Chapter 4
Henry
Early spring in D.C. meant cherry blossoms and crowds. I loved the foliage—who wouldn’t—but the tourists with their awe-struck faces and bored children in tow made me late for lunch with my cousin Victoria.
“Henry, stop scowling at the tourists.” Victoria kissed my cheek when we met. “Some of them save all year to come here. Don’t ruin it for them.”
I wasn’t scowling at them. Okay, maybe a little for making me late, but they weren’t the problem.
“I can’t figure out Uncle Uriel. He moves out of his mansion, goes to ground, is using a new name, has a new look, barely has any contact with his brothers or the other leaders of our race, we have no clue how to find him and yet, he’s been pulling all the strings with Nick for years.
Including, making sure he didn’t date anyone it seems. What’s he up to? ”
“No one knows for sure, but it’s clearly connected to Ariel’s death.”
That made no sense. Our fathers and Uncle Raphael didn’t kill Ariel. “You’d think if he cared enough to let your dad know about Nick, he’d do more than lurk in the shadows.”
“Trust me, I agree. And since it’s my job to find him while you make lovey-dovey eyes at Nick, I’m way saltier about his actions than you.”
I scowled and a little kid clutched his mother’s arm tight. The woman turned around, but I avoided her glare. “Bite me.”
“You’re doing it again.”
The fact I snapped at her proved she was right. “Then how about you cut the snarky comments about Nick?”
“Why? Was it someone else who has a date with him tomorrow?”
Why did everyone think it was a date? “It’s not like that.”
“Oh? You weren’t the one who told Trevor on pain of death to refuse to join you two?”
I’d have to talk to Trevor about keeping his opinions to himself. “It’s totally not how you’re making it out. I need a chance to talk to Nick alone. Trevor hovered like a mother hen who smelled a fox.”
“He’s been protecting Nick for six years. They’re tight like brothers. Brothers who like each other, unlike you and your siblings.”
She was one to talk. Her sister and brothers all but hated her because she was the heir and not them. “This has nothing to do with them.”
“Not judging you, just commenting.” There was a hint of bitter in her voice. “Neither of us know what it’s like to be close to our siblings. That’s why we have each other. And Wallace.”
I loved Vicky like a sister, but cousin Wallace? Maybe more than my siblings, but not by much. “Anyway, it’s not a date.”
“Sure it’s not.” She patted my arm and gave me a fake smile.
I sucked in a breath to control my irritation. “It’s not.”
“And yet you’re taking a two hour drive each way to see a tiny little town that isn’t all that exciting.”
My assignment was to protect him. To do that, I needed to be around him and not make it seem forced. “I needed a natural sounding way to be around him. I used his interest in the car to suggest we take a short road trip.”
“Right. This has nothing to do with you wanting to ride him.”
Maybe Grant had been right about my man-whore reputation.
“Don’t be crude. I’m not trying to sleep with him.
I asked him before we said ten words to each other.
We’re just going for a drive, poke around old town Frederick, maybe have dinner, and come home so he can have brunch with his friend Alex on Sunday.
Which by the way, how come there’s almost nothing in Nick’s file about him? ”
“There’s not much to tell.” She shrugged.
“He’s a retired pharmaceutical executive who has been friends with Nick’s grandparents for thirty years.
He’s been a mentor to Nick since he moved to D.C.
Alex gave Nick the security deposit for the apartment and took him clothes shopping before he started work.
They have brunch every third Sunday. Our operatives shadowed them the last time they met, and it’s just as it seems. Why the interest? ”
Her question seemed odd. Nick was close to this guy and we knew almost nothing about him. “Are we sure there’s nothing more?”
“Jealous much?”
I frowned, but not for the reason she’d believe. Every aspect of Nick’s life was monitored, yet no one dug further into this ‘mentor.’ “Whatever. The guy’s, what? Seventy-five?”
“Seventy-one. Clearly Nick likes older men. And since you’re more than a hundred and fifty years older than Nick, it should give you hope.”
Why did I think it was a good idea to tell her my plans? “You’re enjoying this aren’t you? I’m just doing what Uncle Michael asked me to do.”
