by C. M. Owens
“I’ll be back in a sec,” I tell him as he flips me off and heads back in. Then I speak to Sarah. “You ever gonna tell me what went down between you and your Pops?” I ask her.
“You ever gonna tell me where you got all those scars?” she quips.
My jaw grinds, and she takes my silence as my answer.
“Didn’t think so. Take care of Maya. I’ll be back soon with a present; then I’ll take her off your hands again.”
With that, she hangs up, and I pocket my phone while resting my head against the building. What happened to the days when we just drove for hours on open stretches of highway and built some fucking cars? The days where we sometimes kicked a little ass and maybe blew a few holes in people?
I miss those damn days.
Fucking mafia bullshit and girls in roller skates didn’t play a part in those days.
CHAPTER 13
MAYA
It’s late when I poke my head out the door, hearing the music blaring.
Par-tay. Heeey.
I could use a night of drinking and acting like a fool. I’m just not sure that’s so safe to do here.
There are a ton of guys downstairs, and also…a lot of women, though they’re gravely outnumbered by the dick holders.
I shut the door behind me and walk down the stairs. Another hit will go on tomorrow night, and until then, I need to take my mind off things. If this one goes well, it’ll be five successes in a row. That’ll hit Lathan and Phillip hard.
Not hard enough, but they’ll definitely start arguing. My brother will be under suspicion, if he’s not already. Phillip’s a paranoid fucker.
Coming down the stairs, I spot Eve as she speaks with another girl. Considering I don’t know anyone else, I head over to them. Eve is like a lamb amongst wolves in this place, but she doesn’t seem scared. I still don’t know her story.
I sidle up to them, and Eve smiles at me.
“You’re out of the room!” she says happily.
The girl she’s with turns to face me, gives me a body-sweep with a skeptical eye, and walks off.
“Something I said?” I ask rhetorically.
Eve laughs lightly. “That’s Colleen. She’s big on hazing the new girls. Liza—Sledge’s old lady—will be twice as bad.” She glances around before lowering her voice. “Everyone not inside the circle thinks you’re just a girl Axle picked up. No one knows the real deal, which I’m sure Axle has already told you.”
He told me my secret needs to stay a secret, but not that everyone thought I was his. It thrills me a little that he probably hates the hell out of that cover.
I smirk a little as my eyes scour the numerous bodies, and I finally spot him sitting in a chair, drinking a beer as he talks to the guy beside him who is getting a lap dance.
Axle’s eyes don’t even seem to stray to the half-naked girl. Hmmm. I never considered the possibility that he might be gay. That would explain so much.
And it really freaking sucks.
But he gets hard when he watches me…
“Is that why the girls seem to keep passing him?” I ask, watching as another girl takes a wide berth around his chair to move to a guy near the back. “Because they think he’s with me?”
Eve snorts derisively, and I return my attention back to her.
She gestures with her thumb to where Drex is shoving a girl away from him, his eyes narrowing like she’s crossed a line. As soon as the girl walks away, he rolls his eyes and resumes what appears to be an interrupted conversation with the bald guy they call Sledge.
“No. The girls don’t give a damn who’s taken. I’m learning to fight. Eventually, I’ll be able to kick their asses and stake my claim and all that. But until then, I have to silently seethe and try to keep from stabbing them with a broken beer bottle or something.”
I’d laugh, but I’m confused when I see another girl going out of her way to steer a wide path away from Axle on her quest to Dash.
“So why aren’t any of them trying to dance on Axle?” Not that I want them to. My fighting skills are rusty, but I can still hurt a girl if necessary.
I look over at Eve when she doesn’t answer, and she worries her bottom lip while shrugging.
“The girls here have a lot of options. And unless Axle directly requests them, they try not to draw any attention from him. I haven’t even seen him request anyone since I came here several months ago, but…anyway. He’s not… They don’t…”
She groans, and I slowly piece things together. “Because of the damn scars?”
