Fox rubbed his forehead and eventually picked up the fallen folders, as if he only now realized he’d thrown a tantrum. “Yeah, well... I’ll try to sort it all as well as I can.”
Laurent cleared his throat. “Maybe your son should learn a trade? Knight’s an electrician, and that proves very handy.”
Fox shut him up with a dark glare but didn’t have any counterarguments either. Personally, Knight thought Fox’s oldest offspring was more suited to boxing than actually learning how to deal with wiring, but he kept that to himself.
When Fox walked off, Laurent looked at Knight with a wide smile. “We’re planning to go on a trip to La Rochelle. Isn’t that amazing?”
Knight’s heart skipped a beat, lifting him from the gloom of worry. “To our family seat? Have you contacted the Merciers there about us coming over? I’ve always wanted to stay in one of those old country houses.”
Beast raised his eyebrows and pulled Laurent so close he ended up putting his legs across Beast’s lap. “You’re not going. We are. For our honeymoon. I’ll need you to keep things under control here when we’re away.”
Knight stalled and slumped against the backrest. “Ah. I mean... yeah, that sounds reasonable. Have you seen Elliot recently?” he asked, quickly changing the topic to not let his embarrassing enthusiasm linger on anyone’s mind.
Laurent’s attention was instantly sharper. “No. Hasn’t he left for good? I haven’t seen him throughout Christmas.”
Knight sighed and looked at Beast, who once again studied him with that infuriatingly curious gaze.
“Why are you looking for him?”
Heat rushed to Knight’s cheeks, and he tapped the armrest of his chair. “His car is still here. He couldn’t have just walked to Brecon on foot.”
A heavy weight slumped against the back of Knight’s armchair. “Haven’t seen him either,” Jake said with his mouth full and loudly chewing right next to Knight’s ear.
Knight looked back, watching the crumbs stuck to Jake’s face. He must have just squashed his food into his mouth in order to join the discussion. “He hasn’t been online either,” he said, facing the silence of his friends.
Jake’s face got serious. “You’re worried he’s offed himself?”
Something inside Knight’s chest tightened so hard he spun around to look at him. “What? Why would you say that?”
Jake shrugged. “You’re saying he’s been gone for ages, his car is here, and I’ve seen his arms. He’s got a whole ladder of scars down there. I mean… Maybe he hasn’t. Sorry. It’s just that the grounds here are vast, and it’s been snowing, and all that.”
Knight squeezed his hand on the armrest, and out of the blue felt like puking. He was falling off a cliff and spiraling in the air so fast his body was shutting down. “I—we should look for him.”
Beast leaned back with a sigh. “You sure he’s not staying with a friend?”
“He doesn’t have any friends,” hissed Knight.
Laurent sneered and looked away. “I wonder why.”
“This is so fucking uncalled for. When you were in trouble, everyone had your back. Or have you forgotten?” Knight asked, bolting up from his chair.
Laurent mumbled a half-assed apology, begrudgingly staring down at Hound, as if he were the offending party.
Beast watched him with his eyes narrowed. “You tried calling him?
“Yes.” Knight spread his arms and picked up his phone. “I keep hitting voicemail.”
“Are you two like… a thing or something?” Jake asked and stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth.
Knight gritted his teeth. “No. But he’s a friend. He’s helped me work out Raphael Mercier, and that amounts to something. I need to know where he is.”
Laurent wouldn’t look into Knight’s eyes but still spoke. “If he’s so into Fane, have you been to the cellar?”
“I could look for him there,” Jake proposed.
“No,” Knight said right away, meeting Jake’s eyes. Always so eager to please, to be useful. Sweet and pliant in his own right. Almost too sweet and too pliant. Unlike Elliot, he provided no intellectual challenge, and that might have been why Knight stopped fucking him when Elliot came to live at the clubhouse.
Knight rubbed his face. “I’ve been there, obviously. I can’t think of any other places. Maybe we really should search the grounds?”
Jake nodded, ready for action as he always was. “We’ve got this quad with big tires, it should handle the snow. I’ll go get it.”
Beast stood up, though he was clearly unhappy to leave Laurent’s arms. “I’ll get dressed and walk through the west wing.”
Knight’s gaze rested on Laurent, and the tension in his head was growing more painful by the minute. Elliot couldn’t have been dumb enough to hurt himself over Knight’s rejection, could he?
Laurent sighed deeply and dropped the wedding catalog to the couch. “Fine, I will go as well. I can cover the eastern wing and the former rail station. But it’s for you, Knight, not for him.”