Axel: A Bad Boy Romance (3 page)

Chapter Four

Cate was buckled into her car seat in the back. She was humming something to herself as Marie followed the directions towards the Harksburg Historical Home. She made a turn on Main Street of Harskburg and she smiled at the view. Harksburg was the quintessential small town. Locally owned stores lined Main Street, there was a dance studio, a small grocer, a coffee shop, a handful of little restaurants, and a brick building that held a modern looking gym.

This was exactly what she wanted: a small town where she could escape. No one knew her here. She had no history. She wasn’t Austin’s girlfriend anymore; she could be anyone and she could do anything – all of the things she had never been allowed to do before. She could plant a garden, take a dance class, take up painting – her options were endless. She could see her entire world like a flower in front of her. It had always been a little bud, but now her life was blossoming.

The Harksburg Home was situated right next to the large and imposing municipal building. She stared in awe at the house as it came into view. It was a real mansion. It was the kind of place a movie star would live in, not some single mom on the run. It stood three stories tall with elegant marble columns lining the front of the house. The building was made bright red brick and it stood out in the early morning light. The clean windows were lined with impeccable white shutters. The lawn was green with an imposing row of hedges between the mansion and the street. It was stately and imposing; important people had stayed here and Marie felt small and little as she pulled her car into the parking lot.

Taking Cate by the hand, she walked up to the back door. She knocked once and the unlocked door pushed easily open. Peering inside Marie saw a scattered looking office that led to a small gift shop she could see through another door.

“Hello?” Marie called out as the door creaked open. No one answered. She took a step inside; behind her Cate clung to her leg as they looked around the new room.

The floors were a shiny wooden surface and they creaked with every step. The small cluttered office was lined with windows. There were piles of paper everywhere and a variety of plants on the many windowsills. 

“Stay here,” Marie said, walking over to the doorway and poking her head out into the museum’s small gift shop. There were books lining the wall, a series of Christmas ornaments on a rotating display case, and another wall covered in pictures and postcards for the local town. An older woman was standing in one corner talking to a visitor; she saw Marie and gave her a wave and a smile and signaled she would be done in one minute.

Cate was standing by the window gazing at two birds that were sitting in a tree outside. Marie walked over to her and put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder, leaning over and kissing her on the top of her head.

“I’m so sorry about that!” the older woman said as she came bustling into the room. She looked like she was in her sixties, but she didn’t appear to be taking old age lying down. She had short, grey hair and was wearing a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a sweater. She had boundless energy and she walked right to Marie and pulled her into a strong bear hug. “I did not mean to leave you waiting! I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. We are so glad you and your beautiful daughter have come to stay with us.” She broke the hug and looked down at Cate who had grown suddenly shy and was hiding behind Marie’s knees.

“Cate can be a little shy sometimes,” Marie offered.

“Oh, I understand it. My oldest still hides anytime she has to meet someone new. I’m Ingrid Michele; you can call me Ingrid. I’m the head of the Harksburg Historical Council. I was a lawyer my whole life, but history was always my passion. Now that I’m retired I can devote all of my time to it. Are you ready for a tour of the house?”

“Yes,” Marie answered trying to process all of that information at once. She took Cate by the hand and followed Ingrid through the gift shop and into the mansion proper. The place felt big and old as she walked through it. All the rooms were massive in size with high ceilings and giant windows. It was nothing like the modern houses in Arizona she was used to. This house was an old lady; it had character and history in it. She hugged the walls as she walked as if the house itself was watching her.

“So, the gift shop and office space used to be a servants’ entrance and a space for the servants to work. Here we have the grand entrance,” she said as they walked towards the front of the building. The walls were covered in a deep and rich wood paneling; the floors were made of a similar wood with sumptuous carpets interspaced throughout. Everything was impeccably clean and shining. “This is the main doorway; visitors to the museum will use this entrance.” The door was almost twice as tall as Marie and heavy; they opened it and she could see the wrought iron detailing on the front while ivy, vines, and flowers made from metal climbed up the door. 

Everything in the house was detailed and intricate. There were faces carved into the bannisters and crown molding in every room. The claw foot furniture was luxurious with opulent fabric covered in brightly colored birds and green foliage. There were huge fireplaces in every room with gorgeous fire screens in front of them.

“Down here we have the sitting room, the ballroom, and the main dining room. In the basement we have the working kitchen and the servants’ quarters. But we can go over them later. Let’s go upstairs so you can see the apartment and get settled.” Marie’s heels clicked loudly as they hiked up the large wooden staircase in the middle of the house. “Here we have the bedrooms and the children’s rooms,” she said as they stopped on the second floor landing. Ingrid walked to another door and produced a key that led to the third floor. She unlocked the door and together the three of them walked up the flight of stairs, “and up here is your apartment,” Ingrid said as she opened another door.