She purses her lips. “The girls who’ve been with him say they’re really bad under his clothes. They talk about the guys a lot; I wasn’t seeking out this info. Anyway, his legs seem to be the worst. And in case you haven’t noticed, they’re not here to look beneath the surface. This is a good time for them. Not to mention, Axle isn’t exactly very approachable, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Good. I won’t have to fight for his attention if I’m the only one who is into him. Sucks that they like perfect, pretty boys. Because none of these guys are perfect, pretty boys.
“Where are you going?” Eve calls out to me, but I’m already heading up the steps to the room to change.
As soon as I’m locked inside, I strip out of the cupcake shirt and find the sexiest dress I own. It barely covers my ass, which is the point. I’m supposed to look like a stripper.
But only one guy gets a lap dance.
The black dress stops high on my thighs, and the high heels give me a couple of inches of height. I let my hair down from the ponytail, happy to see it didn’t have time to get that annoying little ring/bump.
When I’m sure I look scandalous, I turn and walk back out, shutting the door behind me, and strut like a badass down the stairs.
One guy blocks my path on my way to Axle, and I peer up as he leers down.
“Five seconds to remove yourself before I make you wish you weren’t a man,” I tell him sweetly.
That lazy grin of his flattens to a thin line.
“Excuse me?” he growls.
Sledge is suddenly at my side, appearing from thin air. His name needs to be Ghost.
“Axle’s old lady,” Sledge tells the guy, whose eyes widen noticeably.
I go with it, and step around him like it’s the truth. Axle barely looks up at me when I come to stand right beside him. Sail starts playing as if it knew I needed the right mood music to pull this off.
Axle looks away, then his eyes dart back to me again, surprised, as he tilts his head and runs his eyes over my body and leans back. His gaze drifts up to connect with mine again, and he arches an eyebrow as if to ask what I’m waiting for.
His eyes spark with intrigue as I step in between his legs, and he relaxes in his seat as his lips twitch. A few gazes swing my way, but the only pair of eyes that I’m concerned about are the pale ones that are trained on me right now.
I start moving my body to the beat of the music, my eyes still locked on his as he sips his beer, watching me the way he watches me get dressed. The way he constantly watches me is the thing that has kept me chasing so long.
It’s also what squashes his sexual preference debate for me.
I move closer, and my legs brush the insides of his. He takes another long drag off his beer, eyes hooded and intense as I continue to move with the music. His gaze dips to where the dress has a long slit down the middle, exposing the sides of my breasts down to my navel where the slit stops.
Since he’s not pushing me away, I lean over, grabbing the chair on either side of his head. Our lips are so close that I can feel his breath, and he puts his beer down on the table beside him.
His hands come up, grabbing my hips, and the touch courses through my entire body like liquid fire inside my veins. He lifts me and pulls me down on him until I’m straddling his lap.
I don’t know if anyone is watching, and I don’t care as I grind against him, finding incredible friction against his very hard erection. My dress rides u
p, giving him peeks at the black lacy underwear he saw me put on this morning.
His gaze drops to there, to where our bodies are connecting as I continue to gyrate my hips. His hands slide to my ass, and I bite down on my bottom lip as he squeezes it through the dress and pulls me even closer.
I swing my hair over one shoulder, keeping with the whole stripper persona, and glide my hands down to his shoulders. His grip on me tightens as he leans over. His breath whispers across the bare skin of my neck as he reaches my ear.
“Thought you were done chasing,” he says in his sex-rumble voice.
I shudder against him, my grip tightening on his shoulders as I tilt my head to the side, completely exposing my neck to him. When his lips connect with the sensitive skin there, it feels like flames start licking over me as heat washes through my body.
I moan as I grind harder, and he sucks on my neck, flicking his tongue there next. The sexy song, coupled with his incredibly sexy mouth, has me on the edge as I press even harder against him, essentially fucking him with clothes on.
His hands tighten on my ass, controlling my movements in his lap, and my hands slide up into the soft strands of his dark hair. One of his hands glides up slowly, raking that heat across me with it.
