“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 nexttwo daysif 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 todo 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.