“I’m sorry! That’s not what I’m doing. I promise.”
“Oh, you promise? That must make it true!” I nearly clawed at the windowsill with clenched fists. I tried to regulate my breathing so I didn’t get too worked up. If I flew off the handle now it wouldn’t be any good. I looked back down at Axel; I didn’t know what nerve he had hit, but I was getting set off in ways I didn’t even know I was capable of.
“It is true,” he said calmly. “But I get if you don’t believe me. Look, Mira, I’m not trying to fix you. I’m trying to clean up the mess I helped create. I don’t want you to lose your livelihood on account of me. And I thought—”
“Just shut it Axel. Give it a rest. You were always an ass to me and when I saw you standing outside my office that day I nearly had a panic attack. Then I got to know you again and I saw you with Molly and I thought maybe you had changed. But you haven’t. All you care about is your money and what you can buy with it. Well you can’t buy me! There’s more to life than that and some dumb jock like you will never understand that! Now can you please fuck-off and leave me alone.” I was so angry I was panting for breath.
Axel just looked up at me with his shoulders slumped and hurt in his eyes. I had gone too far and I instantly felt regret. But I didn’t have it in me to apologize. I couldn’t stand looking at him anymore, not because of how angry he made me, but because I was so ashamed of how cruel I just was.
I quickly ducked my head back into my bedroom and fell to the floor with tears in my eyes. I leaned my head against the wall and tried to take a deep breath in.
“Mira! Can we please just talk.” I heard Axel call out from the open window. “Can you give me a chance?” I didn’t dare poke my head back out. I just sat on the floor, trying to fight the tears welling up in my eyes.
“I’ll stay here for as long as it takes until you at least talk to me.” Axel called out again. For all he knew, I had already left.
I drew in another long breath as I tried to make sense of my mixed up emotions.
Molly was still sound asleep in the backseat of the car as I plopped down on the steps leading up to the building’s front door. I told Mira I was going to stay there until she came down to talk to me, but realistically I knew I only had until Molly woke up and started fussing with me.
I let out a long sigh as I cradled my head in my hands. Mira was right, for most of my life I had been a complete asshole. I expected so much out of others and I always thought money could buy me anything. I looked up to see Molly through the car window, sound asleep and cute as ever. She only reaffirmed how right Mira was about me. I could never buy the relationship I had with Molly and I could never buy the relationship I had with Mira either. And that’s what hurt the most. I had to make this right on my own. If only Mira would come down and actually talk to me.
My phone started to ring and shocked me out of my thoughts. I looked at it and instantly let out another long sigh. It was Larry and I knew exactly why he was calling. Having that conversation was the last thing I wanted to deal with, but I needed to make some moves to protect Mira above all.
“Hey Larry.”
“Axe. I heard what happened. I’m with the team manager and Dr. Killian. They want to have a conference call. They’ve already agreed not to record this since nobody wants this leaked to the press.” My heart dropped a little at the thought of talking to the team manager, Mr. Houston. But it needed to be done. “You sure you’re up for this?” Larry asked. I could hear the fear dripping off his every word. Whether or not I was up for it—he clearly wasn’t.
“Yea, this needs to be done.”
“Okay, I’m putting us on speaker phone.”
As soon as he turned the speaker phone on and everyone said their hellos Mr. Houston went straight to the point.
“I have to say Mr. Montgomery, I’m disappointed.”
“Hiring your girlfriend and engaging in intercourse on Razorsharks’ property is the kind of nepotism that’s a breach of contract.” Dr. Killian said. I could practically feel his smug and condescending tone over the phone. My gut wrenched with anger.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Mr. Houston said, “which is why we are reporting Ms. Bach for ethics violations and—”
“Let’s just cut to the chase gentleman.” I said, interrupting Mr. Houston.
“Axe maybe you should—”
“Not now Larry.” I barked before continuing. “Let’s stop beating around the bush so I can tell you two exactly how this is going to go down. You report anything about Ms. Bach and I walk off the team when I’m a free agent next season. Because really, what the fuck do you have on me? I’m an unmarried all-star professional football player. It would be odd if I wasn’t fucking my hot massage therapist. The press won’t give a fuck if they find out about that. But you guys on the other hand—you’ll have to explain how you fucked up the opportunity to have a once-in-a-generation-quarterback on your team. Who’s really going to look like the incompetent fuckwit if that happens. Explain that one to the owners Mr. Houston.
