I can think of worse ways to go out.
♦♦♦
The Vault is packed as we enter through the back door. Axel holds my hand in his and leads me through the sea of people with Rush directly behind me. We stop at the door for the locker room and Axel grabs my face with both hands as he looks down at me.
“I gotta get ready and go out there, but I won’t be long. Just please stay with Rush, okay?” His ocean blue eyes search mine. “He’ll keep you safe when I can’t.” He looks past me with a hardened stare and nods at Rush.
“Go knock ‘em dead,” I smile with a wink. Axel chuckles and dips his head down, and his breath tickles my ear as he brushes it with his lips.
“I don’t kill for sport, but I’d kill for you,” he whispers, softly kissing the side of my neck. I swallow hard as he pulls away with a smirk, leaving Rush and I behind.
“Hmm.” Rush tilts his head to the side with a grin playing on his lips.
“What?” I choke out, shaking my head.
Grabbing my hand, Rush chuckles softly and shrugs. “Let’s go watch your man kick some ass.”
Shaking my head, I follow him through the maze of bodies. “He’s not my man, Rush.”
“He is, but don’t worry.” He winks, dropping his voice to a whisper. “Your secret is safe with me.”
♦♦♦
We found an empty spot in the crowd, farther away from the ring than Rush planned. The center of The Vault was still in our line of sight, so seeing the fight wasn’t an issue. Axel stepped out into the ring looking like a sculpted model of perfection and he smiled softly when his eyes found mine. As soon as the fight began, he was all business and his focus was his opponent in front of him.
As soon as the fight broke out, all hell broke loose in the crowd and I was lost in a sea of bodies as a mob of people shoved me away from Rush.
“Rush?” I call out, glancing around at the crowd. Everyone is on their feet, shouting at the vicious fight going on in the ring. With my height, I can’t see past the row in front of me and I lose sight of Axel.
A pair of hands find my hips and pull me backward. Letting out a sigh of relief, I relax against his hard chest as he wraps his arms around my waist. Glancing down, I notice the rolled-up sleeves, revealing ivory-colored forearms. My brow furrows and my body falls rigid as I notice the absence of the black ink that is embedded in Rush’s skin.
What the actual fuck.
Making a move to step forward, I fight against his arms as they tighten around my waist. The man behind me lowers his lips to my ear as he holds me flush against him.
“Don’t make a fucking sound,” he demands in an icy tone. “You’re coming home with me tonight.”
“Get the fuck off me!” I yell out as I thrash against him. His arms become constricting and his teeth are sharp as he latches onto the side of my neck like he’s Dracula. His efforts to silence me are futile and my sense of fight or flight blend together.
Calling out Rush’s name, my eyes search for him as I fight against the man holding me. No one seems to notice my kicking and screaming as he begins to drag me farther away from everyone.
“You’re causing a scene and you will pay for it,” the man growls angrily in my ear. A shiver runs down my spine as I struggle to break free from his grip. The crowd falls silent and quickly parts in a hurry as Axel comes barreling toward us. His wild eyes meet mine and the waves crash within the deep blue depths as he reaches for me.
Axel’s hands find my wrists and he rips me from the man’s grip as he pulls me behind him. The man stares back at us with his mouth slightly open in shock. Axel steps closer to him and he narrows his eyes slightly as his lips tip up in a sinister grin.
“Axel,” I say softly, reaching for his arm. “Let’s just go, okay?”
Axel keeps his eyes pinned on the man and doesn’t even look in my direction. “No can do, sweetheart.” Rush pushes through the crowd that’s now surrounding us and stops short beside me. Axel glances at him with his wild eyes brewing in a fit of rage. “You fucked up, bro.”
Without another word, Axel spins around and drives his fist straight into the man’s face. I gasp loudly into the silent room and quickly move toward him, but Rush pulls me away. Axel’s other fist hits the other side of the man’s face and they alternate in precise succession.
“Let me go!” I bark at Rush, who holds me close to his side.
