Page 24 of Axel (Belles & Bratva Beasts #2)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

AXEL

My mom always says, “You can’t jump halfway off a cliff.”

As always … she’s right.

I’m falling all the way for Ruby Jones. Waking up to her in my arms, with Sparky curled on top of my white duvet, sleeping by our intertwined feet … I’m done. This woman. This life. Even this damn cat.

This is all I want.

Ruby stirs against me, rubbing her warm ass against my hard cock and…

Okay, maybe I want even more with her.

Her auburn hair spills over my arm. Her lilac perfume owns my senses. Her skin is so damn soft. With her, I feel like a true king.

“Time to run,” she mutters into my pillow. “And you have to give me at least a ten-minute head start.”

“You can’t run today.” I sigh into her waves. “You’ll come with me to a closing, then we’ll go out on my boat, and?—”

“I’m sorry. What?” She turns around and pulls away. “Did you just tell me I can’t run?”

“Yeah. I did . You had a seizure less than twelve hours ago.”

“Oh, hell no.” She throws the sheets off and quickly climbs out of my bed. “I know my body, not you. Don’t ever tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“You’re not running today.” I sit up. “End of story.”

She turns and starts looking behind the paintings on my wall. I collect art, and I’m confused.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for your know-it-all medical degree. It must be here, somewhere beside your dickhead Carolina law one.”

“I don’t need a medical degree to know it’s a bad idea. You should rest. You should let me take care of you.”

She whips around, her hair a fiery mane, matching the fury in her eyes.

“Let’s get one thing straight. No, five.

One, I may kneel for you. Two, and I’ll probably love it.

Three, I’d be honored to be your queen. And four, I may want you to go all primal on me, too.

But five, I will never let you trap me. That’s not caring; that’s controlling. ”

“So it’s a good idea? You, running after your first seizure in years?”

“I’ve done it before.”

“Before isn’t now ,” I growl. “No more running without me because there will be a seizure. If not your epilepsy, it’ll be someone going after me who seizes you. Sorry, Wildfire. But you spied on my world, and now you’re trapped in it. You’ll do as I say. Remember?”

She steps back with a frantic look in her eyes. Like I’ve suddenly triggered her. “Ruby, what is it?”

She shakes her head, something fracturing in her eyes.

“What did I say?”

“I’m trapped…” she stammers.

“But—”

“But that’s what he did.”

“Who? ”

“My stepdad. He was a predator. After my dad left us, my mom was alone, and that man targeted my mother, a woman with daughters. While she was at work, he wouldn’t let us go outside, so we’d hide in our bedroom, afraid of him, while all I wanted to do was escape with my sisters and run away, but I couldn’t.

I was trapped, and the stress triggered my seizures, so my sisters never left my side.

“We protected each other from him until one day…” Her chin trembles. “He got my baby sister. And my oldest sister, Scarlett, almost killed him, and I swore I’d always run. I’d never let a man trap me again and?—”

“Okay. Okay.” My heart races at the terror in her eyes. At her truth. I finally understand it. I kneel on the bed with my hands up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. My father trapped me, too. He’d maim me and lock me in my room. I understand and?—”

Tears escape with her whisper, “You understand me?”

“Yes, Ruby, I understand you. You can always run from me. I get it now. But I’ll always chase you because I care.”

“So, if I run this morning,” her pretty eyes blink, half-believing, “you’ll be there like Mafia in a marathon, but you won’t stop me?”

I won’t be her stepfather. I won’t be her trigger. Laughter: that’s her love language.

“Not gonna lie, woman. I’ll chase your fine ass into hell and back.”

She huffs a laugh. “Not gonna lie.” Her tears stop, her smile blooming. “I kinda like your chase.”

I kinda feel so goddamn in love.

I smirk. “Imagine how much you’ll like it when I finally catch you.” The promise stirs my cock again.

Cutely, her eyes sharpen. “Five-minute head start.”

“Run beside me.”

“One block behind me. ”

This woman is so stubborn; if I told her not to run through fire, she’d dance in it to defy me. Fuck, I love it about her. It takes a willful woman to be my queen.

“Half a block.” I arch a brow. “Deal or no deal.”

“Um,” she eyes my rising erection, “your dick is making deals you can’t keep.”

“Ten.” I smile. “Nine. Eight…”

“Eeek!”

I make her squeal, running out of my bedroom.

Of course, Sparky’s on the pussy team. She jumps down from my bed and waddles behind her.

Quickly, I dress in running shorts, socks, sneakers, and a T-shirt. Because sure enough, Ruby’s racing out of her bedroom, dressed to run, and dashing down the stairs three minutes later.

“Oh, it’s fucking on, Wildfire.” I chase behind her.

“You’re supposed to give me a head start.”

