Page 8 of The Bishop

I took his hand which he shook quite vigorously all while discreetly looking down into the cleavage of my halter top.

“And Sir Bishop,” Greg went on as he turned to his new president. “What an honor to welcome you into your new role as our distinguished leader.”

Bishop chuckled as he shook the young man’s hand. “No need to be so formal, Greg. But thank you. I do appreciate your vote of confidence.”

Trenton came up to us. “Yeah, congrats man. President… I sure do hope you can pull it off.” He then turned to me. “You’re way too pretty to be a Senior Saint… more like senior vamp.” He winked at me and walked away.

One by one, the other pledges all came by to shake my hand and congratulate me.

“Well,” Bishop said as everyone went their separate ways. “I’m glad that’s done.”

“Me, too,” I said, shooting a questioning glare at Deacon.

“You certainly dressed for the occasion,” Deacon said, his harsh tone betrayed by his roving eyes that plunged into my halter top.

“I wanted to look nice, Deacon,” I said, feigning offense.

“You look great,” Bishop quickly interceded.

“She looks like…”

“Stop it, Deacon,” Bishop said as he walked off. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you two, but I’m tired of the bickering.”

Deacon quickly went after him as Bishop headed up the stairs. “Bickering? All I’m trying to do is keep this house in order.”

I followed behind them. “But, Deacon. Bishop is right. You’ve been on my back all day.”

Bishop reached his room. With his hand on the doorknob, he stopped to look at both of us. “Can I at least ask you to keep the peace when the other pledges are around. I hate the thought of you going at it in front of everyone.”

He opened the door and went inside, but Deacon and I quickly followed him.

“I wouldn’t be making such a fuss if we didn’t have this mess to fix.”

“You’re saying that as if it were my fault,” I said. “Rector is the one who caused the Saints to lose that football game.”

“What did you just say?” Deacon said, incredulous.

“You heard me,” I said. “By fighting with you, he caused the whole team to get messed up and lose.”

“Wrong,” Deacon said.

“Am I?” I set my fists on my hips and looked directly at him. “Maybe you need a little refresher, Deacon. Or maybe you were just too close to the action to see what really happened. But I was there watching you guys and I saw it all. Rector went out of his way to start a fight with you right there on the field.”

“Look, I’ll admit that I was angry at Rector,” Deacon said, suddenly unsure where he stood. “But… damn… I certainly didn’t expect him to lash out and try to punch me right there in front of everyone.”

Bishop nodded. “It is a bit out of the ordinary. I mean, Rector… he’s got a cool head. He doesn’t typically lose his temper like that. And, besides, he knew how much that game meant… to him and to all of us.”

“Look, I get it,” I said, trying a more soothing and calming tone. “Rector was a bit strung out what with finding the last hidden Hunter… and seeing how your team was getting in trouble, Deacon.”

Pressing his lips into an angry line, he glared at Bishop. “Right. Funny how that all went wrong, isn’t it? Hey, Bishop?”

“Wait a minute,” Bishop said, taking a step back. “Are you saying that I had something to do with that fiasco?”

“Well?” Deacon shot back.

“Well… what?” Bishop said, growing red in the face. “I had nothing to do with it. Nothing. I can’t even believe that you would think that.”

“You’re guilty and you know it,” Deacon said. “Maybe you didn’t set out to make us look bad, but… damn… you didn’t even speak up for my guys. I mean… hell… they’re our guys and they’ve been suspended.”

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