Chapter 24

Nick

"You have a shift later. Are you okay to do it?" Brett asked. "I can get someone else to cover."

"I'm good. I need to get back to my routine. I don't need to babysit Malachi anymore, surely?"

Brett's mouth twitched. "I thought you liked babysitting Malachi."

Nick scrunched up a piece of paper and threw it at him. "I don't need to. He's mine."

Brett shook his head. "You're all loved up. The lot of you." He returned to the chair behind his desk. "Have you thought of what you're doing for George's birthday? You've only got just over a week."

Nick grinned. "I'm all set. The only thing I need is security, which I'm sure won't be a problem, as you're the man for that."

Brett sighed. "Where is it?"

"Check your emails. I sent a detailed email." He winked.

"I dread to think how detailed."

"Very detailed." He glanced around the room, seeing Felix hunched over his computer. Nick nodded towards him. "Is he okay?"

Brett exhaled and worked his jaw. "He's beating himself up about the piggybacking thing. He's got it in his head that he could've stopped things from happening if he'd found it earlier."

"Well, that's ridiculous. Whoever it is would've found another way of causing chaos."

"We know that, but he's not listening to reason right now."

Nick sighed. "We're all climbing the walls because of this. It's no one's fault." Brett raised an eyebrow, and Nick chuckled. "Fine. It's not my fault, either."

"Glad to hear it. Do you know where you're going with the king today?"

Nick frowned. "It's the military barracks, isn't it?" His eyes widened. "Military."

Brett nodded solemnly. "Keep your eyes open, and stay safe."

"Will do."

He headed for the exit, dropping by the weapons store to make sure he had everything he needed for his shift, and then strode down the corridor to the king's office. Grinning when he saw Dominic sitting outside, he threw his hands wide.

"What did you do?"

Dominic sighed. "He's mad because I accidentally threw away the meal he made for us."

Nick frowned. "How can you accidentally throw away a meal?"

"It was in a tub in the fridge, but it didn't have a date on it or anything. When I opened it, it looked green! I thought it had gone off. So I threw it out." He winced. "Apparently, it was supposed to be that colour."

Nick rolled his lips, containing his laughter, but only just. "Okay. Understandable mistake."

"Yes! Exactly. Maybe you can tell him that so I can come back in? He won't even get me coffee."

At that, Nick did laugh. "Oh, you poor baby. I'll save you."

He patted Dominic's shoulder and headed inside to Randall's office. He nodded at Emmy, who sat outside the king's office door. Randall lifted his gaze to him, his frown lifting into a smile when he saw him. He rounded the desk and hugged him. "Hey, Nick. How are you doing? How's Malachi? How's Rye?"

"We're all doing okay. I'm going to see Rye this afternoon after my shift."

"Well, send him our love, okay? We'll get everyone together once he's on the mend."

"He'll like that." Nick thumbed over his shoulder. "He in the doghouse?"

Randall's mouth twisted. "I spent ages on that meal." He sighed. "But I did forget to label it. I suppose I should forgive him, but he should've asked."

Nick nodded. "He should've and you should've, but it's just food. Maybe you can make him make it next time. Or even better, make him make it for everyone."

Randall brightened. "That's an idea."

He quietly said sorry to Dominic, but he wasn't concerned about them. "I'm going to grab him a coffee."

Randall waved him away. "I'll do it. You get on with what you're doing."

"I'll swap with him and send him in then."

"I'll bring you a drink, too."

"You're an angel."

"I thought I heard you," the king said, exiting his office. He hugged Nick, catching him off guard. "Thank you for the painting. It's perfect."

Nick's cheeks heated, but inside he was ecstatic that he hadn't made a mistake. "I'm glad. I wasn't sure if it was too much."

"Not even a little." Andrew smiled and headed back to his office, brushing against his cheek.

"Good job," Randall said, and Nick refocused on him and Dominic's problem.

Whenever Dominic was on shift, he would sit outside Andrew's door so he could spend time with Randall, and anyone else would sit outside in the corridor. No one minded, for the most part. It was only when they were in need of social interaction that it was a struggle, but they knew to speak up at those points, and Dominic never minded swapping.

He exited the office again and clapped Dominic on the back. "You better get in there. He's making you coffee."

Dominic's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

Nick nodded and grinned. "Go on. Just remember me in your will."

