Chapter 20

Malachi

Malachi had slept like shit, even though he knew his family was okay. The shock of seeing them supposedly targeted by whoever it was had seeped right down to his bones. It had been real before, but that had made it hell on earth.

By the time he woke the next morning, despite their extremely late midnight rendezvous with Nick's friends, he was alert and eager to get back to research mode. The offer to get to know the royal family behind the scenes had been put on the back burner as far as he was concerned, and although he wanted to get to know them, he needed to find this person first.

Freshly showered, he found Nick on the phone in the living area, laptop balanced on his knees.

"—seems to be a link there, maybe." He made a few noises as he listened to the other person. Malachi set a cup ready to make tea when Nick finished, not wanting the boiling kettle to disturb him. "Okay, I'll add that to my list to check out. Thanks. Speak to you later." He ended the call and faced him. "Morning. I didn't wake you, did I?"

Malachi shook his head, leaning over the back of the sofa for a kiss. "I was instantly awake this morning. Eager to get on. Do you want another drink?"

"Sure. I'll never say no to coffee."

Malachi chuckled and made them a drink each before settling beside him. "Are we heading back to Sec HQ today?"

"We can, or I can get you a laptop and we can stay here. What would you prefer?"

He thought about it. It might be nice to spend some more time with Nick alone, even if they were technically working. "Here would be good, but only if it doesn't cause problems with security and me."

"It'll be fine. Have you spoken to your mum this morning?"

"No, I thought I'd let her start her day without the reminder that I woke her up and lied to her." He sighed. "She won't be happy if she finds out."

"She'd understand, but I bet she already knows. Mother's intuition and all that." Nick huffed a laugh.

"You're probably right. She'll have my guts for garters when I next visit."

Nick laughed. "I've not heard that expression for a long time."

Malachi's cheeks heated. "It's something Grandma always says. I'm sure I have lots more priceless ones in my brain somewhere."

"I can't wait to hear them," Nick said, studying him.

"What?" Malachi finally asked.

Nick shook his head, a small smile playing around his mouth. "I love that I can get to hear them. That this isn't a quick flying thing we've got. I love that we're thinking long term. At least, I am."

Malachi put his cup down and grabbed the laptop from Nick's lap, putting it on the table before straddling him. Sliding his arms around his neck, he smiled, and though his stomach was churning with the potential for being rebuked, he laid his heart out. "I am, too. This is it for me. You're it for me." He inhaled. "I love you."

Nick's eyes widened, his jaw dropping, and his gaze frantically mapped Malachi's face. "You do?"

Malachi nodded, scratching his nails through Nick's hair. "I love you, Nick Tennant. I think I probably did before I even let myself. You're a kind, generous, funny, lovable rogue, and I love you." Now Nick hadn't thrown his words back at him, Malachi felt braver.

Suddenly, Nick crushed him against him, burying his face in Malachi's neck. He trembled, and Malachi's heart grew more when he heard the muffled sniffles. Nick wasn't one to show his emotions all the time, needing to keep them inside him because of his job, and with his friends, he would let some of them out, but with Malachi…he bared it all. So many nuances about this man made him love him even more.

Nick pulled back, cupping Malachi's cheeks. "I love you." His voice broke, but it had never sounded more beautiful.

This time, Malachi's eyes filled, but he grinned. "We're such saps."

Nick smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Dropping his head, he brushed his lips across Nick's mouth, letting his eyelids close and the scent and feel of him settled into Malachi's bones. And as the kiss deepened, the taste of him was something he would never forget.

They pulled back a long few minutes later, and Nick skimmed his thumb across Malachi's bruised lips. "Quick question. Why Kai Ruffers?"

Malachi grinned. "Because I wanted to rough them up for being assholes."

"I love you."

Malachi smiled. "I love you."

Exhaling, Nick said, "Let's catch this asshole so we can live in peace and have a party, yeah?"

"Deal."

Malachi made them some more drinks while Nick ran down to Sec HQ for a laptop he could use. While he waited, he checked his emails. He'd been lax in checking them for the past couple of days because of everything that had happened, and the ones that had come before weren't anything to write home about. Nothing had ever jumped out at him as being more than nasty words.

Until now.

Malachi/Kai,

Being two-faced is not a positive personality quirk. You either love the royals or you hate them. Which is it? What would your boss say to finding out that you're messing with his articles by counteracting them under the Kai Ruffers name? That you didn't have the same opinions as Adelaide Thompson?

Would you still have a job to support your family in times of ill health?

And to be in a relationship with the very same bodyguard that protects the royals? Tut, tut, tut, Malachi.

Personally, I don't think you deserve such benefits when you don't believe in what you write. I think I might need to rectify that. Nick looks so delicious through a scope.

