Page 64 of Her Beastly Billionaire Rock Star
“Yeah, Ryder used her cell phone to finally get a location. She’s about a mile down the beach at a club called Buzzed.”
Buzzed? “Great name.”
“Isn’t it? What is a smart girl like her doing in a place like that?”
He snorted. “I think we’ve established over the last few years that just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you can’t do dumb things.”
“True. Go find her. If we’re right, she’s in trouble.”
“Are we certain she knows who Harrison is? What he does?” It was Noah’s experience that the least likely people worked for scum like Harrison.
“No details on that yet. Ryder wants you to get close and find her laptop. He’s on standby to access it remotely and copy the hard drive.”
“All right.”
“Keep an eye on her. If you make contact, don’t let her know who you are until we get that laptop. This time, we’re going to make sure we get Harrison.”
“Gotcha. Out.” He ended the call and stalked down the beach until he got to the club, where he walked into the throng of party goers.
The club Mia Milan had picked was on the very edge of “club row,” as Noah liked to call it, and it wasn’t nearly as large as some of the other clubs. There were maybe two hundred people. Most were dancing, several were holding up the walls and making out, and others were sitting and drinking at tables scattered around the dance floor.
It wasn’t the cleanest or classiest, either. To Noah’s way of thinking, based on the photos he’d seen of Mia, he was surprised she’d pick a disgusting place like this one.
He swept his gaze across the crowd, his eyebrows drawing together when he couldn’t find her. It was possible she’d left, but Pam or Ryder would have sent him a message telling him that. When he was certain she wasn’t in the crowd, he found a corner spot by the bar where he could keep watch of who was entering.
The song that was playing came to an end, and the dancers stopped, booing with the sudden quiet. Before it could get ugly, an oily guy with slicked-back hair jogged to the DJ booth sitting back from the stage.
“Hey, guys!” The guy held up his hands in a time-out signal as louder boos started. “I’ve got something special! We’re having our very first swimsuit contest.”
Noah’s lips curled. Disgusting. After what he’d seen during his year with Harrison, he was no fan of this type of thing. The objectification was more than he could stomach. Surely Mia wasn’t going to do something like that.
Of course, the crowd cheered. Didn’t these people know the dangers that lurked in places like this? Hadn’t they seen the videos of passed-out girls on the beach and what happened to them? Heard of missing people? Did they really not think through things because they thought it was a public place so it must be safe?
The slimy guy announced the first girl, and she walked across the stage in a bikini that made Noah look away. Girl after girl pranced across the stage. Yes, they were technically women based on age, or he hoped so. Mostly, they looked like kids, and he couldn’t bring himself to watch. They were old enough to make their own decisions, but that didn’t mean he had to participate.
“And next, we have Mia Milan.”
Noah jerked his gaze to the stage as she tiptoed across. She flashed a thousand-kilowatt smile, wearing a one-piece suit with a sarong tied around her waist and a small clutch dangling from her wrist. The one picture of her Ryder had managed to find on the web didnotdo this woman justice at all. With dark hair bouncing around her shoulders, a heart-shaped face, perfectly proportional lips, and upturned nose, she was downright stunning. And there was no way their information was correct about her height. She wasn’t five-eight, even on her tiptoes.
There was something about her that had him off his chair and walking toward the front of the club before he even realized it. He stopped midway and scanned the crowd again, a weird feeling settling in his gut. When he didn’t see anything, he returned his focus to the stage.
For now, he’d have to assume Mia knew who Harrison was and what he did and that she was an accessory. It was Noah’s job to get the info they needed and hopefully convince her to testify. If she didn’t know who Harrison was, well, then he’d work that out later.
* * *
Being on a stage was not what Mia had planned when she’d agreed to take the dare. If her grandma was still alive, she would’ve killed her if she saw her in a bathing suit being howled at by college boys. What was she thinking anyway? She didn’t even know those people on the beach earlier. At first, it had been so much fun hanging out with them. If she’d known they were going to trick her into doing this, she’d have bowed out early.
Of course, she knew she didn’t have to do it. It was a stupid dare. What were they going to do? Call her names? So what if they were hanging out at the bar waiting to see if she’d go through with it. Big deal. But it wasn’t that. This trip was her chance to step out of her comfort zone. To be spontaneous and live carefree. It was a public place, so how much trouble could she get into?
“So, sweetheart, where are you from?” the man holding the microphone asked. She wasn’t sure what cologne he’d bathed in, but it was so overpowering that her eyes burned.
With a smile and a couple of blinks, she answered, “Uh, a little town in Texas called Hill Vale.” Them knowing her hometown wasn’t a big deal since she didn’t live there anymore. And good luck finding her. With zero social media presence, Mia was a needle in the information haystack.
The creepy guy smiled. “Did you hear that accent? How cute is that?”
She chuckled nervously as someone in the crowd whooped. “Thanks.”
“How about a wet contest?” someone yelled.
