Cam pulls out his phone. “I think you deserve to know what it’s like to have your picture taken and posted for all your friends and family to see.”
I swing my gaze to Blake, who’s grinning in satisfaction.
“Come on, Clitford.” Wade’s voice coos. “It’ll be fun. We’ll strip you naked, tie you up, and play whack-a-mole with—oh, shit.” He throws his hands up in the air. “He pissed himself. Real nice.”
“I’m not touching that.” Caleb steps back.
“Damn, that’s a lot of piss for one man.” Jonah pulls out his phone and snaps a few photos. “We can post these from a dummy account.”
“Alright, okay?” Cliff’s bottom lip trembles. “I’ll stay away. I’ll move. Whatever, just…” He sniffs and clears his throat. “I’ll leave her alone, I swear.”
“Do you believe him?” Blake’s next to me, arms crossed over his chest.
“I do. Because he knows if he so much as thinks about her and we find out we’re coming back for him.”
Cliff exhales hard.
“Alright, boys.” Cameron turns toward the door. “Let’s blow.”
“Aw, man, I was hoping we could get in at least one good hit.” Rex pouts as Cameron ushers him and the others out while they grumble their complaints.
Once they all leave, I address Clifford for what I hope will be the last time in Axelle’s long beautiful life. “I know what you did, and I know you saw my leaving as a chance to do it.” I slam my fist into his gut, and he doubles over, gasping. “This is over. Do not make me come back.”
I whirl around to leave and find Blake standing in the doorway. He nods in approval then turns, and I follow behind him, slamming Clifford’s door so hard the wood snaps.
“I think that went well,” Blake says with a smile in his voice.
“I’d say the message we came to deliver was received.”
He nods. “It was a wet reception.”
“Yeah, it was.”
We chuckle, and once we’re at the cars, everyone pats me on the back. Blake squeezes my shoulder. “Good job, Killer. You did the right thing to call us rather than go in there alone. You needed the back up.”
I knock Blake’s hand off my shoulder. “I didn’t need you guys here. I just figured after what I’d seen the last few days, how much you all dig my girl, that you’d want the chance.”
“Hey, until you make this shit official, she’s still my girl.” Blake pokes me in the chest.
“Oh, that reminds me. We’re going house hunting this afternoon.”
Blake seems genuinely shocked. “You tellin’ or askin’?”
I shrug. “Um…both?”
“So this is it, huh? You two are finally done fucking around, and you’re gonna give this thing a real chance?”
“Absolutely, although there’s no chance about it. I’ve settled for less than all of her, but those days are over.”
Blake’s eyes study the ground, and when he looks up, they’re shining. “I approve, Kill.”
“Yeah?”
He nods. “Now let me take you to grab your car so you can take my girl house hunting.”
I head to his Rubicon. “Nice of you, Blake, but I don’t think Layla will be interested in house hunting with me.”
He glares. “Don’t you take Axelle away from me, Kill. I’ll put the hurt down.”
I glare back. “Same to you.”
He groans and hops into the truck. “You two are obnoxious. Damn soul mates of annoyance.”
“Can’t argue that.”
Epilogue
Four months later…
Axelle
“Axelle, don’t.”
I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing hysterically at Killian as he tries, once again, to tell me what to do. I can’t see his eyebrows behind his sunglasses, but the tanned skin of his forehead is pinched in irritation, his lips held in a tight line that only makes me want to kiss him until they soften beneath mine.
“Kill, relax.”
He swivels his head from left to right and back again as if the power of his thoughts could make everyone on this St. Tropez beach disappear before I do something stupid.
“It’s my birthday and we’re in Southern France!” I toss my crocheted beach bag onto the chic lounger the hotel has set up on the beach. When Kill said he was taking me on a trip for my birthday, I expected extravagance. I did not expect a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous European vacation worthy of rock gods and Hollywood royalty: everything from the travel pods on our first-class flight to hotels where the bed sheets probably cost more than I make in a year. He’s left me wanting for nothing.
Well, except this.
“No.” He practically stomps his flip-flop-clad foot into the sand before he drops to the lounger, pouting. “I’ll lose my shit, Ax, I swear to God.”
He’s adorable all the time, but when his big ole body is slumped over and he’s sulking, he’s irresistible. I step between his open legs and pull his head to my stomach. “Kill…” His arms wrap around me to lock around my thighs. “You’re being ridiculous.” I hold back the giggle that threatens to burst free and run my fingers through his hair until he loosens up. “It’s just a bikini.”
“It’s hardly a bikini.”