Page 34 of Not that Impressed (Houston Pumas #3)

ELLIE

It’s hard to open my eyes. I want to pull up the soft blanket around my shoulders for another hour. I deserve the rest, right? My life has been so busy lately, and then pulling an all-nighter for Libby?—

Libby. I push my eyes open and remember I laid down for a little while to rest. The room around me is dim as I sit up.

Out the window I see that the rain has stopped, but it’s still cloudy and obviously late afternoon.

I check my watch and gasp to see that I’ve slept for three hours.

How could Will let me sleep for so long?

I planned on a power nap and then we needed to keep working.

I roll over. He must have fallen asleep too or he would have woken me sooner, but my bed is empty.

So is the other queen bed in the room. “Will?” I call out, but there’s no answer.

I sweep the blanket off me. “Will?” He’s not out on the balcony, and a quick check of the bathroom shows he isn’t there either.

I grab my phone, which he plugged in for me, bless his heart. My heart pounds. Where is he?

I force myself to calm down. He probably went downstairs for food.

My stomach growls at the thought. I can’t even remember the last time I ate.

We had something on the plane, then Will made me eat a protein bar when we got to the hotel.

We were so busy trying to track Libby down that we didn’t have lunch, and then I fell asleep.

I tap on his phone number, and he answers in one ring. “Hey.”

“Where are you?” I can’t help that my voice is panicked, even though I tried to tell my brain to chill just moments ago.

“On my way back up. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Where did you go?”

“To get some food. And I have news too. A lead.”

“What is it? Has someone seen her?” I wish he was about to tell me Libby has been found, but he would have led with that.

“Ava McCombs found a post online of some people arriving at the Cancun airport. They made a video, and Libby and Hollis were in the background, getting into a car,” Will reports.

I put a hand to my heart. Will got us another step closer. And we have confirmation that she’s here in Cancun. There’s a beeping in the background of our call, and then our door swings open. I hang up and run to Will. He sweeps me up into a hug.

I let him hold me a moment, taking a second to calm my heart in the comfort of his arms. “Let’s go find the driver,” I say when I lean away.

He holds up a bag and I note the delicious smells coming from it. “First, you eat. There’s some other stuff I want to tell you about. I have a few other updates.”

“What kinds of updates?” I ask, following him to the table on the far side of the room, next to the floor-to-ceiling windows.

“Sit and eat. I’ll tell you.” He pulls out a chair for me and then opens the bag and produces napkins and street tacos. He sits across from me but doesn’t pull out any tacos for himself.

“You must be starving, Will.” I push the bag toward him as I unwrap one.

He smiles. “I already ate. I was starving.” He leans his elbows on the table, his expression shifting to a serious one.

“Your mom and Janelle have been checking Libby’s credit card account. There haven’t been any charges since they left the airport last night. Maybe that’s something, maybe it isn’t.”

I chew my taco carefully, otherwise I’m going to choke. Given what we’ve already assumed about Hollis’s finances, at best, it’s odd that Libby hasn’t made any purchases. I don’t want to think about what the worst-case scenario is, but thoughts of trafficking and drugs run through my mind anyway.

Will reaches across the table for my hand. “It could mean that they’re just holed up at the hotel.”

I grimace because that could still be bad, and Will lets out a sigh too. “Remember, good stories until we know differently.”

I take another bite, only because I have to have food or I won’t be able to search for my sister. I wave for him to go on while I chew.

“The biggest news is that Law Card’s future brother-in-law, Caleb, is working on getting us their location.”

My mouth drops open, and I quickly close it. “What? How?”

Will smirks. “Law says it’s better if we don’t know. So probably something illegal.”

I nod. I’m not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth right now. We can deal with the repercussions for invading Grayson’s privacy later.

“You’ve told my family about the video of them in Cancun, right?” I ask. “Told my dad?”

