Page 24 of After Felix
I grin at him and mouth the wordwanker,secure in the knowledge that Zeb can’t see me as he shakes his head reprovingly at his boyfriend.
“Did you need me?” Zeb asks.
Patrick sighs. “Mother’s been on the phone.”
“With her knowledge of witchcraft, I’m permanently amazed she can’t just use mind control,” I mutter.
It’s my turn for a reproving glare from Zeb. “Can you two get along, please?” He sighs, pinching his nose.
“We could,” I say sweetly. “But the root of the matter is if weshould.”
Patrick huffs. “I’ve got better things to do today than try to get along with him.”
“What would that be?” I ask sweetly. “Are you getting botox in your saggy scrotum?”
“Okay,” Zeb says quickly as Patrick’s face turns purple. “Let’s go into my office.” The door closes behind them.
My phone rings. “Hello,” I say hurriedly.
“Hey you,” Max says in an affectionate tone. “I’m in Seven Dials. Whereabouts are you?”
“Do you know Neal’s Yard?”
There’s a pause. “I do, actually. I’m standing outside it at the moment. My stepbrother works there.”
“Oh wow, maybe I know him. That would be funny. Where does he work?”
“He owns an employment agency. It’s funny, because he was on about his assistant the other day, and he sounded as sassy as you.”
I shake my head in utter disbelief at the workings of fate. “Max, what employment agency is it?”
“The Evans Agency. It’s in the building with the orange-painted windows, but I haven’t visited him in years. We normally meet at a pub.”
I start to laugh. “Well, why don’t you visit him now, and I’ll wait for you?”
There’s a long pause. “Are you sure?” he says, sounding confused. “What about lunch?”
“Oh, very sure. I’ll wait.”
I ring off, and a few minutes later, I hear the front door open and footsteps coming down the corridor to my office. I can hear Max’s voice on the phone saying, “I was in the area so I thought I’d drop in.You need to be quick though because I’ve got a lunch date and— Felix.”
He stops dead inside the door to my office, still holding his phone to his ear, and I start to laugh. He looks at me sitting behind my desk and gives his head a quick shake, as if to clear it. He ends his call, sliding the phone into his pocket. “You’reZeb’s sassy assistant?”
“At your service.” I sketch a salute. “And you’re his nefarious stepbrother.”
He bites his lip, looking as discomposed as I’ve ever seen him. “That’s me.”
The way he says it is cautious, and my smile dies away. Zeb and Patrick appear before I can question him.
“Max,” Zeb says. “What’s going on?” He looks between the two of us. “Sorry, where are my manners? Have you two met before? This is Felix, my assistant.”
“Oh, we’ve met,” I say demurely. “But mainly in the biblical sense.”
Max’s mouth twists for a second, but an anxious expression wins out over a smile.
Zeb looks back and forth between us and then again. “Oh God,” he says faintly to Max. “You’reFelix’s mystery man.”
I instantly get my own anxious expression, because that was not a happy voice. I’m not happy either, as I remember how many secrets Zeb could spill right now. I’ve been confiding in him for three months. About hisstepbrother.
