Chapter Fifteen
AXEL
Waking up to a hard boot kicking into my side is a surefire way to piss me the fuck off. My stomach heaves, and I curl into a ball to protect myself. Pain spreads outward, the wind knocked right from my lungs.
“Fucking shit!” I gasp.
“The fuck are you doing sleeping on the floor?”
“Fuckin’ prick, why’d you fuckin’ kick me?”
“I tripped.” His nonchalant, unbothered tone pisses me off further. I look up at Sin with a glare as he peers down at me with a dumbass fucking smile that I want to wipe off his stupid face. I don’t believe for a goddamn second that he tripped.
“Sure you fuckin’ did. Asshole.”
The bedroom door whips open a moment later, Sienna looking down, shocked and alarmed. Her eyes dart from Sin to me lying on the floor, her brows furrowing. I’m surprised she heard something and opened the door. But here she is, and now she knows my secret.
“Axel? I heard your voice, and you sounded hurt.” Well, damn. If that doesn’t make me feel good. She put her fear aside to check on me. Such a good girl.
“Morning,” I reply to her, sitting up. “Sin, could I have a fuckin’ minute?”
“Sure thing, buddy. Looks like you’ve got some explaining to do.”
I roll my eyes, wishing like hell I could smack the shit out of him right now.
Not wanting to scare Sienna, I ignore the big, ugly bastard and stand up.
I nod my head for her to go inside, following and letting the door shut and lock behind us.
My body is stiff as hell, and now my ribs are probably bruised.
I stretch out my neck from side to side, the cracks audible, then my eyes take in the woman in front of me, standing with her hip popped out, arms crossed.
She’s wearing another large T-shirt and, as far as I can see, nothing underneath. Goddamn, she’s cute. Fuck. Focus.
“What were you doing on the floor?” she asks. I scratch behind my neck, massaging the muscles. Sienna’s eyebrows rise as she puts it together on her own. “Wait, were you sleeping there?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Sienna’s mouth falls open, her eyes widening a bit. “Why would you do that?” she asks quickly, her words rushed.
“Because you said you wanted to feel safe.”
“Wait, you’ve been doing that every night? No . . .”
“Yeah,” I reply honestly, suddenly realizing there’s a strong chance she may not view my actions as helpful and more like creepy. “I know no one would bother you in my room, or anywhere here, but I wanted to make sure. I wanted you to feel completely safe here.”
“Axel . . .” she breathes roughly, her legs giving out as she plops back down onto my bed, her eyes focused on something far off in the distance, emotions so thick I can feel them from here.
Instead of having this conversation while standing above her, I drop down to my haunches in front of her knees, placing my hands on either side of her hips, palms resting on the bed, caging her in for the first time.
Even though I know all it would take is a single look and I’d back off.
But I want all of her attention for this.
“When I promise something, I see it through. A man is nothing if his words mean shit. I promised you’d be safe, and to me, that means doing everything in my power to make sure that happens. If that means sleeping on the floor outside the door so you can sleep peacefully, then so fucking be it.”
Sienna shakes her head from side to side, her hair falling into her face. She refuses to believe that someone could just genuinely want to be there for her with no strings attached.
“Why do you care so much?”
This time I do reach out and touch her. I move slowly, giving her the opportunity to say no or shy away.
But she does neither of those things. So, I gently push the snowy strands out of her face and tuck them behind her ear, letting my fingers trail against her soft jaw.
It’s such a tender, featherlight touch, but the sparks I feel are everything but.
“I can’t explain it, baby, but ever since I met you, I don’t know how to care about anything else.”
“Axel . . . that’s crazy.”
“Tell me about it. I don’t understand it any more than you do. But I’m not gonna fight it. I want you to trust me, to lean on me, to let me help you.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“Then I’m going to keep showing up until you do.”
Sienna opens her mouth to say something at the same time my burner phone goes off. I let it ring twice before Sienna tells me to answer it. Everyone who matters to me is under this roof, but I know I can’t ignore her brother, and that she wouldn’t want me to.
I accept the call, not moving from her space, and bring it to my ear.
“Yeah?”
“It’s Saint. How is she?”
“She’s in good hands,” I reply, giving Sienna a wink. “Want to talk to her?”
“If she’s right there. Put her on.”
I give her a little smile as I hand her my phone, standing and going into the bathroom to brush my teeth and give her some privacy.
She hasn’t talked to her brother since she got here, and I’m sure it’s going to make her feel better to be updated by him.