“As for you Dr. Killian, you can take your little video tape, your completely uncalled for witch hunt, and your ethics violation and shove up your arrogant-smug-ass. At the end of the day, you don’t put fans in the seats—I do. It would be wise of you to recognize that and start treating me and Ms. Bach with a little more respect. You guys can fine me or keep me benched for the rest of the season for all I care. But if I catch a whiff from either of you perusing any wronging done by Ms. Bach, I’ll be signing with another team faster than I can throw the football.”
As soon as I was done there was a long silence on the other end. Finally, Mr. Houston spoke up, “very well Mr. Montgomery, have it your way.” With that the conference call ended. I cradled my head in my hands again as I took a deep breath and tried to steady my nerves. Just as I was finally starting to calm back down I heard the front door to the building open up behind me.
“Axel?”
I turned around to see Mira standing in the doorway looking completely shocked.
My legs still felt a little wobbly and my eyes were probably bright red from crying.
“Why would you do that for me?” I asked, still in shock.
“Do what?” Axel asked as he stared up at me from the bottom of the steps.
“Put your neck on the line like that? Talking to your manager like that? For me?” I took a few steps down the stairs as I tried to make sense of the emotions coursing through my body.
“You heard that?”
“The window was open.” I pointed up above us. He looked up to see my curtains still blowing around from the night breeze.
“It was the right thing to do.” He said as his gaze fell to the ground. “I’ve thought a lot about what you said and you’re right. Too much of my life focused around money and who I could buy with it. But all that changed the moment I saw you and Molly at practice earlier. I didn’t see a babysitter. I didn’t see someone I paid to take care of my daughter. I saw two people I love having a wonderful time together.”
He was staring at me now with a glint in his eye.
“That was the moment I knew I had been living totally wrong. You’re the person I desperately want a chance to be with. I never meant to make you feel like anything less than that. You are an amazing, strong, and beautiful woman. You deserve the best and I only hope you’ll give me a chance to be the best man I can be for you.”
I swallowed hard against a dry throat and stood there on shaky feet. His words hit me like a freight train. He stared right at me, eyes glinting from the building’s lights, shoulders slumped and completely vulnerable to me as he waited for me to say something.
All of my life I suspected there was a softer side to Axel’s gruff and sometimes rude exterior. Then I saw him with his daughter and I thought maybe a more loving side of him really did exist.
Now I knew it did.
I practically flew down the last few steps and into his embrace. His arm swung around my back a
nd pulled me close. His scent, his arms, his touch—they all filled my world as his lips slammed into mine. I would have fallen over if he wasn’t holding me so tight. My eyes clamped shut as a tear rolled down my cheek. His hand cradled the back of my head as our kiss deepened. It felt like a million fireworks went off inside my body as tiny tingles fluttered down my back and radiated out my limbs.
He pulled away from me and flashed the biggest smile I had ever seen. This wasn’t his typical cocky smirk, it was a huge and genuine grin. Then he cocked his head to the side with a sigh.
“What?”
“Molly just woke up,” he said, nodding at the car just behind us. I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw her cute little face starting to light up.
“How’d you know?”
“I have a sixth sense with these sort of things.” He laughed as he broke away from me and headed toward the car. It took ten seconds before his little girl started waving her hands and kicking her feet.
I laughed, “Do you guys want to stay with me tonight?”
His face lit up with a huge smile, “That would be wonderful.”
He leaned in and gave me a sweet peck on the cheek before turning and heading to his car. He pulled the bag he originally packed for football practice toward him and rested it on the ground before unbuckling Molly. She was wide awake now with her usual jibber jabber.
“This isn’t home, daddy,” she said as he pulled her out of the car and into his arms. He laughed and shook his head before giving Molly a little bounce.
“You’re right.”
“Where are we?”
