30 - Bishop
~ 30 ~
BISHOP
I entered the room silently, and slipped the keycard back into my pocket before she even noticed. I found Jocelyn sitting on the bed, cross-legged, in a long T-shirt. Her thumbs were working so furiously she hadn’t even looked up. Not even when I took a few more steps.
“Pssst!”
Her expression was terror-stricken, as she jumped a good foot in the air.
“OHMYGOD!”
I couldn’t stifle my laugh if I’d wanted to, even though it was a good idea. Afterward, I put my finger to my lips to shush her, as she repeatedly began hitting me with an open palm.
“What the fuck , Bishop!” she hissed, now clutching her chest. She hit me one more time. “You gave me a heart attack!”
“Sorry,” I whispered. “I couldn’t call ahead.”
“No, you couldn’t,” she agreed. “No one can call anyone in this stupid place. Even with my own keycard, I’m locked in my room again. And… wait, is that FOOD?”
I smiled and held up the container of leftovers I’d brought from the kitchen. She snatched it from my hands and tore it open.
“HOLY SHIT!”
I shushed her again, as she hunched her shoulders in apology and began taking inventory of everything I’d brought.
“I figured you probably didn’t get a chance to eat.”
“No,” Jocelyn confirmed. “I sure didn’t.”
“So… forgiven?” I grinned.
She nodded while salivating over the contents. “For now, hell yes.”
She threw down the phone in favor of the fork I handed her, and immediately started eating. I nodded to where the device now rested on the bed.
“Be careful with that,” I warned. “If they saw you had it, it would be a huge problem.”
“Why?” she asked through a mouthful of potatoes. “It doesn’t work here.”
“No, but the camera does,” I pointed out. “Anything electronic was supposed to be confiscated on arrival. Andre and I assured them we’d already checked you.”
“Fine,” she shrugged. “Take it, then.”
I shook my head. “No, just keep it here. Out of sight.”
I watched her some more, admiring the ravenous efficiently with which she was destroying her meal. The smell of food should’ve made me hungry, because I hadn’t eaten either. But all I could focus on was those long, bare legs, peeking out from beneath her T-shirt.
“You did good today,” I told her. “Even Raif was pleased.”
“Fuck Raif,” she shot back. “And fuck Evelyn, especially.” She paused to look up from her meal, as if something just occurred to her. “Wait, where are the others?”
“Back in our own rooms,” I told her. “Andre’s busy working on something.”
Jocelyn tilted her head. “And Kayden?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
Her jealousy was sort of adorable. Even if it made me a little jealous, myself.
“Don’t worry, Kayden’s back there too,” I assured her. “He kept filling and refilling Evelyn’s wine glass throughout the night. She can’t say no to him, so she’s fast asleep.”
The answer seemed to satisfy her, and break some of her tension. She finished eating, wiped her fingers, and picked up her phone again.
“Do you want to see everything I found out tonight?” she asked.
“You bet.”
I shuffled closer to her on the bed, not only interested in everything she’d found out, but also just eager to be closer to her. Her thigh felt warm, pressed against mine. Her hair smelled clean and fragrant, exactly like it had all week long, when I was burying my face in it. Shit, back then I guess I was burying a lot of things.
“So these guys here are with Foley,” she pointed at some names I didn’t know. “He’s another Founder, right?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Jacob Foley.”
“Right, only they talked shit about him all night. To each other, obviously, but also to this guy right here, who’s with Victor’s crew.”
She pointed again, with a slender finger. This time I knew the name.
“Anyway,” Jocelyn went on, “they’re obviously not happy. They just about hate him, actually.”
“Well, he is a ruthless asshole.”
“Duly noted,” said Jocelyn, before continuing. “So later on in the night, they start talking about him not being around for much longer. And one of the guys from Victor’s crew shushes the other guy up, so whatever’s happening, he’s in on that.”
I nodded slowly. “Good to know.”
“And then the third guy, the big guy, he’s coming in tomorrow afternoon,” she concluded. “Ronan somethingorother.”
“Roman,” I corrected her. My hand balled into a fist. “Roman Wynter.”
Memories of Syria came flooding, unbidden, to the forefront of my brain. I tried like hell to shove them back, but the effort only made my shoulder itch.
“Right,” Jocelyn confirmed. Well, his men hardly said anything the whole night. They barely drank, too. I thought that part was strange. Their boss is still twenty-four hours out, and they’re not drinking anything? Doesn’t make sense.”
