Julie locked the door and flopped back onto the bed after Axel left, her mind a whirl of confusion. She still felt such a strong attraction to him and she wasn’t sure why he’d rescued her. Did he feel responsible for her? Guilty? She grabbed a pillow and covered her face with it. She wanted to scream with frustration but she couldn’t draw attention to herself. It would be just her luck that someone would call the cops and she’d be on the evening news, all because she couldn’t control herself.

Why did Martin follow her? It’s not like he wanted her anymore. He said she was too scrawny to ever make him much money. All she did was get scrawnier, eating as little as she could so maybe he would cut his losses and let her go. He’d beat her bloody when he discovered she’d been stealing from him, stashing the money under her mattress. But that had only made her more determined. She’d stolen a cell phone from one of the other girl’s clients and called her mom. She’d thought she was free, but no. They would hunt her forever.

Here she was with Axel. She had to be careful or she’d lose her heart again. That would be a mistake.

After a while, she tossed the pillow aside and got up to leave a voice message for her parents. She wanted them to know she was okay. She flipped through the channels on the TV for a while, but the motel didn’t have cable and there was nothing on but talking heads. She was more than a little antsy when Axel knocked on the door.

She peaked through the curtains to be sure it was him before she opened the door.

“Wow,” she said. “You look great.” And he did. He’d changed into a dark suit that looked like it was tailor made just for him. She felt a little foolish when she realized it probably was made just for him. Axel had to be making some pretty solid funds working for Eduardo.

He stepped in and closed the door behind him, making sure it was locked. He dropped the bag he was carrying on the floor near the desk and sat in the chair facing her. He looked defeated and she wondered what he had been doing. It occurred to her that she owed him for rescuing her and for finding her a safe place to stay. She stood slowly and took his hands, pulling him up out of the chair. She slid his jacket off over his shoulders and hung it in the closet. Then she knelt and slid off his shoes, his hand on her shoulder for balance. When she went for his belt buckle he jerked back and she whispered “relax. It’s okay.” She unbuckled his pants and slid them over his ankles. She let him sit down again and slid the pants over his feet. She folded and hung the pants in the closet next to the suit jacket.

He was wearing boxer shorts covered with green turtles and she had to try hard not to laugh she focused on his dress shirt, untying the black silk tie. She had to breathe deep to keep a straight face, men were so sensitive about their boxers and she didn’t want to ruin the mood. Not that there really was a mood; he was staring at her like she had grown a second head. She hung his shirt and tie and when she came back to him he had removed his socks and placed them neatly with his shoes.

She clicked on the TV and then off again when she remembered there was no cable. She went over to the little radio on the bedside table, twirling the dial until she found some easy listening music. Her time in the city had taught her that the wrong music could totally spoil the mood for a man. Something innocuous, like easy listening, wouldn’t add to the excitement but it wouldn’t kill the mood either. She chose a song with a decent beat and began to sway to the music. She danced her way to where he was sitting, leaning down to brush her lips across his ear.

She leaned over and unhooked her bra without removing her dress so he could watch her breasts sway and get a peek down the neckline when she bent forward. She’d learned that a little goes a long way and it was easier to get a man worked up if you made him wait. Teased him. Denied him what he wanted. She put her arms in the air and swayed; noticing that she was making an impact. Axel was breathing hard, his eyes dark and dangerous and the turtle print boxers were bulging.

Julie slid her panties down and kicked them off without letting him see what was underneath, except for what he could see down the neck of her dress. Now she was naked under the light fabric she could feel her own arousal building. She was oh so hot for him. She shimmied up to him and climbed onto his lap, one knee on either side of his hips. She groaned as his hands slid under her dress and cupped her ass, rubbing her wet slit against the tip of his penis through the fabric of his boxers.

Axel groaned and she twitched her hips teasing him. When she felt his muscles tighten as if to vacate the chair, she slid his penis free of the fabric. She slid him inside her, rocking hard. Axel grabbed her dress and pulled it over her head, leaving her breasts to bounce inches from his face. Her nipples were taut and hard and she rubbed them from side to side against his lips until he opened his mouth and sucked it in. He licked and flicked the nub with his tongue. She arched her back, rubbing her clit into his pelvis in time with his sucking.

He caught her other breast in his hand and thumbed that nipple as he sucked the other. The pressure was building low in her belly. She writhed. “Harder,” she groaned. “Punish me. Fuck me.”

He surged to his feet, taking her with him and she wrapped her legs around him. They crashed to the bed where he pulsed into her, hard and deep, sinking the full glorious length of him into her, until her body convulsed and she cried out. Driving hard, he thrust until he came and collapsed on top of her.

They lay, coupled together until a shadow passed the curtained window and they both tensed. Axel pulled out of her with a quiet “sorry Jules,” and grabbed a pair of sweats from his duffle. He pulled them on over the now damp boxers and went to stand next to the window. Without moving the curtain he put his eye to the crack between the drape and the window frame. Then he beckoned her over. She came to stand beside him, still naked and put her own eye to the gap.

What she saw made her jump back, her hand to her mouth. She looked at Axel, her eyes wide and mouthed “It’s him.” Axel nodded and motioned for her to go into the bathroom, but before she could move there was a pounding at the door.

“I know you’re in there Julie, open the door,” Martin Richter said.

Julie squeaked and clung to Axel. He motioned to the bathroom again but she shook her head vigorously and dug her fingers into his arms.

Martin pounded again.

“You got five seconds to open this door you little bitch,” he said. “One, two, three…”And then he opened fire. The bullets sprayed through the door and shattered the window, then back toward the door again. In the ringing silence that followed, there was only the sound of boots running away and everything was quiet again. Axel slumped against her and she realized he was bleeding.

Of course he’s bleeding, you idiot, she thought. He was standing between you and the gunfire. She half dragged him over to the bad and laid them there to examine his wounds. He was alert but quiet. Julie thought he was clenching his jaw against the screams of pain that he wouldn’t let go. Axel had three bullet wounds, a through and through in one thigh, another in his side and an entry wound only near his shoulder. They were all leaking blood. She reached for the bedside phone but Axel grabbed her hand.

“No,” he said. “I’m wanted by the police. You can’t get help.”

“You’d rather be dead than in jail?” She was spitting mad. “There’s blood everywhere and you’ve got a bullet in your shoulder.”

“Doesn’t matter, no help.” Axel put his good hand to his side and grimaced. “Hurts like a bitch.”

Julie was standing there naked, hands on hips, staring at him, when the manager stuck his head through the curtains at the broken window. He looked at her and smiled, “you better get some clothes on, sweetheart. We gotta move you out of here.”

The manager came in through the ruined door with a first aid kit and slapped some gauze and tape on Axel while Julie grabbed her sweats and a T-shirt out of her backpack and put them on. Axel said he could walk, but his wounds began to bleed as he moved. The manager ran for a wheelchair he kept in the office and he wheeled Axel to the maintenance elevator, while Julie grabbed their belongings and followed behind. Julie could hear sirens approaching as they wheeled Axel into a basement apartment.

The manager left, closing the door behind him, leaving Julie to cope with Axel in the dark.