Page 59 of Ravaged For You
“You act like you don’t give a damn about anything,” I say somberly, “But I can see that, deep down in there, you have a soft heart. You really do care.”
Axel diverts his eyes and shakes his head.
“Alright, alright,” he barks, hiding himself in a wall of facetious coolness. “No more sentimental crap. This is purely a business transaction we’ve got going here, not a therapy session. Let’s go back to the hotel, shall we?”
I nearly got him there. I nearly got him to lower his guard to peek into what lies beneath.
“Yes, let’s.”
* * *
I stand in the middle of Axel’s hotel suite and take in a deep breath before I launch into the words I’ve been thinking of saying the whole car ride back here.
“It’s the first night we’re going to spend as a couple…”
Axel turns around, his face a stone wall. I can’t judge what he’s thinking.
“I don’t want this to be anything weird,” he says. “I don’t want to make you feel pressured in any way to act like my girlfriend.”
“Why would I feel pressured?”
He sighs and stands by the door to his bedroom. He nods in the room's direction. “You can have my bed, and I’ll have the couch.”
“I’ll feel weird taking up your bed,” I reply. “Especially if you’re breaking your back on the couch in the other room.”
“You’re having it, though. I insist, Maddie.”
My voice trembles. “I’m fine if you want to share the bed. We can put a pillow between us so it’s not weird or anything.”
“You want me in the bed with you?” the rockstar asks.
My heart rate quickens. The air is thick with tension. It’s like both of us are circling around the topic, neither one of us going to broach anything.
I did tell him no funny business. That was my rule. Am I really trying to tease him to break it on our first night?
I don’t know what’s up with me. I thought I would be repelled by this man, but seeing him so vulnerable with his mom… and the sweet way he held my hand completely unprompted in the club… it just makes me rethink things.
“You have to do all these shows. If you sleep on the couch, then all you’ll do is develop a bad spine or something. For no reason when there’s a perfectly good bed here.”
“I’ll live.”
“You’re really going on the couch?” I ask him. “Just so you don’t get near me at all?”
He opens the door to his bedroom for me and then sits down on the couch. “It’s all yours.”
I make a move towards the room before I stop. Hesitating.
“When will we make this fake relationship public?” I ask him.
“Lucas tells me he’s coming up with a plan.”
“You really trust him, don’t you?”
Axel’s green eyes sparkle in the dimly lit hotel room. “He hasn’t let me down once.”
“Then I’ll trust him too.”
Getting ready to sleep on the couch, Axel slings off his shirt. My own eyes wander over the tattoos on his tanned skin yet again.
