Axle's Brand (Death Chasers MC Series #3)

by C. M. Owens

  You know what? I’m sick of defending myself and exposing all my weaknesses to a man who tells me nothing.

  “Go away. I’m tired. This day has sucked, and I’m ready for tomorrow.”

  I drop to the bed again and screw my eyes shut as I jerk the covers back over my shoulders once more. My body tenses when I hear him moving toward me. A thump has me tempted to open my eyes, but I’m too stubborn to give in.

  I track the sound of his retreating footsteps that sound like he’s moving toward the door, and I listen to the telling click that assures me he just left.

  My eyes open to look at the table beside me, and I see my phone. He couldn’t have read the messages, and I’m not sure if that means he’s finally hearing me, or if it simply means he doesn’t want to trust me.

  Instead of analyzing it, I close my eyes and pretend to sleep, even though I know I won’t fall asleep until he’s beside me in bed. Since the explosion, I haven’t slept; I’ve only crashed.

  I’ll stay awake for days until my body demands I sleep, and I collapse from exhaustion. It’s how I’ve operated. It’s the only way I could operate.

  Then I came here, and sleep…happened. The nightmares still come, but they’re not as bad. Not as painful. The false security could be the effect of having a guy like Axle so close.

  Guess I’ll find out.

  CHAPTER 16

  AXLE

  I awake with a start, feeling the bed beside me and hitting the damn pillow she put between us instead of her. A sense of panic hits me when I see her side of the bed is empty, and my eyes dart to the clock as I jump up and start stabbing my legs into my jeans.

  It’s after two in the fucking afternoon, so it’s no surprise she’s not in bed. She could be any-fucking-where by now. Damn it!

  I don’t even bother with a shirt as I sling my door open…only to slam to an abrupt halt when I hear Rock ‘N’ Roll Train humming through the speakers as Maya skates backwards, making a large loop around Dash, Drex, and Eve as Drex tries to talk to her.

  He’s having to yell over the music as Maya spins in a fast, tight circle, her arms straight up over her head.

  “You can’t leave right now. It’s not safe.” Drex is saying as she breaks out of her spin and starts skating again, facing front this time, and gaining a lot of speed.

  “I have work to do, and all you guys are concerned with is my story. We haven’t even discussed the cars I need built, and my guy never sent me a text last night. Which means something went wrong with the last job.”

  Her shirt has vampire teeth on it with a logo that reads, “Bite Me.” Pretty sure some blood is dripping from those teeth. She has on long socks again, only this time they’re blood red.

  Her shorts are black and barely cover her ass. Fuck me, I really love/hate spandex.

  “You still can’t leave. We’ll go check out—”

  “No!” Maya shouts, skidding to an abrupt halt close to Drex.

  I start walking down the stairs quickly, cursing the metal steps against my bare feet.

  “I’m not supposed to allow you to get involved. This is my show. Not yours. All I need from you are the fucking cars. They’re here. Do your genius stuff, and that’s your job done,” she goes on.

  Colleen walks toward them as I approach, but no one notices me.

  “You guys need to get quiet. All this music is waking people up, and they might hear you yelling about this.”

  “She knows?” Maya asks, crossing her arms over her chest as she glares at Drex.

  Drex runs a hand through his hair.

  “No. She didn’t. But you’re the one who seems to have forgotten a lot of others have been crashing here.”

  She drops her arms to her sides and grimaces. “Right.”

  Maya starts skating backwards again, and my hands dart out, grabbing her hips before she can run all over me. She jerks, and I end up tightening my hold so she doesn’t fall and break her damn neck.

  When she looks at me over her shoulder, the surprise turns into exasperation as she rolls her eyes and looks back at Drex.

  Colleen looks over at me, her eyes widening in her head, as Maya continues speaking.

  “Anyway, I need to go check on things,” she says quieter. “And you need to remember that I’m not a prisoner.”

