Axel: Desert Vultures MC (A Bad Boy MC Romance)

by Sara Crest

  I leaned against the door and slid down until I was sitting on the floor. Wiping the tears from my face, they weren’t the tears of sadness, they were the tears of knowing that I was finally free.

  12

  (Axel)

  I found Edgar’s phone and dialed in Wyatt’s burner cell, I didn’t tell him all the details, just to get a car we can ditch, bring some duct tape and rope, and to bring another Desert Vulture brother along with him. We were gonna take Edgar back to where we could really get some info out of him.

  When I hung up the phone I saw Hannah sitting down with her back to the basement door crying. I walked over to her and scooped her up off the ground, bringing her over to the couch and laying her down.

  She turned to me with her tear filled eyes and looked at me, somehow I could already feel an unspoken bond between us.

  “We’ll be out of here soon, ok?” I said as I tucked her hair behind her ear.

  She nodded back at me, I had never been in a situation like this before. Normally I just took care of number 1 and had the backs of my brothers, now I was bringing this young woman into the mix and I didn’t really know how to handle it.

  “What about your life before this?” I asked. “I know I offered to help but don’t you want to go back to your life before? To your friends? To try and find any family you might have?”

  “Like I said, the only “family” I think I have would be my dad and he was the one that sold me off. He sold me to a friend who took me to a goddamn private auction where Edgar bid on me. I barely had any friends in highschool, and after I graduated I kinda just stopped talking to them for the few months that I had before I was taken away. I didn’t really have a life before, I was living with my asshole dad with no plans and nowhere else to go.”

  I looked at her in the eyes “I guess that means this is a new start for you.”

  I sat down next to her and she put her head in my lap, I rubbed her back and tried to comfort her as we heard the muffled insults from Edgar coming from the basement.

  * * *

  “You really have to get yourself a cellphone, I was trying to reach you for hours before you called me” Wyatt said as he shut his car door. He had brought a brother that was fairly close to us, Mason, thank god it was one of the more level headed brothers. “Clay apparently wants to talk to you, says it’s big news. Wanted to wait until you got out of jail to tell you but thought that last night wasn’t appropriate.”

  “Damn really? What do you think it is?”

  “All I know is Clay isn’t the same as he used to be, he’s getting old and doesn’t have the same same spark. Maybe he’s looking to finally pass down the torch, you are next in line after all.”

  Clay? Making me the president? No that couldn’t be it, the man got us to where we are today, he still had a few good years left in him. I guess when I wrapped all of this up I would have to stop by the bar and see him.

  I looked behind me at the house, I still hadn’t told Wyatt what we were doing but I knew that soon I would have a lot of explaining to do.

  “I’ll get right on that, when the old man calls it’s gotta be something important, but for now I got another thing we really have to take care of.”

  “What’s so important that you had to pull us away from trying to make this club money?” Mason said as I led them inside.

  “This is bigger than just money Mason, this is about brotherhood.”

  They walked inside behind me and immediately looked confused as their eyes wandered around this nice suburban home.

  “Who’s the girl?” Wyatt asked as him and Mason started checking her out. I could immediately feel myself becoming defensive knowing that they were undressing her with their eyes, I stepped in front of them and put a stop to that.

  “Her name is Hannah, I’ll spare you the details right now, all you need to know is that she led me to this place and to a man that can get us to Zeke’s killer.”

  “Zeke? Axel give it up” Wyatt said as he crossed his arms. “I miss Zeke just as much as you but we’re never gonna catch the cop that did him in, we’ve been looking for two years while you were in the pen and we couldn’t find a trace of him. Every lead we’ve had on him has led to dead ends, even the paperwork for your arrest has his name blacked out. Hell you’re the only one who knows what he looks like and you don’t even know his name.”

  I took out the photo of Edgar and the officer, unfolding it and showing it to them.

  “You see this, this lanky bastard right here? That’s the man who put a bullet in our brother. The guy next to him? He’s sitting chained up downstairs, for the first time in two years the Desert Vultures have our first real lead on the son of a bitch.”

  Wyatt and Mason looked at each other in disbelief, scratching the back of their heads.

  “Axel it’s been two years since this all went down, you sure that’s the guy?” Mason asked. “What if it’s just a look alike? And now you got some sad son of a bitch chained up downstairs? What if he’s innocent?”

  I looked back at Hannah for a moment, seeing a small glimmer in her eye when she looked at me, it was a look that no other woman had ever truly given me before. I’ve had looks of lust and desire but there was something deeper about the way Hannah just looked at me.

  “Trust me, this guy isn’t innocent. He deserves everything that’s coming to him” I told them.

  “So what do you want us to do?”

  “I want you to take the sorry fat bastard downstairs and work your magic on him for me, I can’t look at the fucker’s face without getting angry for the things that he did. Get as much information as you can out of him and then call me when in he’s really ready to crack.”