Rush clenches his jaw and shakes his head as he watches the man fall to the ground. Axel follows him, straddling him as he continues to assault his face. “He’s getting what he deserves,” he says through clenched teeth.
The other man never has a chance to get a single hit in as Axel delivers blow after blow. The crowd around us is growing wild, throwing money around as blood flies in every direction as the man’s face becomes unrecognizable. Rush watches like a proud father and I watch in utter shock. The man’s unconscious, yet Axel can’t see past the waves crashing in his stormy eyes.
Grabbing onto Rush’s arm, I give it a hard tug and he glances down at me. “You have to stop him before he kills that man.”
Rush simply shrugs with a wicked look in his eyes. “And if I don’t?”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I scoff. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have to visit Axel in prison.”
His face falls as the severity of the situation dawns on him. Without another word, Rush sprints over to Axel and quickly pulls him up off the man.
“What the fuck!” Axel roars and his chest heaves as he fights against him.
“Dude, you’re gonna fucking kill him,” Rush barks, shoving him away. “We need to go. Now.”
Axel’s eyes flash to mine as I walk up beside Rush and he spins on his heel, striding away from us. “Fuck!” he roars as he drives his palms into the door, shoving it open and walks out into the parking lot. Grabbing my hand, Rush pulls me along with him and we silently follow Axel.
No one says a word as Rush whips his car down the crowded Miami streets back to the house. Axel glares out the window in a daze, flexing his bloody hands as the unrelenting rage radiates from his body. Sitting in the backseat, my eyes bounce back and forth between the back of Axel’s head and the rearview mirror. The tension is thick as it hangs heavily in the air and with each passing second, it only gets worse.
Rush glances in the rearview mirror and his gaze reaches mine. His blue eyes are a cold wintery mix of indistinguishable emotions. I’m caught in the crosshairs of his hardened stare and I can’t look away. He’s angry, but not with me. He blames himself for all of this and I’m sure that Axel does too. Rush had one job to do and he failed.
Blood may be thicker than water, but blood isn’t the only thing that binds us in life.
Axel is halfway out the door when Rush brings the car to a stop. By the time the two of us are out of the car, Axel is slamming the door to the pool house behind him.
“Jaslyn.” Rush gently grabs my arm as I walk up to the door. A loud crash sounds from the other side. “It’s better if you just let him go.”
Whipping my head around, I cut my eyes at him harshly. “And what happens if he hurts himself, Rush? Do you not hear him in there?”
Rush frowns slightly and toys with his lip ring. “This is what he does. He’s not a violent person, but this is how he handles his shit.” He pauses and scratches the back of his neck. “Okay, he is a violent person, just not to people that he cares about. He doesn’t give a shit about many people, but he’s fiercely protective of the ones he does… almost to a fault.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” I admit, shaking my arm from his grasp. “I’m afraid of what he’ll do to himself.”
The lights inside flicker as something crashes against the wall. Rush glances over before looking back at me. “He needs this, Jaslyn. This is when you take a step back and give him his space to work out whatever is going on in that fucked up head of his.”
“No,” I bark, shaking my head. “This might be wh
en you take a step back, but the only place I’m stepping is inside that pool house.”
Rush lets out a sigh of defeat and shrugs. “I won’t stop you because I know he won’t hurt you. I may not agree with it, but maybe you’re what he needs.”
Turning away from me, I watch Rush as he walks to his car and slowly opens the door. “Call me if you need me.”
“You’re leaving?” I ask him curiously and he shrugs.
“He’s in good hands,” Rush says with a small smile. “If anyone can get through to him, it’s you.”
Staring after him, I watch as Rush gets into his car and leaves without a second glance or another word. Quietly slipping into the apartment, I pull the door shut behind me and watch Axel storm around the open space. I go unnoticed, standing against the wall as he moves around in a whirlwind of rage. Grabbing a lamp from one of the side tables, he whips it around and hurls it at the wall. The glass base shatters and the lightbulb bursts as it falls to the ground.
