16. Axel

Chapter 16

Axel

With his truck thundering along the road out of town, Axel had thrown all thoughts of speed limits out of the window. With Laser safely belted and tucked away in the rear, Axel was pushing his trusty truck to its limits – and fortunately the road was nice and clear to allow him to haul ass as quickly as possible.

In his rearview mirror, Axel was relieved to see Kipp's truck swinging out from a side road and joining him.

‘Two daddies are better than one,' Axel said, a sense of relief that he wasn't doing this alone.

Despite the fact that he had managed to lose the SUV that was trailing him, Axel couldn't say for sure that he wasn't being tracked. After all, this was the military he was dealing with. There was every chance that the two sonsofbitches who were in town for Arlo had somehow discovered Arlo's location. But Axel knew that while this might be true, he couldn't dwell on it .

‘Kipp, you're on speakerphone,' Axel said, hollering into his phone. ‘We're headed over to Sunset Forest.'

‘Eastern entrance?' Kipp replied, his voice crackling somewhat through the weak phone signal.

‘That's the one,' Axel replied. ‘I can't say for sure, but I'm thinking Arlo is in there. Maybe it's a Daddy and boy thing. But that's what my senses are telling me.'

‘That's good enough for me,' Kipp replied. ‘If you've got an item of his clothing, we'll send the dogs chasing for him.'

‘I've got a sweater here, that should do it,' Axel said, powering on down the road relentlessly and hoping that the Eagle Ridge Sheriff's department wasn't out with their speed traps that day.

‘Perfect,' Kipp answered. ‘Don't worry, we'll find him.'

‘I know,' Axel replied. ‘I just hope and pray we reach him before those other assholes do.'

With that, Axel ended the call and the two Daddies focused on driving as quickly as their heavy duty trucks would allow them.

As soon as Axel arrived at the easterly entrance to Sunset Forest, he knew that there wasn't time to waste. With Kipp arriving shortly after him, the two men and their dogs stood in the small clearing and exchanged a look that meant it was time to get down to business.

‘We both know Sunset Forest well,' Axel said. ‘I say we stay close, within sight of one another. The dogs can run free. They'll pick Arlo's scent up no doubt. '

‘Agreed,' Kipp replied. ‘If those two assholes somehow are here before us, it's important that we're able to take them on together. Preferably with an element of surprise.'

Axel nodded.

Both Axel and Kipp were tough men with plenty of life experience on their side. But they were certainly going to need to combine their forces in the event of going up against two currently serving soldiers. Ideally, they would find Arlo and bring him home without having to engage in any physical conflict – but Axel had a feeling that things might not be that simple.

‘Okay, let's move,' Axel said, a look of total focus on his face. ‘Laser… go find Arlo. Go find the boy!'

With that, both Laser and Brutus sniffed the sweater in Axel's hand and sprinted ahead. They were good dogs and great companions. Axel hoped that their noses were fine-tuned that morning to finding a sassy but scared boy in need of help.

‘We've got this, brother,' Kipp said, the two Daddies walking quickly but carefully through the entrance gate and into the forest. ‘Arlo's smart. If your instinct is correct and he's here, the boy will have hidden himself well. Hell, he'll probably see us before we see him!'

‘I hope so, Kipp,' Axel replied. ‘I truly hope so.'

As Axel and Kipp entered the forest, the scale of the task ahead of them dawned on Axel. While they both had an expert knowledge of the forest, there was still a comparatively large amount of ground to cover. And with all the hidden nooks, caves, and thick undergrowth to navigate there were plenty of places where a boy could make himself almost unfindable.

Axel powered on through the first clearing with his heart racing and his strong legs pumping. There was no time to pause, and no time to worry about what could happen if they didn't find his precious darling boy.

Arlo's in here somewhere.

I can feel him.

I just need a sign. Anything…

Axel and Kipp continued to work their way through the woodland, the frequent barks of their dogs guiding their direction. Axel had walked through Sunset Forest so many times for pleasure, but this trip was about as far away from pleasure as a man could get.

As he continued to search in vain for his Little, Axel's mind was filled with thoughts over how their relationship had developed from their first meeting. The awkwardness of seeing Arlo swimming, the undeniable chemistry, the first spanking, and then…

But before Axel's mind could wander any further, he was brought hurtling back into the real world as he heard a loud scream in the distance. And not just one scream either, but three shrill blasts that followed right after the other.

