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I want out This is no longer a rush any But he won’t let o And I don’t kno to escape hi me I wanted to run I wanted to hide But I didn’t I couldn’t Oneto a customer, the next I was in a dark corner with him buried deep inside me When it was over, he stroked ht The minute I was alone, I rushed to the ca it, and one He’d taken it before I could And now…

That was it Nothingor soe,in my chest Were these journals before or after the one I’d been reading the night before, I wonder again? Because if they were before, I would know Rebecca was okay I dial Ella and once again anal I don’t want to hear

Frustrated, I juh my already tousled hair Rebecca Mason e unit But why hadn’t she coe fee? I ball my fists at my sides and then slowly force them to open, force ic There is no reason to juallery and locate Rebecca, discover all is well, and return Rebecca’s things to her End of story Right Perfect Then I’ll get on with

I snatchto ht and I’ve tried to call Ella with no idea what tiallery Soabout Rebecca Mason has reached past the pages of that journal and beco those journals I feel a connection so intiht eerie OrI’m desperate for a little excitement Like Rebecca had been, before sherab the journals and take them with me

Chapter Three

"Rebecca isn’t in"

That is the saallery had given me the last time I’d called And the time before that

"She’s on vacation," I reply "So I’ve been told all week It’s Friday Will she be back Monday?"

Silence filters into the line "I can take a e"

I’d already left several and I see no point in leaving another "No Thank you" I hang up and sip my vanilla latte from the Barnes and Noble café where I’d just finished tutoring a football player hoping to i skills This entire Rebecca situation is driving me nuts

I’ve already double-checked the ti Ella hadn’t exactly been a wealth of information, and it is a short --one more week After that, it would be two hundred dollars for another full et The rateful, but I have to deal with Rebecca and do it now

With my laptop already open and powered up, I key in the Allure Gallery website, intending to search the staff listing to be sure Rebecca’s na Director Hn she’s okay Doesn’t it?

An event banner on the side of the page catches allery the following Wednesday night and not for soh hly acclai I adore Ricco Alvarez’s depiction of his hoh it’s rather well known in an artsy city like San Fran that someone of his stature owns a hoood cause, a black-tie charity event with both ticket prices, and a piece of Alvarez’s art, being auctioned off as donations to a local children’s hospital Surely, with such an event, Rebecca will be at the hel my nails on the wooden table, I consider my options If I can’t reach Rebecca before the show, I’ll attend the event Silently, I laugh atto see Ricco Alvarez, even if I have to eat Ramen noodles for teeks to do so, and since the tickets are a hundred dollars a pop, I will But I never, ever splurge I bite my bottom lip and fret, and then before I can stop myself, click on the "buy tickets" button and claiet a refund if I reach Rebecca before then, but I’ll just have to rough it I can’t stop the s onto my lips It will be torture to have to meet Ricco Alvarez I feel better with a plan Now, if I can just get through to Ella and hear she is okay, Iarrives and Rebecca is still "not in" per the Allure staff So, I a has been doused quite effectively by the feeling so The entire situation makes me anxious, and while I would have preferred soht’s event, I had dismissed the idea I wasn’t about to try and explain why I was hunting down Rebecca Mason, whom I didn’t know, and who I feared hadto even let ht And I won’t justify hts