Disarm (Iron Heretics MC Book 2)

by Michelle Frost

  Axel stopped outside the cage, leaving a couple of feet between him and Zach. The men in the cage, both sweaty with dark blond hair, tattoos all over, and rippling muscles for days, didn’t pay any attention to the audience they’d gathered.

  “They both fight for the Heretics?” I asked, keeping my voice low enough that only Axel would hear me.

  Axel nodded. “The one on the left is Kade. He’s a Heretic and used to fight on our circuit. The other is a new recruit. We’re here to see if he’s a good fit for St. Louis.”

  “Oh.” I followed the fighters’ movements—each a display of brutal grace—and tried not to wince every time one of them landed a blow.

  “This is how I got started.”

  I turned to look at Axel. “Fighting?”

  “Yep. Ran away from home. Did a tour of the dive-bar circuit in East Texas. Made enough cash to take me as far as St. Louis. Barrett, one of the older members, spotted me and brought me in. I fought for them, prospected, and then patched in all within a year.”

  I tried to wrap my mind around that. Axel in a cage or boxing ring, fighting the way these men were fighting now—shirtless and sweaty, full of raw power and sexy, flexing muscles. “That’s…um…wow. Did you like it?”

  An amused smirk pulled up one side of his mouth. “I was glad to hang up my gloves, but it helped me get out of a bad situation and led me to the club, so I’ve got no complaints.”

  His dark brown eyes held mine. He’d been taking such good care of me, for weeks now, and there was still so much I didn’t know about him. What bad situation? He’d run from something, the same as me? I couldn’t imagine Axel ever needing to run from anything, but it didn’t feel like now was the time to ask him to elaborate.

  “What do you think, Axel?” Jeb asked as a bell sounded. The fighters stopped their circling and touched gloves in the middle of the cage. The one Axel had pointed out as Kade, stepped over to the side of the cage, undid a latch I didn’t even notice, and pushed the door open. He walked out, sweat running down his toned torso, and smiled at Jeb in a way that made me feel like I should avert my eyes.

  “Definite potential. I look forward to working with him this week.”

  “Hear that, Ward?” Kade called back to the man still in the cage. “You’re a winner, buddy.”

  The fighter, Ward, only grunted and walked out past all of us and over to a towel and water bottle sitting on a nearby chair.

  “Can he talk?” Zach asked, eyes glued to Ward.

  Jeb barked out a laugh. “Yes, he just chooses not to.”

  “Are y’all hungry?” Kade asked, picking up his own towel and wiping off his face. “We were planning to head over to the diner across the street if you’d like to join us?”

  Axel looked at me, and I nodded. “Sounds good.”

  We’d gotten back to the gym-slash-clubhouse in the early evening, full of delicious and totally greasy diner food. Dinner had been a fun affair. We’d sat in the corner booth listening to the guys swap stories about the happenings in both their clubs, talking long after our meals were finished. Well, Jeb, Kade, Zach, and Axel were talking. I mostly listened and let myself lean into Axel’s side, enjoying the feel of his arm draped over the back of the booth seat behind me.

  It had been nice to forget about my circumstances and relax for a little while.

  After we’d walked back across the street, Jeb had offered us a beer, but Axel and I had declined. Neither of us had gotten a ton of sleep the night before—Zach hadn’t either, for that matter—but when he noticed Ward sitting in the clubhouse lounge, he’d accepted the beer and made his way inside.

  Axel smirked and took my hand, leading me back down the long hallway we’d walked before to one of the club’s guest rooms. The room wasn’t large, but it was clean and had an en suite bathroom. The bed was a lot smaller than Axel’s king-size. Once we’d gotten inside and the door closed behind us, I turned to him.

  “I’m not sure we’re both going to fit,” I said, only half-joking.

  He eyed the bed before turning those dark eyes back on me. The heaviness of his stare made my stomach twist in the best way. “I suspect we’ll manage. Unless you don’t feel like cuddling with me anymore.”

  “Yeah, that’s never going to happen,” I scoffed, still feeling that lightness from dinner.

