Page 58 of Passenger Princess

One who doesn't listen to a thing I ask of her.

One with a penchant for trouble.

One so gorgeous, it's distracting.

One who isso goddamntempting.

"You did exactly what I trained you to do, son. You got her safe, but let her live her life. Not a single word that girl said that I don't agree with. I've got daughters, you know that. When they were little,I'd want them looking up to a Miss Americana like Ava, not like those pageant girls who are shy and let people walk over them. That's not what the world needs these days."

I roll my eyes even though I agree. "She's a pain in my ass."

"The best women always are." I don't respond to that, knowing it would be gasoline to a fire I don't want to stoke, seeing as I canhearthe smile in Hank's voice. "I've seen pictures with you and that girl, you know," he says and I freeze.

Pictures?

"What?"

"She's got paparazzi following her like she's a lifelong pop star rather than a first-time pageant queen. Lots of pictures."

I relax just a bit when he doesn’t mean some kind of photo of us in a compromising position. Of course, he isn't wrong. Every outing with the organization is absolutelyfloodedwith reporters, more and more at each stop, all trying to get just a minute with Ava to get some headline-worthy quotes. When I took the job, I thought it was going to be simple, but sometimes it feels like she gets the same treatment as pop star Willa Stone.

"Yeah, I'm uniquely acquainted with that fact," I joke, deadpan.

"Just saying, occasionally, the two of you are in shots and you look good together."

I groan. "Hank?—"

"You know I met my Janine on an assignment. If you met a pretty little thing while doing the job, I'd never—" I cut him off to nip that.

"Half of my job is to make sure she stays within her contract." I say the first thing that comes to mind. "Part of that contract says she has to stay single until the end of her reign."

When I read that clause in Ava's contract, I was shocked, so I did some research. Most of the clauses under the morality section that would instantly void Ava's win and, in turn, the prize money she doesn't receive until the end of her three-month tour were pretty obvious and, I can almost guarantee, were added after an issue with a previous constant. No sex tapes, no cyberbullying, no in-personbullying, no speaking poorly about the organization, that kind of thing.

But not dating required me to dig a bit into the history of the pageant on a Reddit forum—always an interesting mix of truth and speculation, but this time, it made sense to me.

The current Miss Americana contestant is contracted to exemplify the basic, in my opinion, outdated ideals of the all-American woman, including her ability to be snapped up by some good ol' boy. If Miss Americana stays single, it's as if any man in the country still has a chance with her.

"Yeah, but we all know that's not enforceable," Hank says like it's no big deal.

"Hank—"

"Tell me there's a judge in this country who would look at that and agree it makes sense in this context, in this decade?" I can't, of course. "All I'm saying is, if something happened, I wouldn't give you shit." There's a pause, and then, with a smile in his words, he adds, "Fine. I wouldn’t give youas muchshit, at least."

I roll my eyes and flip him off even though he can't see me. I decide I need to get Hank off the call before he gets into my head too much. I made up my mind yesterday that, despite my brief lapse in judgment, I need to maintain the professionalism between Ava and me. Nothing more.

"Anyway, the reason for my call," he says as if he can sense I'm about to sign off.

"So it wasn't just to give me a hard time?"

"I was, but also...she's been getting notes, right?"

"Notes?" I shake my head. "No, just messages. Threatening ones on social media, creepy photos. That kind of thing."

"So you haven't heard anything about any physical threats?"

I take a deep breath and try to calm my pounding panic, knowing I'm not going to like where this is headed. "Yes."

"Okay, well, I happen to know they got at least one letter."

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