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“It got shoved between the couch cushions,” Lucas said and Andrei’s smile turned absolutely wicked as his eyes narrowed on Lucas. Rowe flushed at that look and it wasn’t even directed at him. Apparently Snow wasn’t bullshitting when he’d hinted that things were hot between Lucas and Andrei.
“Oh! Hey boss!” Andrei said. The look and heat were gone in an instant, but there was also no tell-tale blush that he was in any way embarrassed about his relationship with Lucas. And Rowe wanted to kiss him just for that. He gave Rowe a long look, concern darkening his eyes before he smiled, nodded and walked back into the living room. “Glad to have you back,” he said over his shoulder as he leaned over the couch from behind and dug between the cushion until he came up with the tablet.
Rowe sighed, watching Andrei wander to the kitchen, stopping beside Ian to show him something that he’d pulled up on the tablet. “So… is there any chance I can get a cup of coffee before you tell me what the fuck you guys have been doing while I’ve been gone?”
The smile on Lucas’s lips fell away and he nodded. It was time to get to business. Sadly, by the time Lucas, Andrei, and Ian had laid all the dirty details on Rowe as they sat around the dining room table, Rowe was wishing that he’d had some of Lucas’s favorite hundred-year-old whisky rather than black coffee. Fucking Dwight Gratton was back. He’d learned that from Snow’s message, but to know the sick asshole was behind Melissa’s death as well as a long string of other deaths left a burning hole in Rowe’s stomach. He was so ready to put the man six feet under. Preferably while he was still breathing.
“We should have killed him years ago,” Rowe muttered, staring into his empty coffee mug, not really caring who heard him.
“Rowe…” Ian’s voice wobbled and Rowe lifted his eyes to the man who looked so lost.
He reached across the table to lay his hand on Ian’s and squeeze. “No, it would have been bad. Would have destroyed Snow.” Rowe closed his eyes for a second, pushing away the hundreds of “what ifs” and “could have beens” dancing through his brain. He couldn’t look back, couldn’t second guess. That way was only madness and more sleepless nights.
“Speaking of,” he started again with a hard shake of his head to clear it. “Where the hell is the doc? Still asleep up there?” A slow smile spread across Lucas’s mouth and even Ian giggled with glee. This was not what he’d expected. “What?”
“Snow stayed over at Jude’s last night…again,” Lucas said.
“So,” Rowe muttered then the words clicked. “Again? Who the fuck is Jude? Wait! He’s…dating?” The three men at the table nearly fell over in their laughter while Rowe’s mouth hung open in shock. “Are you shitting me? Is he really dating?”
“Yes. The man’s name is Jude Torres.” Andrei lounged in his chair and folded his hands behind his head as he grinned. “He’s a paramedic at UC Hospital. Tall and dark, with a swarthy, sexy, European vibe. Nice guy.”
Beside Andrei, Lucas growled. Rowe’s eyebrows shot to his hairline as he stared at his long-time friend.
“What?” Andrei demanded, holding up his hands as if to ward on Lucas. “I’ve got eyes.”
“And you better watch where your eyes wander,” Lucas grumbled before shoving hands through Andrei’s loose, dark curls to pull him close in a searing kiss. Rowe didn’t miss how Andrei seemed to melt into him, a soft moan sliding up his throat.
Ian groaned and Rowe snickered to see the younger man roll his eyes. “And Lucas wonders why I won’t move in here with him. A single guy can take only so much of this crap.”
A loud knock on the front door broke Lucas and Andrei apart. Everyone in the penthouse seemed to freeze for a breath at the intrusion, and then nearly everyone was in motion with amazing speed and silence.
“Security never called,” Lucas murmured to Rowe as both Sven and Mike approached Ian. The nurse carefully moved Ian from his seat at the table back into the wheelchair, while Sven stood blocking them with his body and gun in hand. Lucas stood as well, moving to the liquor sideboard where he kept a gun hidden in the top drawer.
But Andrei was still the most impressive to watch. One of Rowe’s favorite quotes was from Bruce Lee—Be like water. And that’s exactly how Andrei moved. Silent, fluid, and swift. He didn’t make a damn sound moving from the dining room to the front door. Along the way, he palmed a knife hidden on his body and flicked out the lethal blade so that it was at the ready.
At quick count, there were at least three guns — counting the one that Rowe had on his person but had not yet drawn — and a knife waiting to greet whoever was on the other side of that door. While the air had been light when Rowe appeared, it was obvious that this was a house on high alert. He was lucky he didn’t get a damn slug in his forehead when he walked in the door unannounced.
