Page 66 of My Three Rivals

“You had one job…” Atticus lamented, but I wasn’t listening to him.

Footsteps fell over my head, and I raced toward the stairs, my pulse roaring. “Never mind. I think she’s back,” I breathed, hanging up to meet Tegan on the upper levels.

But it wasn’t her.

Maverick sat in the kitchen, sucking back a beer.

He looked at me in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you here. Your car’s gone.”

In my hand, the phone rang, but I ignored it once I saw it was Atticus calling back.

“Were you just with Lou?” I panted.

Maverick studied me with hooded eyes. “Yeah… and it went about as well as you would have expected. I thought he was going to shoot me in the middle of the mall. I should have anticipated…”

“Tegan took off. I think she went to find you.”

Maverick’s face paled, and he looked for his cell phone, turning it back on as we pored over the incoming messages.

“There’s nothing here from her,” he muttered. “How would she even know where to find me?”

I shook my head, but slowly, my pulse steadied. “It’s okay,” I said, more to myself. “If she’s not here, and you’re not with Lou…”

I nodded slowly. “She’s all right. She’s fine. She’ll be back soon.”

“I don’t understand where she would have gone,” Maverick reflected, rising to grab another beer out of the fridge. “Did you call Atticus?”

I nodded, grimacing. “I kind of wish I’d waited.”

“Maybe she went to see Bizzy,” he suggested.

“Then why didn’t she just ask to borrow the car?”

Maverick shrugged, uncapping the bottle, the concern in his eyes still vivid. “Maybe she didn’t want us tagging along. She isn’t the easiest to tame, you know?”

It was a vaguely comforting thought, but I couldn’t relax. Until I knew where she was, I wouldn’t be able to breathe.

“What’s her cousin’s name? Bizzy—Bernice?” I tried to remember.

“Beatrice. Woodsley.” Maverick pulled his phone out to find the law office number, but when he called, it went through to the voicemail.

“I hate voicemail,” I growled, perching on the edge of a kitchen chair.

“We’ll keep trying Bizzy,” Maverick suggested. “But it’s like you said—she’ll be back soon.”

Atticus arrived in less than the half-hour he promised, his hazel eyes flashing with annoyance as he went to review the cameras, like I hadn’t already done that.

“Never mind him,” Maverick told me, nudging me when Atticus disappeared. “You know how he loves to micromanage.”

“Can you call Bizzy again?” I pleaded.

Without argument, he did what I asked.

I texted Tegan as he called Bizzy.

Tegan, please just come back. I’m not mad you took my car.

I cringed at the impersonal message, but if she wasn’t returning, it had nothing to do with my lack of creativity.

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