  “Then we’ve got no worries. You ready to sleep?”

  I stretched, feeling the lingering tightness from the mostly healed cuts on my legs. All my other bruises and soreness had faded over the last week, and Malcolm’s reappearance in my life seemed to have overshadowed the short-lived nightmare Dustin had put me through. “I’m ready for a shower and to lay down for sure.”

  “Sounds good. You can go first.” Axel rearranged the pillows and lay back on the bed, clicking on the small flatscreen TV on the dresser and finding some movie to watch.

  I showered and brushed my teeth, standing in front of the sink in only my briefs. They were dark blue and one of my favorite pairs. Forgoing my shirt, I clicked off the light and carried my toiletry bag back out into the room and set it on the dresser next to Axel’s. His eyes moved from the TV screen as soon as I came into view, sweeping up and down my body, tracking me as I walked to the side of the bed he was lying on. One large hand cupped the side of my thigh. I pulled in a slow breath as his thumb grazed the edge of the worst of the still-healing cuts there. He’d held my hand a few short days ago when Doc had taken my stitches out.

  “These feeling okay?” His voice was soft and deep, the way it only ever got when it was late at night and just the two of us.

  “Still tender, but yes.”

  He nodded, almost to himself, then sat up, pulling me in until I was standing between his spread knees. He had both hands on my thighs now, barely-there touches on the outside of my legs holding me captive. “You’d tell me, wouldn’t you? If they were bothering you?”

  There was something in his voice…I didn’t think we were really talking about my wounds anymore. Not the physical ones, anyway. Since I didn’t want to lie to him, I said, “If the cuts started to hurt, I would tell you.”

  He dropped his eyes with a nod. “Okay.” It came out on a sigh. As he stood, I was forced to step back. “I’m gonna grab a shower.”

  I could only nod, biting my lip against wanting to call him back. The bathroom door closed with a click, and I curled up in the spot he’d vacated, staring at the TV without really seeing what was happening on the screen. I dozed in and out and felt my lips lift at the corners when strong arms maneuvered me beneath the covers.

  When he pulled me back against his chest, I could feel the brush of his hair there and the damp warmth of his skin. I wriggled until I was completely pressed against him, ready to fall asleep held in the safe cradle of his body.

  My eyes drooped closed as the heaviness of sleep washed over me. Just before it pulled me under, his lips brushed over the skin of my shoulder. “Good night, sweet boy.”

  I heard myself whisper back, “Good night, Daddy.”

  Chapter Nine

  Axel

  The Sand Lake clubhouse lounge was filled with people—club members, old ladies and boys, hang-arounds, and some of the fighters that trained there. Everyone was enjoying a little clubhouse party—drinking, dancing, and getting rowdy. It had been a good week spent working with Ward, who was a hell of a fighter, and spending every spare moment with Leith. He’d been quiet this week, and antsy, seeming to get more so with every day that brought us closer to heading home.

  We were leaving in the morning, and he’d been absolutely incapable of sitting still all day. He’d barely said a word, though. I was beginning to think he was trying to mimic Ward, who was as taciturn a person as I’d ever met. My eyes landed on my boy across the room, sitting on a stool and watching Zach lose at pool. Despite spending every night this week sleeping plastered against me, he looked tired. Rundown. We hadn’t talked about what he called me the first night in that narrow bed, and I didn’t want to p
ush him because I knew he’d been half-asleep when he’d said it. Didn’t mean I could get the sound of his sweet voice calling me Daddy out of my head, though.

  Because, fuck, I wanted that. All the time.

  He caught my gaze for a moment, blue eyes so sad that my eyes narrowed. I pushed myself up off the couch where I’d been talking with Kade and nursing a beer, determined to find out what was going on when my phone vibrated in my pocket.

  Pulling it out, I glanced down and sighed at Mace’s name on the screen. Not that I didn’t want to talk to my club brother, but his timing could use some work. I slid my thumb across to answer. “Hey, Mace.”

  “Hey, how’s things in Sand Lake?”

