Page 91 of The Saviors: Part One

Cole steps through the backdoor with Nolan, and I pounce. “Nolan! You’re alive!” I start searching him over, and he swats my hands away.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asks.

“We left you alone with Axel. I was making sure you didn’t have any war wounds.”

“I’m fine, dumbass.” I lift his shirt, and he smacks my hand like I’m a toddler. “Stop that.”

“He wasn’t mean to you, was he?”

Nolan rolls his eyes and shoves past me. “No, he wasn’t.” I zero in on his neck, and my eyes get as wide as saucers.

“Is that a hickey?!” I pull his shirt away from his neck, and I see another one down below it. “There’s two! Holy shit. Did you get laid?” I hug him again. “I’m so fucking proud.”

He shoves me off. “Stop.” His face starts turning blood red, and I’m not the only one who notices.

Cole chuckles. “You did, didn’t you? Look at his face.”

“How the hell can you get laid and not get in trouble with Axel, but Kai and I almost got our balls ripped off?”

Nolan’s face turns even redder. “Will you please just stop?”

“But the hickeys—”

“Sean.” My back snaps ramrod straight at the sound of Chelsea’s voice. “Leave him alone.”

I spin to face her and Axel. I can’t get a read on his face, but I never can. I don’t know of any other way to break the tension, so I run over and jerk him into a bear hug. He chuckles and slaps me on the back. “Okay, Sean. You can let go now.”

“No way. I missed you.”

His arms come around my back. “I missed you too.”

I pull back with a grin. “Nolan has hickeys.”

“Sean!” Chelsea says, punching me in the arm. “Stop embarrassing him.”

“Sorry, Gorgeous.” I step back from Axel and peck her lips. “But did you see them?”

“I’m aware of the hickeys,” Axel says dryly. “Because I put them there.”

My mouth hits the fucking patio at the same time as Chelsea’s. “I’m sorry,

I say. “I thought you just said you put hickeys on Nolan’s neck. Multiple times.”

Axel shrugs, completely unaffected. “Because I did.”

I turn on my heel to face Nolan, and he’s looking anywhere but at us. “You sneaky little motherfucker.” I knew all about Nolan’s crush on Axel, but I never thought it would go any further than that. Axel’s always been cool with Cole and me exploring things, but he never showed interest in exploring with us.

Cole starts laughing so hard that he can’t breathe. “Holy shit.”

“You know something,” I accuse. “Tell me.”

Cole shakes his head, still laughing. “I’m not telling you shit.”

“Come on,” I whine. “I would tell you.”

Chelsea walks over to Nolan and slides her arm through his. “Ignore him. It’s just easier that way.”

Nolan laughs and lets her lead him over to Kai. I flip back around to Axel. “Are you going to explain,” I gesture vaguely to Nolan, “that?” Cole walks over, too, all ears.