by Skye Tisdale
“Hate to interrupt you lovebirds, but I’m looking for someone…” The man tilted down his aviator sunglasses and peered curiously at Axel. “Are you Axel?”
My heart sunk. Somehow, in the midst of all the action, I’d forgotten that Axel was a wanted man. This wasn’t over yet. They were going to take him away—and just after I’d gotten him back, too…
Axel gave my hand a last, solemn squeeze before letting go. “Yes, sir,” he confirmed and held out his arms.
The officer looked at him blankly. “Son, what are you doing?”
Axel looked flustered. “Waiting for you to cuff me, sir.”
The man laughed. “Put your arms down, son! We already got who we came for—thanks to this young lady right here.” He nodded at me and smiled. “You’re quite the sharpshooter, miss.”
“I… I…” I stammered. “Thank you!“
“You’re very welcome,” he said. “Unfortunately, however, I’m going to have to slap you with a charge for illegal discharge of a firearm within city limits. I’m guessing you don’t have a license to be operating that rifle?”
I looked sheepishly down at my feet. “No, sir, I don’t.”
“That’s what I thought,” he sighed. “Listen, I don’t make the rules, all right? I just follow them. You’re going to have to appear in court sometime in the next few months. We’ll contact you by mail. Don’t worry, I’ll find your address.” He pushed his sunglasses back up and turned around to leave.
“But… wait!” I called after him and glanced at Axel. “What about…?”
The man glanced back at us over his shoulder. “Oh. Right,” he said. “I almost forgot. You’re free to go, son.”
Axel stared blankly at him. “You’re… not going to arrest me?” he asked incredulously. “Sir?“
“Not this time, son.” The man chuckled and thought for a moment. As he did, the smile slowly faded from his lips. “Real shame about what happened back in that desert… Real shame. And then returning overseas just to terrorize the good citizens of our country? Well, that’s just disgraceful.” He shook his head and spat on the ground in disgust. “I’ll be honest with you, son: if it wasn’t for you and your friends, I don’t know if we ever would’ve caught him. Men like him know how to stay hidden. I mean, just look at Pablo Escobar. Even with secret intelligence tracking his every move, he evaded capture for over a decade.”
“My friends?” Axel furrowed his brows confusedly. “What do you mean, sir?”
“What, you didn’t know? Huh…” The man old man looked thoughtful. “Your old buddy called us up! Said he had some information about Maverick, but he’d only talk as long as we gave him something in return. Sly bastard… It took some consideration, but eventually a deal was struck. We got our information, and he got what he wanted, too.”
“What did he want?” I asked breathlessly. The words just slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“Pardons—five of them, to be exact. One for each member of his friends...” The man smiled knowingly and looked at Axel. “You’ve been pardoned, son.”
Axel’s jaw dropped. “Pardoned? You mean I’m…” He swallowed. “…free?“
“That’s right, son.” The man nodded and turned to leave again. “Take care now—and don’t make me regret my decision.”
“I wouldn’t even dream of it, sir!”
“Good man.”
As soon as the man was gone, I squealed and threw my arms around Axel. “You’re free!” I cried out in excitement. “I always knew you were innocent, and now the rest of the world knows it too!”
I rose up onto my toes and kissed him excitedly, running my palms along the sides of his stubbled cheeks. Axel was stiff. For a moment I thought he wasn’t going to kiss me back—but then he dug his fingers into my hair, pulled me close and kissed me with a passion I’d never felt before, not even during our night in the cave. My stomach fluttered wildly. It was like the part of him that had been sleeping for these last five years had finally woken up.
After losing ourselves in each other’s mouths for a long moment, Axel pulled away and gazed down into my eyes. There was a big smile on his face. “You know I’m not letting you leave this time, right?” he asked.
“It’s a good thing I don’t want to leave, then.” I laughed and buried my face against his chest. I felt all warm and giddy inside. Is this what love is supposed to feel like? “Hey… Axel?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I love you.”
Axel’s heart seemed to beat just a little bit harder against my chest. He leaned down and kissed my forehead softly. “I love you too, Morgan. Always. And no matter what happens, you’ll always be my princess.”