  “Good,” I said, stepping over to the wall. “Having a little club party tonight, and we’ll be heading home in the morning. Everything alright there?”

  “That’s why I’m calling. We got the name of the guy rallying the ex-Devil’s. Malcolm Sieker.”

  “Never heard of him.” Lifting my eyes, I glanced at the stool where Leith had been only to find it empty. I stood up straight from the wall and glanced around the room, not finding his dark red hair anywhere. A thread of unease slithered through me.

  “He’s a total unknown, but we’re looking into him now. We don’t even know what the guy looks like, so it may take a minute to run him down. Just stay sharp when y’all head back this way, and I would appreciate it if you’d pass this on to Jeb.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  “Take care, man.”

  I strode across the room, approaching the pool table where Zach was losing to Ward…again. “Where’s Leith?”

  Zach pulled his eyes away from glaring at the pocket where Ward had just sunk another ball. “Huh? Oh, he said he’d see me later. I thought he was going to bed.”

  “Alright. Thanks. I want to head out no later than ten in the morning.”

  Zach snorted. “In other words, don’t get shitfaced. I’ll be ready, man.”

  “Good. See you in the morning. Ward.” I nodded at the fighter and he returned it, dark eyes going right back to where he was lining up his next shot. I started toward the door, only for Zach to call me back. When I turned, he’d moved a few feet away from the pool table.

  He leaned close and lowered his voice. “Is there something going on with Leith? He’s been…off the last few days. And especially today.”

  My gaze hardened, and my pulse picked up. “I agree, but I don’t know what. I’m gonna go find him.”

  He nodded and clapped me on the shoulder. “Let me know if you need me.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  I headed out the door, turning toward the room Leith and I had been sharing all week. The door was closed, but opening it didn’t give me any kind of relief. The first thing my eyes landed on was the dresser where our toiletry bags had sat side-by-side for the last five days. Only mine was there now, and the bathroom door was open, light off and empty.

  Shit.

  I spun around and ran down the hall. Bursting through the back door, I yelled, “Leith!” Not knowing which way to go, I rounded the closest corner, tension releasing from my shoulders when I saw him standing on the sidewalk next to the front of the building. There was a bag over his shoulder, one of the totes with the gym’s logo, and tear tracks shining on his cheeks in the light from the streetlamp overhead.

  When I was only a few feet from him, his face crumpled and he dropped the bag before launching himself at me. I caught him around the waist, dropping my hands to get a hold of his ass and haul him up so he could wrap his legs around me.

  “I’m sorry, Daddy,” he cried against my throat, arms wrapped tightly around me as his whole body trembled.

  “Easy, sweet boy, it’s okay,” I whispered against the side of his face, pressing a kiss to his temple and running one hand up and down his back while holding him up with the other. My heart was slamming in my chest, relief and worry clashing together as I held him tight.

  Lifting his face, he looked at me from inches away. He leaned in, pressing the smallest kiss to my lips. It was more than enough to snap the tenuous hold I had on my hunger for him. I covered his mouth with my own, licking across his lips and spearing inside when he opened them for me. He moaned, hands loosening their stranglehold so he could run them over my bald head as his tongue met mine thrust for thrust.

  With effort, I pulled back, taking in his spit-shiny lips and still damp cheeks. “We’re going to go inside, and you’re going to tell me what all this has been about. The truth. No more lies, Leith.”

  He nodded, lowering his eyes.

  “Hey, look at me.” When I had his pretty blues on me again, I kissed him, slower this time, nipping his lips and only pulling back when his body had gone lax in my arms. “Everything’s going to be okay, sweetheart.”

  He shot me a tiny smile and pressed his face back against the side of my throat. Carefully, I squatted down, grabbing the handle of his bag and turning us back toward the clubhouse entrance. Once we were back in our room, I kicked the door closed behind us and set Leith on his feet.

  Sinking down onto the edge of the bed, he dropped his face into his hands. “I’m so sorry, Axel.”

