Page 40 of Axle's Angel
“Angel…” I trail off as memories flood through me of us as kids, saying goodbye, the years of looking for her right up to when I found her. “Angel,” I start again. “I loved you at sixteen, lost you at eighteen. It took us forever to find our way back to each other, but never once did I forget you. Loved you then, love you now. In front of my brothers, my president, and your family, I’m asking if you’ll be my Ol’ Lady?”
“Oh, Garret.” Angel’s lips tremble as she reaches for me, pulling me closer. “There’s nothing I’d love more,” she whispers against my mouth.
Our kiss deepens while the brothers whistle and shout. Laughing, Angel pulls back and turns so I can slip the cut over her shoulders. My name looks fucking amazing on her back, and it settles something primal in me in a way I never expected.
“Perfect,” I murmur, turning her to face me again. I seal my lips to hers, kissing her long, hard, and deep. Possessiveness fills me. She’s mine now, and I’m never letting her go. I’d be stuck to her like glue—I never wanted to go back to the way I’d lived before her, like a piece of me had been missing, and now I finally had it back.
Angel’s grinning wide when I finally let her come up for air.
“Let’s welcome the first of hopefully many Ol’ Ladies to our Chapter!” Maverick shouts. “Saint’s Outlaws.”
His shout is returned as if it’s a battle cry. Whistles, shouts, and hollers rent the air.
Maverick pulls me into a back-slapping hug. “Congratulations, Axle. Happy for you man.” He turns to Angel but slants a look at me first. I give him a nod of permission. He reaches for her and hugs her. “Welcome to the Saint’s Outlaws family, Angel.”
“Thanks for allowing me in,” Angel replies, stepping back into my arms as soon as Maverick releases her. “I’ll try and be a good Ol’ Lady.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” Maverick replies. “Go have fun. Enjoy your time. The brothers will want to celebrate with you.”
“Thanks, Pres,” I say, stepping away and into the brothers who welcome us. It’s a good night. One that neither Angel nor I will ever forget.
Chapter 13
Angel
The night I became an Ol’ Lady will forever go down as one of the best nights of my life. In the weeks following, we settled into a routine. The garden centre was mostly stocked and finished, so we’d moved our attention to the house. We needed to get it liveable, because winter would be on us before we knew it.
Jen settled in at the garage, and Axle was thrilled with how she was working out. North was living on the property adjoining ours in my van but spent most evenings with Tru, Janis, and Siera. They’d enfolded him into the family. Sometimes I wondered how he felt about the way the girls treated him, like the brother they’d never had. He took their teasing in his stride though and didn’t seem to mind spending his spare time with them. They had motorcycles and cars in common, and while not trained, the girls knew their way around an engine. Stone had made sure of it.
“Angel, you free?”
I look up from my laptop at Siera’s shout. The spreadsheets were beginning to blur, so it was as good a time as any to take a break. “Yeah,” I shout back "what's up?”
“Come help me figure out the coffee machine. It’s too space-agey for me,” she shouts back.
Shaking my head with amusement, I get up from my chair, stretching my back. Picking up my phone, I check the time and see it’s already mid-afternoon. No wonder I’m stiff, I’ve been looking at figures for several hours.
Leaving my phone on my desk, I go to see what Siera needs, walking out of my office into the main garden centre. A feeling of pride overwhelms me. We’ve worked hard, and it shows. Shelves were stocked as we received deliveries. Stone and Bridget would come the day before our opening with a delivery of plants, and the seedlings she’d propagated. Our greenhouses were almost complete, and we’d have our own stock next year.
I veer off to check on the gift shop first before going to the café, and a sense of satisfaction fills me as I look around the shop. There are crystals and wooden bowls dotted around, clothing and locally sourced art hanging on the wall. The most surprising art we had were metal sculptures.
The surprise wasn’t so much the sculptures, as who made them. Carnage had brought me a piece when I’d mentioned wanting to stock the shop with art from locals, and I’d fallen in love.
When I asked if I could meet the artist, he surprised me by taking me to a workshop in town, close to the garage. It had been filled with sculptures. Seems the man that liked to beat people up in fights also had the soul of a poet, because his work was amazing.
I bought a waterfall sculpture for the garden centre, and it had pride of place right by the front doors. Janis had plumbed water to it, and it now had trickles of water running down the wavy sheets of metal into a small pond that was constantly recycled. It was gorgeous, and I knew his stuff would fly off the shelves.
Leaving the shop, I walk across the centre to the café and bite back a laugh when I see a frazzled Siera, hair up in a scarf, coffee paraphernalia scattered around. She looks up when she hears me.
“Whose fucking bright idea was it to get this machine? What’s wrong with normal coffee?”
Laughing, I slide onto a stool by the counter and spear her with a look. “As I recall sister dear, it was yours.” I pitch my voice and bat my eyes. “Oh, please, Angel. Let’s get a machine that makes fancy coffee. It will be so much better.”
“Fuck off,” she glares at me, making me laugh louder until she comes around the counter. Squealing, I jump off the stool and run. The problem with siblings is that they know you, and Siera knows I can’t run for shit when I’m laughing. She tackles me, digging her fingers into my ribs before we even get to the door.
The two of us are rolling around on the floor like kids. I’m laughing so hard I can barely take a breath. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I wheeze.
“Too late,” Siera smirks, leaning over me and clamping her legs around my hips when I try to buck her off.
