Chapter 21
WHEN YOU KISS YOUR EX AND YOUR FAKE BOYFRIEND LOOKS LIKE HE WANTS TO COMMIT ACTUAL MURDER. #MIXEDSIGNALS
DAKOTA
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“How did you know where I lived? Who let you up here?” Axel’s voice could’ve cut glass.
I didn’t tell Axel that the guards had called me and said Mathew was here and I’d cleared him. I’d been so shocked that it wasn’t until Mathew was already riding up the elevator that common sense had kicked in.
“Axel, it’s fine. I’ve got this.” I placed a hand on his arm, feeling the tension coiled beneath his expensive shirt.
Mathew’s lips curved into that infuriating smirk I remembered too well. “What are you now, Rapunzel? Does he keep you locked up in this tower?”
“Not helping, Mathew.”
“Get out of my penthouse.” Axel’s nostrils flared.
“I’m not in your penthouse.” Mathew’s tone was deceptively casual. “I’m in here to talk to her.” He gestured toward the inside of the elevator.
“Get out of my building.” Axel hit the elevator button, trying to send it down to the lobby.
Mathew’s eyebrow shot up with theatrical surprise, keeping his hand on the door so it couldn’t close. “Oh, you own the whole building now? Moving up in the world, aren’t we?”
This wasn’t like Mathew. The Mathew I knew was the guy who helped old ladies with their groceries and apologized when other people bumped into him. He wasn’t one to poke sleeping bears with sticks. The fact that he was doing it now, for me, sent an unwelcome flutter through my chest.
“It’s fine, Axel.” I shot him a look that said, Please don’t make this worse. “I’ve got this.”
“You know the rules, Dakota.”
“Rules?” Mathew repeated. “He gives you rules?”
My stomach dropped. “It’s not like that—”
“Then what is it like, Dakota?” Mathew’s voice softened, and suddenly, I was melting under those warm eyes.
Focus. You can do this. “Look, you can’t be here.”
“You heard the lady. Leave.” Axel crossed his arms.
If I had any shot of getting Mathew to walk away without causing a scene, Axel was systematically destroying it with every word.
“Axel, will you give us a minute? Please?”
“I don’t want him in my home.”
I shot him a look that said, It’s here or downstairs in the lobby. The lobby runs the risk of someone seeing us.
Axel’s fingers flexed at his sides, his control hanging by a thread. “Make it quick,” he bit out. “We have dinner reservations.”
With one final glare that promised Mathew a slow, painful death, Axel disappeared into the depths of his penthouse.
“He keeps you on a short leash.” Mathew’s eyes swept over me like he was cataloging changes. “I don’t like it.”
“Mathew, why did you come here?” I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling exposed in my silk blouse and pencil skirt.
“You haven’t been returning my calls.”
“I can’t see you.”
Hurt flickered across his features. “I know I made a huge mistake, leaving you. But please … just have coffee with me. One cup. Thirty minutes.”
My throat felt like sandpaper. “I can’t.”
His jaw worked from side to side. “Look, I’m not asking you to cheat on the guy.
” His attention flicked toward the hallway where Axel had vanished.
“I just …” He grabbed the back of his neck, a gesture so familiar, it made my chest hurt.
“Dakota, I love you. I made the biggest mistake of my life, and I just want a chance to make this right.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out.
He stepped closer. “I can tell you still have feelings for me.”
No. I don’t know how I feel yet. More importantly, it wouldn’t matter if I did.
“Tell me you love him,” Mathew said quietly, “and I’ll walk away.”
Just say it. Three little words: I love Axel.
But the lie stuck in my throat like concrete. Mathew knew me too well, could read every micro-expression, every tell. We’d spent too long learning each other’s secrets.
And despite all that had happened between us, I didn’t have it in me to lie to him. Not about being in love with Axel at least.
I should though. To save his heart. A better person would.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” he said, his voice dropping to that gentle tone that used to talk me down from panic attacks. “But I can tell you don’t want this. And that makes me worried about you. More invested in making sure you’re okay.”
