Page 107 of Caught Looking

The crowd quickly dwindled to just the crush around Annalise. A couple of reporters were doing sideline reports, probably waiting to grab Annalise for a sound bite before she headed into the locker room.

My skin pricked and the hair on my arm rose up. I scanned the crowd again, because someone had to be staring at me. I was well aware of the sensation. Most of the time it became a background buzz because hundreds or thousands of people were doing the staring, but this was pointed. It came from one person.

I expected to find one of my teammates waiting for me or even a baseball fan who was hanging around for my autograph.

Instead I found Owen Montgomery grinning.

Right before he disappeared.

30

ANNALISE

The cocktail dress was a tad bit too tight. As was the security team surrounding us. The entire week had been like this. Crushing. Invasive. Boring.

Boring because every minute of every day was planned down to the last second. Seth wouldn’t hear any argument I made about standing this down, so I put up with his overprotectiveness.

Owen had been at my game. Somehow he’d slipped through the stadium security and ours. And even more chilling, he'd deliberately provoked Seth.

I had no idea what Owen hoped to accomplish. His career was over unless he rehabbed his image, but going missing hadn’t helped and if he was stalking us, well, there wasn’t much he could do to come back from that.

Or maybe we overreacted. Maybe Owen was just an asshole doing asshole things.

“The party is in here,” Mercedes said as we got off the elevator. “Every guest had to pass through security, every member of the catering staff was vetted and checked as they entered the stadium.”

“Thank you,” Seth said, his hand on the small of my back. “You ready for this?”

I plastered on a smile. “Of course.” It was a small, intimate fundraiser for the Mantas richest fans to make donations to a sensory friendly section of the stands. All they asked for in return was to have a glitzy evening with the Mantas and their significant others.

So here we were, dressed to the nines, for a night of fancy food and small talk with strangers. Willa appeared at my side immediately, threading her arm through mine.

“About time you two showed up. What took so long?”

Seth arched an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?”

She shrugged. “Ev’s date canceled. So I’m his plus one. I mean come on, Seth. I get to dress up, spend the night with my guys, and my new best friend.” She grinned at me.

“And you look gorgeous.” I swept my hand down her floor length, skin-tight, black sequined gown.

“Not so bad yourself. You look hot in sleeveless gowns. Your arms are incredible!”

I flexed because why not? “So we’re debating between a whiskey distillery tour in the British Isles or a rum distillery tour in the Caribbean.”

“I’m sensing a theme here,” Seth replied. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Willa batted her lashes. “I don’t understand why we’re debating. Let’s do both!”

I laughed. “I’m not sure my liver can do both.” Not that I minded the idea of traveling somewhere outside the States during our time off. Maybe if we all went to England, Seth and I could branch off from there and see France, Italy, or Spain. Maybe all three.

Seth shook Everett’s hand. “So what’s your vote? Whiskey or rum?”

Everett shrugged. “I’ve lived almost my entire life on an island in Florida. Let’s go north.”

“It will be cold,” I teased. “Can your thin blood handle winter in the northern climes?”

“If there’s enough whiskey anything is possible,” he teased right back.

Willa beamed up at him. “I can picture you stumbling out of a Scottish pub.” She gave his beard a gentle tug.