Chapter Ninety-Seven: Just Talk
626 Words
-----Axton’s POV-----
The air in the car was thick.
He could hear the echo of his own pulse in his ears, louder than her breathing, louder than the quiet hum of the engine.
Her hand was beneath his, soft but unmoving.
And then, she turned.
Her eyes met his, and there was no fury this time. No trembling lip. No flinch.
Just fire.
Controlled. Contained. And lethal.
“I need truth, Axton.”
His stomach coiled.
Anything but that look.
That look made him feel naked. Stripped. Guilty.
“Ask me,” he said quietly.
“Why did you watch me for so long?”
He inhaled slowly. Then let it out through his nose.
“Because I saw you once—and couldn’t forget it. You were at the café. Smiling at some customer like you hadn’t already worked an eight-hour shift with a baby on your hip and a toddler crying for attention. I didn’t know how to talk to you... but I couldn’t not watch. It started as protection. Curiosity. And then it became everything.”
Helen blinked, expression unreadable.
“And Jason?”
Axton hesitated.
“I didn’t make him hit you.”
“I didn’t ask if you did.”
His jaw flexed.
“I had a PI look into him. Discreetly. Found the gambling, the money problems. I… might have tipped off a few people he owed.”
Helen’s breath hitched.
“He lost his job because of that.”
“He lost you because of who he was. I just sped up the collision course.”
She turned away slightly, looking out the windshield.
“And the abuse?” she asked quietly. “You knew.”
Axton nodded, voice low. “I did.”
“Why didn’t you stop it?”
He swallowed.
“Because I didn’t think you’d trust me. Because the second I stepped in, you’d know. You’d see what I was. What I’d done. I kept thinking I’d find the right moment... but it never came. And every time I saw him hurt you, I swore it would be the last time.”
She didn’t speak.
Didn’t move.
But he saw the way her throat worked as she swallowed.
Her hands twisted in her lap.
“Am I safe with you?” she whispered.
That broke him.
He turned in his seat, facing her fully.
“With me, you are safer than anyone on this planet. I would die for you. I would kill for you. I have. I know I broke your trust before I ever had a chance to earn it, but if you give me one breath—one inch—I will spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”
Helen looked at him then. Not through him. Not at his shadow.
At him.
“And can I trust you?”
He leaned in, voice barely a rasp.
“Yes. But I know I have to earn that too.”
A long pause.
The longest.
Then she gave him a slow nod.
Not approval.
Not forgiveness.
But a small, silent opening.
He exhaled like he hadn’t breathed in a year.
“Will you come in now?” he asked gently. “I want to talk. And… I want to show you what I’ve been working on. For you. For the girls. For us.”
She hesitated.
Then she unbuckled her seatbelt.
And stepped out.
Axton followed, hands shaking as he opened the front door for her like it was the most sacred gesture of his life.
The lights were soft. The smell of cedar and faint cinnamon filled the air.
He watched her eyes scan the room.
And for the first time in forever—he didn’t feel alone.
- Writer