Crap. So, the more he could read this lie, the more he’d come barging into my life, threatening everything. File that under Fantastic Complications of Epic Proportions.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.” His eyes burned with protective fury. “Is he hurting you?”
“No.” The word came out too fast, too sharp.
Mathew didn’t look convinced. His gaze swept over me, searching for evidence of injuries, I guess.
“Dakota, if he lays one finger on you—”
“He doesn’t.” This isn’t real. None of this is real.
“Then what’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’m in a relationship with Axel now.” The words felt like glass lies and betrayal in my mouth.
“Then why am I having such a hard time believing that?”
“Because you’re seeing what you want to see,” I lied, hating myself for it. But my parents needed me to pull this off, and I seriously didn’t want a Mafia bullet in my head for not selling this story.
Mathew stepped even closer and brought his hand up to cup my cheek, just like he always used to do.
Just like he’d cupped my cheek the first night he told me he loved me. Just like he’d cupped my cheek that time in the rain when he kissed me like a man coming back from war.
Only this time, the warmth I’d once felt wasn’t there.
“I love you.” Mathew leaned down so quickly, I didn’t have time to react. His lips crashed into mine. They were urgent, demanding, desperate.
I pressed my palms against his chest and pushed back, gasping. “Mathew—”
“It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything.” He pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead, gazing over my shoulder. And when he did, his expression morphed into something that looked almost like satisfaction.
I turned around and found Axel standing in the hallway, his face carved from stone.
Axel’s eyes moved from Mathew’s hands still tangled in my hair, to my swollen lips, to the guilty flush I could feel burning across my cheeks.
He’d seen everything.
“Come on,” Axel grumbled, voice flat as roadkill. “We need to get ready.”
Crap. I knew he’d be pissed at the complication, but it felt like his anger had another level to it. One I couldn’t place.
I said goodbye to Mathew and then swallowed my dignity as Axel and I posed for our first public photo that I’d post on my account, going officially public with our romance. Not just oh, we’ve been caught by other people public.
Cuddling into his arms by the window felt like snuggling up to a very attractive, very pissed-off glacier. We smiled and gazed out at the city, two lovebirds lost in … well, lies mostly.
It felt stranger than our dinner charade. Stranger than lunch. Probably because minutes ago, I’d been kissing another man, and now I was pretending to be madly in love with the human equivalent of a thundercloud.
As soon as I clicked a few shots, Axel muttered, “Good?”
I reviewed them, my thumb swiping through images of us looking disgustingly happy. “I can edit them to make them look even—”
“Don’t care.”
Excuse me?
I held my phone tighter, knuckles going white.
“I know you didn’t like Mathew being here—”
“You got that damn straight.”
“But stop acting like this was preplanned or something. I didn’t know he was stopping by.”
“You still let him in.”
“I’m sorry.” But honestly, why the hell was he this mad?
“Not okay.”
I took a deep breath. “I realize he’s not welcome in your home, but you don’t have to be this mean to me about it.”
Axel stepped into my space because of course he did.
Probably knew that having him this close made me feel even more confused about my feelings for Mathew because instead of imagining Mathew’s hands on me, I was very much wondering what Axel Pierce would feel like, pinning me against this very wall.
Traitorous body.
“Post the damn photo and be done with it.”
I clenched my jaw so hard, I’m surprised my teeth didn’t crack. “Try that again. This time with less venom and more basic human decency.”
“Don’t lecture me about manners when you were just making out with another guy in my foyer.” The words came out sharp enough to cut glass. “But sure, let’s pretend this is about my tone.”
Okay, you know what? I needed this. I needed to remember that Axel was hot and cold. Because before this moment, the way he was glaring at me like I was an offensive stain in his home, I’d almost forgotten that I’d promised to get back at him for that coffee prank.
I smiled sweetly. The kind of smile that should’ve come with a warning label.
“You’re absolutely right,” I purred, already plotting.
He narrowed his eyes at me. I could tell he was officially worried.
And he should be.