Free Beautiful Illusion by Aubrey Sage Page A

her, took a huge breath of air and dropped to the water below.
    The timer on the wall started counting up, and Mikayla rushed to the top capsule, shut the lid and locked Enigma inside before climbing back down.
    Mikayla walked backstage in my direction and sat the keys on a table near where I was standing.
    “Do you think he’ll be okay?” I asked her.
    “I don’t know,” she replied with a thick Spanish accent. “I’ve never seen a guy do something crazy like this. He’s brave though.”
    If I had any doubt that the stunt was real, that all faded when I spoke to Mikayla. The concern in her voice was real, and if anyone knew how all the tricks worked, it would be her, since she had trained as his assistance for the past week.
    I looked back out to the stage, and Enigma looked calm. His eyes were closed, and not a muscle on his perfect body was moving. He simply idled there in the water, silently and calmly, and the dramatic music that had been playing overhead had changed to something quainter.
    From my angle, I could see a couple of Enigma’s friends sitting out in the crowd—or at least I assumed they were his friends since they were the same two guys that I had seen at McMillan the night we met. Kim and Lee, however, must have been sitting further back in seats that I couldn’t see.
    02:00
    Two minutes with him underwater seemed like an eternity, and with each passing moment I started to get more and more nervous. Still he hadn’t moved a muscle or even tried to remove his chains. He just sat there calmly. The crowd for the most part had calmed down, enjoying their wine and chattering lightly while the timer continued to increase, waiting for something to happen.
    I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.
    Dante.
    I smiled. All the stress of the event had pushed the fact that I had a hot date with a guy I had been talking to for months to the back of my mind. I turned and walked swiftly towards the restroom so that I could take the call, and when I was pushing in on restroom door, I answered.
    “Hey,” I said.
    “Hey sweetheart,” Dante’s voice crackled. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be there in about an hour. You’re at the Anaheim Event Center right?”
    “Yeah, do you want me to meet you somewhere specific?”
    “The parking lot is fine. I’ll find you.”
    “Okay, I’ll see you soon.”
    “See you, darling.”
    Sweetheart. Darling. Fuck, it had been so long since a man had called me names like that. It still felt a little weird that it was coming from someone that I hadn’t really met, but it still made my tummy turn upside down to hear. I needed it.
    “Yes!” I said quietly to myself and bit my bottom lip. Finally, I was going to meet him.
    I flicked my phone to my photo albums and took a long stare at the photos of his that I had saved from Dateme.com, falling into a daydream of all the nights I spent with him, all the things we said. Maybe it was only a couple of images that I had, but I could tell he was sexy as hell… Maybe he wasn’t quite as handsome as Enigma, but he was still handsome nonetheless.
    And his voice. It was so sophisticated and mature. It didn’t sound like what I’d expect from a 25-year-old, and it just made him seem that much sexier to me.
    I closed my photos and looked at the time. Shit . I wasn’t even sure long I had been gone. I quickly rushed out the door and ran back to the side of the stage.
    10:00
    The voices in the crowd had started to pick up, all anticipating the final few minutes of the routine. Still, Enigma hadn’t moved and just floated there, lifeless in the water. His skin seemed like it had changed color, grown more pale—maybe from the lack of oxygen or maybe from his skin absorbing so much water, I wasn’t sure.
    I could only imagine what it was like to go so long without a breath of fresh air.
    12:00
    Finally, Enigma made a move. First his eyes glance up to the clock on the wall, and then his arms started shimmying behind his