Axel (Ride Series Book 3) (7 page)

“Maddox,” she whispered reverently, her eyes moving over Mad though I could tell her thoughts were elsewhere. “He would have loved to meet this baby,” she sighed.

“I know,” Axel agreed.

We stayed until Maddox made it known that he was done. It always amazed me how quickly his good mood could take a turn toward a full-blown meltdown.

“We’ll come back soon,” Axel assured her as we gathered our things.

“Good,” she clapped her hands together in glee as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. “You too, Sophie, or come back without these boys so I can get the full story,” she winked.

I blushed. “Okay.”

“Love you, boy,” she told Axel.

“Me, too,” he returned, hoisting Maddox up into his arms and leading us out of the room.

Maddox fell asleep in the truck on the drive back to Axel’s. I knew I shouldn’t bombard him with questions so I cut my thousand questions down to a few.

“Why is she in a home?” I asked, looking over at him as he watched the road ahead.

He sighed. “She started forgetting things, leaving the stove on, shit like that. It just wasn’t safe. Ry and I felt like shit putting her in a home but she actually seems to like it. She has friends, so when she’s having a good day, she plays cards with them. The nurses love her,” he smiled.

“I bet,” I was already in love with her myself. “So that was a good day I take it?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, sounding relieved. “Even on bad days she still knows who I am, but she doesn’t always remember the year or that my granddad’s gone. She gets confused and agitated. It’s not easy.”

“I’m sure it’s not,” I agreed as we began ascending the mountain.

“How often do you visit her?”

He shrugged. “Ry and I trade off weeks, but when I have time, I go every week.” His jaw ticked and I could tell the conversation was making him agitated. “When we get back, I’ll help you unload all this shit and then I gotta make some calls,” he added, indicating the subject was closed. For now.

******

Later that day, Axel dropped me and Mad off at Scarlet and Cole’s so he could take care of some ‘club shit’ as he called it.

“So how’s it going with Axel?” Scarlet asked as we sipped beers in her living room, watching Mad and Gracie get acquainted. So far, that acquaintance had consisted of Gracie toddling over and snatching any toy Maddox seemed interested in.

I wrinkled my nose and she laughed, her green eyes shining. “I don’t know, good I guess?”

“Why is that a question?” she laughed.

“He’s been amazing with Mad. He’s such a natural dad.” I looked over at Maddox and smiled, so grateful every day that my son would have a father who loved him in his life. “Living together has been okay. It’s just a little awkward sometimes,” I admitted.

“Awkward how?” she asked, rising to let their giant bullmastiff, Chief, in from outside.

“Well, he’s made it clear he wants to give things a shot. He speaks about it like it’s a forgone conclusion,” I grumbled. “He even took Maddox and me to meet his gran today. But I don’t know if I’m ready for all of this! It’s all been so sudden and he certainly didn’t seem to want me when I came to town before. I still don’t quite believe the intense change of direction, how sure he is about us. So for now, we spend a bunch of time together but we’re also kind of skirting around each other,” I tried to explain.

“Sometimes it takes something really big for our pig-headed men to understand how they feel about things.” She rolled her eyes. “It was that way for Sal, you know? He had to leave to gain perspective. For Axel, it was your leaving that did it. And, honey, trust me, it did it. That man was not the same when you left.” She shook her head.

“Really?” I gasped with surprise. I’d heard this in so many words from him, but somehow, hearing it from her made it really sink in.

“Really. You want my advice? Give it a shot, Soph. You guys have a baby together. I think you owe it to yourselves and that little man over there.” She cocked her head toward Mad.

“I hear you,” I agreed taking a sip of my drink.

“I’m so glad you’re here. We all missed you,” she added quietly.

“Me, too. I’m just hoping that giant shoe I feel every day doesn’t actually drop.” I winced, sharing the fear that kept me up every night.

She squeezed my thigh briefly and empathized, “God, I know how that feels. But what was your other option? Raising Maddox alone forever? That’s no life for you or him.” She shook her head. “You can’t live off the grid forever. Now you’ve got all of us at your front and your back, and Mad can have his daddy.”

“You’re right,” I agreed, feeling a weight I hadn’t known was there lift a little bit.

