The Kissing Game, page 20
He grabbed her by the neck and devoured her mouth. “I am a raiding Viking, and you are my prisoner.”
She shivered. “Oh, we need to go inside so we can play that scene again.”
He grinned. “I thought so. You like when I’m in charge.”
She squeezed him inside her, heard his breath hitch, and corrected him. “When who’s in charge?”
“Fuck. I love when you hold me like this.” He ground against her, digging deeper. “But when I’m spanking you or when I’m shoving deep inside you, don’t you like that too?”
“Oh, I do.” She relaxed against him. “Okay. One scene where you’re in charge then one where I’m in charge.”
“Ja, that I can do.”
“Then for God’s sake, I need some rest! I have an appointment first thing tomorrow morning. And trust me, if the girls see me walking funny, they’ll make fun of me.”
“We can’t have that, now, can we?” he asked and kissed her again.
They made it inside to the living room at least.
* * *
Monday morning, she gave herself extra time in the morning to get ready. It took her a thirty-minute hot bath to soak away the aches from her weekend with her Viking lover. And Tommie still had the nerve, in front of a full salon and in a loud voice, to ask her why she was walking bowlegged after her date with Axel.
Sixteen
Late Tuesday afternoon at the salon, Rena was replacing stock while Nicky worked on a client in the back and Stella did paperwork.
“Um, I don’t know, Rena. I mean, the troll could be classified as cute. But that statue of Cupid is just creepy. It has bulgy eyes and a little dick. And that video Heller gave you…” Tommie cleared her throat, glanced around at the almost-empty salon, and added in a whisper, “I’ve seen it. It’s straight-up porn.”
“What?” Rena looked down at the innocent looking copy of Be My Valentine, Charlie Crown. She looked harder. “It says Charlie Crown, not Charlie Brown.”
Tommie tried not to laugh, but Rena could see her struggle. “See, Charlie wears a crown. But he wears it over his, um, penis. It’s a cock ring. And only his true valentine can get it off.”
Rena just stared. The cover of the DVD had cartoony characters. They looked like the Peanuts gang, but upon closer inspection, she could see they weren’t quite the same. “That is so wrong. What if I was a kid or something?” Where had Axel gotten this?
“What exactly is he trying to say to you?”
Stella walked up behind them. “Oh, that’s a good one. The chick with the long red nails gets Charlie at the end, not Lucy.”
“Stella?” Rena couldn’t believe her friend had seen that.
“What? It’s a popular gag gift. Most everyone I know saw it last year. It was a hoot.” She chuckled. “Oh, wait. Is this from Heller?”
“Yep,” Tommie answered. “He’s been trying, but our guy is not great with the gifts.”
Stella shrugged. “Maybe he’s telling her he wants her to be his vag-entine.”
Tommie snickered. “To be his sweetheart and play with his hard candy.”
“He wants her to enjoy his Peanuts.”
Rena refused to laugh. “You two are ridiculous.”
Nicky and her very tall, very manly client left the back room. Everyone stopped and watched him move, a walking example of fierce meets sexy.
As Nicky was taking his credit card, the guy did a double take at the video in Rena’s hand. He looked at her and the girls then back at the video. “Charlie Crown, huh? Didn’t think you were into that kind of stuff.”
Rena glared. “Oh, shut up, Grim.”
He chuckled as he left, and the room sighed. “He’s like a dark Heller, only meaner. I’m so in lust with that man.” Tommie groaned. “Do you think he likes Asian chicks?”
“I think he’s gay,” Rena said, knowing full well he wasn’t. The guy worked with J.T. at the tattoo shop and liked the ladies.
The girls looked horrified, Tommie especially. “What?”
“But I could be mistaken. Who knows?” She gave Tommie a mean smile.
“That is so wrong.”
“Hard candy, really? At least vag-entine was creative.”
“And Peanuts. Don’t forget that.” Stella stuck her tongue out.
Tommie laughed. “Touché.”
