The Girl He Marked by Laila Callaway novel Chapter 3

Axel's POV.

A quiet moan escapes from the back of her throat and Grace pushes herself against me. I wrap my arms around her waist, tucking her against my body. She fits perfectly.

Grace leans up on her tiptoes to kiss me harder. Her little hands find their way to my hair, and she buries her fingers in the strands.

I lean down some more, letting Grace roll off her tiptoes and back onto her feet. She's so small, it's adorable.

My hand rubs her lower back as our lips move over each other. She moves in perfect sync with me, it's like our kissing is instinctual, second nature.

My tongue swipes over her bottom lip and she gasps. I chuckle and pull back. I have no intention of pushing my luck and deepening the kiss on our first date, I just wanted to see what her reaction would be.

Grace blushes and won't meet my eyes. Her lips are swollen and pink from our kiss.

Best fucking kiss of my life.

'I should— um, you should probably go. My mum will be here soon and if she sees us together, well, she gets all suspicious and asks loads of questions—' my mate rambles nervously.

I bend down and press a firm kiss to her lips, effectively shutting her up.

'It's okay, Strawberries,' I reassure her when I pull back. 'I'm leaving.'

Grace twists her hands together in front of her. She looks up at me through her long eyelashes.

'Thank you for the date, Axel. I'll see you tomorrow.'

'Thank you, too, Strawberries. I loved it. See you.'

I walk off to my car, with my hands in my pockets and a grin on my face. When I glance back over my shoulder at Grace, she is watching me walk away.

Blushing because she got caught checking me out from behind, she quickly looks away.

I smile because I caught her, because she looks like a girl who has been thoroughly kissed with her flushed cheeks and swollen lips, and because I just had the best date and the best kiss of my life.

I have never felt this happy.

I'm still smiling when I come through the door. My parents are in the living room, and they call me through as I take off my shoes.

'How was it' Mum asks eagerly, muting the TV.

I can't resist smiling. 'Awesome.'

'Kiss' Dad asks.

I laugh and nod. 'Yeah. I kissed her.'

Both of them cheer and whoop at me, making me roll my eyes.

'That's my boy,' Dad responds approvingly.

'So, you excited for Saturday night'

My mum's eyes are lit up with happiness. She and Dad waited so long to meet each other, neither of them could believe it when I told them about Grace.

I think she's really happy that I don't have to go through the years of waiting that they did.

'I'm off to bed, night guys.'

I go up to my room and throw myself on my bed. I pull my phone from my jeans and check my messages.

There's one from my girl.

Thank you for the best date. You're something else, Axel Archer.

I smile to myself.

I made my mate happy. She's happy, because of me.

Before I call Xaden to see what he's doing, I send a reply to her.

And you've got another one with me on Saturday. Lucky you.

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'I take it that it went well Judging from the smile on your face.'

Rory is sat next to me, scrutinizing me over the top of her phone.

'Yeah. Really well,' I respond.

Xaden sits down in the spare seat next to me and puts his arm around my shoulders.

'Really, really well. Our boy got a kiss,' he teases and then starts making smooching noises in my face.

I nudge him away from me. 'Shut up.'

Rory grins. 'Really You kissed her Amazing!'

Speak of the angel, Grace walks into the common room. She approaches us and I shove Xaden, making him fall off the chair and onto the floor.

'Hey!' He protests loudly.

'This seat is free,' I tell Grace, patting the spot just vacated by Xaden.

He grumbles something about me being whipped and sits on a chair opposite. Grace sits down next to me and slides off her bag.

'Was everything alright with your mum picking you up'

Grace nods. 'Yeah, she didn't suspect anything.'

'So, Saturday night should be a problem'

Her cheeks are warm and she shakes her head.

'Nope. I told her that I'm going out with Aurora.'

Rory winks at me and Grace. 'I got your backs, guys,' she says and then groans loudly. 'Ugh, I'm so single.'

'Don't worry,' I reassure her. 'You'll find them soon.'

'I'm getting my dick sucked on Saturday,' Xaden muses aloud.

We all look at him in shock. Grace blushes down to her neck and I put my arm around her protectively, wanting to shield her from Xaden's crude words.

'I know I've said it a million times, but seriously, Xaden, you are going to regret doing all of this when you meet your m—,' she cuts off as she realizes that Grace is with us. 'Your person.'

Xaden scoffs. 'Please. I've told you; I don't have a mate and even if I do, she's gonna love me because I'm so good in bed.'

Rory scowls at his response. 'You're disgusting, Xaden Moretti. You'll be lucky if she even gives you the time of day.'

Xaden goes quiet at that, and Rory shifts uncomfortably, sensing that she went too far.

Luckily, the bell rings and breaks the tense atmosphere for us.

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Grace and I have maths first.

Miss Mooney sets us some calculations to work out. I rest half of my upper body on the desk as I write, completely relaxed.

My knee bumps Grace's by accident. Her lips twitch as she tries to resist a smile and she bumps my knee back.

'Pst,' she whispers, getting my attention.

'Yes' I reply, hovering my pencil over my work as I pause writing out my equation.

'What do I wear tomorrow' She asks, her eyes shining with excitement.

My little mate is excited about our date.

I shrug. 'You'll look beautiful in anything.'

She scowls at my answer. Okay, not the response I was expecting. I thought she'd like the compliment.

'That's not helpful! Please, tell me what I should wear.'

I scrunch up my face.

'I'm not telling you what to wear. Wear whatever you want to.' She narrows her blue eyes at me, and I quickly add, 'Fine, it's a nice restaurant, so you can dress up if you want. Don't girls like doing that'

She pins me with a look. Apparently, stereotyping is a no—go, too.

'Okay, I'll wear a dress,' she says, mostly to herself, I think.

'Good idea, so will I,' I reply, and she rolls her eyes.

She bumps her knee against mine and I bump her back.

'Would you two stop flirting and focus on the calculations, please' Miss Mooney's voice breaks through our moment.

I sit up and hold up my sheet. 'I've done them, Miss.'

The teacher narrows her eyes at me. She grabs a sheet from her desk and brings it over.

'Well done, Axel,' she says and places the new sheet in front of me. 'Now, try these.'

As she walks away, Grace giggles.

'Nerd,' she whispers.

'Says the physics boff,' I retort, and she giggles again.

'Where should I meet you On Saturday, I mean,' Grace asks suddenly.

I want it to be a proper date, I want to pick her up.

'We can meet at the square again, if that works for you,' I tell her, but then an idea pops into my head. 'Or I could pick you up away from your house, like down your street or something'

Grace considers it for a moment. 'Okay. I tell Mum that Rory is picking me up.'

'Great.'

This means I actually get to pick her up and drive her in my car, like a real date.

I can't fucking wait.

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