It was personal.
Men who had every intention of hurting the woman he loved had threatened her. The thought of Rena ever looking the way his mother had, of seeing the pain that refused to fade in her eyes, snapped something inside him.
He took the hit from Scott’s pipe then knocked the guy out with one punch. In doing so, he left himself open to the blow Rabies shot at his face. His head snapped back, but that didn’t stop Axel from deflecting more of Rabies’s attacks.
He fought in silence, burning with fury as he destroyed Fletcher’s dickhead friends.
Rabies knew some kind of martial arts shit that worked. He landed kicks and punches, drew blood even. But with Scott down, there was no one for Rabies to hide behind. After more fighting, in which Rabies tried to shout him into submission—what the fuck?—when he saw his punches had little effect, a tired Rabies started to panic.
“I’m sorry, man,” Rabies tried. Axel hit him again in the stomach and backed off, just watching with murderous intent. “Talk, you big asshole,” he rasped, and groaned when Axel hit him again. And again. “Stop. Heller, enough,” came out garbled, and then only the sounds of his moans and the thuds of contact filled the crisp air.
Lost in a haze, Axel continued to press on, to eliminate the threat, until someone tackled him and several guys held him back when he would have returned to finish Rabies off.
“Jesus, Heller, he’s out,” Sam said. “Enough.”
Axel strained, needing to eliminate the danger to Rena.
“Is he still breathing?” Foley asked. “Heller, relax, man, it’s us. Sam, hold him tighter.”
“He almost took my head off,” Sam growled. “Earl, grab his hand.”
“I got it,” Earl said. “Yeah, unfortunately, Rabies is breathing. That arm and his face look bad. Broke for sure, the nose, I mean. And that arm. Maybe some ribs.”
Ray swore from behind them. “Motherfuckers. I didn’t want this in my house. No trouble, they said. Those lying, mother-humping, shit-sucking…” He kept saying words that made no sense to Axel.
Or to anyone else apparently.
“I didn’t know that was a word,” Foley muttered.
“I told you letting them back in was going to be a problem,” Earl said. “Heller, relax, man.”
Axel didn’t realize he’d been trying to get free, but still hopped up on adrenaline, he needed a minute to understand the threat had ended.
Ray groaned. “We’re gonna have to call an ambulance. This is serious.”
Big J whistled, now blocking the back door with his big body. “No way to avoid it unless you want the cops finding bodies in the parking lot.”
Axel stared at the ground, taking pained breaths. Rabies must have bruised a few of his ribs. His cheek ached, as did his hands. And, yeah, his thigh hurt from being kicked a few times.Should have broken his leg, not just his arm,he thought darkly.
Sam said over his shoulder, “Hey, Big J, don’t let Rena out here.”
“Rena?” Axel felt his aches, but that name caused an even bigger one.Oh shit. What did I do? She can’t know I lost it.A glance at his assailants showed them passed out and broken. Jesus. He felt a little queasy.
“Easy, she’s inside. Safe,” Sam said and patted Axel on the back. “Your work buddies are keeping a close eye on her. Smitty said he had her, and J.T.’s with her.”
Axel liked J.T., but the man was a lover, not a fighter. Smitty, on the other hand, could handle himself and regularly did what needed to be done to keep the peace.
Sam continued, “Nice work, man. I think the only one somewhat okay—and I use that term loosely—is Scott. You must have knocked him out first.”
Remembering what they’d all been saying about Rena started the anger back up. “They said—”
“No, hold on, hoss,” Foley said. “We need to get you out of here. Ray, come up with something to tell the EMTs, who are no doubt going to report this to the police. Like, the guys beat each other up. Or someone jumped them all. We’ll back you up, but you’d better think fast. Rabies doesn’t look so good.”
“Neither does Scott.” Earl sounded impressed. “Fuck, Heller. Are those fists or anvils on the ends of those arms?”
“Gotta say, Sam, I think he’d have you beat in a one-on-one.” Big J sounded apologetic.
“Yeah, maybe.” Sam chuckled. “Want to try me, Heller?”