Who was I trying to convince? Nick was much more interesting than I’d expected. But I’d offered to take him to Frederick before we spent the night talking. I barely avoided a kid running from his parents. Grabbing the change in my pocket, I let the coins slide around my fingers out of habit.
Victoria grabbed my arm tight. “Don’t you dare.”
Not that I would have, but I put the coins away. “Reflex action.”
Slowly she released her grip. “Good. Anyway, you realize you’re playing with fire, right?”
Of course I did, but only if I had more on my mind. “You’re making this out to be more than it is.”
Her expression softened and she slipped her hand between my arm and my body.
“Listen, Henry. I really love you like the brother you are to me. I also know you. You don’t do anything halfway.
As someone who really, truly loves you, don’t drink from this well.
It won’t end well when you tell him the truth about him and you.
He’ll feel betrayed and you’ll get hurt. ”
I’d told myself the same thing a hundred times since I’d left their apartment. “Seriously, we’re just going for a drive.”
“Stop kidding yourself. I can already see you like him.” She put a finger on my lips. “I get it. He’s not what you expected. He wasn’t anything like I expected either. He has this innocent, boyish charm. He’s funny, smart, sweet and not a pretender.”
Vicky nailed how Nick wasn’t what I thought he’d be like. “I expected a weak kid who needed protection, but he’s not. He’s got grit and a backbone.”
“Fending for yourself will do that to a person.”
I shook my head. How could Nick’s parents be the one in a bazillion humans to produce the only angel ever born to human parents. An archangel no less. “Yeah, he told me about his parents and brother.”
“If it wouldn’t put too much attention on Nick, Trevor would have killed them years ago”
The more I learned about Grant, the more I liked him. Although, I suspected he would never like me. “The file says he and Nick never dated, but Grant acts like they’re married.”
“Trevor wasn’t totally thrilled when his grandfather forced him to enroll in college again to babysit Nick.
But they’ve become very close. Trevor is fiercely protective of Nick.
He’s probably worried about you dating and your relationship going balls up when he learns the truth.
Things you should also be concerned about. ”
Nick was going to be mad at a lot of people. “Grant ought to worry about how Nick is going to react when he learns his best friend is almost forty, and an angel. He’s lied to Nick for years now.”
“Believe me, he is.” We stopped on the corner for a red light. “But he can disappear if he has to. You can’t. Nick’s the fourth heir. You need to work together.”
Again, not something I didn’t think about already. “I’m aware of it. And in the interest of honesty, you’re right. Nick pushes many of my buttons.”
We had reached the restaurant and I held the door for her. I held up two fingers when we reached the host stand. “Two please.”
Victoria clutched my arm. “Some place romantic if possible.”
“I’ll see what I can do, young lady.” The older man smiled politely at us.
I hated when she wanted to play couple in public as cover. “Stop it. Even if I wasn’t gay, it’s gross.”
Refusing to let go, Vicky giggled. “You used to be more fun.”
Tugging my arm free, I side eyed her. “I’m still fun. That’s just weird.”
“A little privacy would be nice, don’t you think, sweetie?” Her half sneer, and almost angry ‘sweetie’ made me laugh.
I had the same thought, but would’ve slipped the man a fifty for an out of the way place. Vicky’s way kept President Grant in my pocket. “I concede the point.”
“Cute and smart. Nick’s a lucky guy.”
Vicky’s teasing usually didn’t irk me, but after telling her not to go there, her joke fell flat. Or maybe, I was overly sensitive because as much as I denied it, I’d thought about our trip as a date more than a few times.
We kept up the ruse while the host walked us to an out of the way table. I held the chair for my “sweetie” and took the opposite one. A waitress quickly appeared, took our drink order and disappeared.
Once we were alone, I asked the question picking at me ever since Michael gave me this assignment. “Are we absolutely sure he doesn’t have angel blood? Like a very specific angel’s blood, who died giving birth to a stillborn male child the same day Nick was born.”
