The Warriors did it once before, they could do it again. The rival MC had even tried to kidnap Sophie a while ago. Though that attempt failed, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t try again, especially now that Z was back sitting at the head of the table. And the other club definitely had a hard-on for him.
Even worse, it wasn’t like they’d failed on all their kidnapping attempts. They hadn’t.
Kiki, Jazz and Jewel had all suffered at their hands.
“Yeah, I can do it, Z.”
“Get all the women to help.”
“Are you going to tell me how to do it or are you going to let me do it?” she snapped.
Z frowned and picked up the pint glass that Bella had slid in front of him. He downed the beer, then slammed the glass back on the bar before swiping the back of his hand over his mouth, removing any trace of foam from his lips.
Hawk moved behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t mind him, his hormones are ragin’ like Sophie’s.”
“What-fuckin-ever,” Z grumbled into his glass.
Hawk, Bella’s cousin and club VP, snagged a nearby bottle of Jack and poured himself a double shot. He downed it in one swallow, then hissed through the burn. “Assumin’ he just asked you to head the Toys for Tots drive?”
He picked up the bottle again and tilted it toward her in invitation. She nodded. Snagging a second shot glass, he poured them each a double.
Bella stared at the amber liquid in the tiny glass. “Yeah. And I’ll be glad to do it. I’m happy the club’s getting back on track now that Pierce’s been replaced.”
“Long time comin’,” Hawk mumbled, then tilted his head back while downing his second double. He slammed the shot glass on the bar and then scrubbed a hand over his short mohawk. “Kiki’ll help.”
“We’re all going to help,” the redhead, who sidled up to the bar, announced. Bella gave her sister, Ivy, a look of thanks. “We haven’t done one in years. It’s about time.”
“You mean all you women are gonna help,” Jag, Ivy’s old man, clarified. He lifted his chin toward Hawk. “Take one of those.”
Hawk grinned and poured the club’s Road Captain a double. “Too bad it’s too fuckin’ cold for a toy run.”
Jag shrugged. “Maybe next summer I’ll set one up. Or we can wait ‘til someone gets their ass arrested an’ use it toward community service.”
Z snorted. “Like yours, Chicken Hawk.”
“Done my time,” Hawk reminded his club brother.
“An’ benefitted from it, too,” Jag laughed. “If your ass hadn’t landed in jail, you wouldn’t be snugglin’ up with the club attorney.”
“Don’t snuggle,” Hawk grumbled.
As if on cue, Kiki came through the double swinging doors of the commercial kitchen that sat between the private clubhouse and The Iron Horse Roadhouse, the club’s public bar that Hawk ran.
“Don’t believe him,” she called out as she approached wearing her tight, sexy business attire and her typical stiletto pumps. Her dark eyes snapped with mischief. “He snuggles. He’s a pro at it.”
A hand slamming on the bar made Bella jump. All heads turned toward the end of the bar where Grizz, the oldest member of the club, sat nursing a beer. “Fuckin’ bitches,” he grumped.
They all waited for him to finish his thought, but he didn’t, instead he just raised his beer to his mouth, which they could barely see with all his scraggly, overgrown grey beard, and downed a healthy swallow.
A few raised eyebrows later, Kiki slid in between Hawk and Bella. “I’d love to help. I’ll set up a collection box at my office. We can set one up at the bakery, too.”
“Don’t forget the garage and pawn shop,” Ivy added. “I’ll build a website to help fundraise.”
“Get one to Crow an’ Dawg, too,” Jag added.
“Think the strip club’s a good place to ask for children’s toys?” Bella asked with a smirk.
Jag shrugged. “Who cares? A bunch of Dawg’s girls got kids an’ with the fuckin’ tips they get, I’m sure they’ll donate. I’ll tell Dawg to set up a night where the patrons gotta bring a toy to get in the door as a cover charge. You’re gonna have fuckin’ more toys than you’ll know what to do with.”
“Prospects’ll drop the boxes ‘round town at local businesses, too,” Zak added.
Bella nodded. That was a good idea.
