14. Axel

Chapter 14

Axel

Axel walked out of Max's office hoping to see Arlo sitting at his booth, the plan being that the pair of them would briefly go over the morning's job together ahead of driving across to the other side of Eagle Ridge to get started.

However as Axel got closer to the booth, he sensed that something was amiss.

Not only was Arlo nowhere to be seen, but his stuff was scattered across the table in a way that just didn't seem like him…

‘Arlo?' Axel asked. ‘What the…'

Axel craned his neck to double check that his boy wasn't hiding in one of the other booths to play a prank on him. And when Axel returned with no results, he cast his eyes back onto the table with Arlo's journal, coloring pens, and even his cell phone all there.

This wasn't like Arlo .

And the fact that his backpack was missing only added to the sense that something was up.

‘Max, Arlo's gone,' Axel said, turning just in time to see Max walk out of his office. ‘I don't get it. Something's not right here.'

‘I could look back at the security footage,' Max answered. ‘But he's probably just run out to see one of his friends. Don't worry, my guy.'

‘Please do check the footage,' Axel said, his protective Daddy instincts telling him that this was all wrong.

Arlo could be impulsive and reckless. But there was no way he would cut and run and leave his journal and cell phone out in the open for anyone to take.

Axel found himself standing in the diner and looking around helplessly. All of a sudden, Axel felt vulnerable and stressed out. His baby boy was missing and each and every fiber of his body was screaming out that there was more to this situation than met the eye.

‘Your young man left,' came the voice from behind Axel.

Axel turned around and saw Mr. Willows sitting with his coffee and morning paper.

‘Thank you, Mr. Willows,' Axel said, puzzled but grateful for any kind of lead. ‘Did you see anything else?'

‘Can't say I did,' Mr. Willows replied. ‘I guess maybe you could say he seemed a little… spooked ?'

Axel nodded in appreciation at the extra detail. While he couldn't say for certain, it felt like Axel's suspicions were adding up. And rather than waste a single further second in the diner, Axel stepped outside to see if Arlo was in the vicinity.

‘Arlo!' Axel called, the morning hubbub in Eagle Ridge starting to kick in and the streets rapidly filling with people on their way to work and in town to do their early morning shopping. ‘Arlo!'

Axel scanned his eyes from left to right but saw nothing of significance.

With each passing moment, Axel's stomach tied itself up in knots and Axel felt an urge to start bellowing Arlo's name over and over. But he also knew that rather than lose his cool, it was probably far more productive to come up with some kind of a plan.

However just as Axel was about to head back inside the diner to collect his stuff and hopefully receive some information from Max about the diner's security footage, he saw the two surly, disruptive men from The Tap House over on the other side of the street…

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Those two guys… both military.

Suddenly they're in town and Arlo's nowhere to be seen…

‘Fuck,' Axel muttered, watching as the two men seemed to be looking for something, or someone. ‘This can't be happening.'

Axel knew enough about Arlo's appeal process and what he had experienced while in the military to strongly suspect that this was no coincidence. And given their behavior in The Tap House, there was also a strong possibility that these were the very men who had taken part in the bullying that led to Arlo's early exit from his dream job.

Did they hear me calling out Arlo's name?

If they did, I need to move.

And even more than that… I need to find Arlo and keep him safe.

Axel didn't waste a single second standing on the sidewalk. It was time to get back inside the diner, speak to Max, and then come up with a plan in double-quick time.

There wasn't a single second to waste – Arlo's life could be depending on it.

After Max was only able to confirm that Arlo had slipped out of the diner in what appeared to be a rush, Axel made a beeline for his truck and was driving up and down the Eagle Ridge streets in a desperate attempt to make some kind of contact with his missing boy.

‘Come on, baby boy, where are you?' Axel pleaded, doing his best to drive as safely as he could while also feeling an impending sense of doom coming over him. ‘Show me something. Give me some kind of sign.'