Vicky nodded. “Believe me, Dad was so convinced Nick was Ariel’s child, he had Raphael do the comparison himself.”
Which didn’t prove everything. “I knew that, but how sure is everyone the blood tested was Nick’s?”
“Positive. Nick donated at his company’s blood drive. Raphael was there and watched the angel take the sample and followed it until he took possession. Those humans are his parents.”
Which was impossible. Angels weren’t mutated humans. We were from another world on the other side of the galaxy. “How?”
Vicky exhaled and paused while our drinks arrived.
“Can you give us a few more minutes to look at the menu?” Vicky asked, making a show of picking up hers from the table. When the waitress left, we made our choices and set them down. “My theory is our race has mingled with humans enough that our DNA was embedded in the humans.”
I’d heard that explanation before, but it didn’t hold water. “In the centuries we’ve lived on earth, there has never been an angel born to a couple who weren’t both one hundred percent angel.”
“What if there are only a few bits of our DNA that make us an angel? And what if the right bits were within these two humans. Raphael has speculated it’s possible that could be the reason.”
If Raphael thought it possible, it might have legs, but I was still skeptical.
“I get it’s statistically possible given there are billions of strands of DNA in our make-up and getting the right few could be one in ten billion births, but the odds of the first time it happens, the child is an archangel? I’m not buying it”
The waitress returned and Vicky rolled her eyes when I ordered a hamburger. Sorry, not sorry. Nothing else appealed to me on their pretentious menu.
“You’re so getting onions on your burger.” Vicky’s eyes lost their focus and she stared at the waitress’s back. A second later she blinked. “There, she took them off. Next time order something a bit more upscale when I take you to a classy place.”
Since she’d been nice I didn’t remind her I’d eaten at hundreds of five-star restaurants. I also didn’t bother telling her I could easily have picked them off. “Thanks. No one would kiss me if I had onion breath.”
“Yeah, no one named Nicholas Fenton.” Vicky fluttered her eyelids like a caricature from a teen romance.
I didn’t mind some ribbing, but the way she went on, I sounded unfit for the job. “If you’re so concerned about me dating Nick, have your dad remove me.”
“Who else is there? Wallace?”
Because we were close, I didn’t take it how it sounded. That didn’t mean I couldn’t be obnoxious about her response. “Wow. Thanks for the strong vote of confidence.”
“Sorry, but you know I didn’t mean to insult you.”
I did but I wasn’t letting her off that easily. “Being better than Wallace isn’t a reason to pick me. He’s so straight, and dense, he’d offend Nick too many times to be useful.”
“True. He can be an arrogant jerk. There are times I’ve wanted to singe his chest hairs through his shirt.”
I’d contemplated doing much worse to our eldest cousin in the past, but we were veering off the topic. “I get why your dad didn’t pick him, but why did you let him send me?”
“There isn’t anyone else. Apart from wanting to avoid speaking to Wallace and listen to his plans to be a ‘force to reckon with’ when our generation takes over – again - you’re a good person.
Just like your dad. Everyone likes you. And I trust you.
I know you understand things. That and I didn’t expect you’d be this attracted to him. ”
I should’ve denied my interest again, but she wouldn’t buy it.
“Forget he’s cute, because that alone wouldn’t matter, it’s his whole person.
He’s smart, funny in a dry way, humble, but still confident.
Sure, he’s gun shy about dating, but who wouldn’t with Uncle Uriel imposing a no boyfriends rule. ”
“When you get a chance, talk to Trevor about the guilt he feels being Uriel’s enforcer. Nick confides in him and Trevor uses it to push the guys away.”
The next time I talked to Grant, I’d be sure to acknowledge his efforts. Not that I approved of Uriel’s orders. “That’s such bullshit.”
“Agreed, but if we’re being honest, it would be bad if Nick got attached to a human.”
This wouldn’t be an issue if Nick knew he was an angel. “Why didn’t Uriel tell Nick the truth?”
“One of the many questions I plan to ask when I find him.” Vicky unrolled her napkin and placed it on her lap. “Now tell me what you have planned for tomorrow’s date.”