She had never been gladder to hear his cocky, obnoxious voice. She turned around, and there he stood. His hands were thrust deep in his pockets, and his muscular frame leaned against the doorjamb. His hair looked a mess and there was a scratch on his face that she hadn’t noticed before. It was red and slightly swollen, so it was most likely new.
He wore a button-down shirt, but the only buttons that were closed were the last two. His eyes looked darker—almost demonic.
“I was looking for you,” Natalie said. Her eyes soared across his body. She was looking for an injury, or anything that could explain the blood. Unless, of course, it wasn’t him who had bled.
“Why?” Axle humored her with a smile. “So you can tell me how you want to leave because you can’t stand being here any longer?”
Natalie opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. He had a smug look on his face that she hated. “What happened to you? You look…”
“Devilishly handsome?”
“Not the words I was going for.”
“Oh? With the romance books you’ve read the past few days, I could only assume.”
“The real concern is why you have so many romance books,” she retorted.
Axle shrugged. “I have a lot of books. They help.”
She didn’t want to go down the whole lane of why he needed help. “Are you going to tell me what happened here?”
Axle looked like he was staring at her, but he was staringthroughher. Natalie had studied a lot more than fossils and she knew that he was thinking of a lie to tell. “If you’re going to lie, then you shouldn’t bother even answering the question.”
His eyes shot at her. “I need a drink.”
She scoffed, looking around at all the empty bottles. “Another?”
“It’s alright, I don’t get drunk as easily.”
“W-what? Even if you were the Hulk, look around you.”
“Maybe I secretly am.” He smirked.
“Seriously, what happened here? Was it the demon? What attacked you?”
“Nothing. I got drunk, messed around.”
“You just told me that you don’t get drunk.”
“I said I don’t get drunk as easily, there’s a difference.”
“You chose to lie then.”
Axle sat on his bed, undid the buttons on his shirt, and took it off. His body was so perfectly ripped, but he didn’t need to take off his shirt for her to see that.
“Are you trying to seduce me?”
“Is it working?”
She sighed and looked away.
But she found her gaze returning to him. His smug smile was gone, and now she was sure he was really staringather, not through her. For the first time since she met him, Natalie didn’t totally hate him. It was working.
But itwasmore than just lustful seduction. And with the way he was looking at her too, she dared to think that he was thinking the same thing that she was thinking. Or maybe she was reading too much romance. She forced herself to snap out of it.
“If you’re not going to tell me anything, then I really should leave. I have no idea why you would keep me here.”
Axle sighed. “If you leave, you’ll only get attacked again. I can’t let that happen.”