A Fluffy Tale 2: Warm & Fuzzy Page 4

  Daniel set the tea down on front of Julian on Tony’s desk and was about to leave when Tony broke off. “Ah, Daniel, would you stay please? I’d like you to liaise with Julian over Mr Underwood’s participation.”

  “Possible participation,” Julian said. “Leo’s very keen to invest in young people and start-up business, but he hasn’t made a decision. We’re looking into several options.”

  “Yes, of course. Forgive the presumption. Sit down, Daniel, please.”

  Daniel obeyed, and immediately found himself with a lapful of kems. He gave them both scritches between the ears and Pyon trilled in delight. “He likes that, keep it up,” Julian stage-whispered. Daniel grinned and did so.

  Tony cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Julian, if Mr Underwood chose to work with our company, he would have the assurance of an organisation established over twenty years ago, with a national presence and a glowing international reputation. I personally bring ten years of investment experience, and I’ve won a number of awards for my achievements.” He swept his hand towards the wall where his certificates and trophies were displayed. Daniel knew them all by heart as he had to dust them every week. “Some of our so-called competitors haven’t been in business for more than three years.”

  “No, but I find it a bit strange that a company that specialises in startups would be so rude about other startups.” Julian smiled as he said it, but Tony’s expression grew even more strained. “Don’t worry. I’ll present all you’ve said to Leo and your proposal will receive fair consideration. If Leo wasn’t interested, I wouldn’t be here today.”

  Daniel almost sighed in relief. Losing Leo Underwood’s investment would be a slap in the face for Tony, as he’d been boasting about hooking “the big one” ever since Julian had arranged the appointment.

  “I appreciate that. If there’s any more information you need, or assistance, I or Daniel will be happy to provide it, any time at all. Daniel.”

  Daniel jerked up, wondering why Tony had said his name in that way, then realised Kani and Pyon had jumped up on Tony’s desk. Julian hadn’t made a move to stop his kem, so Daniel didn’t know what he should do. “Kani,” he said quietly. “Come down.”

  His kem ignored him. Pyon batted at Tony’s kinetic sculpture, making the balls swing back and forth. Kani sniffed at them, and then wandered off, apparently uninterested in them.

  “Daniel,” Tony said tightly. “Would you mind?”

  “Kani, please?” He reached out for his kem, but Kani dodged his hand, scampering across the desk—and straight for the teacup. Before Julian could save it or Daniel catch his errant kem, Kani hit the cup, sending it flying across the desk.

  Tony lifted his laptop out of the way of the slowly spreading tea. “Daniel!” His face was bright red with anger.

  Daniel made a grab for Kani and finally caught him. “Gosh, I’m sorry, let me—”

  “Look, I think I should go. Pyon,” Julian said, calmly picking up his kem. “I’ll show myself out.”

  “No, no. Daniel, please show Julian out while I’ll clean this up.” Tony picked up a bundle of papers and shook them. Fortunately the cup was nearly empty but it was still a mess.

  Daniel made a run for it before Tony changed his mind. Julian appeared utterly unconcerned as Daniel joined him in the corridor. “I’m so sorry,” Daniel said. “Kani—”

  Julian smiled and shook his head. “It’s okay, honestly. You wouldn’t know it to look at him now, but Pyon could be a right little terror when he wanted to be. Still can, can’t you,” he added, nuzzling his kem’s head.

  “But Kani’s usually so well-behaved. It’s the first time he’s ever done something like this.”

  Julian frowned. “Really?”

  “I swear. He’s usually so quiet and good.” Kani squeaked, and despite the flipflops Daniel’s stomach was doing over what Tony would say when he came back, he petted his kem reassuringly. After all, he’d only been playing.

  “Huh.” Julian grew rather thoughtful. Daniel didn’t know how to take this.

  They rode down the elevator in silence, but when they arrived at the ground floor Daniel felt he had to try and put this right. “Look, Julian...you won’t let this influence your decision over investing, will you?”

  “Don’t be silly. Anyway, it’s not my decision. Leo doesn’t let mischievous kems decide how he spends his money.” Julian reached out and petted Kani. “He’s lovely. Don’t fret. I’m more worried about you and your boss.”

