drink at the same time.”
“No, you can’t,” she laughed. “I have seen you spill water all over yourself while trying to do that before.”
“I have plenty of time for it to dry,” she told her.
“True.” She laughed before giving her one last hug and taking off down the hall toward the room the hotel management had allotted for her to use to store extra event decorations and needs. She also had her changing area back there so Zahara was sure Ariana would soon be changing into her costume for her final dance.
She slipped her high heeled red strappy sandals on to her feet, grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and drank a little first. Ariana was right, she needed the water and she also would spill more than she drank if she tried to walk and put the bottle up to her mouth at the same time. Her long standing joke was that she had the world’s best coordination except for when it came to drinking anything. She could be sitting still and somehow still manage to spill water down her blouse sometimes. She chuckled as she put the cap back on the bottle, said a quick thank you to Dalphina, who had congratulated her on a dance well done, and then she went down the hall to see Ariana and her flowers.
She didn’t think it had taken her that long, but when she neared the room she saw a man heading out the back exit door with an unconscious Ariana in his arms with her head lulled back and her arm dangling listlessly. “Hey!” She yelled as she ran toward the man. He looked at her, with menacing dark eyes, and then he turned swiftly and disappeared out the exit door. His disappearance didn’t stop her. She ran until she reached the door and then she threw it open, getting out just in time to see the man closing the sliding door to the van, and another man in the front seat pulled away swiftly. “Somebody stop them!” She tried to run to catch up enough to get a license plate, but the more she looked, the more she realized she couldn’t make out the numbers and the van was moving too swiftly for her to catch up to it.
A security guard ran up to her. “What’s the trouble, miss?”
“Those men just abducted Ariana.” She could hear the frantic tone of her voice. “You have to do something.”
“I’ll call the police,” he said as he unclipped the phone from his belt and called in her “alleged” abduction. Since he didn’t see it he assumed it hadn’t happened.
When the cops arrived they took her statement, but they didn’t seem eager enough to help, in her opinion. They wanted to see the security tapes. Those men could be anywhere, and could do anything to Ariana by the time they went through the footage. She had only one option.
She spotted a guy pulling up on his bike. She ran toward him before he could pull in a park.
“What’s up doll?”
“I need a ride. Can you take me somewhere?” She looked back at the officers who were still speaking with the security guard over in their spot under the front entrance. She could see them inside looking at her, and so could the blond on his bike.
“Sure, doll. Hop on and tell me where you need to go.”
She didn’t bother to sit the ladylike way given her scantily clad body. She straddled the bike, placed her hands on his waist and gave him the Squadron address that she had found while thinking about playing matchmaker and trying to arrange a way to get Ariana and Preston to at least have to see each other and talk. She knew if they did that, if the man had even an ounce of love left for the woman, both would realize they were still meant for each other. That was the plan in her head anyway. She didn’t know how she was going to put it together and make it a reality, but that didn’t stop her from plotting and planning and in order to plot and plan she needed to know where this Squadron that he ran happened to be located.
She held on as the guy helping her sped out the parking lot
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