Sweet Fall

“You can tell me anything, you know,” I said softly, soothingly.

Lexi’s eyes glittered and after a spell, she nodded lightly into my hands, but no words came from her mouth. My teeth gritted in response, but I faked letting it go.

Placing a hard kiss on her mouth, I pulled back and said, “I need to see you tonight. Every night from now on, in here. Okay?”

Rigid apprehension leaked from Lexi’s body, and looking up at me through timid eyes, said, “Yes.”

Smirking at how f**kin’ gorgeous she was, I wrapped my arms around her neck, bringing her in close. “We’ll take this slow, Pix. Just me and you.”

“I… It’s weird, Austin. I’m still trying to process all this. How we got here. Still trying to work out how to have you in my life without freakin’ out.”

“Ditto, Pix.” I pulled back and said, “It ain’t no one’s f**kin’ business but ours, you know.”

“What about our friends?”

I shrugged. “It’s not safe to tell anyone yet. Not until everything with the Heighters calms down. Until then, we just work on how to be together, ’cause I ain’t losing you now. Not after this…”

A happy giggle slipped from Lexi’s mouth, and I said, “Now we both need to get to practice, and I’m still really f**kin’ naked and need to throw on my clothes or risk getting arrested for indecent exposure. The dean would love that, narcs and nakedness!”

Snorting a loud laugh, Lexi pulled back, then lifted her hand to my cheek, her laughter teetering off. “Thank you, Austin.”

I knew that was for not pushing the eating issue. But I’d be damn well keeping an eye on her; that’s for sure. She wasn’t slipping back down that clusterfuck of a dark hole while I was around.

“You go out first. It’s still early enough that no one should see you going home. No walk of shame.”

Lexi nodded and, collecting her purse, walked out of door with one final worried glance back. As soon as the door shut, I sighed. All I could picture were her ribs. Her protruding ribs and spine.

Fuck! Was it me making her stressed? Was it all the Heighter shit taking her to the edge, causing her to lose weight?

Making sure the fire was completely out, I dressed and cleaned up the pillows and blankets off the floor in record time. As I was putting away the box of matches, I paused. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this good. I, Austin Carillo, was feeling real good.

So f**kin’ good that I’d found a girl who got me heart and soul…

But for some strange reason, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all about to go to shit.

It didn’t take me long to drop my newfound smile.

Chapter Twenty

Austin

Axel: In the parking lot. You’re needed NOW.

I glanced down at my cell as soon as I got out of the shower, and all the blood immediately drained out of my face. Axel had texted and left about sixteen missed calls while I’d been training.

One thought slammed my mind: Mamma.

“You good, boy?” Jimmy-Don asked as I stood frozen in the center of the locker room, glaring at my iPhone. His round face was one of worry, and I automatically nodded my head. I was just glad Rome wasn’t here to see this shit. He’d know with one look that something was up.

I threw on my jeans and shirt and began sprinting out of Bryant-Denny and straight into the parking lot. I spotted Axel’s truck within seconds, but obviously after he’d spotted me because he began hightailing it toward me, throwing open the passenger-side door.

“Get in!” he ordered just as I saw campus police head toward us in their car, the dean sitting front and center.

“Shit!”

I jumped in, Axel slamming his foot on the gas and, like a street racer, burned rubber to get the hell off campus and onto the highway toward Westside Heights.

Turning to my brother, my pulse raced when I saw the seriousness of his face. “What the f**k, Axe? Talk to me!”

Axel’s hands tightened on the wheel, and his teeth gritted together. “Better you see it with your own two eyes.”

Leaning forward, I noticed Axel’s cheek had been slit open, a f**kin’ shit job of stitching keeping the skin together. His left eye was black, the whites of his eyes completely red with burst capillaries, and his knuckles were raw from fighting.

My eyes widened at his state… What?

The motherfucking drive-by.

Flopping back in my seat, I almost choked on the rage clogging up my throat. Lifting my foot, I used that rage to kick the dash, Axel snapping his head to me in shock.