  Daniel tried to smile, but he couldn’t make it genuine. “I guess he’ll be cranky. He’s...um...not a big fan of kems.”

  “Really? What a stupid man.” Daniel gulped. “Look, don’t worry, okay? Now, before you go, I have a favour to ask. Can you take me to Spencer Reardon’s office? He’s expecting me.”

  Daniel’s anxiety express derailed. “You know Spen?”

  “Oh yeah. We go way back. I can ask someone else if—”

  “No, no, it’s fine. It’s in the basement. This way.”

  Chapter 5

  “Hey, Beanie.”

  Spen looked up and grinned at Julian, with Daniel hovering behind him. “Come in here, you ratbag. Where the hell have you been? That husband of yours keeping you locked in a cupboard?”

  Daniel’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the mention of a husband, but Julian’s smile only broadened. “Not the cupboard, Beanpole. Anyway, what’s wrong with you? Did your phone break at the wedding or something?”

  Spen held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, point taken. You’re looking fantastic. Nice suit.” Pyon had draped himself over Julian’s right shoulder like a scarf. The little guy looked as sleek and happy as Spen had ever seen him.

  “Birthday present from Leo. Er...sorry, Daniel. Don’t mean to hold you up.”

  “That’s okay,” Daniel said, misery clear in his voice. What had happened, Spen wondered. “You’re close friends?”

  “Since Uni,” Spen confirmed. “Haven’t seen him since he got married to Mr Gorgeous, though.”

  “That’s Mr Sexy and Gorgeous, thank you,” Julian purred. Spen couldn’t get over how much Julian had changed since university, or the luck of him hooking a fantastically good-looking, rich guy who adored Julian as much as Julian adored him. “You’ve got Rob, so you can’t talk.”

  “Er, no. Not any more. Not since not long after I saw you last, actually. That’s why I wasn’t in touch.”

  Jyoti was the only other person in the section just then, and though she already knew about Spen’s break up with his boyfriend, she still winced in sympathy. Daniel’s eyes went wide. Had he not realised Spen was gay? Did he have a problem with that? Spen guessed he’d find out soon enough.

  “Oh man, I’m sorry. I had no idea.” Julian’s brown eyes were full of sympathy. “I’d have called....”

  “Don’t stress, Jules. It wasn’t horrific. We just decided we wanted different things from life. Are you ready for lunch? You’re a little earlier than I was expecting.”

  Julian grimaced and behind him, Daniel made a face. “Uh, yeah. Pyon incited Daniel’s kem to riot and there was a small accident with a teacup and Tony’s desk. Time for me to run away. Maybe we should hide Daniel down here until his boss calms down.”

  “No, no...I should get back actually. Don’t want to make it worse. It was nice to meet you, Julian.”

  “You’d be welcome—” Spen started to say, but Daniel shook his head.

  “No, you two need time to catch up. Thank you, though. Uh...bye.”

  Daniel left before Spen could think up an argument why he should stay. He shrugged. “Oh well. Come on, Jules. Jyoti?”

  “Got the conn, cap’n.”