Marie was nervous as she walked up the dark and tight staircase that led to her and Cate’s new home. She thought of the house she left behind – the very modern condo Austin had purchased. It had been too big for them and everything in it had been new. It had been a “smart house” with cameras in every room and motion-activated lights. There were TVs and built-in speakers in every corner and Marie hated it. It had been modern and tasteless and impersonal. An interior decorator had purchased all of the art that hung on the walls, and she had no attachment to any of it. But even though she hated it, she couldn’t deny their old place had been very nice, far nicer than anything she could ever afford on her own.

Her biggest fear about leaving Austin would be where she would live. Both of Marie’s parents died when she was a child. An aunt, who had passed only a few months after Cate was born, raised her. There was no one else. She had no family she could lean on or turn to. When she imagined leaving Austin, the thought of living in some flophouse in a dangerous neighborhood always halted her progress.

As they came to their third floor apartment, Marie held her breath as the door opened. But she needn’t have worried. The room was bright and airy with large windows open to the breeze. The walls were painted a soft green with white trim. There was a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. It was fully, if sparsely, furnished and perfect.

A smile spread across her face as she ran her hands over the soft couch in the living room. “It’s perfect,” she whispered as she held back tears. This might actually work. She could live here in this apartment with her daughter and no one else. She was going to be free. No more getting screaming at, no more lying about the bruises on her arms and stomach, there would just be peace and happiness here.

“Can I go see my room?” Cate asked and Marie nodded and let go of her daughter’s hand. She felt the immediate emptiness when Cate was gone, but she needed to let go a little. She hadn’t escaped Austin just to lock Cate up. Her daughter had spent enough time living in fear.

“We were so glad when we got your résumé,” Ingrid said as they both watched Cate run to the smaller bedroom. “I was worried we were never going to find a trustworthy candidate to live in our old house.”

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity,” Marie answered. “You have no idea what this means to me.”

Ingrid nodded and looked at Marie from the corner of her eye. “It was surprising that you could start so early. We figured it would take months to find someone who could move to town.”

Marie said nothing. She looked down and traced a scratch in the floor with her shoe.

“Don’t you worry, dear,” the other woman said, putting her hand on Marie’s shoulder. “Sometimes you need a change of pace and Harksburg’s the perfect place for starting over. We’re a good town and we look out for each other here. You don’t need to worry or feel unsafe. You’re part of the Harksburg family now and you're part of my family. I love this old house, so you better get used to seeing me around.”

“I’m really glad to hear that,” Marie said with a smile as she heard Cate running around her new bedroom. She took a deep breath, and looked around at the apartment. She was already fixing it up her mind. She would add white curtains and there would always be fresh flowers on the dining room table. She was going to cover the walls with pictures of Cate and her drawings. She was going to make it her own.

Chapter Five

He jogged to the gym. It was four miles from his mother’s house making it a perfect warm-up run for someone in as good shape as Axel was. With a kiss on the cheek and a promise he would be back soon, Axel left her and took off down the street. His headphones were pounding punk rock into his ears and his pace matched the rhythm of his music. His heels slammed into the dirt on every downbeat.

A mile in, he stopped for fifty push-ups. Two miles in he stopped for fifty squats. By the time he was on Main Street his heart was pounding steadily and sweat was gathering on his face and chest.
“Axel! Axel!” The voice was loud enough that he could hear it over his music and it had that tone of someone who would not be ignored. With a sigh Axel stopped and removed his headphones turning around to face Ingrid Michele’s.

“Morning, Ingrid,” he said. “How’s the historical society today?” He should have known better than to stop. Ingrid was like a dog with a bone when it came to certain things. To his own chagrin Ingrid had talked Axel into buying a bench in the town’s square. He had been guiled and bullied into buying it.  There were relentless phone calls from Ingrid who knew every trick in the manipulation book. He had at least been able to put his mother’s name on it instead of his own. Now that he had stopped and acknowledged her presence, whatever it was she wanted, he would inevitably have to give her. 

“Everything at the historical society is wonderful,” she said giving a little skip as she hurried up to him. She was wearing yoga pants and a sweater, out for her daily speed walk no doubt. Axel slowed down so he was walking next to her. Ingrid’s speed walking matched up with Axel’s normal pace and he fell into step beside her as she pumped her arms and continued to move.

“You find someone to live in that creepy house?”

“It’s not creepy,” Ingrid chided him.

“Didn’t a lot of people die in that house?”

“Back in the old days it was normal for people to die at home. People passed peacefully in their beds in that home. It was perfectly normal and we should be so lucky.”

“So who is living there?”

“A lovely young woman named Marie. She just moved here from Arizona with her very sweet young daughter and I think she’s going to fit in just fine. You’ll have to meet her soon. She doesn’t know anyone in town and I don’t want her to be lonely.”

