“Act like a bitch later, Reid. How is she?”

“That shit isn’t finished with me and you, hear me that. She’s changing, keeping her here for tonight. Family meeting, motherfucker, my house tomorrow morning.” I should be glad she has someone determined to be her support but that is getting locked down. I am back and Greg isn’t taking that job from me.

“She’s sleeping there? You have one bed, Reid. I can be there in ten to take her home. I’ll stay there until tomorrow when we can get together, then we can reassess.”

“No. End it Greg, I will fight you and fight you hard on this one.”

His harsh exhale comes over the line, “I don’t like this, not one fucking bit. If you fuck her up, swear to fucking Christ, I will kill you.”

I pull the phone away from my ear; surely I did not just hear him right.

“No time, Greg. We will talk, but right now I have more important things to deal with. If you take anything from me right now, know this and remember…never would I harm a fucking hair on her head. Never.”

“If you believe that Reid then you’re more delusional than I thought. I guarantee you, just being there is hurting her enough to last a lifetime.” With that I hear him hang up, leaving me more confused than I was earlier tonight.

Chapter 11

(Izzy)

If I could stay inside this lush bathroom all night, I would. My heart feels like it’s been torn from my body and trampled on. Gutted, completely gutted. It was hard enough to live through those years with Brandon, but I did and I have worked so hard to move on. Rehashing that with the one person who has always held my heart, the one person I thought was gone forever, the pain is unfathomable. Never in my wildest dreams would I believe Axel would be back in my life.

The severe torment of just knowing he has always been very much alive is what is weighing on me the hardest right now. I keep running through my head all the things I needed him by my side for. All the things I had been forced to deal with alone.

When he asked me about the picture my heart stopped. Right there in the middle of his room, just stopped. I’m not under the delusion that Axel is back and mine. Oh, that ship has sailed. I held on to the smallest hope that he was out there somewhere but I can’t ignore the fact that he left me. He left me and when he did that, he left his baby. The baby that I wasn’t able to protect. Of course Brandon would know how hard that was for me, not that he ever was willing to share me with any child we would have created but he knew why I had so readily agreed never to have children. My baby is gone, just like its father and that is something I will never share with him. He doesn’t deserve to know and if I’m honest with myself, I doubt he will care. After all, if he could so easily leave the person he professed to love so deeply, a child wouldn’t change anything.

I make quick use of his bathroom; I take a brief shower, wincing when the hot water rolls over my sore nipples. I dry off quickly and pull on the soft tee that smells like Axel; it hits me all the way to my knees. Jesus, he wasn’t this large when we were kids. He was tall but never so…solid. I don’t even bother with the briefs, what’s the point when I am already swimming in his tee. Running my fingers through my hair, I do a quick scan of his counter, look in some drawers and hope for an extra toothbrush. Negative. Isn’t that just wonderful. Fuck it. That asshole wants me here, might as well use his shit. After I finish brushing and giving myself one hell of a stay strong mental lecture, out I walk.

Shit…shit, fuck.

There he is. Walking back into the room, all large and mouthwatering. I want to leave, run and never look back.

“Which side?” The slight wobble in my voice is hardly noticeable and I am mentally cheering myself for keeping such a brave face.

“Don’t care. A bed’s a bed.” And with that, he walks into the bathroom and shuts the door.

Well—I guess that’s that then.

Walking over to the side furthest away from the bathroom door, I make quick work snapping the lights off and diving into the sheets and burrowing down. Naturally, my luck would be to pick the side that he must sleep on. I feel like I have dived into an Axel scented cloud.

With just the hint of his scent I can feel the memories slamming back, fast and fierce. Biting my lip as hard as I can without drawing blood, I squeeze my eyes shut. Running through every single mental exercise I know to try and jump this massive hurdle.

The past can’t touch me.

I am stronger than this.

I am a survivor.

Fuck you, fate…fuck you hard.

After a few minutes of listening to the shower and my inner chants, the stress of the week and the events of the day finally drag me under. Not long after that the bed dips and in my dreams I smile, because I hear a soft whisper, “Missed you…so fucking much, Princess.” Sometimes, dreams don’t let you down because that is the only thing I have been waiting to hear since the day he left me forever. In my dreams, all my problems melt away, because I am safe. Safe and back in Axel’s arms.

(Axel)

I walk out of the bathroom; after spending a fucking stupid amount of time in the shower taking care of the problem Izzy had stirred up, and just stand there. Water still dripping down my chest, disappearing when it reaches the towel tightly knotted around my waist.

Izzy is back in my bed. Fuck me; a weight that has been sitting solid on my shoulders for way too long, lightens up. Not by much but damn anything is a relief. I should have known if she ever walked back into my life that I wouldn’t be able to hold on to all of my anger.

