How to Steal a Heart

~ Chapter 54 ~

AXEL'S POV

I watched as she turned and walked away. I watched in silence, my mouth slightly ajar. I have a new feeling running through me. One that I've never felt before. It's extremely devastating; like an ache of something internal. Every time I blink, I can make out the image of her smile. I thought I was going crazy when the wind blew and I heard her laugh.

Her retreating figure started to blur in the heat. I watched her until I couldn't see it anymore. She never looked back - not once.

I stood in my spot, frozen. I planned to tell her, I really did. I'd hype myself up all day, then I'd get home, see her smile, and I'd lose my nerve. It's a bad excuse. It's just when you're really dreading something, it's easy to put off.

I suddenly felt hot, like my blood was forming into tar. I didn't feel my heart beating at all. I felt pressure in my entire body.

It's not fair. I had good intentions at the start of all of this. I wanted to save my friends and myself. I wanted to get back at a no-good, dirty rotten man. I didn't even know Victoria was his daughter at the time of the conversation, I just knew he had one. That doesn't matter, because the daughter wasn't mentioned at all. Not in my conversation.

I said that first part of the tape, I said that at the meeting with Marco. However, that second part, that second part was not something I said; not altogether. I mean, yeah I said it, but like, separately. The recording sounded sketchy anyway-

"Axel?"

The voice behind me made me remember where I was. Where I was standing. Why I was standing there. I'm still standing in the middle of the road, staring in the direction Victoria took off. I turned around, looking at the people in the doorway.

When I saw, him, through the window all emotions left me besides anger. I stormed towards the house, pushing past my friends in the doorway. I ignored the protest from Kaiden. Moving forward with meaningful strides. As soon as he was in arms reach I grabbed him by the neck.

"I don't give a fuck why you did it." I seethed, slamming him against the closest wall. "But I'm going to kill you."

That's when the first punch came, stopping him from finishing whatever word jumble he was about to spit out. I just punched and kept punching. Tyler and I were having differences, but shit man, is he serious? We've been friends for more than half our lives. He's going to throw it away for money?

Then let him

We tumbled on the ground. I'd be lying if I said he didn't get any hits in; from the way my jaw is already throbbing, he most certainly did. My blood rioted as we hit each other in a way that we could never bounce back from. I'm aware I'll feel bad about the remains of our friendship, but right now all I wanted to do was pound his head into the ground.

It took Noah, Kaiden, and Athena to pull me off of him. His bloodied body laid on the ground. I'm still fuming as they pull me off of him. I feel like I could win a thousand fights, but I currently only want to win one. He held his nose as he finally managed to glare up at me.

"Get. Out." I boomed at him from the corner they had me pinned, "And don't you ever let me see your face again!"

Kaiden was the one to throw him out of the house as the other two still held me back. I burned as I pushed them off of me. Starting to pace in the small room at the front of the house. I didn't even notice the tears that fell from my eyes until they ran down my cheek.