Axel:A Bad Boy Romance(29)

Axel said nothing; he just listened. But inside of him a fire was  raging. Who was this Austin St. Clare? What kind of asshole would treat a  woman like Marie DeSantos like that? His fists clenched as he imagined  the beating he would give Austin if he ever saw him. But he didn't  interrupt. He let her go on, trying his best to ignore the tears that  sprung from her eyes. He knew she needed to get it all out and it was  only when she was leaning back in her chair and had been quiet for some  time that he spoke.



"Marie, if Cate is his daughter and you've taken her, he can have her declared missing. You could be arrested for kidnapping."



"I know, but I didn't have any other choice."



"I'm not judging you. I just want you to know what could happen."



"I'm hoping he won't go to the police. He hates cops. He'll try to find  me on his own, but I did a good job of covering my tracks. I don't think  he'll find me and, as more time passes, he'll get tired of looking.  Hopefully he'll give up and move on."



"What if he doesn't? The way you described him doesn't make him sound  like he's the kind of guy who gives up easy. Men who hit their wives and  girlfriends are scum, but they aren't stupid. It's about control,  Marie. That was why he did it; he wants to control you. He's not going  to give up. The more time that passes the angrier he gets. He's going to  get more and more determined until he finds you."         

     



 



"I did a good job of hiding," Marie repeated, almost as if it were a  mantra she said to herself. "I have to believe that or I'll go crazy. He  won't find me here. He can't, there's nothing to find. I practically  don't exist."



But Axel was worried. His eyes were scanning her and then flicking to  the forest and the yard as if Austin were back there right now skulking  and watching her. "This is exactly what I didn't want," Marie said as  she stood and leaned against the wooden bannister. "I wanted to leave  all that behind me, not dredge it up. Now you're looking at me  differently and you're always going to be. Now you just see me as  another victim." She shook her head as tears filled her eyes and  obscured her vision.



"Hey, I've seen you in the ring," Axel said, coming up behind her and  putting his warm hands in her cool arms. "I don't think you of as a  victim. I think of you as the girl who called me rude and then brought  it to her training sessions. That's what you are. You're strong, Marie.  You're the strongest person I've ever met."



The tears slipped over her eyelid and down her face. She wiped them away  angrily. Tears, Axel could never handle tears. He would have offered  Marie his gym if it had stopped her from crying. He pulled on her  shoulders and she leaned back against him as his arms came around her.  She closed her eyes and relaxed back into him taking a deep, calming  breath.



"I feel like such a fool for staying so long," she said wiping another  errant tear away. "He made me feel like I was nothing. Like no one else  in the world could ever love me. He made me feel weak and useless and I  hate him. I hate him so much."



"I know," Axel whispered into her ear, leaning his head against hers.  "But he can't touch you now and he can never make you feel like that  again."



"I'm sorry to dump this on you."



"Don't ever apologize for telling me the truth. I always suspected  something and now I know. It's good you told me. I can look out for you.  I can help you, if you want me to."



"I appreciate that and I might take you up on it. But right now, I'm  doing okay on my own." Her tears had stopped and she turned around and  wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a strong hug. He held her  tightly, his arms wrapped around her. She leaned against his chest,  breathing in the smell of him. She closed her eyes and nuzzled her face  against his.



He tilted her chin up and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. She closed  her eyes and leaned into him, letting herself relax and feel safe in his  arms. "I like this," she said when the kiss broke.



"I like it, too," he said, caressing her cheek. But his mind was a  whirlwind. He needed to protect her, but how? What would he do if Austin  showed up and demanded his daughter back?



"It's not too complicated? My whole crazy life?"



"Not at all," he said. They began to sway together. Moving to music only  they could hear. Clouds were forming overhead, crickets singing in the  grass and the trees moving and swaying in the breeze. His hands were  around her hips and they danced together as the wind picked up and swept  her hair off her neck. He focused on staying calm and not upsetting her  until finally he felt calmer, too. All he could do was wait and be  there for her when she needed him. But it was hard for Axel to do  nothing; he didn't wait around; he attacked problems. But he couldn't  attack this one.



