Page 12 of Home Coming

Not only was Axel’s neighborhood cool, so was his loft apartment in a renovated industrial building. She took the rattling old metal elevator upstairs and even though it was the opposite of posh—and almost definitely the opposite of where Xander lived in Manhattan—she felt more hip, richer and more successful, just being here.

Maybe Xander was right. She did need a better apartment. It would be great for TikToks too. She could write off at least part of the rent on her income taxes as an office.

She’d look at some listings while she was waiting for Axel to get home.

Upstairs in the hallway outside his door she set the luggage along the wall.

It would take both hands to dig inside her bag—the one Gucci had sent her that wouldn’t even release to the public until next season—to find his key.

Finally, her finger touched upon the guitar-shaped keychain that she’d bought for him to put his spare key on.

He’d rolled his eyes when she’d shown it to him. She thought it was cute. He was probably just playing tough guy and couldn’t admit he liked it.

Guys will be guys.

It was the same reason she’d had to buy and bring over toilet paper when he ran out. And milk and coffee. And toothpaste.

The good news was with her here early today if she needed to run down to the store for anything she’d have time before he got home.

With that plan in mind, she swung the door open and paused.

The lights were on inside even though he wasn’t home, but he was really bad about not turning them off when he left.

But his keys were also on the table by the door in the catch-all bowl that also contained random guitar picks and batteries for his tuner.

Maybe he’d already gotten home? But she’d literally just gotten that text from him saying he was in a session with the band.

He could have forgotten his keys. He was pretty forgetful. He’d forgotten her birthday earlier that year, until she’d gently reminded him.

In that case, he’d be very happy she was there to let him inside—

A very feminine sounding moan stopped that thought dead.

The male groan that followed was like a knife through her heart.

She didn’t need to see it to know what was happening inside Axel’s loft bedroom.

Didn’t need to see for herself but she climbed the metal spiral stairs anyway.

The rubber-soled ballet flats she’d thrown on with leggings and a sweatshirt for the drive over didn’t make any noise on the stairs.

Axel and the size two blonde he had bent over the mattress as he plowed into her bony ass from behind didn’t hear her.

They didn’t notice as she pulled the cell phone out of the pocket in her hoodie. Didn’t even look up as she hit the button to go live on her TikTok account.

They only turned to look at her after she said aloud, “In case you’re wondering, this is why I’m no longer dating Axel Black. See what a piece of shit liar he is? Hey, Axel. Is this what you’ve been doing every time you told me you were in asessionwith the band?”

He came for her then, latex covered erection bobbing in front of him as he took a step toward her, arm out as if to grab her cell. Or maybe to wrap his hands around her neck. It was a toss up which.

His jeans were down around his ankles. Had he been so anxious to ram into blondie he couldn’t be bothered to kick them all the way off his feet?

Whatever the reason, he got tangled in the denim as he tried to come at her.

Axel went down hard, falling face and dick first onto the floor. She heard the crash followed by his scream of pain as she spun and ran down the stairs.

Her only regret was she hadn’t gotten the moment he’d realized he’d broken his dick on camera as she ran for her life.

She’d seen him beat a paparazzo with their own camera.

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