They continued to tease until it was time to go. An early day for everyone, for once, with the sun still out at four o’clock. Stella walked out first and came right back inside. She didn’t look pleased. “Guys, something you need to see.”
They followed her outside to the back and saw someone had spray-painted a lot of nasty names over the block cement wall, Bitch and the C-word being the nicer ones used. But not to leave anyone out who worked in the place, the artist had managed to throw in racial slurs on African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Italians, though Rena wasn’t sure who that had been aimed at since their token white girl, Nicky, was Scottish.
“Motherfuckers,” Stella spat. She went off in Spanish and dialed her brother before Rena could tell her not to.
Knowing Lou would tell Axel, she grabbed her phone, took a picture of the graffiti, which covered half the brick wall, and dialed her man.
“Rena, Liebling. How are you?”
“I have a small problem.”
“What’s wrong?” He sounded serious, probably having heard the waver in her voice.
As she told him, she grew more angry than afraid. “I bet it’s Fletcher’s guys. Who else would it be?”
“I’ll be right there,” he said and hung up.
“Axel’s coming over.”
“So is Lou,” Stella said. “But then, he’s working with Heller, so that’s kind of a no-brainer.”
Tommie and Nicky stared at the wall in shock until Tommie recovered enough to say, “They spelled pussie-bitch wrong. It’s not pussy with ie, it’s with a y.”
“And it’s not really a word, even though they used a hyphen,” Nicky added. “Pussy and bitch should not be used together. Now dumb bitch or pussy-whipped would make more sense. But then that could imply we were whipping people with our vaginas, so maybe not.”
“Good point.” It was either laugh or cry, and Rena chose to see the humor in the situation. She was laughing by the time Axel showed up.
He pulled into the back, looked at the wall, and shook his head. “They spelled pussy wrong.”
The girls burst into laughter. His eyes crinkled, but he didn’t smile. Instead he walked up to the wall and touched the paint. When some of the paint came off, he took heavy equipment out of the back of his truck along with a hose and a bottle of something.
“Can you hook this up for me?” He handed a hose and cord to Rena.
“What is it?”
“Pressure washer. I have graffiti remover too. When I’m done using the pressure washer to clean this, I’m going to find Fletcher and use it on him.”
Lou pulled up with Smitty in his car. “We left Mateo and Rylan to finish the Honda,” he told Axel as the pair got out. He stared at the wall, and his scowl grew. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
Smitty shook his head. “Gotta be Fletcher’s guys.”
“Get in line,” Stella told Lou with a mean smile. “Heller’s first.”
“Hey,” Rena barked. “This is my place. Maybe I want to be the one to kick his butt.” If it was even him. They’d all just assumed. But who else would it be?
Axel kissed her on the head—the stupid, patronizing man—and got to work.
“Axel, I can handle this.”
“You can. I am going to.”
She glared at him. He ignored her and started cleaning the wall.
Rena and the girls went back inside. “He’s humoring me.”
“He can humor me any day of the week,” Nicky muttered.
“It’s my shop.”
Stella raised a brow. “Want me to tell him to stop what he’s doing?”
“No,” Rena snapped. “But he should at least ask if I wanted his help before taking over.” And like that, her bad mood changed. Mr. Perfect wasn’t so perfect after all. “Huh.”
“Yo, Ms. Jekyll, what the hell?” Tommie leaned closer, looking into her eyes. “You on drugs? You’re mad, you’re laughing, you look like you want to cry.”
“She does not,” Nicky said.
“She did earlier.”
“I’m good. I’m just mad at Mr. Perfect out there, and it feels good. Sometimes he’s so great he makes it tough to be angry at him.”
Stella grinned. “He pissed you off. Make him pay for it.”
“But not with more Valentine’s Day presents.” Tommie grimaced. “He’s not a good gift giver. Just sayin’.”
Stella shrugged. “Meh. I don’t mind. I’ll take the possessed Cupid if you don’t want it. It’ll scare my sister. And she’s getting on my last nerve lately.”