‘Arlo!' Axel exclaimed, not even needing to look to Kipp for confirmation.

The two Daddies burst into a full on sprint and powered their way in the direction of the screams. As they ran, Axel's mind filled with the most horrific thoughts as to what was happening to his precious boy, but very quickly he snapped into a clear mindset that was focused on one thing and one thing only…

It was time to find and save his love.

Axel and Kipp quietened their dogs down and crouched in the tall grass. Having powered their way through the forest, now was the time for stealth – but it was quite clear that they didn't have long to make their move.

Axel couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

The two assholes who were tormenting Arlo were standing at the bottom of the tree with a chainsaw. And not only that, but the chainsaw had taken a huge chunk out of the tree's base.

‘Help! Someone help me!' Arlo called out, his body visible up high in the tree as it stood precariously. ‘Stop freakin' buzzing the tree! I hate you!'

‘That's my boy,' Axel whispered, looking at Kipp and making a hand gesture in the direction of the two men.

‘A slow creep toward them, then charge,' Kipp whispered. ‘We've got the element of surprise. But we don't want to even give them a shot of fair combat. We've got one chance to take these assholes down.'

Axel knew that Kipp was right.

This was a one shot rescue attempt that had zero room for failure .

Everything was down to Axel and Kipp. By the looks of what was happening right in front of their very eyes, Arlo's life was at risk and Axel simply couldn't comprehend a world where he didn't do everything he could to save him.

‘Okay, on me,' Axel said, counting down quietly from three. ‘ Move .'

Axel and Kipp crept out of the undergrowth and then launched themselves at the two men, immediately knocking the chainsaw out of one of their hands and sending it hurtling through the air.

‘Daddy! Kipp! You're here!' Arlo hollered from his position on high.

But Axel didn't have time to even acknowledge his boy. Despite having dislodged the chainsaw successfully, the element of surprise was now well and truly gone. Axel and Kipp were involved in a fistfight with two soldiers. Things were about to get very ugly.

The brawl was quickly in danger of turning in the soldiers' favor as their military training began to show. Axel took a double jab to the face and felt his eyes involuntarily fill with water as his nose cracked under the force of a stiff jab.

But as Axel fired back a right hook of his own, he could see that this might not be an impossible task. The soldiers were younger than him and Kipp, but that certainly didn't mean that they had better endurance.

Axel and Kipp were outdoor men who worked all day, every day. And this meant that their natural stamina reserves were high – as was their raw strength and determination. As the fight wore on, Axel noted the look of disbelief on his opponent's face as he kept coming back with attack after attack while also eating up his rival's punches.

‘Now it's time to finish this,' Axel roared to Kipp. ‘Use what we learned at the gym. Take them to the ground.'

Axel and Kipp had both been working on their grappling skills at Metal Work Gym and were able to drop their now exhausted opponents to the floor with relative ease.

‘You fucking idiot,' one of the men seethed, struggling hopelessly to get out of Axel's rear naked choke hold. ‘You'll pay for…'

But as Axel squeezed his arm across the man's neck until he passed out, any and all protests fell silent. And with Kipp having applied the same technique to his opponent, the fight was over.

‘Arlo! Stay calm,' Axel called out, noticing that the tree was looking extremely precarious at this stage. ‘Don't make any sudden movements.'

Axel could tell that this was now arguably even more of an emergency situation than it had been when they were dealing with the two men. The tree genuinely looked like it could fall at any moment, and with Arlo very highly placed then that could prove catastrophic.

‘Daddy, I'm going to climb down,' Arlo hollered, only for him to momentarily lose his grip and end up hanging on for dear life as he swung backward and forward. ‘Daddy!'

‘Arlo!' Axel shouted, knowing that while now wasn't the time to panic, there was no use in pretending that this was anything other than a full scale emergency. ‘Kipp, I'm climbing up to get him.'

‘Axel, it's not fucking stable enough,' Kipp pleaded. ‘You could bring the tree down before you're halfway up. And then that's both of you gone.'