Z continued, “Gonna reach out to the Knights to see if they want in.”
“If they do, let me know. I can reach out to Magnum’s ol’ lady,” Bella told Z.
He nodded, then rapped his knuckles on the bar before pushing himself off the stool. “Goin’ home to my woman.”
Bella watched Z cross the large, open common area that held a few pool tables and a whole bunch of old, disgusting couches. The swing of his hips was always a sight to behold since the man just oozed chill. His brother, Axel, didn’t quite have the same loosey goosey movement. But then, he was a cop and a bit on the uptight side so he tended to move a little more methodically.
Z flicked two fingers over his shoulder as he exited the door.
“We’re headin’ out, too,” Hawk said, grimacing as he downed another double.
“I guess I’m driving,” Kiki said, rolling her eyes.
Hawk smacked her on the ass and murmured something in his woman’s ear, which made her smile softly and her eyes flash.
Bella did not want to know what her cousin whispered. She shuddered at the thought. “I’ll set up a couple donation boxes at The Iron Horse, Hawk.”
Hawk gave her a sharp nod. “Yep. Do that.” Hooking his arm around Kiki’s shoulders, he guided her from behind the bar and in the same direction Z disappeared.
“Who’s watching the bar tonight?” Bella yelled out.
“Slade an’ Linc,” Hawk yelled back over his shoulder.
Bella was glad she no longer had to work late nights at the bar. She’d slung drinks for years and now that she was a partner in Sophie’s bakery, she was much happier and got home a lot earlier. Sometimes she still worked late, trying out some new things in the bakery’s kitchen, experimenting with new flavor combinations when it came to their locally famous cupcakes, but that was all a labor of love.
It turns out that baking was her calling, just like Sophie’s.
She was happy Sophie came into the club family by the way of Zak, who had mistakenly thought one night that she was one of Dawg’s strippers and had dragged her kicking and screaming into his life and heart.
Bella smiled softly. Her eyes slid to her sister, Ivy, who was tucked between Jag’s legs, leaning into him. Her hand laid on his chest and his arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close.
The club brothers were dropping like flies. First Z, then Jag, then Hawk, and recently Diesel was brought down hard to his knees by Jewel.
No one ever saw that last one coming. Especially D.
Now with Sophie being pregnant, the new year would bring about the fourth generation of DAMC.
She wouldn’t be surprised if Kiki was knocked up next. Or even Ivy.
Bella couldn’t imagine being an aunt.
The thought should make her warm and fuzzy, but it didn’t.
Instead, the idea of being around babies made her reach out and grasp the bar, her nails digging into the wood.
“You okay?” came a deep, low grumble next to her. She turned her head enough to glance up at Diesel.
“Yeah,” she forced out. “Fine.”
He grunted as if he didn’t believe her. Because he didn’t. He knew her way too well. Almost as well as Axel.
After that night so long ago, Diesel appointed himself her protector. Her cousin was always looking out for her. Like Axel.
However, the two men hated each other’s guts. D would love to do nothing more than pound the cop into the ground if he could get away with it. But that had more to do with Z than Bella. It all stemmed from Z’s family, including Axel, not wanting anything to do with their blood relative since Z went the
direction of DAMC against his father’s wishes.
While Mitch pulled his family away from the club, Zak embraced his grandfather’s legacy instead, which resulted in his family leaving him out in the cold.
“I’m heading home, too. Tell Jewel I’ll need her help with this Toys for Tots drive, okay?”
D grunted and grabbed a beer bottle from the cooler. He knocked the cap off on the edge of the bar using his meaty paw.
She rolled her eyes. Good thing she understood biker speak and could differentiate what each grunt meant.
Grabbing her keys, she headed out the back door.
The jingle from the bells over the bakery’s door sounded, making both Bella and Sophie glance up.
Right on time. The man was nothing if not predictable.
Axel navigated his tall body through the door of the shop, his duty belt hanging off his lean hips and his uniform neatly pressed, making the man look like a well-wrapped birthday present. He slid off his dark sunglasses and tucked them into his breast pocket.
