Hollis was halfway to the kitchen entrance when Sven came back through, carrying Ian, who had a shy smile on his face as the bodyguard spoke softly to him. He set Ian back into his wheelchair, turned it and brought him smoothly back to the table.
“With this cast sticking out everywhere and his massive bulk, we got in the way instantly. Plus, he made my sous chefs nervous.” He glanced at Hollis and a hint of red filled his still too pale cheeks. “I had them prepare something for you as well. I know you like the food here because they said you’ve been here a lot this past week.”
Hollis cleared his throat, narrowed his eyes at Sven and sat back in his seat. “Foods good here,” he mumbled.
Snow narrowed his eyes. Yeah, the food was good, but several times a week on a cop’s salary? He wasn’t coming here for the food.
Ian directed the bodyguard to push him back to where he’d been sitting before. “I’m sorry I took off. Let’s discuss what we’re going to do now.” He picked up his fork and pointed it at Snow. “And don’t think you’re off the hook for not calling. And not telling me about Jude. When do we get to meet him?”
“Why do you need to meet him? It was a one-night st—”
“One night?” Lucas’s laugh echoed through the restaurant. “I seem to remember him showing up at my place, then going out with us last night. And don’t you have a date tonight?” Lucas grinned.
“Ass,” Snow snapped. He snatched up a hunk of bread and threw it at his friend. “He just came to your place to find out if I was okay.”
“It sounded like he made real sure of that,” Andrei said, grinning. “Thoroughly.”
“Don’t you start that again,” Snow warned.
“Hell yeah, start it again. I missed the first round,” Ian said, glaring at Snow. He turned to Andrei. “Do share. I need to hear about anything other than Dwight Gratton.”
Snow growled. “No, we aren’t talking about that.”
Lucas laughed again. “Tell Ian about your date tonight.”
Snow’s mouth fell open as he pointed his own fork at Lucas. “When the hell did you get such a big fucking mouth?”
“The moment you learned to blush.”
“Traitor. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”
“I am. And what I saw earlier let me know I’m only doing you a favor if I encourage this relationship.”
“Earlier?” Ian’s head was starting to resemble a ping pong ball with how much he kept looking back and forth. “Weren’t you at the hospital today?”
Snow wanted to nip the Jude conversation in the bud right then. “Yes, I was. And I was put on leave because someone was murdered in my home and until the murderer is caught, I’m still their number one suspect.” He looked at Hollis. “Am I right?”
“Unfortunately you aren’t off the hook yet. Not even with Jude’s statement.”
They all went quiet with that and thankfully, the food arrived.
Ian directed the setting of the plates. “I know Lucas and Andrei love the gnocchi, so they get to try a new recipe. I spent the last few days at home perfecting the sauce. Snow gets acqua pazza—fish because he’s watching the carbs.”
Snow breathed the steam from his dish and shot Ian a smile. The kid knew what he liked down to the smallest details. “With olives and mushroom. Good.”
Ian nodded absent-mindedly. He never wavered when it came to food. He tilted his head, stared at the detective until the man finally met his gaze again. “Are you watching your carbs, cop?”
Hollis laughed. “I watch them all the way to my mouth.”
Lucky for Hollis, Snow’s mouth was full of perfectly cooked fish or he would have made a comment about watching things come at his mouth.
“Good,” Ian said. “You got carbonara.”
Lucas’s head snapped up. “He got bacon? How come he gets bacon?”
“It’s pancetta. Besides, your blood pressure.”
Lucas shot Andrei a dark look. “Did you tell him too?”
Andrei just smiled wickedly at him around a mouthful of gnocchi. “Texted.”
“What the—”
“You eat his cooking more than anyone else’s. I had to,” Andrei interrupted, trying to head off the next comment.
“I promise to make you breakfast with bacon next week,” Ian swept in neatly. “I bet Sven can carry me up to your place no problem.” He aimed a pretty smile at the blond bodyguard, who stood behind his chair. “Do you want to sit with Mike over there?” He pointed at a small table a couple over from theirs. “They should be bringing your food shortly.”
