Axel: A Bad Boy Romance (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Lice?!” Marie demanded. The daycare was closed. The doors locked, exterminators in white outfits that covered them from head to toe were walking around inside spraying the corners.

“It happens all the time,” the daycare worker said as she took a comb through Cate’s hair. “But we think we caught it early. So far only two kids have actually come down with it. I’m clean and so are the rest of the staff and it looks like little Cate here is lice free.”

“What’s lice?” Cate asked.

“They’re like little bugs that live in your hair,” Marie said. “But they don’t hurt and you can get rid of them with a special shampoo.”

“Ew! I don’t want bugs in my hair,” Cate said desperately.

“You don’t have any, Cate, so you don’t need to worry,” the daycare worker said. “The bad news is that the daycare is closed for at least the next two days. We’ll refund you for the time and we have the name of a few other babysitters and nannies in town if you’re desperate.”

“No,” Marie said with a shake of her head, “I’m not that desperate. Cate and I can hang out today.” She took her daughter by the hand and left the daycare behind.

“I wanted to play with Madeline and Molly today,” she said with a petulant stomp of her foot.

“I know, baby,” Marie said as she squeezed her hand. “But you’ll get to see them in just a couple of days.” They were walking towards the gym. Marie felt a tightness in her stomach. She hadn’t introduced Cate to Axel yet and she wasn’t quite ready to. But that was the thing with being a parent: there is stuff you have to do whether you are ready to or not. “I have to go in here quick to talk to someone, but it will just be a minute.”

With Cate in tow Marie walked into the gym and swiped her membership card. The place was almost empty and Axel was nowhere in sight. She made her way to the boxing gym, helping Cate climb down the long, steep staircase. Axel came to meet her at the stairs smiling up at her.

“Hi,” she said sheepishly, “there was a lice outbreak at Cate’s daycare. We’re both clean, but it looks like I’m going to have to miss our session today.”

“Trampoline!” Cate suddenly yelled pointing to a small, circular workout trampoline.

“It’s not a toy,” Marie chided. “It’s for people to exercise on.”

“There’s no reason it can’t be both,” Axel said. “But you gotta work real hard on it,” he said looking down at Cate. “You gotta jump really hard and go really high. Think you can do that?”

“Yes. Yes. Yes,” she said jumping up and down. Cate wrenched her hand free and raced over to the trampoline and jumped up on it. She bounced up and down and squealed excitedly as she spun in the air.

“You’re gonna have a hell of time getting her off of that,” Marie said as Cate continued to jump and laugh on the trampoline.

“No one else really uses it,” he says with a shrug. “She’s certainly enjoying herself.”

She turned to look at him, “I didn’t want you to think I was bailing on you. I’m not giving up on my training, I just...”

“Have a life to live,” he said, finishing her sentence. “I was raised by a single mom, I get it.”

She took him in a long hug and rested her head on his shoulder. He understood. But that was Axel in a nutshell; he zigged when she expected him to zag. Just when she was sure he was going to berate her, he was there for her instead. He was intense and hard on himself, but he was patient and forgiving of others. He was like no man she had ever met before.

Cate rushed over to them, her face flushed and she was out of breath. Marie handed her a bottle of water and Cate greedily swallowed it down. “What else is there to play with?” she asked.

Just as Marie was about to tell her this wasn’t a toy store Axel looked down at Cate and said, “Come on in the ring,”

She followed him and he lifted her up and put her on the edge of the ring and helped her between the ropes. Marie went next, feeling the slight spring of the mat beneath her feet. Cate jumped up and down once or twice as she tested the springs.

“All right, little lady,” he said as he got down on one knee. “Give me a hit, right here,” he said, pointing to the center of her palm.

Cate looked up at her mother. “It’s okay if it’s in the ring,” Marie said. “This is the place where you learn how to fight. But you have to promise not to hit anyone outside of the ring, ever. Do you promise?”

Cate nodded and then brought her fists up and landed a light hit on Axel’s hand. “Good job!” He said with a laugh. “Now how about a kick?” She kicked his hand and Marie was impressed with her daughter’s aim.

“I did it! I did it! I’m the best at fighting,” Cate said as she took a victory lap around the ring making Marie and Axel chuckle at her antics. Then she was off, jumping out of the ring and running back to the trampoline.

“She’s going to sleep well tonight,” Marie said.

“Speaking of tonight, can I see you again?”

“Maybe,” Marie said feeling those butterflies erupt in her stomach again. He wanted to see her; he couldn’t get enough. “Although I don’t have a sitter lined up. You could come over after she’s gone to bed. Unless you wanted to go out somewhere.”

“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, if 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.