When they finally saw the princes to their home, Brett said goodbye to Felix and headed home himself. He hated the place, but he wasn’t there enough to worry about it, and by the time he had grabbed the little amount of shut-eye he ever got at night, he was up and off to work again. Rinse and repeat until the end ofhis life. Which might be sooner than he thought if whoever was trying to hurt them got their way.
The tension between him and Felix had grown drastically, but they hadn’t let it affect their job. That was one thing Brett wouldn’t allow. And as the time came for them to start preparing for Christian and Oscar’s wedding—and by preparing, he didn’t mean what Randall had spent months pouring over; he meant what he and the team had to do—they had barely spoken any words that hadn’t needed to be said.
The run-up to the wedding had purposefully been left fairly clear of events and appointments so the security team had enough time to organise themselves and ensure plans were in place to cover all eventualities that they could think of. They had been through the same processes for every wedding, and the extra precautions needed for the fact that this was anothergaymarriage were annoying. Protestors were inevitable, but Brett wished they weren’t. That argument was for another day, though.
“So, start with what we’ve already agreed as per the previous weddings, and then we can tweak as needed. Everyone know what they’re doing?” Brett asked the team and received nods in return. “Good. I want this sorted by the end of tomorrow so we can adapt the plans if necessary.”
He turned away, and that was their cue to get moving. Chairs scraped, conversations started and laughter echoed, but Brett felt no humour. He hadn’t felt anything close to it since his “chat” with Felix. And he hated it. Well, he hated the silence between them. He wasn’t bothered about not laughing. He hoped Felix would forgive him one day, but he would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to him. And that meant they needed to figure this shit out. And it also meant he needed to have a conversation he never wanted to have.
“Boss?”
Brett briefly closed his eyes and then turned with a raised eyebrow, hoping his expression came across as inquisitive rather than dismissive.
“We’ve received a message,” Felix said. His tone suggested it wasn’t good news.
“What did it say?”
“‘The trap is set. Those in the line of fire will meet their fate.’”
Brett would’ve never thought his body could’ve felt hot and cold at the same time. Cold because the words sent a shiver of foreboding down his spine, and warm because anger curdled in his stomach. He was so sick of this shit being thrown at them. Whatever happened to just plodding along through life with no complications?
That thought almost had him breaking his no-laughter streak. If he hadn’t wanted complications, he shouldn’t have become a bodyguard.
“Let everyone know to be on the lookout. We might not realise it’s a trap before we’re already in it.”
“Shouldn’twebe concerned?”
“Yes. Keep an eye on your surroundings at all times, Felix. Things are amping up again. I just wish they’d get this over and done with, for fuck’s sake.”
Brett slammed the folder down on the desk and sat in the creaky chair with a sigh.
“Stay safe, Brett,” Felix whispered before exiting the room.
Brett stared after him, wishing he could give some sort of comfort, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t give Felix anything.
****
Chapter 5
Felix
To say Felix was disheartened was an understatement. He’d truly believed he was getting somewhere with Brett that night at the club, but it had turned into mush before it had the chance to grow into something awesome. He’d taken a gamble and it hadn’t panned out, and since then, it’d been a sort of stalemate between them. Felix didn’t want to say anything that might crack the fragile truce between them, but he also couldn’t stay quiet forever.
Dominic had done him a favour by helping out with the guarding. Felix had already decided he was going to say something to Brett that night, and he’d asked Dominic to cover for them. And then, when Brett had become entranced by the St Andrew’s Cross scene, he’d thought his chance had come. Brett had been so close to saying yes, he was sure of it. But Felix’s thoughtless words had caused him to retreat, and he couldn’t find it in himself to regret it. Brett was perfect in his eyes, and no one could make him think any differently. Not even the man himself.
Maybe he should enlist the help of Christian and Oscar. Maybeallthe Sutcliffes. Maybe he could ask Andrew to make it a direct order. He scoffed. If only. He just wanted Brett to start thinking of whathewanted and not what was good for everyone else.
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be Brett if he did that.
Felix focused on his job, which was checking that the CCTV cameras were working around St George’s chapel and along the route for the wedding procession. It was only a short distance but plenty of cameras to check and recheck over the next few days. He also had backup cameras upon backup cameras.
It wouldn’t take him that long, but the pain was having to keep checking. There couldn’t be a single area that wasn’t covered by a camera. One thing to be thankful for was that the tunnels were now closed. They didn’t have to worry about surprise visits from that side of things, and if anyone attempted to reopen them, they’d be in for a surprise themselves. No one was taking any chances with that again.
His only solace was his guilty pleasure: watching James Bond films. He hadGoldfingerplaying on the monitor next to him while he sorted the cameras—he was amazing at multitasking. Everyone thought he hated the films, but he enjoyed them. Not that he’d tell anyone that because it was his little secret. He purposefully said he didn’t like them so he could argue with Brett. He’d lost count of the number of arguments they’d had about one film or another, with Felix saying he didn’t see the attraction.
“I thought you didn’t like James Bond?”
Even though he hadn’t heard Brett enter the room, his voice never failed to make him melt.