Page 26 of Passenger Princess

Instead of responding, I turn and walk away, knowing better by now than to encourage her.

When I come back to the room, the number of people has greatly reduced, despite my only being gone for a few moments. Unfortunately, when I scan the room, I don’t see pink and feathers.

“Where the fuck is she?” I grumble, moving toward Miss New Hampshire, the last person I saw her speaking with. “Hey, have you seen Ava?” I ask.

Her head swivels around the room. “I haven’t. I was talking with her a few minutes ago, then she looked out the front door and said she’d be right back.”

Something in my gut churns, a panic building at losing Ava. Where the fuck was the other guard? When I look around, I see him in a corner, flirting with some chick, and my hands ball up into fists.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I say to myself, then give a smile to the pageant queen, thanking her for her help before moving toward the large glass double doors with a street and sidewalk visible.

I’m going to fucking kill her.

Stepping out to the front of the restaurant, I look around and see…nothing.

There are a few people wandering, but none look like they’re from the event, much less Ava. I move, jogging down the street with my eyes scanning and a million thoughts of what could have happened to her running through my mind.

Someone kidnapped her.

Someone hurt her.

Someone has her cornered, and she’s in trouble.

She’s scared.

Something about that one makes my stomach drop—the idea of sweet Ava with her wide smiles and her sweet flirting scared.

As I run, every worst-case scenario pounds through my mind, but I see nothing. After a few minutes, I turn, run in the other direction, and stop in the restaurant again.

“Jake!" I shout at the other security guard, who is still fucking flirting. His head moves my way, and he slowly walks toward me, not a care in the world.

“Hey man, what’s—” he starts with a smile, stopping when he sees my face. “What’s wrong?”

“What the fuck's wrong? I told you to watch my mark for two fucking minutes, and now Ava’s missing.”

“Ava?” It takes everything in me not to hit him, but I don't have time for that, so I don't. “Miss Americana. Jesus Christ.“

A bit of color drains from his face, and he looks over his shoulder, checking to see if his mark, Willa Stone, is still in the building. He relaxes when it's' confirmed.

How the fuck is Greg threatening my job when he's employing assholes like this?

“Have you done a search?” he asks like I'm a fucking moron. He can't be older than twenty-five, and again, I have to wonder what kind of idiots my new boss is hiring because I know he wasn't someone Hank hired before he sold the company.

“Jogged a quarter mile that way,” I say with a tip of my head. “Going the opposite way next. Can you just do a search of the immediate area?”

“Of course, of course. On it,” he says.

Without another word, I leave the building, heading the way I haven't checked yet. I'm trying to think of the next steps, who I need to call, and what to tell the police when I hear it.

“You’re a good girl, aren’t you?” a voice says quiet and sweet, andmy feet stop moving altogether, looking 360 degrees to find where the voice is coming from, but there's nothing. No one.

For a moment, I think I imagined it in my panic before I hear her voice again.

“Oh my goodness, you’re just so sweet!”

I turn to my left, spotting a small alleyway three buildings down from the restaurant.

“Come on, let’s go find the big guy,” Ava’s voice says, and then suddenly, golden blonde hair catches the light, a pink bow holding it back. I move quicker, closing the gap between us.

---