Snow couldn’t help but look at Hollis to find a fierce frown in place. If the man liked Ian so much, why was he hesitating? It sure as hell had nothing to do with both Snow and Lucas warning him off because it was obvious nothing would keep Hollis from doing whatever he wanted.
Andrei sighed. “This is fantastic, Ian. Are you going to put it on the menu?”
“Not at first. I don’t want to print up more right now, but I plan to make it a weekly special.”
“Let me know which night.” Andrei winked, then turned to Snow. “Why don’t you come back to the office with me and we’ll see if Gidget has found any information?”
“Good idea. It’s not like I have any place else to go.” Snow stabbed at a mushroom.
“And you will be sharing with your friendly neighborhood police officer, right?” Hollis threw in, smiling broadly at Snow.
“Of course, officer. Anything you say.” Snow sneered and Hollis just rolled his eyes.
“What about your patients?” Ian asked.
“A colleague is taking over for me. But I plan to call in and check on them.” He chewed the mushroom, thinking again that everything he loved about his life was completely screwed up. No home, no job and for the first time in his life, he didn’t feel entirely comfortable at Lucas’s place. He glanced up to find Lucas still eyeing Hollis’s plate like he planned to buy it off him. He only stopped when Andrei handed him a fork, chuckled and patted his hand. “I’ll feed you some bacon later,” he murmured under his breath.
“You’ll feed me something, all right,” Lucas whispered back, but not low enough because everyone heard.
The laughter around the table helped to dispel the tension. But not enough. Snow knew none of them would truly be able to relax until they knew exactly why that psycho had come back to town.
Chapter 18
The twenty-minute drive north to Ward Security in Reading gave Snow a chance to get a handle on his worries over Ian. The young man had been smiling at Rialto, losing himself in the simple glee of digging around in Snow’s sex life, but there was no missing the shadows lingering in his eyes or the way he’d get lost in thought, his smile wilting like a slowly dying flower. That was Gratton’s doing. Ian was either tumbling into old memories or drowning in new fears while suffering the loss of his friend’s death. The sooner they found Gratton, the sooner Ian would feel safe again and put his past firmly behind him again.
But as Snow slammed shut his car door and turned to face the front of the former warehouse-turned-office for Ward Security, he couldn’t deny the uncomfortable twist of anxiety in his stomach. Lucas had refused to accompany him to this meeting with Andrei, claiming that he had to get back to his office to deal with his own company, which he’d been neglecting the past week. He liked to think that Lucas hadn’t purposefully left him alone with his boyfriend, but well…Lucas was a devious fuck when he wanted to be and it was an uncomfortable fact that Andrei and Snow had never been alone together, not since Andrei had become romantically involved with Lucas. Unsaid words were hanging in the air.
Shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat, Snow ducked his head against the cold breeze wind that stirred as he crossed the small parking lot. Bare limbs of the ornamental pear trees that lined the front of the building rattled and gray clouds were rushing across the blue sky. Typical Cincinnati winter. The sun was never around long.
Warm air wrapped around him a
s he entered the reception area for Ward Security. It was small but open and airy, with white furniture and cold black marble floors. Melissa had hired the decorator for the main entrance and a couple of the offices where customers would be greeted. Rowe hadn’t given a shit about the appearance, his mind always on the latest security tech and training his people. This was just a nice, thin veneer to settle the minds of the customers with the bulky wallets.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Frost,” greeted a smiling middle aged woman behind the receptionist’s desk. Was her name Karen? Sharon? Marion? He couldn’t remember. He’d seen her only a couple times before walking back to Rowe’s office. “Andrei said you’d be stopping by,” she continued as if she hadn’t actually expected him to reply. “You can go on back if you’d like.”
Snow grunted and started for the double doors that would lead to the heart of the building but stopped when he suddenly realized he didn’t know where he was going. “Where’s Andrei’s office?”