“I’m sure she won’t be lonely in this town. There’s never a moment’s peace here. Everybody knows everybody and you can’t do anything without running into someone you know.”

“Well now, things are different for you, Axel. You’re our town celebrity and everyone knows you. But she’s just a nice girl. I’m sure she’ll be able blend right in.”

“Let’s hope so, for her sake.”

“We’re going to have the annual fundraiser soon. I’m sure I can depend on you to buy some tickets.” It wasn’t a question. “I’ll talk to your mother about it.”

There it was. Axel’s mother was a sucker for any history, especially the Hawks family. The Hawk patriarch, the founder of the town, was from Ireland and his mother claimed a special attachment to the man. She was on the historical society board, which basically meant Axel was, too.

“Great talking to you, Ingrid,” Axel said and with a nod he took off on a jog down the lane leaving Ingrid behind. He would have to find some way to get out of the fundraiser. Those historical society functions were so boring. Tickets were a hundred bucks a pop and all it got was a cheap dinner in a hotel ballroom. The same forty people came every year. They gave each other awards for things like Member of the Year, Best Volunteer, but really it was given to whoever donated the most. His mother had never won and it broke her heart every year to see statues go to someone else. .

He jogged past the brightly lit windows of his gym and saw rows of treadmills filled with early morning gym goers. He went into the entrance and waved at the trainer sitting at the desk as he made his way downstairs to the boxing gym.

The air in the basement was different than upstairs. Upstairs was bright and friendly. It was filled with young hipsters in expensive working gear on complicated machines. The basement was darker. There were no amateurs down here. There were professional boxers and their trainers working out in every corner. The uneven rhythms of fists hitting mats and pads echoed in the air around him. The air was fresh, something he demanded. Fresh air pumped in and the temperature kept at a comfortable seventy-two degrees.

Axel jogged down the stairs and found his trainer and the manager of his gym standing and waiting for him. Hayden Walker had been Axel’s best friend since the ninth grade. They had done everything together. They had both taken up boxing in school, but Axel was the one to stick with it. Hayden just couldn’t keep up. He was slower and shorter. He had trouble recovering from a hit and eventually he quit. But he had learned enough in that time to become a damn good trainer and now he spent his time helping Axel. After his first big win Axel finally made enough to officially hire Hayden as his coach. When Axel bought the gym, he made Hayden the manager.

“You’re late,” Hayden said as Axel took the last step down onto the floor.

“Sorry, got held up on the way in,” Axel said. “What’s new?”

“The match-ups came in for the Northeast Supreme Belt.”

“When?”

“About two minutes ago.”

Axel and Hayden stepped into the office and closed the door behind them. Axel’s heart was pounding and it wasn’t from the run. He didn’t let it show, though. He kept his face blank doing his best to ignore the emotions roiling inside of him. Hayden pulled up the website for the fight and they scanned until they reached Axel’s name.

“It’s on the twelfth, which we knew. And you’ll be fighting Danny Castellano.”

Axel saw the image of his opponent on the screen. He saw Danny’s blocky face, his nose that bore the marks of being broken more than once, his short dark hair.  He knew the guy. He had fought Danny before. He was good. Small, but wiry and fast. The guy could take a punch and he could give one.

“We’re gonna have to improve your footwork,” Hayden said, shaking his head. “You can beat this kid, but we’ll need to train hard. For the next two months this fight is the only thing you think about. Your head needs to be in the game. Is your head right?” Hayden demanded.

“Yeah, I got this,” Axel said. He nodded at the screen. He could do this. He could beat Castellano. He would focus and train and, in two months, he was going to take home the belt and his entire life was going to change. Hayden was right. He needed to keep his mental game in tact; he needed to keep his head clear. But that wouldn’t be too hard. He was back in his hometown with only the historical society fundraiser to distract him. There were no late night parties with models, no hundred-dollar-a-plate sushi dinners, just the diner and the arcade. There was nothing else he wanted to do other than train.

“I’m gonna put together a training regiment and a meal plan for you. For the next two months we are hardcore training. No coffee, no booze, no junk food, no late nights, no women, there is only the gym for you.” Axel nodded. He wasn’t going to argue. “We train eight hours a day. Two hours cardio, two hours weightlifting, three in the ring, and then an hour for recovery.”

Hayden kept rambling away at his list while Axel nodded, but he wasn’t listening. He could hear the roar of the crowd; he could see that belt sitting on his mantle. He could taste the five hundred thousand dollars he was going to win. He had been out of the ring for almost three months, but he had been on a winning streak. He had knocked out his last three opponents. He was ready for the fight; he was ready to get back to it.

Axel cracked his knuckles in anticipation. “We’re gonna hit the big time, Hayden,” he said with a shake of his head. “No more cheap flights for us. This is how we get to the big times. This is the next step in my career.”

“But, first, we have to win,” Hayden reminded him.