Empty Bed
. . .
Cade
The shower was supposed to help.
It didn’t. Not even a little.
Water beating down on my back did nothing to ease the knots. Tension stayed lodged between my shoulder blades. My mind raced, trying to predict how my grandfather would play this going forward. What had Ellie said to him? Did he believe our ruse, or was this about to blow up in my face?
He liked Ellie—that I was sure of. The fact was as gratifying as it was surprising.
Finding her talking to him had been… alarming. I’d instantly imagined all the different things she could be rambling to him about—from unicorns to cuddling to slippery crabs and cat café stories.
I’d gotten whiplash when Grandfather grinned at her. The most I’d seen that man smile was when he pulled out the cigars after closing a major deal, yet it only took two minutes after meeting Ellie for him to smile.
He even approved of her.
My mother didn’t, which almost made me smile.
She didn’t approve of anyone. When Harrison announced he and Madison were getting married, our mother had thought the world was ending.
Now she was hurt at having to hear about my engagement through the grapevine—something I’d overlooked during our eleventh-hour planning.
Then she’d made a great first impression by openly antagonizing my “fiancée.”
I didn’t need my mother to like Ellie, but it would help.
I toweled off and got dressed on autopilot, trying to turn off my brain and stop analyzing every moment since our surprise guests arrived.
I just wanted to climb into bed with Ellie and stay there until the trip was over.
It was the only thing that’d gotten me through the day, and I couldn’t believe I was actually looking forward to sleeping next to another person.
Maybe Ellie’s insistence on cuddling being beneficial to one’s health wasn’t so crazy after all.
But when I entered the room, the bed was empty.
No Ellie. No sign of her hellcat, either.
Her pillow was gone, too.
“Darling?” I called into the main room. No response.
I frowned and quickly checked the sitting area, closet, and balcony—but there were no blue-haired girls or troublesome cats.
They’d disappeared.
Ellie hadn’t left a note, but the little indentation left behind where a chocolate should’ve been on my pillow felt like a message.
Not bothering with shoes, I took my search outside the cabin—working up through each deck and checking extra rooms. Anywhere someone might go to sleep. The main indoor lounge was empty, the spa beds were empty, and only crew moved about the rooms.
I was tempted to ask Mac to pull up the yacht’s security feed, but he didn’t need to know Ellie had given me the slip.
No luck finding her in the port-side rooms, so I made my way toward the main deck to see if she’d joined the others. I turned down a corridor, only to find Vlad loitering halfway down it.
“Vlad,” I called, jogging up to where he was squinting at an abstract painting on the wall. “Have you seen Ellie anywhere? She went for a walk.”
He hummed, nursing a glass of vodka, and pulled his gaze off the painting. “No sign of your little blue feya. You heading back to the deck? I’ll join you for another round.”
“Did everyone else abandon you?” That could be good if they’d all gone to bed. Less chance of them seeing Ellie and her pillow somewhere that wasn’t our bed.
“Fletch is still up, but he’s an ass to drink with,” Vlad sneered. “He’s in a competition to out-douche himself today.”
I clapped his shoulder and slid past. “I need to catch up with Ellie, but we’ll get a drink tomorrow.”
Vlad saluted me with his glass, already turning his gaze back to the painting. “Tomorrow, then.”
Skipping the main deck for now since Fletcher was still there, I ran to the gym, then checked the private cinema.
Strips of light glowed underneath the red couches in an otherwise dark room, and I rushed down the tiered seating, checking each row.
Halfway down the aisle, a faint meow made me go still.
Whiskey’s head popped up from behind a couch in the front row.
He jumped onto the back, balancing effortlessly, before hopping down and trotting up to me.
I stood still as a statue while the hellcat wove between my ankles—even rubbing against me—and then he took a few silent steps back toward the front of the room.
He looked over his shoulder at me—a clear signal to follow him.
With twitching lips, I obeyed. Whiskey trotted to the first row, leading me straight to where Ellie was curled up on the plush couch cushions. She hugged her pillow in her sleep, breathing slow and even.
Just the sight of her blue hair and parted lips eased the tension in my shoulders better than a shower ever could.
Strange.
Not giving myself time to think about it, I did what I’d been waiting to do all day. I eased into the space between her and the couch, then wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her back against me.
The second I touched her, Ellie went stiff as a board, right before an elbow came flying at my face.