XVIII
"This is it?" I ask as Axel finally stops his car after 3 more hours of driving. We were far away from Spokane now, no doubt. I slept most of the ride, exhausted from the lack of sleep.
"Yep." he says, and climbs out of the car then waits for me to come out, too. It was the middle of the afternoon and we still had a few hours till nightfall.
"Where are we?" I climb out the car as well and walk towards Axel, taking his hand to feel safer in an unknown location.
"Canada." he replies and begins to walk us towards the poor looking motel in front of us.
"Canada? Why? How- we didn't cross any b..." his look stops me from finishing the sentence and I rip my hand from his at the realization. "You snuck us across the border illegally?!" I hiss and he shushes me and gives me a warning look.
"Don't say shit like that so loudly!" he hisses back at me and I give him the hardest glare I can muster. "Don't trespass us!" I bite back and turn to walk back to the car, and climb in the cabin.
He rolls his eyes and comes to my side of his car, opening the passenger door. "Can you come outside, please?" he says in a mocking-tired voice.
"Can you take me back home, please?" I narrow my eyes at him and mock his voice, his face looking like he may slap me for a moment, but I know he would never do that.
"Why do you always have to be so fucking difficult?" he asks, covering his face with his hand, and then he literally lifts me up in his arms.
Oh no, he didn't.
"Put me down!" I scream at him and kick around trying to escape his iron grip without any success.
"No." he simply says and throws me over his shoulder, locking his car and starts to walk towards the motel.
"Now, Axel! Put me down!" he doesn't react at all and I slap his pretty bum as hard as I can, only to recieve the slap to the bum back immediately.
"I hate you." I hiss at him and he doesn't say anything, just continues to walk and get us a room at the reception. The man behind the counter sounds incredibly uncomfortable, but Axel's tactics always work and so, in five minutes, I am thrown on the bed in our room.
I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him.
"Oh, stop fucking acting like a fucking child!" he shouts at me and I immediately uncross my arms.
"Don't yell at me!" I shout back. "And if there's anyone acting like a child here, it's you! You're running from your problems again and this time you didn't even tell me what you did! You don't think I deserve to know?!"
He plops down on the bed next to me and puts his head in his hands, then, unbelievably, his entire body starts shaking as sobs leave his mouth. I sit there, mouth gaping and just watch him break down for a moment, before I wrap my arms around him.
"I can't tell you. You'll hate me. This time you'll really fucking hate me."
Damn. This really has to be bad. I gulp. "You didn't kill someone, did you?" I ask, just to get the worst possible option out of the way because it can't be that bad and it's just stressing me out. Stress increases when he doesn't say anything and I think I might vomit. "Tell me that you didn't kill someone, Axel, please." I beg him and his sobs increase.
"He came at me." he begins and I don't know what to do. I feel like vomiting and passing out at the same time.
"Oh, my god." I whisper, covering my face with my hands as well, trying to disappear from reality. His hands reach for mine and remove them from my face, bloodshot eyes watching me from above. "He came at me, Sophie. He started punching me and kicking me. He wanted to kill me." he starts explaining.
"Who? Who wanted to kill you?" I demand.
"Greyson. He tried to kill me, but I killed him first."
I start taking big chunks of air into my system, forcing myself to breathe. "Okay, so it was self-defence, right?" I ask.
"It was, but how am I going to prove that? I have no evidence, no alibi, no witness."
I think for a moment. "Bruises. You're covered in bruises. That could be an evidence. And-I could say that I was a witness."
"You'd lie for me?" he asks in a soft voice. "In front of a court?"
I bit my bottom lip. "If I had to, I would. You know I would." I reply, honestly. There was not a single thing I wouldn't do for Axel, no matter what he did. I'm stupid like that. "We have to go back." I say and he starts shaking his head.
"No, no, no, no, no, I'll go to jail, I can't, Sophie, I can't. You don't know what it's like in there. I can't go back there." he cries and my heart aches for my stained angel.
"You can't run from your problems, Axel." I try to reason but he keeps on shaking his head.
"If by some fucking miracle I don't go to jail, they will kill me. The gang. I just killed their leader and they're everywhere, fuck. They could come in here any fucking second now and they'd kill me. I can't stay."
"Well then what will you do?" I ask him.
"Tomorrow, I'm going on a plane and I'm leaving this fucking country. I'm going to Europe. I know I can't fucking force you to go with me, no matter how much I want to, but will you please go with me?" he asks, his teary eyes looking straight into mine and I'm suddenly faced with a decision I never wanted to make again.