Axel was doubly frustrated that Arlo had left without his cell phone. There was no option to call, message, or reach out in one of the million ways that people now took for granted .

But Arlo leaving his cell phone did tell Axel one thing, and it was crystal clear as far as he was concerned: Arlo had left in a moment of panic. And with information to hand, Axel knew that this was very much a real situation that needed handling.

It's on me to protect Arlo.

I'm his Daddy, and I'm his Eagle Ridge protector.

I can't leave a single stone unturned.

Axel pulled his truck over by the side of the road and decided that it was time to reach out to his fellow Daddy friends. This was far more than a case of an adventurous boy going AWOL. From the pit of his stomach, Axel knew that this was a very real thing that was happening, and if he could get an advantage via his friends, then he knew that he needed to take it…

AXEL: Guys, I don't know if Max has already reached out, but we might have a situation on our hands.

Axel paused typing for a moment and looked in his rearview mirror. The SUV that had been trailing him at a distance for the last few minutes had pulled up on the sidewalk too. It might have been further down the block, but it was clearly way more than a coincidence. With its blacked out windows it might have been impossible to say who was inside, but Axel knew that it was the two men from earlier .

AXEL: We're looking at two military men, you might remember them as the assholes from The Tap House. Something tells me that they're connected to Arlo suddenly disappearing. I don't think they have him otherwise they wouldn't be trailing me. But I'd bet my last buck that they want to know where he is. And we can't let them get to Arlo before I do.

Axel hit send and took another look in his rearview mirror. The blacked out SUV was still stationary and there were no signs of movement. Axel wasn't afraid of any man, but he knew that going up against two military men wasn't a fair fight. He would need to think smarter, faster, and harder than he had done before. And if it came down to a physical confrontation, he just had to hope that it wasn't one versus two.

‘Come on, Arlo…' Axel muttered, suddenly wondering whether he had fled and made his way to one of his friends. The alternative of course was that Arlo had skipped town altogether. But doing that without his phone or his journal seemed so unlikely.

At this point, all Axel wanted was to know that his precious Little was safe. And fortunately for him, he had a group of friends who always had his back…

KIPP: Send me your location, brother. I'm coming to see you right now. We've got Trey and Max on the situation too. There's no time to waste, we're going to get to the bottom of this ASAP. Don't worry, Axel. Together we're going to get Arlo back into your arms .

Axel responded to Kipp's message with a fist bump emoji. He knew that he had good friends who would stop at nothing to help him – but what Axel truly needed right now was even the slightest sign that Arlo was okay.

To make doubly sure that the suspicious SUV was indeed trailing him, Axel decided to play a little game. Axel started the truck's engine and slowly pulled out into the road. Sure enough, the SUV did the same thing, albeit further down the block than him.

Axel then slowly took a left onto Maple Street and then dramatically swung the truck into a semi-hidden side street. And sure enough, only moments later Axel watched as the black SUV drove past him, clearly unsure as to where Axel and his truck had disappeared to.

‘Assholes,' Axel muttered. ‘When I find Arlo, you two sonsofbitches are in serious trouble…'

Axel realized that even if Arlo wasn't so important to him, he still would have felt disgusted by what these two men were doing. No Little deserved to be harassed, intimidated, or bullied.

Being a real Daddy meant looking out for everyone in need, not just those who were close to your heart. Maybe it was just the Eagle Ridge way, but Axel hated any kind of injustice or bullying. The fact that it was happening to his darling Arlo only magnified that feeling a hundred times.

There was no way that Axel was going to allow anything bad to happen to Arlo. Not today, not tomorrow, and not ever. It might have taken a crisis to show it, but Axel was now realizing that there were no questions left to answer as far as his feelings for Arlo went.

He's my boy.

I'm his Daddy.

And I'm going to look after him Forever…

With the adrenalin pumping around his body, Axel suddenly had a moment of clarity. He knew where Arlo was, he was sure of it. And best of all, it wasn't too far away either…