Page 72 of Trained Royal

Patrick glanced around to locate Kieren and broke away from the group to go to him. “Hey,” he said.

Kieren pulled him down on the chair that had appeared next to him and kissed him softly. “Hi. What’s all this about?”

“We got fed up with being targets.” Patrick shrugged.

Kieren raised his eyebrows but didn’t reply. Instead, he wrapped his arm around Patrick’s shoulders and pressed his lips to his temple. They went through the plans for the event later that day, and what they said seemed to be well thought out. Patrick’s muscles eased for the first time that day, and the stress headache made itself known. He rubbed at his forehead, hoping to dispel the pain, but it didn’t help.

“Are you okay?” Kieren whispered.

“Headache.” Patrick smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

Kieren put his hand in the air, and Brett glanced at him. Kieren tapped a finger twice on his head and put his index finger and thumb to his mouth once. Patrick frowned. What was he doing? Without breaking his conversation, Brett picked up something from his desk and threw it to Kieren, who caught it with nothing more than a small wince. The man grinned and held out a packet of paracetamol.

Patrick blinked and shook his head. “I won’t even ask.”

Kieren chuckled. “We get them a lot with everything we have to go through. Brett got fed up with us complaining, and now he makes sure he has some on hand all the time.”

Patrick took some with the water Kieren provided, and then Kieren threw the packet back to Brett with a whistle. It was amazing to see them working together on a regular day rather than when they were working. It was a similar situation to the barbecue they’d had the previous month.

The door opened, and Andrew entered. “I hear I have an impromptu meeting to attend,” he said with a smile.

Freddie stood. “Thank you, Father. We have something we want to put to everyone.”

Andrew nodded and took the seat Brett provided. “Go ahead.”

By the time Freddie had outlined the basic idea, several of the guards were nodding their heads.

“It needs work. No offence,” Brett said with a wince. “It’s possible to get this working in our favour, though.”

They spent the next three hours going through plans, finding holes in them, and working out contingencies until they had to stop because it was time for Douglas to get ready for his opening ceremony. Patrick’s throat closed at the thought of him being in danger, but he believed in the security team. He just hoped the bad guys weren’t too persistent. The worst thing about it all was that they had no clue how the attack would happen. It could be a shooter, a bomb, poison…anything. And only the people who were necessary for the event were allowed to attend. Andrew had put his foot down about that. As much as he didn’t want any of them in danger, he refused to put more than necessary in the line of fire.

While Douglas and Mav went to get ready, the rest of them went their separate ways. Before Freddie left them, Patrick pulled him aside.

“Don’t be too hard on him, Freddie.”

His cousin sighed. “I feel like he’s done nothing but lied to me for months. How did we get to this?”

“Talk to him. Properly. Sit down, leave your anger and frustration at the door, and talk. Really talk. From my perspective, you have a lot to say to each other. Why not sort it out now rather than letting it linger and fester?”

Freddie chuckled. “When did you get pushy? I thought that was my job.”

Patrick slid his forefinger beneath Freddie’s chin and lifted slightly. “You’re taking a holiday.” He winked.

“Yes, sir,” Freddie said sarcastically.

Patrick sobered. “I’m serious, though. This will only get better if you talk about it. We need everyone at their best if this is going to work.”

Freddie closed his eyes. “I know.”

“Good luck.” He hugged him and strode for Kieren. “Let’s go home.”

“Yes, sir.”

****

Chapter 22

Kieren