Her smile dimmed a little and she appeared uneasy. “He’s been working out of Mr. Ward’s office the past couple of days.”
Snow nodded, his face carefully blank as he absorbed that information and he stepped through the double doors. Anger bloomed hot and sweet in his veins as he marched across the vast open floor. What the hell was that about? Rowe disappears and Andrei slides into his friend’s spot. What did the former fighter know about running a business? All Snow knew about Andrei was that he was pretty good in a fight and fucking his best friend.
He was vaguely aware of the different training stations Rowe had set up for keeping his men up to date on different hand-to-hand combat techniques and weapons training. There were other rooms with stacks of some of the best spy gear Rowe could get his hands on, while the basement had its own shooting range. Lucas popped by a few times a month to fire off a couple magazines with Rowe and when Rowe got a new toy in, but Snow never joined them. He’d spar with Rowe on occasion, but his weapon of choice was usually his fist.
But today it was all a blur. Mounting the metal stairs in the center of the room, Snow ignored the feeling of eyes on him. He didn’t know whether they were looks of sympathy because he was a close friend of both Rowe and Melissa or if it was speculation in regards to the murdered man. He couldn’t deal with either at that moment. His heavy footsteps banged on the stairs, echoing through the room before he reached the second floor filled with offices and a massive meeting room.
A couple turns and he found himself standing outside of Rowe’s office, the low-banked anger slipping away with each passing second. Andrei was pacing behind the massive desk stacked with files. He was reviewing a sheaf of papers in his hand while he spoke to someone over the speaker phone, conducting a planning meeting.
Snow leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb, his hands still in his coat pockets, allowing himself a minute to stare at the man who had stolen away his best friend’s heart. A laugh bubbled up in his throat, but he swallowed it back. It was like watching Lucas in action in the boardroom, cool and collected, completely in control. Who would have thought the fighter had a brain? Or rather, maybe Snow should have been paying closer attention when he was around Andrei to notice the man was pretty damn smart. Hell, Lucas would never have fallen for someone who wasn’t brilliant.
There was no question as to why Lucas had started fucking the man. Andrei was gorgeous, even in jeans and black T-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders. Despite being trapped in an office, his movements were smooth, fluid, and silent as if he were just a series of well-oiled joints. If Snow had spotted Andrei in a bar months ago, he would have been all over the man. But his dark eyes and dark complexion reminded Snow of another man that he didn’t want to think about at that moment. He was finding his thoughts far too often consumed by Jude and he still didn’t know what to do about that.
Or about Andrei for that matter… not that there was much that he could do. Lucas was in love and if the way Andrei looked at Lucas was any kind of gauge, Andrei was in love with Lucas.
On another pass back toward the massive dark wood desk, Andrei caught sight of Snow, his head jerking up as he stopped mid-stride. His frown deepened before he dropped the papers on the desktop and Snow could see the tension creeping into his shoulders as they pulled straighter, tauter. Still staring at Snow with an unwavering gaze, he quickly wrapped up the call before tapping the button a little harder than necessary to end of the call.
“If Lucas could see you right now, I think he’d have you bent over that desk faster than you can blink,” Snow slowly drawled, not moving from where he leaned against the doorjamb.
Andrei’s eyes darkened and Snow’s smile grew. The bodyguard definitely liked the idea of getting pounded by his friend, but Andrei’s words surprised him.
“Lucas is turned on by business meetings and numbers,” Andrei mumbled. He dropped his eyes first, looking down at the desk while putting his hands on his hips.
“And hot Romanian bodyguards.”
Andrei didn’t smirk or grin like Snow had expected and Snow wanted to smack Lucas all over again. Lucas needed to talk Andrei, because it was painfully obvious this man had no clue that he had one of the richest men in Cincinnati wrapped around his little finger.
Pulling over the leather rolling chair, Andrei sat behind the desk and typed something on the keyboard in front of him. “Have a seat. Gidget will be here in just a minute,” Andrei said. He seemed about to say something else when he paused and took a deep breath.
