But she’d looked into him. Axel had no criminal record, with the exception of a few speeding tickets.
“He tried to come up on me and take my fuckin’ phone,” he told her.
“Sir, please let him go. We have the police on the way.”
“I told you I’m not turnin’ him loose until they’re actually here. He’ll just run off.”
Axel’s prisoner seemed to be losing consciousness at this point. Thankfully, two police officers appeared soon thereafter, making a beeline towards them. Axel turned in their direction and repeated his story.
“I was standing here waiting for my friend to come out of the bathroom. I was on my phone, and this son of a bitch raced up to me and tried to snatch my phone out of my hand and take off. He ran into the right one, tonight. I can promise ya that.”
“Let him go,” one of the officers demanded, sounding a bit perturbed.
Axel glared at the cop with an expression of challenge and then, with a forceful shove that landed the man on the ground, he released him.
“He did it! He tried to steal that man’s phone!” an older White guy with a red ball cap on stated loudly, as if he wanted in on the attention in the worst way. “I saw him try ’nd take his phone, officer.”
“He’s lying!” the man on the ground said between coughs, while skulking about on his knees.
“Look at the tape. There’s cameras all around here,” Axel protested.
What started as a simple enough ending to a date night had turned into their own personal action adventure, but without Tom Cruise. So much so, she’d almost forgotten about her troubles. The police took several witness statements and jotted Axel’s information down. The man who’d tried to steal the phone was ultimately arrested due to some outstanding warrants, and promptly removed from the premises. Apparently, he’d done similar crimes in the city, too.
“It’s too late to get dessert now, right? They close soon,” Axel asked as he walked her out to his truck. They’d planned to go to Graeter’s Ice Cream after the movie, if time permitted.
“You just choked a man half to death, Axel, and you have the audacity to still be thinking about food?! I can’t believe this…”
“Am I supposed to lose sleep over this? Who cares?” He shrugged. “I don’t give a damn about that man. I’m out with you. Besides, it wasn’t that serious.”
“It wasn’t that serious? Axel, take me home, please. I think we should skip dessert. I’ve had enough excitement for one night.” She readjusted her purse along her shoulder, unnerved by his casual attitude. “We can get ice cream some other time,” she added for good measure. Damn. I really wanted that ice cream.
“We can go tonight. Like I said. Why let someone like that have that sort of power over you to the point it changes your date plans?” He opened the truck door for her.
Some ice-cream does sound good, but I can’t get over how this fool is acting, like he didn’t do anything serious, or nothing severe happened. He didn’t just have him on the ground, or something like that. No. He literally was choking him out. I wonder if he makes it a habit of yokin’ people up? See? This is why bad boys are bad news. He’s oblivious.
“What type of insane person are you?”
“Type? As in flavors? Is there a variety pack or something?” His brows rutted. He looked downright pissed.
She got into the passenger’s seat, ignoring his sarcastic question, and he politely closed the door behind her.
Getting in the truck, he hit it in reverse, then kicked it into drive, out of the parking lot. He turned on the music, and Aesop Rock’s, ‘Long Legged Larry’ began to blast out of the speakers. She could feel the bass and rhythm beating hard inside of her, vibrating her entire body like a cruise ship about to leave the port.
“Can you turn that down a little?”
“Huh?” he said, hands on the steering wheel, looking straight ahead.
“Can you turn the music down, please?”
“Huh?”
“AXEL! THE MUSIC IS TOO DAMN LOUD! TURN IT DOWN, PLEASE!”
“Huh?”
It was then that she saw the gleam in his eye, and the flash of a smirk, so fleeting it was almost undetectable.
“You heard me the first time! You’re an ass!”
He burst out laughing, and she swung on him, pummeling his arm, but he only laughed harder. Mac Miller’s, ‘Good News’ started to play. She fell back onto her seat, wanting to choke him like he did that man.
“Black raspberry chocolate chip, right?” His teeth sank into his lower lip, brow arched as he shot her a seductive glance. “That’s your favorite, isn’t it?”
“Don’t make it seem like you solved some ancient riddle. That’s most people’s favorite from Graeter’s.”
“Black raspberry it is.”
She shook her head, amused, hating how she loved every ridiculous thing about him. He was that good shit. That forbidden shit. That ‘Take me as I am, I don’t give a damn’ shit. She felt safe and on edge with him at the same time. She wanted to open up with him, expose more of her folded petals—like one of her books, read him from cover to cover. But she had to practice patience. The best books needed to be savored and re-read a hundred times to be fully understood.