Page 35 of Bruised MC Bear
16
Axe
Axe grippedhis burner phone in one hand. He stared at the thing with his arms outstretched as if he expected it to go off like a bomb and blow him all to hell. And he had good reason to. The person he had to call next was sure to give him hell. He hated the idea of speaking with her, but he had no choice. They were out of options. He couldn’t involve the club anymore without potentially getting the bears and the panthers back into an all-out war, and he couldn’t use a Beartooth Brotherhood MC approved safe house because the panthers would see right through the plan.
There was only one other option, and to take that route meant he had to make the call now, before Angel woke up inside the pickup truck and started looking for him. Apprehension came over him. Christ, how was he even going to spin this so it didn’t look bad? There was no goddamn way he could pull it off. He ran both hands through his hair and exhaled, which did nothing to get rid of a nagging headache drilling a hole through his skull.
He unfolded the sheet of paper, staring down at Nancy’s name. Time to nut up or shut up. Keying in her number, he only hesitated for one more moment with his finger hovering over the little green phone symbol. So what if they hadn’t seen each other in years? Who cared that the last time they’d talked was a few Christmases ago? That was better than nothing. Never mind that he only ended up speaking to her because he had gotten obliterated on Jaeger and impulsively answered her annual holiday phone call, which he usually just let go straight to voicemail. The fact that he was calling her now was probably progress in her eyes, even if his motivations were a little fucked up. Okay, very fucked up.
With a grimace, Axe pressed the little green button and shoved the phone to his ear.
“Hello?” Nancy answered.
Jesus Christ, did she have to pick up so damn fast? His sister was so prompt for everything—everything except for acknowledging she was a shifter—it was no wonder she couldn’t even let the phone ring twice. A stab of nerves made him choke up. Maybe he could just hang up now and forget all about it. Even if she had caller ID, she wouldn’t know it was him on this burner phone.
“Hello?” Nancy repeated. “Is anyone there?”
Axe looked around nervously. He still had an out because she had no idea it was him. Her tone was neutral, not something she accomplished too much when it came to him. Leaning on the wall beside the restroom of the Chevron gas station, he went for it.
“Nancy.” He cleared his throat, rubbing his free hand along the leg of his jeans. “It’s me.”
“Oh. You. Of course, it’s you, Alexander,” she declared, her voice hollow and cold.
Not as if he should have expected anything different. Axe’s lips thinned, and he scanned the parking lot for any signs of danger. He was pretty sure he had not been followed since they did the mad dash from the motel, but he couldn’t be too careful.
“Alexander,” Nancy called him by his entire first name again. She was always a control freak that way. “Are you still there? What do you need? You’re in trouble, aren’t you?”
“How would you know?” he asked, checking the truck around the front of the building. Still no sign of Angel’s head either. She was probably catching up on her sleep after a chaotic fourteen or so hours of fighting off panthers, witnessing shifters, leaving everything behind, and driving all night. “It’s been a long time for you to assume that when I’ve barely opened my mouth.”
“Alexander Edward Voltaire, I can put two and two together. I may be your little sister, but I am not simple.”
“It’s Axe, Nance. It’s been Axe since I turned fifteen. Cut it out with the Alexander crap, will you?”
The silence between them was uncomfortable as always, and neither did any extra gabbing to change it.
She let out an impatient whoosh of breath. “Look, after our falling out, there can only be two reasons you would call. One, to apologize and make amends. Two, you’re shit out of luck and I’m the only help you can get. I don’t hear any contrition, so it has to be option two. Am I right? What’s the deal? Did the club turn on you, or did you make a mistake there’s no coming back from this time?”
“Yes and no,” Axe bit out, barely able to hold his temper, hating it when she was right. “It’s complicated. The simplest way to put it is I’m on an unplanned security job, and I can’t help feeling it’s connected to what happened…back then. I know it doesn’t make sense at all, but at the moment, I can’t use a Beartooth safe house. No one except Vincent knows where you live. Coming to you seemed like a no-brainer.”
“What security job? And how could anything now be connected to back then?”
Nancy was nothing if predictable, even after all these years. He figured those few high points would be the details she picked up from their conversation. For a second, he leaned his head on the wall, trying to get a grip on his patience because he needed her to let him and Angel stay at her house. Just then, the truck door popped open and Angel jumped out the passenger door. She looked both ways—twice—then she started sprinting across the gas station parking area as if someone was after her. Or maybe she thought he had left her there. Either way, he couldn’t keep his grin in check. Subtle, very subtle.
“Didn’t Vincent tell you? The MC has gone legit. I’ll fill you in, but the point is I have someone I need to keep under wraps. I need her to stay with you. Some fuckers are closing in on all sides, so it would be great if we could speed up this phone chat, and just skip over the judgment and the walk down memory lane bullshit until I see you in person. Is that cool?”
“You haven’t changed one bit.”
“I haven’t, but I sure hope you have, Nance,” he said, calling her by her pet name. “I’m not holding out any hope, though. We’re a stubborn lot. So, can I come by or are you leaving me out in the cold?”
He could practically feel his baby sister seethe over the phone. His fingers idly tapped on the wall as he waited, watching Angel run around in a frenzy, dressed in just his t-shirt and shorts. The idea that she had no panties or bra underneath had him hard as a rock. His sister then grumbled about something, which instantly killed his boner.
“Yes or no is pretty damn simple,” he said, waiting for an answer.
There was a whole lot of nothing on the other end of his cell. He took it away from his ear to make sure the seconds and minutes were still counting up, and that the call hadn’t dropped, or that she hadn’t hung up.
“How far away are you?” Nancy asked.
Nice. She was actually considering saying yes, which gave Axe a whole new headache on top of the current one. He tensed up from the possibility that she might agree to this fucked up last minute plan.
