Property of Drex (Book 2) (Death Chasers MC Series)

by C. M. Owens

  Axle pulls into the large garage, and several people look at us as I dismount. Eyebrows pull together in confusion, surprise, and discontent. Some actually look pissed I’m here.

  I ignore all of them, for once not feeling like I’m shaking in terror.

  As soon as I walk into the main room where the music is flowing, my heart slams into my ribs. Guys are everywhere, and girls are all over them. It must be party time. I didn’t even consider the fact Drex might have a girl on him, and a sick feeling settles in my stomach as I glance from face to face, hesitantly searching for him.

  Eyes fall to me with slow smiles, until their gaze lands on the mark that is on my shoulder. PROPERTY OF DREX is like a tag they seem to be quickly moving away from. It held some power before, but they actually look terrified now, as though they can’t get away from me fast enough.

  Not sure what’s going on with that. A few guys actually bump into each other when they try to clear a path for me as I move into the room a little more. No one is even breathing in my direction.

  I spot Snake off to the side as he devours Sarah’s neck, and I walk up to them when Drex seems to be missing. I hope he isn’t in his room with a girl. I… I can’t even think about that right now.

  I tap Sarah on the arm, and she turns to me with an annoyed expression until she realizes it’s me. “Eve! You’re back!” she squeals excitedly.

  Snake’s head jerks my way, and surprise fills his face.

  “Where’s Drex?” I ask, ignoring the way everyone seems to be acting weird at the sight of me.

  “I think I saw him playing pool,” she says, motioning with her head toward a set of doors that are wide open.

  I know where the pool tables are, but I don’t point that out. Axle is already walking in there when I move that way. As soon as I walk in, my eyes drink in the sight they’ve been starved for, and that void that has been growing starts to slowly fade.

  Drex is smoking while studying the table, and he puts down the cigarette as he lines up a shot. No one is around him. Two of the other tables have people playing together, but Drex is playing alone.

  He makes a shot, slapping the cue ball into a red one, and it smashes into the corner pocket. Just as he leans up with his cigarette back in his hand, his eyes fall on me, and he goes stiff.

  Almost immediately, his posture relaxes, but he doesn’t react. He cuts his eyes toward Axle, tilting his head. “Could have warned me,” he says coldly.

  That warmth in his gaze is gone. The Drex that I got all to myself is absent. In its place is the Drex everyone else gets: the cold, hard, impassive Drex.

  What the hell happened?

  “Tried to. Your phone must be off. Kept going straight to voicemail,” Axle says unapologetically.

  Drex eyes me coolly, still smoking that damn cigarette, then he puts it out in an ashtray before taking a sip of his beer.

  “What’s going on?” he asks Axle, looking away from me. “Something happen?”

  He sounds casual, but the grip he has on the pool stick makes it seem like he’s pissed and holding it back.

  “Yeah,” Axle tells him, motioning with his head for everyone to walk out.

  As soon as the doors shut on the music and the three of us are alone, it gets really suffocating in here. And quiet.

  “What happened?” Drex asks, still keeping an even tone, but his jaw is ticking.

  “Feds showed up. She made a video of their conversation. I haven’t had a chance to view it yet.”

  “And you couldn’t have just sent it to me?” Drex asks.

  The pool stick whines in his grip, and Axle frowns. “She asked to be brought here.”

  Drex still doesn’t look back at me. “I told you she couldn’t come here. Last I checked, I was in charge. Not her.”

  “I’m right here. Feel free to acknowledge me at any point,” I bite out.

  His shoulders stiffen at the sound of my voice, and his knuckles turn white from the even tighter grip he has on the stick. He still doesn’t look my way.

  “She’s stubborn,” Axle says with a ghost of a smile. “She threatened to take the bus here.”

  Drex doesn’t react, but he does cut his eyes toward me. “You can go home now.”

  Home. That word again. It used to be a simple word with one simple meaning. Now… Now the complexity of that word could have Einstein buried under contradictory equations for a lifetime.

