He’s silent for a moment.
“You know, Hyland called me.”
Whirling on Axel, I’m ready to strangle him with his insane t-shirt—the messy scrawl spelling outMe? Sarcastic? Never!—when he spreads his tattooed hands in surrender.
“You want to kick me off the team too?” I shout at him.
“Hey, hey. Ease up there, hot stuff. I’m not taking sides. He just told me to make sure you take your meds and rest until they’re back.”
“Oh, great,” I reply sardonically. “I would’ve forgotten otherwise. How ever would I live without his wonderful interference in my life?”
Snorting, Axel folds his arms. “I told him to fuck off on your behalf.”
“Thanks.”
“I know what the giant oaf is like.”
Toeing off my shoes, I kick them aside. “Batshit crazy?”
His full lips hook up in a grin. “That’s putting it politely.”
“Trust me, I have far worse I could say about him.”
“I’m sure. So can I get a hug now? I’ve been starved of love for hours.”
When his steely arms spread in invitation, I can’t help but step into Axel’s orbit. Enticing spice and masculine musk welcome me as he holds me against his chest.
“You’ve been fighting.” He nestles his chin on my shoulder. “Talk to me.”
“It’s just… sitting in that office, hopelessly trawling through traffic cams and local canvassing reports, waiting for someone to have a breakthrough… it got too much. I needed to punch something.”
“Then you should’ve called me.”
“And say what? You’d talk me out of calling Luis and taking his dumb deal too.”
Axel sucks in a breath, inhaling my scent. “Obviously I would have. Surrender is plain stupid. But we could’ve sparred together until that crazy brain of yours knocked itself out.”
“According to Hyland, I should be lounging around the apartment having some kind of bloody siesta. Not sparring or helping with the investigation.”
His purple-dyed head tilting, I feel Axel’s mouth nuzzling into the side of my neck. Hot and cold prickles seep over me, entangling with my spine and electrifying each nodule.
“Hyland is complicated,” he hedges.
“It’s rather simple. He’s an overbearing prick.”
Axel’s chuckle tickles my skin. “I’m not disagreeing with you.”
“Then explain to me what he’s thinking with this crap about freezing me out of the case.”
“Um… he may have mentioned suggesting that before you left. I told him it’s a bad idea.”
“He’s seriously out of order!”
“Not disagreeing, but he’s shit scared too.” Axel sighs loudly. “My guess? He’s grasping at what he can control right now. That includes your proximity to this mess.”
“This messis my life, Ax.” I force down the lump lodged in my throat. “I can’t just walk away from it.”
“I know, dimples. I’m sorry.”