Dominic hugged him and then entered the office to Nick's laughter. He settled into the comfortable chair they'd added to the corridor. It couldn't be too comfortable because it would be too easy to fall asleep, but it was enough to stop them having numb asses at the end of it. Unlike the king's office chairs. He was truly grateful to not need to use those.

"Here you go." Dominic handed him his coffee.

"Thanks."

Then he was left to his own devices. Emmy said goodbye as she left, but the corridor was quiet. Maybe he needed to request that music could be played. Instead, he focused on his phone, checking his emails and catching up with anything he needed to before taking the tablet Emmy had given him and completing the reports he'd been neglecting. Sitting there was relaxing compared to what he had been through recently, and he took several long minutes to let everything flow through his head and just breathe.

They would find out who it was. They always did. But sometimes it took time. And it didn't always feel like that time was on their side.

Dominic stuck his head out of the door. "He's almost ready."

Nick nodded and downed his coffee, handing the empty cup to him. "Okay. Ready when you are."

"Colt and Viola should be on their way."

"We're just having the four of us?"

Dominic nodded, though his expression was grim. "Landon and Emmy are off shift. I wish he'd increase us to eight again because then we could have five or six at a time, but he still refuses."

Nick could understand it, but it would make their lives easier if there were more eyes on him when he visited places. "We'll be fine. We need to keep our eyes open, though."

"Why?"

"We're visiting a military base."

"They wouldn't dare try anything there, would they?"

Nick shrugged. "They're not getting desperate, but who knows? They can easily take us by surprise for any reason."

"I sometimes hate this job." Dominic grimaced. "No, that's not true. I love this job. I just hate the people who hate us."

"I agree with that."

Dominic disappeared again, and Nick readied himself for their visit. He had no idea if the asshole was going to try anything, especially after the most recent shooting, but he wasn't going to take that to heart. He'd assume something was going to happen until it didn't.

He adjusted his earpiece, and when Colt and Viola arrived, he let Dominic know, and the king exited. He greeted them all, and then they all headed for the car. Though how Andrew could face getting into a car after what happened to the late queen, he didn't know—car bombs were no joke. If something like that happened to him, he doubted he would even be able to look at one, let alone sit in one.

As he sat in the front of the car ferrying the king, his mind wandered, thinking over everything that had been happening. For some reason, pieces of the jigsaw began clicking into a different pattern. Why was everyone around him being targeted and not him? With Dominic, he'd been shot. With Owen, he'd been shot and blown up. With him, everything was focused on Malachi, Malachi's family and Nick's family. Nothing remotely focused on him directly. Why? Why was that time different? What had changed the pattern?

It was a question he couldn't figure out the answer to, so he pushed it aside to think about later. He couldn't be distracted when he was working. As they pulled up to the military base, a shiver went down his spine. He doubted they would be unlucky enough to visit the very base of the person doing this, but knowing Nick's luck… Regardless, the person or people were probably out of the military already.

Someone came out from a building and strode in their direction, so Nick climbed out to greet them. When they came closer, Nick had to stop his jaw from dropping.

"Good morning. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Venus Cage. It's nice to have you here."

Nick licked his lips, wanting to ask the obvious question, but he didn't. Instead, he took her hand and smiled. "Thank you for having us."

While she had been greeting him, Dominic had climbed out of the car with the king not far behind.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cage, it's nice to see you again. Brett sends his regards."

She chuckled. "I doubt that, but thank you for your optimism." She waved her hand towards the building. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way," Andrew said.

They fell into their usual formation while Andrew and Brett's sister—whom Nick still couldn't believe he hadn't known about—spoke about the topics they wanted to cover during the visit. Nick tuned out but kept his eyes on their surroundings. Being within an army base was both the safest and most dangerous place. The safest because they had more weapons than they could ever need to protect the king should someone attempt to attack, but the most dangerous because they had more weapons than anywhere else in the country. If someone decided to take them out, they would have an almost unlimited supply. But hopefully, if that did happen, there would be enough allies to help them.

Several people waited for them inside, and Andrew was introduced to them. Nick checked them out, looking at their body language, facial expressions, word choices and other ticks to see if they were a threat. No one seemed to be—or they could be good at hiding. He glanced at Dominic, who caught his gaze and shook his head minutely; he couldn't see any threats, either. It relaxed him a bit, but not enough to drop his guard completely.

