Shatter (Unbreakable Bonds Series Book 2)

by Jocelynn Drake

  “That’s right,” Snow said. His eyebrows snapped together as Ian’s comment jogged a thought loose that had been snagged at the back of his mind. Something that felt wrong. “Jude told me you two were in one. Why?”

  Ian closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his shaking growing worse. “Her car was in the shop. She borrowed Rowe’s so we could go shopping.” He paled. “Melissa…she was getting Rowe another puppy. We were supposed to go look at a litter after shopping.” His voice broke. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this is real.”

  Snow looked around the empty graveyard. “Where is Melissa’s family? And Gidget? So many people would want to be here.” There was also Gretchen—Melissa’s pregnant sister. He rubbed his stomach as acid churned. A strong, cold wind swept through, freezing the corners of his eyes. He hadn’t realized they were even wet.

  “I called Gidget and had her start the calls.” Andrei’s hands tightened on the wheelchair’s handles. “I expect people will start showing up soon.”

  “Rowe isn’t thinking straight.” Ian shuddered and wiped his face. “Not that I blame him.” He slumped in the chair, exhaustion painted on his features in bruises and healing cuts.

  “You need to go. Get warm.” Snow squeezed Ian’s shoulder again.

  Andrei pushed the chair back to the van. The male nurse jumped down and came around to help get Ian situated. Lucas still stood by the vehicles, tall and dark with his hair and coat blowing in the wind. When the van pulled out, he turned and grabbed Andrei. They held each other tight. Snow watched Andrei pull back and frame Lucas’s face with his hands. Lucas raised his own and pressed Andrei closer, then placed his forehead against Andrei’s.

  The moment between his best friend and his lover was so incredibly tender and intimate, Snow felt something move in his chest. Something he couldn’t interpret so he turned away and stared down at the grave. The faux grass covering the ground underneath looked stark against the dead ground and patches of trampled snow. The flowers made a nicer contrast, their color vibrant and happy—like Melissa.

  “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there, Melissa,” he whispered, his voice breaking.

  ###

  Rowe wasn’t home. Snow bit back a curse and gripped his steering wheel, staring at the dark two-story house. He’d lingered at Spring Grove in the bitter cold for another hour, standing in silent vigil as Melissa’s family appeared at the gravesite to mourn. But he should have left, followed directly after Rowe. He needed to see him, needed to peer into his eyes and see if any of the happy friend remained. He wanted to ask about the SUV because it was driving him nuts. Gratton showing up, chasing Snow down, and then the accident all so close together.

  He’d go talk to Lucas after he left here, tell him what he thought might be happening. His damn brain was clogged with too much Rowe, too much Melissa. He knew he wasn’t thinking clearly. Lucas would be able to make sense of it, settle his fears.

  Familiar darkness swelled inside him. He wanted…something. He wished he knew what. He’d tried the hook-up apps and after one too many assholes, decided those didn’t work for him. Scenes didn’t appeal to him and he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask Lucas for help again. He had a few months back—demanded his friend’s help to find someone who liked things rough—and he was still ashamed about bringing his friends into the fucked up space that was his mind sometimes. He’d spent the last few years keeping that side of himself wrapped tight. Ever since Lucas had egged him into losing his temper on him. Fiery regret still ached like fourth degree burns on his heart over that experience.

  But last night, he’d caved. Tried that stupid app one more time. He’d been looking for a certain twisted answer and he’d found it. Funny how sometimes it was the biggest guys who liked being pushed around. This one had put up a fight for show, but ended up giving Snow a couple of bruises that pissed him off because he had to come up with some bullshit explanation for them at work. And now, for Lucas. What was worse, Snow got nothing from the encounter other than an orgasm and the rusty taste of shame that still lingered twenty-four hours later. He didn’t know what the hell he needed these days because he wasn’t finding it in the things that used to take him out of his own polluted brain space.

  That kiss with Jude came to mind and he shoved it aside fast. That man unnerved him in a way he didn’t like.