***
CHAPTER 20
AXEL
I glanced into the rearview mirror. There was nothing behind us but empty road—same as the last dozen times I’d checked. I kept looking back, expecting to see a police car to pull up and start tailing us, but it never came. Was it really true? That after all these years, I was finally free? It seemed… impossible. I didn’t dare to let myself believe it.
Morgan cleared her throat quietly in the passenger seat.
I reached for the little tin box I kept in the glove compartment. “Mint?”
“Yes, please. My throat’s so sore from all the screaming.” She took a mint and popped it into her mouth before leaning back into her seat. “I can’t believe it’s finally over…” she sighed and looked over at me. “Can you?”
I shook my head slowly. “…No. But I’m trying.”
She smiled lightly and placed her hand on top of my thigh. I took my right hand off the steering wheel and wrapped it around hers. I’d almost lost her before—not just once, but twice. There wasn’t going to be a third time.
“Where do you want to go?” I asked. Until now, we’d been driving around aimlessly just to get away from the scene where it all happened.
“Home,” Morgan said in a wistful tone. “Right now, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than light a big fire and cuddle up with you and Phoebe underneath a big, cozy blanket and just be.”
“Home it is,” I said. “We just need to make one quick, little pit–stop first…”
I drove towards the bar. Phoebe was still there—alone. I felt guilty when I remembered how scared he’d looked when I dropped him off. He’d surely earned a special treat for dinner tonight. Maybe some of that canned salmon leftover from the Halloween special. Knowing how hard the chefs had to work to keep him out of the kitchen when they were preparing it, I just knew he was going to love it. That chubby little purring machine… Even though I never pictured myself owning pets, I’d really taken a liking to him.
“That’s weird….” Morgan said.
“What is?”
“There’s a car in the parking lot. See?”
I followed her finger. The black car was gone, and so was the man who’d come looking for Morgan earlier. The only trace left of him was a splatter of dark red blood in the melting snow. However, there was another car in the lot. It was small, with flaking red paint and a tabby cat decal on the back window. I recognized it right away.
“That’s Jennifer’s,” I said slowly. “She’s a waitress of mine. I don’t know what she’s doing here, though. The bar never opens this early, and her next shift isn’t until Tuesday evening…”
Morgan furrowed her brows. “I thought the bar was closed today anyway?”
“…It is.” I gave her a meaningful look.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car. Before I even had the chance to put my feet on the ground, the bar’s front door flew open and Jennifer rushed outside. She had tear streaks on her cheeks, and strands of hair were sticking out in every direction from the base of her ponytail, giving her a disheveled look. She let out a gasp and ran up to me, throwing her arms around my chest. I hesitated briefly before hugging her back. In the past I would’ve pulled away, simply because I was too afraid to let people close. B
ut now that I wasn’t on the run anymore, maybe I could finally start opening up to people.
“How could you, Axe?!” Jennifer pulled back and pounded her fist angrily against my chest with tears in her eyes. “How could you even think about leaving like that? Without even letting me say goodbye?”
I squinted at her. I wasn’t sure what surprised me most: the fact that Jennifer somehow knew I was planning on leaving even though I never told her, or the fact that she seemed to actually care. I never thought anyone was going to miss me when I was gone—not after I spent five years pushing people away. Turns out, I was wrong.
“I was going to write you a note,” I said. “I just didn’t get a chance to.”
“A note?” She stared incredulously at me. “I can’t believe we’ve been working side by side for the last five years, and the only goodbye I get is a freaking note! You’re unbelievable.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled sheepishly. “I guess… I didn’t think you’d miss me all that much.”
“What?” She gaped at me. “Of course I’d miss you! We all would. This place just wouldn’t be the same without you…” Her face softened somewhat as she looked up at me with sad eyes. “Don’t leave, okay?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I assured her. “I’m here to stay.”
“Oh, good. That’s all I wanted to hear.” She smiled and let out a little sigh of relief before turning towards Morgan. “Hey, you’re that runaway girl, aren’t you? The one from down the mountain?”
