Axel: A Bad Boy Romance Page 15

“I just want to be with you,” he said. “The location doesn’t matter.”

  “Okay, I usually put Cate to bed around seven-thirty, so, let’s say eight?”

  “I’ll see you then,” she said.

  “It sounds you're leaving,” Axel said, “but I don’t think Cate is ready to go yet.”

  Indeed, she wasn’t. Thankfully there was no one else in the gym and Cate had free reign over the place. Running from the ring to the trampoline she continued to race around until she was too tired to move. Only then did Marie pick her up and carry her out of the gym, giving her a piggyback ride home.

  She cleaned up her apartment and spent the rest of the day working in the museum while Cate drew pictures in crayon in the office. Her stomach was in knots over Axel’s visit. She hadn’t entertained a man other than Austin before and she wasn’t sure what to do or what would be expected. He had been so good with Cate, so sweet and understanding and patient. She hadn’t expected that from someone who fought for a living.

  A single mom had raised him. He understood that Cate was a part of her life and that Cate would always have to come first. Sometimes Cate would be bratty and difficult; she would sick and Marie would have to drop everything to go to her. But Axel got it. He knew how much work it was and he wasn’t threatened by Marie’s love for her daughter.

  She gave Cate a bath and put her to bed. She’d had a long day and collapsed into bed falling asleep almost immediately. Marie kissed her on her forehead and then made her way to the living room. She changed into a tight pair of jeans and low cut black top and put some low music on. He arrived at eight o’clock, right on time.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Axel gave three hard knocks on the office door right at eight o’clock. Marie was there in a moment and she opened it and let him in, greeting him with a kiss. She looked pretty and relaxed in a black shirt and jeans. He already felt so comfortable with her. How had this happened so quickly? He took her hand in his and together they walked through the empty mansion and out onto the back patio.

  Marie had a bottle of wine open and a baby monitor sitting on the table. If Cate needed her mom, Marie would hear her. They sat down on two large Adirondack chairs facing the long expanse of the lush yard that led to a small forest behind the mansion. Marie liked the back deck. She liked being outside here. Back in Arizona, being outside felt like a punishment. It was either too hot or too cold and it was always dry. But here the air was fresh. She could smell the soil and leaves still wet from a recent light rain.

  “What are you thinking about?” Axel asked.

  “How much I like it here,” Marie said with a smile. “The weather is so nice. There’s so much moisture in the air.”

  “You are the first person to ever compliment the humidity,” Axel said with a shake of his head. He stood up and expertly uncorked the wine pouring them each a glass before he sat back down. “You like it more than Arizona?”

  “I do,” she said.

  “Good, I would hate for you to go back.”

  “There’s no chance of that,” Marie said, shaking her head.

  “No family back home?”

  Marie shook her head. She was staring into the forest beyond them. Her jaw was clenched so tight it was starting to ache. There were tears welling up in her eyes and she didn’t know why. She would have to tell Axel, she knew that. It wasn’t like Thomas. She cared about Axel and she never wanted to lie to him. But she didn’t want to talk about it.

  Axel didn’t say anything. He looked at her from the corner of his eye, but he was waiting for her to say something.

  “I’m never going back to Arizona,” Marie said still staring out into the forest. “Not ever.”

  “You don’t ever have to go back,” he said. “And if anyone ever tries to make you, you send them to me and I’ll sort them out.” His heart was pounding. He had no idea what she was going to say, but he was glad to get the chance to hear it.

  Marie smiled over at him and, before he knew it, the words were tumbling out of her mouth. “Cate’s dad is in Arizona. His name is Austin. He’s not a good person.” She told him everything. She told him how she got pregnant, how she was scared and alone, how Austin hit her and abused her and was cruel to her. She told him every embarrassing truth, things she had been too scared to say out loud, things she hadn’t even admitted to herself. Austin had screwed her up; he had brainwashed her and tricked her until she had turned into someone that lived only to please him. Her every moment had been spent trying to keep him happy, or at least not make him angry. And she had done that for years. All of Cate’s life she had been living like that.

  Axel said nothing; he just listened. But inside of him a fire was raging. Who was this Austin St. Clare? What kind of asshole would treat a woman like Marie DeSantos like that? His fists clenched as he imagined the beating he would give Austin if he ever saw him. But he didn’t interrupt. He let her go on, trying his best to ignore the tears that sprung from her eyes. He knew she needed to get it all out and it was only when she was leaning back in her chair and had been quiet for some time that he spoke.

  “Marie, if Cate is his daughter and you’ve taken her, he can have her declared missing. You could be arrested for kidnapping.”

  “I know, but I didn’t have any other choice.”

  “I’m not judging you. I just want you to know what could happen.”

  “I’m hoping he won’t go to the police. He hates cops. He’ll try to find me on his own, but I did a good job of covering my tracks. I don’t think he’ll find me and, as more time passes, he’ll get tired of looking. Hopefully he’ll give up and move on.”

