see Beck and Locke with shocked eyes and fucking smirks on their faces. Coop lets out a loud laugh before quickly stifling it. It looks like she isn’t the only one thinking I deserved that for some unknown reason.
“Oh shit, shit…I am not sorry for that, get that straight right now, but you need to watch your mouth and what you say about Iz. Until you know what’s going on, you have no room to say anything. Not one damn thing. ”
I am at a complete loss right now, obviously I will not be getting anywhere with this crew tonight. They seem to have decided to band together to protect the little coward hiding behind locked doors. Reaching behind me and pulling out my wallet, I take out one of my cards and hold it out to Iz’s protector. “Here, give her this and have her call me. ”
“I’ll tell her but I won’t make any promises to you. If you understood what you are asking of me, well…you would just understand where I’m coming from. ”
I open my mouth to rip her a ne
w one, when I hear the office door click again. The first thing I see are a pair of the sexiest fuck me shoes I have ever laid eyes on followed by the hottest fucking legs ever to wrap around my hips, and Greg motherfucking Cage holding the body that belongs to them. Nestled tightly to his body, covered in his jacket, is a sleeping Izzy. His jacket covers every inch, from her chin to her thighs but I know what’s under there, sex…pure sex. I can tell she’s been crying, the tear streaks covering her cheeks are a dead giveaway, her eyes are swollen and rimmed red. Even with all that, she is still the most beautiful girl in the world to me.
My arms itch to snatch her away from him; to claim what is mine. Even with all my anger, I still want her. I stand there completely knocked immobile, just looking at her. Taking her all in.
Greg completely ignores me, like I’m not even standing there in front of him. He looks down at Dee and softly says, “She finally calmed down about ten minutes ago. Let’s get her home, yeah?”
“Sure, G, let me go get the bouncer to open the side door. They already have your truck parked back there so we don’t have to take her through the front. ” She weakly responds, looking completely trampled.
It seems like everyone knows what is going on right now; everyone except me. No one thought to clue the poor sap in to what exactly has caused this scene. The biggest question floating around my skull is not where she has been and why she left, no; I want to know what happened to my Izzy, the girl who wouldn’t let a fucking thing knock her down.
I see Beck and Coop off to the side, walking off with Dee to find the magical bouncer with the keys, leaving me standing with Locke, Greg…and Izzy. Both of them are looking at me like I am the bad guy here. I just wish I knew what I did to earn that look of contempt.
(Izzy)
I open my eyes when I feel someone lay me down, opening them long enough to see Greg looking down at me with his brow creased, noting how exhausted he looks. It takes me a second, but then I remember and quickly sit up.
I’m home, in my room. Glancing over at my clock, I see it is closing in on four in the morning.
“How did I get home, G? Where is Dee?” Pausing, I gasp up at him, “Oh my God, was he really there? Axel?”
Cursing softly under his breath, he looks away. I can tell he is trying to school his response, weigh his words. He always seems to worry I am going to slip back into that dark place I was in when he found me. I won’t lie, sometimes I do too but I can’t have him treating me with kid gloves all the time.
“Greg, please…please just be honest with me. ” I beg of him.
“Iz…baby girl, I just don’t know what to say. If I had any idea that the Axel you told me about was Reid…” He trails off, looking back off into space. I have no idea what is going through his head, but if I know Greg he is riding the guilt train hard.
“What? You would have made him come to me? Little too late for that, G. He had his chance to come to me YEARS ago! Years! It’s not like I didn’t let him know how to find me. I left my grandparent’s address with his foster mother. I was waiting. I waited for years and I would have waited forever. But, where was he? Huh? Where was he when I needed him? All those times I needed him. That’s right, gone. ” I can feel the tightness of anger forming in my gut, “I thought he was dead this whole time, you know this Greg; I have thought for twelve long years that the boy I loved, was gone forever. Twelve years of feeling empty, lost and so unbelievably alone. ” I’m crying again and I just can’t seem to stop. The weight of Axel’s return is so heavy; I had needed him so badly. “You know I went back to see June, his foster mother, about a year ago. I just wanted to make sure, as stupid as that is. You know what she told me? She told me he was in a better place without me. How was I supposed to take that?”