“Nope. It was sitting in front of your door when we arrived.”
She opened it and saw another grotesque little troll, this one with bright-yellow hair. This troll held a tiny printed card that readBe Mine.Written underneath it was the wordbitte.
She sighed. “It all started with an angry, ragey,”—lovable—“confusing German and a fight at Ray’s.”
Nineteen
By Wednesday morning, Axel couldn’t handle much more bullshit. He had only fifteen days and counting until Valentine’s Day, and he was no closer to fixing things with Rena than he was to finding Fletcher. The bastard had gone to ground.
On top of being on the outs with Rena, he’d had two cancellations that he’d slotted important time for, so he’d been tap-dancing to move around the schedule while dealing with drama at the shop and the ever-present threat of his family ready to drop in on him at any time.
He’d made it clear to his brother over the phone that their father wasnotwelcome at his house. About Maksim, he’d done a lot of thinking.
He and his brother had never been enemies, not until Maksim had turned on their mother. With only two years separating them, they could have been close. Their father had seen to it that neither would have the chance, grooming Maksim to take over the business while shuttling Axel to one family member or another, keeping the boy well away from him because of his “mood issues,” what their mother had called his episodes.
Looking back on it, he had to acknowledge he’d had a problem. He’d been angry and prone to violent outbursts when young, though never to his mother. As he’d gotten older, his moods had worsened. He recalled taking medication and being sent to work on the farm, talking a lot to his aunt—a licensed therapist. Working on Aunt Hester’s farm had done much to soothe him, and he’d gotten to spend extra time with his mother.
They’d grown so close, and then he’d struck her, something he’d sworn never to do. It had changed something inside him, hurt him in a way no beating ever could. Though she’d forgiven him immediately, he’d never been able to forgive himself, conscious he was a lot more like his father than he wanted to admit.
For years after that, he’d focused that anger, worked on controlling it. He did his best to make his mother proud, protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. He kept in shape and got bigger and stronger. He fought to challenge himself, drawing on the numbness, taking anger out of the equation so that brawling became a form of exercise, a therapeutic outlet. One he was good at.
As time passed, his rages turned more sporadic, until he was simply a man who dealt with anger by either pounding his fists or suppressing the emotion until it went away. Mostly he never allowed himself to feel too much. Love for his mother. Loyalty to a few friends and family—Aunt Hester and a few cousins. For all intents and purposes he and his brother ignored each other.
So his mother’s passing had hit him hard. With it came responsibilities. And a lot of money he didn’t want or deserve.
Hell, he didn’t want to deal with any of it, but he knew the time had come.
He groaned and sat in the dark in his office, needing more time to deal with his fluctuating moods. Rena had filled that void so well, keeping him happy and balanced. He now felt empty all the time. He’d fucked up by sending her away. Now that he could think about it rationally, he knew he wouldn’t hurt her.
He hoped he wouldn’t.
Hitting his mother had been an accident. But dealing with his family brought up his ugly past.
“I’m talking to you,” Rylan shouted.
And then there was all the bullshit in the shop. Mateo normally kept himself busy sanding and dealing with the smaller one-man jobs. Unfortunately, that left Rylan and Smitty to work together. And lately, Rylan had become a constant headache. How Smitty hadn’t yet shoved the guy’s head up his ass was anyone’s guess. Even Lou had commented on it, and Lou got along with everyone in the shop.
“Okay, Rylan. It’s just you and me now. Let’s have it out.” Smitty sighed.
Apparently they hadn’t realized Axel was here, though his truck sat in the parking lot. But he hadn’t turned on the office lights, the room lit by a light-sensitive nightlight he liked to leave in the office. He had the shades drawn, so it looked as if the office sat empty.
He glanced down at his new office mates, Chi-Chi and Queen, who lay together on Queen’s cat bed. Rena had left the dog behind on Saturday, and the poor canine whined whenever he tried to pull the pair apart. Since Queen seemed to like Chi-Chi well enough, Axel left them together.
Rena hadn’t called to complain.
He rubbed his heart. She hadn’t called at all. Not to yell at him, to respond to his texts checking in, or to say she’d been receiving his presents.
Fifteen days seemed like too short a time to win her back.
If he’d ever had her in the first place.
Maybe she’d seen the real him, and she’d been gently trying to get away for days. Maybe she realized that great sex couldn’t hold them together and that she needed ahunky firefighterto make it all better.
He frowned, wondering if any of those bastards had reached out to help her.
“You have a real problem with me, don’t you?” Rylan snapped.
“I do. You’re too emotional,” Smitty growled. “I’m tired of playing nursemaid. You have skills, kid, but—”
