by JA Low
“It’s going to be okay, little one. I have you.” I hear that voice I am so familiar with.
“Axel,” I whisper, wondering why he is here.
“Shh, babe. We are almost there.” Moments later the movements stop and I am picked up as if I weigh nothing more than a feather. I burrow into Axel’s chest as he carries me to wherever he needs to go. I hear the creak of a door opening then closing again, the only sound I hear after that is of Axel’s footsteps across the wooden floor. I am placed very gently onto the soft duvet and he disappears again. I can hear the ocean waves now just outside of the room. I have a headache, but I don’t remember drinking.
“Here, take these for your head.” He hands me two white pills and a glass of water, I knock them both back and finish my water. I sit up in bed and look at Axel’s worried face. “Are you okay?” he asks me.
“I have a headache, thanks for helping me.”
“I’m so sorry. I watched you faint right before me and I couldn’t reach you in time…you hit your head. I should have caught you.” I can see the pain on Axel’s face.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay,” I reassure him.
“Liv, do you remember anything that happened before you fainted?”
I frown for a moment trying to remember then it all comes rushing back to me. Shit!
“Are you okay? You’ve gone pale.” Axel asks.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I think you should go now.” I pull the duvet up around me.
“I’m not leaving you. We have stuff to sort out.”
“No we don’t.”
“I didn't sleep with your sister, Liv.” He raises his voice.
“You can deny it all you want, but I have proof.”
“Show me this proof,” he demands.
I look around the room for my clutch, but it’s not here. “It’s in my bag. The bag I had tonight, where is it?” Axel jumps up and walks out of the room and within a few minutes he is back again.
“Here.” He hands me my clutch. I take it, open it up and find my phone. I unlock it and bring up the message, I shove the picture in his face. He is quiet, studying the photo. “I’ll text it to you if you want to reminisce about the magical night you were together.”
“I didn’t sleep with her,” Axel argues.
“I call bullshit.” I shake the phone in my hand.
“Your sister is fucking messed up, that is what she is.” He stands up and starts pacing the room.
“Screw you, don’t blame her when all you could think about was getting your rocks off.” I wanted to throw my phone at him but I held myself back.
“Of course you would think the worst of me.”
“I don’t have to think, Axel, I see it.”
“You are looking at something she wants you to see. Am I awake? Do I have my arms wrapped around her? Am I giving the camera a big thumbs up?”
“You were so exhausted from screwing her all night you fell asleep.”
“Yeah, I was exhausted alright, but not from fucking your sister. I drank myself into oblivion most nights because I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Every single time I opened my eyes I saw you, you were the last fucking thing I thought of when I went to sleep. I drank myself to the point I couldn't stand up because that was the only way to wipe you from my mind.”
The butterflies in my stomach wake up with each of his words, but I still can’t forget the picture I saw of them together.
“Why would she do it?”
Axel gives me an are you serious stare.
“She’s my sister.”
“And you should know how far she would go to fuck with you.”
I know he’s right, but this, this seems way too harsh even for her.
“She’s in your bed, Axel.”
He starts pacing again. “I know, I know it looks bad and I can’t explain it, all I know is I didn’t do it. No matter how much I hated you right at that moment, I could never hurt you like that.” I can see the anguish on his face.
“Call her.”
Axel gives some a strange look.
“Call her and find out what happened that night, here’s her number.” I give him the phone.
“You want me to call your sister, right now?” He looks at me like I have gone crazy.
“Please,” I whisper, shaking my phone at him. He huffs and takes the phone from me. He takes his out from his back pocket and dials the number. He hits call and puts it on speaker. The room is filled with silence and tension as we listen to the phone ring.
“Hello…” A groggy male voice answers the phone.
“Who’s this?” Axel asks.
“It’s Eddie.”
I know that voice, that’s my fiancé. My stomach sinks. Penny got her claws into him.
“Baby, who’s on the phone.” My sister’s voice comes through loud and clear. I think I am going to be sick. Axel reaches out and takes my hand in his, giving me an encouraging squeeze.
“It’s Axel, Axel Taylor.”
There is rustling and mumblings as Penny grabs the phone. “Oh, Axel, hi. How are you? What a pleasant surprise.” Her voice is thick with flirtation.
“Hope I wasn’t interrupting,” Axel continues.
“No, no. Just my friend playing a trick,” she giggles.
“Was that Eddie…Olivia’s Eddie?”
Penny is silent.
“Penny, I don’t care if you’re sleeping with him she probably deserves it.”
Axel’s tone shocks me, I try and shake my hand free from his, but he holds it tighter.
Penny bursts out laughing. “Phew, thought I was busted for a moment,” she giggles. I hate her, I hate her so much.
“So what’s going on between the two of you?” Axel asks.
“Oh, nothing much. We have been hooking up for years. My sister’s engagement wasn’t going to get in the way of a really good friends with benefits relationship, if you know what I mean,” she purrs into the phone.
“Yeah darlin’, I know exactly what you mean.” Axel plays along.
“Eddie doesn't want to marry her, but he has no choice, his family is in a huge amount of debt and they need our family to get them out of it. Plus, you can’t tame my Eddie.”