He grabs a handful of my hair, and a breath escapes me when he uses his hold to pull my head back. But surprise hits me with a wave of desire when his lips crash against mine in a possessive, claiming kiss that steals the last of my air and sanity.
My fingers tighten on his hair, and I pretty much submit and melt against him as his tongue slips between my lips and wrecks me in the best possible way.
I’m vaguely aware of the music still playing, though another song is on. It’s like it’s just the two of us as I kiss him harder, letting go of his hair as I run my hands down his chest, clutching the fabric of his shirt to keep myself grounded.
His hand slinks under my dress, moving to my lace-clad ass as he grinds himself against me, letting me feel every hard inch of him under me. When I moan into his mouth, he releases a sound of his own—a raw, guttural sound that only turns me on more.
Everyone is probably seeing my ass, but I stopped being shy a long time ago. Modesty is reserved for the normal girls who get to grow up and worry about such luxuries.
It’s not for girls who grow up worrying if it’s the last day they get to live.
His hand that’s in my hair tugs my head roughly as he breaks the kiss, and my eyes come open to see several people watching us. But my lids flutter shut again when I feel Axle kissing the underside of my chin and slowly working his way down the column of my throat.
His other hand slides up to the middle of my back as I lean in to it, letting him kiss his way down to my chest. I’m vaguely aware of someone speaking when Axle’s lips stop their descent and abruptly leave my body.
My eyes pop open to see him smirking at me, and I lean forward, ready for more, when he tugs my hair again, halting me.
I look around, noticing a few guys have taken some chairs close to us, one of them being Drex, who is watching someone—probably Eve—across the room.
“I need to talk shop for a minute,” Axle tells me as my gaze shifts back to him.
I’m being dismissed?
Yeah, I realize I came out here to act like a stripper, but I didn’t expect him to just shove me away the second things were getting good. It’s as degrading as it is embarrassing, especially when a couple of the unknown guys chuckle at me.
“Right,” I say calmly, tugging my dress down as I awkwardly climb off his lap.
He grabs my hand just as I start to leave, but I shake free and keep walking. Done.
I’m not playing games. No one has time for that. One minute you can be talking to your daughter about the pros and cons of bacon, and the next minute you’re being blown to pieces by a bomb set by your son.
Yeah. The last conversation I ever had with my parents was about bacon.
I realized then life was too damn short.
A few guys move out of my way as I angrily head toward the door at the back. I came here for a job—not a guy. A guy just seemed nice to have, since it’s rare I actually find someone who is tough enough to handle a life like mine.
Bitch boys don’t do it for me.
Pretty boys sure as hell don’t do it for me.
Survivors turn me on.
There’s suddenly a body in front of me, and my eyes take in the large expanse of a chest that has a black shirt with a white reaper on it.
I crane my neck back to look up at him.
“You’re in my way,” I bite out.
“I want a dance,” he says, swaying a little as he holds up a twenty.
“Not a stripper,” I retort, shouldering my way by him when the asshole refuses to budge.
A hand clamps down around my upper arm, and I curse as I’m tugged in reverse, my back slamming into that beast of a body. The bearded jackass bends down, and his long, wiry beard tickles my bare shoulder.
“I said I want a dance. So dance for me, girl.”
Oh, I’ll fucking dance for you. Then I’ll make you sing soprano.
Just as I whirl around, ready to break my kneecap on his balls, the guy is suddenly ripped away. I stumble back, and my eyes widen seconds before a fist collides with the guy’s cheek.
I swear I hear something crunch, but the music is too loud to be certain. Big Beard crashes to the ground, taking a small table out as he does.
Axle stands over him, his fist still clenched as he glares like he’s making sure Big Beard stays down. All Big Beard does is groan from the ground, loopy from the hit, as blood trickles from his split lip.