Morgan glanced at me uncertainly. “I am,” she admitted. “But how did you…?”
Jennifer squinted. “And that’s my jacket!”
Morgan looked down at the jacket she was wearing and turned beet red. “O–oh! I’m so sorry. I was just borrowing it because of the cold, and I…” She swallowed nervously and began to take the jacket off. “Here, let me give it back to you.”
Jennifer giggled. “Relax! I’m just messing with you. It looks so much better on you, anyway. Why don’t you keep it?”
“Really?”
“Really!” Jennifer beamed at her. “That was never my color anyway.”
Morgan smiled shyly. “Thank you. That’s so kind.”
“Well, I guess I have my moments.” Jennifer snorted and cocked her head at me. “Come on, let’s go inside. There’s somebody waiting for you.”
“Phoebes?” I asked. “Yeah, that’s why we’re here.”
Jennifer just chuckled as she led us into the building. It was dark inside. Only one light was turned on, and it was the one above the bar counter. A man sat perched on one of the stools, hunched over with a clear glass of scotch in his hand. When the bell above the door jingled to announce our arrival, the man turned his head and looked right into my eyes. I knew those eyes…
“Axel…” He smiled warmly at me. “It’s been five years, but you haven’t changed a day.”
“Chase,” I croaked. “What are you… I don’t… Is that really you sitting there?!”
He grinned and set his scotch down before standing up. “Why don’t you come see for yourself?”
I grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake while we both laughed heartily. Chase squeezed me back so hard I could practically feel my bones cracking. I couldn’t believe it was really him standing there. We hadn’t seen each other since our squad split up at the border after escaping Maverick, over five years ago. He’d stood by me then, and he still stood by me now.
“You’re like a damn dog!” I blurted. “Loyal to a fault.”
“I always had a soft spot for strays.” Chase winked. “It’s good to see you, old friend.”
“Fuck, I thought you were dead…” I murmured and shook my head. “What are you doing here? How’d you even find me? You don’t have anything to do with the weird shit that’s been going on up here, do you?”
Chase chuckled. “Ease up, brother. I’ll tell you all about it over a pitcher of beer?”
I hummed. “Beer, huh? Yeah, that does sound pretty tempting.”
Chase, Jennifer and Morgan sat down at a table while I went behind the counter and fetched a clean pitcher. Phoebe came scurrying out of the back room and ran around my legs while I filled the pitcher from the tap. I gave him a quick pet before grabbing a tray and reaching for the beer glasses. As I was the fourth, I suddenly hesitated. Alcohol had been my crutch for as long as I could remember. Whenever life got too painful, I drowned myself in a bottle instead of just letting myself feel. All those long, lonely nights spent drinking whiskey at the bar all by myself… It wasn’t right.
I grabbed a bottle of seltzer water instead.
“You must be one of Axel’s old squad members,” I heard Morgan say.
“Correct,” he confirmed. “And you’re Morgan, the runaway bride from down the mountain. You’ve been staying with Axel for a couple of days now, isn’t that right? I imagine you’ve gotten to know each other quite well…”
Morgan huffed. “How do you know so much about me?”
That’s what I’m wondering too. I glanced back at my shoulder and saw Jennifer sitting at the table, chewing nervously on her fingernails while Morgan and Chase talked. She knew something, that was for sure… but what? And what did it have to do with Chase?
“Same way you know so much about me.” Chase chuckled. “People talk.“
I grabbed my tray and pitcher and headed to the table, taking the empty seat beside Morgan. Phoebe was following right behind me. Jennifer clicked her tongue and patted her lap, but Phoebe walked right past her and jumped straight into my lap instead. She looked on enviously as I ran my fingers through his fur and he began to purr loudly. I poured a generous glass of beer and slid it across the table towards Chase with my free hand.
“There’s a beer,” I said with a hint of impatience. “Now get on with the story.”
“Hang on. First, I got to make sure you’re serving decent brew…” Chase smirked and took a big sip, exhaling pleasurably. The foam stuck to his upper lip and gave him a temporary moustache. “Oh, yeah. That’s good stuff.”