Sophie stopped what she was doing, which was boxing up a cake, and reached into the display case to grab a cream cheese stuffed red velvet cupcake. She held it out to him until he approached the counter and nabbed it.
“Thanks,” he murmured, his eyes not leaving Bella’s.
Almost every day he stopped in for a cupcake, either before or after his shift, depending on what time he worked, and sometimes he’d even come in on his days off.
Those were Bella’s favorite visits, because he’d come in wearing soft, worn jeans that hugged his long legs and now that the weather had turned cold, usually a long-sleeved Henley that fit snuggly across his lean, but muscular torso.
Today he wore a heavy patrol jacket, so all she could do was admire his legs. And his ass. When he wasn’t looking, of course.
Despite eating a cupcake on an almost daily basis, the man seemed to stay in shape.
“Bella,” he greeted softly, his gaze traveling over her hair—which was pulled up and away from her face into a bun—down her throat, then paused on her chest, which was covered by a white apron that had Sophie’s Sweet Treats embroidered on it.
Her nipples peaked immediately under his heated gaze.
Sophie cleared her throat and finally drew his attention. “How’s the kid?” he asked her.
His sister-in-law’s hand automatically dropped to the slight rise of her belly as she smiled warmly at him. “Great, your niece is growing like a weed.”
“Shit,” Bella muttered. “Don’t let Z hear you say it’s a girl.”
Sophie laughed. “That’s why I do it. Drives him crazy.” She tilted her head, her green eyes sliding from Bella to Axel. “I, uh, have to grab something in the back.” Then she was gone before Bella could stop her.
Bella busied herself by picking up where Sophie left off, boxing the cake that would be picked up later for a birthday party.
“Bella,” Axel murmured, getting closer to where she stood, the glass display case the only thing separating them. “Did you make this?”
Her gaze rose to him before she could stop it. He’d peeled the paper cupcake liner away and was now tonguing the cream cheese icing she’d piped over the top.
All the breath left her as the tip of his tongue swirled through the white frosting. Jesus.
He did it to her every time. She should be used to it by now.
“You know I did,” she answered, pressing her thighs together and dropping her gaze back to the sheet cake in front of her. She fiddled with the box, trying to get her mind off what he was doing with his mouth on her cupcake.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Three months ago was the first time they’d ever kissed. Though they’d been close to doing it in the past, they’d never followed through. And that one time in her house, with her pushed against the door, his hard-on pressed to her stomach, she’d been kissed like she’d never been before.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to forget it.
She tried.
But she couldn’t.
She peeked up at him from beneath her lashes. Staring directly at her, the corners of his lips curled wickedly as he now dipped his tongue into the center of the cupcake, slowly savoring the sweet filling.
She groaned.
“What?” he asked, a little bit of frosting stuck to his bottom lip.
If he didn’t take his cupcake and go, she was going to leap over the display case and take him down to the ground to lick it right off of him.
She shook her head to clear it. “Nothing.”
“I thought you said something.”
“Nope.”
“You sure?”
“Axel...” she breathed.
“Yeah?”
She curled her fingers into her palms, digging her nails into her flesh to stop her wicked thoughts. “You have schmutz on your mouth.”
He smiled and ran his thumb over his lower lip then sucked it into his mouth to thoroughly lick it clean.
Fuck!
“You got your cupcake, don’t you need to get back on patrol now?” she asked as she turned away, bracing her hands on the back counter and dropping her head to stare at a smudge of flour.
“You heard ‘er, overstayed your welcome. Get the fuck out,” Zak said, his voice as cold and hard as steel as he barreled through the swinging door from the back kitchen, Sophie hot on his heels.
“Brother,” Axel greeted with a soft growl.
Z took a menacing step forward. “You keep callin’ me that but it ain’t true. Got your shit, now get gone.”
“Zak,” Sophie murmured, putting a hand on his arm.
“Have to pay yet,” Axel said, not moving a muscle, his spine now straight and stiff as the brothers squared off.
“On the house, get the fuck out.”