The music cuts out, and everyone stares in silence. “In case you missed the memo,” Drex says, a smirk on his lips as he walks over to Big Beard, offering him a hand up, “Maya here is a guest of Axle’s. Hands off.”
Everyone looks from me to Axle, who is still tensely glaring at Big Beard as Drex helps the oaf to his feet.
“Sorry, brother,” Big Beard grumbles to Axle. “Won’t happen again.”
Axle doesn’t say a word or look at me, before he walks away, heading back in the direction where I left him.
I swear he’s the most frustrating man in the world, because—
Never mind. I just realized this entire thing was to go along with the ruse they’ve started. To the rest of the club, I’m supposed to be Axle’s girl, because no one wants to risk letting them know who I really am.
And I played a part by dancing on him.
And he played a part by punching a guy for me.
Asshole. I almost swooned for no damn reason.
Whirling back around, I walk away as the music cuts back on. Eve stops me before I make it to the door, blocking it with her body.
“Are you okay? Did that guy—”
“He grabbed my arm. No harm, no foul. But you can tell your boyfriend and his merry band of dickwads that I can handle myself. I don’t need protection. I’ve been lying low for six months without issue. And right now, I need to go.”
I turn and head up the stairs, not giving her a second to argue, and I change quickly out of the stupid dress and uncomfortable heels. As soon as I’m dressed in normal clothes and my phone is in my pocket, I walk back out.
I spot Eve talking to Drex below, and his eyes flick up to me. I can tell he’s about to try and stop me, but I jog down the stairs and burst out the door before he can catch me.
My eyes catch sight of the tattoo parlor just across from me. The alley on either side is too long for me to get out that way before Drex is on my heels.
I don’t know Drake well enough to hope he won’t sell me out, but I take my chances as I barge in.
Drake jerks a little, a sketchbook in his hands, and his eyebrows go up as I slam the door and lean against it. I blow out a long breath as a slow grin curls his lips.
His bottom lip has two ring piercings that somehow look just right on him. And every inch of skin I see from hi
s neck to his arms is loaded with ink. His inky black hair is styled in spikes on top of his head, and I’m almost certain it’s a crime against humanity for a guy to have lashes that dark and long.
“Hide in the back,” he tells me.
I really like Drake already.
I dart to the back and shut the door, just as I hear the door to the front jingle as it swings open.
“Did Maya come in here?” I hear Drex ask.
“Maya?” Drake asks, sounding genuinely confused.
“Axle’s girl.”
So Drake doesn’t know who I really am, either.
“Why would the roller derby girl be in here? I’m two seconds from closing up and joining your party.”
My breathing echoes back to me as a grin tugs at my lips. It’s been a long time since I hid from someone. My smile falls when I remember the last time I had to hide—I was hiding for my life because of my brother.
“Damn it. Tell Axle to get his ass out here. I think Byson spooked her. I told Axle he needed to let the guys know she was his,” Drex snaps to someone—doubtful it’s Drake.
That has me rolling my eyes for a multitude of reasons. Number one: Byson? Seriously? What sort of country grown, back-asswards name is that?
“He’s on his way,” a familiar voice—Dash?—says.
“If you see her, call us,” Drex says, probably to Drake.
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Drake retorts, making a growling sound like a pirate.
That has me grinning again.
As soon as I hear the door shut, I blow out a breath of relief. After a few seconds of silence, I hear, “You can come out now. Life is boring, so come entertain me with whatever drama has you hiding in the storage room.”
I twist the handle and walk out, finding Drake still sitting in his chair, working on a sketch. His eyes barely come up to meet mine, and he returns his attention to whatever he’s drawing.
“Assholes galore in there. Just needed some fresh air,” I lie, taking a seat across from him.
He snorts and shakes his head. “Gotta do better than that. Drex doesn’t just come looking for any girl but Eve. There’s more to you than simply being Axle’s girl.”
“I’m not Axle’s girl. He’s actually the asshole I’m mostly avoiding.” I prop my feet up, checking out some of the artwork and pictures of tats he has hanging all around the room.