20. CHAPTER 15
AXL
The ancient horn sounds, and I’m off the platform before the sound fades. I left Crew behind me, sprinting into the woods to find my girl. The Doves got a fifteen-minute head start in bare feet before we were allowed outside. I don’t want any of these fucks finding her before I do.
The air is cold and the ground is soft under my boots. It’s all leaves and damp earth from the rain yesterday. The whole thing is designed to make them easy to catch. Everyone watching wants us to emerge from the woods and give them another show.
I move through the trees as quickly as I can, watching for the white of their dresses. My ribs ache from the fight, and the cut on my forearm throbs, but none of that matters. I just have to find my girl before any of these fucks touch her.
A flash of white moves behind a tree to my left. I sprint to it, and a woman I don’t recognize is crouched behind it. She gives me an almost hopeful look, but I just keep moving past her. There is only one woman leaving here as mine.
My pulse is pounding in my ears. Every second I don’t know where she is makes me angrier and more unhinged. I want to put my fist into every fucking tree I pass.
Then there’s a bloodcurdling scream, and another. Fuck. I know it’s fucking Saylor. Goddamn it.
I sprint in the direction of the sound. My heart races as I leap over downed logs in my path, desperate to get to her.
“Axl—help me! Please. Axl!” She screams for me, and my blood is boiling from rage, not knowing what is happening to her. “Don’t—please. Fuck you. Don’t fucking touch me.”
I don’t stop running. I break through a line of thick brush and see them.
That motherfucker Daniel has Saylor against a tree with his forearm pinning her neck in place. Her dress is ripped at the shoulder, and it’s hiked up her thighs where his hand is beneath it. She’s clawing at his arm and kicking.
His mask is off, and he’s licking along her face.
“Hold still, bitch. I just want to see what Hollister’s been so fucking obsessed with.
You’re going to remember my face when he finally fucks you.
” His hand moves further between her legs.
“We all know you’re going to be his. Let’s see just how good this pussy is.
I’ll be quick, and then he can use my cum to fuck what’s left. ”
Saylor’s eyes find me over his shoulder. Her face is streaked with tears and dirt. It looks like he might have hit her from the way one of her eyes is puffy. She keeps fighting as she stares at my face hidden by my mask. I can tell she knows it’s me.
“Axl!” she screams again.
I rip him off her by the back of his neck and throw him sideways into the dirt. Saylor stumbles off the tree, and she falls to her knees, crying.
“Run, baby.” I motion for her to go. “Hide.”
The fucker gets up and rushes me, knocking me back into the tree. “You’ve always been a goddamn prick, Axl.”
“You’re so fucking dead, motherfucker.” I should have ended this bastard earlier when he talked shit about my girl.
“We’ll see about that.” He swings at me and connects with my jaw. My head snaps to the side, and I taste blood in my mouth. He hits harder than I expected.
That’s the last free shot he gets.
I catch his next punch and twist his arm behind his back. He grunts and tries to pull free, but I drive my knee into his spine. He drops to the ground, and I’m on top of him before he can roll away.
I hit him. And I keep hitting him. His nose breaks under my knuckles, and his hands come up to cover his face. I don’t give a fuck. I grab his wrists and pin them in the dirt and drive my forehead into his already broken nose. He screams like the little bitch he is.
“No one fucking touches what’s mine.” I grab a fistful of his hair and slam his head into the ground. “You think you get to survive that?” I slam it again. “You think you get to walk my fucking earth after you touched her?” I slam him again. “You stupid fuck.”
He’s choking on his own blood. I stand up and look down at him. He’s trying to curl onto his side. His face is a mess. Both eyes are swelling, and his nose is sideways, and there’s blood in his teeth.
I stomp on his right leg just below the knee.
The crack echoes off the trees, and his scream can probably be heard by everyone out here.
Another Dove in a white dress approaches, and then she starts crying and runs the other way.
He grabs his broken leg with both hands, and the sound coming out of him is like a wounded animal.
“I’d love to take days killing you.” I crouch down next to his head. “But I’ve got to get my girl.”
I grab his jaw with one hand and the back of his skull with the other and twist until I feel the snap. His body goes limp. I let go, and the useless piece of shit’s head drops into the dirt.
I stand up and spit on the fucker’s body.
My hands are covered in blood. I wipe my hands as best as I can on the dead dipshit’s shirt. My knuckles are split open again over the gashes from the arena. My entire body aches worse than before.
I don’t give a shit about any of it. My girl is somewhere in these woods, crying and terrified, and the only thing that matters is fucking finding her.