Axel nodded sharply, then, after digging into his pocket, pulled out a couple of wrinkled dollar bills and tossed them on top of the display case.
Bella snagged the money and headed to the cash register, glad to have something to keep her busy until he left.
But he still hadn’t moved. Instead, his gaze was pinned to the Toys for Tots box Bella had tucked into the back corner of the bakery.
“How did that get here?” he asked.
Bella frowned. “I put it there.”
Sophie pushed around Zak, getting in between the two brothers. “Bella’s running the Toys for Tots drive that the club’s holding.”
Bella knew exactly when Axel’s heavy gaze landed on her. She hit the button on the register and the drawer sprang open. Smoothing the money as best as she could, she then shoved it into the drawer, ignoring him.
Or at least until she felt his presence close. Too close. Her nostrils flared as she picked up his scent. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Whatever he wore, whether it was aftershave or cologne, was unique and it fit him. And it was a nice change of pace from the exhaust, fuel, smoke, beer and booze that clung to some of the club brothers. She couldn’t forget the smell of pussy, either. That was especially strong after a night of heavy partying.
His deep voice nearby made a shiver run down her spine. “How about that? The PD’s doing it again this year, and I got stuck organizing it. Might have to compare notes.” The last part he said so softly only she could hear it and it made her raise her eyes to his.
“Axel, get gone before Z shoves a fist down your throat,” she said just as softly.
Axel shot a look in his brother’s direction. “He knows I come in here every day; he should be used to it.”
“Doesn’t mean he likes it.”
Axel gave her a sharp nod, but still didn’t move to leave.
The front door to the shop was almost ripped off its hinges as Diesel shoved his big body inside, his eyes heated as they landed on the cop.
“Shoulda fuckin’ known that pig mobile out front was yours, asshole.”
Axel stepped back from the counter, his hand resting lightly on the butt of his gun, luckily still
tucked safely in its holster.
“When you gonna learn you ain’t welcome here?” D barked practically in his face, but Axel didn’t react. And having a man as big as Diesel shouting in your face was enough to make anyone flinch.
“D,” Bella said sharply. “He’s just leaving.”
“Don’t see his fuckin’ feet movin’. Get gone, pig.”
Even from where she stood, she could see Axel’s nostrils flare, but he miraculously held his temper. “The day Sophie says I’m not welcome, I’ll stop coming. Until then, you have no say, D.”
“Fuck I don’t,” D barked even louder, his face a threatening mask, his fingers curled into fists.
“Going to hit me, Diesel? While I’m in uniform?”
“Don’t give a shit what you’re wearin’, pig. Don’t matter to me.”
“Axel, get gone,” Bella said softly, then raised her voice to address her cousin. “D, stand down. It isn’t worth getting arrested over.”
D’s eyes flicked to her and then back to Axel. He shoved a finger in the cop’s direction. “Back off, Axel. Go sniff elsewhere. Ain’t ever gonna happen.”
With his eyes never leaving Diesel, Axel murmured, “You don’t have a say in that, either.”
“Fuck I don’t,” D repeated.
“Just like I didn’t have a say about you and Jewel.”
“Got nothin’ to say ‘bout DAMC property, pig. Remember that.”
“She’s still my cousin. Like Bella’s yours. Still family.”
Diesel snorted. “Family. You don’t even know what that fuckin’ means.”
“Axel, go,” Bella said more firmly, when she noticed Z moving closer to his brother. She was beginning to think the man had a damn death wish. Nothing good would come out of challenging both Zak and Diesel. So she whispered, “Please.”
That got his attention.
His head spun toward her and he studied her for a long moment. “We’ll talk later.”
She shook her head. “No, we won’t. Please leave.”
With a glance over his shoulder at Sophie, he said, “Take care of my niece,” then he bravely pushed past D and went out the door.
Bella finally breathed when the bells stopped jingling. She turned toward the big picture window and watched as his cruiser pulled away from the curb, his eyes meeting hers for a split moment.
Down & Dirty: Axel (Dirty Angels MC Book 5) Page 2