“I wouldn’t dream of serving low grade shit,” I grunted and unscrewed the bottle of my sparkling water. “At least not unless you were too drunk to tell the difference.”
The girls helped themselves to their own glasses of beer. I had the urge to join them, but I suppressed it. Sooner or later, this bad habit of mine would be little more than a memory. I just had to keep saying “no.”
“Well… guess I better start talking,” Chase sighed. The playful mask on his face cracked, revealing the rough, burdened man that hid underneath. “Few months after we left, Maverick got himself medically discharged. That’s what the records say anyway. If you ask me, I think he was just getting fed up with the chain of command; fed up with others telling him what to do. He wanted to be the one telling them what to do. Being just a commander wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted to be a king.”
“Makes sense…” I nodded. “Why should he stay and follow their rules when he could just leave and make his own?”
“Exactly.” Chase’s face twisted in anger. “They “didn’t have enough proof” that it was Maverick who burned down that village, so he never faced any consequences for it. Did you know that? Not as much as a slap on the fucking wrist. And that’s what’s so wrong with our fucked–up world. Nobody cares what anyone else does as long as it doesn’t affect them directly…”
I shook my head in disgust. The world had fallen into chaos—and chaos is exactly what men like Maverick thrived on. They’re drawn to it like moths to a flame. All they needed was enough people to turn their heads and pretend that nothing was wrong—and for the longest time, that’s exactly what happened. I was guilty, too.
“Anyway…” Chase took a big gulp of his beer. The glass was half–empty already. “Months after we crossed the border, Maverick was still sending out scouting parties to find us—or so they tell me. If he hadn’t been caught, we would’ve had to spend the rest of our lives in hiding—and I can’t do that,
Axel. Maybe you can, but I’m not like you. I go insane when I’m not surrounded by people. Plus, I want to have a family of my own one day. But families need protection… and I can’t protect them if I’m constantly looking over my own shoulder, can I?”
I nodded slowly. I’d never pictured Chase as a family man, but I could see it now. “Who’s ‘they’?” I asked. “You said ‘they’ told you Maverick was sending out scouting parties.”
“The people I’ve been working with. You see, I knew I couldn’t take down Maverick alone. You were the natural first choice, but no–one had seen or heard from you since we split up at the border, so I had to look elsewhere. I just knew there had to be others who were as sick of Maverick’s shit as we were…” Chase scratched his beard and leaned back in his seat with a thoughtful look on his face. “I made connections in the military as well as the higher government sphere. I managed to convince them to work with me by feeding me information, and then I turned around and gave that information to the only people I thought could help us: the FBI.”
“That’s how they knew…” Morgan said. “You called them.”
“Indeed.” He nodded. “I’ve been working with them for the good part of a year now, silently watching Maverick’s every move. We all wanted to catch him, but it wasn’t easy. Every time we thought we had him, he’d slip out of our grips!” He shook his head in frustration. “Eventually I heard he was sniffing around this place. A bar on some mountain in the middle of nowhere? It didn’t make any sense… at least not until I realized something. See, Maverick’s filthy rich, but it’s all dirty money—and all dirty money needs to be cleaned eventually. I figured he was so interested in this place because he was planning on turning it into a front for some money laundering operation. But, somehow, it never felt quite right…”
I chuckled lightly. “Because you had it all wrong. Money laundering was never the reason he was up here.”
“Yes,” Chase admitted begrudgingly. He never did like to admit when he was wrong. “I was wrong because I was working with limited information. But when I looked up the current owner of the bar and saw that his name was Axel, things suddenly started to make sense again. You used a fake last name, but I knew. I still knew... Then I thought you must’ve led Maverick up here, either intentionally or by accident, but that turned out to be wrong too… It was all just a coincidence. That was the most difficult part for me to wrap my head around. But I was right about one thing: someone did lead Maverick up the mountain. It just wasn’t you he was looking for… It was her.“ He grinned and nodded at Morgan before looking back at me. “You’re just a magnet for trouble, aren’t you, Axel?”