Page 15 of Axel

If her eyes could fire bullets, I’d be dead.

“We’re fine, hotness.” Zar pecks her cheek again. “Mr. Cummings is helping us create a co-ownership agreement for my beach shack. You see,that’slove … since you don’t do it.”

Playfully, she backhands his biceps before pecking Nick’s cheek, too. Then, she fires an eat-cat-shit-and-die glare my way before closing my office door behind her.

“You can cut the tension between you two with a hot butter knife.” Nick sounds amused, settling onto my sofa. He reaches for Zar’s hand as he settles in beside him.

“She hates me.” I take the chair across from them.

“And you love it.” Nick chuckles.

“And I know the Jones sisters,” Zar adds. “For them, hot hate is a hair’s breadth away from deep love.”

“Enough.” I wave my hand, exhausted by my passion for Ruby today. I need a break … and sleep. “What’s going on?”

They exchange a long look. “Do you want me to—?” Zar starts, but Nick says, “I’ll tell him.”

“Tell me what?”

“I’m being bribed.” Nick’s brawny shoulders sag. “Extortion, I guess, is the legal term.”

“For what?”

Though I already know. I love my little brother too much. I’m too protective of him.

Nick is gay and deeply in love with Zar. Yes, he knows about Zar’s bond with Luca Mercier and his role with Luca’s wife. Nick joins them, and I’ve never seen my brother so happy. It’s all I want. But Nick is also the leading tight end in the NFL, and it’s career suicide if he comes out.

And it’s lethal if anyone ever finds out who Nick really is.

“For being in love,” Nick answers. “For going on a vacation last month. We rented a chalet in the mountains, and I’m being bribed for having sex with the man I love.”

“What do you mean?” But, quickly, I figure it out. I have cameras in my house, too. “Someone took a video?”

“Yes.”

The pained look on my brother’s face fills me with regret and rage. Regret for the homophobic world we live in and rage that someone would threaten to out him. That’s his choice. His right. No one else’s.

“Did the rental listing say there would be cameras recording?” I ask. “Legally, they have to disclose them and say where they are. Most properties use them to monitor doors for security.”

“We didn’t fuck at the front door,” Nick seethes. “We were in the primary bedroom, where weshouldhave privacy and?—”

“Regardless,” Zar adds, “I checked the listing. It never mentioned cameras.”

“So, walk me through what happened next.”

“It’s been weeks since our vacation, but yesterday,” Zar explains, “I got a text. I had to give my number to rent the property, and I did it in my name, but I guess Nick is too famous. They recognized him and sent a twenty-second clip of our sex, demanding five million dollars, or they’ll release it online.”

“Jeez, they have so much on us.” Nick drags his hand down his face. “It was our anniversary weekend. We hardly left the bed.”

Zar leans over, kissing his cheek. “I’ll walk through hell for you, baby. It’ll be alright.”

“But you’re not ready to come out,” I seethe. “And you deserve to do it with pride, not like this. They’re trying to shame you.”

“I have no shame, no regrets,” Nick snarls. Like me, he can murder with his bare hands, but nothing can kill a viral clip. “But I have a career I love, a team I must protect, and a sport I’ve dedicated my life to. I’m not ready to leave.”

“They can’t make you leave,” I insist. “The NFL has a policy that protects against discrimination of openly gay players.”

Nick scoffs, “It doesn’t protect me from everything else. Come on. Name a top-tier player who’s out.”

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