Hideaway Heart (Cherry Tree Harbor Book 2)

WHEN I FINALLY ARRIVED AT the auditorium, I jumped out of the cab and ran around the building as fast as I could to the back door by the loading dock. Some guys from the crew were standing around outside smoking, and I saw several who’d been here yesterday.

As luck would have it, one of them was a Navy guy named Javier I’d spent a little time talking to, and he recognized me. In very few words, I explained the situation and said I had to get inside.

The rest of the crew looked doubtful, but Javier nodded. “I’ll get you in,” he said confidently. Then he looked at another guy. “Curtis, give me your badge.”

Curtis shrugged, took off his lanyard, and handed it to me. “There you go. But if I get fired, I’ll need a new job.”

“I’ll find you one,” I said, ditching my bag and slipping the lanyard over my head. “Thanks.”

Once I was in the building, Javier and I managed to make our way into the backstage hall, where I saw Marius arguing with a skinny guy holding a clipboard.

“Marius, what the fuck? Where is she?”

“I’m trying to figure that out,” he said, giving clipboard guy a menacing look. “They told me she was coming out this way.”

“She was supposed to come out this way,” said the clipboard guy, looking distressed at having to face down the three of us. To be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it either. “But she must have gone off the other side.”

“Is there a door on the other side?” I asked.

“There is, but it would have led right back to this hallway.”

Suddenly Jess careened around the corner, running at full speed. “I can’t find her, Marius. She’s not in her seat.”

“Okay, if she didn’t come back through this hallway and she didn’t go right to her seat, does that mean she’s still backstage? On the other side?” I asked.

Javier was already moving in that direction, the rest of us on his heels. When we reached the door, he knocked on it, and as soon as it opened, Marius and I charged backstage.

With producers and crew shushing us left and right, he and I swept the area and quickly determined she wasn’t there. What the fuck? She hadn’t just disappeared into thin air! Where was she? Adrenaline, fury, and terror had my heart racing, and sweat was dampening my clothes. Why the fuck had I left her? If anything happened to her, I’d blame myself.

Then Javier grabbed my arm, jerking his head toward a door at the back. We ran for it, and when it opened onto a dark, narrow stairwell, somehow I knew that’s where he’d taken her.

I raced up, three at a time, Marius and Javier right behind me. We reached the first landing and I threw the door open. “You keep going,” I told them. “There’s at least one more floor.”

They continued hurtling up the stairs, while I took off down the hall, opened every single door onto empty offices.

Then I heard her yell, “Fuck you!”

I rocketed toward the sound.