Bound by Axel: Pin Me Down Trilogy, #2

By Laura Day

Bound by Axel is book 2 of the Pin Me Down trilogy. Books 3, Taken by Axel is available everywhere now!

The gloves are off and he’s not just pinning me down for practice 

They promised me he was a professional
That he had a cool, quiet strength and the sort of intensity that left you shaking.

They didn’t tell me he was made of almost six feet of pure muscle, scars, and a bad attitude.

Everything is a fight with him. 

Crass son of a bitch doesn’t begin to cover it. 
And clothes don’t, either…

Day in and day out I have to get down and dirty in the ring with him.
Sweat, skin, and friction.

I don’t think I can fight it much longer. 
Not when he uses his mouth for more than back-talk and his hands for more than punches

Axl Connolly wants me, and Axl Connolly always wins

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBook Publishing World
• Release date: Nov 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386799177

Book preview

BOUND BY AXEL: Pin Me Down Trilogy (Book 2)

By Laura Day

The gloves are off and he’s not just pinning me down for practice.

THEY PROMISED ME HE was a professional

That he had a cool, quiet strength and the sort of intensity that left you shaking.

They didn’t tell me he was made of almost six feet of pure muscle, scars, and a bad attitude.

Everything is a fight with him.

Crass son of a bitch doesn’t begin to cover it.

And clothes don’t, either...

Day in and day out I have to get down and dirty in the ring with him.

Sweat, skin, and friction.

I don’t think I can fight it much longer.

Not when he uses his mouth for more than back-talk and his hands for more than punches

Axel Connolly wants me, and Axel Connolly always wins.

Chapter 1

Marie fought back tears as she walked out of the gym. She focused on keeping her head up and her shoulders straight, she refused to run or rush. She kept an even, relaxed pace, determined to look like nothing was bothering her. She was not going to be known around town as the girl who ran around crying everywhere. She wanted people to think she was stronger than that. She wished she were as strong as she was pretending.

Her jaw ached from holding back tears. They fell anyway. She swiped at them angrily before they could make any progress down her cheeks. She pushed open the door of the gym and stepped out into fresh air and dim sunlight. She turned towards the mansion; she was four blocks away from home, then three. She could make it without bursting into sobs on the street. She just needed to run right upstairs to her apartment and then she could finally let her tears fall.

She walked up Main Street, ignoring the people who passed her. She looked past them or away from them with as much dignity as she could muster. She wrapped her arms around herself, hurrying up the sidewalk. The day was grey around her, a perfect match for her mood. She turned off Main Street and the giant Hawks Mansion appeared before her.

It didn’t look scary or intimidating to her eyes. It looked like a fortress, a safe place where she could hide and cry alone. She could hole up in this mansion as long as she wanted. It was old and strong and impenetrable; it could shield and protect. She hurried up the main staircase and opened the heavy mahogany doors. They opened silently and Marie closed them behind her and then scurried inside and up to her apartment before the grad student who was currently working on the collection noticed her.

Her feet thudded on the stairs until, finally, she was in her sanctuary and she closed her door and fell back against it as tears cascaded from her eyes. They poured down her face and soaked her shirt. Her body was wracked with sobs, her chest was heaving and she was gasping for breath. She tried to stop her tears and control them, but every time a she tried a new sob would shudder through her and new tears would come.

She thought it would never end. She thought she would spend the rest of her life sobbing on this floor with the images of her tryst with Axel flooding her brain. But eventually she grew uncomfortable on the floor and was able to pull herself up. She struggled to her feet and lurched to the bathroom, reaching out to tables and the couch, anything that could support her shaking legs. Once in the cold bathroom, she ripped off her sweat-stained clothes, struggling with her shirt and her bra before finally removing them and tossing them into a pile on the floor. She stepped into the steaming hot shower where her tears mingled with the warm water and fell to the bathtub floor.

She felt dirty and used. She felt ashamed and embarrassed. She felt powerless. He had treated her like she was nothing. Like she was just some doll he could pick up and put down at will. He didn’t care about her. He didn’t know where she had come from or what she had experienced and he didn’t seem to want to. He had gotten what he wanted.

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? How many times had she heard Austin say that? When one of his buddies complained about a woman who was getting too clingy, that was the first thing Austin would say. He and his friends used to gather together and laugh at those women who put out too soon. They called them desperate losers. They weren’t even worthy of pity, only ridicule. Now she was one of them.

On television shows and movies other women did this. They hooked up with their trainers and laughed about it at lunch. Why couldn’t she? Why couldn’t she just accept it for what it was and move on? Axel was always out of her league. She should have known this would happen. She was nothing to him. She was just a way for him to pass a bored afternoon.

A new pang of sadness plunged through her chest. More tears came to her eyes. How was it possible she had more tears to give? How could she find new things to be sad about? Why was this so hard? If only she could go back and stop it. She should have restrained herself. She should have held back. Now she was just another notch on Axel’s belt.

She got out of the shower and went to her bedroom where she fell onto her bed. She curled up on her side and stared out the window. The tears were almost done. Every now and again a new one would spring forth and slip down her cheek, but, now, she mostly felt empty.

I wonder who used to live up here? Marie thought as she stared past the white curtains, which were gently flapping against the window. How many other eyes had stared out this window? This used to be the servants’ quarters. There would have been young girls sleeping in this room. They would wake early and start the fires and make breakfast for the family. They would work from morning until night for pennies and they would be glad for it.

She wished she could go back in time and be one of those simple girls. She would work in the mansion, get her hands dirty, and break her back with labor. She would go to bed too tired at night to even think about sinning. She would marry a local butcher or a one of the Hawk family employees. Her life would have been harder, but in another way it would have been infinitely easier, simpler at least.

Her eyes were growing heavy. She reached for her phone and set the alarm to three, when she needed to leave to pick up Cate from daycare. Her face felt warm against the soft pillow and her body sunk into the bed. Eventually her eyes closed and she fell into a deep sleep that lasted the entire afternoon.

She woke to the gentle chime of her alarm. The first thing she realized was how thirsty she was. She downed two full glasses of water and then changed out of her robe into jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was ruined from sleeping in it wet and she pulled it back into a messy bun. She looked at herself in the mirror. The sleep had done her well. The redness of her eyes was gone. Her face looked dewy and well-rested.

She was able to breathe without crying. It was a step in the right direction, at least. She was able to move around without sobs taking over her body.