  Maya shifts closer to me when Drex stands, and I put an arm around her waist. Drex’s eyes flick to mine. “Deal with whatever it is she needs.”

  Maya makes some grumbling noise as she starts skating again, pushing away from me. Drex comes to my side as I watch her drop and spin again very quickly.

  “Keep her happy. Please. If she leaves and gets herself killed, it may come back on us in a bad way. We have enough shit to worry about,” Drex tells me.

  “Yeah, Axle. Why the hell isn’t she happy?” Dash goads mockingly.

  I flip him off and start moving to Maya, but Colleen shrieks, causing me to look over my shoulder at her. Her eyes are trained on my back, because I’m still fucking shirtless, and she’s pale as her gaze sticks there.

  Maya skates over, putting herself in front of my scars. “Problem, Red?” Maya snaps, glaring at her like she’s my protector. “Because if you have a problem, we can discuss it like two crazy chicks any time you want.”

  Colleen jerks her gaze away, her cheeks heating with color, and I roll my eyes when the guys bite back a little grin. Maya is no one’s fucking protector, least of all mine, but she’s still staring down Colleen like she wants to slap her or something.

  A squeal leaves her lips when I suddenly grab her at the waist, tossing her over my shoulder, then straightening to my full height.

  “Are you kidding me? You can’t just keep manhandling me any time the mood strikes you,” Maya gripes.

  “I need to shower and dress if we’re going to go find your crew,” I answer before making my way to the steps.

  Maya just groans, her hands clutching the back of my jeans as her hair tickles my back.

  As soon as I barge into my room and put her down, Maya spins, shoving at my chest, while her face burns red from all the blood flow being redirected to her head. I try not to laugh when she struggles to get all her hair out of her face.

  “You can’t keep doing that. It’s degrading. And embarrassing. And—”

  I shut her up when I jerk her to me and kiss the hell out of her, feeling my body twist tight the second she moans and melts against me. She can’t fake her reactions.

  And Maya sure as hell wants me.

  Which leaves me damned confused about the complex enigma and what to do with her.

  CHAPTER 17

  MAYA

  Axle is kissing me. With no one around. And he’s kissing me like he’s going to do much more than kiss me.

  Which takes a second to sink in.

  My hands slide up his bare chest to his shoulders, and one of his hands slides down to my spandex-clad ass, squeezing it roughly as he pulls me flush against him. I keep moaning like he’s a piece of chocolate cake sliding into my mouth, acting like a stupid virgin kissing a guy for her first time.

  But I can’t help it. Kissing Axle is like tasting an adrenaline rush, or feeling a drop from the top of a building. It’s as exhilarating as it is terrifying, because he’s the kind of guy who could consume a girl with very little effort.

  When he starts tugging up my shirt…that’s when it finally sinks in what’s going on, and I push away. My skates make that easier, since I sort of fly backwards, giving us an immediate three feet between our bodies when he releases me.

  He arches an eyebrow as though he can’t believe I’m the one stopping things for once.

  “Keep her happy means to fuck me, doesn’t it?” I ask with a scowl. “Drex just told you, in no uncertain terms, to fuck me into staying put with a smile on my face.”

  His lips twitch.

  “You think I’d fuck you just because Drex wants me to?”

  “I think those guys down there are the only ones you’d do anything
for. So yes; I do think you’d fuck me out of obligation.”

  He cocks his head, his lips thinning.

  “So I’m a jackass for being suspicious of your motives when you crash in from out of nowhere. But it’s okay for you to be suspicious of my motives when I finally decide to quit thinking.”

  I bristle a little. When you put it that way…

  No. No. I’m not an idiot.

  “You’ve made it a point not to touch me in private. Then Drex tells you to keep me happy, and you drag me up here like a caveman to kiss me stupid.”

  His eyebrows go up, and I swear my panties catch fire when a small, sinfully perfect smile quirks on one side of his lips.

  “I wanted to do more than kiss you stupid, but feel free to find reasons to halt it. Or feel free to admit you’ve just been playing a game you never thought you’d win, and now you don’t know what to do with me. Whatever you need.”

