Page 51 of Ravaged For You

“Come.”

“So you’re not telling me?”

He snarls. “Come with me, Maddie. Let’s get the hell out of this place.”

“How are we going to get past all the paparazzi waiting outside the hotel?”

“Oh, trust me. I know a secret route,” Axel replies. “Only for rockstars… and their girlfriends.”

“I’m not going until you tell me where we are going. I’m not going to let you pretend to be all mysterious and boss me around, Axel.”

He sighs.

And then…

“I’m taking you to meet my band,” he says ominously. My heart drops. “Properly this time.”

24

MADDIE

Axel takes me to a nightclub, but not just any nightclub. This is Name… the most exclusive spot in all of LA. Of course I’ve never been inside the place before, I’ve only ever heard about it through entertainment news when some celebrity falls out of it drunk and high or something. This is not a place that I would normally choose to go to, that’s for sure. It’s probably hard to believe, but I’m not exactly a nightclub kind of girl.

But this is where Axel is taking me. Naturally, the most VIP club I know. I don’t believe it until we park outside in his car.

Yeah, he’s got a car, not just a motorbike. It’s a Ferrari. This man certainly knows how to spend his money.

“I hate driving this,” he says. “I’d prefer the motorbike.”

“Maybe my outfit and heels wouldn’t be the best thing on the back of that,” I say, glancing down at what I’m wearing. It’s the same red dress I wore for him when we signed the contract. The best dress I own. I saw how he looked at me that meeting. How there was the slightest moment of hesitation in his voice when he saw me in this getup at Lucas’ place. That slightest moment of realizing that he truly is like any hot-blooded male when presented before a woman in a sexy outfit. That moment of vulnerability from Axel made me feel strong. The first time I felt on a level-playing field with this internationally famous rockstar.

In his flashy Ferrari outside the club, Axel’s eyes turn to me, checking me out as if noticing me for the first time, and he growls. “You scrub up well, Maddie.”

I blush. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, probably best not to have taken the motorbike.”

I see the paparazzi waiting outside the club. This must be a regular haunt for them with all the famous people that go through the doors every night. Must be an easy job just waiting for the next upskirt photo.

“You want to introduce me as your girlfriend to the world tonight?” I ask Axel as I stare across at the waiting photographers from the safety of his tinted car.

“No. Not yet,” he replies. “This would be the worse way to do it. The front entrance is for those celebrities who want to appear in the news, and you deserve better than some sweaty-ass guy trying to get a photo of your pussy as you step out of the car. I’ll take you around the back to the secret entrance.”

“There are so many secret entrances for you, Axel. Everywhere. Here… the hotel…”

“It’s what you have to do when you’re in my position,” he says. “I didn’t know when I became a musician that I was also signing up to be a spy. You better get used to it.”

“I don’t think I ever will.”

“Let me show you how.”

He spins the car around and we arrive behind the nightclub away from the eager cameras. Big security guards with clipboards check inside the vehicle as we roll up to the parking lot doors. Checking who we are. The burly men do a thorough search, but once they know who Axel is, they wave us through. No paparazzi are getting through this blockade.

“Does the rest of the band know it’s a fake relationship?” I ask Axel after he hands his car keys over to the valet. “Has Lucas told them?”

Unbeknownst to Axel, I’ve been so nervous on the drive over. Sure, I’ve met the other boys, but that was before… all of this. I wonder how they will take me. Will they look down on me? Will they laugh? Will they tease me into tears?

“They do know, yep. Is that a problem?”