Page 52 of Not that Impressed
Janelle takes a deep breath and nods. She leans in again and gives me one more hug before Will and I turn and hurry to his car.
As he drives out of the neighborhood, we see Charlie and Coco heading down his driveway, out for a walk. He gives us a somber wave as he heads in the direction of my parents’ house.
@Mr.Colin to @House_of_Bennet:
Isla let me know what happened with Libby tonight. We are both thinking of you and ready to help. I always knew Libby would steal the show like this. Just like her, right? Already working on some ways you can spin this positively for the show. I’ll have my assistant send them over ASAP.
Seen 6H AGO
CHAPTER 22
WILL
Ellie comes out of her bedroom within ten minutes with only a big backpack. “I’m ready.”
“That’s all you need?” I take it from her to carry it down to my SUV.
She hurries past me to the stairs. “I don’t need much to rescue my sister.”
When we stop by my apartment, I throw things in a bag in record time. I’m not going to take longer than Ellie considering it was stupid of me to let another stereotype affect my view of her. Did I think she was going to bring out a huge suitcase with ten different outfits and a separate duffle for her hair stuff?
The soonest Mrs. Bennet could get us out was midnight and we’re at the airport by ten. Waiting for our flight to leave from Houston International is torture. I hold Ellie’s hand and pace walkways with her, guiding her around while she scours social media for any clue about Libby’s whereabouts.
When we’re on the plane and in the air, she leans against my shoulder and searches posts tagged in Cancun for any sign of her then moves on to Cabo when it doesn’t turn anything up.
“You should sleep,” I whisper.
“I need to see if I can find anything first.” She doesn’t lift her attention from the phone.
I kiss her temple and don’t argue. I move my arm around her, shifting so at least she can rest against my chest as she searches. Then I study every picture with her hoping to see Libby.
By the time we land, get off the plane, and get through customs it’s nearly four a.m. We’ve been up all night, but Ellie’s still ready to hit the ground running.
I carry both our backpacks as we leave the terminal. “Any response from her?” I ask as we step into the cloudy day. October is the tail end of the rainy season in Mexico.
Ellie shakes her head in frustration and stares at her phone, like it will make Libby message her back. “Nothing.” She looks up at me, her expression full of fear.
“Her phone is dead. Or she’s being a teenager and ignoring you.” I scoop an arm around Ellie’s waist and wait until she relaxes against me.
“You’re so calm and steady,” she murmurs.
My habit of showing very little emotion helps in this situation. She doesn’t see the pit in my stomach from how much I’m worrying if there was more I could’ve done to protect Libby without betraying Anna.
What happened between Grayson and Anna is my cousin’s story, and she had the right to bow out of it, but now someone else could get hurt. There’s no way that Anna and Libby are his only victims. I’m sick thinking about it.
“Time to try something different.” Ellie taps on her phone. Hollis’s name pops up, and she presses call. The call rings and rings, and he doesn’t pick up. Ellie growls in frustration, a noise of hers that’s usually entertaining to me, but right now it makes me want to go head-to-head with Hollis and drive him hard into the ground. And maybe throw a few dirty punches in the process. That’s one downside of none of the other teams in the league being willing to pick him up—I don’t get to face him on the football field.
She types out a message on her phone, and I read over her shoulder.
Ellie
Libby isn’t answering her phone. Just tell me if she’s okay. Where are you guys?
She holds her breath as the message sends. We see the delivery notification. My heart rate speeds up when it shows a read receipt.
Hollis doesn’t respond.
Ellie tries calling again. And again. By the third time, she gets sent to voicemail on the second ring. She lets loose on the voicemail, letting Hollis know exactly what she thinks of him in some language that would contain a lot of bleeps if her camera crew was around.