  I knew that Hannah had told me that I should put in work on Edgar but after knowing what he did to her and having ties with the man that killed Zeke I knew that I would let it become way too personal. Mason and Wyatt were more level headed than I was, not to mention they didn’t have witness Zeke dying with their own eyes. Let them do the brunt of the work and then I’d come in and finish what they started.

  Mason went off to the basement and Wyatt followed, but he hesitated and turned to me and Hannah. “You sure about this Axel? You sure you want to bring back all the pain that came along with Zeke’s death?”

  “Brother, that pain never went away. This is a chance to really put Zeke to rest.”

  “Alright Axel, I’ll trust you on this.”

  13

  (Hannah)

  I held tightly onto Axel’s hand as I watched Wyatt and Mason throw a bound and gagged Edgar into the back of their car.

  Although I held his hand he kept it out of view of his brothers, I guess he didn’t want them getting the wrong impression, but it also made me question where he saw me in his life. Was I just a pet project to him? That he’d try and integrate me back into the real world? Could he even integrate me back after doing time in jail on top of being a part of an exclusive motorcycle gang? Where did he see me in his life in a month and what were his intentions?

  Edgar fought against his restraints as Mason and Wyatt struggled to keep him in the trunk. Axel let go of my hand and pulled out his gun, walking over and putting it to Edgar’s head.

  “If you don’t behave the police are gonna find your body in your driveway, do I make myself clear?”

  Edgar slowly nodded his head. He could have called Axel on his bluff, after all Axel didn’t want Edgar dead he wanted him to give out the information he had. I think that after seeing two other men show up to his house Edgar was beginning to realize the reality of his situation.

  Axel pulled his gun away from Edgar’s head and Wyatt was finally able to close the trunk.

  Wyatt pulled his phone out of his pocket and gave it to Axel. “Hold onto this for now so I have a way to contact you. Just make sure you toss it by the end of the month, I’ve had that thing for too long and it’s starting to make me paranoid.”

  “Will do, did you guys bring the bleach?” Axel asked
as he put the phone in his pocket.

  Mason went around to the back seat of the car and pulled out a large container of bleach along with a few rags.

  “What’s that for?” I asked as Axel took the bleach and walked back into the house.

  “Getting rid of evidence, this bastard has ties to the police, last thing we need is another reason for them to be on our asses. Bleach gets rid of DNA evidence, we’re making their job that much harder.”

  I followed him inside and watched him work. It was like Axel was part of a whole different world than the one I left behind when I was sold.

  He poured some of the bleach onto a rag and wiped down the counters, the door handles we touched, and the house phone he had used.

  He poured some on the couch where we sat, ruining its navy blue color and giving it white spots everywhere.

  He took me downstairs, ready to bleach the whole room before I held out my hand and stopped him.

  I took one last look around the room, the room where I had spent the past year of my life, the room that would stay with me for years to come.

  I walked over and picked a blanket up off of the floor, it was my favorite one, it gave me comfort during the harder nights. I was so attached to it I knew I couldn’t leave it behind, I felt like a child wanting to take it with me but I didn’t care.

  “You sure you want a reminder of this place?” Axel said as he set the bleach down.

  “I know I’ll never be able to forget this place, it’ll always be in my dreams and in the back of my mind. At least if I have the only thing that brought me comfort these past few years then those bad memories won’t be so bad…”

  I looked back at the room, at the shitty bed that I slept on, at the peeling wallpaper that revealed a cinderblock wall that I occasionally drew on with pieces of cement as if they were chalk just to pass the time. Part of me knew that it would be hard to leave this place because it was all I knew for the past year and a half, but the other part of me felt as light as a feather knowing that I was now free and that I had someone strong and dedicated willing to help me.

  I handed the blanket to Axel and picked up the container of bleach myself. I walked over to my bed and began pouring it all over the mattress and sheets, watching it stain and ruin what used to be my only possessions. I walked over to the few pieces of furniture in the room and began dousing them with the remaining bleach, making sure to get as much as I could. As it washed away any sign that it was me who used to live here it also felt as if I was washing away the bad memories, as if I maybe could make it in the regular world one day.

  Axel came and took the now empty bleach container from me, rubbing my back to comfort me.

  “Did you give your cell one last look before you left?” I asked him.

  “Yeah, yeah I gotta say I did.”

  I could tell that he was lying but even if it was a lie it comforted me, made me feel like I wasn’t as crazy as I thought I was.

  “Now come on, let’s get out of here.”

  14

  (Hannah)

  Before we left we were able to find some of the more normal clothes that Edgar had bought for me, not to mention a pair of shoes I could wear. Although they were a constant reminder of him and that part of my life it was nice to actually have something to wear that wasn’t that gaudy dress or Axel’s clothes that were far too big for me.

  We followed Wyatt and Mason back to Los Aves but once we reached Axel’s apartment building he immediately pulled away from the two of them and parked his bike.

  “What are you doing? Don’t you want to follow them and deal with Edgar?”

  “They’ll be plenty of him to go around don’t you worry. I’ve just been too overstimulated since getting out, I need a few minutes to calm down.”

