Page 57 of Protecting his Secrets

He grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses and poured some into each before handing them to Nick and Malachi.

“Let’s toast to—”

“How about giving me a heart attack?” Nick joked, though he was touched they were trying to help. It had been nothing but issue after issue since Malachi had stayed with them. Poor guy might need a breather.

“That’s Malachi’s job, not ours,” Owen quipped, earning a blush from Malachi.

Nick chuckled and wrapped his arm around him. “Let’s toast to…us. We’re damn good at our jobs, and we’re damn good people.”

“Cheers to that.”

They clinked glasses between them and drank, and then Dominic put some music on. “No work talk tonight,” he said. “Talk about anything other than that.”

Nick grinned and wandered over to Randall. “Hey, Randall. What’s Dominic sound like when he—”

Dominic grabbed him in a chokehold, and if it hadn’t been for Randall being quick off the mark, Nick’s drink would’ve ended up on the floor. Dominic took him down, keeping a hold on him, and Nick couldn’t do much about it, laughing as he was.

“All right! All right! I give in!” Nick shouted, and Dominic let go. Nick slumped on the floor beside him and glanced over, breathing heavily. After a beat, he said, “Thank you.”

Dominic gave a small smile and a nod. “I know what it’s like. The worry. The need to figure it out. The panic when you can’t. We’ll get the son of a bitch. Eventually, we’ll get him, and he won’t know what hit him.”

Nick breathed through his nose, trying to withhold his emotions. When he could, he grinned. “Where’s the karaoke?”

“Not a chance in hell,” Dominic said, climbing to his feet and reaching a hand down to drag Nick up, too.

“I’m sure your neighbours would love it.It’s Raining Men, Hallelujah!” Nick sang, his voice cracking as he knew it would.

Dominic ignored him and turned the volume up. Giving him the middle finger, Nick smiled and headed back to Malachi, who was deep in discussion with Felix. They’d become two peas in a pod since they’d started researching together.

“I hope this isn’t shop talk,” he said.

“I’m just explaining to Malachi how to kill a man with a fork,” Felix deadpanned.

Nick raised his eyebrows. “I would’ve thought that was fairly self-explanatory, but okay.” He grinned.

Felix narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have a leg to stand on, my friend. You weren’t exactly sleeping the other night when the boss told you to relax, were you?” He tutted towards Malachi. “It’s a good job you’ve already broken him in.” He winked.

Nick scraped his teeth across his bottom lip, having no clue what he was on about, and focused on Malachi. “Are you having fun?”

“Jesus, Nick. You’ve been here fifteen minutes,” Felix said. “Give the man a break.” He walked off, shaking his head.

Nick watched him go, a little surprised at the outburst. Felix wasn’t usually one for snapping at people—except for bad guys—so his slight show of temper was out of character. The man grabbed a bottle of beer and rested his hip against the counter, staring out of the back window and into the darkened garden.

“Hmm.”

“I think he’s stressed,” Malachi said. “He was practically tearing his hair out as we worked earlier. Every avenue we tried was a dead end.”

Nick sighed and slid his arm around him again, pressing his lips to his temple. “I know it’s hard, but we’ll figure it out. I knowwe will. Felix is the best of the best. He just doesn’t believe in his own abilities some days.”

Brett stopped beside Felix, muttering something he couldn’t hear over the music, but he saw how Felix leaned towards him, and when Brett cupped his nape, Felix’s eyes closed.

“Huh.”

“Leave it alone, Nick,” Malachi said. “That one is not for you to meddle in.”

Nick gaped at him. “How dare you! I’ll have you know I have an excellent track record of predicting and helping people to get together.”

“Maybe so, but that one needs to be left to work alone.”

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