“From your dad.” She slightly blushes as she looks down.
“He wouldn’t…”
“Don’t worry. I’ve known Dom for a long time.” Ella laughs, causing me to before she moves over to where I stand over at the island and hops up on the counter next to me.
“What are you doing?” She asks as I feel her hand come up and touch my arm.
“I thought you would be hungry.”
“I am. Starving.” She groans, smirking. I look over at her, holding up the bacon to her as she leans in and bites a piece off. “Yum.” She smirks at me before I shake my head. “Axe,” she whispers out to me, and I glance over. She reaches for me and pulls me over to where she sits on the counter, moving me between her legs. I hesitate and she laughs. “Calm down.” She laughs again. “I was just going to hug you. Tell you, thank you.” Relaxing a little as she wraps her arms around me and pulls her body closer to mine. She’s flush against me as she sighs in my ear, and I can feel her breath across my neck. “Thank you for everything.” She whispers. “I haven’t slept through the night since…”
Last night when she told me, I was fucking furious, not at her, at that fucking prick. I want to jam bamboo under his nails. Then pull his nails out of the nail beds, but try to leave the bamboo. While he’s hanging upside down with all the blood rushing to his head, until he passes out. Leave him there. “I’m glad I could help a little.” Still fantasizing about how I would over-kill him.
“You helped a lot.” She pulls back and looks at me. Our eyes lock and I have to fight the urge to lean in to kiss her. “Axe.” her voice is breathy and it causes my dick to harden.
Forcing myself to step back, but before I do, I let myself have an inch as I lean into her and kiss her forehead. “Come on, let’s get you food. You’re losing too much weight.” She looks down, sad for a second and I shake my head, smirking at her, “Don’t worry, you’re still perfect.” She smiles as I watch the slight blush forming on her cheeks. Handing her the plate of food, she laughs, shaking her head.
“You cook?”
“Not very often, but I can.”
Taking a bite of the eggs, she moans out and I have to focus my eyes on anything to keep myself under control. “These are delicious.” She looks over at me and I just shake my head.
“They’re just eggs.”
She finishes eating and hops off the counter, washing her plate. “I’ve got that.” I tell her, coming up behind her as she blocks me.
“Stop, you cooked. I can clean the dishes. It’s not that many.” She smirks up to me.
Playfully, I growl down to her, causing her smirk to grow into a full smile before she stretches her body up and quickly kisses me. It’s not an aggressive kiss, but just enough to throw me off and I step away from her, leaning across the island as she washes the dishes. “I tossed your clothes in the wash this morning when I got up. They should be done soon. Then we can head back to wherever your car is…”
She freezes and looks back over at me. “Do we have to?”
I can’t help but smile as I look back at her. “No, we don’t.” I don’t know why I say it. Fucking hell, I want nothing more than to spend all day alone with her, but I know I shouldn’t. I know that it’s a terrible idea, that this is a bad thing I’m doing. That if I’m alone here with her all day that it’s only a matter of time before she wears me down. Fuck, what am I saying… It's only a matter of time before my self-control gives out by just seeing her here, but I can’t stop myself from giving her what she wants. “We can do whatever you want to. It is your birthday after all.”
“Yesterday was my birthday.” She smiles as she continues to wash the dishes. Stepping into her, directly behind her, I lean in close to her face.
“Nope, it was ruined, so you get a mulligan”
She exhales and looks back over to me. “Thank you.”
“Will Oz question where you are?” I ask her, slightly nervous about her answer.
She laughs out “No, he’s barely there, anyway.” She holds up the brush she’s using to scrub the dishes and laughs. “You know, he stepped down, and we moved out there so he could spend more time with me before I finished school.” She moves back to wash the last dish. “It was great, in theory, but in reality, he could never step away. He’s actually home less now, if that was even possible. Most nights, I’m alone, and since…” she trails, not wanting to say what happened. “I haven’t been able to feel safe.” Placing the plate up, she turns and looks at me.
“Okay, what do you want to do today?”
“Nothing,” she whispers. I assume she can read my face because she laughs out. “Can we just hang out here? I just want to feel safe.”
Fuck me. How am I supposed to saynoto that?
“Of course.” Her whole face changes when she smiles, “I haven’t had a lounge day in a while.” She laughs again.
Walking down the hallway from where Axe showed me that the bathroom was at, I see the pictures lining the walls. I see pictures of him and his sister, some with the entire family, Axe on the high school football team, then him in boot camp. It's funny because he looks nothing like him, but somehow I’m still attracted to this version of himself. Next to his boot camp picture, there’s another frame, but this one doesn’t have a photo inside, but a medal, or medals. I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say. I mean, I know that whatever happened had to be severe with him losing part of his leg, but to have this many medals and only be in for three years… I force myself out of my thoughts before I walk back into the living room.
Coming around the corner from where the bathroom is I see Axe lounged out on the chaise of the sectional couch. Rushing over to the couch, I hop over, landing on him, causing him to cough out.
“Huh? Uh, yeah, Ash,” he shoots a look at me as he says his name and I cover my mouth with my hand as he cuts his eyes, but the smirk that forms on his lips tells me he’s not really mad. “Nothing.” He mumbles into the phone. But he cuts his eyes further, tilting his head and holding the phone to it with his shoulder. He surprises me when he grabs me by the arms and pins me down next to him.