Shatter (Unbreakable Bonds Series Book 2)

by Jocelynn Drake

  Still, walking away had been surprisingly hard. “You have to try understanding his mood. Someone was killed in his home and everyone here outside of his team is acting like he did it. Not to mention he just buried a close friend.” And he was trying to take down a psychotic thug determined to make his mark in a criminal underground world that made Jude sick.

  She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “That’s because his alibi hasn’t come forward.” She air-quoted the word alibi.

  “His alibi most certainly did come forward.”

  “But not here. Nobody here has heard the truth.” She stopped talking as a group of nurses passed them, then continued, lowering her voice. “Look, I know you said you didn’t think he needed more gossip, but maybe you should say something.”

  Whispers of Snow’s name came from three different conversations around them. Jude shut his eyes briefly before pinning his gaze on his friend. “Not without talking to him first. He has enough to deal with.”

  “You’re telling me.” She paused, set down her fork, and the way her lips thinned warned him he wasn’t going to like what she was about to say. “I do think I know where he is. There’s a rumor the chief called him into his office.” She paused. “And that the hospital is putting him on leave until all this passes.”

  Despite his indecision over what he wanted to happen with the man, worry tightened his gut. “I’m going to find him. I’ll meet you outside when our shift starts.”

  She nodded and picked up her fork.

  It took ten precious minutes to find out what had happened. The hospital had definitely put Snow on administrative leave until his personal situation calmed down. Calmed down. As if finding someone murdered inside your home was something that would just blow over. Jude was fuming when he shoved open the door to Snow’s office to find him slumped on the edge of his desk, cradling his hand. Dismay shot through him when he saw the blood dripping onto the floor. Blue eyes lifted to his, flared with surprise, and Jude wanted to kick himself. Yes, he’d seen things he wished like hell he hadn’t and yes, a lot of bad things had happened since he’d hooked up with this man, but the way he was looking at him…it broke his heart. And he knew he wasn’t ready to give up on whatever this was between them. Not yet. Possibly not ever.

  “Why are you even here?” Snow asked, voice low and gritty like he’d ripped up his throat yelling. “My life is a fucking mess and I’ve done nothing but put you in danger.”

  “Yeah, well, I think you need me. And I sure as hell am beginning to think I need you, too. So let me see.” He walked to him and lifted his hand, taking in the ragged cut across his palm. “What did you do? And what did I say before about your million-dollar hands?”

  Snow smiled but there was so much self-depreciation in it, it came off as a grimace. “I knew I was good, but—”

  “Shut up,” Jude muttered. “Yeah, yeah, you’re good with your hands and in a couple of minutes, I’ll show you I am too. Gonna clean this up first.”

  “In a couple of minutes?” Snow’s eyebrow went up and some of that lost, broken look disappeared from his expression.

  Jude’s heart warmed. “Yeah, you need a distraction. Bad. But first, what did you do?”

  “Broke a glass.” He nodded toward the corner of the room where glass shards littered the floor. There was a dent in the drywall about Snow’s height. “Don’t worry. It’s not deep.”

  “I can see that.” Jude walked him over to the corner sink and washed his own hands first. “I heard about what happened. This is going to be resolved so don’t worry.”

  “I’m not worried. I’m pissed.” He held up his hand. Blood dripped down his wrist.

  Their gazes locked, like they had the night before, and Jude swallowed the lump forming in his throat as need filled him. He shook his head then reached for Snow’s hand. He held it under the cool water, gently turning it, letting the water wash the blood away. “I don’t think you need stitches,” he murmured, running his finger up the inside of Snow’s wrist, loving the way his pulse picked up.

  “Really, doctor?” Snow leaned in close, his warm breath brushing over Jude’s skin as he nuzzled Jude’s neck. “Are you sure?”

  Jude growled, turned his head and pressed his lips to Snow’s. He sucked Snow’s bottom lip into his mouth and held onto it as heat speared into his groin. Before he could take the kiss deeper, Snow pulled back and one look at his blown pupils had Jude ready to ravage the man. He spotted a tub of first aid supplies on top of the filing cabinet and pulled Snow that direction. As he covered the wounds and bandaged them, Snow stared at him. Every time Jude glanced up, it was to see a mix of lust and confusion. And as he watched, the confusion seemed to take over the desire and morph into anger again. He didn’t want Snow thinking about his job, about the murder…any of it right then.

