Page 10 of Fire
If I wanted things to remain like this with her, I had to tell her the truth about my past. It wouldn’t be tomorrow or even the next day, but it had to be soon. If only Van Wilkerson would just disappear and take my past with him.
~7~
Kenzi
Last night with Axe was not what I expected. I surprised myself. Never in a million years would I have thought I would masturbate in front of my boyfriend. I always thought it was something a woman should keep to herself, behind closed doors. But last night was not only out of this world, but it was crazy good. The way Axe talked to me made me forget my nervousness and helped me to just live in the moment. It was an unforgettable moment.
Because of last night, I was so relaxed that I didn’t want to get out of bed. Plucking my cell off the nightstand, I swiped the screen to life. It was only 7:45 a.m.—still early enough to remain in bed for another half-hour. Reality sunk in, and I remembered spilling my secret to Davian. I understood why Reyna loved Davian so much. Not once did he judge me for what I did five years ago. His only remark was that he and his men would look into Levi and find out why he showed up after all these years. Davian also wanted to look into the man who ran the underground illegal gambling club. Davian found it odd that I didn’t remember reading about what happened that night in the paper; therefore, he wanted to investigate the mysterious man. When I told Davian about that night, I wondered what happened to the man I stabbed in the neck. The news never publicized what happened to him, and Levi avoided the question when I visited him in prison. Come to think about it, Levi never told me why he was in prison or even the charges brought against him. Since I was only sixteen at the time, I wasn’t allowed to attend the hearing.
Throwing the covers off my body, I decided to get up instead of giving myself the extra thirty minutes to relax. Reyna’s house was perfect, and I loved that all the bedrooms had an en suite, which was very convenient.
While on my way to the bathroom, I grabbed a strapless bra, matching panties, my favorite pair of jeans, and a cute halter top. Even though the first day of fall was a few days ago, the temperature outside was still warm. Deciding what to wear was much easier than figuring out how to tell Reyna and Axe that I would be leaving Atlanta soon and moving to Chicago. Anxiety swept through my body, and the relaxed state I was in moments ago vanished. If I showed them the offer letter I received from the law firm of Saxton, Marsh, and Peters, maybe they would understand why I had to accept the offer in Chicago. They might even agree that it would be stupid to pass up a six-figure salary. Showing them the letter was my best bet. It would be easier than trying to defend my decision to leave Atlanta.
Refreshed, but not feeling any better about what I had to tell Reyna, I entered the kitchen to find Mika flipping pancakes on a rectangular griddle. “Good morning, Kenzi. I hope you slept well.”
I leaned against the counter and picked up a strip of bacon from a silver tray. “I slept okay. Breakfast smells amazing,” I said as I stuffed the crispy bacon into my mouth, and looked around. “Where is everyone?”
“Reyna and Davian are out back. You should join them. I will have breakfast out shortly.” Mika’s smile matched her tone. There wasn’t one time that I could remember when she wasn’t happy. If everyone could be like her, myself included, the world would be a much better place.
I left the kitchen and headed to the back of the house, where Mika said Davian and Reyna would be. When I opened the French doors, I could hear Davian and Reyna talking. No wonder they decided to have breakfast outside. The weather was beautiful, not too hot or too cold. It was perfect. Their conversation continued as I made my way toward them. When I came into their line of vision, their conversation stopped. They greeted me with a smile, and in unison, they said, “Good morning.”
“Good morning, you two,” I said. “What a wonderful morning to have breakfast outside.”
As I took a seat across from Reyna, who sat next to Davian, I couldn’t help but wonder what Axe was doing. I told him that I would be returning to the apartment today, but I didn’t give him a specific time. I would have loved for him to share breakfast with us. Under normal circumstances, we would be having breakfast together. He always cooked breakfast for me. Even though it had only been a day since I left the apartment, I missed him, and having breakfast without him wasn’t the only reason. I missed everything about him and what happened last night was proof of just how much.
With that thought, I poured myself a cup of coffee and doctored it with cream and sugar. It wasn’t long until Mika rolled a cart onto the patio carrying everything from her signature pancakes to scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon. I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to eat all the food she cooked unless she anticipated more than three for breakfast. When she finished placing everything on the table and was ready to head back inside, Axe and Patton walked through the French doors. I hadn’t expected to see either of them, and I felt my chest tighten, cognizant of why they were here.Had Davian told them about my past?Certainly, he wouldn’t have done that without my permission.
My choices were to act dumb and pretend I wasn’t hiding anything from them or spill my guts and tell them the truth. The latter didn’t seem like much of an option, so I acted dumb. “So, what are you guys doing here?”
Axe pulled out the chair next to me and took a seat. “Just dropping by to say hello.” I hated his cockiness, but at the same time, loved how confident he was. His confidence was comparable to Davian’s but presented in a different way. When Axe helped himself to my cup of coffee, I saw just how different they were.
