“Did you empty the Toys for Tots boxes?” Axel asked as soon as he opened his apartment door.

He stepped back and she stepped inside, shooting him a frown. “Not today. I came directly here from the bakery.”

“So you didn’t empty the PD’s boxes in the last couple days or even the club’s?”

“No, I didn’t get a chance.” Her dark brown eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Fuck,” he whispered to the door as he closed it.

“What?”

He turned and regarded her. He was thrilled she’d agreed to come over after work for dinner and really didn’t want to dampen the evening with bad news. But she needed to know. “I checked our donation boxes, and they were all empty.”

“Okay?”

“And so were yours. I thought maybe you just grabbed everything at once and took them out to the storage unit.” Or he had hoped to hell that she had.

“No, I didn’t... Shit!”

“Yeah, shit. When’s the last time you were out there?”

“The last time I emptied the boxes... three days ago.”

“I’m going to take a ride out there tomorrow. I have a feeling about this.”

She chewed on her bottom lip and suddenly he was very jealous of her teeth. “Oh, fuck. Please don’t tell me someone stole all the toys.”

“Hopefully, not. Or at least, just the ones in the boxes.”

“How could someone get away with that? Those boxes sit inside local businesses.”

Axel cocked an eyebrow at her. “Just get a biker to say he’s collecting for you. I’m sure you sent prospects to do a few rounds.”

“Fuck. I... The Warriors!” she spat out.

That was his fear, too. Those fucknuts did anything to screw the Angels and he wouldn’t put it past them to steal toys collected for needy kids. He knew the DAMC was done with dealing with the rival bikers’ shit and he expected some sort of war to break out at any time. The pot shots they took at DAMC were getting more and more dangerous. Theft was one thing, the kidnapping, rape and assault was another. As was throwing a Molotov cocktail into Sophie’s bakery that could have caused great harm and damage both to Z’s woman and the business.

If there was any way that the Shadow Valley PD could disband that outlaw MC, he’d be on it. Problem was, they were a nomad club, never settled anywhere and the havoc they wreaked usually was of the hit-and-run variety. Like when they stole the donations at last summer’s Dogs & Hogs fundraiser.

They were not only an all-around nuisance, but a dangerous one.

Though, when it came to dangerous, so were Diesel’s “Shadows” who Axel was sure were hunting down Warriors. He couldn’t prove it, but after Kiki, Jazz and Jewel were kidnapped by a Warrior named Black Jack and then Diesel was shot, he knew D wasn’t going to just sit back and let something else happen. He’d strike first. Or he’d send the men from his crew at In the Shadows Security to do it.

Axel wasn’t stupid. He knew the MC’s Sergeant at Arms was keeping the club “clean” by using his own men to do his dirty work.

“I’ll do a report, try to get a description from the business owners or employees of the person or people who emptied them, but I have a feeling...”

She groaned. “No. That unit better not be empty. It wasn’t just our toys or the PD’s donations in there.”

He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “I know.”

“Thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth.”

Like he needed a reminder of how great of a loss it would be. The thought made him sick to his stomach. “I know, Bella.”

If Bella hadn’t agreed to come over, he would’ve gone out there tonight to check. But there was no way he was letting her back out of his apartment, even to run to the unit with him, now that she was here.

“I’m going to get Diesel on it.”

Oh fuck. “No. I’ll handle it; the PD will handle it.”

“If it’s the Warriors...” Her eyes slid to the side.

“Bella, look at me.” He waited until she did before saying slowly, “I will handle it.”

“Axel...”

Axel switched to his cop’s authority voice. “It’s not even a discussion. Keep him out of it. Keep them all out of it. Do you hear me?”

Bella said nothing.

He sighed.

“They’re going to find out and then what you and I say won’t matter. If D wants to handle it, you’re not going to have a say, Axel.”

“Then we’re going to keep it quiet for as long as possible. This will be done the right way. The legal way.” He frowned at her when she didn’t answer. “Bella, seriously.”

She raised her hands. “Not up to me. I’m not going to hide the fact that the toys were stolen. It needs to be addressed. Especially if the Warriors are responsible. The Knights were doing their own collection. I’ll have to check with them to see if they were hit, too.”

Say what? “You talk to the Dark Knights?”

“They’re good allies.”

“Are you serious? They’re outlaws.”

“You know they helped out at your brother’s wedding, right? And they helped support the Dogs & Hogs event.”

“I’m aware of that. I was at the fundraiser, remember?”

“How can I forget?” she muttered.

Axel smiled then quickly stopped since doing so still shot pain through his face, especially his nose. “Fuck.”

“What?”

“My face still hurts.”

She smirked. “Yeah, it looks bad.”

“Thanks.”

