Page 8 of Axton
That caught my attention. “Oh yeah?”
He nodded. “Magnus is out there putting on the last touches. He offered to teach hockey to the older kids.”
“I guess that’s okay and a good use of it. Wanna put together some teams?”
His lips turned up and he looked at me with a sparkle in his eyes. “Hell, yeah I want to put together teams.”
After three hours of misery, I made my way home. My place wasn’t huge like Creed’s. It was a simple log home on the lake with a dock and a large garage. The lake was frozen over because we were in some sort of polar vortex, and we were hitting a high of about ten degrees during the day and the low was in the negatives. Then of course there was the wind chill that made it feel even colder.
I set my keys in the bowl on my kitchen counter and went straight to my wood burning stove to add some wood to it. The furnace was working hard, so the fire gave it a little help. It heated the second story pretty well, and I’d wake up once at night to add more wood and keep it going.
Like Creed, my basement was finished and had a small theater room, a pool table, and a guest room and bathroom. The first floor was open concept that also had a guest room, a large kitchen, a living room, and a small area for a dining room. The wrap around porch offered a great view of the lake where some of the guys had been ice fishing. The second floor had the main suite and another guest room. It was a little big for just me, but a few other single Originals had the same house plan as me. It wasn’t as big as Grangers, but way smaller than Creed’s mansion of a log home. It was a hell of a step up from the single wide trailer where I grew up in West Virginia.
I wasn’t doing terribly bad financially. I paid off all my debt from Kayla’s education and had more than I ever dreamed in the bank. I wasn’t nearly as rich as Irons and definitely not Creed, who was a billionaire, but I made my first few million. We did great with the contracts we were bringing in, and our non-prophets were doing great, at least coming out even every month. We were getting donations, and a few grants to run that side of things and we were doing a lot of good. Our community was thriving, and a few of Felicity’s girls earned their GED’s and were learning to become independent. We had a lot of domestic abuse cases, but we were so new to it that we hadn’t had anyone graduate from the program yet. I could say by that point the ones staying with us were thriving and their children were adjusting. We needed more teachers though, Morgan couldn’t take on everyone that needed an education, and our abuse victimsweren’t likely to send their children to public school. Most were under our protection and hiding from their abusers.
After my shower, and a few hours watching television, I laid in bed thinking about the next trip I had planned with Faye. Unfortunately, it was six weeks away, but it was planned for an entire week in Croatia, and it was at a resort with a grotto that made me more than curious. I daydreamed whether I would have some one-on-one sex or maybe a threesome. Last weekend on the bliss cruise was great, but I left unsatisfied, and it wasn’t quite enough. I wasn’t too interested in BDSM, and I was running out of ideas. What was wrong with me? What was I missing? I was thirty one and had been sexually active since I was too young to be having sex. I tried everything but still didn’t know what I needed to feel sated. I had about every kind of sex, excluding fucking a dude, which would never happen. I had public sex, secret sex where we wore masks to hide our identity, group sex, and I even had vampire sex once. That wouldn’t be happening again anytime soon. It was in New Orleans and my partners drew my blood and drank it as we fucked. Faye agreed, that was never to happen again. It was her idea, and we agreed she would let me make the travel arrangements after that God awful trip. We went on a sex hunt in Oregon. The women were set loose to run and the men wore the same clothes and masks. We hunted our prey, but once I found mine I chickened out. I was supposed to fuck her into pieces, and I just couldn’t make myself do it. It was a women’s fantasy trip where they didn’t want to know who they were fucking, but they wanted it hard. Again, I was disappointed. Faye on the other hand was sore for a few days, and she recovered in our hotel room. I was more of a dominant, I knew that much, but wasn’t ever sadistic. I didn’t get off on other people’s pain. That didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy a little bit of pain for myself every once in a while. I’ve been in orgy’s,participated in BDSM which I didn’t like at all, I watched as others fucked, and let others watch me. I did enjoy some vanilla sex and always needed it with Faye at some point during our trips. I was horny as hell, sexually frustrated most of the time, and I had several weeks until I would see Faye again. I could have hit Louisville for some quick pussy, but my aversion to untested partners fucked that idea up. I wasn’t attracted to Felicity’s girls or our female operatives. The idea of mixing work with pleasure ruined those opportunities. I wasn’t a vanilla sex kind of guy with someone I didn’t know, so finding a partner willing to explore in bum fuck Indiana made things difficult. I wasn’t attracted to innocence like Creed always was, and most of the women in the area were the girl next door types. Some were even the farmers daughters, and I wasn’t sure if that was any better.
I often studied Creed and Irons, mainly the way they looked at their women. There was absolutely no doubt they were happy with how their lives were turning out. They were in love or whatever, I guessed. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in love, I knew it was possible and even experienced it once. What I did learn was that it wasn’t worth the heartbreak. I was bored as hell and something in my life had to change.
Chapter Six
Axton
Igroaned and reached for my phone in the dark. Someone was about to eat shit for waking me up in the middle of the night. “This better be good.” I answered the call.