  “I want to talk to you,” I tell him, stepping closer. He stiffens again, and I start to feel sorry for that poor pool stick.

  “I’ll view the video and you take her home,” Drex tells Axle, once again ignoring me.

  He takes the phone away and walks through a backdoor, disappearing. I start to go after him, but Axle steps in my path.

  “Trust me, he needs a few seconds. He wasn’t prepared to see you.”

  “Why does he have to be prepared? I just want to talk to him.”

  “Leave it, Eve. Give him a second. You don’t want to do this when he’s surprised and pissed.”

  I glare at him. “He’s not going to hurt me, jackass.”

  His eyebrows go up in surprise. Maybe being away from this place long enough has helped me get my backbone back, or maybe I just finally don’t give a damn what they can do to me, but I’m not scared. Not right now. Clarity. That’s what I’ve gotten. A little clarity.

  “Of course he wouldn’t. But he would say something he’ll hit me for later if you don’t give him a damn second to get himself under control.”

  I sigh hard, and I cross my arms over my chest while glaring at the open door Drex disappeared out of. Where does that door even go? I sure as hell never explored anything past what was right in front of me.

  “Nice to see you not trembling in fear for a change,” Axle muses.

  I cut my eyes toward him, and he holds his hands up defensively. “Girls got to have brass lady balls to stick this place out. It was a compliment,” he adds.

  After what feels like forever, Drex walks back out and hands Axle my phone. Whatever he says has Axle almost laughing, which is new. Axle doesn’t ever laugh. He doesn’t hardly smile. He rarely speaks to a woman, with the exception of me and Sarah. And he certainly doesn’t pat women on the back, which is what he does to me on his way by.

  Drex isn’t laughing, and he glares at Axle’s back after the back pat. As Axle leaves, Drex’s eyes come to meet mine.

  “You did good. Thanks for that. Axle is going to give you a lift back.”

  Some of the coldness in his tone and eyes has ebbed, but he’s still not the Drex I’ve gotten used to having close to me. I move toward him, but when he tenses, I stop.

  “Why did you kick me out? Is it because I trashed your room?”

  He snorts derisively while leaning against the wall.

  “You know why, Eve. Don’t pretend you don’t. This is normal to me. Everything that was overwhelming you is just another day in my life. You aren’t made for this, and I’m not made for anything else. Now get back to your life. While you’re at it, get a nicer life than that fucking shitty room you’re in. I’ll pay for the upgrade in a better place.”

  Rolling my eyes, I move closer again, but his eyes narrow like he’s warning me to keep my distance. When his eyes drop to the exposed tattoo on my shoulder, his throat bobs and some more of that coldness ebbs.

  “I had a bad day and you didn’t trust me. I lost it a little. Doesn’t mean I was ready to leave, Drex.”

  Yeah, even I know how crazy it all sounds.

  His eyes lose the coldness completely for a moment, but he replaces it almost immediately, as if he’s shutting down any and all emotion.

  “You didn’t even say goodbye,” I whisper when the first tear falls.

  His throat bobs again, but he doesn’t look at me.

  “Go, Eve. Time to get out of here. Thanks for the video.”

  A few more tears fall, but mostly because I’m more pissed than anything now.

  “I said you didn’
t even say goodbye,” I repeat, angrier this time.

  The beer bottle in his hand is suddenly launched across the room, and it shatters against the wall. I don’t even flinch. Drex gets angry. Drex gets violent. But Drex would never hurt me.

  “Damn it, Eve. Go. For fuck’s sake, leave. Please,” he groans.

  “Not until you tell me why I didn’t even deserve a damn goodbye!”

  In less than a blink, he goes from being against the wall to in my face, lifting me effortlessly before dropping me to the pool table. In the next breath, his lips are on mine, hungrily kissing me.

  My hands go to his hair, tangling in the soft threads as I pull him closer, kissing him back with as much desperation as I grind my hips against his. He pushes my legs wider apart, then grabs my ass and jerks me forward until I can’t possibly get any closer. The friction is incredible, and feeling him hard and wanting me is definitely nice.