I walk around my side of the bed to get a closer look at the tiny ball under my sheets. And there it is, that face that can bring me to my knees. She looks so peaceful in her sleep, her hands folded under her cheek and her hair fanned out against my pillow. Like an angel, my Princess.

We have missed so much, wasted so much time. Even though I know how much we still have to work out, and the small detail of reminding her she is mine, I still can’t fight the instantaneous contentment that washes over me.

I feel whole again.

I know better than to hope but I can’t help the thought that I would stop anything from taking her from me again.

Walking back over to the other side; I drop the towel and climb in. She makes a small whimper in her sleep that has me throwing caution to the wind and shifting to wrap her in my arms.

“Missed you…so fucking much, Princess.”

And with Izzy back in my arms, pressed tight with no gap between our bodies, I finally find sleep.

(Izzy)

The first thing I notice when I start to wake up the next morning is how unbelievably warm I am. Finally, Dee is listening to me when I tell her we can’t keep bumping the AC down to artic temps. I nestle in, wiggling and trying to find that perfect spot that will take me back to the blissful sleep I was just in. That wiggle is all it takes for me to become wide-awake, and all that warmth to wash away, leaving me frozen solid.

There is a large hand covering my very tender breast and soft breathing tickling my neck. That warmth I was loving a second ago is kicking my ass, almost quite literally. I can feel the solid, very naked wall of muscle and strength against my back, fit like a glove tight against my body. I try to pull my legs up but they are tangled with larger hairy ones. The biggest, and I mean biggest, issue I seem to have right now is the large erection poking me; settled right against my pussy. And all that wiggling, all that searching I was doing for the warmth in my sleep, all that did was cause me to drip with desire.

Cracking one eye open, I take in the room. My trip around the large master starts with one tall dresser and ends with a pile of laundry on the floor next to it. Other than that, empty. Looking down at the offending arm that holds me tight to its owner’s body, I try to think of a way out of this hold. He has his arm snaked up my shirt, cupping my breast tightly, like it’s his anchor. Shifting, I try to dislodge him naturally but all I get is a tightening of his hand and arm and pressure pulling me even snugger against his body.

Blast my stupid hormones. His rock hard erection just jutted even deeper between my legs, hitting my clit with a sharp jab.

I suck in a sharp breath of pure pleasure.

Oh my God. I need to get him away from me.

I slam my elbow back, earning a grunt and more tightening.

Shit! Just my luck. My body is telling me to start humping, my heart is telling me to run, and my mind is sitting there enjoying a cigarette as his hips start to move against me.

“Axel Reid, you wake up right now!” I yell. “Get your paws off my tit and call your dick off its search for my pussy, he found it asshole, now back off.”

“urmmpf…”

That’s all I get. Nothing. He pulls me back, again. Only this time, I have the added bonus of some whiskers against my neck and some humming. If he has a wet dream against my body I might kill him.

“AXEL!”

“Shut up, Izzy. I’m trying to enjoy this.” Wide-awake. That jackass is wide-awake, not even a small sliver of sleep is left in his voice.

I move to pull away, grinding my hips against his dick again, not even able to keep the moan silent. Finally after a small struggle to detangle my legs and push his arm away, I am free. I scoot all the way over to the edge and jump off the bed. I turn, ready to ream him a new one but stop dead, mouth drops and I am drooling, I’m sure of it.

Perfection. He’s lying against his stark white sheets, all large and solid. He has one thick arm thrown over his eyes and one resting against his perfectly sculpted abdomen. Both of his arms are sporting some thick tribal tattoo, wrapping around both shoulders and around the front of his chest. He has a large angel against his side with her hands brought forward in prayer and her wings wrapping around to his back. I can’t see her face clearly but from here I can tell it is a beautiful piece. My eyes travel down and see some more ink disappearing under the sheet riding low on his hips. The thin sheet is doing nothing to hide the tenting from his erection. Long, solid, strong and very aroused.

He moves his arms and his bright emerald eyes meet my startled ones. I do one more sweep of his body before looking back and meeting his questioning look.

“Holy shit, what happened to you?” I praise, or at least it should have sounded like a praise, but it comes out more like a weak whimper.

He gives a soft laugh, which just makes all those lickable muscles clench. I want to lick them, so badly. “You talking about the ink or the body. Hit a growth spell, grew a little. Work out hard; my body is my protection so I can’t slack. Nothing much has changed.”

He has got to be joking, “Nothing much has changed?” I echo him, “You look like you gained fifty or more pounds of solid muscle, maybe a few inches because I do not remember you looking like that. And yeah, well…the tattoos are definitely new.”

“Things change when you go from a kid to a man, Izzy. I’m still me.”

“I don’t know about that. And, you’re right, things change. You might be you, but I am damn sure not the me I was.” I dig deep to collect my thoughts, and my brain off the floor, “I don’t have anything to wear and I would like to get ready to go home now.” There, that should close the conversation up real quick.