* * *
Axel did his best to keep his anger in check as he took care of the graffiti. Such bullshit. He knew, he knew, this had to be Fletcher’s work.
“That cheek looks pretty bruised, Jefe,” Lou said, leaning back against his car as he watched Axel and Smitty work, applying the graffiti eliminator. The paint had only semi-dried, so it would come off easily. The pressure washer would probably work on its own, but he was taking no chances with Rena’s shop.
Axel didn’t answer, so Smitty spoke for him. “He annihilated two of Fletcher’s crew Friday night. Rabies is out. Scott suffered a bruised jaw and concussion, and no one’s seen Daryl or Fletcher for a while.”
The guys looked at Axel. He frowned. “Not me. But if I find them, I’ll kill them and leave no bodies.” He was only half-joking.
“Ah, good thing then no one’s seen them since Friday night,” Smitty said. “Interesting that Fletcher’s been absent. I would have thought he’d have been a part of your attempted beatdown.”
That had bothered Axel too.
Lou said, “But didn’t someone see him out and about not too long ago? He might be hanging out at those white-power rallies in Spokane. It’s been in all the news about how the city’s doing its best to get rid of those fuckers.” He went off in Spanish.
Axel agreed with most of the words he understood and added his two cents in German.
Smitty sighed. “I don’t speak Spanish or German, and I still agree with what I’m pretty sure you said.”
The cleaning took little time, and Smitty and Lou decided to head back to the shop to check on Rylan. Mateo would be fine, and Rylan had been doing well, but Smitty wanted to check on the guy. They got in Lou’s car and rolled down the windows. “Rylan keeps giving me attitude.” Smitty scratched his head. “I don’t know why, but I get the feeling he doesn’t like me.”
Lou gave him a mock gasp. “Not like you, but why not? You’re so damn pleasant to be around.”
“Yeah? So’s your mother.”
“Oh, nice, Smitty. You gonna insult my mama like that?”
Smitty grinned. “Man, she’s hot. If I wasn’t gay, I’d take her out and make a real woman out of her.”
Lou rolled his eyes then waved at Axel. “Later. Take care of Rena and the girls. And if you didn’t see how much you pissed off your girlfriend, you are one blind son of a bitch.”
Smitty chuckled. “We really should stay and watch him try to fix it.”
“Watch a grown man cry? Nah, I’ve seen that before.”
“Oh right, being you work at Webster’s Garage half the time.”
Axel snorted. Nice one, Smitty.
“Well, yeah. Those guys are weak. And Del’s friggin’ scary.”
They left in Lou’s ’73 Duster, and Axel took a moment. He put his gear away and debated the wisdom of confronting Rena in her shop or of apologizing and confronting her later.
Because if she thought he was okay with her working without protection or leaving alone at night without a plan in place to help her, she was way past wrong.
Ignoring a case of nerves, he walked inside and found the women passing around the old-school video he’d given her.
“Oh boy. Good luck.” Tommie grinned at him. “And Charlie Crown? Man, what are you trying to say, Heller?”
He frowned “What?”
Stella snickered. “I really want to stay.”
“Go,” Rena ordered them while glaring at him.
Shit.
Nicky patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks for cleaning up, Heller. I hate when people can’t spell.”
He nodded.
Then it was just Rena and Axel and angry silence.
She blew out a loud breath. “Well?”
“I’m sorry,” he tried.
“Can you be more specific?”
Great. A blanket apology wasn’t going to work. “For cleaning your wall.”
“No, for cleaning my wall without asking me if I wanted you to clean it.”
She wore her hair pulled back, and the severe style put all the focus on her face, the anger in her light-brown eyes and the passionate flush on her cheeks a testament that she wasn’t playing around.
Neither was he. “Rena, I’m sorry you are upset. But it’s not safe for you with Fletcher and his people making trouble.”