  He took my hand and led me into the building, taking me to an old service elevator and pressing the button to take us to the roof.

  “Are you sure we should be using this” I asked as I looked around to make sure that nobody saw us in here.

  “We just tied up and kidnapped a man who was weeks away from being a sex offender and you’re worried about being caught in an elevator we’re not supposed to use?” he said jokingly.

  He was right, I took a deep breath and let myself relax a little bit as the elevator started taking us up to the roof.

  I had to admit, this was the first time since I was a kid where I felt like I could actually relax. Even if he had held me against my will for an hour back at his place he was already proving to me that it was all a mistake and that he would fight for me, it was an empowering feeling that I had never experienced before.

  We reached the roof and Axel stepped outside, taking in the evening sun. I looked around to see an old couch near the edge of the roof and a mini fridge sitting right next to it.

  Axel walked over to the fridge and put his ear to it, a big smile went across his face as I watched his eyes light up.

  “No way has this thing been running for two years.”

  He opened it up and pulled out a 6 pack of beer, laughing to himself.

  “Still ice cold, and it doesn’t expire for another month!”

  He motioned for me to sit down on the couch as he took two beers. He stood up and looked out over the buildings that surrounded us, at this time of day the couch gave us a perfect view of the setting sun.

  “I thought about this place every day I was in jail, feels good to be free…”

  He sat down and opened the beers, handing one to me.

  “I’m not old enough to drink” I said laughing.

  “If you don’t tell I won’t tell” he said putting his finger up to his mouth.

  I put the bottle to my mouth and took a sip, making a face at the almost bitter taste.

  He chuckled “well you tried.”

  “I’m sorry I don’t think I can finish it” I said still making a face as I handed him back the bottle.

  He took if from me and put both bottles back in the fridge. “Well if you’re not drinking I won’t either” he said chuckling.

  I watched the tattoos on his muscular arms gleam in the light of the setting sun as he reached over to put the beer away. He turned around and caught me staring at him, I tried to quickly play it off but it was already too late.

  In all honest Axel was the kind of man I’ve always been attracted to, even in highschool. Despite everything that happened to me I found that I still couldn’t shake my preference. Back when I was in high school I loved to hang out near where the nearby bikers drank, I would just watch them from a distance in awe and wonder what their lives were like, I guess now I’ll get to see.

  When I was in that basement I had always dreamed that one of those bikers that I watched would come and rescue me from Edgar. A tall and strong man busting down the door and ripping me from my chains, carrying me out of there in his arms. I couldn’t deny that Axel was everything that I wanted in a man, at least physically, I couldn’t deny my attraction to him. That attraction just made the day more confusing.

  Our eyes met, I quickly glanced down at his bicep before meeting his gaze again, it looked like his arm could almost tear out of his shirt at any second.

  “I’m sorry, about the way I treated you earlier. If I knew that you had gone through then I would have never done it.”

  “It’s fine… really it is. I came in pointing a gun at you, I can understand why you might have thought I was someone sent to kill you…”

  He looked at me and gave a little half smile before looking out onto the sunset.

  “Are that many people really out to get you?” I asked him.

  “There are a lot of perks to this life, but those perks come with some downsides. All I know is I’m still standing here and I fully intend on fighting anyone who even thinks about making an attempt on my life… or yours.”

  I blushed a little, I never had someone who was actually willing to fight for me. It felt weird, this whole thing almost felt unreal.

  “So, what do you
want to do with your newfound freedom?” he asked me as he moved a little bit closer.

  “I… I guess I’m really not sure. There’s so much I have to catch up on, so much I need to take care of to make sure that everything that he took from me doesn’t hold me back permanently. Honestly, it’s very overwhelming.”

  “That’s why I’m here” he said with a smile. I couldn’t believe that a man who I had threatened just 12 hours ago was now helping me like this, it made me realize that there really was good in some people after all.

  “Well you’ve only just gotten free yourself, what are you going to do?”

  He looked out onto the sunset and smiled “for now, I think I’m just gonna enjoy the evening breeze as a free man. It’s the little things, but I’m sure you understand that.”

  “I can’t imagine someone putting a cage around you” I replied. I barely even knew him but I could tell what kind of man he was, he was bound only to his brotherhood. You can take the bike away from the biker but you can’t take the fire out of him, and Axel had more fire than any of the bikers I had ever met.

  He looked at me and smiled, leaning in closer as I matched him inch for inch. I felt stunned, I didn’t know what to do, was this really happening?

  He took my right hand in his left, leaning in closer and closer.

  “I gotta admit” he said “I’m just following my instincts here.”

  “I gotta admit I have no idea what to do” I replied.

  “Do what feels good in the moment” he whispered as our lips grew closer and closer.

  Before I even knew what was happening his lips were on mine. My very first kiss.

  He kissed me with a passion that I didn’t know a man could have, with a roughness that showed how much he truly desired me yet with a warmth and tenderness that showed that he wasn’t just using me.