  “What if he doesn’t? The way you described him doesn’t make him sound like he’s the kind of guy who gives up easy. Men who hit their wives and girlfriends are scum, but they aren’t stupid. It’s about control, Marie. That was why he did it; he wants to control you. He’s not going to give up. The more time that passes the angrier he gets. He’s going to get more and more determined until he finds you.”

  “I did a good job of hiding,” Marie repeated, almost as if it were a mantra she said to herself. “I have to believe that or I’ll go crazy. He won’t find me here. He can’t, there’s nothing to find. I practically don’t exist.”

  But Axel was worried. His eyes were scanning her and then flicking to the forest and the yard as if Austin were back there right now skulking and watching her. “This is exactly what I didn’t want,” Marie said as she stood and leaned against the wooden bannister. “I wanted to leave all that behind me, not dredge it up. Now you’re looking at me differently and you’re always going to be. Now you just see me as another victim.” She shook her head as tears filled her eyes and obscured her vision.

  “Hey, I’ve seen you in the ring,” Axel said, coming up behind her and putting his warm hands in her cool arms. “I don’t think you of as a victim. I think of you as the girl who called me rude and then brought it to her training sessions. That’s what you are. You’re strong, Marie. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met.”

  The tears slipped over her eyelid and down her face. She wiped them away angrily. Tears, Axel could never handle tears. He would have offered Marie his gym if it had stopped her from crying. He pulled on her shoulders and she leaned back against him as his arms came around her. She closed her eyes and relaxed back into him taking a deep, calming breath.

  “I feel like such a fool for staying so long,” she said wiping another errant tear away. “He made me feel like I was nothing. Like no one else in the world could ever love me. He made me feel weak and useless and I hate him. I hate him so much.”

  “I know,” Axel whispered into her ear, leaning his head against hers. “But he can’t touch you now and he can never make you feel like that again.”

  “I’m sorry to dump this on you.”

  “Don’t ever apologize for telling me the truth. I always suspected something and now I know. It’s good you told me. I can look out for you. I can help you, i
f you want me to.”

  “I appreciate that and I might take you up on it. But right now, I’m doing okay on my own.” Her tears had stopped and she turned around and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a strong hug. He held her tightly, his arms wrapped around her. She leaned against his chest, breathing in the smell of him. She closed her eyes and nuzzled her face against his.

  He tilted her chin up and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. She closed her eyes and leaned into him, letting herself relax and feel safe in his arms. “I like this,” she said when the kiss broke.

  “I like it, too,” he said, caressing her cheek. But his mind was a whirlwind. He needed to protect her, but how? What would he do if Austin showed up and demanded his daughter back?

  “It’s not too complicated? My whole crazy life?”

  “Not at all,” he said. They began to sway together. Moving to music only they could hear. Clouds were forming overhead, crickets singing in the grass and the trees moving and swaying in the breeze. His hands were around her hips and they danced together as the wind picked up and swept her hair off her neck. He focused on staying calm and not upsetting her until finally he felt calmer, too. All he could do was wait and be there for her when she needed him. But it was hard for Axel to do nothing; he didn’t wait around; he attacked problems. But he couldn’t attack this one.

  “I never knew it could be like this,” she whispered in his ear. “I never thought it could be this wonderful.”

  “Me neither,” he replied. “I’ve never felt like this with anyone else. My trainer is freaking out that you’re going to derail my career.”

  “Me?” Marie asked pulling back and looking up at him. “I’m not, am I?”

  “No. I’m only stronger when I’m with you. You make me better.”

  “No, it’s not that. You’re a good person. You don’t need me to bring that out in you; you already have it.”

  He kissed her again, deeply, his tongue sliding into his mouth as his hands slid into her hair. They broke the kiss and she leaned against him and they began their dance again. Her daughter was sound asleep upstairs, her abusive ex was thousands of miles away, and, right now, everything was okay.

  It was dark outside and thunder was rumbling ahead. A fat raindrop fell and landed directly on Marie’s hand. “We should go inside,” she said looking up at the sky. She took his hand and walked with him into the museum. His hand was firm in hers as she did her rounds and closed the place up.

  She motioned for him to be quiet as she led the way up to her apartment. She left him in the bedroom to check on the still-sleeping Cate.

  Axel was standing in her darkened kitchen and she motioned him to follow her to her bedroom. Once inside his hands were on her and hers on him and they were kissing each other hungrily as if it had been months since they had last seen each other. They tumbled into bed together and Axel forgot all about Marie and her past. He had her now and that was all that mattered.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  It was raining outside and Hayden Walker’s breath was fogging up his windows. He opened the Find My Phone app and selected Axel’s name and saw he was still at the Hawk’s mansion. It was eleven-thirty at night and he was still there. Hayden shook his head and closed the app. Axel didn’t know Hayden was tracking him, but he didn’t need to. It was in Axel’s own best interest. It was Hayden’s job to keep to Axel on track and he was currently failing miserably.

  He was in Philadelphia. The rainy streets were empty and cars plowed through puddles sending water splashing across the street. He parked on the street and pulled the collar up on his jacket and stepped out into the rain. It was pouring and he was soaked in mere minutes.