  “So what’s with this temper of yours?” he asked, knowing it would rile him. Knowing also, that Snow riled raised his blood pressure in the best way.

  “What fucking temper?” Snow snapped, snarl back in place.

  Jude didn’t know what it was about that damn expression but this time, he didn’t let it pass. He finished wrapping Snow’s hand then put his hand on Snow’s chest and shoved him into the wall hard enough to rattle Snow’s framed diploma against the drywall.

  “What the hell, Torres?” Snow shoved him back with his good hand, even as heat flared instantly in his expression.

  Jude smirked, wrapped one hand around Snow’s throat and gently but firmly moved him back to the wall. “Keep your mouth shut, General. Not one word.” He put enough pressure on the man’s neck to let him know he meant it while he unbuttoned Snow’s pants just enough to slide his hand inside and wrap his fingers around that long, thick cock. “Looks like you need some kind of relief,” he murmured.

  Snow’s mouth fell open slightly and he began to pant as his eyes locked on Jude’s. Jude had to wonder if the doctor had any idea of the level of lust and newfound trust in that look. Fuck, it tore him up and turned him on so much, he could barely keep from yelling and pounding his chest in triumph. Snow let out a breath that ghosted warm over Jude’s lips and Jude pressed his mouth to Snow’s. Snow groaned, opened wider and that wonderful, hot tongue came out to play.

  The kiss grew deeper and wetter and the desire racing through Jude’s system was unlike anything he’d ever felt. He kept his hand on the doctor’s neck, knowing that small bit of dominance just flat out did it for Snow. The man pulled back, panting, his hips thrusting.

  Jude tightened his fingers, grinned and let go long enough to grope for the antibiotic ointment on the file cabinet where he’d left it. Snow’s mouth fell open in shock this time when he squeezed most of the tube into his palm and carefully slid his hand back in Snow’s pants—making sure not to get any ointment on his slacks.

  “Really?” Snow breathed, before he chuckled. “You’re a weird fucker.”

  Jude didn’t answer, smothering a grin. Making Snow smile—it was quickly becoming his full-time goal. That and turning him into putty in his hands. He let the slick slide of the makeshift lube answer for him, loving the strangled noise that escaped the doctor’s throat. He put his clean hand back on Snow’s throat and began to jack him, slow, hard and steady. The doctor’s noises increased. Jude leaned in and ran his tongue along Snow’s bottom lip, then pulled that bit of soft flesh into his mouth again and bit. He stuck his tongue in that sexy divot. He definitely had a thing for the general’s mouth.

  Snow groaned, his hips jerking. His head hit the wall and he stared at Jude, never once removing his gaze as other sexy noises rumbled in his throat.

  Out of the corner of Jude’s eye, he saw movement and realized they hadn’t even shut the damn door. He turned just enough and locked eyes with Lucas, who stood shocked and silent in the hall. Without taking his narrowed eyes off Lucas, Jude reached out with his foot and kicked the door shut in the man’s face.

  Snow didn’t even notice, his hips moving, his breaths coming hard a
nd fast, utterly undone by what Jude was doing to him. Jude squeezed his hand along that hot, slick shaft, twisting his hand at the top, pressing firmly at the bottom. A drop of sweat slid down Snow’s temple to the side of his jaw and Jude licked it away, then locked his mouth with Snow’s just as the man found his release. Jude swallowed Snow’s cry as hot semen filled his hand and his own balls drew up in reaction. He kissed Snow over and over, feeling the tension leave that stunning body as Snow slumped against him. Jude loved that the man trusted him to keep him up, keep watch, and touch him like this.

  When he stepped back, he cupped his hand and carefully pulled it out of Snow’s pants. He wasn’t entirely successful in keeping the slacks clean, but he didn’t really care.

