Page 146 of Axel

“Kind of?”

When Axel smiles at me like that, he’s the sky, embracing my entire world.

And I smile back, wiggling my empty finger in his sexy face. “There’s this song by Beyoncé…”

“Oh, I’m putting my ring on it.” He laughs. “But first, let me getyourtoy out ofmyass.”

He holds my face and gives me a kiss better than any ring before he leaves my body and climbs out of bed.

Cutely, he covers his cut ass with his hand, making me laugh. “Like I don’t know what you’re hiding.”

“Like a man needs his dignity.” He laughs back, swinging the bathroom door open before exclaiming, “Holy hurricane of toilet paper! What the fuck? It’s everywhere!”

I roll on the bed, holding my stomach, laughing so hard. “You told them to do it.”

“Since when do my pussies listen to me?” He shouts from the bathroom. “Jesus H. Christ, it looks like it snowed in here!”

Axel’s so angry, I’m laughing with tears, hearing him softly cuss at the kittens while he grumbles, resolving the situation in his ass and the bathroom.

When he returns, naked and crawling into bed beside me…

I’ve never had this much hope.

I’ve never felt this much love.

Then Axel’s phone rings.

And everything changes.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

AXEL

“Sheknows,”Loch fumes. “And she hates me now.”

“What do you mean sheknows?” I bolt up from the warm bed I was sharing with Ruby, seething into my phone, “How the fuck did she find out?”

“Her best friend, Vale, Nash’s queen; she figured it out.” Loch barks right back at me, “I told you this would happen. We never should’ve lied to her.”

“Where are you? Where’s Alena?”

I say her name with my back to Ruby, the reality hitting me like a truck;I haven’t told her about Alena yet.

Fuck, I forgot. I’ve been so overwhelmed.

My half-brother.

My father.

My son.

For God’s sake, I can’t catch a break or a breath.

“I’m with Mom in her villa, and Alena’s in her bedroom with Nash, talking to him. It’s his right. He’s her father. He’s telling her everything, but goddammit, it’s my right, too,” Loch rages. “I need to talk to her. She’s going to fuckinghate me.”

That makes two of us.

“What are you going to do?”

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