Bella shrugged. “Your dick isn’t hurting, is it?”

“That’s all you want from me, what’s hanging between my legs?”

Her smirk widened into a smile. “It’s a start.”

“Jesus, please don’t make me laugh.”

“Did you go see a doctor today?”

He sure did, right after he called off from work. He certainly didn’t want any of his brothers in blue to see his face in the shape it was in. Though, he knew he couldn’t avoid it forever, since it would take a while for the bruises to fade. He’d need to come up with some sort of story other than a big-ass biker doing a single K-O punch. “Yeah.”

“And?”

“It’s fractured. It’ll heal fine. They also did an x-ray to make sure nothing else was broken.”

Her dark eyes searched his face with concern. “Fuck, I’m so sorry.”

Hell, having her look at him like that was worth getting knocked out. “Not your fault.”

“It is. D’s only super protective of me because...” She drifted off.

“While that may be a part of it, I know it has to do with me being a cop, too. And then there’s the whole Z thing.”

“You two are so different,” Bella murmured.

True, he and Zak were very different, but polar opposites apparently ran in the family. “Well, so are Rocky and Mitch.”

“Yep, nothing more opposite than your father being a cop and your biker uncle doing life in prison for murder. Hmm. Kind of reminds me of you and Z. One brother’s a cop, the other did time.” When Axel opened his mouth to respond, Bella stopped him by holding up a finger. “For a crime the Warriors set him up for, by the way.”

Right. Fuck.

They were supposed to be having a nice dinner, and then, if it was up to him, getting horizontal in a bed much bigger than her tight double. He woke up in her bed this morning with her practically on top of him, her slobber pooled on his bare chest and his back muscles tight and cramping since he pretty much had to make sure they didn’t hit the floor during the night.

It probably would have been better to stay on the couch. One thing was for certain, either she was getting a new bed or they were getting together only at his apartment in the future.

However, he knew his apartment was nothing to write home about. It was a typical bachelor pad. Sparse, unkempt, and only held manly things like a big screen TV, the latest gaming system, huge-ass surround sound speakers, an old mismatched couch and recliner, a beat-up coffee table, and a fridge full of beer... but more importantly, his king-size bed. He’d splurged on that. He had a quality mattress, excellent pillows, and it was big enough to do a lot of different positions with his woman while naked.

He eyeballed Bella in her snug-fitting jeans, knee-high boots, and white top that had a deep V crisscrossed with laces that showed off just enough cleavage to give him a chubby. Her long dark hair had been released from the bun she normally wore at the bakery, so it fell midway down her back in soft waves that he wanted to shove his face and fingers into.

“Axel.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you going to stare at me all night?”

“Can I?”

She laughed. “I’m sure after a little while it might start feeling a little creepy, just so you know. But my stomach’s growling, and you lured me over here with your promise of a good meal.”

“Did I say good meal? I should’ve said good company.”

“I’ll be the judge of both of those things.”

He reached out and cupped her cheek. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”

Her eyelids lowered and her eyes became heated. “Not today,” she whispered.

“I’d kiss you but my face still hurts too much.”

“That sucks because you’re a good kisser.”

“Am I?” he asked softly. He’d never been told that, but as long as Bella thought so, that was all that mattered.

She bit her lower lip. “Yeah. You’re good at eating pussy, too, but I guess that’s out for now.”

Fuck him. His half-chub was now a raging hard-on. “Could I talk you into sex first and then ordering pizza in after?”

She looked at him in surprise. “You consider pizza a good meal?”

“I’m a single man who lives by himself. Pizza is the shit.”

Her laughter caused a warmth to spread from his chest down to his gut. Fuck, he wanted to hear her laugh every day for the rest of his life. He wanted to make it his mission to never see her as sad as she was after losing her baby and almost losing her own life.

“Are you hating on pizza? The breakfast of champions?”

“If I stay over tonight, is that what I’m getting for breakfast?”

He tilted his head and stared at her mouth. It was so hard to resist kissing her. “Will cold pizza convince you to stay the night?”

“No.”

“Will my awesome king-size bed?”

“Doubt it.”

“Then what will?”

She stepped forward and placed one hand on his chest over his heart and then the other slipped down to cup his erection that wanted to punch a hole in his jeans. “Dick?”

“Just any dick?”

She shook her head, her eyes flashing. “No.”

He liked this game. “Any particular one?”

She gnawed on her bottom lip and nodded.

“Does it have a name?”

She nodded again and smirked. “Axel rod.”

Axel snorted so hard that he ended up crying out as pain exploded through his face. “Fuck! Stop it. That hurts.”

She laughed. “Sorry.”

“You can make it up to me.”

“That I can. So I’m assuming the so-called ‘good homemade meal’ is out. Just a ploy.”