Pushing off the wall, I step farther into the room. “Axel.” My voice is loud as his name comes out like an order.
Whipping his head around, he pins his dark, stormy eyes on mine as the anger rolls off him. “You shouldn’t be here, Jaslyn,” he growls and clenches his jaw.
“Too bad.” I shrug, walking closer to him. “I’m here.”
His chest heaves and his nostrils flare as he narrows his eyes at me. “Go home, Jaslyn,” he commands in a low, harsh tone.
“Make me,” I challenge him as I inch closer, stopping when my toes meet his. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter Nineteen
Axel
MY BREATHS are ragged as I’m caught in an intense stare down with Jaslyn. Crossing her arms, she stands her ground and refuses to budge.
“Why are you here, Jaslyn?” I let out a sigh of defeat.
Her deep brown eyes search mine as she reaches out, taking my hand in hers. “To save you from yourself.”
Dropping her hand, I push past her as a harsh laugh escapes my lips. “The damsel in distress is here to save the heathen. That’s comical.”
Jaslyn is hot on my heels as she follows me into the kitchen. “Say whatever you want, but I’m not leaving you alone, not like this.”
“What makes you think that you can save me, when you can’t even save yourself?” A smug look forms on my face as I round the counter. Gripping the edges, I lean on it as my knuckles turn a stark white color. “I’m not fucking stupid, Jaslyn. I’ve seen the bruises and the marks that he leaves on you. I know what Jasper does to you.”
“Oh, do you?” She sneers. “You don’t know a goddamn thing, Axel. You only know what you see and make your objective assumptions.”
“Then what don’t I know?” I demand, slamming my fist onto the counter. Jaslyn jumps slightly and I lower my voice, feeling the guilt consume me. “Tell me what it is that I’m not seeing.”
Shaking her head, Jaslyn drops her gaze to the floor as she shifts her weight. “It doesn’t even matter.”
I’m a fucking asshole.
Pushing off the counter, I quickly walk back around it and step into her space. Brushing my hand under her chin, I gently tip her head back to look at her. Her brown eyes are wet, and the tears cling to her long black eyelashes as she blinks slowly.
“It does matter, Jaslyn,” I tell her quietly. “You fucking matter.”
“He rapes me,” she whispers as a tear streaks down the side of her face. Clenching my jaw, I tighten my grip on the beast inside and lightly brush the moisture from her cheek. “I’ve never wanted him that way. At first, I thought that it would get better with time. He was all I had after my father died. But it never got better. Things only got worse and when I stopped faking it, he started forcing it.”
My blood is fucking boiling and the rage inside is ready to break loose and destroy everything in its path. Taking Jasper’s life is my endgame. I don’t care what else happens to me in life, so long as it means that he’s taken care of. He deserves to pay for what he’s done to her.
Her tears flow freely, and I struggle to keep up, catching them with my thumbs as they fall. My anger is the last thing that she needs right now. What she needs right now is to know the truth, to see that she’s not the vision that she has of herself.
“Are you afraid of me?” I ask her quietly, stroking the sides of her face.
Her eyes pierce mine as she shakes her head. “I’m not afraid of you,” she admits quietly. “I’m afraid of what you’ll do to me.”
It feels as though she’s slapped me across the face with her words. “I’m not him,” I assure her. “I could never hurt you, Jaslyn.”
Swallowing hard, she reaches up and cups my cheek. “I know.” She nods. “And that’s what scares me the most.”
What?
“You have the power to destroy me and that’s something that I could never survive.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” I say softly with a small smile. “You have the power to survive anything.”
With her hands wrapped around the back of my neck, Jaslyn pulls my face down to hers. “Then ruin me, Axel,” she breathes as her lips just barely brush mine. “Wreak havoc on my world and show me how to survive your destruction.”
“Jaslyn,” I growl in a low tone. “You don’t know what you’re asking from me.”
“I’m not asking,” she smiles with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “If you’re not going to give me what I want, then I have no problem taking it.”