  “Good woman.”

  ~~~~~~~~

  Daniel was practically puking with stress by the time he knocked on Tony’s office door. “Come in,” Tony said.

  “Uh, Tony, look, I’m really so sorry about—”

  “Just have a seat, Daniel. Close the door.”

&
nbsp; Oh god, this was serious. He was about to be sacked, he knew it. “Can I just—”

  “No, hold on. I understand the...situation...with your kem wasn’t your fault. You’re not in trouble, so please relax.” Tony smiled, and Daniel’s stomach unclenched a little in relief. “However, as you notice, I don’t allow my kem to come out at work because there’s always the risk of such situations. It’s not the first time one of them has caused unwelcome disruption.”

  “Kani’s normally so good.”

  “I’m sure. But from now on, I want you to keep him out of sight while at work.”

  Kani squeaked in alarm, and Daniel patted his tail. “Shhh, it’s okay. Go inside, Kani.”

  With a miserable chirp, Kani obeyed. Daniel already felt colder. “Thank you,” Tony said. “You’re doing very well. If you continue to impress, there won’t be any problem about your passing your probation.”

  “Thanks. I want to do well.”

  “I’m sure. Your willingness to learn and try is an asset. So let’s not talk about this again. Oh, the quarterly figures from Head Office will be in after five, so I’ll need that presentation done tonight for the meeting Thursday.”

  “Tonight?” It was Alex’s birthday. Daniel had promised faithfully to be home on time, and he’d thought he was safe. The figures weren’t supposed to be coming in until tomorrow. “Um, it’s just....”

  Tony looked at him over his reading glasses. “You do realise this is a critical meeting, Daniel. I really don’t want you to let me down.”

  Daniel nodded, heart sinking. “I won’t. I just need to call home.”

  Tony shuffled some papers on his desk, his mind clearly on the next task. “Whatever you need. Could you find the Warbell file and bring it in?”

  Daniel got up to fetch it from his desk. Alex would never forgive him. Daniel would never forgive himself. But he didn’t dare risk making Tony angry over this, and especially not when he’d overlooked what was probably a sacking offence. Alex would understand...eventually.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Julian swallowed the chip he’d been eating. “So, tell me about the cute redhead who lights up like a Christmas tree when I say your name.”

  “He does not. That’s Daniel, our enigma. Genius level IQ, a year short of getting his bachelor’s degree, then his parents were killed in an accident.”

  “God, really? The poor kid.”

  Spen remembered then that Julian’s husband, Zachary, had also been orphaned. “Yeah. Left looking after two younger siblings, I think. I’m not exactly sure what his home situation is. Kid doesn’t talk about it.”

  “Whatever it is, he’s miserable. And I don’t like his boss.”

  “I don’t like his boss either, but he’s supposed to be good at massaging clients. Didn’t work on you? Maybe because you’re not the real money man?”

  “Oh, he did his best, but he’s patronising, and he doesn’t like kems. Zachary would write him off for that alone.”

  “It’s not a good sign, no.” Spen patted Myko, curled up asleep in his lap, his tail coiled around Pyon’s foot, as Julian’s kem lay on the seat between the two humans. “Daniel’s great at the job, but the job’s bad for him. I don’t know what to do.”

  Julian grinned as he picked up a bit of lettuce. “You’re already making him a rescue project. I recognise the symptoms.”

  “Hah, you’ve known him all of an hour and you’re taking an interest too. He just has that effect on people. Actually, Julian...there’s something else I want your advice on. About Noble and his past PAs....”

  ~~~~~~~~

  Spen returned from lunch with Julian considerably more sombre and thoughtful than when he’d left. Julian understood his concern, and certainly didn’t think he was overreacting. He was adamant that he wanted to help—Daniel’s situation and his husband’s being so similar, he felt instinctively protective, he said—so Spen had told him what he knew. Julian said he would check some things out, and ask Zachary’s advice, as well as that of his boss, Leo Underwood. Spen thought well of both men, and thought it couldn’t hurt.

  But now he wished he hadn’t deterred Luke from sniffing around, because while Spen was friendly with a lot of the staff, he had never encouraged gossip or participated in it. Unfortunately, without actual facts or access to private HR files, gossip was all he had to go on.

  Well, almost all. Security logs showed that Daniel was still working overtime at least three nights a week. Spen decided that he could do something about that at least. He called his mum and told her he’d probably be late home, then settled down to work on some non-urgent reports that he’d been avoiding. He’d set up an alarm to let him know if Daniel left the building. Five o’clock passed. Six o’clock passed, and the alarm didn’t trigger. At seven, Spen checked the logs, then stood. Daniel still hadn’t left. Time to carry out a little intervention, but first, he had to check there was any need for it.

  He strolled up to the security desk on the ground floor. “Hey, Bob, how’s it going?”

  Bob grinned, and ran his hand over his short grey curls. “Slow, man, slow. You’re here late. Someone blow up their computer again?”

  “Not tonight. At least, not that I know of.” Spen crossed his fingers exaggeratedly, and Bob laughed. “Can you do me a favour? I’ve got a report for Tony Noble, and I think he’s still in his office. Do you know if he is?”

