In The End

Unpopular Monster

"What the hell is going on?" The door burst open startling me and Axel. Sullivan's voice boomed around us again. "I'll ask once more only, what the hell are you doing in my office?"

"What's going on?" Jackson panted and suddenly appeared behind him. "Axel." Jackson's tone was low and cautious.

"Nothing, I needed to speak to Liv and this was the first room I came across." Axel straightened up and faced them but my attention remained focused on the picture.

"About what?" Sullivan snapped.

"What the fuck's it got to do with you?" Axel instantly barked back.

"Because you're in my office uninvited." Sullivan snarled and took a step towards us causing Axle to shift and completely block me from Sullivan.

"Okay, let's just calm down. I'm sure there is a very sensible explanation here, right Axel?" Jackson spoke in a measured tone as he stepped further into the room. "Liv, are you alright?" He looked at the messy desk and then back at me.

"If you hurt her." Sullivan took another step closer to Axel whose fists instinctively clenched together.

"Hurt her." He scoffed in response.

"Axel." Jackson's voice broke through the tension once more.

"You're finished." Sullivan hissed as he launched forward and was instantly met with Axel's fist at his nose.

"Got your eye on her have you, you creepy mother fucker?" Axel connected with his face once more and Jackson threw himself at Axel turning him away and pinning him to the desk.

"It's okay, you're safe." Sullivan held his hand out for me to take and move away from Axel who was thrashing about across the desk.

I shook my head, clutching the photo frame tightly to my chest as I processed what was happening. "Jackson, get off him," I screamed, finally finding my voice. "He hasn't done anything wrong." Axel instantly settled as Jackson slowly released him. Axel pushed Jackson back and moved to stand next to me, checking me over briefly before facing the others. "He's telling the truth. We were just talking." I looked up to find Jackson's hard stare drilling into Axel as he shook his head.

"Axel, I fucking warned you to not do this." Jackson continued to shake his head as he watched us both.

"Fucks sake Axel," Sullivan mumbled as he grabbed one of the tissues and held it against his bloody nose. "Do you never learn your lessons." he continued. "I warned you, after the whole Leanan catastrophe that you were not to cross the line with my employees."

"This is different, she's different." Axel snapped back.

I could hear Jackson cursing to himself in the background.

"How long?" Sullivan barked again. "How long have you two been?"

"A few days," Axel answered for us both as I zoned back and forth between the raised words and the picture frame in my shaking hand.

"A few days?" Jackson sarcastically echoed whilst Axel and I both nodded in response. "Is this why you've become a target Liv, because someone out there has decided this was already happening, and it turns out they were right?"

"Hey." Axel cut in before I could respond. "This isn't just some random hook-up ok, or some groupie chick wanting a piece of the action. This is deeper than that. We've got to know each other and we both think there's something there so we wanna explore it and we want the privacy to do that."

"Absolutely not." Sullivan cut him off.

"What the fuck's it got to do with you?" Axel bit back.

"Stop it," I yelled. "Just stop it." The room fell silent.