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He'd already been out at some club, though he hadn't known the name of it when his college friends had dragged him along. It didn't what it was called, it wasn't Axton's usual scene, he'd only come along because he hadn't had any other plans for the evening. The likelihood of him returning after tonight were pretty slim. But they had beer, and they had liquor, and that was really all you needed New Year's Eve.

The text had been unexpected, but certainly not unwelcome. Axton hadn't talked to Dessy in a few weeks. She'd seemed busy, so he hadn't pushed. Waiting for her to come to him again, if she'd wanted.

So when his phone had buzzed, and he'd drawn it out with a laugh as someone pushed another drink into his freehand, his features sobered for just a moment as he looked down at the message. Without much thought to it he sent one back.



She could come to him, or he could go to her, it didn't matter. His friends wouldn't really miss him, not as trashed as they were, and if he were honest, they weren't that close anyways. Axton didn't feel in particular loyalty to them, not even having shared an apartment with them.

He was weaving his way through the crowd towards the door when the second text through, but he waited until he could extract himself from the jumble of drunk party-goers before checking it. And it was probably for the best, or he might have dropped his phone, given the nature of the text and his reaction to it. Surprise.

But if she wanted to escape the bar scene for the night that was fine. Axton liked drinking, and he liked bars, but he'd be a fool not to take a pretty girl up on a request to head back to his apartment. He might have been cavalier and lazy, but Ax was no fool.



He might not have known the name of the place he'd been dragged to, but he had paid attention to how they'd gotten there. Stuffing his hands deep into his pockets for warmth, Axton headed outside and made his way down the sidewalk. He had three blocks to go, and no coat. The man walked quickly.

He saw her maybe a handful of seconds before her eyes found him, and what he saw drew a concerned frown across his face as she pushed away from the wall and practically ran for him. Opening his arms to draw him in against her was thoughtless, automatic, as was the brush if fingers at the back of her head, over the softness of seafoam hair. Were her hands trembling? "Hey Gorgeous." Was she just cold, or was there something wrong? What was he seeing in those pretty eyes when she looked up at him, lips parting but no words coming.

Ax smiled gently, large hands moving to capture both her much smaller ones, and he brought them up, breath warm against her knuckles. "Let's go. We can start walking, hail a cab when we see one." There was a restless energy to her that made him think going back inside wasn't going to be an option. He didn't live far, it wouldn't take that long to get there. It'd just be a cold walk.

frayedflower

The smile she gave him seemed to swim on the surface of a sea of emotions that he couldn't read. There and gone too quickly, and it made his own falter, pale features pulling into puzzled lines as she turned and started walked down the street. Ax fell into step behind her, reaching out to catch her hand just as she hailed a passing taxi.

That was convenient.

The interior of the cab was a lot warmer than the streets, but all the same he was reaching for her, tugging her in against his side as he gave the driver his address.

"Are you alright?" It was said in a soft, warm brush against her ear. Almost inaudible. Fingers coming up to brush a wind swept bit of seafoam blue away from her cheek. The chill had left her cheeks flushed.

She was an enigma, a series of contradictions and surprises that always kept him guessing, and always coming back for more. Attached, more than he'd admit, not even to himself. Feelings were tricky things, hard to read, harder to understand. Messy.

The turn into his touch had him spreading his fingers along her cheek so they'd drift back into her hair as she moved, and he echoed that soft smile, but his was colored with concern. No. It was just one word, and the slide if her palm along his thigh was a mask, a distraction, an escape. Ax drew in a breath, letting it out in a slow rush that tapered in a small, almost helpless laugh.

He wasn't usually indecisive, but something about Des made him question himself, overthink things, and he was thinking too hard now as that soft touch continued to crawl up his thigh. "Des..." He didn't even know what he meant to say.

The cab stopped, the cabby turned to bud them a good night, and Ax was more than happy to pay the man, drawing Des out into the cold and against his chest as he backed along the sidewalk outside his apartment building. A brush of fingers against her chin to top her head up, and he bent down catching her lips in a warm kiss. Whatever she needed, he was there for her.

He would be whatever, whoever she needed him to be for her. Whatever has caused her to reach out for help, for him, he would do everything in his power to chase it away. If that meant providing a distraction, the taste of liquor on his tongue and the warm brush of his hands where they smoothed at the small of her back, then that was what he would give her. Easily. Eagerly.

But they couldn't linger on the street. It wasn't the passing foot traffic, but the cold chill of winter settling around them again. Even if it didn't feel quite so frigid now.

So he'd continue to angle them for the stairs leading up to the apartments front door, groping behind her for the handle, the keypad behind it, and only drew back, breathlessly, when he found it. The first attempt at the code was clumsy, the second a success, and he pulled the door open, ushering her in before him. Free hand still resting verily solidly on the small of her back.