Snow shrugged out of his coat and draped it over one of the chairs in front of the desk before dropping into the other. The tension was thickening in the room with every passing second. He needed to say something, anything. He could easily shoot the shit with Rowe and Ian, but when he looked at Andrei, he saw only the man who was cradling his best friend’s heart in his hands.
“How’s business?” he asked, just trying to get the conversation moving again.
Andrei’s dark eyes snapped back up to him, narrowing. “This is temporary,” he practically growled. “I’m just trying to keep the place from melting down until Rowe gets back. That’s all. Lucas is too busy with his own companies to take on all the stuff that needs doing here, and he’s not familiar with the day-to-day insanity. I’m not trying to take Rowe’s place.”
Snow frowned back at Andrei, stunned by the hostility. It was like he’d come upon a wolf in the woods, snarling over his kill. “I’ve got no problem with you taking things over while Rowe’s gone.” Okay maybe he had at first, but that was more of an emotional response. Logic had luckily kicked in before he opened his mouth. “How many people work here now?”
“Fifty-three full-time, six part-time, and three contract.” Andrei rattled off the answer without needing to pause to think about it. That was why the young man had stepped up. Snow didn’t need any proof beyond that answer.
“They need to eat too.”
Andrei nodded, his eyes on the pen he was rolling between his thumb and index finger with both hands. “This is temporary.” Andrei licked his lips and lifted his gaze to Snow. “But Lucas is not.”
Snow felt a smirk lift one corner of his mouth. “Yeah, I was getting that impression.”
Andrei snorted and shook his head. “Or maybe I should say that I don’t intend it to be temporary. Lucas…Lucas does what he feels is best for his family and for him.”
Snow’s heart lurched at Andrei’s softly spoken words. Fuck, he really needed to smack Lucas if this man was convinced his relationship with Lucas was hanging by a thread. “Andrei—”
“No, I gotta say this and then I swear we’ll never have to talk about this again,” Andrei interrupted, holding up his right hand to halt Snow’s words. When the younger man finally met Snow’s eyes, there was an openness there he only saw when Andrei was looking at Lucas and it was a little humbling. “I get it. Or rather I get it as much as I can. I’ve never been lucky enough to have a close friend and I know what you’ve got with Lucas goes way beyond that. But
I get how important Lucas is to you and how important you are to Lucas. I’m not going to mess with that. I have no intention of ever trying to come between you. He needs you. He loves you. I don’t ever want to stop you from hanging out with him or changing your time together.”
Snow swallowed past the painful lump that had grown in his throat at Andrei’s words. “Things change,” he said, trying to ignore the roughness of his own voice.
His words seemed to panic Andrei because he shoved a hand through his hair as if to push it away from his face, but it was already pulled back. “They don’t have to. Your relationship with Lucas doesn’t have to change. If you need more time without me around, I can back off, come around less.”
“No!” Andrei jumped at Snow’s harsh tone and Snow cursed himself. “Don’t. I—I—” Snow rubbed his hand over his face. He’d really created part of this mess by avoiding Andrei so completely over the past few months. He’d become a third wheel in Lucas’s damn relationship and it was a freaking wake-up call a long time coming. This shouldn’t have happened. He needed to get his shit together.
“I have never had to share Lucas before. Rowe and Ian happened into our lives in such a way that it wasn’t like I was sharing him. But you…I never expected you to stick because no one ever has before.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a hesitant smile. “You fit. You fit with him and with our family.”
Andrei stared at him for a second, his lips parted in surprise, before he jerked his gaze back to the top of the desk, clearing his throat. “Thanks. I kind of got the impression that you’d rather cut me open while I’m sleeping and pull out my organs to sell on the black market than let me date Lucas.”
“Well, that’s my plan if you hurt him.”
Andrei threw his head back and laughed, the sound filling the office. He really did have a great laugh, full and free. Snow found himself smiling in response. “You’re the first person to warn me against hurting Lucas.”
Shatter (Unbreakable Bonds Series Book 2) Page 22