“I thought you had something to take care of,” I said as I took the empty coffee cup from him, thoroughly annoyed that he drank the rest of my coffee that had the perfect portion of cream and sugar added.
Instead of answering for himself, Patton chimed in. “Axe and I were on our way to the warehouse, but Axe insisted on coming here first.” Patton took a seat in the empty chair next to Axe before continuing. “Besides, it looks like Mika has prepared enough food for an army.”
I couldn’t argue with him. Instead of taking this conversation any further, I poured myself another cup of coffee and added the right amount of cream and sugar. I could feel Axe’s eyes on me, but he refused to say anything. I had been with Axe long enough to know that something was up with him. It was clear that he was nervous. Maybe no one else saw it, but I did. The bad thing was, I couldn’t call him on it. At least not in front of everyone. Later, when we were alone, I most definitely would.
~
I headed straight for the apartment after Reyna dropped me off. Why I thought Axe would be here to greet me was beyond me. Whatever he had to take care of must have taken him longer than expected. Pulling my cell from my pocket, I pulled up his number and waited for him to answer. My call went straight to voicemail, and after several more attempts, I was forced to leave him a message. It wasn’t often that Axe didn’t answer a call from me. Once he got the chance to call, he would.
In the meantime, I needed a distraction. Looking around the apartment, I could see that it had been neglected. Cleaning wasn’t on the top of my priorities, but it was a good distraction. Bringing up a playlist on my phone, I paired my wireless earbuds and headed to the kitchen to get the cleaning supplies from the cabinet under the sink. I set everything I needed to clean on the kitchen counter while deciding which room to clean first.
As I began to clean, I remembered Axe telling me not to touch anything in the bedroom he made into his office. When I passed the room to start on our bedroom, I couldn’t believe what a mess it was. It was a wonder he could find anything. Piles upon piles of papers, two feet high, sat on his desk. The shelving against the wall that was supposed to be for books was also filled with piles of papers. I was beginning to think that he never threw anything away. Pulling the door closed, I found it strange that it was open in the first place. Usually, Axe would have the door closed and locked.
I was never good at leaving things alone, or listening to instructions for that matter, so instead of walking away from the room, I turned the knob and pushed the door open. If I knew anything about Axe, I knew that he would call me back before heading home. Not knowing when that would be, I hurried over to his desk and began surveying the papers piled on top. As I looked between the sheets of paper, many of which were invoices and bills, I started thinking this was a bad idea. It was only yesterday that I voiced how much I trusted him. I was such a hypocrite. Here I was looking through his stuff when he trusted me not to. What was even worse, I was keeping my own secrets from him. Tonight, that was going to change. I had to tell him the truth about Levi and my plans to move to Chicago.
Just as I was about to leave and stop snooping, a folder sitting on the bottom shelf of his bookshelf caught my eye. It was fire red, and unlike the rest of the folders on the bookshelf, it stuck out. Pulling the red folder out from between the other folders, I moved my sights to the tab to see if there was a label or something that would let me know what was inside. There was no description listed, but the folder was pretty thick. When I opened the folder, pictures of old buildings were inside. It didn’t seem that unusual until I continued flipping through the photos. Axe had kept before and after photos of the buildings. They all appeared to have caught on fire. Searching for some explanation as to what happened, I turned over the after photo of one of the buildings. I only found a date with a dollar amount written beneath it. I wasn’t sure what it meant. Maybe it had something to do with an insurance claim. I couldn’t very well ask Axe about it, especially since I wasn’t supposed to be in his office in the first place. It piqued my curiosity though, and made me want to find out more about the photos.
Shaking my head since I knew I shouldn’t be here, I placed the folder back where it was. I should have left, but I didn’t. Instead, I kept snooping, searching for an answer.What is this?A small notebook filled with dates and dollar amounts was stuffed behind the pile of folders. They matched exactly to dates and dollar amounts written on the photos.What was Axe keeping track of?I thought to myself. But more importantly, why? There had to be a logical explanation. Maybe Axe was an insurance adjuster or investigator, which was why he had kept records of burned buildings. Certainly, he would have mentioned it if he was. There was another reason. Somehow, I had to find out without letting him know.
~8~
Axe
From the minute we left Davian and Reyna’s house, it was like Wilkerson had been watching my every move. I knew it was impossible, but I could swear he had eyes on me. Text after text came over my phone from him, wanting to know where I was and why I missed our meeting. Texting and driving wasn’t the best idea; people have died doing just that. I could tell that Patton was becoming increasingly annoyed with me. But it wasn’t like I could avoid Wilkerson’s texts, not unless I wanted to deal with his pissy mood later. Wilkerson knew nothing about the men ofThe Societynor the good we did. As far as he knew, the association I had with the guys was only because we served together. Nothing would make me happier than for him to keep thinking that.
“Whoever is lighting up your phone must really want you,” Patton stated. “Are you sure you have time to go to the warehouse?”