“That’s right, babe,” Eddie calls from the background.
I don’t think I can listen much longer, I knew my sister hated me, but I didn’t realize how much.
“Well, I was just calling because I heard about a photo of you and I in bed together and I swear I have no memory of that happening and I know I should remember having sex with a beautiful woman.”
Penny giggles on the end of the line. “Oh sorry about that, Axel. I was so angry over the way Olivia treated Eddie that I wanted to get some revenge. Sorry I looked like some creeper jumping into your bed while you were asleep, but I had to teach my sister a lesson.”
Tears start running down my cheeks, I don’t understand why she hates me so much.
“Sounds like you’re in love with him.” Penny goes quiet.
“It doesn’t matter he has to marry Olivia.”
“That must sting, the man you love having to marry someone else.”
“Honestly, if it was anyone else I could cope with it, but Olivia, anyone but her.”
Penny is that jealous of me that she would stoop this low, I don’t get it.
“But Axel…” Penny starts. “If you know…you ever want to hook up, I’d like that.” Really? She is a bloody nasty piece of work; I don’t know who she is anymore. Has jealousy rotted her that much?
“Darlin’, not sure when the next time I will be in London, but I’ll give you a call if I am.”
“Oh yes please, I’d love that.”
“I have to go, but stay in touch.” And with that Axel hangs up.
I flick off the duvet and bolt from the bedroom, I need to get out of here.
I run out through the back deck and toward the beach, my feet sink into the cool sand, and one after the other I run trying to erase the venom I he
ard in my sister’s voice. Try to forget that my sister is sleeping with the man I am about to marry and will probably keep doing it forever. She hates me so much that she made me think Axel slept with her. What the hell is wrong with her? Why the hell do I always defend her? Why am I killing myself for this business so she can reap the rewards by fucking me over every single chance she can get? If it wasn’t for me she would have no money.
“Liv…Liv, wait,” Axel pants behind me.
“Go away, Axel,” I scream back at him. “I need to be alone.”
“No.” he yells back defiantly. I turn to look at him chasing after me and I trip over my feet and fall to my knees, a guttural sob breaks through my defenses and fills the night air. Axel is upon me, picking me up and cradling me in his arms.
“I’m sorry, I am so sorry you had to hear that.” His large hands brush my hair as he cradles me.
“What did I ever do to her?” I sob.
“Nothing, she’s a jealous little girl,” he reassures me.
“She hates me so much.”
“Shh, its jealousy not hate, sweetheart. No one could hate you.”
I look up at his concerned face. “You do.”
“I was hurt, Liv, I said things in anger that I didn’t mean. I don’t hate you, I could never hate you. My feelings for you are so far from hate it’s not funny.”
I lean forward and kiss his lips gently, tasting the saltiness from my tears against his lips. Axel is hesitant about the kiss knowing the weird state I am in. I slowly sink my teeth into his bottom lip telling him I want more, he lets out a growl and opens for me. He lets me take control of the kiss, and this makes my heart explode even further after everything that has happened to him in the past, after everything I have put him through, he lets me be in control. I move in his arms so that I am straddling him, I realize I am still in my underwear from the club.
“I need you, Axel. I need you inside of me.”
“You have me, Liv. I am all yours.” His kiss deepens with the potency of his words. I unzip his jeans and see he has gone commando. Thank God. His perfect dick pops out for me and he moves his jeans down further so I have access to him. My hand wraps around his length.
“I’ve missed you.” My palm strokes along his velvety length. “This needs to be inside of me,” I moan, my body on fire with desire.
“Then do it.” Axel smiles against my lips. I let go of his length and push my underwear to the side and sink down on him. We both hiss at our connection.
“Liv, we’re not using protection,” Axel groans out as I move myself up and down him, feeling his thickness against my walls. I frown, he feels so good, but that was so stupid.
“There are some in the hotel,” he says and we both stop moving. “Honestly I don’t want to move; you feel so fucking perfect wrapped around me.”
“Axel.”
“I know; I know it’s incredibly stupid, but…” He nuzzles into my neck. “Please tell me you are on birth control.”
“Yes, have been for ten years and I’ve never had sex without a condom.”
“Me either, darlin’, me either.” He thrusts up ever so slowly.
“I got checked after Monaco,” I quickly add and he stops moving.
“You did?”
I nod. “I just wanted to be sure, I trusted you all and we were all safe, but…you know…”
He nods in agreement. “I did as well, always do after a group session.”
My stomach flutters with nerves. “And you were clean?”
“Yes. And you?”
“Yes.”
“Thank fuck! Because there was no way in hell I was slipping my fucking aching cock out of you. No way in hell.” He starts thrusting up into me. “I have missed your beautiful cunt so much, and feeling it bare, fuck me, I have died and gone to heaven,” he groans out. I am lost as my whole body searches for nirvana.