  Snow stared at him, his gorgeous blue eyes at half mast, the look of satiation on his face the sexiest fucking thing Jude had ever seen. His gut twisted, his breath froze. He barely remembered why he’d come up here and didn’t give a shit how long they’d taken. He liked what he did for Snow. No, he loved it. He pressed another kiss to Snow’s mouth and felt the man slide and lock right into his place within Jude’s heart. The doubt he’d suffered most of the night disappeared as he accepted what he’d known from the moment he’d put his mouth on him. No, from before even. He’d felt attraction before and this had been something more from the start. He’d known he would fall for Snow. And he had. He was all the way in this now. Ashton Frost was worth it.

  “Tonight,” he whispered, voice hoarse from the heady acceptance rocking his world, from the knowledge that he was going to do whatever it took. “I want to see this same look on your face with you naked and underneath me.”

  Snow swallowed, but said nothing. He just watched him with that probing gaze.

  “I’ve got to get to my shift. I’m already late.” Jude quickly washed his hands before grinning and smacking one more firm kiss to Snow’s still-slack mouth. “Before naked time, I’m taking you with me somewhere tonight first, okay? Somewhere so out of the realm of our last two dates, it might even things out.”

  “Dates? We’ve had dates?”

  Jude cocked his head, frowned. “No, not really. I’m changing that up tonight. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Not even going to ask what?”

  Snow slowly shook his head. “You’ve sort of gone above and beyond this week, Torres.”

  “I have. So it’s your turn to do something for me. It’s big, so buck up.” He laughed, knowing his amusement was freaking the doctor out. With what he planned, Snow had reason to be worried. “I’ll pick you up from your friend’s at six—what we’re doing needs to happen earlier in the evening. Okay?”

  “I’ll be out front so you don’t have to park.”

  “It’s a date.” Surprised and pleased, Jude kissed him again and opened the door, lifting an eyebrow at Snow’s best friend, who leaned insolently against the wall on the other side of the hall. “He’s all yours,” Jude murmured as he sauntered past. “For now.” He didn’t give a shit what the man thought.

  ###

  “I get it now.” Lucas said, his voice low.

  Surprised he couldn’t look his friend directly in the eye, Snow fiddled with a pen on his desk. He knew he wasn’t acting like himself, but everything about his world felt wrong and this whole thing with Jude confused him. Intrigued him, yes, but confused him more. Sex with the man felt better than it ever had with anyone before. Jude blew his mind, had him breaking all his rules. Sex at the hospital. Sex with a coworker. Sex with the same man.

  Last night, he’d wanted Jude to sleep over. When he’d realized he was about to ask to stay at Jude’s instead, he’d had the hardest time swallowing back the question. And when he’d seen the disgust…the doubt…in Jude’s expression, he’d felt the ground dropping from beneath his feet. He’d backed off fast and spent most of the night staring at the glittering city lights through the massive window in Lucas’s dining room.

  Thoroughly exhausted from that and from dealing with the fucking politics of the hospital, he’d been shocked when Jude sought him out. Shocked, yet more thankful than he could ever remember being.

  He was so fucked.

  He tried to look at where Lucas lounged in the chair in front of his desk and couldn’t. Apparently, his friend had been there the whole time. He’d witnessed Snow give control to another man and Snow was having a hard enough time dealing with it himself. Having Lucas see it bothered him more than he liked to admit.

  “Snow, don’t.” Lucas stood up and came around the desk to bend over Snow’s chair.

  “Don’t what?”

  Lucas put his hands on Snow’s arms and waited to speak until Snow finally looked up. “Don’t feel shame—any sort of shame—for what you have going with that man. For getting what you needed.” He squeezed his fingers. “What I couldn’t give you.”

  That made Snow finally meet his gaze. “You’ve given me everything. More than you ever should have.”

  Lucas’s smile was rueful. “I’ve loved you. That’s all. You’re my best friend and we love each other. Always will. But what I just saw, what you have with this paramedic, it’s different.” Lucas knelt and moved his hands to Snow’s knees. “I didn’t think he was strong enough for you. Even after last night. His refusal to go in armed worried me. And I didn’t think he could fill that huge chasm of pain you deal with every single moment of every single day. I thought he was weak. But what I just saw—” he broke off and grinned. “Was hot.”

