“But she would never get that through me.”
Felix swallowed. “Unless something turned you into a machine, instead of the human being you are now,” he murmured.
“Like what?”
“Like the death of the people you care about. Dominic. Owen. Nick… me.”
He watched it dawn on Brett how far-spread Venus’s plan might actually be.
“Shit.”
****
Chapter 27
Nick
“Adelaide Thompson has a lot to answer for,” Nick fumed as he paced through his living area. “I can’t believe she can even call her a journalist with the crap she pulls. Who in their right mind doesn’t check and re-check their sources?”
“Nick…”
“I know. I know! But it fucking sucks, okay.” He settled down beside Kai on the sofa. “I hate that Felix was hurt, I hate that he’s dealing with stuff we don’t know about, I hate being powerless to help. It sucks.”
“It does. It really does. But we can fight back with the media as well. Once we have all the information we can, we can tell our side. Show them what is really happening.”
Nick raised his eyebrows. “I’m not sure the king would appreciate that.”
“I can be persuasive.” Kai grinned.
Despite the horrible situation, Nick smiled back. “You can.” He dropped a kiss on his lips. “Maybe we need some sort of party? Maybe a celebration of… Oh! It’s Felix’s birthday next month, isn’t it?” Kai nodded. “I’m going to organise a party for him.”
“Is that wise? Should we not ask him?”
Nick paused for around two seconds before shaking his head. “Better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
“Let me ask Jason what he thinks.” Kai typed on his phone, waited a minute, and then said, “He says go for it, but don’t tell Felix. He says we’ll get on his nerves about it, and he’ll eventually tell us to get Nick to do it. This way, Nick isn’t rushing.” Kai snorted. “Jason is a sneaky bastard.”
“Love that plan. So what are we going to do? Karaoke? Strip club? I would’ve suggested a shooting party before all this happened, so that’s out.”
“How about just all the people who care about him in one place?”
Nick stared at him, smiling. “You are a softie at heart, aren’t you?”
Kai grinned. “When it comes to family, yes.”
By the time their dinner was ready, the party was all planned out and ready to put into action. Nick was good, and with the number of parties he was doing for everyone, he was getting contacts throughout the area. If he did ever want to leave bodyguarding, he would be just as good at event planning. However, he had no plans to do that because he loved what he did and looking after the Sutcliffes was important to him.
“We need to work on how we can swing all this bad media into good stuff once this starts to blow over,” Nick said. “I definitely need your brains for that.”
“Consider it done. I’ll have a plan put together by tomorrow. I’ll call Mav and we’ll get our heads together.”
Nick kissed him. “Thank you.” He scraped his lip with his teeth. “You do realise that I don’t lump you in with the other journalists, don’t you? You’re not horrible.”
Kai chuckled. “Not anymore, anyway.”
Nick smiled. “You’re far too good for me, but I won’t turn you away. If you think I’m worth it, I’m not telling you you’re wrong.”
Kai climbed over onto his lap and framed his face with his hands. “I’m not wrong. And there are plenty of other people who think so, too.”