book 1 ✔︎
book 2 ✔︎
book 3 ✔︎
PART OF ME - you become so emotionally close to someone that you feel like they are literally a part of you, like a half of your heart. You don't want to live without them - you can't.
Aviana Ember wouldn't know this fe...
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Something kicks in my gut. And then I'm running, and I'm too fast, too small, for Jason to catch me. I shove people, and I claw my way through the annoyed crowd to get to Axel. I can't let him go so easily. He's going to die. I swear he just signed up to kill himself.
My heart is going nuts as I hop up onto the ring and slide underneath the ropes. Adrenaline rushes through my veins and I take everything Uncle Jack taught me for granted and fling myself at the big, brawny dude, ready to scratch his eyes out. I find myself on his back, tightening my legs around his waist, and my arms around his neck, trying to bring him down.
He effortlessly tears me off of him and throws me across the ring, and I roll over, quickly getting up onto my feet. I'm pretty sure nothing's broken, but that's the least of my worries. Axel isn't moving. He's lying face down at the edge of the ring, his head tucked in his elbow. The best thing I can do is distract the guy, so I get into a steady stance and snarl at him, furrowing my eyebrows to look as terrifying as a short, blonde, little girl can look.
The man laughs, and the crowd laughs with him when I ball my fists out in front of me.
He makes a move towards me and the crowd goes berserk. He doesn't reach me. Someone is taking him into a choke hold and bringing him to his knees. When he's let go, a foot finds his face and he's kicked around, falling flat on his stomach. I stare at him as he gets back up onto his elbows almost right away, but Axel is already slipping under the ropes.
I plop down on my butt to follow him and he grabs my leg, tugging on it and pulling me out, catching me before I fall to the ground. And then we run. Axel is practically dragging me through the crowd, his fingers tightened around my wrist, probably cutting off the circulation.
He leads me to a door, and we rush into a room, where he shoves a bunch of things into a gym bag. The cool California air hits us when we hurry out a back door to Axel's car and I realize I haven't been breathing.
I can't even focus on that because the look on Axel's face is a million times more frightening than death.
・・・
Axel pretends not to notice me staring at him, waiting for him to say something, to talk to me, as he drives down the freeway with a swollen eye, reaching up to smear the blood dripping from his nose. I'm so scared of what he's going to say, of what he thinks of me in this moment. It's way too obvious he isn't happy, even though I just saved his life.
When the clock on the dashboard reads 12:00 a.m., Axel leaves the freeway and drives into a town, pulling over onto the side of the road.
He doesn't look at me. "Get out."
My heart rate speeds up. "Is someone following us?"
"No," he mutters.
I don't budge, and he slams his hands against the steering wheel. "Get the fuck out of my car!"
