Page 33 of Redemption

Axel

The sun beats down onmy face, but it’s the warm body next to me that has my dick springing to attention. As much as I’d love to wake her up and bury myself deep inside her, I know now is not the time. She needs her sleep. Last night was an emotional mind fuck for her no doubt. Against the protest of my dick, I slide out of bed and throw on some gray sweats that I stashed in here earlier yesterday and do one last glance at her. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying, but she’s still beautiful as ever. I drop a kiss on top of her head and head downstairs.

The house is quiet, but there’s music coming from the basement. A smile cracks on my face. Of course their asses would be up this early beating the shit out of each other. A Savage brother knows only one of two ways to release our stress—fighting or fucking. After last night, I’m assuming Asher’s indulging Zane.

When I enter the homemade gym, Zane and Asher are on the mats in a boxer stance with “Du Hast” by Motionless in White blaring through the systems speakers. Both have fresh cuts on their faces and lips, so they must have been going at this for a while.

“Started without me, did ya?” I steal a cigarette from a pack lying on the nearby table and light up as I watch them kick the shit out of each other.

They both shoot me a blank look and then go back to it. Asher bobs and weaves, avoiding Zane’s fists. It’s all very smooth. Very choreographed. The need to shake things up a bit hits me—hard.

“Hellcat not wear you out enough last night?” I shouldn’t push Asher this early in the morning, but what kind of little brother would I be if I didn’t take advantage of a golden opportunity to get under my brothers skin when I can.

Asher freezes at my words, forgetting all about what he’s doing or where he’s at. Never even sees the hit coming until it’s too late. Rookie mistake number one, never lose focus under any circumstances. He’s the one who taught me that. Zane’s fist connects with the side of his head, knocking him flat on his ass.

“God damn it, Ax!” Asher’s eyes pin mine and I’m sure anyone else would piss themselves from the intensity of it, but not me. He’s been giving me the same damn look since I can remember.

“I win.” Zane adjusts the mess of hair that’s fallen out of his rubber band and reaches out a hand to help Asher to his feet.

Asher smacks it out of the way and gets up on his own. “Bullshit, he fucking handed that win to you.”

Zane shrugs. “Still counts.”

“Payback is a bitch, big brother.” I blow a cloud of smoke in his direction and twist my lips into a wide ass grin.

“Put your money where your mouth is then, little brother.” Asher hold his hands out to his side in a silent challenge. Blood drips down his chin from the hit he just took from Zane as the creases around his eyes tighten.

I let his words linger in the air between us for a few seconds. No use giving away all my cards just yet.

“Care to make a wager on this?” I stub out my cigarette and stroll on to the mat, keeping my steps slow and precise. Taunting him is just too damn easy. Too. Damn. Easy.

“What did you have in mind?” His eyebrows lift as his head tilts to the side, studying me, trying to get in my head. He needs to stop hanging around Zane so much because he picking up on that shit and I can’t handle two of them.

I tilt my head to the side pretending to weigh my options. “Simple. I win, you replace Willie Mae.”

Asher crosses his arms over his chest and lets out a long exhale. “And when I win?” Never said my brother wasn’t a cocky bastard.

“I’ll take nightshift duty with Wildflower for a month.” I know the exact second I have him. His features loosen as his eyes light up. That’s as close to a smile as I’m going to get from him and I’ll take it.

“Deal.” Asher jerks his chin at me. “Don’t go crying like a fucking pussy to Charlee when you can’t hack it though.”

“No promises. After all, she likes me better.” I bounce on my feet against the mat, keeping him guessing.

He figures out what I’m doing and ignores me until I step foot in front of him with my hands up.

“We went to the barn earlier and had another discussion with your friend.” Asher’s body twists as his arm arcs out, trying to catch me off guard with that comment and it almost works too, but I manage to drop down and avoid his right hook seconds before it can connect with my jaw.

“Why the fuck didn’t you wake me?” My fist moves forward aimed at his stomach. They know better than to leave me out of this shit.

Asher drops his elbows, blocking the hit. “Figured you were busy and Kelsey needed you more.”

“Fair point.” Sometimes having Detective Asher make an appearance is worse than this brooding Asher. “He have anything interesting to say?”

“Not at first, but we eventually got him to talk,” Zane adds from behind me and there’s no missing what he’s implying. My shoulders tense at being robbed of the privilege myself.

“Relax, Ax. We didn’t fucking kill him. Saved that honor for you.” Asher must have read the look on my face.

“Good.” The need to feel his bones crush underneath my hands fuels me on and I toss a few more hard punches to Asher’s face. He manages to dodge every one, but it doesn’t stop me from trying harder.

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