No, I wasn’t here again. I couldn’t be. I remember getting shot but there was no throbbing ache in my leg anymore. Which meant this was a nightmare come true. I was strapped to a table without a shirt on again, only this time I was face up. JP was in the corner with his head bent over, looking at his table of tools. I was afraid to scream because I knew he was dead, but this nightmare took on a whole new level of terrifying. When he turned around, the scream came out because he had a gunshot wound right to the center of his forehead.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, Riley. This will only hurt a little bit,” he told me with his creepy fucking cackle.
“Riley!” I woke up to a yelling Axel in my face. Right away I saw the fear and worry in his eyes, the two emotions warring in those pretty brown eyes that I knew and loved so much. I wouldn’t let JP break me from the grave. I was stronger than that. Realizing I was okay, Axel picked me up bridal style and brought me into the shower. I didn’t want to leave the couch a mess, but apparently I didn’t get a choice in that. Axel mumbled out a lame apology to Kelly, the bartender, nodded her head and waved us down the hallway. I would have to remind myself to thank her later.
Getting into the bathroom in Axel’s room, I wanted to undress and get these sticky clothes off of me immediately. It felt like I had sweat gallons from my nightmare. Axel had other plans though. He turned the water on scalding hot and began undressing me, one stitch of clothing at a time. It was sweet but I knew exactly what he was doing; I could see it behind his eyes. He wanted to make sure I knew that I was safe, and he had to assure himself as well that I was actually here, safe, and not in the house he grew up in, kidnapped by his psychopath brother. I let him take care of me since I realized this is what he needed, and maybe some part of me needed it too.
I knew him and his brother were nothing alike. I knew it like I knew the grass was green and the sky blue. But when Axel looked at me the way he did, with such love and adoration in his eyes, it made everything disappear until it was just us two. I wanted to make sure he knew exactly how I felt about him. While he was on his knees, pulling my sweatpants and panties down, I pushed my fingers through his hair and tugged a little to let him know I wanted his attention.
“I don’t think I got to thank you for saving my life. I can’t even begin to understand what it had to be like for you to, well, ya know... I am really messing this whole speech up. I don’t know I would have lasted much longer in that place with him. It was fucking horrible what he did. But I know with you by my side, everything will be okay. Axel, I love you. So fucking much. I am so in love with you and I know you might not need to hear it, but I want to make sure you know how thankful I am for you.” He just sat there on his knees in front of my naked body with his head bent forward, resting on my belly.
When his body started shaking, I knew he needed this. He needed to purge himself of all these emotions he tried to drown in the bottom of a bottle last night. He held onto my hips like they were his lifeline to surviving. I couldn’t imagine for a second what he was going through. I was sure there was a piece inside of him that cared, and maybe even loved, his brother. Taking JP’s life couldn’t have been an easy task for him to do. All I knew from this point, was that there was no going back for either of us. We were both here, alive, and I would never take that for granted again.
Axel started calming down a couple minutes later and I wanted to help take his mind off of it for a little bit. “Come on, baby. Let’s get in the shower and wash everything away.” I wasn’t supposed to get any of my wounds wet so I would only be washing the areas I could and my hair would have to wait. Getting Axel all washed up sounded like a good idea, but now that he was taking his clothes off there was a distinct throbbing in between my legs that I wanted to ignore. This shower was going to be about him.
I washed what I could of my body while Axel did his hair and face. The bandage on my leg had to go since it wasn’t sticking anymore anyways. It was kind of like a sponge bath for my upper half, and my core that was now sopping wet from the vision in front of me.
Fuck. Yeah, this situation warranted that fuck. Axel naked in the shower, all rippling muscles and tattoos with the water running down his beautiful body was a sight to behold. Fuck. Was it bad that I wanted to jump him in the shower or for him to push me up against the wall and have wild, crazy monkey sex? Nope. I got a hold of myself and asked for the body wash so I could at least get my hands on him. He handed