Page 423 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11
And seeing him dead asleep made me freeze. I had no idea what was going on in his head right now. And I didn’t want to wake him from his dream. Because I was worried it would wake me from mine too.
I stared down at his lips. I’d saved my first kiss for him for 17 years. Why hadn’t he saved his for me? Just thinking the thought made me feel so pathetic. Axel had never asked me to save my first kiss for him. He’d never even pretended to be remotely interested. And I knew the list of girls he’d kissed instead of me was too long to count. Like he’d been trying to nail the point home that he wasn’t into me.
So why did he come over every night when I was scared?
Why did he hold me while I slept?
Why did he call me pretty half a dozen times?
Axel had it all backwards.Hewas the one torturingme. And he was too dense to even realize it.
My phone started buzzing on my nightstand.
Shit.
Axel groaned as I reached out to silence it.
I grabbed it and muted it, but it was too late.
Axel’s hand fell from my skin and he slid back from me on the bed.
The moment was gone.
He cleared his throat. “Geez, sorry.”
For what? Making me feel worthless for years? Or for the boner thing? Because I only wanted an apology for the prior.
“How wasted was I last night?” he asked. “I have a headache in the top of my skull.” He touched the top of his head and winced.
Well, that wasn’t a headache. That was where I’d bonked him with the candle. Did he not remember? “What do you remember about last night?”
“You texting me because you were scared. I had too much to drink at this new club across town.”
That new club that Sophie had invited me to last night. But I’d been on babysitting duties since Axel was MIA. “With George?”
“What?”
“Were you there with George?”
He smiled and winced. “Georgia, yeah. I was planning on sobering up before I came over later. But I didn’t want to leave you alone when you were scared.”
He was lying. Iknewhe was lying. Because if he’d come straight from the club, Georgia wasn’t with him. She was in the men’s locker room at Empire High blowing Luis the Cheater.
Axel pulled out his phone to glance at the time. “Shit, we really slept in. I gotta get home.” He climbed off the bed.
“Wait.” I quickly got off my bed too. He couldn’t leave. I was in the middle of Operation Big Brother. If he left, he’d see the footage. “Stay for breakfast.”
“My parents are definitely already up. They’ll be knocking on my door any minute wondering why I’m not up yet too.”
“Please, Axel. I’m still jumpy. Today looks like a scene from the movie.” I gestured to the fog outside. “Just text your parents saying you left early to have breakfast with me.”
“I’m sure Liam can handle brother duties from here.”
It felt like he’d slapped me. We’d talked about this brother thing last night. But apparently he remembered nothing. Including the fact that he wasn’t anywhere near George last night.
He walked over to the trapdoor.
“Please, Axel,” I said. Even though all I wanted to do was push him through the hole in the floor.