I don’t have any biological siblings that I know of, but I have my club brothers.
When Rogue moved out of the clubhouse after his sister’s death, we didn’t hear from him for the first few weeks, and it was tough. I can’t imagine how Sienna is feeling.
When I’m done pulling myself together, I walk back into the room, finding her sitting in the same spot, wrapping up her call.
“I will. I love you, too. Tell them for me,” she says. Then she holds the phone back out to me. “He wants to talk to you.”
“We need to move shit along. Do we have your help?”
“You have mine.”
“What about your club?”
“I’m gonna push for that today. But even if you don’t get their support, you have mine. I agree, we need to rid the world of Cain’s reign of terror.”
I can hear the grinding of Saint’s molars through the speaker.
“Do I need to question why you’d go against your club to help me?
” I know he’s asking about Sienna, and I’m not willing to give him any fuel to run back down here and take her away from me.
That’d be a fight he’d lose, and it would only hurt his sister in the end.
“Nope. But I want to be the one to kill him.”
“Get in line.”
“I’ll text when I have an update.”
I end the call with Saint, taking a deep breath.
“I’ve got some club business to get done this morning. Want to grab some breakfast first?”
“I’m fine. I think I just want to take a long shower and maybe do another puzzle. Are you really going to help my brother?”
“Yeah, I really am. But I gotta convince my brothers to help, too, so we have a better shot at taking him down.”
“Is your president going to go for it?”
“I want to give it to you straight, sweetheart. I don’t know. Chaos’ priority is his club and keeping us safe, but I know him, and he can’t look away once he knows something terrible is happening. I have no doubt he’ll put up a fight, but he’ll do what’s right in the end.”
“Thank you, Axel. I don’t think I’ve said that yet. I’m not your problem, and yet you’re swooping in and helping.”
“Baby, I’ll keep saying it until you finally believe it; you couldn’t be a problem if you tried. And, plus, I like having you here.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I do.” I really fucking do.
I leave Sienna in my room, my boots heavy, legs feeling like I’m trudging through quicksand, every step away from her harder and harder to take. I pull out my phone, shooting off a text to our group chat.
Me: Need to meet with you all
Sin: Is this about how you’ve been sleeping on the floor in front of your bedroom?
Chaos: He’s been what?
Sin: You can read last time I checked
Chaos: Oh fuck off. Wrath what the fuck are you doing?
Malice: He’s protecting her
Chaos: What?
Sin: Do you need glasses old man?
Chaos: Do you wanna die?
Sin: You ready to admit you have feelings that have nothing to do with your dick hardening?
Chaos: Is this about the waitress?
Sin: Maybe it’s time to retire you
Chaos: Maybe it’s time to bury you
Chaos: Alive
Malice: He found his queen!
Malice: Now we all have queens!
Malice: I want to make them a group chat but Sienna said no because she doesn’t belong to a Heathen. But she will. I can feel it. Then I’m gonna make them one.
Sin: Make sure you think of a good name
Malice: Already done, good sir, already done
Me: For fuck’s sake. It’s about Cain and the Kingsnakes
Chaos: Church
Pocketing my phone with an eye roll, I head to our meeting room, trying to think of the best way to spin this, while also battling pushing Malice and Sin’s words out of my head.
I never wanted a woman, never wanted monogamy, love, or commitment.
I’m happy for my brothers, but I don’t know if I’m capable of that.
That isn’t what this is between me and Sienna.
My chest aches at the thought, a sharp, unyielding pressure that won’t quit.
We all end up at the doors at the same time, bottlenecking our way into the room like a bunch of stupid assholes.
We all take our seats, Malice looking at Rolo’s spot and then shaking his head.
I need to remember that this isn’t just about Sienna.
This is about retribution for our brother’s death.
This is about righting the scales and ridding the world of that piece of shit and ending his path of destruction.
Chaos is the last to take his seat, thrumming his hands against the grain of the hardwood table. Our oath rings out in my head, the one we all take when we become Heathens.
We’re Hell’s Heathens. Forged in fire, bound by blood, and loyal beyond the grave.
We ride not for glory, but for each other.
In a world that turned its back on us, we chose brotherhood.
We protect our own, stand for what’s right when no one else will, and never leave a Heathen behind.
Family isn’t born; it’s earned on the road.
Home is the clubhouse; family is the cut.
We live and die for each other. The only way out is back through hell’s gates.
“Give it to us straight, Wrath,” Sin tells me.