Hold on tight, Malachi. Your life is about to become a rollercoaster.

The moment he finished reading, he was up and out of the suite, racing down the corridors towards Sec HQ. Nick had to be okay. He had to be. He was inside Windsor Castle. No one could shoot him there, right?

Pain lanced through Malachi's chest as he pumped his legs and arms faster through the corridor, but as he rounded a corner, he crashed into someone, landing on his ass. He didn't care. He scrambled up.

"Malachi! What's wrong?" a voice shouted, but he didn't have time. The voice didn't belong to Nick, and he needed to find him, needed to make sure he was okay.

He reached Sec HQ and banged on the door with his fist. The door opened a sliver, and he started babbling immediately.

"Where…Nick? He…safe? Where's…Nick?" he panted.

"Woah, calm down, Malachi. He went to fetch a laptop from down the corridor," Felix said, holding Malachi's shoulders.

Malachi pushed away from him, leaving the room again and scanning both ways. He chose the opposite direction from where he had come and shouted for him. "Nick! Where are you?"

"Malachi, tell me what's going on?" Felix said from beside him.

"Email. Threatened Nick. Need to check…"

Nick came out from a doorway, and a sob left Malachi's throat, his knees giving out and slamming him to the floor. He was okay. He was alive. Arms came around him, and he clung to them, soaking in Nick's scent, and his heart calmed. His entire body ached, and his eyes burnt with the continuous tears seeping from them. But Nick was safe.

"Malachi, sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Malachi inhaled, clearing his throat before he looked up. Nick went to move, but Malachi clutched at him.

"Okay, we'll stay here for a minute," Nick soothed. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Malachi nodded. "I was checking my emails while I was waiting for you. You were…" His breath caught.

"Can I see?"

Malachi nodded but couldn't remember where he put his phone. He looked down at himself.

"Here. You dropped it in Sec HQ," Felix said, holding it out.

"Thanks," he murmured. He unlocked it and handed it to Nick before closing his eyes and tightening his hold again. All this up and down emotional shit was getting old. What he wouldn't give for a balanced, easy life from then onwards.

"Fucker. Can you trace this, Felix?" Nick said.

"I can try. Malachi, could I borrow your phone for a moment, please?"

Malachi nodded against Nick's chest, concentrating on his heartbeat, the one thing tethering him to that moment.

"Let's move you somewhere more comfortable than the corridor floor, yeah?" Nick said, and Malachi finally disentangled himself. Nick helped him to stand.

"I swear I'm more stable than this usually," Malachi joked.

Nick held him. "You can be as unstable as you want with me. It won't change my opinion of you."

Malachi scoffed. "Give it time."

They settled into some chairs in Sec HQ, and Malachi rubbed a hand over his face, his entire body feeling far too heavy and achy. A cup of tea was put in his hands, and Nick covered them to stop the trembling as he brought it to his mouth. The heat seeped into him, and he relaxed. Conversations were happening around him, but he couldn't make his ears work enough to dial into them, so he stopped trying, just being content that Nick was beside him, touching him.

"—Tarrant's laptop."

Malachi tuned in at the last minute. "What?"

"It was sent from Tarrant's laptop. The problem is, that laptop was in police hands the last time we checked. Either someone has managed to get their hands on it to send it, or it's someone who knows how to hack networks."

"This guy, or his accomplice, was able to delete that camera footage. Would this be a stretch for something he was capable of?" Brett asked.

Felix was already shaking his head. "If he could do that, he could do this. And that means they could be anywhere. Anyone."

Malachi didn't need to ask what that meant because the silent and stony people around him told him it was bad news. He wasn't a technophobe, but he wasn't brilliant at hacking. He could do minor things—not that he'd tell anyone that—but he had no idea how to pull something like this off. Did he know anyone who could? No one came to mind.

"Let me take you back to the room. We can get some work done while we relax." Nick stood, but Malachi shook his head.

"Can we stay here? I feel better about being around others."

Nick nodded. "Of course. Let me get that laptop—"

"I'll get it," Felix said, disappearing before Malachi could protest Nick leaving him again.

He'd have to thank him for that. Malachi wasn't sure he could stand Nick being out of his sight for a while. They moved from their seats to ones at a table, side by side. Nick sent someone to fetch his laptop from their suite, and Malachi sent him a grateful smile.

When he was finally set up on a laptop, he was feeling mostly back to normal, although he found himself glancing sideways more than once to check Nick was still there. And he was, a crease between his eyebrows as he stared at his screen, his thumb and index finger pulling at his bottom lip. Nick turned his head and shot him a wink, reaching out to put his hand on Malachi's thigh, grounding him further.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"Don't be. I know how it feels to be worried."

"I don't think my heart can take anymore worry," he admitted.