My lips graze hers and she leans into me as I quickly nip at her plump bottom lip before pulling back. “And what is it that you want?”
“You,” she breathes. “I want all of you.”
“Fuck,” I growl as I claim her mouth with mine, crushing my lips against hers. Her touch is soft, yet urgent as she moves in perfect harmony with me.
Parting her lips for me, I accept and my tongue dances with hers as it explores every inch of her mouth. Jaslyn’s hands travel down to my shoulders and she digs her sharp nails in, pulling me closer to her.
My bloodied hands dive through her long locks of hair and I wrap it around my fingers as I pull her head back farther. Pushing her chest against mine, Jaslyn moans into my mouth and hangs on to me tighter. My hands are frenzied as they release her hair and grab her hips. My cock throbs in my pants as she presses against it.
Sliding my hands down her body, I grab the back of her thighs, scooping up her ass and lift her up. Instinctively, she wraps her legs around my waist and locks her hands around the back of my neck. She doesn’t protest as I walk us into the bedroom. Instead, she bites at my lips and kisses me harder and deeper.
With every touch, her body sings the sweetest melody I’ve ever heard. Showing her no mercy, I steal every sound she makes and every last breath she takes. Walking into the bedroom, I softly break away from her as I drop her down onto the bed. Lying on her back, Jaslyn stares up at me with hooded eyes and a heated gaze.
Slowly scanning her body with my eyes, I take my time and Jaslyn bites her lip as she waits for me. Lowering myself onto the bed, I ease between her legs and claim her mouth with mine again.
I will wreak havoc and I will ruin her, but she’ll ruin me too.
In the precarious game of love, can two hearts survive the ultimate destruction?
Hers will.
Chapter Twenty
Jaslyn
I’M COMPLETELY CONSUMED by Axel as he hovers above me and claims my lips with his. He kisses me feverishly as the fire burns relentlessly inside us. His touch is gentle and soft, but there’s an edginess and an urgency behind his movements. He’s running purely on instinct and I’m ready to throw my inhibitions away too.
Axel doesn’t ask as he strips me of my clothes and abandons his on the floor. Grabbing my knees, he spreads my thighs apart as he settles between my legs. His cock throbs against my bare skin as he lightly presses into me.
Fighting to hold on to what little bit of self-control he has left, Axel pause
s and groans as the tip slides inside me. “I don’t wanna hurt you,” he growls as his heated eyes search mine.
My gaze latches onto his. “You underestimate me,” I murmur as I lock my legs around his waist and pull him in deeper. “I’m not as fragile as I look.”
“Fuck,” he mutters as he buries his face in my neck. “You’re the furthest thing from fragile.”
Pressing his hips into me, Axel’s inside me as deep as he can go. Arching my back, my chest presses against his as a moan falls from my lips. Axel captures it with his mouth as he steals every breath from me. The room fills with the sound of our skin melting into one as our moans mix with one another. It’s a frenzied melody as our bodies move together in a precarious dance of give and take.
Giving him everything I have, Axel takes it all, drinking from me like a bottomless spring. With every thrust, he dives deeper inside me until we’re falling over the edge, completely wrapped up in one another.
As I crash and break like waves against the shore, Axel loses himself in me. In a rush, he pulls out and shoots his cum across my stomach. My breath catches in my throat and a small moan slips out from the warm sensation. Watching and feeling him is something sensual that I’ve never experienced before.
Under heavy eyelids, his eyes smolder as he watches me with a heated gaze. Silently, he slips away and the room grows cold in his absence.
What did I do?
Axel isn’t gone long before he comes back with a hand towel and quickly wipes the white liquid from my skin. Balling it up, he throws the towel over by the door and climbs back onto the bed. Pulling back the covers, Axel slips between the sheets and holds it open for me.
“Stay with me?”
I shouldn’t.
We are a recipe for disaster and the closer we get, the deeper we’re digging our graves.
Mirage: Veiled Love Duet: Book One Page 10
