Axel

by Axel (retail) (epub)

  Chapter 26

  Eden sat on her bed. She had no more tears left to cry, no more energy to fight a losing battle. She glanced over at Benedict, who stood by the door like some guard dog. She had hit him, kicked him, and scratched at him, but he wouldn’t let her out of her own room. She had become a prisoner.

  It’s for your own good, he’d told her. We can’t have you near that psychopath.

  Benedict wouldn’t listen to reason, or her hysterical pleas. The only one who seemed to be able to reach his ears had been Hudson, and right now, her father was anything but reasonable. In fact, she’d never seen him so upset.

  She closed her eyes and curled up on her side, her back toward Benedict. During the fight, she had been certain that either Hudson or Axel would die, and she’d run into the kitchen and dialed just about everyone’s phone extension that she could remember. The vibrant red rage that had engulfed the room had scared her beyond belief.

  A light knock sounded at the door, and Benedict opened it. Eden looked over her shoulder to see Beverly come in. She rolled over and sat up on the bed.

  Beverly smiled. “Benedict, you can go back to bed now.”

  “Is he gone?”

  “Yes.”

  Panic tore through her. They’d made Axel leave? “What do you mean, he’s gone?”

  “Noah thought it would be best if Axel left for a few days until everyone has cooled down and is thinking properly. Hudson was upstairs raging that he’ll kill Axel if he’s allowed to stay in the silo, so we just wanted to put some space between the two.”

  “Good,” Benedict said. “The guys a freak show, anyway, and we’re all better off without him.”

  Her anger boiled to the surface once again as she stared at her brother, who had become like a stranger to her. At one time, they’d been inseparable, but now, she didn’t even recognize him. Since moving into the silo, it seemed he’d do anything to get Hudson’s approval, and apparently, he thought holding her hostage would get him a pat on the back.

  Getting to her feet, she kept her voice low, but hoped he understood she could very well lose her temper again. She studied the scratches she’d put on his face, and longed to do it again. “Get out of my room, Benedict.”

  He glared at her for a moment, his aura burning with anger and guilt, then he left. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. After a moment, she sat down on the bed again.

  “Are you okay, Eden?” Beverly asked as she plopped down next to her, still wearing her robe. “What happened upstairs? I’ve never seen your father so upset.”

  Yes, she’d wanted to keep her relationship with Axel a secret, but now, she had to tell everyone.

  Eden sat up and looked Beverly directly in the eye, gauging her mood. Her aura shined with dogmatism and trust. She hoping Beverly would once again stand by her side, just as she’d done throughout her time in the silo.

  “I love Axel. We’ve been together for a couple weeks, now. I knew that Hudson wouldn’t be happy about it, so I insisted that we keep it a secret. Axel wasn’t trying to rape me.”

  Beverly let out a long sigh. “Hudson said you kept telling Axel to stop and it sounded like you were crying.”

  She shook her head. “He was tickling me, and I was out of breath from laughing so hard.”

  Beverly rubbed her face. “Are you two sleeping together, Eden?”

  “Yes.”

  “Birth control?”

  She shook her head. They’d been very irresponsible. “We used a condom a couple of times, but mostly, we haven’t used anything.”

  “That’s not good,” Beverly said.

  Eden lowered her gaze, feeling as though she’d somehow let Beverly down. She could practically feel the disappointment radiating off the woman.

  “So, he wasn’t trying to hurt you, correct?”

  “No. He’s a good man, Beverly.”

  “Your father isn’t going to happy about this.”

  Eden met her gaze again. “It’s my life. I’ll do what I want. I love Axel and I want to be with him.”

  Beverly nodded. “He’s … very different.”

  Suddenly, she felt very protective of him as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “He’s been through a lot of things that no one knows about.”

  “Would you care to elaborate on that?”

  She shook her head. “It’s not my place to tell. He changes around me and becomes almost like another person when we’re together.”

  “But he never says anything.”

  “I can see his emotions in his aura. I know exactly how he feels about me, and I think that knowledge allows him to open up to me. We do talk. We laugh. We love each other.”

  “And how does he feel about you?”

  Warmth spread over her cheeks and throughout her limbs as she pictured his aura blazing with love, passion, masculinity, and stability. “He loves me very much. When he looks at me, his aura shines the most beautiful colors I’ve ever seen.”

  “You see that in his aura? Are you sure you’re reading it right?”

  She’d never doubt it. “Yes.”

  Beverly nodded and stood. “Well, once Hudson calms down, we’re going to have to talk to him and make him understand that Axel does in fact have your best interest at heart. He’s not going to like it, but he’ll have to accept it.”

  “Thank you.”

  As she walked to the door, Beverly said, “Right now, I want you to get some sleep. In the morning, we’re doing a pregnancy test and getting you on some birth control. You should have come to me … unless you two are ready for kids.”

  She realized that Beverly talked to her, not down at her, and she appreciated that. It was as if she talked to a friend, not some irresponsible little girl.

  She and Axel didn’t hover anywhere near being ready for kids. As far as she was concerned, they hadn’t even hit their honeymoon phase. “I wanted to, but I didn’t want Hudson to know about Axel and me. I knew he’d be angry. I know he doesn’t like him.”