  I moan into his mouth when his hands slide into my hair, roughly angling my head so he can kiss me harder. It’s what I’ve been missing. For every second his lips are on mine, that void disappears a little more, and everything miserable is replaced with something else… Something so much better.

  “Fuck,” he groans against my lips, and I grind against him again as though it was a command. His lips move down my neck as I arch closer, reveling in the feel of the touch I’ve missed so much.

  He kisses and devours the skin the tattoo covers, which is fortunately healed. When his grip tightens on me, I’m almost positive he’s about to take me on the pool table, and I’m so ready for that. For him.

  There has to be a way we can make this work, because I don’t fit in outside these walls anymore. There has to be a way I can fit in inside these walls.

  He gently kisses his name on my skin one last time before bringing his head back up. His forehead falls against mine as we both breathe hard, practically panting.

  “That’s why I didn’t tell you goodbye,” he finally says in a sad whisper. “Because I couldn’t do it. I would have fucked you until you begged to stay.”

  He rips away from me, and a chill instantly settles into my core when his touch is gone. I look back just as he jerks open the door to the billiard room and walks out into the party, disappearing from sight.

  Slowly and shakily, I climb off the pool table, running hand through my wild hair as I try to process what he said.

  Axle walks back in with a grim expression, and I don’t protest when he starts guiding me out. Again, I’m given the wide-berth treatment as people go out of their way to give me plenty of room to leave.

  “I have to stop by Drake’s on the way back to relieve Dusty from guard duty,” Axle tells me. “Dash is going to pick you up from there.”

  “Gee, you guys are just having to guard everyone.”

  He doesn’t say anything, and I walk with him to his bike. I notice this time all the ones in the garage are avoiding eye contact with me instead of looking pissed.

  “What’s with everyone?”

  Axle grunts while settling onto his bike in front of me. “Let’s just say Drex sent a message no one will forget anytime soon.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means Jessie the fuckhead got what was coming to him, and everyone knows why. You’re officially untouchable.”

  Confused, I start to ask questions, but Drex’s eyes find mine as he steps into the garage with a fresh beer. His jaw is tense as he studies us on the bike, and I start to get off and go back to him, when Axle revs the beast and walks the bike backwards.

  Instead of being rejected again, I just watch him until Axle gets us turned around. This time when I leave to go home, it feels like I’m leaving home.

  Chapter 13

  EVE

  A framed picture off to the side has had me confused for ten minutes while we wait on Dash to arrive. It’s a daisy with pretty pink tinted petals and purple blends. It’d be beautiful, if not for the fact “Cocksucker” is in bold print and written over the daisy, turning the daisy into nothing but a background.

  “What is this about?” I ask, looking over at Drake as Axle toys with a knife.

  Both of them exchange a look, and Axle’s lips twitch while Drake grins openly.

  “It’s a reminder not to piss off the guy who is permanently inking your body,” Drake says with a shrug, still smiling like a kid with a prize.

  Axle snorts while rolling his eyes, and resumes messing with his knife.

  “I used to draw like this,” I tell him, toying with another framed picture of a dragon.

  “Used to?” he muses.

  “Yeah. I love art. I just couldn’t find a job that went with it.”

  “Still looking for one? It’d be fucking nice to have someone help me design. I could use another artist to free up my time just for the ink. Not everyone gives me something I want to design.”

  I turn toward him, and notice the way Axle is glaring at him like Drake is an idiot.

  “Really?” I ask, already feeling a tinge of excitement.

  “Definitely. It gets old trying to design all the girly shit for my female clients. They like a more feminine touch. Not saying the job is yours just yet. I’d need to see some sketches, but if they’re good, hell yes. They’d love it, and I’d sure as fuck enjoy having the additional ink time.”

  Axle shakes his head. “She can’t, Drake.”

  I glare at him, as does Drake.

  “Just for that, I don’t care if your drawing is shit. The job is yours,” Drake says to me while keeping his eyes on Axle.

