A Fluffy Tale 2: Warm & Fuzzy (5 page)

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.”

 “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.”

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.