Axel:A Bad Boy Romance(9)

It had all come to a head two weeks ago. She'd needed to run to the  store, just a quick trip for milk and coffee. Cate was asleep and she  thought it would be all right. She raced to the store and prayed Cate  would stay asleep while she was gone.



She heard crying when she got home. She raced to the house, leaving her  groceries in the car. Wrenching open the door Marie screamed out her  daughter's name and raced towards the sound of her tears. She saw Austin  his hand wrapped around her arm and he was shaking her, his face red.         

     



 



"Let her go!" Marie had screamed, jumping towards her daughter.



"Take her," Austin spit, throwing Cat's arm aside. "Get her to shut up."



She couldn't stay after that. She had to go and trust the universe had  some sort of plan for her. And it did. She had a job with good hours and  a place to live. She could still spend tons of time with Cate and  Austin was gone and there was no one who could hurt either of them  anymore. It was perfect. The handsome man turned the corner and slipped  from view and Marie smiled to herself. It was way too soon for her to  even consider dating anyone, but it was at least nice to think about.



Cate talked endlessly about her first day of daycare. She told Marie the  names and ages of all the other students. She told her what they ate  for snack and lunch. She talked all through dinner and up to bedtime  when Marie finally tucked her in.



"You can come to my room if you get scared," Marie said as she tucked a stray lock of hair out of Cate's face.



"I'm not scared. I like this house," Cate said as she let loose a huge yawn.



Marie smiled and kissed her on the head. She left a nightlight on and  went back out into the living room. There was an alarm panel on the door  and she checked it as she walked to the couch. Everything was working,  which meant the mansion was fortified: bullet proof glass in the  windows, several thick locks on all the doors, plus a state of the art  security system. All the windows and doors, including the ones in her  apartment, were wired. There were motion sensors everywhere. If anyone  tried to get in, Marie, and the police, would know in an instant.



She sat down on the couch and turned on the TV settling in to watch  Scandal with a big glass of red wine on the coffee table. Austin could  never get past this security system and even if he did the police were  less than two blocks away. She could finally relax and enjoy herself.





Chapter Nine



Axel jogged through the wooded back roads that led to his mother's  house. The town was small, so when Main Street ended, the woods began  almost instantly. It was rainy out and he had his hood pulled up over  his head as he splashed through the wet road.



He could hear the quiet sounds of the forest: the wind blowing through  the branches, the sounds of leaves moving and brushing up against each  other. A passing car occasionally interrupted the silence, but, mostly,  the roads were quiet. It was a Saturday, and a rest day, so this short  jog would be the only workout he got. He turned down a small side street  and jogged to his mother's bungalow.



He slowed down when he reached the garage. He put his hands on his hips  and then moved forward and peered into the ramshackle little building.  There were two broken down cars and a handful of old parts and some  empty oil cans in there. Austin really needed to clean the garage out.  His mother never used it. It had been his father's and she always  refused to let Austin sell what was there.



But enough time had passed now. It was the one point of contention  between him and his mother. While she didn't revere her late husband she  also wouldn't hear anyone speak a word against him. He is dead, she  would say, and you shouldn't speak ill of the dead. Anytime Axel said  something negative about his father she would cross herself and shake  her head and remind him God was always watching.



He pulled opened the garage door and peered into the room. It was dark  and dusty and damp. He pulled down on the chain attached to the overhead  light, slightly surprised it actually still worked. Under the harsh  glare he looked around at the things his father had left behind. Mr.  Connelly had always been working on projects and get rich schemes. Some  of them were even good ideas, but he was lazy and unmotivated and one by  one they all failed.



That was when life was most dangerous. When his newest idea, which they  had toasted and cheered not two months ago, began to fall apart he would  lash out at everyone. Axel was too loud. His wife's cooking was lousy  and making him sick, his wife was lazy and spent all his money. His  mother would cry silently in the corner while Axel seethed.



"You got something to say, boy?" his father demanded a few months before his death.



From behind his bedroom door Axel heard his mother run up the stairs and  slam the door to her bedroom. She was trying to be quiet, but he could  hear that she was crying. He stomped down the stairs and confronted his  father, standing in front of the old man with his hands balled into a  fist. "You can't talk to mom like that. She works hard. You're the lazy  onel you're the one-" He didn't see the hit coming. His father  backhanded him sending his son reeling and crashing to the floor. Axel  remembered fighting back tears as he struggled to get up.         

     



 



"Go to your room. You're a waste of my time," his father said and Axel,  only ten years old, did as he was told. He wished his father were alive  now. Axel could take that old man easily. He had acted like he was so  big and tough, beating up on a ten-year-old. What a jerk.



He would sell both of the cars for scrap and clear the rest of it out,  as well. Then he could get to work repairing the structure. It would be a  lot of work, but it would increase the value of his mother's house.



"What are you doing in here?" his mother demanded as she stood under an  umbrella outside of the garage. "It is freezing outside. Come in."



A hot shower later, Axel was in the living room drinking from a mug of  coffee his mother sitting down across from him and yammering on about  the new plans at the historical society. His focus went in and out. He  wanted to hear about the new girl who worked there and find out if she  was the gorgeous woman from the other day, but his mother was still  talking about the damn party.



"Well, Ingrid has given full credit to Marie and I'm happy about that because people have been asking some questions about her."



"Marie," Axel interrupted, "Have you met her? Do you know what she looks like?"



"No, I haven't met her yet, but Ingrid says she's lovely."



"So what are people saying about her?"



"Well, nothing specific. But she was able to get here very quickly.  Within a week of applying for the job she was moving into the house. We  were happy about it, of course, but she has a young daughter. What kind  of woman just picks up and moves her child across the country with no  preparations? She had practically nothing on her when she got here.  Almost no luggage at all."



"Where's the father?"



"No one knows and Ingrid refuses to ask. She thinks it would be unconscionably rude and I agree," his mother said with a sniff.



"Don't play moral now, Ma," Axel said shaking his head. "You are the  worst gossip in town and it sounds like this woman was running from  someone, so you definitely shouldn't gossip about her."



"I am not a gossip! I'm just saying this looks terribly interesting. We  were expecting some boring grad student and now we have a woman on the  run."



"Don't repeat that. I don't know if that's true and neither do you," Axel said.



"All right," she threw up her hands in mock defeat. "I won't say another word. My lips are sealed."



He spent the day throwing out garbage from the garage and went home  before changing and going out. He was training, so drinking was a no go,  but he could still go have a little fun. There was a small part of him  that hoped he might run into the new girl who lived at the museum. It  wasn't the reason he was going; it would just be an added bonus.



He met with Hayden at the one cool bar in town. Heads turned as he  entered and he heard people whisper his name and point to each other. He  fixed his collar and kept on walking making eye contact with half a  dozen girls he caught gazing at him. He sat down at a booth towards the  back with the rest of the trainers.



Axel ordered a cranberry juice, but the rest of the table drank. Hayden  started with three shots and leaned back in his chair and surveyed the  room.



"What do you think, bro? Plenty of talent out tonight."



"Yeah, I guess," Axel said looking around. It was a bar with a dance  floor. A DJ stood high above the crowd and spun something with a heavy  bass. The crowd of dancers grew and several girls walked slowly past his  table giving him a glimpse of short shirts, long legs, and high heels.  But nothing motivated him enough to actually get up and dance.