  Axle curses while looking back and forth between us.

  “He’ll fucking kill you and you know it.”

  My heartbeat kicks up—which is a very weird thing to make it kick up.

  “He’ll get over it,” Drake says, grinning again.

  Axle shakes his head, then stands and walks toward the door. “I’m not going to be the one to fucking tell him. That’s for damn sure.”

  Drake grins at me. “This should get interesting.”

  I have no idea what that means, but the thought of getting to draw again is definitely appealing. Especially if I can make money doing it.

  “When can I start?” I ask Drake.

  “How good are you at butterflies with cherry wings?”

  Chapter 14

  DREX

  “Jessie is still in a coma, in case you’re concerned,” Pop tells me, looking at me like he’d enjoy taking a swing.

  I wish he fucking would. I’d love to quit pretending I still give a flying fuck about him. I’d also love to hit something.

  I should hit Axle for fucking bringing her here a week ago. I almost fucked her and carried her to my room. I almost pulled her right back in. And I wouldn’t have given her up a second time.

  “Let me know when he dies so I can piss on his grave to pay my respects,” I say with a tight smile.

  He rolls his eyes. “One day that temper is going to land you in the grave or in the pin.”

  I flip him off while smiling, and he shakes his head like I’m a petulant child. Rush walks in, letting his eyes move between me and Pop before taking a seat near me. Pop is speaking to Sledge now, and I do something I haven’t done since I saw Eve a week ago.

  “What’s the report on Eve and her family?”

  The reason I haven’t asked is because all it does is fucking torture me and piss me off. She’s in a rat-hole motel and cleaning up after prostitutes and guys who could make my morals seem valued.

  “Same for the past week,” he says quietly, escaping Pop’s ears. “No sign of the feds since the sweat bag ran them off from there. And Drake just picked up her for—”

  “The fuck did you just say?” I growl, interrupting him and drawing attention to our conversation.

  His eyebrows go up. “Drake just picked her up. The same routine she’s had all week. He picks her and drops her off at—”

  The rest turns to static as I flip my chair over while leaping up and di
gging my keys out of my pocket on my way out the door. Pretty sure Pop is yelling for me, but he can fuck off. No way did I hear Rush right.

  Drake is stupid but not suicidal. He put my name on her himself.

  White hot rage shoots up my spine, and I squeal out of the hangar while hauling ass away from the warehouse. Blue lights flash when I pass a patrol car, but they die instantly when they get a look at my cut. I don’t slow down until I’m skidding into Drake’s tattoo parlor’s parking lot. His bike is here, so he’d better fucking be here.

  And Eve had better not fucking be here.

  Dash’s eyebrows go up in confusion when he sees me, and he stands from his seat just outside the door. I ignore him and throw the door open. Drake is hunched over a body, tattooing a guy who looks like a stockbroker.

  He doesn’t even flinch as he looks up, but a slow smile spreads.

  “Hello, sunshine. Was wondering when you’d show up,” he drawls.

  I glare at him, but my entire body tenses when I hear her voice.

  “Drex?”

  I turn around to see Eve lounging on a couch in the side room like it’s the most natural thing in the world for her to do. My eyes flip back to Drake, and the stupid fucker winks at me.

  Just as I stalk toward him, a strong hand clamps down on my shoulder.

  “Not what you’re thinking,” Dash groans, trying to pull me back.

  The stockbroker shakes in his chair, eyes wide as I shrug Dash off. Drake slowly stands, still smiling and inviting death to come his way.

  “Don’t make me add a lily that says ‘cunt cream’ to complement that sweet daisy you had covered up,” Drake goads, still fucking smiling.

  “Drex!” Eve’s voice cuts through the air like a knife, and she’s suddenly in front of me. “What’s your problem?”

  I glare down at her, while Dash tries to place himself between me and Drake. Guess I’m hitting them both. As soon as I get Eve out of the way without touching her, that is. Touching her leads to kissing her and possibly fucking her, then dragging her back into hell with me.

  “Move, Eve.”