Chapter 8
AXEL – ‘THE TRIO: brAINS, brAWN, BEAUTY’
Eighteen Years Ago…
‘So how exactly is this going to work?’
Theo asks the question as I toss him a cold beer and hand one to Tay, before sinking into my sofa. The whole thing groans under my weight, springs threatening to pop. A train barrels past the window, glass rattling against the throb of bass from the pub downstairs.
The place is barely habitable – peeling paint, damp spreading in the corners, a radiator that clanks like it’s dying – but at least it’s mine. More home than anything else I’ve ever known.
‘It’s really quite simple,’ Tay says, calm in a way that makes me uneasy. She tips her head back and drinks, her throat working as the beer slides down.
I shouldn’t notice, but I do. I notice everything about her. Always have.
Seven years we’ve known each other. Theo and Tay, they’re more family than friends. The only ones that ever meant a damn thing. I’d bleed for them. Die for them.
But risk what we’ve built? Risk her by crossing that line?
Never.
Besides, she could get any man or woman she wanted. And she does. On the regular. Not that I’m about to judge. Stew on it, sure. But judge? I’m no hypocrite.
‘I go out with the guy, take his money,’ she’s saying, ‘and you, Theo, you pump it into that clever little program of yours and make more of it.’
‘Go out with the guy?’ Theo echoes, brows raised.
‘Yeah.’ She shrugs all casual, like it’s nothing. When to me, it’s everything. The idea of some stranger paying to sit across from her, to look at her, to—
‘And what exactly is he paying for, Tay?’ Theo asks, voicing the question that’s choking me.
‘Companionship.’
‘Companionship?’ I cough out. ‘Are you shitting me right now?’
‘Don’t look so shocked. Not everyone has sex on the brain, Ax.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Hey, you two, can we just simmer down and focus here,’ Theo grumbles.
She cocks one dark brow my way, her eyes shooting sparks that fire straight to my groin.
Way to prove her point.
I shift in my seat, praying she don’t notice.
Bet she wouldn’t be so smug if she knew the truth: that I’ve shagged my way through half of London trying to burn her out of me. Not that it helps. Nothing helps. It’s always her. Her smile. Her face. Her body. A want that never fades, only builds.
‘Some people just want someone to talk to. Someone on their arm at functions. Someone who can dress the part, act the part—’
‘And when dinner’s over and they want more than that?’ Theo asks.
‘I’ll be clear up front, it’s not an option.’
I scoff into my beer. ‘And you think they’ll listen?’
‘Ax has a point, Tay. There are other ways to make money – safer ways.’
‘Like what he does in those underground fights?’ she scoffs.
‘Those fights keep me off the streets.’
‘Those fights are the streets. And they’re dangerous, not to mention illegal.’
‘You’d rather I went back to fencing stolen gear?’
‘No, I’d rather you stopped flirting with prison time,’ she fires back. ‘I’d like you on the right side of the law for a change.’
‘Because escorting’s so much better.’
‘It’s legal, for a start.’
‘Barely.’
‘At least we’d all get to keep our faces in one piece…’
She tips her bottle at the shiner under my eye, my bust lip too, nose wrinkling.
I take a long pull from my beer, sting be damned – like I give a toss.
It ain’t the bruise that gets to me, or the split lip. It’s the punch I let land. But I’d been distracted: by this insane idea of hers I fully intend to bury tonight.
‘Most girls don’t have a problem with what I do.’ I meet her gaze, a smirk edging my mouth as I bait her. ‘In fact, most girls say it gives me a reckless edge they can’t wait to ride.’
Her throat works, her eyes flare – just not with the fire I want.
‘I’m not most girls.’
‘No shit.’
And she does. Have a problem with it, that is.
‘At least my way, no one gets hurt.’
She’s still staring at my mouth; I can’t tell if it’s disgust, worry, or something else. Whatever it is, it’s got me locked solid.
Even breathing’s overrated when a woman like Tay’s got you in her sights. And fuck, she doesn’t even know she’s pulling the trigger.
‘You can’t know that,’ Theo says, breaking the silence that’s charged the air.
‘I do know,’ she says softly, a slow smile building as she holds my gaze. ‘Because you’ll be there to protect me.’
I snap upright. ‘Me?’
‘Yeah. You’ll be my protection: making sure nothing gets out of hand.’