“Yeah. He should be leaving soon to get here. He’s leaning on the FBI to get their location too, but he thinks Caleb will get it faster. He told me to pass on the message that he’ll pay any legal fees he needs to if it comes to it.”

“Has Caleb found anything?” I shove another few bites into my mouth, eager to chase down the driver Ava found.

“He thinks Libby’s phone is off. He couldn’t get anything from it.” Will reaches over to take one of my hands and squeeze it. He doesn’t have to read my mind to guess at where my thoughts go with that. “She could have forgotten her charger,” he says calmly. “She and Hollis left in a hurry. ”

I tilt my head at him, waiting to finish off the last bite of my first taco. “We already know she hasn’t tried to buy another one since she got here, right?”

Will shrugs. “Maybe she’s been busy.”

“Ew, Will.”

His face darkens. “I didn’t mean it like that.

” He shakes his head, probably trying to shake away the image his words put in both of our heads.

“Maybe they got here last night, got dinner, went to the hotel and checked in and didn’t realize she didn’t have one until later.

It’s been raining all morning, so they haven’t gone out. ”

I peer at him while I reach for another taco. “How is someone like you so good at making up happily ever afters?”

“Someone like me?” He arches an eyebrow at me.

“You’re going to pretend like you don’t know you have a strong-silent-type thing going on?” I arch an eyebrow right back. “Sexy brooding hero? The grumpy to my sunshine?”

“Sunshine?” he says dryly. How does this man make me smile even when my world feels like it’s crumbling?

Every waking moment I’m pushing away thoughts of the worst things that could be happening to Libby, trying to tell myself that Grayson might have feelings for her, that Libby went with him willingly, that he has no reason to try to hurt her the way he did Anna.

What if he’s like that? What if he wants to hurt her?

How can I smile just because Will is here with me? Because Will is here with me?

“Okay,” I say, my voice holding more air than I want. “Maybe I do have more of a black cat energy.”

He furrows his eyebrows at me. “What does that even mean?”

“It’s a romance novel thing.” I wave my hand at him. I set aside my second taco, only half eaten. Though the tacos are small, I don’t have an appetite. I won’t until I know Libby’s safe.

Will eyes the taco. “You need to eat, Ellie. ”

“I can’t.” I press my lips together. Will has seen me fall apart enough in the last day and a half. He sighs and retrieves his backpack pulling a chocolate protein shake for me.

“Then you’re drinking this. No arguments.”

I accept it. “You need to get back to Houston, Will. You have a game tomorrow.”

He folds his arms, and I know this argument is already over. Doesn’t mean I won’t try. “You can’t stay here by yourself. Also the game is in New York.”

“Will, I can’t ask you to skip a game. It’s your job. You won’t be able to win the MVP if you miss a game.”

He kneels down in front of me. It only means we’re at eye level now. “I’m not leaving you here alone. Your sister is missing. I’m going to be here with you.”

“You keep telling me she’s going to be fine. That this has a happily ever after.” My voice breaks as I lean toward him.

He grips my shoulders. “It will.” But his eyes say that he knows there’s a chance this could go sideways. “It will,” he promises again. “And I’m going to make sure of that.”

I twist open the bottle and take a drink of the protein shake. After everything Will is doing for me, the least I can do is ease his mind about my calorie intake.

I take a quick shower after finishing my protein shake.

We have leads to chase, and I can’t convince people to answer questions if I’m a bedraggled mess.

I pull my wet hair into a tight bun and then pull on a pair of cutoffs and a fitted tank.

Will has an SUV waiting for us downstairs to take us back to the airport.

Will spots the driver in the video from the post Ava found almost as soon as we reach the sidewalk for the pickup lane. It feels like the first good thing that’s happened since I found out Libby ran off to Mexico .

“?Disculpe!” I call to him, waving him down. “Disculpe, por favor.”

The man glances at me, and then his eyes widen when he sees Will striding up behind him. That’s fair. He towers over the driver by over a foot. “?Sí?”

