One Bride for Five Mountain Men

Wait… Instagram. A thought came into her head as she quickly opened the Instagram app on her phone and searched for Mickey’s username. Didn’t take her long to find that, and much to her relief she found just what she was looking for.

The last two posts had been made within the last half hour. Selfies of Mickey in some club, surrounded by loads of liquor and people. Does this guy do anything else but party? she wondered. More importantly, as he had uploaded the pictures, he had also tagged his location. Probably for the benefit of the paparazzi, considering how badly he craves media attention.

Finally, out of nowhere, she had a lead. If she was going to find Lizzy, then this was her best shot. She saved the location to her Google Maps and booked an Uber. Her main priority was to get to Lizzy as soon as possible. Everything else could just wait. As the Uber pulled up, she threw her luggage in the back and told the driver to hurry up. This for her was truly a matter of life and death.

Oh, Lizzy, my dearest Lizzy. I hope you are okay.

Chapter 20

A big crowd was waiting outside the club as she walked to the entrance. A bunch of them were people who were waiting to get in, while most were fans, wanting to get a glimpse of their favorite celebrities and of course, there were the dreaded paparazzi.

“Can I help you?” A large African-American man stepped in front of her as she tried to cut the line and enter the club. In her obsession with finding Lizzy she had forgotten that this was LA, and one simply does not walk into a club.

“My friends are in there,” she said, trying the oldest trick in the book.

“Oh really? What are their names?” The man picked up a list. What’s the point in lying? she concluded.

“Mickey Nicks and Insurrection,” she replied, mustering up all the confidence she could.

The man smiled then let out a little laugh, looking her up and down.

“You’re ‘friends’ with Mickey?”

Rory didn’t like the way he said friends, because she knew what that meant.

“Yes, he’s my friend.”

“I don’t think so, lady. I’ve seen Mickey come here with a lot of his women ‘friends’ and you ain’t his type,” he smirked.

“I’m not that kind of a friend.”

“Oh, none of them are.” He crossed his arms and a frown came onto his face like he had heard this line a hundred times before.

“Look I really need to get in there. Can you please cut me some slack?”

“And so do all of these people.” He nodded at the line behind her. “If you want to get in, then I suggest you wait in the line like the rest of them.”

“Look, it’s a very urgent matter. Mickey would be very unhappy if he knew that you didn’t let me in,” she lied.

“I’ll risk that.” He grinned. Clearly, he knew Mickey personally and had probably guessed that she was lying.

“Would you risk the twenty bucks that you would get if you let me in?” she tried to put on a smile and as soon as she said it, she knew that it wouldn't work. She wasn’t one of those people who could smoothly slide in a twenty and get people to do her bidding.

The man grunted and pointed to the back of the line. There was nothing Rory could do. Her Uber was still waiting, her luggage was in there, and the driver was probably irritated at her. Might as well pay him off and set him free.

As she walked toward the Uber, a bunch of cars drove up to the front. A big limo and a couple of vintage muscle cars, although no one got out of them once they were parked. A commotion followed their arrival as she realized that a bunch of people were exiting the club.

The paparazzi and the fans rushed to the barricades that could barely contain them. The people waiting in line immediately pulled out their phones to make videos and take pictures. Big burly security guys appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the group that was leaving the club.

In that big crowd of people, Rory saw the blond-haired head of Mickey Nicks. Right next to him was Lizzy, along with a couple of other girls who looked like typical LA models. Rory ran back, shouting Lizzy’s name. There was a big crowd that she had to get through and she wasted no time in making her way through them.

The crowd pushed her back and Rory realized that the task was much more difficult than she had thought.

Instead of shouting Lizzy’s name, she started pleading with the paparazzi to give way, but this was their livelihood and they were in no mood to lose their prime spots. A couple of them did let her have an inch to place her foot, but most were too busy taking shots of the celebrities leaving the club to even hear her.

Rory saw Lizzy enter the limo. The short dress she was wearing might as well not be there at all. It was barely hiding anything. Rory couldn’t get in Lizzy’s line of sight, but she could tell that the young girl was heavily intoxicated.

“Lizzy!” Rory shouted, but her voice was drowned out by the sounds of the crowd and the clicking of cameras. Just then Mickey turned around to flash a peace sign at the paparazzi and Rory was sure that he saw her in the crowd. Their eyes met, but there was no sign of recognition on his face. Either he saw through her or he simply did not remember her.