  He walks by me, not looking back, and disappears into the bathroom. Cursing, I drop to the bed, removing my skates, as I listen to the shower come on.

  “Most complicated man in the history of all complicated men,” I grumble.

  There’s one way to check his temperature on this situation and find out if he’s legit into me all of the sudden.

  I quickly strip out of my clothes, and I walk into the bathroom, seeing his naked silhouette through the frosted glass shower doors. I lick my lips, wondering why I thought it was a good idea to think I’d be running this thing.

  Axle will consume me within minutes if I go through with this. He’ll hold all the power. Because it’s clear I’m way more into him than he is me.

  But for some reason, it doesn’t really matter.

  I move toward the shower doors, and I see it when he realizes I’m in here. Though I can’t see his face or eyes, I can feel his gaze on me as I open the door. I step in and look up into that intense, heated stare, and face him fully as I shut the door behind me.

  Holy sexy male. Naked is a good look on him. I’ve seen him in boxers. I’ve seen him mostly naked. But truly naked? It’s beautiful.

  My eyes fall down, and I see a curious scar on his massive beast of an erection. He’s definitely hard enough to prove he wants me.

  I want to touch the scar that is near the base of his dick, but I’m scared now that I’m alone with him. What if I touch something he doesn’t want touched?

  “Why don’t you like being touched?” I ask him, peering up at him carefully.

  The water sprays against his back. His dark hair looks even darker all wet, and he runs a hand through it, making it stick up in a way that I find much too sexy.

  “I told you I only don’t like being touched when I don’t want to be touched,” he tells me quietly.

  “Do you want to be touched right now? Because I don’t think I could survive a hit from you, if we’re being honest.”

  His hands pause and he scans my face. “I wouldn’t hit you. I’d just shove you off me if I didn’t want you touching me. But that hasn’t been a fucking problem since you showed up.”

  He grabs my wrist, and I hiss out a breath as he jerks me against him. My other hand slams against his wet, hard chest, and he studies me like he’s waiting for a reaction.

  “When I first joined as a prospect, I was still a punk teenager—naïve and horny as fuck. A woman was all over me all night at my first party. It was the first time a female had ever acted like the scars didn’t bother her. Acted like I didn’t scare the shit out of her.”

  My hand slides higher on his chest, and he releases my other wrist, using his newly freed hand to gingerly grab my hair and hold my head so that I’m forced to stare up into his pale eyes.

  “She fucked me. Took my virginity like a pro. Then stole close to twenty grand in cash from the club after I stupidly asked her to spend the night. Herrin had her by the hair the next morning, and all the guys in his circle were taking turns with her. See? They knew what was coming, so she never made it out the door.”

  My stomach roils. He sure as hell knows how to kill a mood.

  “It was him and five of his closest men, all of them planning to punish her for weeks. So when Herrin told me it was my turn, I grabbed a gun from the counter and shot her between the eyes. Figured that was mercy. They considered it to mean I was a coldhearted bastard. Herrin was wary of me from then on.”

  I swallow audibly as he stares down at me with unreadable eyes.

  “I got my cuts that night, and I haven’t been stupid like that since then. So yeah, I have trust issues with girls who claim they want me. Girls who look like you and throw themselves at me.”

  My hand slides up, touching the scar over his lip. He goes still against me, but I keep touching him. He said he’d just shove me off if he didn’t want it.

  “I’ve watched three guys I’ve dated die because they were too naïve for this life,” I tell him suddenly, swallowing against the knot in my throat. “Three men who weren’t survivors. They were just guys in over their heads, and that was with my identity being mostly a secret. Imagine if more people knew who I was.”

  My finger traces over his lip scar again as I continue.