Nick leaned over, sliding his arm around his shoulders. "We can share the worry now. Sharing halves it, remember?"

Malachi rested his head on Nick's shoulder, closing his eyes and letting himself soak it in for a moment. They had work to do, so he didn't linger, but the brief contact was enough to bolster him again.

"Okay, I'm good."

"Let's do this."

He wasn't sure how long they had been working before his eyes started burning, but it was long enough for different guards to be in the room to who they had started with. His research had proved fruitless, and he was pissed.

"Don't worry about it," Nick said. "We've been at this for months and have found nothing that would help us identify them. As we mentioned before, they've been using lackeys to do their dirty work. They don't seem to have got their hands dirty themselves."

"Did we ever figure out who the guy was that asked Tarrant to deliver that message?"

"He sat with a sketch artist and produced something, but we've had no luck in finding them so far. Felix is going to send it to someone he knows who can check all the CCTV cameras with facial recognition, or something like that, anyway. I don't understand it all. But hopefully, that will give us something."

"Fingers crossed." Malachi sighed.

"Right!" Brett called. "Enough for now. Everyone go and eat. I don't want to see your faces for two hours at least, unless you are here for guarding duties. Understood?"

Guards agreed and disappeared quicker than a stink bomb could empty a room. Nick was more reluctant, but after more prodding from Brett—who almost had to ban him from the room for the next two days if he didn't listen—he finally packed up his stuff, threaded his fingers into Malachi's and tugged him from the room.

"I hate not being able to do anything, but we could do with a nap, I think," Malachi said, trying to make Nick feel better.

"I think we can arrange that."

They both decided a quick shower was in order, and then they snuggled, naked, in bed, Nick's fingers tracing patterns across Malachi's back. Silence descended, and Malachi could tell Nick was lost in his thoughts, just like he often was, but he wanted to do something to help distract him. Malachi used his fingertips to draw lines down his chest and stomach towards his ultimate goal.

When he reached the wiry hair surrounding his cock, he slid his fingers through it, like he would've had it been the hair on his head. Nick's cock perked up, brushing against the back of Malachi's hand as it grew. Putting Nick out of his misery, he slid his thumb and index finger around the base, using his other fingers to tease his balls. It wouldn't be enough, he knew it, but he loved the breathy sounds coming from him, the shuddering rise and fall of his chest.

Wrapping his hand completely around his shaft, Malachi stroked to the head, finding plenty of precome to slick his way back down. He started a steady rhythm, twisting around the head on every upward stroke, and Nick's grip tightened on him. Malachi kissed his chest and increased his speed. He lifted his eyes to Nick, the man gasping for air even as he reached for more.

Nick's jaw clamped shut, and Malachi stroked faster. Nick squeezed his eyes closed, clenched his stomach muscles and came, ropes of white fluid streaking his chest. Malachi marvelled at the silent climax, knowing full well he could never do that himself. But if Nick's red face was anything to go by, he shouldn't do it either.

Finally, Nick breathed again, his chest heaving, and he met Malachi's gaze. "I wasn't expecting that, but thank you."

Malachi grinned. "You don't need to thank me for that. I love watching you come." He paused. "One thing, though." Nick frowned and nodded. "Please breathe next time. You were going rather red."

Nick burst out laughing, and Malachi's heart clenched at the joyous sound. Everyone needed to hear that more often, so he made it his job to pull that sound from him as often as possible.

"Okay. I just didn't want to break the quiet cocoon we'd built."

Malachi smiled. "You can always break the silence with sex noises, Nick. Always."

Nick leaned down for a kiss, and within seconds, Malachi was panting in the aftermath of his own release, a quick and dirty orgasm that left him reeling.

"Now let's sleep," Nick said.

"Aren't we going to shower again?"

"Nope," he yawned. "Too tired."

"You'll regret that in a couple of hours."

"Probably." Nick, however, didn't move except to wrap himself around Malachi.

It took very little for him to fall asleep, even with the upset of the day, but it was probably because of the stress he'd been under, and before he slipped into sleep, he made a note to call his mum when he woke. Insomnia? What insomnia? When Nick was around, it seemed he didn't struggle with sleeping.

Two hours later, when Nick's phone alarm woke them, they unstuck themselves from each other and showered, bringing some pleasure to the bathroom as well. Malachi couldn't get enough of him. Once they were dressed and ready to attempt to get back into Sec HQ—if Brett would let them—Malachi stood and stared down at his phone. He hadn't wanted to check his emails, but he was a glutton for punishment.

For the second time that day, he wished he didn't own an email address.

"I have another email." Malachi sucked in a breath, not wanting to share it but knowing he needed to.

"What does it say?" Nick asked, coming to look over his shoulder.

Oh, my bad. Wrong brother.

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