Chapter 8

The only available spot was at the beach as a lifeguard.

"Great," Jane muttered as Mrs. Rose gave her a sympathetic smile. If they liked the beach so much in Stormbrooke, how come there were so few lifeguards? Apparently, the town was expecting a few visitors for a tour thingy in a few days and since they were short-staffed, they needed more hands on the beach since it was the beauty of Stormbrooke. Now she was stuck with seeing Sebastian every day until her holiday was over. That was the only downside, really. Jane loved to swim. After spending so many hours at the office each day, she looked forward going home and immersing herself in the cool water as the waves cascaded around her and energy flowed from her body to the water and back into her.

At the request of the lieutenant, she'd tried out for the job. She'd never swum professionally, but she figured she was good enough to pass the tests. It wasn't easy. Whenever Jane thought of Sebastian, she wanted to stop and scream that she wasn't doing it. After some minutes in the water, the lieutenant asked her to report early the next morning and that was that.

It wasn't enough that they were neighbors, now they were coworkers.

Not entirely, her mind said. She didn't have to take the job if she didn't want to. It wasn't do or die, after all. She could choose to reject it if she wanted to.

The only problem was that she didn't want to reject the job. She wanted, more than anything, to take it.

"I'm sorry, darling, but don't you want the job? I could keep searching if you'd like but it might take a while." Mrs. Rose asked when she got back to the diner.

Jane wasn't sure she could afford not doing anything in the meantime. "Don't worry, Mrs. Rose. I'll take it," she said. "Thank you so much."

Really, what choice did she have?

***

"So?" Alistair stared at the man in front of him with impatience. He didn't quite understand why the man was so calm when his daughter was yet to be found. Out of desperation, he'd hired a private detector to find Jane. The wedding was in two days. He couldn't very well tell the parents of the groom that their daughter-in-law to-be had run away. The only other option had been to find her before the time elapsed and if that meant hiring a private detector, then that he would do. Besides, all hell would break loose if news got out. Not to talk of the shame he would face if his daughter, the bride wasn't at her own wedding.

The man cleared his throat but the unbothered expression on his face didn't change. "I found her phone and her car. She left it packed on the side of a road."

Alistair had the suspicion that this wasn't the man's first time of finding runaway brides.

"Jesus." Had she been that desperate, that running away seemed like the only option? What was she so scared of? What if something had happened to her? He didn't even want to imagine the horror.

"I followed the trail to a two way stop. They both lead to different towns; Stormbrooke and Crystal Falls. Seeing as her passport is still in her room like you said, I'm at least a ninety percent sure she's still in the country. So my best bet is that she's in one of those towns. From her bank statement, she withdrew a lot of money which I'm guessing will pretty much see to her survival comfortably for three weeks even if she went on a shopping spree every day." The man said, his expression unchanging.

Alistair took some time to process this information. Jane was in a town? He ran a hand down his face angrily. Maybe he'd allowed her too much privileged. This was obviously the mind of a teenager at work. A grown woman like the Jane he knew wouldn't do something so stupid. What was she trying to prove?

"I don't care if you have to blow a storm through every city, every town in Los Angeles. I don't care how you do it. Find her."

***

The next day when Jane went to the beach to start her new job, she found it full to the brim. There were people of every type and every color. If she hadn't been so angry about her uniform, she might've appreciated the view.

The staff she'd been directed to, Hans, had given her a red one-piece with a gold zipper in front that was about two sizes too small with an obviously insincere apology—I'm sorry but that's all I could find—and a smile that said he hadn't really bothered to check. Not like she was the only female lifeguard on the beach. She counted more than five and they were all comfortably clad in one-pieces that seemed to fit them whilst not drawing too much attention. Her own glued to her body like a second skin and her breasts looked about ready to fall out from the plunging V neckline.

She hated the job already.

She hadn't seen Sebastian today. He'd left early, according to Mrs. Rose, because of the tourists that had arrived in case there were any incidents. Jane was thankful for it because she was already mortified thinking about him seeing her in this dreadful uniform. Who knew what might happen?

She grabbed a raft and headed to her position at Tower 1, where a red flag was hoisted. She climbed the strong wooden stairs until she was safely standing. Really the beach was beautiful, even with the crowd. She was grateful she'd come here at such a time because in her world, she never got to experience things like this. Since she was the daughter of business mogul Alistair Hendricks, she always got treated with obligated respect just because her father was rich and powerful. Here, she felt normal. No one called her Miss or Madam. It felt good to be away from all that.

She spotted Sebastian at the edge of the water, engaged in discussion with a young blonde woman. She looked way younger than him and the way she laughed while titling her head to one side irritated Jane. She wondered if that was why he'd left so early; to find fresh meat to prey on. The man was shameless. He'd been shamelessly flirting with her the day before, talking about how he was happy she was single, and now he was all over someone else?

Well, joke's on him because she wasn't single. Her wedding was tomorrow. Only problem was, she wouldn't be attending.