"Shall we move on?" the Lieutenant Colonel said. There was no denying that she was his sister; they looked like twins. Why had Brett never mentioned her? Was there bad blood between them?

They went down a narrow corridor, barely two people side by side, and entered a much larger room filled with people and equipment, all talking amongst themselves or into microphones.

"This is our base of communications. It should have eight people working at all times on a shift rota, but due to lower numbers of sign-ups, we struggle to man all stations on all shifts. Obviously, we do our best, but with illnesses, holidays, etc, we don't always make it. It's not impossible to make it work with six, but any lower and we'd struggle."

"What do you need help with?" Andrew asked.

"Getting people in. We have a variety of specialisms, but even then, people just don't want what they believe the military is." She chuckled. "Lots of people shouting and giving orders are what they think, but we're so much more."

They continued the conversation, throwing out ideas about how they could make it appear to be a good career path, but Nick wasn't convinced. He never had been, which was why he went into protection instead of the Army.

The visit continued, and they got a tour of the "nice" part of the base, stopping and watching the exercise session where they had to crawl under nets and climb huge wooden structures. It was more work than Nick ever wanted to do, but he couldn't argue with the need. He exercised enough to keep his job and energy levels, but if he didn't have to, he wouldn't.

"Maybe we should have a competition one day," Andrew remarked. "My protection detail against your soldiers."

Venus chuckled. "One day maybe. When things have settled down for you. Is there anywhere else you'd like to view?" She led them towards where the car waited, almost as if she wanted them gone. He could understand why. Having a royal on the base made them a target, and if something happened while they were there, it would cause chaos.

"I think I've seen plenty. You're doing a wonderful job, Venus. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to show us around."

"You're always welcome, Your Majesty."

Nick glanced at her, her tone seeming different, but she had an open and smiling expression. She shook hands with the king, and as he entered the car, she met Nick's gaze.

"Thank you for protecting him. He needs the best, and I'm told you're it." She paused. "Your team, I mean."

"We do our best, which is all anyone could hope for," Nick replied.

He didn't quite understand the undercurrent of the conversation, but he smiled and nodded her way before climbing into the car. She watched them leave, standing almost to attention the entire time. What had happened between her and Brett? Were they estranged? If so, why? He doubted he would get any information from Brett, but he wished he could offer some sort of support to him. Brett wouldn't take it. He'd brush it off.

After they got back to Windsor and the king settled back into his office, Nick went through the details of Prince George's birthday party with Randall. The king's personal assistant was a little overwhelmed with the ideas he kept throwing at him, but he rallied. By the end, Nick would even say he seemed giddy at the prospect.

"I love the idea, and I know George will, but will everyone else?" Randall asked.

"It doesn't matter about everyone else. It's George's birthday, so it should be all about him and what he likes. He'll love it."

Randall nodded. "He truly will."

Nick gave a thumbs up just as the door opened and Landon came in to relieve him of his duty. "On that note, I'm going home."

"You might want to nip to your suite first. I put some boxes in there that are for you."

"Thanks! See you later!"

"Not if I see you first," Landon remarked.

Nick chuckled and strode down the corridor. Despite he and Malachi having not been in there since that morning, he swore he could still smell their joint scents in the air when he entered. It probably wasn't true, but he liked the idea of it. The boxes were hard to miss. They must be the supplies he'd ordered for the party, so he picked them up, balancing the three on top of each other, and headed for the door.

But he paused when he saw a piece of paper on the coffee table. He put the boxes on the sofa and picked it up.

I can't do this anymore, Nick. What I want from you isn't something I can have, so I need to stop this before I hurt you more. We're from different worlds. Why I ever thought we could fit was beyond me. I was deluding myself. But now you're free to love who you want. I wish you all the best.

Malachi

Nick read the words again, and then one more time before he flew out of the room to Sec HQ.

"Where's Kai?"

"I haven't seen him. Why?" Felix asked.

"Can we locate him?"

"Again, why?"

"He left me a Dear John note."

Felix's face crumpled. "God, I'm sorry, man."

Nick grinned. "I'm not. It wasn't him. Find Kai. Make sure he's okay, and then we can look at this and figure shit out." He waved the note. "Because whoever wrote this thinks I haven't read every word Kai has ever written. They finally made a big fucking mistake."

And they were going to use it to find the fucker.

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