  “That’s the understatement of the night, but you also have to understand that there is this thing called doctor / patient privilege. Even if I wanted to tell Hudson, it stops me. It’s in the oath I took when I first became a doctor.”

  Eden pursed her lips together, feeling relieved that she could talk to Beverly, and wished she’d known about the oath sooner. “I didn’t know.”

  “I figured as much. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Beverly hugged her, and then left.

  Finally alone, Eden paced her room for a few moments, and then curled up back in bed. She pulled Axel’s pillow close and inhaled deeply. Since hindsight was always twenty-twenty, she now realized she shouldn’t have kept her relationship with Axel a secret. She should have come right out with it and let the chips fall where they may. Hudson would have been furious, but at least he would have found out in a civil conversation and not after a raging battle.

  Somehow, she’d fix this, and she’d once again be in Axel’s arms, right where she belonged.

  Chapter 27

  Axel woke in the late morning, certain he’d never had such a shitty night’s sleep. The bed seemed too small, the surroundings too depressing. His demons had visited many times throughout the night, making him wake with sweat dripping from his forehead, his heart racing, and his breath caught up in a scream. How he longed to be wrapped in Eden’s slim arms where it seemed nothing in the world could touch him; where he could sleep more than a few hours’ time without his past coming to haunt him.

  His phone buzzed on the nightstand, and he rolled over and grabbed it. Eden.

  “Hey.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’ve got a place downtown that I rent from a friend.”

  “Oh.”

  They were quiet for a moment, and he wondered what she thought.

  “Axel, I’m so sorry about all of this. You were right. We sho
uld have just come out and told everyone in the beginning. This is all my fault.”

  He shut his eyes and allowed her soft voice to wash over him and settle him. “It’s okay, Eden.”

  “I’m talking to Hudson today, and I’ll make him understand.”

  “Okay.”

  There was a beat of silence, then Eden spoke. “I miss you, Axel.”

  A little bit of that sweet pain in his chest returned. “Same here.”

  “I’ll talk to you a little later in the day, okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  They said their goodbyes, and he set the phone down. Today, Foster would finish up the tat, then he’d have to find something else to do because he couldn’t sit around here waiting for Eden to call him and tell him to come home. He’d drive himself bat-shit crazy.

  For a brief second, he contemplated going to the Black Cuff Sex Club, but that immediately put a sour taste in his mouth. He had no desire to have sex with anyone, except Eden.

  He longed for the steam engine of pain to rail through him, but without her, he just felt like an empty vessel.

  Getting up, he did some light stretches, then headed for the shower. Without Eden, it would be a long day.

  Chapter 28

  Eden twisted in her chair in the War Room with her hands in nervous fists on her lap. Beverly sat next to her, and they waited for Hudson to come in.

  Beverly had just completed an examination of Eden and said she wasn’t with child. Relief had swept through her, but there had also been a bit of disappointment. She knew she and Axel weren’t ready for kids, but she had to admit, she still had fantasies about it.

  Hudson walked in and smiled at her, his face etched in worry. “Are you okay, doha?”

  She understood that he cared deeply about her; she could see it in his aura. However, at some point, he had to let her out from under his thumb, and this was where she felt so torn. She appreciated the way he loved her, but she also wanted her freedom. When he denied it to her, it brought hate to her heart.

  “I’m fine.”

  Hudson sat down across from her. “Everything checked out okay, Bev?”

  Beverly nodded. “Yes.”

  Confusion tore through her for a moment. Had Beverly told Hudson that she’d been having sex with Axel? What happened to the oath she’d told Eden about?

  “Good. I’m so glad that bastard didn’t hurt you. Thankfully, I couldn’t sleep last night and I walked in when I did.”

  She knew he didn’t look for accolades, but truly felt he’d saved her from the monster he saw in Axel.

  They sat in silence for a moment, then Hudson’s brow furrowed. “So, why are we here?”

  Beverly reached under the table and squeezed Eden’s hand. “Eden has something to say to you.”

  “What is it?”

  She took a deep breath. After rehearsing what she’d say for what seemed like a million times, the words spilled from her lips. “Axel wasn’t trying to hurt me, Hudson. I love him, and he loves me. We’re a couple. We were messing around—he was tickling me.”

  His face blanched as his eyes widened. His hands curled into fists. He stared at her for a long moment, and it looked as if he had stopped breathing.

  His voice came out in a whisper when he spoke. “Excuse me?”

  Confusion and anger swirled in his aura.

  She didn’t know what to say, so she turned to Beverly.

  “They’re in love, Hudson.”

  He kept his stare on Eden for a long moment, then shook his head. “No.”

  Eden sat back in her chair and watched her father’s face turn the color of beets.

  “It wasn’t a question, Hudson,” Beverly said.

  Hudson sprung to his feet and began pacing the room, the reds and blues around him crackling like an out of control wildfire.

  “No. He’s taking advantage of her innocence, of her good nature. I won’t stand for this because the only thing that psychopath is going to do is hurt her.”

