Page 51 of Saving Stella
“Any news on your sister?” He sounded genuinely interested. “Has she or anyone she might know tried to contact you?”
“No, I’m afraid not. Just crazy people.” Like the ones who tried to kidnap her. “So far. But I mean, I haven’t had time to look at all the messages I’ve been getting.”
“Don’t lose hope, Stel.” He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “If she’s out there, you’ll find her.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you need help? I could help you film a second video.”
“Oh no. No more videos.” She’d learned her lesson.
“If you want, I can help you look through your DMs. I can weed out the bad ones, so you don’t have to read them.”
That actually sounded like a good idea. “Thanks, I might take you up on that sometime.”
“Why wait?” His hand slid down her arm, and his fingers wrapped around hers. “Why don’t you come over to my place tonight? We can get some takeout and then I’ll scroll through your feed and DMs.”
“Tonight? Sounds?—”
“You done yet?”
The familiar bass voice made her nearly jump out of the chair. She swung her head toward where Cliff stood, right on the other side of the table, arms crossed over his chest, gaze zeroed in on their linked hands.
Where the heck had he been this entire time?
“We’re just taking a break,” she said.
“We should probably open back up. Let me go get more of those prizes from the storage room first.” Tyler let go of her hand. “And then we can continue our discussion tonight at my place.”
“Er, sure.”
Tyler had barely walked away when Cliff said in a low, raspy tone, “What does he mean, tonight?”
“We made plans to go to his place after the carnival,” she said nonchalantly and began to arrange the bottles. His intense stare bore a hole through her back, but she ignored him. She took her sweet time, and when she was done, whirled around to face him. Planting her hands on her hips, she said, “Would you mind stepping back a little, Cliff? You’re taking up all the space.”
He let out a huff, but backed off anyway. This time, however, he didn’t leave the area of the ring toss booth. Though he was only a few feet away, she could feel his eyes fixed on her, the scowl on his face only intensifying as the afternoon wore on.
“Tyler, I need to go to the ladies’ room,” she declared sometime later.
“I got this, Stel,” he said. “Go on.”
“Thanks.”
Walking away from the booth, she made her way back to the main building. If Cliff followed her, she didn’t know, and she didn’t really care anymore. Maybe she could talk to Devon tonight about sending someone else. Surely they had some other candidates for this job? Someone less sulky, maybe even a female bodyguard.
The main building was quiet and empty as nearly everyone was outside enjoying the carnival. The faculty washrooms were at the end of the building, unfortunately, so she trudged all the way there, her footsteps echoing across the empty hall. When she finished doing her business and exited, the strangest sensation prickled over her skin.
Like someone was watching her.
Her stomach lurched as her heart pounded against her chest. She didn’t know how or why, she just had this feeling …
Turning toward the exit, she hurried down the long hallway. By the time she neared the door, she was practically running.
“No!” she screamed as a pair of arms wrapped around her. “Let go—” The familiar smell of coffee beans hit her nostrils, and her knees went weak from relief. “Cliff.”
“What happened?” Gone was the scowl on his face, replaced by concern. “Did someone?—”
“I don’t know.” Disentangling herself from him, she shook her head. “I’m being silly. I just thought … I felt like someone was watching me.”