Page 108 of Passenger Princess

“Is that glitter spray?!” I ask.

“It’s all I could grab!” she shouts back, but then he screams as Peach, deciding for the first time that I’ve ever seen that someone is a threat, jumps, digging her claws into his arm.

For a moment, I panic for her safety, but then I watch as Emily slams the hair dryer into the back of the man's head until he falls to the ground. Peach jumps next to him, swatting at his face repeatedly, as Madison comes up behind him, using the wire of a hair tool to tie up his hands.

“What thefuck!” the man says as she sits on his back. Somewhere near his feet, Ashleigh is tying his legs up with a pair of pantyhose, and then we all stand back, taking in our masterpiece. He tries to get up, but Peach jumps on his ass, claws digging in, and I crouch next to his face.

“I’d stay down if I were you,” I say with a sweet smile.

“You bitch?—”

I take the hair spray and spray him again, making sure to get it into his eyes.

“I’d also shut the fuck up. To be fair, Ididtell you we’d kick your ass.”

The man opens his mouth, his fabric mask a bit askew, but a quietness takes over the room when the main door opens, and my name is shouted.

“Ava—!”

When I look up, a very flustered, very panicked Jaime is standing in the doorway, and I stand with a smile before putting my foot to the stranger’s back like a conquering pirate. “Oh, good timing.”

He looks around the room, the intruder lying on the floor, tied up with multiple hair tools, covered in glitter and dry shampoo, and who the fuck knows what else, before closing his eyes and sighing.

FORTY-NINE

JAIME

A million thoughts ran through my mind as I jogged up the stairs and then sprinted down the empty hall to where I last saw Ava, the security guard who was supposed to keep an eye on the room, nowhere to be seen.

Not one of those included Ava standing all dressed up and gorgeous, a man tied up on the floor before her.

Good timing, she said when I walked in, as if she'd been waiting for me, a devilish smile on her lips.

"Can I Scooby Doo him?" Ava asks.

"What?" Walking further into the chaos, I approach the person before Ava. He's tied up with the cords of hair tools and absolutelycoveredin god knows what.

"I want to take off his mask! See who it is!"

"Jesus, Ava,"

"Please, please, please!?"

"You two are adorable," one of the contestants—Miss Wyoming, maybe?—says with a dreamy sigh as if a masked man hadn't entered this room just moments ago.

"Ava, you are not touching any part of this. I think you've doneenough." My eyes move to her hands, where a large hair spray can is, and she shifts it behind her like that will help things.

"Won't you like, taint the crime scene or whatever?" Anne says, walking over to where we all stand and worrying her lip. I take her in, reading her and seeing panic all over her face.

"I don't think there's much of a crime scene to taint," Cara says. "He's literally covered in glitter and hair spray."

I sigh, then move, grabbing the man and lifting him under his arms before putting him in a chair. The eyes through the mask look familiar, but I can't quite place them as I step back, crossing my arms on my chest.

"Who are you?" I ask, squatting in front of him.

"Fuck off," the man says, and again, the voice sounds familiar, a bit whiny, but I can't put my finger on it.

"We're going to find out one way or another when the cops come," I say.

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