“Mm,” she hummed.

She did not like his dad. She didn’t warm up to him once all night. No matter how obsequious Sylas was being, she put up with him and that was it.

It was his father’s loss.

Then again, his dad had been losing out on a lot for as long as Axl could remember.

Through this, his mother was entirely unoffended.

In fact, Hattie and his mom bonded.

Extreme.

He liked it.

But there was something he didn’t like.

“I think something’s up with him and Mom.”

“Mm,” she repeated, but it was different.

“What?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

“You kind of know,” he returned.

She tipped her head back. “Tonight was rough for you.”

“Tonight was worse than sometimes, not the worst it’s been. It’s annoying but I’m used to it and it’s annoying because I’m used to it.”

She nodded against the pillow. “I feel that.”

Yeah, she did.

“You mention that because … ?” he prompted.

She was hesitant when she said, “I don’t know how raw you are.”

“She’s done with him,” he stated.

She pressed her lips together tight and lifted her brows.

Yeah.

His mother was done with his dad.

Hattie could even read it and she barely knew them.

“Thank fuck I don’t have a guest room,” he muttered.

She grinned up at him. “Your mom gives me the impression she can take care of herself.”

He didn’t know about that.

“You haven’t mentioned anything about this being a possibility. Is this out of the blue for you?” she asked.

“I would have wanted her to leave him twenty years ago. She just seemed like she was so stuck in it, she was never getting out.”

“Maybe something happened,” she suggested.

“He tends not to dig in with her. Tonight, he dug in. She seemed surprised he did it in front of you. But I’m not sure she was surprised he was doing it. They weren’t at each other’s throats, but it was clear it took effort for them to even be civil.”

Hattie had nothing to say to that.

So they had his mom gearing up to do whatever she might be doing, Hattie’s dad maybe being someone worthwhile, and Axl and his teammates were on a stalled mission to root out a pack of dirty cops.

“At least your stalker seems to have lost interest,” he remarked.

“You think?” she asked.

“It’s been a minute,” he said. “I told Hank and Eddie about it, gave them the pictures. I’ll call a meet. Sit down with them and Hawk. Ask their take.”

“’Kay.”

She sounded like she was getting sleepy.

He shifted so she had some of his weight and they were closer.

“You take a stalker in stride,” he murmured.

“I have people looking out for me,” she replied.

Definitely sleepy.

“Yeah, you do, baby. Go to sleep.”

“’Kay,” she repeated.

“Hattie?” he called.

“Yes?”

“We feel you’re clear from this guy fuckin’ with you, and you wanna go home, I’m givin’ you two drawers here, and I want one at your place.”

Her body tensed, then relaxed.

Completely.

“Two drawers. I need a diary,” she mumbled.

He chuckled.

She pressed her face in his neck.

Not long after, they were both asleep.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Off

HATTIE

I was in my bed in a post-sex haze when suddenly I was no longer in bed.

Well, half of me wasn’t.

My upper half was in Axl’s arms and his face was buried deep in my neck.

It felt like he was giving me a hickey, I liked that feeling, then he sank his teeth in, and I liked that feeling so much better.

After he did that, he growled in my ear, “Creamer.”

I smiled.

Pulling my head back, he got my message and lifted his to catch my gaze.

“Take care of my guy,” I whispered.

He watched my lips speak before he kissed me hard and closed mouthed when I was done.

He let me go, touched his lips to my temple and then he was off the bed again and heading to the steps to my living area.

I settled back down and watched him go.

It was Friday morning, and after dinner with his folks on Monday, it had been an eventfully uneventful week.

Quick catch-up:

Nothing happened Tuesday, except when I went over to take care of Dad, he seemed reserved. Not unfriendly. Just quiet and in his head.

Which I guessed I should have expected.

Wednesday, when there was still no more from my stalker, and since I wanted to get in my studio—and honestly, I really liked Sly, he was funny and sweet, even if it was likely he might engage in criminal activities—but I didn’t know if I could create with him there.

But I wasn’t feeling like trying.

And anyway, I hadn’t had hardly any alone time in over a week.

I hadn’t even been in my car in that time.

I didn’t know it about myself until then, but I was learning I was an alone-time type of gal.

In fact, I was jonesing for it.

So, after morning sex on Wednesday, I begged Axl to talk to Hawk and his cop buddies to see if they thought it wise I was released from constant detail.

I had a feeling it was partly because I timed the ask right, partly because he read me, but he didn’t mess around.

In other words, he met Sly and me for lunch at Mustard’s.

There he told us they’d had a sit-down and they had no idea if this hiatus meant whoever was screwing with me was moving on, but …

“Since we got cameras outside your house, if you’re good for us to put a tracker on your car, a tracking app on your phone, you carry a panic button, and Ian sees to things at the club, you’re also good to go it alone. Unless he hits again. Then we reconvene.”

I was very much down with that plan and told Axl so.

However, even though I shared this might happen, Sly looked kind of bummed when he found he was going to be off duty.

So yes.

The guy was sweet.

And I felt a little bad.

But seriously, a girl needed some time to herself.