Page 21 of Axel (Belles & Bratva Beasts #2)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

RUBY

I don’t need to tell Axel about the man outside with a gun. Grant is loud enough for him to hear it.

“I… I… I swear, sweetie,” but I stammer to Grant on my phone. “I swear I’m just out with the girls.” I’m not letting this mission go to shit, either. “I’ll be home late. Don’t worry.”

I end the call, and Axel shakes his head. “We have to go before you’re busted.”

He doesn’t turn around, trying to save our performance, too.

He keeps his back to the camera until he’s out of range as I sit and subtly adjust my wig. Axel almost knocked it off with his primal pounce.

I touch my lips, too. They still tingle from his hungry kiss, but I don’t have time to think about it.

“Let’s get out of here.” I shove the phone and vibrator into my purse. “I have to get home before he gets suspicious.”

Silently, Axel nods and grabs our suitcase. Then, he holds his hand out, demanding mine, and I rush across the room to catch it .

He pulls me near, whispering, “Take the suitcase and stay behind me. Grab my shoulder and let me know you’re there.”

“Where are we going?”

“Out the front. There are no cameras there. Grant will cover the back.”

We follow the same path through the house and reach the front door. Axel peers through the peephole as a gunshot rings out. I jolt, but he orders, “Let’s go,” reaching for the doorknob.

“I’m not going out there,” I hiss. “You check first.”

He turns to me, grinning. “I thought we were gender equal.”

“In high heels, yes. In a high-noon shootout? Fuck that. Go be a cowboy.”

He pulls the gun from his holster, teasing, “Someone’s sounding like a damsel in distress.”

“Someone’s going to ice his balls later.”

“Indeed, Wildfire.” He opens the door. “You made them blue as fuck.”

I’d be flattered if I weren’t suddenly terrified with my shaking hand holding Axel’s tense shoulder. He moves like a special-ops ninja, peeking around the door, his gun held down and ready before he declares, “Clear.”

“Clearly, we’re dead?”

“We’re fine. Don’t stop obeying me now. Get the suitcase.”

I hold his shoulder and grab the handle, dragging it behind me. I follow Axel outside and freeze on the front porch, shocked as Grant appears around the corner of the fancy log cabin, holding his gun to the back of a man’s head.

The man keeps his hands in the air as Axel aims his gun at him, too. “Name!” he demands.

“Brayton Jervis,” I answer. “The quarterback for Tennessee. ”

Brayton pauses a moment before he recognizes me, even in disguise.“Hey, doll.” Terror shakes his voice. “Mind telling your boyfriends to holster their weapons?”

Axel swings his ferocious glare at me.

“You know him?”

“Yes, I know him,” I whisper so Brayton won’t hear me. “I know him in the biblical sense, so if you’re going to fire jealous Bratva bullets over it, do it now. Otherwise, let’s find out why he’s here.”

“I had to fire my gun to get him to put his down,” Grant shouts, nudging his muzzle against Brayton’s skull, making him walk our way. “He said he’s looking for the owner.”

They cross the front yard while Axel seethes over me, “Are you here for the owner, or are you stalking her?”

“The owner,” Brayton answers.

“Who?” Axel tests him.

“Don’t know yet.”

“But you’re carrying a Beretta and want him dead?” Grant interrogates him.

Brayton holds his hands in the air, his eyes frantically searching mine. He trusts me. He knows he can. Over a year ago, I shared a night with him and his husband at Zar and Nick’s place. No commitment. Just trust and lust and one night of fun.

That’s how I used to roll before Axel and his damn hypnotic eyes ran me off the slutty rails.

Now, apparently, I’ve lost my mind and pussy. They only want to kneel for him .

“He’s being bribed.” Instantly, I figure it out. The connections. The reasons. The crime. “Put your damn guns down. He’s one of us.”

Grant lowers his, but Axel is breathing hard with his muzzle aimed at Brayton.

Yep. I might have set him off with that whole biblical knowledge thing. Maybe I should’ve kept that to myself, but how else can I explain this?

“Brayton is friends with Nick Barinov. You know, your close friend, too.” You know, your brother? I try not to reveal too much. Just enough to turn the volume down. “I met Brayton at one of Nick’s parties, and he must be here because he rented this chalet and…”

I pause, cautious and protective, but Brayton nods like he’s desperate and caught, and my heart breaks for him.

“Can I?” I ask, and Brayton finishes, “Tell them.”

“Brayton is married to a beautiful man named Jim,” I calmly share, “and they must’ve rented this chalet.

Probably heard about it through the NFL grapevine, and now they’re being bribed.

Right?” Brayton nods. “And these guys are helping someone being bribed for the same thing,” I tell Brayton.

I hope I’m right. “They can help you, too.”

“Walk me through it,” Axel orders.

“We heard about this place a few months ago,” Brayton explains. “We spent the weekend here and thought nothing of it until a few days ago when my husband got a text with a video, demanding five million or they’ll out me.”

“See,” I huff at Axel. “Put the fucking gun down, Goodfella, or you’re going to shoot an innocent man.”

Slowly, Axel lowers his weapon. “So, what was your plan? Come here and kill the owner?”

“I don’t know.” Brayton drops his hands. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

“Have you arranged to pay him?” Axel asks.

“Not yet. We replied that we needed time to move that kind of money around.”

“Get in your car and follow us.” Axel holsters his gun. “Let’s clear out and talk about this.”

Reluctantly, Brayton agrees. He and Grant follow us in their rental cars, and I know better than to utter a peep lest I set Axel’s jealous green giant off again, so I rely on his classical music to calm him.

Once we’re safe at the airport, we talk. We get Brayton’s details, and Axel and Grant let him go with a handshake.

You’d think all would be hunky-dory, but not in this ex-Bratva world.

Grant fires up his laptop after we’re seated in the jet. I buckle up, remove my glasses, and slide my wig off before shaking my hair free. I’m trying to relax, but Mount St. Axel is about to blow in his seat in front of me.

“What?” I confront his spewing glare.

“Biblical?” he snarls.

“Yes. It was a religious experience. ‘Oh god’ was moaned several times while Brayton, Jim, and I shared a private night.”

“What happened?”

“Um, you can open a business called ‘None of Yours’ because I don’t fuck and tell.”

Grant snorts, but Axel leans forward. “You will fucking tell me. It’s my business when men you know biblically come looking for you with a gun in their hand.”

“He wasn’t there for me .”

“We can’t be sure.”

“Look,” I roll my eyes, “while I’ll admit my pussy is worth dying for, that’s not why Brayton was there. He’s like Nick. He’s trying to protect his career. His safety, too.”

“I believe him,” Grant adds. “You should’ve seen his jump scare when he saw Ruby on the porch. He was surprised to see her.”

“See!” I swipe my hand toward Grant. “Why can’t you be reasonable like your hot Reacher brother?”

“Watch out,” Grant warns. “Of all my brothers, Axel can reasonably kill dozens and never get caught. Don’t tempt him to lose his best paralegal, too. ”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I huff. “That ship has sailed the take-this-job-and-shove-it sea.”

I close my eyes because I can’t look at Axel for another second.

His stupid, sociopathic jealousy is making me catch way too many feels. Add those to the orgasm his hand has given me and his mind-scrambling, heart-melting kiss … and I couldn’t name my emotions if they wore a sticker like:

HELLO, my name is…

Bitch, shook over a Mafia Man

I don’t want to see him. Talk to him. Keep remembering his kiss. Or that I called him “my king.” Or that he said I was his queen.

I can still feel … him … swimming in my bloodstream.

And after today.

I don’t think I’ll ever stop feeling Axel everywhere.