At that, I looked to my side and down at what Brett was holding.
Pictures.
Black and white. Eight by ten.
Porn.
Hard-core, BDSM porn.
And it did not look like the woman tied up in a very unsexy way (to my inclinations) was enjoying it.
My skin chilled.
“The fuck?” Axl whispered dangerously.
His skin didn’t chill.
It seemed to heat.
And his arms got tighter.
“There’s three pics,” Brett explained. “This one’s the least fucked-up. And it came with a note that said, ‘This is you.’ ”
Suddenly, Axl let me go and took a step back.
That chill on my skin turned to ice.
“The fuck?” he repeated.
I looked up into his eyes.
But Brett answered for me.
“She got a call two days ago. Man said her name, threatened to tie her down and whip her. Odds were, he was just a crackpot fan. Now, think he isn’t just fucking around.”
“That’s why he’s picking you up from Smithie’s,” Axl said to me.
Okay, well, as I suspected, Boone and Ryn saw me get in Cisco’s car.
And Boone told Axl.
“Axl—”
“That’s why he’s sleeping on your couch.”
“Okay, see, the call came in when—”
“That’s why he’s on your deck hardly wearing anything, while you are on your deck, also hardly wearing anything.”
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say this was hardly any—”
“And you didn’t call me.”
His voice was so flat in delivering that, I closed my mouth.
“You didn’t call me or Mo or Boone or even Smithie. You called Cisco.”
And that was an accusation.
“Okay, I see that isn’t—”
“And you kissed me like you just kissed me. What’s the matter with you?”
And again, I shut my mouth.
Because that?
I did not like the tone of that.
It hurt.
“You know, think I made it clear I’m in to do the work, Hattie. But there’s only so much a man can take,” Axl declared.
“Listen, brother—” Brett tried to get in there.
Axl’s head jerked his way. “I’m not your brother.”
“Just calm down and let Hattie get a word in.”
“You got advice for me with this?” Axl asked, flinging a hand out my way.
Right.
First I was “work.”
Now I was “this.”
Seriously?
I mean, he always wore cargo pants. And I knew he was a commando. He’d been in on Evie’s rescue the first time she got kidnapped (that one without all the girls) and Evie said there were smoke bombs and tackling involved. Not to mention, he’d charged after Ryn when she was taken, I was there as yet to be abducted, and I heard the gunshots he was exchanging myself.
So he left it in little doubt he took his masculinity very seriously.
But acting possessive and like the wronged man when he’d only kissed me once and he did it when he had a girlfriend?
(Okay, I participated in that, and encouraged it, and that was very wrong, until I understood what was up with him and the woman he was seeing, but I didn’t have a boyfriend.)
Seriously, after he broke into my studio and was a jerk to me, then I got a nasty call when he stormed out, I could phone whoever I wanted.
Right?
Before I could share my thoughts on this, Axl’s attention returned to me.
“So, official. My job in this,” he cut a hand between him and me, “is done. You want it? You’re up.”
And with that, but no explanation to what that meant, he walked right through my gate and the entire deck shook when he slammed it behind him.
For long moments, both Brett and I stood there silent, staring at the door.
Then for longer moments, we did the same.
After those moments were over, I turned to him.
“You’re a guy. What on earth was that?” I asked, tossing my hand toward the gate.
“Quiet, sweetheart,” Brett said in a voice I’d never heard.
Instantly, I got quiet.
I also belatedly took in the look on his face as he continued to stare at the gate.
And when I did, I decided to give him as much time as he wanted.
He didn’t take a lot of it before he rearranged his face (slightly) and turned to me.
“Now that I’m not in danger of getting my knife, hunting that motherfucker down and teaching him a lesson …”
Eek!
“ … as a guy, I can tell you that he’s in it so deep with you, he can’t fuckin’ see straight.”
At that, I threw up both hands and reminded him (again), “He has a girlfriend!”
“I’ll be expending some effort today in finding the veracity of that statement.”
My body jolted.
“You don’t think he has a girlfriend?”
“You’re my girl to look after. I been doing that. This situation was not moving forward, so I had my ear to the ground, eyes I always got lookin’ checkin’ things out. He spends time with a woman. Until now, I thought she was a place keeper.”
Uh-oh.
All of a sudden I was in serious danger of getting insanely pissed at a man who had not too long before shared he was “not sweet” and I knew the form this could take since I was in the room when he ordered one of his henchmen to point a gun at Pepper’s head.