“Oh, one of my heads is very ready to start with you.”

She laughs, and I’m relieved, but I note how she’s not as fast this morning. Her usual run is an easy jog. Half of me is terrified that she’ll collapse, that she’s still too weak. And half of me is impressed because she’s a fighter.

“Nice ass,” I taunt, chasing only a half-block behind her.

She glances back, winking. “Nice hard-on.”

This goddamn thing.

It loves chasing her. It loves how she races back to my house and slams the front door in my face before charging upstairs and locking herself in her bedroom.

I’m seconds behind and banging on her door. “Come out, Little Red Riding Hood. You afraid of this wolf?”

In a whirl, her door swings open. “You afraid to admit I’m right? You’re sweet to care. Thank you. But I know my body. Deal?”

Fuck me, when she’s all sweaty like that. “Deal.” I step her way. My dick’s rock-hard for her. “Now, let me get to know your body and?—”

She slams the door in my face, making a laugh erupt from my throat.

“Are you playing hard to get?”

“Look down.” I do. “You’re the hard one.”

She’s right. Other women throw themselves at me. They’re not a challenge. Of course, I fall for a goddamn Olympic challenge who gives me a gold-medal dick.

And bring it on.

“Alright then, Wildfire.” I talk to her door. “Get dressed. We’re going to a property closing in ninety minutes.”

“I thought we can’t go back to your office?”

“Not my office. The buyer’s office. So get ready to be my paralegal, not the hot piece of ass I’ll catch one day.”

I follow my usual morning routine. Shower. Jerk off to Ruby. Dress. Think of Ruby. Eat breakfast. Hunger for Ruby. Grab my briefcase. And wait for-fucking-ever for Ruby.

And I know I should wait. Not just to fuck her, because once I do, she’ll be my queen and that puts her life in danger.

If one of my many enemies, like this sex trafficker we’re after, doesn’t attack her, my father will.

Does he believe we’re dead? I don’t know. It’s been thirty years since our mother staged our death, but my fear is alive and well.

I don’t fear what he’ll do to me. He’s already done the worst, many times.

It’s what he’ll do to Ruby.

The queen of a king, the head king, is the biggest target.

Am I an asshole because I never worried about it with Katya? Maybe. Or maybe she didn’t give us long enough for the threat to settle in.

If she had stayed. If she had borne my child, the grandchild and heir to the most evil man in the world, I can’t fathom the danger. The lengths my father would go to get my queen and heir ice my veins.

It’s all I want with Ruby: marriage and children.

But it would be her greatest risk, too.

It silences me on our drive to my friend’s law office.

Ruby looks stunning in my passenger seat, professional and polished, humming as if she enjoys Tchaikovsky now, and I should’ve canceled this closing. But it’s on a multi-million-dollar commercial property, and there would be hell to pay if I did.

Politely, I introduce us to the receptionist when we arrive. “Michael Cummings and Ruby Jones to see Ms. Sutton, please. We’re here for the Calloway/Grover closing.”

“Right this way.” The receptionist stands. “Your clients are waiting in the boardroom.”

“The Calloways?” Ruby side-whispers to me as we follow the receptionist.

“This was Samuel’s case,” I answer.

But he’s not here since I gave my staff the rest of the week off. Samuel handles commercial property closings for me, but Ruby’s my best paralegal. I put her on my pro bono cases. She’s like a pit bull with a bone when she gets a whiff of injustice.

It’s another reason my heart jumps off cliffs for this woman.

This woman, who startles at the sight of my clients when we enter the boardroom, but collects herself. I clock it, but focus on greeting everyone with handshakes. Then, I introduce Ruby.

“This is Ms. Jones, my paralegal.”

“Nice to meet you.” Harlow Sutton, the other attorney, shakes her hand.

“And this is John and Jessica Calloway and…” I start the greeting, but? —

“Oh, we’ve met.” Ms. Calloway sneers at Ruby. “We go way back.”

“To high school,” Mr. Calloway adds, shifting nervously in his chair.

Subtly, I glance at Ruby while we take our seats. She’s silently lifting her chin, and oh fuck.

My Wildfire is raging.

Why?

I don’t have time to address it. Harlow Sutton proceeds quickly on behalf of her client, sliding documents across the table for my clients to sign, accepting twenty-five million dollars for their family’s land up the coast. I’ve been negotiating this deal for almost a year.

You’d think they’d be smiling as they sign, but Jessica Calloway keeps leering at Ruby while John Calloway won’t look her in the eye.

I steal another glance at Ruby, but she’s focused on the contracts, checking for anything missing before assembling the stacks and returning them to Harlow.

After twenty minutes, we’re done and standing to shake hands again. But this time, Jessica Calloway hisses at her husband, reaching for Ruby’s hand, “Don’t you dare touch her again.”