  “Your scars don’t bother me, because they mean you went through hell and came out on the other side alive. Your scars tell a story. Your scars make you sexy because it means you could handle me without getting yourself killed in the process. I love your scars, because they mean you’re strong enough to withstand the worst in life. And my life is toxic. Dangerous. Constantly a snake pit. Even if you’re only in it temporarily.”

  I blow out a breath, feeling his grip on my hair soften, and his hand on my ass caresses up to my back.

  “I may not have the outward marks to prove it, but I’m scarred all over too, Axle. Mine are just hidden from sight, because life was hard for me in a different way. People tend to constantly die around me. I lost my family in less than a blink, and I was betrayed by my own brother. So yeah, your loyalty is sexy. Your scars are sexy. You are what turns me on, because I feel like you can survive me.”

  His lips find mine in a flurry of motion, catching me by surprise, and my fingers dart up to tangle in his hair as he pushes me against the shower wall.

  I moan into his mouth, and his tongue uses that to gain access. For a man who plays hard to get, he sure as hell knows how to kiss.

  The thing about Axle is that he’s a constant presence that seems to surround me the closer he is. With him kissing me, pressing me against the wall, he feels like he’s burning me from the inside out.

  It’s consuming.

  That hard erection grinds against my stomach, which only has me holding back whimpers. This game of cat and mouse has gone on for far too long.

  His grip on my hair becomes just shy of painful, because Axle does everything a little rougher. That fact alone has me ready to climb him.

  His body is like a wall of lean muscle trapping me to him, as though he’s worried I’m going to change my mind and try to run away. He continues to kiss me stupid, and I reach between us, finally grabbing the smooth, tight skin of the part of his body I’ve been wanting for so long.

  One of his hands trails down, and a surprised sound slips free from my mouth to his when he grabs my thigh and jerks it up around his hip. My other foot leaves the ground, and I scramble to wrap it around his waist for stability.

  Both his hands go to my hips, supporting my weight with scary ease. I’m not sure how he manages to do it, but suddenly he’s thrusting in without warning.

  My lips break apart from his as he pulls back and thrusts in harder, burying himself all the way inside me this time. It feels even better than I thought it would, because the size of him drags against my inner walls, touching every nerve-ending.

  He seizes my mouth again with his, and I kiss him harder, hungrier, as he continues to drive in and out of me. One of his arms goes behind my back, and his other hand hits the wall beside my head as his thrusts get even harder.

  My ankles cross beh
ind his back, forcing his drives to grow shallower, but he still finds a way to grind that pelvis of his against me in the perfect way.

  It happens so fast that I don’t feel it sneaking up on me until the force of the orgasm is crackling over my body, leaving behind a wave of tingles as my entire body shudders and I cry out.

  He drinks down my sounds, still rapidly thrusting in and out, until I’m struggling to keep my limp legs strapped around his waist.

  He drops me suddenly, pushing me down until my feet hit the floor, as he breaks the kiss simultaneously. I’m swaying, half dazed and half drunk on the awesome orgasm, when he spins me around, forcing my hands to come up and slam against the shower wall.

  The confusion of his actions is temporary when he grabs my hips, lifts me up and thrusts in from behind. I moan from the sensation, and he lowers me back down to my tiptoes, still clutching one of my hips to anchor me to him. His other hand grabs my hair and roughly angles my head to the side so that his lips can come back down on mine, stealing all my sounds again.

  His pace quickens, and with the ferocity in his rhythm, I struggle to keep myself pushed back from the wall. I feel like I’ve somehow unleashed the beast, but I’m not complaining.

  Axle is all sharp edges and rough finesse. He’s too hard to be a soft guy, which makes him everything I’ve always needed and wanted. There’s nothing gentle about him, so I’m surprised when he thrusts in one last time, grunting his release, and his kiss turns almost reverent.

  His body shudders against mine as his painful grip on my hair and hip both soften at the same time. Languidly, he continues kissing me even as he pulls out.

  I vaguely register the spray of the shower still beating down on his back and misting me. Slowly, I turn to face him, our lips never breaking apart, and wind my arms around his neck.