  He turned a full circle, taking in the other two-story houses with their lit windows, and established maples, oaks and evergreens. A few cars lined the narrow street and dogs barked from yards and houses. No dog sounds came from Rowe’s. His pack never failed to drown out all other dogs. He used his key to open the house and typed in the security code on the panel by the door.

  The air was cooler than it should have been, as if Rowe had lowered the heat so that it only kept the pipes from freezing. Snow walked into the kitchen, stopping at the sound of crunching glass under his shoe. He flipped on the light and his own heart took another beating. Mel’s wall of coffee mugs had been smashed to pieces. She’d been collecting them for years. Big mugs with funny sayings. Rowe had designed a wall in the kitchen with rows of iron mug hooks. They had ranged from silly to outright disgusting and she’d loved them all.

  A golf club lay on the floor amongst the shattered remnants of Mel’s sense of humor.

  Snow rubbed the back of his neck and closed his eyes. Felt like someone was reaching into his chest to squeeze his lungs because getting air inside wasn’t happening.

  His stomach cramped and a prickling wave of grief hit him mid-center and spread fast. He walked to the sectional and sank down, resting his head in his hands. Damn. Blindly staring at the coffee table before him cluttered with well-worn magazines and entertainment center remotes, Snow’s mind unexpectedly drifted to memories of his father when his mother was dying and they were too poor and too damn religious to get her the help she needed. The man had always been a heavy drinker, but that summer, he’d basically crawled inside a bottle and never came back out.

  As far as Snow knew, he was still there in that tiny, dark house in Collinsville, Oklahoma—though that would be a miracle. Still alive after the way he lived on nothing but hot dogs, cheap whiskey and bible verses. To this day, Snow couldn’t stand the smell of frying hot dogs and he hadn’t eaten one since he’d left his home state.

  Cursing himself and life in general, he shoved to his feet and hurried to the door. He had to get out of there. Find Rowe. Stepping outside, his foot hit something hard and he stumbled. Light from inside streamed onto the porch, falling onto the large rock right in the middle of his path.

  A rock that hadn’t been there when he’d walked inside.

  Snow quickly looked around the front yard, watching for any signs of movement. Nothing else seemed out of place, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. The fine hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. Something dark curled painfully in his belly. The light reflected off something partially under the rock. He bent and snatched up the photograph.

  His stomach dropped to his feet.

  It was a picture of Ian asleep in the hospital.

  There was only one person who would be gruesome enough to take this picture and taunt him with it. And they’d hardly left Ian alone, so Gratton would have had to have been watching closely to catch Ian like that. Asleep. Completely. Fucking. Helpless.

  Sick fury slammed into him so hard, he couldn’t breathe. He ran to the edge of the yard and frantically looked both ways down the street. A small blue sedan trundled slowly by, the driver watching Snow as she passed. She pulled into a driveway three houses down. Dogs barked from different yards but none seemed more agitated than the others. Something rustled to his left and he swung around to catch heavy clumps of snow falling from a high branches.

  Snow pulled out his phone and called Lucas. He cursed when he didn’t answer and shoved the phone back into his pocket. Gratton was too smart to let on to his location if he was still there and Snow was too easy a target standing out in the yard
. Heart in his throat, he backed into the house and locked the door. He knew where Rowe kept his gun cabinet and he knew the combination. He helped himself, his hands shaking with fury the entire time because he was now sure that Dwight Gratton was responsible for the accident.

  ###

  It was seven o’clock when Snow let himself into Lucas’s penthouse and he frowned into the darkened living room. They must have gone to Ian’s tonight instead of tomorrow. Before he could turn to leave, movement on the balcony caught his attention. Through the wall of glass, he saw Andrei turning to lean back against half-wall. Lucas, stretched out on a lounge chair, held up a corner of the heavy blanket he was bundled under and beckoned him over. Snow stepped into the shadows and watched as the Romanian smiled and walked over to slide under the cover. He propped his head on his hand. Lucas raised his hand to stroke Andrei’s jaw before pulling him down. They started kissing. The snow had stopped falling and moonlight bathed the open areas of the balcony. Their cozy corner was free of snow but probably still pretty damn cold. Snow couldn’t think of a reason for them to be outside.