He nodded toward me. I was standing at the bottom of the steps with a wide grin spreading across my face. “My home,” I called out.
Molly clapped and cheered, “Yay! Are we going to play, Mee-nah?”
Both Axel and I busted out laughing at the way Molly called me “mee-nah,” but it was the most endearing thing I had ever heard. I felt like I could melt into a puddle right then and there.
“You ask a lot of questions,” I said through my laughter.
“She’s a curious one,” Axel said fondly, pushing his nose into Molly’s round cheek.
Molly huffed and pushed her dad’s face away “I don’t want to get boogies all over my face, daddy!”
There was more laughter before he finally picked up the bag from the floor and walked over to me. I let the two of them go inside first, making sure the lobby door closed securely behind us. I watched Molly playfully slap and run around Axels legs. He looked like a hulking redwood tree standing next to her.
My heart skipped and fluttered as I watched the two of them walk down the hallway. I felt like I was floating on clouds as a huge grin stretched across my face. Axel had come crashing out of the past and back into my life. Sure he was still the same dead sexy and sometimes crass man I remembered him being, but now there was something different about him. Now he looked like a man who knew how to love.
As I watched him playfully chase Molly down the hallway with the biggest and proudest grin I had ever seen on a man—
I knew I had found something truly special.
In my mind, it seems like yesterday when Axel came crashing back into my life. I can still feel that lump in my throat when I saw him rattling my tiny office door. Now everything is different. Axel isn’t just my teenage crush; now he’s the man who loves me.
I no longer have a tiny office out in the suburbs. Now I have a new office. It’s bright and cheerful and far from being out in the middle of nowhere. With Axel’s help, it’s become a booming success. It isn’t out of the ordinary to see a celebrity or two walking in and out of our doors.
Shellsea is leading a yoga stretching class for athletes in the main studio. She’s still into her health nut, pure mind and body lifestyle, but now she doesn’t guilt me quite as much. She also stays away from shitty men like Jude. Instead she says things like, “Men like that are only around to pollute my soul and I refuse to let that happen again.” She always reminds me of how happy she is now that she’s doing the kind of work she firmly believes in.
Axel is in the main office on the phone while I’m completing some paperwork. He hangs up the phone and turns to me, “Think you can handle another injured football player?”
I laugh, “My appointment books are full for weeks. I think you are the one who is supposed to know that.” Ever since my reputation began to spread like wildfire, more and more clients have started to pour in. For a moment there it seemed like we weren’t going to be able to keep up with all of them. Plus, there is the added benefit of having Axel ‘The Axe’ as a training consultant. With that, my reputation, and our unique packages combined, we have managed to make this the hottest rehab facility in town.
“I do know, but that’s why I’m asking.” He teases me, “I think you can handle it. You’re a tough old bat.”
I scoff at him. “Excuse me, I’m far from being an ‘old bat’ I will have you know.”
Axel drops his voice, “Oh that I know.”
I shoot him a look before getting back to my paperwork; I know better than to indulge in this sort of behavior. Still, I can’t help but be amused by him. I stretch my hands out to take a rest from scribbling on the paperwork and take a moment to look at the diamond that sparkles on my finger. It’s big and beautiful, but it does tend to get in the way of my massages, so I wear it on my necklace a lot.
Axel never cares when I take it off, he just says, “That way it’s closer to your heart.”
I always make a show of rolling my eyes and telling him he needs to stop watching bad romantic comedies but, deep down, I love it. Seeing a little sappiness come from such a hulking manly-man always makes my heart melt.
“So you’ll take the injured football player then?”
“Sure,” I shrug. What’s one more client, anyway? I stand up and stretch, looking over at Axel.
“We're packed to the point of needing a waitlist,” he says.
“This is all happening so fast. It feels so reckless.”
Axel stands up and walks over to place his hands on my hips. “Well, it’s a good thing you’re at your best when you don’t hold back.”
I smile as he plants a kiss on me.
“I love you,” he says, lips brushing mine.
“I love you too.”
He gives me a tight hug and I shut my eyes, taking just a second to remember everything is exactly as it should be.
The End
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