“You can have his daddy, too,” she winked before she seemed to ponder something. “Will you tell me what happened between you two…before? I have to confess, I’m sort of dying of curiosity.”

I blushed. “I’m sure you’re not the only one.”

“True,” she laughed. “I’ll keep the details to myself if you’re willing to share,” she swore with wide, expectant eyes.

I sighed and tipped my head back to the ceiling, searching for a place to start. The beginning was as good a place as any. “I was sitting out on my aunt’s front steps; it was my grandfather’s memorial service,” I began, deciding I might as well tell someone. I relived the memory in my head so many times. “I probably wasn’t supposed to even see him. Sal and Kat had left and my mother came out to berate me.” I winced. “Instead of letting me grieve, she was on my case about my outfit, about how I hadn’t introduced myself to one of my father’s colleagues. The criticism seemed to go on and on. It was awful. It had already been such an emotional day with my grandfather’s funeral and then seeing Sal and meeting Kat…” I trailed off, lost in thought. “Axel came up out of nowhere. My savior,” I laughed, though I meant every word. “He told my mother off, right there on the spot. Told her to go take that rod up her ass right back into the house and learn how to talk to her daughter.” I grinned, remembering the moment like it was yesterday. “He introduced himself as Sal’s buddy, said he’d been late to the service though I know now Sal wasn’t even supposed to know he was there at all. He asked me to go out for a drink.” I watched as Maddox squealed at Gracie. “Normally, I would have never done that – gone out with a complete stranger, but after the day I’d had, I wanted to do something that wasn’t me and he had been so protective and was gorgeous,” I sighed wistfully.

“You were a goner,” Scarlet surmised.

“Completely,” I agreed.

“We had a few drinks. I’d never experienced chemistry like we had. Not before or after him.” I shook my head. “It was so powerful. I just got caught up in it.” I shrugged, playing with the fringes of their throw pillow. “I still can’t believe I went back to his hotel. I’ve never done anything like that. There was just something about him – about us together that I couldn’t deny. It was so not me,” I laughed.

“Been there.” She nodded, confirming why she was the right person to share this with. Scarlet had a way of identifying with you on such a genuine basis.

“When we started fooling around…” I trailed off, my cheeks heating. “He said once how we should stop since I was Sal’s little sister. He seemed to feel guilty.”

I thought back to that moment where indecision had suddenly clouded his expression. I couldn’t explain the feeling, but despite being mere strangers, I’d needed him more than my next breath. For one night, I found my true self. He’d brought that out in me.

I’d been fun.

I’d been free.

In the brief time we spent together, it was as though I broke out of a suffocating cocoon. I needed him to take me – to make me fly.

“I convinced him there was no need to stop.”

“You sly minx. You seduced him!” Scarlet hooted.

Had I?

“Maybe a bit,” I admitted with a smothered grin. “But, well, I hadn’t told him it was my first time.” I blushed crimson.

“Oh, shit,” Scarlet exclaimed.

“Yeah, he, uh…well, he kind of freaked. I should have told him.” I bit my lip.

“Then what happened?” she prodded, her green eyes wide with curiosity.

“I could tell he was freaked. It was so awkward,” I groaned. “It was pretty clear he regretted it, so I didn’t stay the night with him. I left.”

“So let me get this straight; you basically coerced him into sleeping with you and then bailed on him?” she squeaked.

I hadn’t really thought about it quite like that.

“I guess,“ I muttered.

“So when you came back to town, he didn’t know what the hell to do with you, girl.” She continued to grin as though our situation was the most entertaining news she’d heard in a long time – hell, maybe it was.

I hung my head in my hands. “God, I really have no business being outside in the world,” I groaned.

She reached over to me, squeezing my arm. “Seems like it’s all working out okay, honey.” She smiled warmly.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

I heard the rumble of Axel’s truck and turned my head toward the sound. I had to admit, I missed the sound of his bike. Since we had Maddox, most of the time the truck had become his main source of transportation.

I’d ridden the bike a few times with him and it had been a thrill to wrap myself around him as the wind whipped through my hair.