  But then his friend was in love and people in love did strange things.

  Lucas may not be saying it, but Snow knew Lucas better than anyone else. Andrei moved his body on top of Lucas’s under the covers and for the first time all day, Snow smiled. He thought about standing here to watch and see how far they took things out there, but then he thought of the picture and all his amusement fled. He stalked to the window and knocked, then turned his back on them and walked to the liquor cabinet. Moments later, the door opened behind him, sending in a rush of cold air. Lights flickered on.

  “The Snow I know would have let us get much farther before alerting us to his presence,” Lucas said from behind him. “But after today, I get it.”

  “It’s a bit cold to be fucking outside, isn’t it?” Snow asked as he opened the cabinet.

  “Andrei is really warm inside.”

  “Lucas!” Choked laughter came from the Romanian. “Fucking hell!”

  That surprised a snort out of Snow. Shaking his head, he hit the expensive bourbon, pouring three glasses without asking. He turned to find both men standing by the couch where Lucas had tossed the blanket. Both sported red cheeks from the cold and poor Andrei an obvious erection tenting his gray sweats. He crossed his muscled arms, not bothering to try and hide it. His hair was a mess of loose black curls all around his face, his lips swollen from kisses. Hell, Snow could happily sit and stare at the man, but when he looked back at Lucas, he had to swallow another snort. Lucas stared at Andrei like he planned to toss him over his shoulder and carry him up the stairs.

  Snow felt bad for interrupting them, but what he had to share was just too big to sit on any longer. He cleared his throat, made Lucas’s a double instead, then held out the glass. He was going to need it. Lucas looked his way, merely raising a questioning eyebrow as he took the drink and got a good look at Snow’s face. Andrei sobered up fast as well, nodding his thanks and walking around to settle on the couch with his bourbon. Lucas followed, curling one leg beneath him on the cushion.

  The liquor burned Snow’s throat and he closed his eyes a moment. Laying this on them after putting their friend in the ground felt like the worst possible thing he could do. Until he thought about the threat. Dwight Gratton was a madman. Snow might have been the one to beat him nearly to death, but his expression when he’d been standing over Ian in that motel room had burned a permanent place in his memories. Madness was too tame a word for the layers of hell that lived in that man.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo. “Tonight I went to Rowe’s house and when I came back outside, that picture was under a rock on the porch.” He walked to the couch and handed it to Lucas.

  His friend stared at the image. “I don’t understand.”

  “I haven’t had a chance to tell you this but that night we were in Covington and I left early? I saw Dwight Gratton in that bar.” He nodded at Lucas’s hand. “I’m pretty sure he left that for me to find tonight.”

  All the color bled from Lucas’s face and he looked down at the picture again. “Oh no. Oh fuck no!”

  Andrei straightened, alarm and confusion widening his eyes and twisting his lips.

  Snow sat in the chair across the coffee table. “He’s back.”

  “And he was in the hospital,” Lucas said, voice starting barely above a whisper before it gathered in strength as anger bled red back into his cheeks. “He was there sometime when we weren’t. You saw him in Covington? That’s why you acted—why you ran out like that.” He shook his head. “I thought you were reacting to what happened with me and Andrei.”

  Snow’s brows snapped together. “Why would I do that?”

  Lucas merely lifted an eyebrow before glancing down at the picture. “This is bad. You should have said something. That was a week ago! Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I planned to. I chased him that night, went back to look for him and that’s the night Ian and Melissa were hit. Since then…everything has just been screwed up. I simply forgot about him. After seeing that picture tonight, I think…no, I know that he was behind the accident. Only, I don’t think he was after Ian and Melissa.”

  Lucas held up the picture. “Oh, he’s definitely after Ian.”

  “What I mean is they weren’t supposed to be in that car. In Rowe’s SUV.”

  Dropping the picture, Lucas grabbed his glass and drained it. He shoved to his feet and walked to the bar for another drink. “We’ve got to get ahold of Rowe. We need to alert the nurse I hired that he and Ian need to be under lockdown. The nurse is big, so he can probably watch over Ian somewhat, but we need to get a bodyguard on him and on you.” He turned back to point directly at Snow.

