Page 42 of All's Fair in Love & Wrath

AXEL

Waking up to a hard boot kicking into my side is a surefire way to piss me the fuck off. My stomach heaves, and I curl into a ball to protect myself. Pain spreads outward, the wind knocked right from my lungs.

“Fucking shit!” I gasp.

“The fuck are you doing sleeping on the floor?”

“Fuckin’ prick, why’d you fuckin’ kick me?”

“I tripped.” His nonchalant, unbothered tone pisses me off further. I look up at Sin with a glare as he peers down at me with a dumbass fucking smile that I want to wipe off his stupid face. I don’t believe for a goddamn second that he tripped.

“Sure you fuckin’ did. Asshole.”

The bedroom door whips open a moment later, Sienna looking down, shocked and alarmed. Her eyes dart from Sin to me lying on the floor, her brows furrowing. I’m surprised she heard something and opened the door. But here she is, and now she knows my secret.

“Axel? I heard your voice, and you sounded hurt.” Well,damn. If that doesn’t make me feel good. She put her fear aside to check on me.Such a good girl.

“Morning,” I reply to her, sitting up. “Sin, could I have a fuckin’ minute?”

“Sure thing, buddy. Looks like you’ve got some explaining to do.”

I roll my eyes, wishing like hell I could smack the shit out of him right now. Not wanting to scare Sienna, I ignore the big, ugly bastard and stand up. I nod my head for her to go inside, following and letting the door shut and lock behind us. My body is stiff as hell, and now my ribs are probably bruised. I stretch out my neck from side to side, the cracks audible, then my eyes take in the woman in front of me, standing with her hip popped out, arms crossed.

She’s wearing another large T-shirt and, as far as I can see, nothing underneath. Goddamn, she’s cute.Fuck. Focus.

“What were you doing on the floor?” she asks. I scratch behind my neck, massaging the muscles. Sienna’s eyebrows rise as she puts it together on her own. “Wait, were yousleepingthere?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Sienna’s mouth falls open, her eyes widening a bit. “Why would you do that?” she asks quickly, her words rushed.

“Because you said you wanted to feel safe.”

“Wait, you’ve been doing that every night? No . . .”

“Yeah,” I reply honestly, suddenly realizing there’s a strong chance she may not view my actions as helpful and more like creepy. “I know no one would bother you in my room, or anywhere here, but I wanted to make sure. I wanted you to feel completely safe here.”

“Axel . . .” she breathes roughly, her legs giving out as she plops back down onto my bed, her eyes focused on somethingfar off in the distance, emotions so thick I can feel them from here.

Instead of having this conversation while standing above her, I drop down to my haunches in front of her knees, placing my hands on either side of her hips, palms resting on the bed, caging her in for the first time. Even though I know all it would take is a single look and I’d back off. But I want all of her attention for this.

“When I promise something, I see it through. A man is nothing if his words mean shit. I promised you’d be safe, and to me, that means doing everything in my power to make sure that happens. If that means sleeping on the floor outside the door so you can sleep peacefully, then so fucking be it.”

Sienna shakes her head from side to side, her hair falling into her face. She refuses to believe that someone could just genuinely want to be there for her with no strings attached.

“Why do you care so much?”

This time I do reach out and touch her. I move slowly, giving her the opportunity to say no or shy away. But she does neither of those things. So, I gently push the snowy strands out of her face and tuck them behind her ear, letting my fingers trail against her soft jaw. It’s such a tender, featherlight touch, but the sparks I feel are everything but.

“I can’t explain it, baby, but ever since I met you, I don’t know how to care about anything else.”

“Axel . . . that’s crazy.”

“Tell me about it. I don’t understand it any more than you do. But I’m not gonna fight it. I want you to trust me, to lean on me, to let me help you.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Then I’m going to keep showing up until you do.”