“Do you forgive me?”

“I’ll forgive you if you get Bangin’ Burgers delivered instead of pizza after I fuck your brains out.”

He fought so hard not to smile, but it was tough. “Who the hell needs brains, anyway?”

“Deal?”

“Fuck yes,” he breathed as her hand squeezed him over his jeans. He brushed a knuckle over her cheek. “Did I say you were beautiful? Because I was wrong.”

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Because you are fucking goddamn beautiful. And I can’t wait to be inside you.”

“I can’t wait for you to be inside me, either,” she whispered back.

* * *

Bella flicked his nipple with the tip of her tongue.

“Jesus,” he groaned.

“Like that?” she asked as she straddled his hips, taking her time as she rose and fell on his cock.

“I dunno,” he murmured.

“Let me try the other side.” She leaned over and flicked the other one, then scraped her teeth over the small hard tip.

His hips jumped off the bed. “Fuck.”

She dropped her head and studied his face. “See? You do like it.” Her gaze roamed over his bruises, dark purples and blues, his left eyelid was still pretty swollen, his nose puffy, his jaw sporting a colorful bruise, too. But she could see past all of that to his intense blue eyes, his thick eyelashes, his perfect mouth. She wasn’t lying when she told him he was a good kisser. He was. And as long as she just laid light kisses on his lips, it wasn’t painful for him. But the hard part was resisting the urge to take the kiss deeper.

They found that out earlier during their first round of sex. That time he was on top, making her come until her legs turned to jelly. Then she got to lay in bed while he ordered a couple famous Bangin’ Burgers, fries and two vanilla shakes. Normally, a meal like that would have put her into a food coma, but she was not passing up round two. No fucking way.

She had wanted Axel for what seemed like forever. Back to when they were teenagers and would see each other at school. She had crushed on him big time but knew he was off limits. Eventually, he went off to college for a couple years, then the police academy, then followed in his father’s footsteps of becoming an SVPD officer. So she kept her distance. And found herself looking for love...

In all the wrong places. Or one wrong place. Church. Being constantly surrounded by aggressive men growing up, she was used to them. Actually preferred them because she knew nothing different. Her sister, Ivy, had even fought being with a biker for most of her life since she didn’t want to be considered a man’s property. Until Jag showed her otherwise.

However, once Bella started slinging drinks at The Iron Horse after turning twenty-one, she was at the club a lot. Between both the public and private side of the club, she practically lived there. She was constantly partying with the brothers. Drinking, having a good time, hooking up for just the fun of it.

Then she caught his eye. Her hips had filled out, her breasts became fuller, and all male eyes started landing on her. Even Pierce’s. Like most of the rest of the women, she had to make sure she never found herself alone with the club president.

But it wasn’t Pierce who she needed to watch.

No.

It was Rebel.

A big, good-looking brother with smoky green eyes, long blond hair, who’d been patched in years before. He was slick and could talk the panties off any woman. Including hers.

Night after night she’d end up in his room at church after her late shift at The Iron Horse. Until he became more and more possessive every day.

He even tried to talk Hawk into letting her go at the bar. Hawk refused, saying everyone had to pull their weight and help out at the club businesses.

Hawk nor Diesel liked the way things were progressing between her and Rebel. But they both tried to keep out of a fellow brother’s business. And at that point Rebel had done nothing wrong since it wasn’t abnormal for a brother to be possessive of a woman, ol’ lady or not. If she was his regular piece, then it was acceptable.

Even so, Rebel could say all the right words, make her feel good about herself, he was great in bed when he wanted to be, made promises for their future. So when it came time for him to claim her at the table, he did it without telling her first. It was voted on and, suddenly, she was officially Rebel’s ol’ lady without even having a say in the matter. He immediately moved out of church and into the small apartment she had at the time.

Then he became demanding. He hated that she worked at the bar where other men could ogle or hit on her. She had to have dinner made exactly at the time he wanted. Not a minute before or a minute after. Didn’t matter whether he was late or didn’t plan to come home at all. Bella lived with it because she thought he loved her, the sex could be somewhat decent when he wasn’t drunk or high, and he hadn’t done anything to harm her. He was simply a bit on the bossy side. Again, nothing she wasn’t used to.

Then suddenly, she had a ring on her finger and a marriage certificate in her hand. And with her future set, she was ready to start their family.

She wanted to be the first one to bring the fourth generation DAMC into the world, so she stopped taking birth control.

And then it began... Out of the blue, bossiness turned to slurs, insults, and demands she wasn’t willing to fulfill. When she didn’t do as he demanded it turned physical. A twist of a wrist, a smack across her face, a lit cigarette to the bottom of her foot. Nothing noticeable to anyone else.