“Meet me at the command center, I have a possible case and obviously I can’t leave Morgan.” Creed said.
“Fuck off, I don’t do domestic cases.”
“It’s a Jane Doe and she was found with my card on her. It’s not a domestic violence card either, but a recruitment card. That’s why I can’t assign it to anyone but an Original, since our recruitments are top secret and you’re the one that put that into policy. I need you to go in my place to identify her. They offered to send a photo, but if she’s a DV case, I’d rather someone be with her in case she is found by the person who was wishing her harm.” He said.
“A dead body? It’ll still be there tomorrow.” I was still mostly asleep.
“No, dumbass, it’s a living but injured young woman, and all they found on her was my business card and an envelope witha stack of cash. I wouldn’t be sending you to protect her if she was dead, Axton. It could be a domestic violence case or one of our past recruits. She’s banged up pretty bad. I’ll have command get the jet ready, but I need you to help me sift through our candidates so you have photos of the ones we think could be a possibility. She seems a little too young to be one of our recruits, but she shouldn’t have that recruitment card if she wasn’t one. You’ll be going to Arizona.” That caught my attention. There was a resort I visited a few years back with Faye near Flagstaff, and it’s not couples only.
“What part of Arizona?”
He ignored me. “I think we should get someone out there just in case whoever she was running from finds her. It was a social worker that called, and she said the woman was dressed strangely, I believe she said her dress reminded her of 1987 or something. I’d send one of the others, but Irons and Magnus have a team to prepare for deployment, Drakos won’t leave Melissa and isn’t taking any missions, Baros is still undercover, and Val has a full schedule tomorrow. Granger and Steph are flying out with the kids in the morning for an early Christmas celebration with their families in Maine. We have too many operatives home with their families for the holidays, and I’d hate to call any in, they work all year for this vacation. You’re the only one available.”
I was open to a quick visit to Arizona and the resort I once visited a few years back with Faye. “Fine, give me a half hour.”
“Make it quick, Morgan is home alone with Addie.” He ended the call.
I was ready in less than a half hour and was more than interested in seeing if the woman was in the right area of Arizona for a quick visit to the resort. I typically didn’t go without Faye, buta night or two wouldn’t have hurt anything. When I arrived, Creed was in his office downloading files for me to take with me. “Where am I going and how long will I be gone?” I asked right away.
“The woman is unconscious, and if she doesn’t match these files then get her fingerprints and possibly a DNA sample. She has a mild head injury, and they have her in a medically induced sleep. You’ll be there long enough to identify her or if she wakes up and you can get her story. I don’t have much information other than what I already told you. I don’t know why a Jane Doe would have my recruitment card, it makes no sense. They found her outside a small town called Holbrook, but they took her to a hospital in Flagstaff. We have your jet ready and a reservation for a hotel and car is already arranged. When you arrive at the hospital, ask to speak with a woman named Tara Jones, she’s the social worker that called me. Keep me updated.” He handed me the files. I grabbed my ready bag from the locker room and headed toward the jet. We kept two bags already packed. One to take on missions and another with civilian clothes. It had everything I needed for a week away from home. The only time we typically packed luggage was for business and personal trips, otherwise we had ready bags waiting. It was four in the morning, and it was about a four hour flight, so I settled in the jet for some sleep. When I arrived, I got the car and checked into the hotel just for appearances. I already made a reservation for two nights at the resort I wanted to visit, but all Creed would know is that I stayed at the arranged hotel. After leaving the hotel, I made my way toward the hospital. Like Creed, I was confused how a random young woman had Creed’s recruitment card. We were very selective who we sent them to, and it didn’t make much sense. Dressed like it was 1987? Was she wearing a Madonna costume or something?
I parked in the visitors garage, and made my way to the front desk. “I’m here to see Tara Jones. I’m Mike Axton from Creed’s Lake Motorsports.”
The older woman typed something into her computer then lifted the receiver to her ear. “Hello, it’s Mary from the front desk calling. I have a Mike Axton here to see you. He says he’s from Creed’s Motorsports.”
I watched as she listened then she hung up the phone and smiled up at me. “She will be right down. Make yourself comfortable in one of those seats.” She pointed to the typical waiting room of a hospital.
I gave her my best smile. “Thank you.” I turned and took a seat as instructed. As I waited, I sent a text to Creed letting him know I made it to the hospital, then shot Faye a quick text letting her know I was in Flagstaff and would be visiting the resort without her. It was still early in Arizona, but it was almost nine in the morning back home and in New York. First, Faye replied with a sad face emoji, then Creed acknowledged my text to him.
I only waited about five minutes before I heard my name called behind me. I turned and saw a middle aged woman holding a door open. “That’s me.” I stood and made my way over to her. She stuck out her hand to shake mine.
“I’m Tara Jones, one of the hospital’s social workers, and was called in for this young lady overnight. Thanks for making the trip.”
