Axel: A Romantic Suspense Novel

by Bry Ann

  “Stop drooling, Aly,” Caylan said with amusement.

  I jumped back, knocking over a girl’s water bottle in the process. The girl, who was sitting next to me, looked at me and then shook her head. I mumbled an apology before turning back to Caylan.

  “I wasn’t doing that,” I said, wide eyed. “I was just watching the entrances.”

  Caylan laughed and took his seat to my left. “You know, X made it sound like you were some innocent flower.”

  “Well, X is your boss, so whatever he says, you should just listen to.”

  He laughed again, and I stayed focused on the first round of the fight. X was on fire, just like he was on the TV that morning at the coffee shop. It was enthralling. His body, his fighting style, was an art form. I was so focused when once again Caylan’s voice broke my gaze.

  “You are a beautiful girl. You’re different,” he said with a tone I couldn’t quite understand but made me very uncomfortable.

  “Thank you,” I said squeamishly as I scooted to the furthest end of my seat.

  I kept my eyes focused on the fight as I tried to subconsciously send Caylan the message to leave me alone. A few minutes went by and X had already won the first round. The minute X found out the guy was down, he locked eyes with me for a second, and I instantly looked at the floor, unable to meet his gaze. He then discreetly walked to his corner of the ring. People went nuts for him. It was clear why he was a fan favorite. Despite all the hype, X was the most subtle, quiet fighter in the ring. He did his thing, and there was so much passion behind it, but when he was donefighting, he subtly walked away as if nothing had happened. It was super intriguing to me, and I suspected to all his fans as well. When the fighters were getting cleaned up, I stood up, stretched, and adjusted the buttons on my shirt. I was hyperaware of Caylan’s eyes on me. If I knew where else to go and wasn’t under strict instructions from X to stay put, I would have gone somewhere else. Somewhere away from him.

  Caylan stood up next to me, and I took a step back, bumping into another girl’s boyfriend. Both of them looked at me annoyed, and I’m pretty sure they were wondering who the heck I was. I mumbled an apology and wrapped my hands around my center.

  “So what is up with you and X?”

  “You’ve asked that already, and I believe that question has already been answered,” I snapped.

  “Just being sure,” Caylan said as he temporarily narrowed his eyes at me. He then started rubbing the back of his hand on my arm.

  “Stop! “I yelled, jerking my arm away as quickly as I could. I hadn’t even noticed the second round of the fight had already begun.

  “Oh, come on. Ease up,”Caylan encouraged. His hand slipped around my wrist.

  I looked around, but no one around seemed even to notice or care what was happening. “You need to let me go now.”

  “I think we could have a lot of fun together.”

  Between the atmosphere, his increasing physical contact, and what he had just said, my anger boiled over. I took my free arm and slapped him square across the face. He immediately let me go and looked at me enraged.

  “X invited me here as a potential employee. Respect that,” I warned. I grabbed my purse with my left hand as I spoke.

  “Bitch!” he yelled, and in an instant, he grabbed my shoulder with one hand and my breast with the other.

  He squeezed my breast and he was not gentle about it. I panicked. I’d never been touched there before. I felt tears sting my eyes. I felt around my purse for the steel cap of my pepper spray and held onto it for dear life. The second I had an inch of personal space, I took the bottle and sprayed it directly into Caylan’s eyes, letting my purse fall to the floor. I took off in a run. I could hear people rumbling now. Oh, now I had their attention...jerks!

  I ran up the stairs, and I could hear Caylan’ sheavy footsteps following close behind me. I heard the announcer call the end of the second round. I didn’t hear who won, but I kept hearing X’s name, so I guess him. I didn’t pay attention. I was halfway down the hallway outside the door to a random room in the facility when a hand wrapped around my upper arm and I was jerked around.

  “No!” I yelled, blocking my face and body with my free limb.

  “Aly!” an angry voice yelled and jerked my hand away.

  “What… I…?”