"I never knew it could be like this," she whispered in his ear. "I never thought it could be this wonderful."



"Me neither," he replied. "I've never felt like this with anyone else.  My trainer is freaking out that you're going to derail my career."



"Me?" Marie asked pulling back and looking up at him. "I'm not, am I?"



"No. I'm only stronger when I'm with you. You make me better."



"No, it's not that. You're a good person. You don't need me to bring that out in you; you already have it."



He kissed her again, deeply, his tongue sliding into his mouth as his  hands slid into her hair. They broke the kiss and she leaned against him  and they began their dance again. Her daughter was sound asleep  upstairs, her abusive ex was thousands of miles away, and, right now,  everything was okay.



It was dark outside and thunder was rumbling ahead. A fat raindrop fell  and landed directly on Marie's hand. "We should go inside," she said  looking up at the sky. She took his hand and walked with him into the  museum. His hand was firm in hers as she did her rounds and closed the  place up.         

     



 



She motioned for him to be quiet as she led the way up to her apartment.  She left him in the bedroom to check on the still-sleeping Cate.



Axel was standing in her darkened kitchen and she motioned him to follow  her to her bedroom. Once inside his hands were on her and hers on him  and they were kissing each other hungrily as if it had been months since  they had last seen each other. They tumbled into bed together and Axel  forgot all about Marie and her past. He had her now and that was all  that mattered.





Chapter Twenty-eight



It was raining outside and Hayden Walker's breath was fogging up his  windows. He opened the Find My Phone app and selected Axel's name and  saw he was still at the Hawk's mansion. It was eleven-thirty at night  and he was still there. Hayden shook his head and closed the app. Axel  didn't know Hayden was tracking him, but he didn't need to. It was in  Axel's own best interest. It was Hayden's job to keep to Axel on track  and he was currently failing miserably.



He was in Philadelphia. The rainy streets were empty and cars plowed  through puddles sending water splashing across the street. He parked on  the street and pulled the collar up on his jacket and stepped out into  the rain. It was pouring and he was soaked in mere minutes.



He wasn't in the good part of Philadelphia. There were no fine  restaurants or nice stores. It was all pawn shops and empty storefronts.  The people he passed kept their heads down and avoided eye contact. The  lettering on the door said Hastings Investigators and the windows were  bright with light. Hayden pushed the door open and stepped inside,  removing his wet jacket and hanging it on a coat rack. Water dripped and  pooled on the floor and Hayden looked around the empty office.



He was doing the right thing. Axel had lost himself. It was the  pressure. This was a huge match they had coming up and Axel was  cracking. He was finding ways to avoid the stress; he was running from  his own fear. Axel only feared failure and there was a chance he  wouldn't win at this match, so he was distracting himself with this  woman. But it had gone too far and Hayden needed to put a stop to it.



"Mr. Walker?" A woman stuck her head into the room. She was tall and  thin with long curly dark hair. "I'm Spencer Hastings. We talked on the  phone." She walked out into the office and held her hand out and Hayden  shook it. "Come on back."



He sat down across from her, a desk between them.



"You asked me to look into Marie DeSantos," the woman said pulling out a folder and opening some files on her computer.



"Yes, did you find anything?"



"I certainly did. Marie DeSantos hails from Arizona just like you said.  She had a child with a man named Austin St. Clare. He runs a private  security firm. His biggest client is a man named Gregory Peters, a  billionaire investor. But Austin is no saint. He's been arrested for  multiple DUIs and, what's more, the police had been called to the house  several times for domestic disturbances. In the last two years the  police have been called to the house over seven times. There was  suspicion of domestic abuse, but his girlfriend, Marie DeSantos, refused  to press charges."