‘I have to try,' Axel said, his hearth thumping. ‘Hold on, baby boy. Daddy's coming.'

‘Hurry! Hurry!' Arlo squealed, a fear bordering on terror in his voice as he continued to hold his grip around the branch that was saving him from a potentially fatal fall. ‘I can't keep hanging on.'

‘Well you're going to have to,' Axel barked as he began to scale the tree. ‘And that's Daddy's Orders.'

The time for talking was over.

Axel knew that it was make or break as he climbed and swung his way up the tree like he'd never done before. Typically Axel would err on the side of caution and use safety ropes too of course. But not this time. Axel had one shot at saving his darling boy, and it was a shot where missing simply was not an option.

‘I'm… I'm… I can't… hold… on…' Arlo cried out, the horror in his voice palpable as his grip visibly loosened.

‘Give me ten more seconds, Arlo,' Axel demanded. ‘I'll count with you as I climb. Ten… nine… eight…'

‘Seven… s-s-s-s-six… five…' Arlo hollered back, his grip now almost totally gone and to make matters worse the branch creaki ng and sounding like it was about to break off the tree at any moment.

Axel was within touching distance of Arlo and hooked his legs around a sturdy branch before just about managing to reach out and drag Arlo toward his body before he fell.

‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, I love you,' Arlo said, sobbing as he buried his face into Axel's chest.

‘And I love you too, young man,' Axel replied. ‘But now isn't the time for talking. We still need to get our asses down onto safe ground and then get away from this tree. I'll start working my way down and you follow me. Stay close. And know that if you even come close to slipping, I've got your back.'

Arlo wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded.

Axel could tell that while Arlo might just have been through a traumatic episode, his determined expression and keen look in his eyes meant that he was back in the game.

‘Come on, let's move,' Axel said, beginning the descent down the tree and duly guiding Arlo as and when he needed it.

When the pair of them made it to ground, they swiftly ran across the clearing in the direction away from how the tree would fall.

‘Who knew having a tree surgeon as a friend could be so useful?' Kipp quipped as the three of them steadied themselves and watched as the grand old tree swayed and looked dangerously close to falling. ‘But what about those two assholes? '

Kipp pointed over at the two soldiers as they groggily came to. They were directly in the path of the expected tree fall. And while Axel might have hated them both, there was no way he could in good consciousness let them be crushed underneath the tree.

‘Come this way,' Axel called out, waving the men toward him as they got to their feet. ‘The tree's going to fall. Come to us. We can talk. This doesn't need to get violent again.'

But instead of listening to Axel, the men shouted and hollered obscenities at Arlo, Axel, and Kipp. They were angry, and clearly not in the mood to settle things peacefully.

‘Fuck you!' Kray called out, spitting in Axel's direction. ‘You want to trap us here while you wait for the cops, right? Not happening. But don't worry, you'll be seeing us again real soon. And it'll be the last thing you see too.'

‘ Argh ! I hate you!' Arlo called out, making a move to run toward the pair of them before Axel held him back. ‘You suck! But I feel sorry for you too. You must be so miserable to bully people like me!'

Harper and Kray simply laughed.

But the laughter was short-lived. An almighty tearing sound ripped through the air as the tree fell. And as Harper and Kray ran, they were soon crushed underneath the fallen tree's enormous weight.

There were no screams of pain. Only silence.

Axel knew that the men's fait's had been sealed. It was all over. The threat was gone. But Axel had a young man who had already been through enough trauma to last a lifetime – and it was time to make sure that he was okay.

As Kipp called the police, Axel took a shaken up Arlo to one side.

‘My darling, special Arlo,' Axel said, resting up against a thick tree trunk and drawing his boy in close. ‘I'm sorry you had to see that.'

‘It's okay, Daddy,' Arlo replied. ‘We tried to help them. Even though they wouldn't have done that for us. We did our best. We did the right thing.'

‘You're right,' Axel replied. ‘And now it'll be in the hands of the authorities. So I'm thinking we head on out and go somewhere nice and safe.'

Arlo simply nodded and attempted a smile.

Axel knew that he would need to tread carefully with Arlo until he was feeling himself once more – but Axel was Arlo's Daddy, and it felt like looking after and caring for him was what Axel was born to do.