  “I’m not worried about me. Do you know where Rowe is?”

  He shook his head before he grabbed the bottle of bourbon and walked back over to the sofa. “No, but he did text to say he took the dogs and got out of town. That he needed time.”

  Snow didn’t blame him. He’d be the same way. “He’ll probably be safe then because we know Gratton is here. That picture wasn’t on the porch when I walked inside Rowe’s house tonight.”

  “Which means he was there when you were.” Lucas slammed the bottle down on the table and turned to look at Andrei. “Dwight Gratton is someone from our past who isn’t supposed to be in town. He’s dangerous. He used to work for Boris Jagger—was his right hand man, in fact. An enforcer who didn’t mind getting his hands bloody.”

  Andrei’s dark eyebrows rose but he didn’t say anything. Every local knew who Boris Jagger was.

  “We need to talk to Jagger,” Lucas said.

  Snow shook his head. “No way. He reneged on our deal and we need to know why, not run in blind on this. Not with him. We cut ties after learning what we did about him and his people. Hell, it was all we could do to keep Rowe from moving all of us with Ian to the West Coast.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I was thinking maybe we could get Gidget on this.”

  “Good idea.” Lucas looked down at the picture again. He pushed his glass away without pouring himself another drink. “Andrei and I will go to Ian’s tonight. Drink too much,” he said with air quotes. “And end up crashing in his guest room.”

  Snow stood up and grabbed his coat. “You’re not going to tell him about Gratton, are you?”

  “Not yet. He’s stuck in that damn cast. I don’t want him to panic, but he’s going to know something’s up when we give him a bodyguard. I’ll tell him then.” Lucas frowned at him.

  “Should we call the cops?” Andrei asked, drawing open-mouth stares from both Lucas and Snow.

  “No.”

  Snow waited for Lucas to continue beyond that harsh, one-word bark, but he didn’t continue. He just glared at Andrei, his expression cold and distant, like a wall had gone up between Lucas’s lover and his past.

  “We don’t have any proof and it will raise a lot of uncomforta
ble questions,” Snow explained.

  Andrei smirked, easing some of the tension that had thickened in the air. “I get it, but at least one of us had to suggest it.”

  “Where are you going?” Lucas demanded, nodding to the coat Snow clutched in both fists.

  “Home. Don’t worry, I’m armed and Rowe set up a monster security system in my place so I’ll be fine.”

  Lucas narrowed his eyes, looking like he wanted to argue, but thankfully he didn’t. Snow expected he’d find someone on his tail later.

  Andrei stood and walked to Lucas. “We’re a bit short-handed with Rowe gone and me running things at the office, but Sven, the new guy I just hired, is coming off a job soon,” Andrei said. “I’ll stick close to Ian until I can get Sven in place. I sparred with him. He’s good.”

  Lucas crumbled the picture in his fist. “Snow, I don’t like the idea of you going home alone. Or anywhere else that will put more of those bruises on your body.” His worried glare burned a hole through Snow. “Stay here or better yet, go with us to Ian’s. We should all be together tonight anyway.”

  Snow shook his head. “I promised to cover for someone and have an early shift. I’m going home.” He didn’t leave room for argument in his tone and he didn’t care that Lucas’s mouth twisted in anger. He also hoped Lucas couldn’t tell that he was lying. Snow had an idea.

  Gratton liked them young and Snow had been out of the game too long to know where the current hotspot for jailbait was—not that he ever had because he’d never been into young men. But he knew a place where he could find out. There was always someone at the most popular gay bar in town who had their fingers on the pulse of the underground.

  Chapter 7

  “You know, I didn’t think this night could get any more fun.” Rebecca grinned, took a sip of her wine, and leaned back in her chair with a huge sigh Jude could see more than hear. Loud music pumped through the air and lights flashed over her features. The Dock was packed tonight—not that he’d ever seen it any other way. Though this was only the third time he’d come here.