  Bob was used to Spen occasionally asking him to find someone in the building—someone he was chasing to talk to, or a team member, so he showed no surprise at this request. He fiddled with the controls at his console, then leaned back. “Yeah, he’s in. That kid of his is there too. The ginger ninja.”

  Spen smiled at the description, but what he saw as he casually glanced at the monitor Bob indicated, was anything but amusing. Noble and Daniel were at Daniel’s desk. Daniel was seated, Noble leaning over Daniel in a way that would have got Spen slapped if he did it to a female employee—or even a male one. That was too damn close, and no way was it normal for an office interaction. Myko made a worried little noise when he saw Daniel. Spen kept a gentle hand on him to make sure he didn’t jump down for a closer look.

  “Thanks, Bob. I’ll just pop up and drop these off.” He waved the folder of reports he’d brought up as cover. “Do you keep those recordings? I can’t remember what they said when they installed them.”

  “Yeah. Have to, in case we have to call the police in. Didn’t used to, but now it’s all on some hard disk somewhere. I think they copy it off and store it. Don’t know the details. That’s your area, not mine.”

  “Only when they break, man. So don’t go breaking it. Catch you around.”

  Bob waved him off in a friendly fashion, hopefully unaware of Spen’s real purpose. He’d already picked up the newspaper he’d been reading when Spen interrupted, so Spen hoped he wouldn’t pay any attention to the monitors unless an alarm went off. Spen had no intention of doing anything to warrant an alarm, but the more discreetly this was handled, the better it would be for all concerned.

  There was no one about on the fifth floor that he could see, and all was quiet. The door to Daniel’s office was shut, but Spen didn’t knock. After all, he wasn’t supposed to know Daniel was there. He threw the door open, making the two men at the desk straighten up in shock. The reactions were tellingly different. Daniel was simply surprised, but Noble was angry too...and a little afraid?

  Spen played it casual. “Oh, hi, Daniel. Wasn’t expecting you to be here. Just had some reports for Tony, and thought I’d drop them off before I went home.”

  Noble snatched the folder from him. “Couldn’t this have waited, Spencer? Why on earth would you think I was around at this time of night?” He backed further away from Daniel, and Spen didn’t think he imagined the relaxation in Daniel’s features as he did so. Relaxation—and relief too.

  “Oh, I checked at Security.” Spen pointed casually up at the corner of the office’s ceiling. “The new system. The in-office cameras. Don’t yo
u remember? Head Office authorised them after we had those laptop thefts.”

  “Ah, yes, of course.” Noble straightened up and cleared his throat. “Right. Fine. Thank you. Daniel, I think we’re finished here. You should get on home.”

  “Thanks, Tony. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Spen had never seen anyone logoff that fast before, and Daniel had picked up his coat and shot out of the office before Spen had a chance to offer to walk him out.

  Noble made a show of collecting papers from the desk, ignoring his departing PA and Spen. His lips thinned as he looked up and realised Spen was still there. “Anything else, Spencer?”

  Spen pretended he couldn’t hear the chill in Noble’s tone. “No. I should get home too. Don’t believe in overtime as a rule. Leads to burnout.”

  “Good night then. Don’t let me hold you up.”

  Spen grinned to himself as he made his way to the elevator, while Myko trilled in approval. Message delivered and point made, he hoped.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Relieved beyond words at his unexpected early escape—and thanking Spen for prompting it, though it had been a rather odd thing to do—Daniel sprang for a taxi in the hope of getting back home even faster. Kani, allowed out once more, perched on his lap and gave constant squeaks of frustration as the taxi encountered red lights or slow drivers. Finally, they were at the house. Daniel ran up the path and flung the door open, startling his brother and sister in the living room. He immediately realised that however quickly he’d managed to return, it wasn’t fast enough. Alex gave him a cold stare before running out of the room, while Dee stood with her arms folded, her expression as sullen and angry as Daniel had ever seen it.

  “You promised.”

  “I know. I let you know, and I tried to—”

  “Doesn’t matter. You promised. You said things would get better when you got this job, but it’s only got worse. We hardly see you in the evenings, and you’re so tired the rest of the time. It’s not worth it, Daniel.” She bit her lip, clearly fighting back tears, but when Daniel went to put his arm around her, she pulled back. “No. Go to Alex.”