Page 16 of Axel

“That’s not going to happen,” Axel replied, his body tense and firm. I could only see the back of his head, but I could only imagine the glare he must be giving Chuck.

“We will see about that,” Chuck mocked as he tried to move around Axel and toward me and Lacy.

“Wrong move,” Axel yelled, as he arched back and unleashed a devastating blow to Chuck’s jaw.

Chuck staggered backward and fell hard against the front wall. He rubbed his jaw, clearly amused. Without warning, he lunged at Axel, and both men slammed together in mid-air. They landed on a table behind where we were sitting. The men went crashing to the floor as they continued throwing blows and screaming. The sound was almost like a bolt of thunder, it both frightened me and intrigued me. The rest of the men in the bar threw their beers and other drinks down and jumped into the fight.

“Stop,” I screamed, as a glass went crashing to the floor.

Axel and Chuck were now rolling around, throwing punches as they maneuvered around the small space. Both men had blood dripping from their noses and various cuts on their faces, but I couldn’t tell who was hurt more.

I moved in and kicked at Chuck’s back as he lifted his fist and attempted to punch Axel in the jaw. Feeling my heel dig into his back, Chuck arched his body and yelled out, “You Bitch,” before lunging at me.

Seeing this, Axel used the opportunity to grab Chuck around the waist and slam him back to the ground. Now, he had his legs crushing into Chuck’s stomach and his hands were held down.

Watching Axel fight in my honor was arousing and sexy as hell, but it was also stupid. He could get hurt or worse, hurt someone else.

“Don’t you dare call her that,” Axel screamed, as his fists began to pound devastating blows into Chuck’s face. I watched in horror as Chuck’s body stopped moving and he lay on the ground as blood splattered everywhere from Axel’s hits.

“Stop, you are going to kill him. Are you insane?” I screamed out as Lacy ran over and grabbed me.

Drake, seeing that Chuck was no longer fighting back, Grabbed Axel and with help from a few other guys, they lifted him off of Chuck. Finally, the men who came to the bar with Chuck grabbed him and they went running out of the door, dragging Chuck behind them. We heard their bikes roar to life as they drove away. Stunned, I just stood and examined the massacre that had taken place in the bar.

Axel turned to me, panting with his clothes torn and bloody. “Ivy, I was just trying to defend you. To defend my bar,” he said, his voice breaking.

I was so angered by what had just taken place, I lashed out at him as tears streamed down my face. “You almost killed that guy. You acted like a monster,” I cried as Lacy held me close to her.

As the words slipped past my lips, I watched as they landed their own punch to Axel. He looked beyond saddened that I had called him a monster. I was so afraid of him at that moment, I didn’t know what else to say. Before I could even speak again, Axel turned and ran out the door. Leaving me alone.

Chapter 10

Ivy

I couldn’t take my mind off the pained expression Axel had given me just two days ago. I had hurt him, even though that was the last thing I wanted to do. During my morning class, I barely heard my professor as she lectured on Socialism in our current society. I had only heard from Axel twice since that day. Both were in text messages, and they were hard to get a good read from. He had asked me how I was and then simply wanted to know what I was doing. The conversations had been short and curt. No friendly joking or harmless flirting involved. Not talking to him had left me in a sort of fog, unsure of what I should or could do about the damage I had caused.

I walked home, feeling helpless and just wanting to curl up in my bed with a bowl of popcorn and watch Netflix. Unfortunately, Lacy was home too, and, of course, she had already made plans for both of us.

“Oh good, you are home,” Lacy welcomed me, as I walked through our apartment door. I could smell something burning in the oven, and as Lacy waved smoke around the kitchen, I knew I must be right.

“What is burning?” I asked, throwing my bag on the couch and walking into the kitchen.

“Nothing major. I just burned some cookies I was making for Drake,” she said, pointing to a plate of crisp and black cookies.

“Okay. Well, I am going to bed,” I said, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and trying to escape before Lacy could interrogate me.

“Hold on,” she snapped, running in front of me and blocking my exit. “Drake and Axel invited us over tonight. We are both going,” she snapped, emphasizing thewepart of the sentence.

“Nope, not tonight,” I argued back. “I don’t feel good and I just want to lay in bed,” I moaned as she took my hand and led me to the living room sofa.

Watching me closely, Lacy didn’t buy my act. She knew something else was going on. “Tell me the truth, Ivy. I am not going to leave you alone until you tell me why you are upset and look so terrible.” Lacy was persistent and I knew she wouldn’t let up.

I glanced at myself in the mirror by our door. Lacy was right. My hair was in a messy bun and my white dress shirt was wrinkled, and sticking out of my khaki pants.

“I just feel really bad about what happened at the bar. I know Axel was trying to defend me, but he really scared me when he attacked that Chuck guy. “I just feel bad about how I reacted.”

“Well then, you will just have to make it up to him,” Lacy announced as she pulled me off the couch and drug me to my room where she dressed me and then fixed my hair. By the time we got into the car, I felt like I had been sucked into a wind tunnel.

“Just tell him you are sorry,” Lacy hissed as she walked through Drake and Axel’s front door. Ever since Lacy and Drake had been dating, we had found that their apartment was almost a second home to us. It was strange how comfortable I usually felt walking through their door without even knocking. Tonight, though, I didn’t feel so comfortable.

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