Chapter 237: Panic
Mari woke up slowly to warmth that was not her own. She stretched her legs and yawned even though her head still felt heavy with sleep.
She froze and her breath caught. when she felt the weight of an arm wrapped across her waist. The touch was firm and still, like it belonged there.
Every muscle in her body went tight. She kept her eyes shut, her sleep fogged mind racing through every possible reason why soone would be in her bed.
When the hands moved, cupping her boobs, her eyes went wide and her heart jumped.
Her muscles tensed as she took in a deep breath ready to fight the intruder.
Then a low voice ca close to her ear, his breath brushing her neck, "Relax, Mari. You’re not the only one who knows how to crawl into beds uninvited," Jax whispered.
The words lted the stiffness in her shoulders, and her body softened at once. She let out the breath she had been holding and laughed a little as she leaned back against him.
"And what exactly are you doing in my bed, gentleman kidnapper?" she asked in a sleepy voice that was very husky.
His chin rested against her hair. "Making sure you don’t go sneaking into Chad’s bed and he doesn’t co to yours," he said, and she could hear the grin in his voice.
Her lips twitched into a smile, and she twisted in his arms until she could see his face in the pale light. "Are you sure about that? Or you sleepwalked here like you sleep romanced ."
Jax chuckled. "Maybe I did. Good morning, Maribel. Did you sleep well?"
Mari grinned. "I slept well, and woke up even better with you here. How long have you been here?"
"Long enough to hear you calling my na in your sleep," Jax teased.
Mari giggled. "Liar! I didn’t even dream about you."
Jax scowled. "Who did you dream of, if not ?"
Mari grinned. "I dreamt of a zombie apocalypse. I was the heroine that saved the world."
Jax looked at her in disbelief, "For real?"
"Yep. I was so cool in my dream," she said with a dreamy sigh and Jax shook his head.
"I can’t believe this is what I’m getting myself into," he said, and she laughed.
"Well, you better make up your mind on that quickly. By the way, it’s one more day before my birthday," she said with a mock sigh. "Maybe I should just sleep all day so it’ll co faster."
"Maybe we should," he said, his eyes crinkling with quiet amusent.
For a while, they were both silent, staring at each other and smiling. Then Mari’s voice broke the silence. "By the way, I tried calling my parents before I went to bed," she said, "but the call didn’t go through. When was the last ti you heard from them?"
"Two days ago," he replied. "When we both spoke with them."
Her brows drew together. "I was hoping you’d heard from them more recently."
"They’re probably very busy..."
"Too busy to check on ? They’re not like that. Since I got here, have they gone a day without reaching out to you to check on ?" Mari asked, and Jax shook his head as he thought about it.
Imdiately, he reached for his phone on the nightstand, the mattress dipping as he moved. He dialed the ergency line Alex had given him, waited, then glanced at her when it rang and rang without connecting. "Maybe they’re at the island."
Mari shook her head, beginning to feel uneasy now. "Even at the island, Dad has a way to reach anyone he wants to reach. He hasn’t yet."
Before Jax could answer, Mari’s phone lit up on the bed between them. Emily was the caller.
Jax started to rise. "I’ll give you so privacy—"
"Don’t go. Stay," Mari said, already swiping to answer.
"Hello, Princess Emmy!" Mari greeted pleasantly, not letting her worry show in her voice.
"Hello, Maid Mari," Emily responded dryly, and they both giggled.
"What’s happening over there?" Mari asked, and Emily quickly filled her in on what was going on.
While she listened to Emily, Jax turned his attention back to his phone. He kept trying both Alex’s and Andy’s line. When none of them worked, he decided to check the internet for any news regarding Andy, since she was on her concert tour and there must be news about her.
The mont he typed her na, he froze when several headlines popped up.
He quickly clicked on the first article: "Singer Fails to Appear at Tour Performance."
The article’s opening lines blurred as he read them twice. No one knew where she was.
Mari was still frowning at sothing Emily had said when she caught the change in him. The way his jaw tightened. The way his eyes stopped moving. "What is it?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I need a mont. Need to make a call."
Before she could press, he slid out of bed and left the room.
Mari raised a brow as she watched him leave, then brought the phone back to her ear. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
Emily’s voice was frayed at the edges. "I said I’m waiting for him to wake up so I can go ho yet I don’t know how to treat him when he’s in such a state. Should I treat him as Jamal’s enemy, or as Callan’s Dad?"
Mari sighed softly. "You don’t have it in you to be an, so I doubt you can treat him as Jamal’s enemy. I think you should treat him as you would a stranger you know nothing about. Hopefully it’ll all be sorted soon."
Emily gave a shaky sigh. "Yeah. I hope so." There was a pause, then Emily’s tone brightened just a little. "So... how’s your boyfriend? What are you doing for your birthday tomorrow?"
Mari smiled to herself, tracing lazy circles on the sheet with her finger. "I plan to have sex with him tomorrow. No better ti than my birthday to finally do it."
Emily laughed. "Well, I hope you have lots of fun. And when I return to Ludus we’ll make up for I’m my absence."
Mari’s smile widened. "I can’t wait. I miss you and Jamal so much."
"Well, I miss you more. I have to go now, my second Mom is calling. I’ll let you know if anything happens," Emily said before hanging up.
Mari sighed deeply as she reached for her glasses before getting off the bed.
She wondered where Jax had disappeared to, and the reason for the look on his face before he left.
When she got to the living room, she frowned when she saw Jax pacing with his phone raised to his ears.
"Yeah, it’s quite unlike them. Let
know when you hear anything," Jax said before hanging up.
"What’s wrong? Were you talking about my parents? Did sothing happen?" Mari asked anxiously.
Jax paused and looked at her for a mont. "I’m not sure of anything yet, so don’t panic..."
"How can you ask
not to panic when you look and sound so worried? Sothing is wrong, isn’t? Did sothing happen to them?" She asked, and he shook his head.
"No. Nothing is certain yet. Your Mom failed to show up for her performance last night..." he trailed off when Mari visibly paled.
"And you say nothing is certain? She’d never miss a performance, and they’d never go off the radar this way! Oh, my god!" Mari exclaid, her heart racing as she covered her face in her hands.
"Maybe sothing happened and they lost their phone or..."
She looked up at him before he could finish. "I need to leave at once. We need to find them..."
"No! You’re not leaving. The only thing you need to do right now is stay put until I figure out what’s going on. I know you’re worried about them, but you have to be calm," Jax said carefully.
"Calm? I have no idea where my parents are and you expect
to just sit here like so pampered princess in a castle and do nothing? Does that make any sense to you?"
"Alright. Let’s say I let you go, where are you going to go search for them?" Jax asked with a raised brow.
Mari opened her mouth and shut it when she realized she didn’t know where to look since she couldn’t exactly go to the police.
"Exactly. I thought so too," Jax said with a nod, "since you don’t know what to do or where to go, listen to
and be calm. I’ll make so calls and find out what I can. Relax and let
handle it. Can you do that?" He asked, and she took a deep breath.
"I can promise not to leave, but I can’t promise to relax. I can’t say I won’t do anything either. You can do what you can while I also do what I can from here. Maybe if you find out their last known location, and maybe get
my stuff from the house, then I can find a way to hack into the security caras around them and find out what happened."
Jax looked at her for a mont and then nodded. "Alright. Let’s do that."
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