Page 23 of Pooh

Me: Thanks, bro. Owe you one.

Rex: Happy to help. Glad he’s hurting.

I walk into the gym the following morning and Axel is glaring daggers at me from the check-in counter. What’s up with that? I walk over, lean against the counter and raise my eyebrows at him in question.

“You didn’t even call me last night,” he accuses with his full pouty face in play.

“Vex and Trigger were sitting around and ready to roll. You weren’t at the clubhouse and I didn’t want to wait,” I explain patiently. Axel hates it when he misses out on any fun times.

“I live two minutes away. You couldn’t wait two minutes? I thought we were closer than that.”

“You were home with Bailey. I didn’t want to pull you away from her.”

“Bailey wouldn’t have minded and would probably have wanted to come and get a punch or two in for herself. Ava, too. And you know Trudy would want a shot at a woman abuser. You deprived us all of some beatdown bonding time.”

I give up the fight and bark out a laugh at him. Axel is right, though. The women would have had a field day on that guy. Maybe next time.

“Pippa is going to be coming to the gym for some self-defense classes. I offered the women staying there lessons, too. Pippa’s are from me only,” I inform Axel.

“That’s a great idea. They should all learn at least a few moves. I would love to see their man’s face when he’s the one with the broken nose,” Axel grins.

“That would be sweet.”

“You claiming Pippa?” Axel asks quietly.

“Not sure she wants claiming. I asked her out but she shot me down. But she’s off limits to anyone else,” I state.

“Give her time. She’s just met you and the rest of us.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“I’d be happy to argue your case to her. I’m great at convincing women to do all sorts of shit. It’s the innocent smile I’ve perfected. I can get any woman to…”

“You can get women to do what, exactly, Axel?” questions Bailey. I saw her walking up behind him, but why would I ruin his surprise?

Axel freezes in place. Bailey casually leans a shoulder against the wall and crosses her arms. She has that look on her face that all women get right before they go for your balls. I carefully take a step back and place my hands over my junk. Brotherhood be damned, Axel is on his own.

Axel slowly turns around until he’s facing Bailey. I notice his hands are in protective mode also as he tries out that smile he was just bragging about. He was wrong. He doesn’t have it perfected yet.

-*- -*- -*- -*-

“Why are you doing that?” asks Craig. I’ve answered at least two dozen questions so far. The kid is curious and I like that about him.

“I’m digging the holes for the posts to go into,” I answer.

“Can I dig one? I’m good with dirt.”

No shit! I take a moment and look over at Craig and again marvel at how one little boy can find so much grime to cover himself with. He’s made it into an art form.

“It takes a lot of muscle. You think you have enough muscle to try one?”

He immediately stands straight and shows me his muscles. I have to laugh because he looks like Axel when he’s flexing his biceps, except Craig doesn’t have anything to flex. But his little face is screwed up in concentration and he’s grunting in effort to form a bicep.

“Yeah, I think you might be able to do this, Craig, with a little help from me. What do you think? Want to try?”

“Hell yeah!” he shouts, excitedly.

“Craig! Watch your language! I’m not telling you again,” threatens Pippa.

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