  Once again, shock filled Snow when he actually felt his cheeks heat.

  “Look at that,” Lucas murmured. “You can blush. Ashton Frost can blush.” He laughed. “This is a good thing.”

  “It’s not.” Snow frowned. “And trust me, there isn’t a weak bone in Jude’s body.”

  Lucas smile broadened as his mind obviously went to a dirty, dirty place.

  Snow grinned back. “Yeah, that sure as hell isn’t weak either.”

  “I like him,” Lucas admitted. “He’s good for you. I don’t ask a lot of you, Ash, but I’m asking you to take care of him and let him take care of you.”

  “I’m not sure I’m going to find the same hearts and roses you’ve got with Andrei.” Snow joked, but his words fell flat to his own ears.

  “You’d be surprised,” Lucas murmured.

  He sobered as he finally wondered what had brought Lucas to the hospital. He didn’t like coming here and was usually only here when he was either hurt himself...or here for worse things. “Have you talked to Rowe again?”

  Worry turned Lucas’s eyes fully gray. He straightened and walked back to the chair in front of Snow’s desk, but he didn’t sit. “No. He’s not answering his phone.”

  “Have you asked Andrei to track the GPS chip in Rowe’s cell yet?”

  One corner of Lucas’s mouth twisted in a smirk. “Not yet. I’m guessing that he went to his grandfather’s cabin in Colorado, but I’m trying to give him his space.”

  Snow sat back his chair, letting his shock show, bringing in a strange, embarrassed flush to Lucas’s cheeks. “Really?”

  “Andrei refuses to do it,” Lucas grumbled. His gaze darted away, no longer able to meet Snow’s eyes. “He said we need to give Rowe a week before we track his phone.”

  Snow ran his hand through his hair, feeling the trace of sweat left there, remembering Jude licking it from his jaw. “Why did you come to the hospital?” he asked Lucas.

  “I figured I’d give you a heads up. Ian is pissed, made his nurse drive him to Rialto. He’s ordered us to be there in half an hour for lunch. Hope you can get off.”

  Snow closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. “I should have called him yesterday.”

  “Or the day before. You and me both, friend. Livid is an understatement. He didn’t catch the news until today because he hasn’t been able to watch it. His nurse told me that part. He’s not dealing well with the accident. Melissa’s death has torn him up.”

  Snow stood up and grabbed his c
oat off the rack by the door. “We have to tell him about Gratton. It’s not fair to keep him in the dark. I was wrong before.”

  Lucas held open the door, but then his eyes narrowed and he held up his hand. “You’re usually too busy to take off for lunch. What’s going on?”

  He should have known he couldn’t get anything past Vallois. “I’m free until six.” He cleared his throat and muttered, “I have a date.”

  Lucas’s mouth fell open and then snapped shut as if he were struggling with this concept. “A real date? You?”

  Snow nodded and slipped on his coat. “Crazy, isn’t it? And speaking of crazy, the reason I can just go is I was put on leave this morning.”

  Lucas cursed. “How long?”

  “Until I’m completely clear of the murder.”

  “Fuck. I know several people on the board. Let me call them and get this straightened out—”

  Snow rolled his eyes. “Drop it. I’m not happy about it, but it’s best for the hospital. Besides, if Gratton is hunting me, I don’t want to be near work.”

  He walked past Lucas into the hall, turned back and realized that Lucas could have seen everything he’d done with Jude through the narrow window beside his door. He shook his head. That had been pretty damn stupid. Anyone could have walked past and caught the show. “Come on,” he said, chuckling when he caught Lucas’s wicked grin. Yeah, his friend had watched. “Let’s go so I can kiss Ian’s ass and beg his forgiveness.”

  Chapter 17

  Snow took off his coat as Rialto’s general manager waved them past the lunch crowd milling around the entrance to the restaurant. Rialto had been open for only a few months, but it was already a popular lunch spot for locals. Men and women in smart business attire chatted as they waited for tables. Snow had eaten here so often, he already recognized some regulars in the bright, natural light streaming in from the open curtains. The cold and rain outside had finally dissipated—on a day when it felt like his entire life was becoming permanently gray.