Her smile deepens. And I’m gone. That trust. That faith. That certainty that I’ll keep her safe. Just like I have since the day we met.
Only now she’s not the kid I used to guard.
She’s twenty, cunning and clever, and sexy as all hell.
Trust and temptation.
My kryptonite.
‘And I’ll bring in the punters,’ she purrs, lips glistening with beer, her knees brushing mine where the sofa dips. ‘I’m telling you, I can do this. Men will pay good money for what I can give them. Enough for us all to do well out of this.’
Hell, I don’t doubt it.
Because I’d pay.
I’d pay over and over just to sit across from her, night after night, pretending she was mine.
No, it ain’t the money I doubt.
It’s my ability to sit back and watch her do it.
‘I don’t like it,’ Theo repeats.
Thank fuck for the voice of reason.
‘That’s because you’re risk averse when it comes to anything but money,’ she says, turning those eyes on him, voice sharp with that drive of hers. ‘But what is life without a little risk? And these people who can afford to pay, the circles they move in, the contacts we’d glean, the insider info…’
We both say nothing and she leans forward, elbows on her knees, face ever more determined.
‘Come on guys, see the bigger picture. Quit thinking about it as dates and think about it as leverage. About turning scraps into something bigger. About building a future for us all. No more scraping by, living like this, earning just to hand every penny over.’
I know what she’s saying. I do. And she works harder than me and Theo put together, holding down three jobs because her father is a waste of space and she has her kid sister to look after. But…
‘This way, I get to give Sadie a proper childhood, a real home, a decent chance at an education…’ She points the bottle at her chest. ‘All things I never got the chance to have.’ Then she points the bottle at me. ‘You quit risking your life each night and put all that muscle to good use.’
Her eyes flick over me, heating every inch, before they land on Theo, the bottle pointing his way too. ‘And you get the cash injection you need to truly put your trading model to work, for all of us. It’s a win-win.’
A win-win?
That’s if I don’t go down for taking out one of her handsy punters in the process…
‘And what about Sadie?’ Theo says. ‘Who’s going to look after her while you’re off on these dates?’
She gives Theo the widest of smiles.
‘Oh no-no, Tay.’
‘You want me to leave her with my father?’
‘Hell, no,’ he says, ‘but my place is hardly kid friendly.’
‘You think she’ll care? She adores her Uncle Theo.’
‘There’s no accounting for taste,’ I say into my beer, unable to contain my smirk.
‘Fine.’ Though Theo’s expression doesn’t ease. ‘You sure you want to do this?’
‘Yes,’ she says, no hesitation, just sheer ambition. ‘We’re going to turn dinner dates into capital, capital into growth. And who knows?’ She lifts her beer like a toast. ‘One day, we won’t just be surviving. We’ll be running the kind of empire people write headlines about. The good kind.’
I huff and chug my beer. ‘What’s the saying about learning to walk before you can run?’
Though I can’t deny I admire her balls…
‘Why walk when you can already run?’ she quips.
The room falls quiet. Even the trains outside seem to fade.
‘Okay,’ Theo says eventually.
‘Attaboy! Axel?’ Tay presses, eyes bright as they stare me down. ‘You in?’
Even if I said no, she’d do it anyway. And I’d rather she did it with me watching over her than hearing about it on the side.
‘We run checks on every guy. Know all there is to know before you come within ten feet of them.’
‘Agreed.’
‘And I get seal of approval. Not you.’
She baulks. ‘I’m the one going on the date.’
‘And I’m the one running protection. It ain’t up for debate.’
She bites the corner of her mouth, and the way it dents, soft and pink… my fist tightens around the bottle.
‘Stone?’ I growl out.
‘Okay.’
I blow out a breath. ‘Then I’m in. A trial run, and we’ll—’
I’m cut off by her arms around my neck, her triumphant shout in my ear. My entire body tenses, arms unmoving. I forget every reason I should’ve said no. I forget the danger, the risk, the certainty of blood if one of her punters crosses the line.
All I can think about is how much I want her, and how that want is the most dangerous thing of all.
‘You won’t regret it,’ she says, flying from me to Theo, and I watch them hug with ease. Swig my beer and accept my fate. That whatever comes next – success, failure, chaos – I’ll be where I always am. By her side. Protecting her.
Even if it kills me, craving her in the goddamn process.