  I set his bag down beside the duffle our clothes had been in and went into the bathroom to grab a washcloth. Turning on the cold water, I let it run for a moment while I gathered myself. I wetted the cloth and wrung it out, then went to sit beside him on the bed. Gently, I pulled his hands from his face and gripped his chin so he’d turn to look at me. Pressing the cool cloth to his skin, I wiped his cheeks and his nose before tossing it back into the bathroom.

  I barely knew where to start. Blowing out a breath, I took his hand in mine. “What are you sorry for?”

  He huffed a small breath. “For lying to you and almost just leaving without saying goodbye.”

  “Where were you going?”

  His blue eyes were wet again when he looked at me. “I don’t know. I was going to pick a place after I found the bus station.”

  Something cold and dark settled in my gut. What had scared him so badly that he was running without even knowing where he was going? Who had scared him so badly? My Heretics brothers assumed the person breaking into his apartment had either been random or another escalation from the ex-Devils. If they’d been keeping tabs on the place, they’d have known he hadn’t been staying there. It was an easy way to encroach on Heretics’ territory without physically hurting anyone—something that would have demanded immediate retaliation. But that day in his apartment, I knew he’d been lying to me.

  I lifted a finger to his chin, tilting his face up so I could see his eyes. “Who’s the man in the picture, Leith?”

  He took a fortifying breath. “His name is Malcolm Sieker. He used to be my Daddy.”

  “Your Daddy?” I heard myself say, while venomous jealousy and rage so potent I needed to close my eyes before Leith saw it, dumped itself in my veins. This Malcolm fucker was supposed to have been his Daddy? But Leith was ready to run, to leave his entire life behind the moment the man appeared. What the hell had he done to my boy?

  Leith squeezed my hand and brought his other hand up to sift through the hair on my forearm. “He was supposed to be.” He took a deep breath as I did the same, opening my eyes and giving him all my attention. “I didn’t have the best home life. Not abusive…not physically anyway, but they made sure I knew that I’d never succeed being the way I was. So when I graduated high school, I took all the money I’d saved from my cashier job and bought a bus ticket. Made it from South Carolina to Ohio because I had a cousin that lived in Columbus.” He sighed.

  “Take your time, sweet boy.”

  “It’s just…I was so stupid. I’d read all these things online and wanted to try everything. I went to a club one night, and Malcolm picked me up, told me I looked like I needed a Daddy…and despite all the shit that came after, the way he made it sound and the way he treated me in the beginning, made something click into place inside me.
It made me realize that I was a boy, and I definitely wanted a Daddy of my own.”

  “What happened?” I scooted closer to him, keeping hold of his hand and moving my other to his back. He leaned into my side, and I breathed a little easier.

  “I think a tabloid would call it a whirlwind romance. We were inseparable. He moved me into his apartment and basically took over my life.” He rolled his eyes. “I thought it was all romantic at first, like he wanted to take care of me…but then he decided I should be on his phone plan, and that he should manage my money, and that I should adhere to the tightly controlled schedule he created for me. I disagreed, and that’s when I learned how deep in I really was.”

  “He hurt you?”

  He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Yes. Any time he thought I stepped a toe out of line. N-not with knives like Dustin. But he’d beat me and use me and lock me up. Sometimes for days at a time.” He squeezed my hand, an earnest plea in his voice. “I can’t let him get me again, Axel.”

  “Daddy,” I said, giving him a small smile so he wouldn’t see how badly I needed to hunt down and kill the bastard that had hurt him. “If you want. Not that you have to call me that all the time, but I want you to know, Leith, being with me won’t be anything like it was with him. We’ll be partners, and if you choose to put your trust in me, to give me the honor of taking care of you, I promise you, sweet boy, I will never abuse it. I know what that feels like, too. And how it feels to have to run from someone that should have loved you instead of hurting you.”

  “Who did you have to run from?”

  “My father. He wasn’t a good man, and my brother and I always seemed to be the captive audience to his rage. I swear to you, Leith, I’ll never raise a hand or anything else to you in anger.”

  “I know.” A sweet smile stretched his lips, and I was so relieved to see it I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. “I’ve never been afraid of you. Not even for a moment.”