Page 54 of Cruel Savior

I let that thought soak in for a moment before I immediately rejected it. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing, going back in the past. But considering I'd lived more than a decade based on a lie, it deserved my time now.

I liked her a lot back then, and might have been in love, but what the hell did I know about love when I was eight-fucking-teen? I'd been an idiot just like everyone else at that age. One only had to look at Houston to see that. He'd run away, leaving me and the club behind without so much as a by your leave.

And I’d let that butt hurt feeling then control my reaction to what I’d thought was Mandy’s betrayal. I scrubbed a hand across my face. She was right about one thing. It was time to stop re-living and re-visiting the past. It was bullshit, but it was over. We were different people, and if I couldn't see her for who she was now, then I was an asshole.

"Axel?"

I heard her frightened voice before I saw her. I tried to sit up to look for her, but Mike's hard grip held me down. "I don't think so, pal. Not until the paramedic is done with you." He no sooner got the word paramedic out than another familiar person filled my vision. This one a redhead I happened to know a little better than Mike.

"Hey, Axel. Long time no see." I might have winced, but I was still too focused on trying to see past this woman to the one I'd heard. When I said nothing, she continued. "I'm going to put this oxygen mask on you, and then I'm going to assess your condition, okay?"

"Mandy?" I tried to yell for her so she'd know I was here. There were a lot of people running around, and people talking everywhere. But my voice came out barely a whisper.

The woman looking down at me pursed her mouth, and I could read the disappointment. "Jeanne. My name is Jeanne."

I closed my eyes against the hurt in her voice. She'd mistaken my attempt to call for Mandy as me forgetting her name. "I didn't forget. But I can hear Mandy calling my name. I need to speak to her."

She smiled, which came out a little more like a smirk. "New girlfriend? I can't say I'm surprised," she said, placing the mask over my face. "Mandy, however, is going to have to wait. I need to make sure you're okay."

I brushed the mask off of my face. "I'll be fine," I said, lifting my head to look around the woman trying to help me.

"Oh my God. There you are." She closed the distance between us and dropped to the ground next to me. "I heard two people came out of the building on fire and I about lost my shit. I knew it was going to be you."

She was confused. "They were exaggerating. I wasn't on fire."

"I beg to differ," Jeanne the paramedic held up my arm where what looked to be burned remnants of my leather jacket fused to the red, raw flesh of my arm. She then placed the mask back over my mouth. "Now, let me do my job and get this bandaged up. It might be a while before we can get you to the hospital."

"I'm not going to the hospital," I said from beneath the mask. Words no one acknowledged.

Mandy ran her fingers through my hair and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I'm just glad you're all right. He is all right, isn't he?" she asked, turning to Jeanne.

"Probably. He's too stubborn to be anything else." I wanted to shut my eyes against Jeanne's assessment, but I could see Mandy looking back and forth between us like she was trying to figure something out. Yes, I wanted to tell her. It's exactly what it sounds like. I slept with her, okay? I slept with them all. Every woman I could. I was literally the definition of a manwhore, and until now, kind of proud of it.

“Amanda? Amanda Turner is that you?”

My eyes flew open in time to see Mike the firefighter had returned. I groaned. How I’d forgotten we’d all been in school together and he and Amanda had beenfriends,I had no clue.

“Mike?” she asked, blinking up at him.

“Yeah. I can’t believe it. I didn’t know you were back. When? I mean how?” I rolled my eyes at his fumbling of words.

“It’s a long story. But it’s only temporary. I’m just visiting.”

“Oh,” he sounded crestfallen and I wanted to punch his pretty face. “We should get dinner and catch up sometime.” When she didn’t answer right away, he fumbled some more to cover the awkward silence. “Or just—uhm—coffee. Or Bubba’s for drinks. You remember that place, right?”

She laughed. “That I do. And I’m not surprised at all it’s still the go to.”

I started to lift my mask and tell Mike to back the fuck off, but Jeanne gave me a sharp look and knocked my hand away.

“Uh—hey Mike,” she started, a smirk crossing her face. “I think she’s already taken.”

I’m not going to lie, I think my chest puffed out despite the lack of oxygen in my lungs.

“What?” He sounded as confused as he looked. If I wasn’t annoyed, I would have laughed. Mike was harmless. I doubted the nicest guy in town had a chance in hell with a woman like Mandy. She lived on the dark side now like me. Hell, maybe even darker than me. She’d never be happy as a soccer mom, chronicling her life on Instagram because she was bored to death.

Jeanne pointed at me and gave him a look that said, “duh”, and a few long seconds later the dawning finally crossed his face.

“Oh.”

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