Axl & Maile (TEAM ‘IO #2)

Chapter 1

ONE

MAILE

Maile took a step into the gate area at HNL - Daniel Inouye International Airport and took in her first deep breath of airconditioned Hawaiian air.

It was good to be back.

Slinging her backpack around onto one shoulder she hoofed it over to the baggage claim.

She could have hung back and waited for the rest of her group, but she couldn't wait to get to the baggage claim and see Kawehi again.

Her cousin was going to pick her up. The band had invited Kawehi to go too, but now that Kawehi was pregnant and had her share of morning sickness, no one thought it was a good idea for her to go up in a plane and spend two weeks away from home.

Of course, Maile grinned to herself, it was also that Pallas would go a little nuts if she was away from home for that long.

He was mister cool under pressure. His team said he was rock steady on missions.

But the instant he saw the two lines on the pregnancy test, he'd gone a little off the rails.

He'd already baby proofed the whole house, and she'd barely just started showing.

Maile got to the top of the escalator headed down to baggage claim when she heard someone call her name.

"Eh, Maile! Wait up!"

She took a step back from the escalator to let others go down to the baggage claim and a little tutu stepped up.

Maile gave her a smile, and the little old woman gave her nod. "Mahalo." She stepped up and put her hand on the railing.

Maile leaned to the side and saw Shawn Velasco just a few feet away and closing fast.

"What's the rush?"

He shrugged and the duffel on his shoulder almost slid off. "I wanted to get a head start at the baggage claim."

Maile almost snorted a laugh at that. "You know how long it's going to take for the luggage to come off the carts."

A gap opened up in the stream of disembarking passengers headed down the escalator and Shawn gestured for her to get on.

Maile stepped up onto the top step and then turned to look up at Shawn. "You have some kind of magic trick to get your bags faster?"

Shawn shook his head and she saw the highlights in his hair catch the light. "I want to get down to the Odd-sized Items area and make sure our instruments are okay."

She nodded, understanding. "I didn't think about the instruments." She grinned. "I just have my instruments in my luggage."

He chuckled. "Your instruments aren't a hundred pounds of wood. With a carry case the size of a Buick."

Maile rolled her eyes just in time to step off the bottom of the escalator.

"I know you're full of it, Shawn. But listening to you now..."

Maile winced as the humid heat of Hawaii's air hit her like a wall. "Ugh."

Shawn stepped up beside her and dropped his arm around her shoulders. "Don't tell me it's the humidity getting to you."

Maile kept walking, letting him leave his arm around her shoulders.

She let it go until they were to the halfway point between the baggage carousel and the odd-sized pickup desk.

Maile turned around, moving out of reach for his arm and swiping the tip of her finger across his forehead. She managed to barely wince at the moisture on her fingertips. She held her hand up in front of Shawn's face, playfully sneering at him. "What was that about humidity?"

He sighed and pushed her hand away from his face. "Whatever. Sweat is natural!"

"Your brain," she shook her head, "isn't natural!"

She swept her arm out toward the odd-sized pickup desk. "There you go."

Maile stepped away from Shawn only to be whirled around, almost crashing into his chest.

It was instinct that brought her hands up between them and she was squished between his hard muscular chest and his muscled arm.

Maile looked up and clenched her teeth together. "What are you doing?"

He gave her a bright smile and wagged his brows at her. "Me? I'm giving you shit. It's a thing. Right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Then let me go before I kick you and you can't sh-"

"Maile?"

Maile froze in place, mid-word and turned.

Well, she started to turn.

But, she still had an arm around her.

She heard Shawn laugh and she gave him an elbow to his gut, turning that laugh into a cough. He backed off which was a good thing because she was suddenly face to chest with a very angry Marine.

"Who's this ass?"

Maile had to look up to make sure that that it was Axl speaking.

She wasn't sure if it was Shawn or Axl.

But giving the waves of grump rolling off of the large man in front of her she had a feeling it was Axl.

Narrowing her eyes at him she lifted a brow.

"What?" She heard the exaggerated T almost echoing in her ears.

Well, it might be off of the concrete walls of the baggage claim area.

Axl leaned in an inch or two. "The answer is 'Who'?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "No... What did you say?"

She wasn't sure but she could swear that he was smiling... on the inside. Because on the outside?

He still looked like the angry sumbitch he always was.

"I asked who," he held out his arm and pointed over her shoulder, "is the ass?"

Maile didn't see Shawn, but she felt him step up beside her. "I'm her friend."

The tone of his words meant to make Axl think that they were together. Like, boyfriend and girlfriend together.

