Page 7 of Axes & Nos

Yes, you sound desperate! You are totally fucking this up. It’s like your balls have shriveled up and died. I knew you would fuck this up. We are doomed to be single forever at this rate.

Shut the fuck up I am not fucking this up. See she’s smiling at us, I’m reeling her in. So shut the fuck up and let me work my magic charm on her. She’ll be a puddle on the floor before we know it.

“Ah, finally a man who admits he’s lying, that’s so refreshing. What else do you lie to women about?” She asks as her tone turns harder and her smile suddenly disappears. Someone did this girl dirty, so dirty she doesn’t trust easily. Okay, I can work with this, I just need to go slow and build trust.

“Well, I tend to exaggerate my size.” I tell her with the straightest face I can muster. Her lip twitches like it’s trying to smile.

“Lots of men brag about how big they are and then it’s just such a disappointment to us women.” She sasses back.

“Oh no I tell them I’m small, that way when they see it, I get an honest reaction. It’s kind of like when Dr. Who brings people into the Tardis and they ooh and ah over how big it is on the inside. Only in my case it’s like "oh my god you didn’t tell me it was that big” kind of reaction.” I can’t help the smirk on my face right now; I’m waiting for her to give me sass back. Instead, her head is down, and her shoulders are shaking. Yep, winner winner, chicken dinner.

Stop bragging about our size! She’s not impressed with big dicks; you might even scare her away with how big we are. God, you are fucking this up so badly!

Shut it! She’s laughing, women like a man who can make them laugh. DUH! Now all I have to do is seal the deal. I’ve wowed her with my hot nerd boy knowledge of Dr. Who, clearly, she will fall at my feet now. You know nothing you dumb animal; you know how to sniff butts and eat rabbits, you don’t know women like I do. His laughter echoed through my head. Dick!

“Now that I’ve wowed you with my Dr. Who reference, maybe you could at least tell me your name?” I ask, batting my eyelashes like I’ve seen women do when they want something from their man or are trying to snag a man. Either way it seems to work wonders for them so why not try it?

“No.” She says without missing a beat, as her eyes met mine.

“No?” I ask baffled and she nods slowly, her lips pressed together, like I’m an idiot who doesn’t understand the word. I know what ‘no’ means, my brother has said it to me enough.

“Yes. No. As in not happening, nope, nada, never, that kind of no.” She says smoothly, without missing a beat. I’m taken aback, I’ve never had this much trouble snagging a woman, and this woman is my fucking mate. How am I fucking this up soepically with her? What if she wants me to start first? Okay, time to change tactics.

“Well, let me introduce myself. I’m Daxton.” I reach out my hand to shake hers and she just looks back and forth between my hand and my face.

“Well Daxton, I would say it’s nice to meet you, but it hasn’t been. Don’t feel bad, it’s not you it’s me. But my food is coming this way. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to eat my food, drink my drink, and listen to the band in peace.” She really didn’t want anything to do with me. What the fuck Fate? Did you really send me a mate that doesn’t even want me? I could fight leaving, I could stand my ground and try to tempt her some more, but the reality was she didn’t want anything to do with me. Nodding my head I give her a two-finger wave before backing away from her.

“Your wish, my command.” I mutter as I turn on my heel and make my way out the door. It takes all my control to keep going until I make it to my truck.

You totally fucked that up!My tiger growls inside of me pouting.

Yeah, I know that dumbass. Don’t you think I know that? I completely fucked things up with my mate, and now we may be doomed to be single for the rest of our days.

Gripping the steering wheel so hard it creaks with the pressure I slam my head against the headrest a few times before letting out an anguished scream. Alone, I was doomed to be alone.

Chapter Four

Myra

“You, okay?” The waitress asks me as she sets my giant stack of nachos in front of me.

“Yeah, I’m good, thanks for asking. Sorry about that, I don’t know him by the way. Well, I almost hit him with my truck earlier but that was all. If you’re, I mean if you and he are a thing, I’m sorry.” The waitress steps back laughing.

“Girl that man comes in here about three times a week, sits at the bar, orders his drink, and ignores anyone who approaches him. I’ve never seen him flirt with a single person. I tried flirting with him earlier when he first got in, because girl he’s fine as hell, but you know what he said to me.” Now I’m confused, I thought for sure there was something between Dax and her, or they had at least flirted a time or two.

“I have no idea what he said to you. Probably something completely inappropriate and flirty back.” I was even more baffled when she shook her head looking down with a knowing smirk on her face.

“Girl that man said and I quote, “The only thing I want is for her to be taken care of. She’s had a long day and deserves it.” and he was talking about you. He never took his eyes off of you. He paid for your entire meal in cash including the tip. You might have just met that man, but he’s completely smittenwith you. And I won’t lie, I'm a little jealous. I’ve been trying to snag his attention for months with zero luck. Then in you walk and that man can’t take his attention off of you. I hope you got his number. Let me know if you need anything else.” I’m dumbstruck, gob smacked and discombobulated all at the same time. She just blew my mind with what she just told me. A tiny part of me thought maybe she’s lying, or he put her up to it, but I watched him as he left and they didn’t talk at all. She had no reason to lie about something like that.

He’d really cared, not like trying to get in my pants cared either, but like when you care enough to send the very best kind of caring. If it was just about getting in my pants he would have told me he paid for my meal. He would have made sure I knew what he’d said to the waitress. Men who just wanted to get in your pants didn’t care if you were taken care of or that your day was long and you deserved a break. They only cared about getting in your pants. Nothing more, nothing less.

As I sat there picking at my giant nachos, I started to feel a little guilty for treating him like every other guy who tried to hit on me. Maybe I’d been too quick to judge simply because he was good looking, and charming. But I had my reasons, and they were very good reasons even if they only made sense to me, they were good reasons. At the moment though those reasons were looking less and less important. This man had me questioning my reasons!

Maybe he wasn’t just trying to get laid, maybe he was actually interested in me. How was I to decipher whether he was a good guy or a bad guy? Steven had broken my instincts to tell the difference. I thought he was a good one and look where that had gotten me. Broke, single, and watching another woman have the life I had dreamed of with my ex. Yeah, my picker had been broken since Steven and there was no way I was willingly putting myself out there again.

I was meant to be single for the rest of my life because my instincts were broken when it came to men, it was just that simple. So, I’d be lonely for the next seventy years or more. Yes, I planned on living till I was at least a hundred if not more, because I refused to believe otherwise. I’d become the crazy cat lady at the end of the block, or a hermit living in some shack by the ocean or maybe become a swamp witch who lived in the woods scaring children away. Okay, that last one probably wasn’t going to happen because I love kids and wouldn’t want to scare them. But you get the idea, I was fully prepared to live alone for the rest of my life. So, it was okay that Dax left when I asked him to, it didn’t bother me at all. Nope, definitely wasn’t second guessing asking him to leave, not at all, not even a little. If you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Arizona I’ll sell you cheap. Damn it, I think I just let a good thing walk out of my life forever!

After coming to that realization, I didn’t have much of an appetite and decided to head home shortly after. Pulling into my new driveway, my headlights reflecting off the front windows I was still amazed at how perfect my new home was for me. I’d been living in a tiny apartment that felt like a shoe box for the last several years. It was all I could afford after Steven stole all my money out of my accounts. This place was huge by comparison and the little bit that I brought with me didn’t even fill up one room when I unloaded it.