Ax’s chest constricted. “Why, Doc?”
Steele hesitated a fraction of a second before replying, “The guy driving said she was hurt.”
“Fuck! Hurt, how?”
“He said her face was banged up and she might have a broken arm.”
“Petal?” Ax barely managed to choke out.
“She’s with them.” Before he could ask, Steele said, “The guy only mentioned Sage being hurt.”
Ax lowered his head and stared at his feet, his gut burning at the thought. Why was Sage hurt? Better yet, who’d hurt her? “I’m coming with you.”
“Fine, we’re at The Cave. Get here as quick as you can. We don’t want to leave her waiting too long.”
Ax ended the call and pulled on his jeans before making his way back to the bedroom.
“You okay?” Em asked.
His mind was so filled with Sage that he didn’t notice the light was on. Emma was sitting up in his bed with a concerned look on her face. He hadn’t told her about Sage and Petal. Now’s not the time he decided as he moved to his dresser and grabbed a shirt from the drawer. Pulling it over his head, he said the first thing that came to mind. “Steele wants me to handle something for him.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“I don’t want you driving home in the middle of the night. I’ll try to be back before you go to work, but I can’t make any promises.”
She smiled. “Okay, Ax.” Christ, she was sweet.
He pulled on his boots and gave her a quick kiss before heading out the door.
On his drive to The Cave, all he could think about was Sage. He hadn’t met Carlos, but he’d seen him. He’d followed Sage to the guy’s condo one day—taken one look at the cheesy thousand-dollar suit, slicked-back hair, and smarmy smile, and laughed. He wasn’t worried because Sage was smarter than that. It was only a matter of time before she saw through the guy’s act and kicked him to the curb. He couldn’t have been more wrong. A month later, she was gone. He thought of the note she’d left.
I’ve been in love with you for years, but you refuse to see me.
She was all he saw, which was the problem. Christ, he was gutted when she left. He was also angry—angry at himself for holding back and angry at her for walking away.
It’s time for me to move on, to move out from beneath Gibbs’s shadow. I can’t do that with you in my life. Lord knows I’ve tried.
Gibby was his brother, one of his best friends, and Sage was Gibby’s Ol’ lady. She was untouchable, a line in the sand that he refused to cross. Fuck knows he wanted to, but each time he came close to giving in, he thought of how he would feel if Gibby moved in on his Ol’ lady. Dead or not, it was wrong. So, he made excuses. He convinced himself that he was doing the honorable thing and that they were better off as friends. Then Sage took off, and he realized how wrong he’d been, not just about her, but about everything.
Be happy, Alex.
It was Sage’s exit from his life that finally woke him up. She forced him to take a good hard look at himself. She made him realize that it was time to grow up, time to put down roots. His first step in doing this was to buy Steele’s house.
Arlan Steele was the president of Steele Raiders MC. He was also Ax’s cousin. A few weeks before Sage’s abrupt exit, a woman by the name of Luciana Ferina showed up at the club. Unbeknownst to Ax, or anyone else for that matter, Steele and LuLu had engaged in a brief fling that apparently didn’t end well. Months after it was over, LuLu found herself in trouble and turned to Steele. Talk about a mess. She brought one hell of a shitstorm with her—a shitstorm that ended with Loco—a club enforcer and long-time member—going off the rails. Seven people died, including their VP, Jake. Two positives came from that nightmare: the club was getting a new VP, and Steele and LuLu had reunited in a big way—as in, he’d knocked her up, they’d moved in together, and were currently planning their wedding. This meant that Steele needed to offload his house. Ax wanted it. They’d negotiated—meaning Steele gave him the family discount—and he’d finished moving in last week.
After being pissed at Sage for the better part of two months, he finally decided to let it go. If she could move on, so could he. He started spending time at Spur’s. The club owned two bars in town, Spur’s and The Shangri-La Lounge. The Lounge served girly drinks and catered to a younger crowd, whereas Spur’s was more of a beer-drinking, game-watching, older-crowd kind of joint. One night, he and Buck were hanging at the bar, when the bartender, Laura, overheard him bitching about not being able to get a decent haircut in Austin. She told him about her hairdresser friend, Emma, and even went as far as to call and get him an appointment.
When he showed up for his haircut, he discovered that Emma was a tall, luscious-bodied blonde with chocolate-brown eyes and a pretty smile. In conversation, he learned that she’d lived in Austin for three years and had recently purchased the salon. Emma not only gave a damn good haircut, but she was an absolute sweetheart. Before leaving the salon, he asked her out to dinner. It took him a month to get into her panties—which was unheard of for him—and another before he put her on the back of his bike. Tonight was the first night she’d been at his place.
And now Sage was back. And she was hurt.
Ax pulled up to the gate and nodded at Ego and Art. They were the club’s new prospects. Ego was funny as hell, but he hadn’t gotten to know Art yet.
Steele and Doc were standing in the driveway. Ax pulled up beside them and rolled down his window. “I want her in my cage.”
Steele shook his head. “Brother, she’s hurt. It might be serious. Park your truck and ride with us.”
Steele was right; they didn’t know the play. For Ax to fight it, would be stupid. He pulled into the closest parking spot, turned off the engine, and exited the truck, locking the doors behind him.
The moment Steele found out LuLu was carrying his kid, he went out and bought the biggest SUV he could find. He then had the fucking thing taken on a flatbed all the way to North Carolina, to Max McLellan’s garage, in order to get it kitted out.
Years ago, before joining the club, Ax and Buck worked for a nut job named Dooley Shane. They didn’t know it at the time, but Dooley’s main source of revenue came from fencing stolen bike parts. At the time, Max was one of Dooley’s clients, which was how Ax came to know him. Steele knew Max because of his mad skills at building both cars and bikes. McLellan’s garage was renown—by far the best in Texas. Once he’d made his millions, Max downsized to one garage, located in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ax followed Steele and Doc to the Black Mamba—the name LuLu had given their new Ford Expedition.
“I’ll take the back, that way I can stretch out before I’m needed,” Doc said.
Ax hopped into the front and Steele started the engine. “It’s going to be okay,” he announced before shifting into drive and pulling out of the garage. Neither Ax nor Doc bothered to respond.
An hour into the drive, Steele turned on the radio. Doc snored in the backseat while Ax kicked back in the front, his mind wandering to when he first met Sage.
Ax’s dad passed when he was ten. His mother, Thelma—born way before the movie—was Grizz’s only sister. After his dad’s death, they moved to Austin to be near family. While his mom drowned her sorrows in the bottom of a bottle, he spent most of his time at Uncle Grizz and Aunt Vicky’s house—which meant he also spent a lot of time at the club. The year he joined as a prospect was the same year Gibby was officially patched in. He took Ax under his wing and they became tight. Gibby was a wild man, a partier through and through. There wasn’t a beer he didn’t like nor a woman he wouldn’t fuck. It was during Ax’s second year as a prospect that Gibby hooked up with Sage. Christ, she was barely nineteen at the time. She was young and gorgeous, possibly the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. She was a dark-haired, blue-eyed trash talker with a tiny body and a killer rack. She could party like a fucking rock star, argue any point—and make you believe she was right, even when she wasn’t—and she could sing like an angel. Sage was the whole package, and Ax wanted her . . . but she belonged to Gibby.