  Then Caylan came running up the stairs clumsily, holding his eyes. I tried to jerk away and run from the situation, but X held my wrist even tighter, keeping me in place. Security, fans, and managers were starting to surround us. X growled and jerked me into the empty room I was standing by. X yelled at Caylan to “get the fuck in here.”

  I kept trying to pull away. I hate confrontation; I didn’t want to discuss what happened. I didn’t want to make X angrier or distract him from his fight. I wished he’d just forget me and let me run. Once we were in the room, X threw me to the side and shut and locked the door. People were pounding, but he ignored it. Caylan was leaning against the wall holding his eyes. X drew out his phone. I glanced at it and saw he was texting Carl. When he was finished, his angry gaze was back on both of us.

  “What THE FUCK happened?” he yelled.

  Neither of us said anything. I stared at my feet and tried to take breaths.

  Just let me go. Just let me go.

  X turned to me. “Where the hell did you think you were going? And, Cay, what the hell happened to your face?”

  “That bitch fucking sprayed me with fucking pepper spray!” he screamed, still holding his eyes.

  I cowered back and wrapped my arms around my stomach protectively. I was scared. Officially and finally scared. I’d been strong for a while, but I did not belong here. I didn’t even know how I got here. If my parents or Brandon knew…I shuddered. I kept walking backwards until I hit the wall. Ironically, X didn’t seem angry at me. He seemed completely and utterly confused.

  “Aly, why the hell would you spray Caylan with pepper spray?” he asked gently. “What the hell is going on?”

  “I should go,” I said, pointing to the door. “I don’t belong here. This was a mistake. I’m sorry.”

  Before I could open the handle, X had his hand on the door.

  “You aren’t going anywhere until I know what happened,” he warned.

  Honestly, the look on his face was enough for me to know I wasn’t going anywhere until he had answers.

  “Nothing. Nothing happened. I…” I stuttered as I thought of a good excuse. “I was fiddling with the bottle and my finger slipped on the button. I’ll take whatever comes my way. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be given pepper spray.” I extended my hand with the pepper spray, trying to give it back to him.

  He just stared at it. “Okay, well, Aly, Carl has your purse. You know, the one you left when you evacuated the scene at a full out sprint. I had Carl watching you too.”

  I looked at him with a panicked expression. If there was ever a moment I wished I could disappear, this was the moment I would have picked. X then rounded on Caylan.

  “If she won’t speak, then maybe you’ll fucking tell me what happened so I can go back to my fight and you can get paid.”

  For someone who acted like such a tough guy when he was around me, Caylan sure cowered the minute X rounded on him. He said nothing.

  “Okay, someone tell me fucking now!” X yelled, clearly losing the last of his patience.

  “Fine, I talk and you let me run out of here,” I countered, meeting X’s gaze.

  Our eyes locked for a second as we silently fought. Eventually, he nodded in surrender.

  “You promise?”

  “You have my word. Now talk, girl.”

  “He grabbed me. My breast,” I said almost in a whisper. “So I sprayed him and ran. Now let me go.” The second I finished, I ran for the door. I made sure I didn’t see the look on X’s face. I felt humiliated and desperate to escape the embarrassment I was feeling.

  When the handle didn’t budge, I looked up at X and let out a small whimper when I realized he
wasn’t letting me leave. It took me a few seconds to snap out of my self-pity enough to notice his eyes were completely black.

  “X?” I said quietly.

  He then rounded on Caylan, letting go of the door knob. “I warned you,” he said to the man cowering in the corner.

  Right as I was about to bolt out of there, X punched Caylan so hard in the face that he fell to the floor. I stopped, my brain flashing to when X mentioned he had anger issues. I couldn’t let him get in trouble here of all places. Reluctantly, I walked over to where X was towering over Caylan.

  “I warned you not to mess with her. She’s innocent. I fucking warned you.”