She saw a shadow and knew that Shawn was about to put his arm around her shoulders again.

Before he could touch her, she shot out her arm and heard the hollow 'wuff' of sound as she felt the contact of her hand and Shawn's belly.

She ignored, at least she tried to ignore, the jarring pain of the side of her hand coming in contact with the man's abs.

Even with Axl's eyes boring into hers she turned her head and glared at her old soon-to-be-ex friend. "Don't you have instruments to pick up?"

Shawn wasn't quite doubled over, but he still managed half a smile. "I can get them in a minute. This guy," he lifted his chin at Axl, "looks like he's an ass."

She shook her head and used her hand to push against his shoulder. "I'm surrounded by toxic masculinity."

Shawn staggered back a step, but he has a smile on his face as he looked past her, probably at Axl. "Did you hear that? She thinks I'm masculine."

A shadow fell over her before Axl stepped in between them.

He put his big hand on Shawn's chest. "She said we're both masculine, asshole."

Maile barely kept herself from kicking Axl in the ass with her sneaker. "I said," she shook her head, "you're both toxic."

She turned and headed for the baggage carousel.

It was perfect timing.

The conveyor belt of the carousel started to move, with a lurch and then a grumble.

She picked a place where she could see the bags coming out and then she fished out her phone.

Her instinct was to text, but she called instead.

The call picked up after the first ring.

"Maile! Do you have your bags yet?"

"No," she wanted to grumble at her cousin, but she didn't want to upset her, "I have a grumpy red-head shoving people around."

"Oh..."

Maile rolled her eyes. "You had to send Axl?"

She heard Kawehi sigh. "Sorry. I was going to go and get you, but my morning sickness is now all-day sickness. I asked Dom to go-"

"No." Maile shook her head. She knew Pallas, Kawehi's soon to be husband. He wouldn't want to leave her at home. Especially if she wasn't feeling well. "I'll do my best not to kill him."

Kawehi sighed. "Thanks... I think."

"Don't worry, Cuz! I got you. Well, your husband. I'm sure it would be obnoxious for your hubby to train someone up fast."

"Is that Maile?"

She smiled hearing Pallas' voice.

"Yeah. Maile is grumbling about your choice of driver."

Maile heard Pallas laugh and she smiled in reaction.

"Well, I hope you're hungry."

"Oh?" Maile grinned. "Me? I'm always hungry!"

"Good." Kawehi again. "I finally got hungry myself today, so Dom is finishing off a big pot of tripe stew."

Maile shook her head. "That's new."

Kawehi laughed. "I know. I've never liked it, but yesterday I thought I'd die if I didn't get some. So Uncle came over with a bowl from the bowling alley and then he brought over all the ingredients this morning and showed Dom how to make it."

"How domesticated!"

Kawehi laughed. "Yes, he's very domestic."

"Ugh..." Maile grumbled. "Rub it in."

"Hey."

She tensed and a moment later, a big, muscled arm leaned into her, almost knocking her off of her feet.

Or at least that's how she played it, stumbling to the side and rubbing her arm.

"Ow!"

Axl looked down at her with a half-glare. "Don't play."

She narrowed her eyes at him and moved her finger across the screen of her phone. "Did you hear that bro-in-law?"

Axl lifted a brow at her. "Bro? You mean cousin."

She heard a sigh through the speaker on the phone and smile. She couldn't tell if it was Kawehi or Pallas. It was telling that they were sounding alike. At least when they were exasperated.

They'd make really good parents.

Axl on the other hand... He was a child through and through.

A HUGE child, but a child, nonetheless.

"Axl? I thought you said you could do the airport pick up."

"Oh, I can pick up all right. I can't help that she's an unaccompanied child. I never said I wanted to babysit."

Babysit?

Unaccompanied child?

With an indrawn breath she moved through the crowd to pick up her bag off of the carousel, ending the call as she went.

"Excuse me. 'Cuse me." She got to the side of the carousel the moment her bag moved just out of her reach.

The curse she muttered under her breath wasn't fit for a mixed crowd, so she kept it to a breathy whisper.

She turned to move through the crowd to grab her bag, but she saw someone take it off of the belt.

"Hey!"

Security at the baggage claim wasn't all that stringent. If you walked out with it there was maybe one person watching but no one checked if you had the claim tickets. She had to get her bag before it walked out the door.

"'Scuze me!" She moved between two people trying not to sound as panicked as she was. "That's my bag."

The crowd gave way and she almost plowed into the back of the man holding her bag.