Page 74 of A Simple Mistake
But Gareth, of course, was made of tease and evil.
“I didn’t forget it was your birthday,” he rumbled, his breath hot on Jack’s ear until he couldn’t suppress a shiver.
“No?Then do something about it.You have,” he squinted at the bedside clock.“Exactly eight minutes.”
Gareth chuckled.“Nice try, but… not a chance, brat.Not.A.Chance.”
Now That We’re Standing
Aidan’skitchenwasn’taslarge as the one in their house, but since he’d been the only one awake Daniel had had plenty of space to turn sausage, peppers, cheese, and eggs into a tasty breakfast casserole.He started a batch of pancakes when Nico came down and found all their favourite toppings in Aidan’s fridge and cupboards.And he had just dropped the final pancake onto the stack and was poking around for something else to cook when Alex arrived with a bag of pastries and fresh strawberries.
“Do these fit whatever you’re planning for breakfast?”she asked, inspecting the dishes lining the counter.
“Absolutely.”Daniel set the packets on the table and reached for the flour.“You like scones, right?Let me just…”
“Daniel.”She held out a hand to stop him.“You don’t have to make anything else.Between your casserole, the pancakes, and the pastries, there’s plenty here for all of us.”
Daniel sagged a little.“I know,” he admitted, “but cooking makes me invisible.”
“Don’t you mean invincible?”Aidan asked from the doorway.
“No.I meant invisible.”When he was afraid or anxious, he hid.In his head, in the kitchen, in their turret—it was the same thing, really.“Nobody notices the cook.”
“In your house, I doubt that.”Aidan poured himself a cup of tea, nodding approval when Daniel set out another teapot and the canister of green tea for Alex.“You don’t go unnoticed here, either.Tell me what’s in this.”He pointed at the casserole.
“Onions, peppers, sausages, eggs, and cheese.You soften the veg, fry the sausage, then add the eggs and cheese and bake it.”
“It’s takeaway food,” Nico said, setting the table.“We take squares to school for lunch.And Daniel adds whatever we have in the kitchen.Bacon, and potatoes, and even fried bread.”
“I might have seen a sweet version of that,” Alex mused.“French toast, apples, and cinnamon?”
“Jack would like that one.Not sure he’d want it for breakfast, though.”Daniel portioned up the casserole, knife rattling against the edge of the baking tin.He glared at his hand, willing the trembling to stop.At least he was no longer flinching at every noise the way he’d done while cooking with Gareth the day before.It had made him feel so stupid.“I have a recipe for one that’s like a giant Yorkshire pudding with fruit in the middle,” he said to distract himself.“It always struck me more as dessert.”
They settled around the table.Daniel toyed with a cup of tea and ignored the pancakes in front of him.He felt everyone’s eyes on him, but all he saw was Gareth’s unhappy expression.“Can we go home later?”he asked.
“Sure.And this is delicious.”Aidan helped himself to another square of breakfast casserole.“I assume you had enough time to work out why you wanted to stay with me.It had nothing to do with feeling safe, did it?”
Daniel slumped in his seat.“No.It was because of Gareth.”
“Gareth?”
“Yeah, he looked so… gutted.He couldn’t pick Jack up from the airport.He couldn’t even talk to Jack when he came home because the house was full of police.And then he stayed up all night watching over everyone.”
“You were trying to give him space?Him and Jack?”
Alex had the most soothing voice.Daniel could listen to her all day long, even when she saw through his excuses.Or asked questions he didn’t want to answer.He turned his teacup around and around on the table, part of him wishing Nico would jump in and answer for him.Only a small part, though.And Nico could tell.
“I wanted to tell him it was all my fault, but I didn’t know how.”He rushed through his explanation, the words spilling out so fast he expected Alex or Aidan to ask him to repeat himself.
“That allwhatwas your fault?”Aidan queried instead.
“The attack.”Daniel raised his gaze to meet Nico’s.They’d disagreed about this, but in the end, Nico had let him run away—and had come with him.“I didn’t tell Gareth that Pavel had found me, so he didn’t know to expect an attack.”
“We didn’t know it was Pavel,” Nico threw in.“We didn’t know it was anyone, really.It could have been nothing.”
“You’re not making sense.Start from the beginning.”
Daniel took a breath.“While I was working at Rachel’s, I felt as if someone was watching me.I didn’t see anyone I recognised and nobody followed me, so I only told Nico.”