I hold out my phone to him, showing him a screenshot of Libby and Grayson from the video. “?Te acuerdas de estas personas? Se las llevaste a un hotel ayer.”

He leans over and squints at the picture. “Ah, sí. Las recuerdo.” He nods enthusiastically.

“Really?” I can’t help the English that spills out when he tells me he remembers seeing them. “?De verdad?” I correct myself.

“What is it?” Will asks in a low voice.

“He remembers them.”

Will clenches his fist in triumph and turns back to the man expectantly.

“?Les manejaste?” I ask. “A cual hotel?” The man grimaces, and my heart skips a beat.

“La chica es hermana mía. No la encontramos. Por favor. ?Recuerdas a cual hotel les llevaste?” I start praying he’ll remember something, anything about where he took Libby and Grayson.

“What about the street name?” I shake my head.

“Ahh … ?Recuerdas el nombre de la calle?

He closes his eyes, scrunching up his face in thought. “Lo siento. Es posible … que era el hotel Winscott? O … quizás era el hotel Hyatt.” He opens his eyes and peers at me apologetically. “Era un hotel con un nombre americano.”

“The Hyatt or the Winscott?” Will asks me. I’m impressed he picked up on the names considering how fast the man is speaking.

“Maybe. That or something American.”

Will points to his credit card swiper connected to his phone. “Maybe he has a record of it there?”

I ask the man, and he pulls open an app on his phone, searching through it.

“A qué hora fue?” he asks.

I quickly find the post that Ava found through the link Will sent me earlier, hoping to find the time Libby and Grayson were here.

I clench my teeth when I see it was posted this morning, though the dim sky points to them arriving in the evening.

I pull back up the screenshots Janelle sent me yesterday of Libby’s texts.

I give the man a time range, apologizing that I can’t be more specific.

He scrolls some more on the phone, going back and forth, then shakes his head. “Lo siento. No lo puedo encontrar. Creo que pagó en efectivo.”

Will looks between the man’s apologetic expression and me. “He thinks Grayson paid in cash. He can’t find the transaction.”

We thank the man and tip him, heading back toward the parking lot and the SUV to regroup.

“What’s next?” I ask. The lead from the driver feels promising but also not quite enough information to ease the twisting in my chest that Libby is still missing.

It’s been over twenty-four hours now since Mom last saw her. Over twenty since she called me.

My dinner with Will and that sweet kiss feels like weeks ago. How can it have only been a day?

His expression eases the tiniest bit. He even smiles. It doesn’t reach is eyes, so I know it’s all to reassure me.

“Check out the hotels,” Will says. “Sanford thinks we need to go undercover and act like a honeymooning couple.”

That gets a smile from me. “Is the honeymooning part essential to the plan?”

“It’s negotiable, I think.” He stands and pulls me up with him. “We’ll start with the Winscott and work our way through the chain hotels while the rain holds.”

“Chances are the names he remembered are the best bet.” I can do this. I can be optimistic until I have a solid reason not to be.

Will leans over me and slides one hand behind my neck, drawing me up to him.

He slips his other arm behind my back then lowers his lips to mine.

Where last night’s kiss was intense and exciting, this one is gentle and soft.

It’s brief, a reminder of the electricity that’s there between us, waiting to be investigated when the time is right.

This is only the second time we’ve kissed, but it’s a reminder that this thing between us is real, however new it is.

He rests his forehead against mine for a moment, then slides his hands down into mine when he pulls away.

“So,” he asks. “Are we honeymooners or not?”

Top-Celebrity-Newz

Word is that @Mr.Colin lost thousands of followers in a matter of hours after fans of Being the Bennets discovered he’d unfollowed Ellie Bennet when news of her sister Libby’s disappearance broke.

@Mr.Colin has taken to his stories, claiming it was an Instagram glitch, but Ellie Bennet’s faithful are calling BS.

Here at @Top-Celebrity-Newz, #WeBacktheBennets