She was about to tell Hawk and Diesel, to let the club deal with Rebel’s ass, but she discovered she was pregnant. It thrilled but scared her at the same time. She didn’t want to raise her child in an abusive relationship. She told him she was pregnant and would leave if the abuse didn’t stop. He promised he’d do better.

He promised.

But it didn’t stop. It got worse. And the night she packed her things to leave the apartment, to leave him, changed her life forever.

Then Axel found her, came back into her life for the worst possible reason. And he never left, no matter how many times she pushed him away.

But he wouldn’t let go...

“Let go,” he murmured, as she rocked her hips back and forth, taking his whole length then letting him slip almost completely from her. Almost, but not quite.

His thumb circled her clit, making her insides clench around him tightly.

Their eyes met and held. “Where’d you go?” he asked gently.

She shook her head. “Nowhere.”

“You never have to lie to me, Bella.”

She didn’t answer him, instead she picked up the pace. He needed to be quiet and not force any issues or the past. To just enjoy what they had. This moment, this night.

Because nothing else was guaranteed.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, she was not the one for him. She wouldn’t be able to give him a family. She would never be accepted in his. Or him in hers.

Even if they both wanted that, it would never work. She knew that back in high school and that’s why she left him alone. She’d catch him sneaking glimpses at her, but he always kept his distance.

It was for the best then. It would be for the best now.

She just needed him to fill her soul for a little while, then she could tolerate going back to being alone. He could fill his need for her and then go find the right woman for him. One his father would be proud of, one that could produce the next generation of Jamisons. Children that would rightfully fill those seats around the table at Christmas dinner.

It wasn’t her. It would never be her.

He needed to realize that. Somebody better was out there for him. Someone that would make him whole. Someone who he hadn’t seen almost bleeding to death on a kitchen floor after being too weak to leave her abuser. Too weak to protect herself and her unborn child.

He didn’t deserve someone like that. He was strong and strength was what he needed by his side.

But she would take tonight and think about what could’ve been if they’d been raised differently, if they’d had a shot years before she met Rebel. Before the biker charmed her and convinced her life with him would be good. When she was still a woman who went by Izzy and hadn’t changed her nickname yet in an attempt to escape her past.

“Bella,” he whispered.

She glanced down at the man beneath her and wished things had been different.

But they weren’t.

He reached up and brushed at a tear rolling down her check. She glanced at the wetness on his thumb in surprise, she hadn’t even realized she’d been crying.

Again, more weakness. She blinked the rest of them away and masked her sadness with a smile.

She was relieved when he didn’t ask her what was wrong, didn’t insist she spill her thoughts. Instead, he rolled them over, taking her gently, slowly and lovingly.

Which made her want to cry all over again.

She didn’t deserve the goodness of him. And he didn’t deserve someone with a scarred past.

“No matter what’s in your head right now, just know this... I love you.”

She closed her eyes at his words, the burn behind her eyelids now more intense.

“Don’t shut me out.” When she couldn’t answer him, he continued, “Promise me that, baby. Please.”

She wanted to promise him she wouldn’t, but she couldn’t say the words. She didn’t want to disappoint him if she couldn’t keep her promise.

Instead she stared up at him, cupped the unbruised side of his face and whispered, “I love you, too.”

Uncertainty flickered behind his eyes and it killed her that she had put it there.

“That’s all we need and we can get through anything.”

She doubted that was true, but saw no point in telling him otherwise.

She lifted her hips to meet his thrusts as she trailed her hand down his back until she reached his ass. The muscles under her fingers contracted and flexed with each push of his hips as he kept his pace slow and steady, turning the sex into something that was so much more.

To him probably a promise of what could be. For her an acknowledgement of something that may never be.

“Baby, I need to come inside you. But first, you need to come for me.”

Bowing his body above hers, he kissed the scar at the curve of her breast, then sucked one nipple, then the other. He teased the tips with his tongue, then nibbled along her skin until he reached the hollow of her throat where he kissed her gently. Rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, she arched her back and cried out.

In a flash his gentleness was gone. He drove hard and fast in and out of her until she tilted her hips to meet his every thrust, welcoming the pounding, the reminder of how this man could be tender one minute then intense the next.

The harder he twisted her nipple the more she clamped down on him, making him hiss out a breath. His fingers found their connection, where they were joined so intimately, then teased her clit until she cried out again.

Seconds later she felt the rush, the wave that spiraled out from her core all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes, then it came crashing back to her center.

“Axel,” she whimpered.

“Yeah, baby. Tell me you love me.”

When she breathed the words, “I love you,” he stiffened and stilled above her. The root of his cock throbbed intensely against her sensitive, swollen flesh as he spilled himself deep within her. Once again giving her a piece of him.

Even if it was only temporary.