  Angry tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “I am an adult, and I will see who I want to see.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  Her stomach clenched as he walked over, turned her chair around, and got on his knees in front of her. “Honey, the male isn’t right in the head. You can do so much better! Take some time to adjust to this life. If you really want to date someone, we can find a decent male for you, someone who can at least speak in full sentences and smiles every now and then.”

  The way he talked about Axel made her tremble with fury. “I like Axel just fine, thank you.”

  He shook his head again and grabbed her hands. “He’s not the right male for you, and if I don’t step in now, one day, you’ll realize it and it will be even more difficult to get out of the relationship. Either that, or he’s going to leave you brokenhearted. Males like him only think of themselves.”

  “And how would you know that? Have you spent any time trying to get to know him, or have you just busied yourself by trying to kill him with pool cues or knives?”

  Hudson’s face hardened. “I was trying to protect you.”

  “I don’t need, nor do I want, your protection. Axel is a wonderful man. He’s my lover, and I will marry him in the very near future.”

  She really had no idea about that, but she needed to make Hudson understand that her relationship with Axel wasn’t something trivial.

  A look of utter disgust came over his beautiful face. “Oh, Eden. Your lover? You’ve slept with him? You’ve had sex with him?”

  She pursed her lips together, absolutely furious. However, she reminded herself that if she wanted to be treated like an adult, she had to act like one. The tantrum about to explode from her couldn’t show itself, but she wanted to say something to hurt Hudson. Leaning over so they were face-to-face, she kept her voice low. “Yes. I fucked him many, many times, and I loved every second of his cock slamming into me.”

  Beverly gasped behind her, and anger blasted all around Hudson as his eyes bulged and his face turned even darker purple. Without another word, he jumped to his feet and marched out of the room.

  Eden sat back in her chair as satisfaction rolled through her. She grinned and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “You shouldn’t have said that,” Beverly murmured. “He’s going to go off the rails again.”

  “And he should realize that I’m an adult and I can do what I please.”

  They sat in silence for a moment, and then Beverly sighed. “Let’s get out of here for a few hours today, Eden. We’ll go into Phoenix.”

  Her heart leapt. “Can I see Axel?”

  She sighed. “I guess so. You’re an adult, right?”

  Eden smiled, then grabbed her hand. “I know this tension and arguing between Hudson and me hasn’t been easy for you, Beverly, but I really appreciate you standing by me.”

  Beverly squeezed her fingers. “You’re welcome. I don’t understand why Hudson treats you so differently than he does Abby, but even he can’t seem to explain it. He just feels like you’re so much younger than your years.”

  She shrugged. “When we were first found in that awful facility, I could understand his line of thinking. But now, I feel like he hasn’t even given me a chance to grow up, to explore myself or anything new.”

  “Yes, he’s been very protective of you.”

  They sat in silence for a bit, then Noah walked in. “You ladies done in here?”

  Beverly nodded.

  “I don’t know what you two said to Hudson, but he’s down in the gym. He hit the boxing bag so hard, it split open, and he thinks he may have broken his hand.”

  Eden winced. This was not what she wanted.

  Beverly stood and squeezed her shoulder. “You stay up here, Eden. I’ll go downstairs and try to calm him down a bit, and we’ll leave in an hour, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  She tried to put Hudson out of her mind and think about seeing Axel. However, she couldn’t shake the s
adness that ran through her.

  How in the world would her relationship with Axel work if Hudson couldn’t accept it?

  Chapter 29

  With the tattoo completely finished, Foster had closed the shop and he and Axel celebrated over a glass of Fireball in the back office.

  “Turn around and let me see it again,” Foster said.

  Axel stood and lifted his shirt, showing Foster his back.

  “Damn. That’s the best fucking work I’ve ever done, hands down.”

  Axel heard the pride in his voice, and he glanced over his shoulder to catch his reflection in the mirror. The tat was really beautiful, and had turned out better than he had ever expected.

  “Thank you, Foster. It’s perfect.”

  He sat down as Foster eyed him while sipping his drink. “So, who is she?”

  Looking down into his glass, he sighed. He’d been trying to push his thoughts about Eden away all day as it saddened him that he couldn’t see her. How he longed for her arms to circle his waist, for him to bury his nose in her hair. Hell, he didn’t know if he’d see her again. When he’d talked to her this morning, she’d said she would call later, but the hours kept passing, and he checked his phone. She hadn’t called, and with every ticking moment, it felt like she slipped away, like sand through his fingers.

  He could only imagine what Hudson had said when she’d told him about their relationship. For all he knew, she’d been forbidden from ever speaking to him again. In the long run, that would probably be best for her, but it still didn’t sit well with him, and it never would.

  Finally, he answered Foster’s question. Eden was the heart that beat in his chest, the air that passed through his lungs. She had become his life. “Just someone I know.”

  Foster nodded, a perceptive smile passing over his face that reminded Axel just a little bit of Blake. “Ah, yes. Just someone you know. I used to have one of those.”

  They sat in silence for a moment, and it was one of the many things he liked about Foster—the male felt comfortable in the quiet and had no need to fill it up with unnecessary chatter.