Page 71 of Whisper Of Attraction (Whisper Lake 3)

CHAPTER 21

The only sound Axel heard as he walked into the darkened theater was his own breathing.

“Brynn?” he called out as his eyesight adjusted, but other than his voice echoing back to him he was met with silence.

He knew that she was in there. He’d followed her when she left her house. As much as he was telling himself that he was checking on her in an official capacity, the truth was that he just wanted to see her.

He missed her. Which he knew was ridiculous since he saw her several times a day, every day. He’d been standing in her living room just hours before.

After the kids left, Brynn and her friends had some wine out on her deck. They stayed for about an hour. It was exactly the night that she’d talked about wanting to have the first night he’d arrived in town. It had only been a couple months, but it felt like years. He didn’t remember what his world looked like without Brynn Daniels in it. And the scariest part of that was, he didn’t want to.

Tonight had been the first night that they’d been alone since Izzy showed up. It had taken every shred of discipline he had not to march down the steps once Jess and Ali left and tell her everything. Why he was really there. What she meant to him. How he felt about her.

But, somehow, he’d managed to keep his ass in the apartment. That is, until he saw her leaving at close to midnight. He’d followed her, which technically was his job. He was to have eyes on her as much as possible. Even if it meant tailing her to a booty call.

He’d told himself that it was none of his business. And had done his best to brace himself for the impact of seeing her meeting up with Liam or Keaton or Sam, or any one of her many other admirers. He knew that it was going to feel worse than a punch in the gut. It was going to be a kick to his balls.

When she’d pulled into the high school parking lot, he’d let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He figured that she must’ve forgotten something and ran over to get it. But she’d gone into the theater over two hours ago, and she still hadn’t come out.

At the one-hour mark, he’d almost gone in, and he would’ve if he’d been able to think of an excuse for showing up. But he couldn’t. An hour later, he still didn’t have one, but he was past the point of caring.

It was two in the morning. He was checking on her.

“Brynn?” he called out again.

Still nothing.

He looked around for any sign of her as he made his way down the center aisle and when he was near the stage he called again, this time a little louder. He didn’t want to scare her, “Brynn, it’s Axel.”

A distressed, muffled sound followed by a crash came from backstage. Axel’s stomach plummeted to the ground as adrenaline rushed through him. His first instinct was to go back to the car to get his weapon, but he immediately dismissed that idea. He’d made his presence known. Whoever had Brynn knew that he was there.

As quickly and quietly as he could manage he rounded the stage, entering the backstage area from stage left. From there he’d have a sightline of the entire area and no one could sneak up behind him. Within seconds he was in position, primed, and ready to kill anyone and everyone who stood in his way of getting to Brynn and getting her out of here.

Several possible scenarios had played out in his mind in the seconds it took him to get into position, but he could honestly say the one that he was faced with was not one of them.

Brynn was alone, in the middle of the room. It looked like she was taking a dress off, the material started at her belly and went over head and was wound tightly around her arms that were extended up. She had white underwear with a red bow in the center and no shoes on.

Still on high alert, his eyes scanned the room. He didn’t see anything. Didn’t sense anything.

“Ashel?!” He heard her more clearly now, but it sounded more like she was saying asshole than Axel.

“I’m here.” Adrenaline surged through him as he crossed to her in two large steps. As he moved, his eyes searched the room looking for anything out of place, anything to cause alarm. Still nothing. “Are you okay?”

She wobbled from side to side. “Mmm shuck.”

“What?”

“Mmm shuck.”

“You’re stuck?”

“Yesh.” She began to move back and forth like a bobblehead doll as if to demonstrate her statement.

He reached out and tugged on the material. It didn’t budge.

She grunted and wiggled and he pulled again, using significantly more force than before. It didn’t shift at all.

Since up wasn’t working he tried pulling it down instead, but he got the same results. It was as if the sucker was superglued to her.

---