  He wasn’t in the good part of Philadelphia. There were no fine restaurants or nice stores. It was all pawn shops and empty storefronts. The people he passed kept their heads down and avoided eye contact. The lettering on the door said Hastings Investigators and the windows were bright with light. Hayden pushed the door open and stepped inside, removing his wet jacket and hanging it on a coat rack. Water dripped and pooled on the floor and Hayden looked around the empty office.

  He was doing the right thing. Axel had lost himself. It was the pressure. This was a huge match they had coming up and Axel was cracking. He was finding ways to avoid the stress; he was running from his own fear. Axel only feared failure and there was a chance he wouldn’t win at this match, so he was distracting himself with this woman. But it had gone too far and Hayden needed to put a stop to it.

  “Mr. Walker?” A woman stuck her head into the room. She was tall and thin with long curly dark hair. “I’m Spencer Hastings. We talked on the phone.” She walked out into the office and held her hand out and Hayden shook it. “Come on back.”

  He sat down across from her, a desk between them.

  “You asked me to look into Marie DeSantos,” the woman said pulling out a folder and opening some files on her computer.

  “Yes, did you find anything?”

  “I certainly did. Marie DeSantos hails from Arizona just like you said. She had a child with a man named Austin St. Clare. He runs a private security firm. His biggest client is a man named Gregory Peters, a billionaire investor. But Austin is no saint. He’s been arrested for multiple DUIs and, what’s more, the police had been called to the house several times for domestic disturbances. In the last two years the police have been called to the house over seven times. There was suspicion of domestic abuse, but his girlfriend, Marie DeSantos, refused to press charges.”

  She handed a file over to Hayden and he began to rifle through it. He saw Marie’s driver’s license photo and copies of the police reports and a picture of Austin. He saw the McMansion where they used to live, the wide, empty, dusty Arizona town they used to call home.

  “That was until recently,” Spencer continued. “But Marie has not been seen in a long time and no one has any idea where she is.” The private investigator looked at Hayden waiting for him to say something, but he remained perfectly silent waiting for her to continue. “This is all hearsay, but a few weeks ago Marie took her daughter Cate and skipped town. The last place anyone saw her was at a used car shop in Alabama. She sold her car for cash and then ghosted. No one has seen her since.”

  “Where does her husband think she is?” Hayden asked.

  “Marie and Austin weren’t married.”

  “They had a child together.”

  “Yes, that does happen sometimes,” Spencer said. “There’s no law that they have to get married after having a kid. The strange thing is, Austin hasn’t notified the police that his daughter is missing. He has a case against Marie; she took his child without notifying him. That’s kidnapping.”

  “But he hasn’t called the cops?”

  “No, he’s private security. They have a tendency to not get along with the cops. That’s the other thing I found out: Austin St. Clare is looking for his girlfriend. Every place I went looking for info on her, he had already been there.”

  “Does he know you are also looking for her?”

  “No, I kept it quiet. You don’t have to worry about that. I’m good at my job. I can keep looking for Marie-”

  “No,” Hayden interrupted. “No, thank you. What you’ve given me is perfect.” He stood up, the file in his hand. Spencer stood up and Hayden shook her hand. “I can trust you won’t tell anyone about this, right?”

  “Of course, discretion is my middle name.”

  “Glad to hear it.” She walked him to the door and he put his wet jacket and stepped out into the rain again. He hurried to his car and once inside he removed the wet jacket and threw it in the back. He started his car and turned it on, his headlights illuminating the rain in front of him. He checked his phone and saw Axel was still at Marie’s house. He was spending the night and breaking every rule they had made for themselves.

  Hayden had given up everything for Axel. He used to be a fighter too, but he gave it up to help train Axel. Hayden’s entire life had been sp
ent propping up another man. He trained Axel, pushed him, made sure he ate right and got enough sleep, he made sure Axel had ways to amuse himself. Hayden still lived in their crappy hometown so he could run Axel’s gym. It was Hayden who had made Axel a champion and this was his reward. Axel was going to throw it all away to fuck some housewife from Arizona.

  He had worked his ass of for years to get Axel here and now it was going out the window. He didn’t have control anymore. Axel wasn’t listening to him, but was instead doing whatever he wanted. Didn’t Axel understand what was riding on all of this? Both of their careers were on the line, but Axel didn’t seem to care.

  Axel could have any woman he wanted. Tiffany, the beautiful Tiffany who treated the gym like her own personal runway wasn’t good enough for Axel, but this runaway chick was? No. Hayden was not going to lose everything over a woman. He refused.

  He headed back to Harksburg, jumping on the highway and leaving Philadelphia behind. He would need to get rid of Marie DeSantos. She was too dangerous; she was threatening everything they had worked for. It would be for Axel’s own good. He might be mad for a few days, but, after enough time, he would forgive Hayden. He would have to. Once Axel was a champion he would forget all about the girl who lived in the museum. He would move on to movie stars and models.