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Daniel pulled out his phone, toggled it on, and handed it to Con. “Here. Pick anybody.”
Con’s brow furrowed as he frowned at Daniel, accepting the cell phone. His eyes widened, and he glanced at Daniel before pressing the call button. “Hey, it’s Con. Yeah, he’s here. You wanna— Okay, that’s fine. See you soon.”
“He’s on his way,” Con said, giving Daniel his phone. “One word of advice… Don’t break his heart.”
Daniel scoffed. “Sounds more like a threat.” He propped his elbow on the bar and his head on a fist. “You’re awfully protective of Theo. Why is that? It’s not like he needs your protection?”
“Theo’s a good man. I know this. You’d know this, too, especially if you spent any time with him.”
“Yeah…” Daniel drawled and moistened his lips. “We spent time together.”
“TMI.” Con rolled his eyes.
“Maybe. It was good, but probably only a one-time thing. He’ll be heading home soon.”
Con braced his arms on the bar top, a tiny smile twitching the corner of his mouth. “Really? That’s not what he told me.”
Daniel sat upright. He stared at Con. “What?”
“He asked me the other day about hiring him on a more permanent basis.”
“He did?” Daniel didn’t want to hope, but fuck, that would change everything. He slugged back the rest of the water and held the glass out for a refill. He had a new zillion questions for the angel, and he wanted to be sober when he asked them. Why the Hell had he drunk so much? Damn it. Finding the closest AA meeting was the first thing he promised himself he’d do once the angels dealt with Troy.
In the meantime, maybe he could get Con to make him some coffee.
Thelial
When Theo’s phone showed Daniel was calling, his heart cha-thunked. Hearing someone else’s voice on the other end however… Heavens, fear for his mate had nearly driven him to his knees.
When Daniel hadn’t returned to the apartment, Theo had texted everyone. Leo, Ari, and Jay reported his unusual arrival at Tribunal Academy, and that he seemed fine when he left. Daniel had said he’d see them all later; he hadn’t mentioned that anything was wrong other than his worry about the next match.
The winter sun had set hours ago by the time Con’s call came in. He hadn’t even waited to hear why, just said he’d be right there and hung up, then hustled into his coat, hat, and gloves and jogged the entire way from Daniel’s apartment to the casino. Why had Daniel gone there? Had he been drinking? Was that why Con had called? Was Daniel so drunk that he needed someone to come get him?
As he strode from the exterior door toward Haven, Theo’s anger grew. He had been looking forward to attending temple tonight with his brothers-in-arms. He would have enjoyed seeing Malachi leading the service. Listening to Ari chant the Torah would have made up for some of the pain he’d suffered since he’d agreed to fight for Troy.
Had there been another way? Looking back, he wasn’t sure. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but maybe he could have just hired on with Troy as a bodyguard or something.
Zoe waited for him by the employee entrance and quickly gave him the low-down. Not that it was much. Daniel had been a pleasant enough, though morose, customer until business picked up and some holiday revelers had jostled him when placing their orders.
“Thanks, Zoe,” Theo said when she had finished. “I’ll get him out of your hair. Does he owe anything on his tab?”
“It’s all good.” She waved off his offer of more cash. “He gave me enough for the drinks and a tip. He wouldn’t have gotten any more anyway with what he gave me.”
“Good. Thank you, again. I’ll see you around?” Theo threw over his shoulder, one hand on the swinging door into the bar.
“I’ll be here.”
Theo pushed through into the bar and stopped, looking around for his mate. Spying Con’s back in the same corner of the bar where he remembered Daniel had sat before, he approached at an angle.There he is.Daniel sat in the same chair as he had the first night they had “officially” met. His mate’s frown, however, had Theo slowing, trying to hear what they spoke about over the loud, pounding techno beat the DJ laid down.
“I don’t see how he could have asked that. He’ll be leaving. They all do. They all leave me in the end. Nobody loves me enough to stay.”
What? Oh no. How had he missed that? His poor, sweet mate… Needing to hold Daniel, Theo didn’t wait another moment. He tapped Con. “I got this. Thank you.”
Con stepped back, allowing Theo to take his place, but Theo kept moving, lifting the segmented bar top and coming around to Daniel’s side. He turned his mate, bracketing him in between his arms.
“My beloved, how could you think no one loves you? Your sister does; your niece does. Your parents did. The One Above does,” —Theo cupped Daniel’s cheek— “and most importantly, I do.”
Daniel shook his head, but not hard enough to dislodge Theo’s hand. “Don’t all of you love unconditionally? How am I any more special than anyone else?”
