Page 9 of Behind the Mask

"It's been so freaking long! You have to tell me everything!"

The next couple of hours consisted of us catching up.

"You're shitting me right?" She asked. Her face was full of surprise and wonder.

I shook my head.

"But what does that mean? Doesn’t he have a fiancé?" Her emerald eyes met mine and there was a glimmering speck of hope behind them. She wanted us back together just as much as I did. When Axel and I were together, people said we were one of a kind, that we were a perfect match. According to Lindsey, a lot of people were upset when I left because they had hoped for us to be together forever. But, in some ways I couldn't believe that. Especially with all of the girls that used to flock to him.

I sighed and took a sip of my orange juice. It’d been so long since I had it and it tasted amazing. "It means that it was his final goodbye. It didn't mean anything to him, but it meant everything to me."

She sat back in the booth and crossed her arms over her chest. She raised an eyebrow and watched me.

"What?" I asked.

"Come on, Liv. I thought you were smarter than that. You forget that I was here when you left. I saw him over the years, and he never once got serious. You can't honestly think that this Vanessa chick can hold a candle to what you had with him."

I lifted my shoulders. As much as I wanted to believe she was right, I knew she wasn't. He was gone, and I had no chance of winning him back.

Her eyes briefly left mine, but when she looked back at me she smirked. "Well don't look now, but it seems that someone can't stay away from you."

My face scrunched up. I turned and there he was, standing near the door waiting for a table. His gaze met mine. His blonde hair was a sexy mess as if he had been running his hands through it constantly. The shirt he had on graciously hugged his toned abs, reminding me of how much I used to love touching them. What surprised me most of all was the chain I saw around his neck. Attached to it was the dog tag I gave him one Christmas as a memory of his grandfather who passed away. I remembered how devastated he was that year, and I had felt so bad that his mother and I got to talking and she helped me get his grandfather's tags and engrave it. I still remember the smile on his face when he received it, he was so happy. He held onto me that night and never let go. I think that was the night he had truly fallen in love with me.

A glimmer of hope appeared in my chest when his lips quivered into a smile. He knew what I was staring at, but the question was why would he wear that when I gave it to him? Wouldn't Vanessa make him throw it away? Unless, he lied about who gave it to him. Either way, it warmed my heart knowing that he was wearing it. Vanessa was on his arm, and she noticed our heated gaze and turned him to her, meshing his lips with hers, breaking our connection. I turned back around and ignored the pain in my chest.

I pushed the plate back. The appetite I had before was suddenly gone. My body deflated. This small town was going to suffocate me until it was time for him to go. Lindsey, being the savior she was, put some cash on the table, grabbed my arm and dragged me away from them.

Chapter Eight

Axel

I screwed up. How could I let myself get so carried away? She knew, she had to have known. I had another woman's scent on me. All she did was smile and kiss me as if I hadn't just been with Olivia, and it made my heart sink. As wrong as it was, what I did with Olivia was the first time I had felt anything in years.

Being inside her was like being home. She was my home, or at least she used to be. Who was I kidding? I was getting married. I fucked Olivia because I wanted to get her out of my head, but I had no idea how much I would still be thinking about her. I had forgotten what it was like to taste those sweet cherry-red lips of hers and to feel her tight, toned little body pressed up against mine.

I kept reminding myself that she wasn't mine anymore. She ruined what we had when she walked away. But shit, if she looked at me with her big, hazel eyes again I would be a goner.

For the first time in years I had put on the chain that she had gotten me for Christmas one year. It was the same year my grandfather passed away from stage 4 lung cancer. The bastard smoked so much that it made the cancer progress more, and he left us much earlier than we intended. He was a war veteran and I guessed smoking was sort of a coping mechanism for him, but it did more harm than good. The memory of that Christmas floated around in my head. It was then that I knew I truly loved her.

Her long blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun, she had no makeup on, and as we sat on her bed getting ready to open our gifts, she looked more beautiful than ever. Her hazel eyes met mine as she sucked her bottom lip through her teeth and handed me the package. "It's not much, but I hope you like it," she whispered and hearing her voice like that only made my dick grow harder for her.

I gently unwrapped the small gift and opened the box. I lifted the dog tags and noticed the small letters written on the back. My fingers hovered over them. In loving memory, Sgt. Daniel Axel Kade. For the first time in a while, tears formed in my eyes.

In that moment, a dozen different emotions fled through my body. Love, fear, anger, sadness; but the biggest out of all of them was love. I looked up from the tags and watched her. I was in love with her. She was it for me, and I'd be damned if I ever let her go. I placed the tags back down in the box and set it aside. I grabbed the back of her neck and brought her closer. Her body was trembling, her lips were parted, and her eyes were wide with surprise. She was fucking perfect, and she was mine.

The next moment, I kissed her. I kissed her with everything I had. I gave her a part of myself I never thought I would. I let her see the broken side of me, the side that I needed her to heal.

As I stared down at the tags, I smiled remembering just how much that moment had meant for me, and for us. I had lied to Vanessa about who had given it to me, because it was too special, and too intimate to let her know that side of me.

"Honey, are you ready to go? I'm starving!" Vanessa's cheerful voice broke me from my thoughts, and a pang of disappointment filled my mind knowing that it wasn't Olivia. I shook my head and grabbed my keys and wallet off the dresser. I had to keep it hidden. I didn't want Vanessa to see that I was constantly thinking about another woman.

I had to get her out of my mind. But it was so damn impossible. My dick twitched from thinking about her lips, breasts, and tight as fuck pussy. Vanessa's voice rang in the background but I ignored it.

Something broke inside of me and I took my frustration out on the wrong person. I turned around and walked over to Vanessa, grabbed her hips and slammed my lips against hers. I was a mad man as I ripped her shirt open, exposing her petite breasts, perky and ready for me to touch.

I walked her back towards the bed, her eyes wide and filled with need. She didn't ask questions because she thought this was for her. I turned her over, not wanting to look at her, pulled down my pants and grabbed the condom off the nightstand. I rolled it over my cock, grabbed her hair pulling her head back, and fucked her from behind. I closed my eyes and imagined Olivia's body melded to mine, her pussy wet as fuck, and her large breasts bouncing up and down as she rode me. I thrusted into Vanessa harder and harder, and slowly crumbled into pieces as I thought about the woman who had taken everything from me.

As I pulled out, I rolled off the condom and threw it away. Vanessa rolled over and laid half-naked smiling like she had just won the lottery. "What the hell was that? Fuck babe, if you want to be rough like that, I'm up for it any time."

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