I think I love you. Those simple words changed my world. Olivia snuggles into my side as I stroke her hair feeling sated and content from three rounds of the best sex of my life. Then on a whisper she utters the words that have always filled me with dread. Usually the women saying it don’t mean it or they want something from me. But I know with Olivia they mean something. My mind is ready to fall asleep, but it perks up to life with swirling emotions. I know she isn’t expecting me to say those words back to her, but for the first time in my life those words are a hell of a lot closer to the tip of my tongue than they have ever been. My heart is racing with the possibilities of what loving Olivia could bring to me, to us. I can imagine waking up to her in my arms every day and coming home from work to her smiling face. Images of her with a rounded belly float through my mind and usually the feeling of being bound to another freaks me out but instead this feels right. The only hurdle that is in our way is this damn fiancé situation. After last night there is no way in hell I am going to let her marry that man even if it’s the last thing I do.
“Morning.” Olivia stretches out beside me. I watch as her perfect breasts rise and fall, her brown hair a messy nest from our love making.
“Morning darlin’.” I lean over kissing her forehead.
“Hmm, I could get used to waking up with you on a tropical island.” The sound of the ocean lapping at the shore filters in through the open windows.
“Maybe I need to buy us an island to escape to then.” I pull her in tightly. I would buy an island if it means I don’t have to give her back.
“If it means I get to stay with you, I’m sold.”
My heart restricts in my chest. “Stay with me, don’t go back.” Olivia stills beside me, my heart is beating rapidly. She’s the first girl I have asked to stay, to give me more, but there’s a big chance that what we have at the moment will only ever be a moment because our lives are just so different.
“You want me to stay here on the island?” she questions me nervously. I sit up in bed and pull Olivia onto my lap, I need to look at her when I ask her what I want so she knows I am telling the truth.
“I heard you last night, as you fell asleep, the words you mumbled.”
Olivia’s face turns a perfect shade of pink. I know she remembers what she said. “Axel, I’m sorry…I…just…” She tries to backtrack.
“No, Olivia. You know what? I agree with you.”
“You do?” She looks shocked.
“Somehow we have moved at lightning speed with our feelings and in the past for me it would have freaked me out. When I am with you…I don’t know…my world just seems right.” This makes Olivia smile. “I want to settle down, Liv, and I know what I am about to say might freak you out, it kind of freaks me out, but I am just going to let it all out. I want a future with you, Liv. I want to wake up in the morning feeling your skin against mine. I want to build something with you. I want to introduce you to my friends and family as my girlfriend. I want to love you, like you have never been loved before. I want to be the man that you talk to, the man that fixes your problems. I want to be your one.”
Olivia’s eyes are glassy and she wraps her arms around my neck.
“How on earth did I find you?” she whispers into my neck, not letting me go.
“I don’t know. Guess we must have done something right in our life,” I chuckle. She moves away from me and I can see the wheels turning.
“I want all of that too, all of it.” She gives me a smile. “But how will it work?”
Reality can be a bitch. “I don’t know, Liv,” I confess truthfully. We sit there together, both of us lost in contemplation. “Come to LA,” I blurt out. “Let’s leave the island today. You were supposed to have a week here, right?” She nods her head. “Then let’s spend that time together at my home, just you and me and see if we can’t somehow make this work.”
“What, like a trial?”
“Yeah, you might hate the way I brush my teeth, or something, and that’s a deal breaker.” This makes her giggle.
“You might hate my crazy addiction to tea,” she adds, which makes m
e smirk.
“Doubt it, everything about you makes me crazy.” I squeeze her ass as it’s straddled against me.
“I think we are kind of crazy to do this.” She grinds herself against me.
“And if things are still amazing after that week, then you call off your engagement.” Olivia stops grinding. Maybe I have asked for too much too soon. But there is no way in hell I am letting her leave my home to continue with another.
“Okay,” she replies. I am kind of shocked that she agreed so easily.
“Are you serious?” I question her just to be sure.
“Yes, you crazy fool. I am serious. I have fallen head over heels for you and I know there is no way in the world that I want to go back to the sham that is my engagement.”
“Thank fuck.” I capture her lips with my own. I was never going to let her go anyway.
***
“Wow, I’m in shock.” Nate slaps me on the back as we have drinks at the bar. “But I’m happy for you, man.” I take a sip of my beer and look over to Olivia who is chatting with Camryn and Ivy over some cocktails.
“I’m sorry I can’t stay and hang out more at your resort, but…”
Nate laughs, “Man, I’m just glad you have sorted stuff out. You were a miserable bastard without her.” I nod in agreement.
“It’s going to be tough, we have lots of obstacles in our way, but she’s worth it.”
“Man, you sound just like Christian and Evan. Guess you’re as pussy whipped as they are.”
I laugh, “Yeah, guess I am. I get it now, and I bet those two bastards are going to have a field day with this little bit of information but I don’t care, I am happy to be a fucking pussy.” I take another sip of my beer.
“Another Dirty Texas member bites the dust.” And I couldn’t be happier.
***
“Are you sure?” We sit in the first class cabin heading back to the US.
“Yes, I am sure. Never been surer in my life.” She kisses my palm. I’m nervous about taking her back to my home. I hope that she likes it, I hope that I am enough for her, I hope I’m enough for her to stay.
“You’re the first woman I’ve ever brought to my home.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. It’s my sanctuary, my place to get away from the world.”
