46. Axel #2
“Your what, Axel? What is she to you? If you even come close to telling me you were anything but nice to her, I swear I will fucking end you. That’s not a threat.
It’s a fucking promise.” Her words make me pause, because who is this person and what has she done with my sister?
This girl has a nice, big set of cojones to stand up to me.
She’s never spoken to me like this in her life.
Pride warms me at the realization that standing up to our mother was not a one-off like I was concerned about. She’s different and I don’t hate it.
“Relax, killer. I hate to break it to you, but your best friend is… mine.”
Her head rears back like I’ve slapped her silly and it admittedly stings that she thinks so little of me, not that I’ve ever given her a reason to think anything differently with how I’ve treated Wrinley over the years.
“Yours.” she mutters, like she’s trying to assess how the word tastes on her tongue.
“Fucking mine.”
She sits back, seemingly accepting my declaration, while her face settles into a scowl that says she’s still processing this new truth.
We sit in the stale ass waiting room–in silence–for another thirty minutes, my leg bouncing a steady rhythm along with the elevator music coming through the speakers. My pulse hammers in my ear, louder with every passing second, my need to get to her growing more impatient.
“Wait.” Arabella’s voice breaks through the dull silence.
I turn to face her and her expression is suddenly twisted into something that resembles disgust when she eventually continues, “If you’ve been sleeping with my best friend all this time, then that must mean you’re the…
oh my god…” she pauses again, before sucking in a deep breath and exhaling on a whisper, “ the fallopian fiddler .” Disgust transforms into a mock gag and dry heave as she covers her mouth and puffs up her cheeks like she’s about to hurl her guts all over the hospital floor.
“The fucking what?”
Her eyes squeeze shut and she pinches the bridge of her nose as she releases a long, drawn out groan. “Let’s just say I know way too much about you and your…” Another pause to gag. Jesus. Dramatic much? “I know things. So. Gross. I’m going to kill her. Once she’s better, of course.”
“We’ll call it even after the things I’ve seen at the club of your and your fucking boyfriend.” I extend my hand out to her as a peace offering. It’s the least I can do at this point. “Deal?”
Her face eventually relaxes and she takes my hand shaking it gently. “Deal, although I can’t believe I’m just hearing about this now.”
“I was saving it for the right time. And I just found it,” I smirk.
“You’re a fucking jerk,” she laughs, leaning over to nudge my arm with her shoulder.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Are we okay?” I’m not surprised she asked this.
I’ve spent most of my life avoiding her and treating her like shit, for reasons that seem to no longer be relevant.
We both had the same shit mother, we just handled it differently and the best way we knew how.
But Ryker obviously helped her see her own worth and I can’t deny I like this new Arabella.
And that girl behind those doors… she changed me, too.
I can’t put my finger on when it happened, but it did.
Nudging her back, I mutter quietly, “Yeah. We’re good.”
“You seem happy. Is that because of Wrin?” she asks cautiously.
“Whatever I am, is because of her,” I confess, tipping my head to the double doors that lead to my girl. “Every bit of it.”
She blows out a puff of air like she can’t believe I just said that.
Honestly, neither can I. “I didn’t know it was you she was talking about, but I’ve seen the difference in her too.
You make her happy and I’m thankful to you for that.
Just know if you hurt her, I stand by my promise to end you. Hoes before bros and all that.”
I stifle a laugh. “Yeah, I’m not sure that’s how that saying actually goes.”
“Whatever. It works.”
“Family for Jaymes,” a nurse calls from the other side of the waiting room, breaking the little moment my sister and I were engrossed in.
I stand and she shuffles over to us.
“You’re the family?” she asks again.
“I’m her husband.” The nurse looks from me to Arabella, then I look at my sister and offer her a quick shrug.
Work with me here, sis.
Arabella confirms me as Mr. Jaymes and I add, “This is her sister. She should come back, too.”
My sister makes a face that looks like she might cry at my willingness to share time with her and I offer her a curt nod so we can get this show on the road.
I’m not sure the nurse believes us, but she sighs anyway and leads us through the doors to my wife . I’m not a stranger to lies, but the moment I lay my eyes back on her I realize this one doesn’t actually feel like a lie.
“Here you go Mr. Jaymes,” the woman calls my lie out right in front of Wrinley before handing me a clipboard. “Please fill out these forms for your wife while you wait.”
