43 - Jocelyn
~ 43 ~
JOCELYN
The words didn’t register immediately, especially over the cacophony of thirsty voices. I had to pull Bishop away, to a corner near the bar.
“What you do mean Raif’s gone?”
“He’s just gone,” he repeated. “Nobody can find him. Not the staff, not the security teams, no one.”
My brow furrowed. “I’m sure he’s just checking on something,” I reasoned. “That asshole’s been running all over the manor ever since he got here.”
“Not without this.”
He held something up against his chest, shielding it from view from the rest of the room. When I saw it, I gasped.
“His tablet? ”
“Yes,” Bishop confirmed. “There’s no way he’d go anywhere without this thing. He probably sleeps with it under his pillow.”
“I’m sure he does,” I nodded numbly. “Where’d you find it?”
“On the floor of the hallway, just outside the library.”
The floor. That little bit of information made me queasy. None of it made any sense.
“You’re right. Something’s up.”
Raif was an uptight asshole, but his presence was comforting. Even unknowingly, he’d acted as a buffer between us and Blight.
“What do you think happened to him?”
Bishop shook his head. It wasn’t a good shake.
“Well… shit.”
I’d gone the past two days trying to avoid this man as much as possible. Now that he was gone, I actually thought about going out to look for him.
“What do Kayden and Andre think?”
“They have no idea. But our first priority was to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. Just… busy.”
“YO!”
As if he were listening in, Bruschetta Joe cried out. He pointed to a tray of drinks, and motioned me over with one hairy Italian hand.
“Go,” said Bishop. “We’ll talk again at dinner service.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t leave this room again,” he said, pointing to the garden door. “No more stepping out for fresh air.”
“I—I wasn’t—”
“I mean it,” he admonished. “Not even into the hallway. Stay here, with the crowd. It’s safest.”
Bishop pulled me in with one corded arm and kissed me so fiercely it made me swoon. His confidence was a huge turn-on. No matter how many eyes might be on us, he didn’t care.
“This time tomorrow it’ll just be us,” he growled, his voice raw with arousal. “We’re going to take care of you, Joce.”
He squeezed me once more before letting go.
“All of us.”