When he walked in, I felt that familiar flutter I always felt when it came to him. He was wearing his standard Levis and a black t-shirt under his cut. He swept his brown hair from his face as his expressive eyes met mine.

“Hi,” I murmured with a shy smile.

“Hi,” he replied, his gaze sweeping over my face, landing a beat longer on my lips. I could feel my face heat again and I licked them involuntarily, watching his eyes turn dark. He moved through the room to Maddox, lifting him up in his strong arms.

The sound of a bike rumbling to a stop made Gracie’s face light up.

“Daddy,” Scarlet grinned to her.

Cole walked in a moment later to grins from both the ladies in his life. He delivered a kiss to his wife and scooped his squealing daughter up in his arms.

I rose up off the couch, gathering the diaper bag and any stray toys we’d left lying around. “We’ll see you soon.” I hugged Scar in parting.

“You’ll see me the day after tomorrow along with everyone else,” she informed me.

“What?” I asked.

“The club wanted to welcome you home, Soph,” Cole told me, his blue eyes warm on mine.

Sal and Axel both assured me that the reasons why I’d left had been shared and were understood, respected even, by the Knights. It showed in the much warmer way Cole treated me since I’d returned to town.

“Wow, okay,” I stuttered, beyond moved at the gesture. I looked to Axel with a question in my eyes. He hadn’t mentioned this.

“Let’s get you two home,” he said by way of answer.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked quietly as he backed out of their driveway and gunned the gas, headed for the highway.

He shrugged. “I wanted it to come from Scar. Figured that way you wouldn’t say no,” he chuckled. “You seem to argue with me about everything.”

“Good play,” I replied dryly and he laughed harder, reaching over and putting his large hand over mine. I turned it over, palm up and laced his fingers with mine.

Electricity zinged down my spine as I felt his gaze on me. He was looking over at me with surprise as I turned to meet his gaze.

He grinned. The man was beautiful on any occasion, but when he smiled, he was breathtaking. “She’s gettin' it,” he muttered to himself, his eyes turning back to the road.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “She is.”

I put Maddox to bed and Axel and I sat out on his large back deck eating a casual dinner and sipping beers.

“It’s beautiful here,” I sighed, loving the smell of the pine trees, the orchestra of crickets and the occasional owl.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Scar offered to babysit.” His pose was casual as his boots rested on the railing, crossed at the ankle.

“Oh?” I asked, my heart beating a little harder in my chest.

“Yeah, I want to take you out to dinner.”

“Like a date?” I asked incredulously. “Ax, we have a kid together. I think we’re past the first date.”

“Well, it can be our second date then,” he replied easily.

“All right, second date,” I clinked his bottle with mine.

I slinked off to bed like I had since we’d been staying with him. I was still so nervous about taking things to a romantic level between us. I couldn’t place where the anxiety came from. Lack of experience? Fear of rejection? Whatever it was, I was like a freaking skittish cat when it came to being close to him.

“Night, baby,” I heard him call. He knew I was running away from him. He’d allow me this for the time being, but I knew it wouldn’t last forever.

When my phone rang with a call from Jill an hour later, I smiled, excited to catch up with her. I’d been reading in bed after having a hard time falling asleep.

“Hi, there,” I greeted warmly.

Her reply was full of concern. “Hi, Soph.”

I sat up straighter in bed at hearing her worried tone, knowing immediately that something was wrong. “What happened?”

“Some men were here looking for you,” she told me.

“What?” I demanded.

“They looked sort of like your friends…” She trailed off. “So at first I thought it was okay.”

“What do you mean they looked like my friends?” I asked, confused.

“They looked like bikers. At first I thought maybe they were the same guys who were here last week.”

My blood chilled as I tried to understand what the hell was going on.

“They didn’t bother you?” I asked, immediately concerned for her safety.

“No – they went straight for your door. Do you know who they were?”

“No idea. Did you see any names on any of them?”

“The Black something or other? At least I think that’s what their jackets said.”

I knew of the Black Riders through the Knights, but I didn’t have any idea why the hell they’d be looking for me.

“Did they take anything?” I asked, my teeth biting at my lip nervously.

“No, they were in and out really fast. I heard one guy say , ’she isn’t here’.”