Chapter 10
DAKOTA
Mathew’s eyes narrowed as he registered the arm around my waist, his gaze whipping from my face to Axel’s.
The silence stretched as he waited for me to say something—anything—but my mind had gone completely blank, too overwhelmed to process basic human speech.
When I didn’t speak, alarm flashed in Mathew’s eyes at Axel’s possessiveness.
His expression turned guarded. “Dakota, are you okay?”
“You lost the right to ask that question”—Axel’s fingers tightened on my hip—“the moment you left her.”
“That’s really none of your business.” Mathew’s voice was dark, cutting. His eyes darted between me and Axel, confusion clouding his features. “Dakota, what the hell is going on?”
Of course he was confused. Mathew knew my history with Axel Pierce. Knew I’d spent years complaining about my brother’s insufferable best friend. Knew what he looked like, thanks to Mom whipping out photo albums. Yet here Axel was, arm wrapped around me like he owned me.
“Dakota, is he bothering you?” Mathew stepped closer.
Axel’s chest rumbled with amusement against my side. “You don’t get to act like a hero now.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Means you broke her heart.” Axel’s voice dropped to a dangerous purr. “You left. And you missed your chance with her.”
Something in Axel’s tone transcended mere animosity toward Mathew. It was almost as if … he was genuinely angry at Mathew for breaking my heart. But that couldn’t be right. Axel Pierce wouldn’t give two craps if my heart was broken. Hell, he’d probably celebrate it with champagne.
I was about to ask Axel how he knew any of this, but the answer hit me like a slap: Knox. Of course it was Knox.
I visited my brother regularly, and, sure, I kept some things from him, like how dire Mom and Dad’s financial situation was these days, because that would just send him into protective overdrive from behind bars.
But everything else? I told Knox most everything.
Including the whole Mathew disaster. The dating, the heartbreak, the spectacular way it all went to hell.
And Knox, being Knox, probably couldn’t keep his mouth shut about his little sister getting her heart stomped on. Especially not to Axel, who visited him too.
God, I was an idiot for not putting this together sooner. My brother was the most protective person on the planet. Of course he’d vent to his best friend about some guy who hurt me.
“Axel,” I started. “That’s enough.”
“So, you’re with him now?” Mathew’s eyebrows slammed together, disgust and shock raging through his tone.
My pulse quickened. This was where the carefully constructed PR narrative could fall apart. “Er …”
“I think you should answer that again, Sunshine.” Axel’s warning was velvet-wrapped steel as his eyes locked with mine, reminding me of our agreement, of everything at stake.
“Don’t talk to her like that.” Mathew took another step forward.
A slow, predatory smile spread across Axel’s face. “Still trying to look like a hero, eh?”
“Guys, stop.” I glanced nervously around the hallway. “People are starting to look at us.”
The hostess at the front was watching with undisguised interest. A couple waiting for the restroom whispered behind their hands.
“She’s a grown woman,” Mathew growled. “If she wants to talk to me, you can’t stop her.”
Axel’s eyebrow arched with dangerous amusement. “Can’t I?”
Mathew appeared to weigh his next words.
“Are you okay, Dakota? Is he hurting you?” Mathew growled in a tone that suggested he was hoping I would give him the green light to take Axel outside and beat him up.
Because that was another thing about Mathew.
He had put his career ahead of our love story, but he would annihilate anyone who hurt me.
Under different circumstances, that might be romantic. Under these circumstances, it created a giant problem.
Axel threw his head back and laughed. “You would love that, wouldn’t you? Painting me as the villain.”
“You are a villain,” Mathew spat.
“I guess the villain gets the girl then.” Axel’s thumb traced a small, deliberate circle on my hip. A gesture Mathew very much noticed.
“Dakota, you’re seriously with him?” The hurt in Mathew’s eyes was almost unbearable.
Words failed me. Months of imagining what I’d say if I ever saw Mathew again, and now I was speechless.
“Why?” Mathew sounded like he was trying not to vomit. “He’s a total asshole. He will never treat you right.”
“If treating her right includes breaking her heart by abandoning her …”
“Shut the fuck up.” Mathew’s voice was dangerously low.
Axel’s mouth quirked up. “You stand here, pretending you care about her, but how much could you really care if you left her?”
Mathew lunged forward, and I instinctively stepped between them, one hand on each of their chests. Under my palm, I could feel Axel’s heart beating steadily, confidently, while Mathew’s raced like a trapped animal’s.
“Axel, we have eyes on us,” I reminded him through gritted teeth. “One of those influencers is looking at us.”
Twenty feet away, one had her phone raised, too far to hear but definitely recording.
“How long have you been with him?” Jealousy snaked through Mathew’s voice, his fingers twitching at his sides.
“Axel, I think we should go.” I pushed his chest, desperate to calm the situation.
Axel allowed his mouth to curl higher on one side, looking almost triumphant. “Come on, Sunshine. Let’s go home.”
The word home landed like a grenade.
Mathew’s face fell, his complexion ashen. “You live together?”
My gaze darted around the space, and then I lowered my voice. “Look, Mathew. I can’t talk about this now, but trust me, there’s more than meets the eye.” I tried to telegraph a message with my eyes, one I couldn’t speak aloud without blowing everything up.
He studied my face, trying to decipher my meaning.
“You need to stay away from her,” Axel warned.
“The only time I’ll stay away from her is if she tells me herself.”
Axel tried to push forward again, but he halted at my palm. “Tell him, Sunshine. Tell him to never contact you again.”
Never again? The audacity hit me like a knee to my ribs.
Our arrangement was temporary, not a lifetime sentence.
Nothing in our carefully scripted agreement gave Axel Pierce the right to intimidate Mathew, to draw lines in the sand about my future, let alone issue ultimatums like he actually had a say in my life!
Rage flushed through my body. “Don’t tell me what to do,” I snapped.
“He left you, Sunshine.”
“This really isn’t your concern,” I replied.
“Isn’t it?” Axel raised an eyebrow, his voice dropping. “You’re with me now. I would say that damn well makes it my concern.”
I gritted my teeth and lowered my tone to a furious whisper. “You don’t give a shit—”
“Careful, Sunshine.” His warning was soft but clear.
The influencer was closer now, definitely recording, maybe even live streaming. I had no idea if she could hear us, but our body language—me caught between two men leaning aggressively toward each other—screamed love triangle.
A love triangle was not part of our carefully constructed PR narrative. Neither was a public fistfight.
“I have to go,” I said apologetically to Mathew, my heart twisting at the prospect of leaving him here, thinking I was deeply in love with Axel.
It was bad enough that this fake relationship required me to lie to my followers.
But lie to Mathew? That wasn’t something I was comfortable with. Wasn’t something I signed up for.
“She’ll never love you the way she loves me,” Mathew warned.
Something predatory shifted in Axel’s expression. “Says the boyfriend who abandoned her for some career opportunity.”
Mathew’s face paled, but his eyes hardened with resolve. “Well, I’m back now. I came back to win her over. Now that I know she’s in the arms of a monster, I’ll fight even harder for her. If only to save her from you.”