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One Nude Pump
Maggielookedather watch. She wondered how soon she could escape her babysitting duties and have her mother not complain about it. Margo was running her crew like a well-oiled machine. She had plenty of servers, despite her mother’s concerns, and the food was beautiful and going out like clockwork. She had tried to find some way to help when she first got here, but Margo had shooed her away. At this point, she was just in the way. She hoped JT had been cordial enough to agree to introduce Zane around. She never knew which way his mood was going to fall these days. She sighed and leaned against a stool in the corner.
“Excuse me, ma’am?” A young woman in a black and white server’s uniform addressed her. Maggie jumped, startled at the intrusion into her thoughts. She didn't like being so jumpy but she had been since the attack at Mama Tried. Stop it, Maggie! We're not even in Dallas or Gladewater and there must be two hundred of your family and friends here. You're perfectly safe.
"Can I help you?” Maggie responded brightly.
“Are you Maggie Wade?” the girl asked.
“Yes, that’s me,” Maggie said.
“Um, there’s another lady that asked me to find you. She asked that you meet her over near the pantry. She said she didn’t want to get in the way, but she needed to talk to you.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you,” Maggie said politely. She couldn’t imagine who wouldn’t just walk on into the kitchen if they needed her. Most people didn’t stand on ceremony around here.
Maggie made her way away from the caterers toward the area the server had directed. The event space had a big pantry here, a large walk in refrigerator and a sub-zero walk in freezer in the space. Margo brought everything with her and only used the ovens in the other kitchen space to heat up food so this space was devoid of any catering staff.
“Hello?” she called. “It’s Maggie.”
“Well, well, it’s the little mouse in the flesh.” Maggie whirled as she heard the familiar voice. Shawna stood behind her in a short, sparkly black dress with big hair and spike heels.
“What are you doing here?” Maggie said, trying not to gasp. She felt her heart start beating erratically in her chest.
“I’m a special invited guest,” Shawna said in a saccharinely sweet voice. “JT brought me. Wasn’t that just so sweet of him?”
Maggie’s eyes widened and she tried to control her breathing. This was the mystery woman JT had been seeing? She had to get out of here. “You need to leave before I call security.”
Shawna cackled. “Security? In this little podunk place? There’s no security here. Good try, little mouse.” She took a step toward Maggie menacingly and Maggie threw up a hand to ward her off.
Shawna’s eyes shot to the sparkling diamond on her left ring finger. Her face contorted into a hideous grimace. “He’s marrying you?” she said, through gritted teeth. “You? A little nothing? When he could have had me?”
Her hand shot out and she grabbed Maggie’s left hand before Maggie could jump back. Shawna pulled her toward her. Maggie gasped and tried to pull away. She wanted to scream but the panic had the sound locked in her throat. Shawna reached up and clamped her hands around Maggie’s neck, pushing her up against the wall into shadow. Maggie clawed at the fingers like iron around her neck. She didn’t understand how the woman could be so strong. She writhed and kicked but nothing seemed to break the woman’s grasp. Her eyes flew around wildly, looking for a weapon she could reach, someone coming into view but saw nothing but Shawna’s horrible, contorted grimace. She started to see dark spots at the edges of her vision and the strength went out of her limbs. She was surprised she didn’t see her life flashing before her eyes. Her last feeling was regret. Regret that she wouldn’t get to tell Zane she loved him again before she died.
As Maggie’s body went limp, Shawna’s rage began to bleed from her body. She dropped Maggie to the floor and looked at her. The voices in her mind raced. One was relieved the little mouse was gone. The other was in a panic over how to hide the body and not get caught. She glanced around furtively. Still no one and the room remained in semi-darkness. She looked behind her and saw the large walk-in freezer. Perfect! She’d have plenty of time to get out of there before anyone even missed the little mouse. She hiked Maggie's petite frame up by the armpits and drug her into the freezer laying her out behind some large boxes labeled ’chicken breast” and moved quickly to the heavy door. At the last second she turned to Maggie’s prone body again, and slid the diamond from her limp finger.
JT couldn’t figure out where Brittany had gotten to. He still hadn’t found her and had even sent someone into the ladies’ room to look for her. She didn’t have a way home except for him. There weren’t any Ubers that were going to come from Irving to Tyler. He didn’t know whether to be concerned or irritated. He looked out over the crowd again. No sparkly dress, no big blonde curls. Hell, what do I do now?
Zane finally pulled away from the mayor and his crowd. He was glad to meet the man and he was definitely a good contact, but, man, the mayor could talk. He guessed that was a side effect of his position but now he needed to rest his ears and get a drink. He looked around for JT and saw him standing near the back hallway looking out over the crowd. He seemed to be searching for someone. Maybe he hadn’t found his date yet. He stopped briefly to grab a Jameson from the bar and made his way toward that end of the room. He figured he would go check on Maggie and see if she could sneak away from under her mother’s watchful eye for a spin around the dance floor. He raised his glass in a silent toast at Dani and Levi as he made his way past the dance floor. The woman loved to dance. Levi must have some serious stamina to keep up with her. They’d been out there since he and Maggie had arrived almost an hour ago. He smiled. Those two had come a long way and he couldn’t wait to see them make it official tomorrow.
He stopped to speak to JT on his way to the kitchen. “Hey, man. You lost your date?” he asked jokingly.
JT crinkled his brow. “Actually, yeah, I have. She was supposed to be going to the ladies’ room but she’s not in there and I can’t find her.”
Zane’s demeanor changed. “Have you checked outside? Maybe she went to get some fresh air. What does she look like? I’ll help you look for her.”
“I was just headed out that way, but thanks. She’s about 5′10 in spikey heels. She’s wearing a short, glittery, sparkly black dress and has long, curly blonde hair. Kinda big hair, you know. She’s from Dallas. Big blue eyes, sweet lips,” JT said almost wistfully.
Zane froze. Surely, he was just being paranoid. Thousands of women from Dallas met that description, but something deep in his gut clenched. He tried to sound casual as he asked, “What did you say her name was again?”
“Brittany.”
Okay, that was good. Brittany, not Shawna. He couldn't shake the dread that had curled up in his belly, however, as JT had described her. He had to ask one more question. "She doesn't have a little diamond stud near her eye that she wears like a beauty mark does she?"
JT flashed him a grin. "Actually, she does. It's hot. How did you know that?"
JT saw the blood bleed from Zane’s face. He reached out and grabbed his arm as he swore the man swayed. “Dude, what’s wrong? Do you need to sit?”
Zane grabbed JT’s arm tight. “We have to find your sister. NOW!”
