Axel: A Bad Boy Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

find her. She had done everything. She had left her cellphone and credit cards on the table with her short note: I’m not coming back; don’t look for me. That was all it said.
     
    She had traded her black SUV in for cash. From Arizona they had taken a bus for five hours to Phoenix where she bought another car, in cash. From there she had just gone. No one knew where she was and she had left no trail for Austin to follow. Her only fear was that Austin would go to the cops about Cate, but Marie was hopeful he wouldn’t do that. He was private security and he hated the police. He would want to find Marie himself and she was hoping with no trail to follow he would get bored and eventually let her go.
     
    Sunflower Daycare was possibly the most cheerful place on earth. The walls were painted a soft yellow and there were several different little playrooms where children ran around, amusing themselves with dolls and trains. Marie opened the door and the full sound of a dozen kids laughing filled her ears. She couldn’t help but be happy in a place like this.
     
    “Hello! You must be Marie and Cate,” said a cheerful looking young woman behind the counter. She came around and knelt down to smile at Cate who gave her a shy little wave. “Are you ready for your first day?”
     
    You can do this, Marie said as she looked through the window. This was for the best, both for her and for Cate. So why was it so hard to walk away? Cate was already sitting in a circle with another girl putting a Lego castle together. She was having fun and the daycare workers knew not to let anyone else take her home. Marie felt tears brimming in her eyes, but she blinked them back. She was not going to cry. Today was a happy day; Cate was finally getting to play with other kids and Marie was going to get to do whatever she wanted.
     
    She met Austin when she was fifteen and she had been with him ever since. They had broken up a dozen times during high school, but they always got back together. He would break her heart and then come back on his knees begging for a second chance the next day. Then in their senior year she found out she was pregnant. She always tried to be careful, but Austin had a tendency to forget. He claimed the condom was uncomfortable and he promised he would pull out.
     
    She was glad for their mistake. It gave her Cate. But, still, she couldn’t help but dream about what her life could have been like if one of those breakups with Austin had stuck. If she hadn’t had Cate at seventeen, if she had gone off to college instead – her life could have been completely different.
     
    Standing on the street she looked up and down trying to figure out where to go. Across the street was a little coffee shop. Marie walked across the street and into the dimly lit and warm shop. A handful of people sat in front of laptops typing away and Marie went up to the counter and ordered.
     
    She ordered a vanilla latte and sipped it as she walked down the street. Austin had never allowed her to order an expensive espresso drink. He told her they were a stupid waste of money and she should just put more milk and sugar in her coffee. It was the way Austin controlled the little things that had really set her off. Somehow the bigger things were easier to forget. The violent fights had been rare enough that she could blame them on a bad day. But then he started digging in on little things and telling her what she couldn’t have.  Her coffee order, the way she liked her meat cooked, the temperature in the house, if she liked them one way and Austin liked another, they would always end up going with Austin’s choice. She wouldn’t want to fight with him so she would back off and let him win and before she knew it she was doing anything to keep him happy.
     
    How had it happened? She could never remember the first time had had hit her. He had always been a little mean and rough. But he always apologized, and she thought that meant something.