  There was hurt and anger in his voice. He lifted his fist again, but before he could lower it, I jumped up and grabbed his arm with all my body weight, causing him to jerk around. It wasn’t enough to stop him since I was so tiny, but it was enough to get his undivided attention.

  “What the hell do you think you are doing? I could have hurt you!” he yelled as Caylan still cowered on the floor.

  “Better me than him!”

  “What the hell? You have some death wish now, girl? One punch from me and you’d be out cold!”

  “Yes, probably, but if you punch me, I’ll get over it. If you punch him, you may not stop, and you may get kicked off your league and sued. So I’m the better choice.” I put my hands on my hips. I wasn’t going to let him get in trouble because of me.

  “You are…”

  “I know, something else,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Now.” I approached X and put my hand over his sweaty chest where his heart was. “Let him go. Okay? Come on, X. Your fight. Go back to it. Let it out there. Please.”

  X stared at me with a brokenness I would have never guessed he possessed. After a few seconds of me begging him to calm down, he turned to Caylan with a scowl.

  “Get the fuck out and don’t ever come back before I change my mind.”

  I took a step away from X. Caylan scattered and threw his headset on the floor on his way out. As he was leaving, he screamed something like “throwing me away for some bitch.”

  I held onto X gently to keep him from running after Caylan. He seemed centered by my touch. X stood there taking deep breaths as the door shut behind Caylan. I could tell it was a skill he used to calm himself down, so I stood back. Once he had calmed down a bit, I opened the door for him.

  “Now go fight,” I encouraged gently.

  “Where will you be? “he whispered.

  “Not here.”

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know,” I confessed.

  “I’m truly sorry,” he said before he slid out the door.

  I stood in that room for a while to let the crowds pass and to allow myself to calm down. After ten minutes or so, I walked out and found a security guard waiting outside the room holding my purse.

  “Thank you,” I said as he handed my bag to me. “You didn’t have to stand outside my door.”

  “Yes, I did. X wouldn’t fight unless someone agreed to make sure you got to your car safely.”

  I bit my lower lip. This was all so confusing.

  ChChapter Six

  *2 Years Later*

  I stayed in Seattle for a little over a year and a half. I was able to rent a room with a lovely elderly couple at the church. They actually helped me get a job at a music shop right around the corner from their house. I didn’t even know what a resume was and they sat down with me and walked me through everything. That was the thing that always confused me about Christianity. Some people were so nice and willing to lend a helping hand to those in need, why was my family so different?

  I took public transport whenever I needed to go somewhere, and always carried my pepper spray with me. Luckily, I hadn’t used it since that night at the arena.

  X never searched for me after that night, and I never contacted him again. I kept up on him, though. The Internet was a wonderful thing.

  Despite having known X for only twenty hours or so, the man had played an integral role in a transitional part of my life. Not to mention there was something enticing about him. I only knew him for a short time, but even then, I was drawn in by all his contradictions and his dark, mysterious aura.

  He was killing it in boxing, no surprises there. It was belt after belt for him, and he had a lot of power in his division. His name was becoming more widespread. X got a lot of press for the women he was with or suspicions about his drug and alcohol usage, but I screened those articles. I didn’t need to read that. I knew he had more to offer, but for some reason, he never allowed himself to reach that potential. Plus, I wasn’t one to talk.

  I decided to come back home for a bit after I found out the elderly couple I was staying with decided to move to Virginia, their dream retirement spot. They gave me three months ‘notice, and I went back and forth trying to decide what I was going to do next. After weighing multiple options, I decided to go back home and visit my parents for a while until I decided what my next move would be. I didn’t want to sign a lease in a hurry. My job at the music store was starting to get boring, and I started to wonder if I wanted to move somewhere new like LA or Dallas or another big city.

  The minute I arrived home, I instantly regretted it. The saying absence makes the heart grow fonder was so true. I was instantly pulled back into a world I didn’t belong in anymore. I wanted my parents to see how I’d changed. I wanted their approval. I should have known I’d never get it. I was me now, and I wasn’t ever going back to the confused person I was before.

