Adrenaline: A Lestappen Story

𝟐𝟒 - 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

Arriving swiftly at his father's home, Max anticipated an empty living room, assuming that all family members would be deep asleep. To his surprise, the driver was met with an unexpected scene. An intervention. The living room hosted not only his father but also his step-mother, who engaged in an intricate conversation with Kelly.

At the sight of his presence in the house, everyone fell silent, quickly turning their attention to him as if they had been anticipating his arrival.

"What is this?" Max asked, leaving his shoes by the door.

Jos slowly stood up and moved to meet Max by the entrance, "I sent the jet to get her earlier today. I think you need some relaxation."

Max stood in shock; he had not expected to see Kelly anytime soon, especially not now. The last thing he wanted was to be tied to her, to this house. When their eyes met, she seemed to understand that Max wasn't exactly happy to see her, and her gaze quickly shifted down like a child being scolded.

"What?" Jos asked, following her gaze, "did you cheat on her?" He whispered, trying to grasp Max's attention, "Just say sorry and make up; she will forgive you," he tapped his shoulder, "you can have anyone you want; she won't give that up."

Max clenched his jaw, reluctantly taking in the situation, finding himself trapped in a corner. Avoiding answering his father, Max moved past him, finding Kelly, who somehow played a perfect part in pretending there was no bad blood between them.

Kelly stood up and reached out for his shoulder, pressing a kiss on his cheek. "Hi, honey," she mumbled, a tense air crowding the room, "you look tired," she said, caressing his cheek.

"Yeah..." Max averted his gaze from her, discreetly turning his face away from her touch. "Goodnight," he said, looking back to his father and his wife. He then moved on to push Kelly's waist, guiding her further into the house to the guest room he was staying in.

Once they were in the privacy of their room, Kelly snapped away from his touch, putting distance between them. "Where were you?" she snapped, her soft demeanor suddenly gone.

"Do you really want to know?" Max raised his eyebrows, taking his coat off.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She argued angrily, ready to start a discussion.

"Let's talk about this tomorrow, I'm tired," Max insisted, undressing himself.

Kelly wanted to speak, but she knew she'd have no way around Max, as he genuinely seemed tired. Still angered by the situation, she complied hesitantly, letting the room rest in complete silence until the two of them were in pajamas and in bed. With their backs turned to each other, contrary to Max, Kelly struggled to fall asleep.

She ran all possible scenarios through her mind about what Max had been doing, who he had been seeing, but she never seemed to come to any conclusion. It was only when the sun rays began to cross the window that Kelly finally realized she had spent the whole night awake, her mind racing with made-up scenarios of Max with some other woman.

Deciding to make a trip to the bathroom as to break herself from her relentless overthinking, Kelly heard the soft sound of a phone vibrating against the sink. Her eyes curiously followed it to spot Max's phone, and flashing on the screen was a notification from an unknown number.

"I'm at the cottage. I have a surprise for you :)"

Kelly widened her eyes at the sight, quickly glancing back to check whether Max was still asleep. Once she felt safe enough to move, Kelly quickly dressed herself, making as little noise as possible —she knew exactly which cottage the message referred to.