Thankfully, she leaves us all alone, pulling the curtain closed behind her just as Arabella slips through. I don’t even give a fuck that she probably knows I lied just to get back here. Worth it.
“Oh. My. God. Ari!” she shrieks. I guess I’m chopped liver. “What are you doing here?”
“My brother texted me, Wrin,” she replies with a straight face as she taps her arm in irritation and leans in to hug her tightly.
Wrinley looks past her to catch my eye, her expression one of surprise as she mouths, “ What the fuck? ”
All I give her is a shrug of my shoulders. This is between them. I’ll wait my turn.
“My brother ? Really?” She releases my wife and sticks her hip out to glare at her. “I can’t believe you told me all about my brother’s… situation .”
Wrinley winces and evades her accusatory glare. “Yeah. Sorry about that, bestie.”
“You’re fucking sorry? You better believe we’re going to have a long talk about secrets when you’re feeling better, bitch. Oh my god, really. Fallopian Fiddler!” she whispers that last part, but I heard it anyway. Jesus Christ.
“Again. I’m sorry. Are you mad it’s Axel?”
Arabella sighs, then grabs her hand and squeezed. “No. I’m not mad. Surprised, but not mad. I did tell him I’ll kill him if he hurts you though, so don’t put up with his shit.”
Wrinley laughs. “Don’t worry. I can handle my husband ,” she assures her best friend.
“Good. I’m going to go back to the waiting room and let you both have some privacy. I love you, Wrin.”
“I love you, too, Ari.”
My sister leaves, closing the curtain behind her and I’m finally alone with my girl.
“Mr. Jaymes, huh?” Wrinley asks, directing my attention back to her and all the monitors and wires attached to her chest and stomach.
I remove my glasses to run my hands through my hair and then drag them slowly down my face. Jesus Christ. “Yeah, I had to tell her I’m your husband so she’d let me back here. Are you okay? What have they said?”
Repositioning herself on the stretcher, she lets out a quiet chuckle. “How long do you think I’ve been back here? I did see a doctor, because apparently they don’t waste time when it comes to pregnant bitches, so this bitch got VIP treatment.”
“Not fucking funny.”
“I wasn’t really trying to be funny, baby.
They’re giving me some fluids for possible dehydration and I’m going to have an ultrasound.
But, can we circle back for just a minute?
” she asks. “Wife?... I think I like the sound of that. You know this means you should probably marry me for real now, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the fucking plan, baby.”
“I kind of like the sound of Axel Jaymes. Maybe you should take my last name instead of me taking yours. Wrinley Bradley just doesn’t have an amazing ring to it, you know?”
Planting a kiss on her forehead, I tell her, “As soon as we get out of here, I’m taking you to the courthouse and making you my wife.
I’m not asking because you don’t get a choice.
” Realistically, I know we’re past that.
I just need her to know this is it for me.
She is it. “And I’m not attached to my last name.
It can gladly die with the donors that created me.
I’ll take yours and whatever else you choose to give me. ”
“Wow,” she winces, repositioning herself on the stretcher. “This is quite the difference from the Axel I’ve known all these years.”
She’s right. I am different. Well… different in some ways. Maybe not so much in others. “It’s called personal growth, baby,” I tease and she shoots back a cheeky grin. “Does that hurt?” I ask, tipping my head at the top of her hand.
She shakes her head as lifts her hand to show me the IV just as someone with a big ass rolling computer screen peaks through the curtain. “Are we ready for an ultrasound?”
I eye her curiously as she lets herself in and settles in next to Wrinley. Putting my fucking glasses back on my face, just in time to see her sliding her gown up to expose her stomach, I reach over and stop her from going any further. “Hold on! What are you doing?”
“Sir, I’m just trying to–”
“Axel. Stop,” Wrinley says sharply as she moves my hand back where it came from. “She’s the doctor and she’s just doing her job. If you can’t chill the fuck out, you can sit your ass in the waiting room… husband .”
I sit my ass in the chair next to the stretcher and cross my legs, wearing a slight pout on my face at her firm tone. She’s lucky she’s already suffering a little or I’d find a way to punish her for that little remark. My face lowers into my hands as I center my breaths and wait.
“Just some cold gel,” I hear the woman warn.
“Oh, shit. That is cold,” she hisses.