I wanted to tell her that Roman Wynter never made any sense; the man was the living embodiment of chaos itself. His recklessness had cost the lives of people I loved, innocent people, people I didn’t even know. The man had come close to dying so many times, rumors began swirling he was divinely protected. Maybe he was, for all I knew.
And then he’d taken command of Blight, and everything changed. For the first time in his life, he became cautious. His every move, a calculated means to an end. The man who’d callously blown up half our squad was now a selfish recluse, operating with impunity from the shadows. In that time, he’d done things to cover his tracks. Terrible, terrible things.
Things he would pay for.
“So yeah, he arrives tomorrow,” Jocelyn went on. “They’re all going to the dock to meet up with him, but he’s not coming by boat, he’s coming by helicopter.”
I was dumbstruck. “Seriously?”
“Yes. I heard one of his men allude to it, under his breath.” She looked away for a moment. “The short one, with the neck tattoo.”
“Morris,” I confirmed.
She shrugged. “Didn’t catch his name. But when Roman arrives, this place is going to be empty for a little while. It might be a good time to set up whatever you plan to do.”
With that, Jocelyn dropped her phone and looked up at me. She looked worried.
“Bishop, what do you plan to do?”
I stared into those eyes for a while, trying to forget where we were. I wished we were home again, where everything was simple. Where there was nothing I couldn’t keep from her, and everything I could share.
“Remember that birthday when my parents were away and you baked me a cake?” I said. “Only you hadn’t made a cake before, and you used pancake mix instead of flour?”
Jocelyn blinked in puzzlement. Eventually though, her mouth curled into a smile.
“Yeah. That was an epic fail.”
“I wanted you, then,” I admitted. “That was the day I realized you were something other than Jason’s little sister. Something amazing. Something I knew I should have.”
She paused, taken aback, and blushed a little. Then she chuckled.
“Remember when we were kids playing manhunt, and I tied you to that tree with six feet of bubble tape?”
The memory was warm and fuzzy, like a double pull of good bourbon. I laughed.
“That didn’t work either. It broke into a thousand pieces, the second I moved.”
“Ah, but you stayed there,” she countered. “And that’s where I wanted you. Right there, with me, alone in the woods.”
“So it did work,” I mused.
“Sure did.”
We sat silently for a good half minute, lost in ancient thoughts and old memories. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be. Eventually I stood up again and began peeling my clothes off.
“What are you doing?”
Those pretty eyes followed along as my shirt hit the floor. They shifted to my fingers, as I unbuttoned my pants.
“Taking you to bed,” I answered. “It’s late, and tomorrow’s a big day. Plus, I’ve only got two hours.”
Her brows crossed. “Two hours?”
“Two hours until Andre shows up. And another two until Kayden.”
“Wait. What?”
“You didn’t think we’d let you sleep alone, did you?” I shook my head. “Can’t take that risk. Too many people have the universal keycard that opens these doors.”
“But—”
“We also can’t all be gone at the same time,” I went on. “That’s even riskier. Too many variables, so we agreed to take shifts.”
Maybe she only half-believed me, but she didn’t stop me from throwing back the blanket and climbing inside. The bed was warm from her lying all over it. Her body was even warmer, as she slid beneath the sheets and curled her body into mine.
I spooned her snugly, wrapping a protective arm around her waist from behind. Jocelyn’s skin was fire, her scent so amazing I was getting drunk on it. I kissed her neck, her shoulder, her back, all the while sliding my hand down to find her bare ass covered by the thinnest of thongs. My fingers explored, and found it already soaked through.
“Are we really gonna do this?” she chuckled, as I guided my hard-on through the hole in the front of my boxers. A second or two later it was probing her panty-covered mound.
“Why not?” I whispered wickedly. “You don’t think the others aren’t taking what they want, when they get here?”
Her ass was grinding backwards now, swallowing me between those warm, wonderful folds. Her fingernails brushed my shaft, on the way to pulling her panties to one side.
“Fine,” she cooed, just as the head slipped in. The pleasure was overwhelming. I flexed my arm, squeezing her body even tighter against me. Driving myself that much deeper into the heat of her molten core.
“Fuck me quietly,” she whimpered, turning her head and placing her lips to my ear. Her voice was soft. Breathless. Totally adorable.
“And don’t stop until you’ve filled me up.”