  My parents were insistent Brandon and I date. Thiswasn’t the first time they had pushed this. I remembered when I was sixteen, a cute boy from school bought me an ice cream sandwich. When I camehome, I was on cloud nine. I went to throw away the wrapper and Dad saw it before I could hide it in the trash.

  His eyes narrowed at me, and I cowered back. Mom entered the room and saw the two of us. She recognized the look on Dad’s face and pulled me into another room. I timidly threw away the evidence of the junk food I ate. She had a serious girl talk with me about “my place” and why young ladies shouldn’t eat trash. I could hear Dad slamming things on the counter from where I sat on the couch. That usually always meant I was going to get taught a lesson.

  Dad believed in physical punishment. He always justified it biblically, but looking back now, I wasn’t so sure him laying his hands on me was ever okay. It came out in a conversation with Mom that I liked a boy from school, and, well, a few days later, my parents tried to get me to date Brandon, “a good Christian boy.” I told them “no “then, and I told them “no” now. I would never, ever date Brandon. This was always a source of tension in my house. Both of my parents thought they should have a say in who I ended up with. I strongly disagreed.

  It was a typical Tuesday at the Abernathy household and two months since I’d arrived. I stayed in my room flipping through the paper most of the time, trying to plan out what my next move would be. I couldn’t stay with my parents much longer. I had to let myself continue to grow. My parents would always confine me. I still didn’t know what I was going to do with my life, but I knew I wouldn’t find out living with them. In my short time with X, he made me believe I had potential and I never really let go of that. I was on the second page of the paper when a headline caught my eye.

  Famous Boxer Calls It Quits After Rival Threatens to Release Information on His Past

  X? My heart pounded, and I kept reading. The article said that X retired after a huge rival of his uncovered information on his background and threatened to release the information. He made a deal to retire early if that guy kept his mouth shut. My head throbbed. How could X do that? Why would he take that deal? I had to make sure he was okay. Despite constantly being surrounded by people, he never seemed to be around people who truly cared about him. I pulled out my phone and shakily texted the number I hadn’t texted in years. Please, God, let his number be the same.

  Me: Hi, this is Aly. We met two years ago. I dou
bt you remember me, but I wanted to make sure you are okay. I saw the headline. Can we meet up? You don’t have to, but you were there for me once. I just wanted to return the favor.

  I sat perched up on my bed, staring at my phone as if my life depended on this next text. The longer I waited, the more anxious I got. I began to regret ever sending the text. What if he was laughing at me? Eventually, my phone buzzed and I snapped it up off the counter and opened it.

  X: Aly?

  It was only one word, but somehow, I knew it meant more. He was happy to hear from me. He knew who I was. He was a man of few words.

  Me: It’s me. How are you?

  X: It’s good to hear from you. It’s been a while. I’m an asshole.

  Me: No, no you’re not. Can we meet?

  X: Yes, we can. Where are you these days?

  Me: It’s complicated. I can be wherever you need me.

  X: The coffee shop? The one from two years ago?

  X was gentler, less bossy.

  Me: Yes, that sounds good. You love that place, don’t you? Give me a few days. Okay?

  X: Sure… Thursday morning … 6AM?

  Aly: Sounds great. X … I know you aren’t religious...but I am praying for you. I’ve never stopped.

  X: Thank you, Aly. See you Thursday.

  I threw the phone and smiled at the ceiling. X.

  I immediately started buzzing around my room throwing things in my duffle. I was a few minutes into packing when Brandon came strutting into my room. I turned around and saw him eyeing me angrily.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I have to go. I have some stuff to take care of.”

  “Where?” he snapped.

  “Seattle. I have to go to Seattle.”

  He thought for a second. “You met someone.”

  “No, it’s complicated. A friend needs me. I have to go.” I stood up to face him. “I’m sorry. This life isn’t for me.”

  Brandon’s eyes narrowed. “Do your parents know?”