“We don’t know that it was Fletcher.” She held up a hand. “But I agree, it’s likely him and his boys. That still doesn’t explain why you’re suddenly making decisions for me.” Cute Rena had been replaced by Warrior Rena.
“You want the graffiti?” He was starting to get mad, feeling defensive and not sure why. He’d helped her out, dropped everything at work to come over and make sure she was okay.
“No.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. Slowly. “I want you to acknowledge you pushed where you shouldn’t have.”
“Fine. I pushed. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t sound sorry.” Then she shoved the video at him. “And what’s the deal giving me porn for Valentine’s Day?”
Now she had thoroughly confused him. “Was?”
She brought his hand up and placed the video in it. “Go watch the movie and let me know what you think.”
“Would you like to watch it over dinner?” He’d been planning to take her to his place for a nice meal after work.
“Not tonight. I’ve lost my appetite.” Again, she glared at him.
“I didn’t put those words on your wall.” He felt angry, scared for her and at her because she didn’t seem to understand the danger.
Then, realizing that his anger was directed at her, he shut down. He could do happiness, laughter, joy. Around Rena, those made sense. Anger had no place around her. That he’d felt it at all worried him. So, internally, he stepped back, walling off his emotions. Keeping her safe.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I’ll wait for you to lock up then go.” He turned and left, video in hand.
* * *
Rena didn’t know what had just happened. All she’d wanted was a sincere apology for overstepping. Period. But Axel hadn’t been sincere. He’d been annoyed with her, a first in their new relationship. But just to leave with a quiet I’m sorry? No discussion?
She locked up the back and saw him sitting in his truck by her car. She didn’t bother saying anything, and neither did he.
Their little fight felt odd. No yelling or theatrics, nothing like the drama her mother would have engaged in. It was as if an icy blanket had smothered the flames of their connection, leaving her on the outs. Still, the big overstepper followed her home and watched her enter her locked townhome before leaving.
Huh. What to make of that?
* * *
Two days of silence later, she sat with Chi-Chi, her doggie buddy she’d decided to foster until someone could find the little guy a home, and watched mindless television while her brain raced. She and Axel had never fought. This period of quiet between them would be a good indicator of how he handled conflict.
Which wasn’t to say he’d been totally absent the past two days. He’d been waiting in her lot while she opened and was there to watch her close. And he’d left two more gifts on her front step.
A small box of liquor-infused chocolates that had almost made her hurl and a pretty little bunny frame with his picture in it. That she kept at the office, aware the Easter-themed frame had nothing to do with the gorgeous—and stubborn—man inside it but understanding his little rabbit reference.
To date, that was her favorite present.
She grabbed a new book from a pile and started reading. But after rereading the same page for the twentieth time, she put the book down and pulled out her laptop.
After catching up on some book blogs and Facebook, she still found no satisfaction. About to close everything and go to bed early, she almost missed a message from Abby, of all people. Abby, the famous romance author, was also Del’s sister-in-law.
You know this man?!?!?
Confused, Rena clicked on the link and saw the picture of Axel taken after his haircut.
Then her phone beeped. The same text from Abby. The phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Oh my God. Answer your messages!” Abby sounded shrill.
“Abby?”
“Do you know the bearded Adonis or what?”
“Um, yes.” He’s my angry boyfriend, I think. “Why?”
“He’s viral!”
“What?” Axel wasn’t diseased, he was…oh. “Wait. Why?”
“Click on this.” A new Facebook message popped up with a link. When she clicked on it, she saw that nearly 500,000 people had liked his picture, with comments from he’s so sexy to where can I get my own Viking? to the more extreme what I’d do with him descriptions. She cringed at a few of the more overly graphic ones.
“Where did these come from?” she asked Abby.
“I saw it on Instagram. I think one of your stylists posted this picture a few days ago, and it’s taken off. I mean, this guy is drool-worthy, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. A friend of mine shared it to her romance reader group. So of course she tagged me to see it, and I recognized your salon. I have to meet this man!”
