Page 6 of Unseen Danger
She reached for Alvarez’s blocky head. Felt his short fur.
If only she’d brought Cannenta. Nevaeh loved Alvarez dearly. But he wasn’t a natural comforter or a trained PTSD service dog.
He stood facing away from her, his back end touching her knee as he panted heavily. He held his small, dropped ears pinched close to his head, a sign she was stressing him out. Or that sitting here without action was getting to him.
It was getting to her, too. But not for the same reasons.
Footsteps sounded again.
Her imagination or something real?
They grew louder.
She looked behind her.
Nothing.
But the footsteps wouldn’t stop.
She shrank back into the corner that should be hidden behind the door if it opened.
His shadow crossed before her eyes, the only warning she’d had before—
“Nev?” Jazz’s red wavy hair, followed by her emerald-green eyes, stuck through the opening as the door swung in. She blinked at Nevaeh and quickly stepped inside, her mouth turned down.
Nevaeh straightened from the near-fetal position she’d somehow adopted without meaning to. Her breaths came shallow and hard-earned, but she tried to hide the panic symptom behind a shaky smile.
Lucky it was Jazz who found her. Sofia was awesome, but there was nothing soft about her. She’d report this to Phoenix for sure.
But Jazz understood. She got it.
“You can beat this, girl.” She stepped closer and put her hands on each of Nevaeh’s shoulders as if to prove her thoughts true. “You’ve done it before. You’re strong.”
Nevaeh met Jazz’s fierce gaze and nodded as she hauled in a deep breath.
“You could’ve choked out that guy in a second if you’d wanted to.” Jazz showed her brilliant white smile. “Even if he was bigger than Hercules. And awfully cute.” She winked.
Nevaeh couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up and the grin that found her face. She gave Jazz a playful shove. “Get outta here. We got work to do.”
“Yeah, no joke.” Jazz bent to grab Flash’s leash from the floor. Nevaeh hadn’t even noticed the Belgian Malinois slip in with Jazz. “Thomas gave us a new assignment to guard the stage and backstage until all the band members and every last audience member is gone. Basically until the building is closed. They put Sofia on the same area, too.”
Nevaeh groaned. Since they’d been hired by the venue, the PowerSource head of security could technically change their assignment whenever he wanted. But she didn’t exactly feel like staying here late into the night now. Especially with the possibility of the gargantuan strongman appearing out of nowhere again.
“You good?” Jazz looked back as she held the door open.
“Yeah. Sure.” Nevaeh grabbed Al’s leash and followed Jazz and Flash into the hallway that led past the dressing rooms.
“Oh, and we’re supposed to talk to that guy, D-Chop’s head of security, to find out if there was foul play involved in the fire.”
The tension that had only started to release clenched Nevaeh’s muscles again. “Why?”
Jazz glanced at Nevaeh as they fell into step with each other, dogs at their sides. “Sofia told Phoenix what happened, and Phoenix wants us to find out.”
“I guess Sofia can ask, then.”
“I thought you’d want to since you two already had such a nice chat.” The humor in Jazz’s voice dampened the instinctive flicker of fear in Nevaeh’s chest.
She shot her so-called best friend a narrowed-eye glare.