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Loneliness swelled like a black wave of tar, painful and thick, stealing his ability to breathe.
This was stupid. He shouldn’t be standing here like a fool feeling sorry for himself and he wasn’t going to just run into Gratton out here. The man had been doing Jagger’s dirty work for years. He wasn’t a total idiot. The fact was that if he truly wanted to find Gratton, he needed to tell Rowe. The sneaky bastard had more connections and ears on the ground than rats in the alleys. If Gratton was still in Cincy, Rowe would find him. Snow headed back to where he’d parked his Lexus. He’d go to The Laundry Room and see if he could find a distraction.
His phone rang again an hour later as Snow backed a dark-haired, dark-eyed man into a wall. Bodies in tight clothes writhed around them, packed into the nightclub in a mass of muscles and sweat. Light swirled overhead, but this corner was nice and shadowed, the music slightly muffled. The man under Snow’s hands had almost the right height and build.
If Snow closed his eyes, he could pretend it was the man he really wanted. He did vaguely resemble the paramedic. He was heavier than Jude and there wasn’t a shadow of whiskers on his chin, but his coloring was close.
“So, are we even going to exchange names here?”
Snow stepped into him, liking his wide shoulders, the strong muscles in his arms revealed by the tight, black T-shirt. “Why?”
“It’s not my usual thing.”
“What? Sex?”
The man touched his jaw. “No, sex is my thing. Hell, it’s everyone’s thing here.” The guy shuddered when Snow pressed in harder against him. “I just meant I usually like names, possibly a date or two first.”
Damn, he talked too much. Snow leaned closer and put his nose against the man’s neck. He inhaled. Too much aftershave. Too spicy. Snow didn’t mind some scents, but he liked them applied with a lighter hand because he loved the way men smelled, their natural sweat and masculine musk. He turned and firmly placed his teeth on the long muscle in his neck, loving the groan that rumbled against his chest. Hands clenched on his waist and tugged him closer.
Whether the guy did this usually or not was a moot point as far as the hard dick against Snow’s hip was concerned. His own wasn’t giving Snow the kind of response he expected. Not like last night—or rather early this morning—with Jude.
The phone in his front pocket vibrated again. He ignored it. When it immediately went off again, Snow pulled back and frowned. Cursing, he pulled out his cell. Lucas’s number again flashed across the screen and fear slammed into him. His friend wasn’t the type to keep calling. He rang once and didn’t ever leave a message, because the arrogant ass expected to be called back immediately.
“What?” Snow barked into the phone, placing his hand on the man’s chest. Not that he expected him to walk away, but Snow wasn’t taking any chances tonight. He needed. Badly.
“Why the fuck haven’t you been answering your goddamn phone?” Lucas yelled back, his voice loud enough to reach over the music. “You need to get to UC now. Ian and Melissa were in an accident.”
The walls narrowed around Snow as he dropped his hand and stepped unsteadily away from the man. His chest squeezed, making it nearly impossible to draw a breath. For one gut-twisting second, he couldn’t bring himself to ask, to hear the possible answer. But he forced out the words. “Are they okay?”
“Just get here. I thought you were supposed to be working tonight.” Lucas sounded furious and...wrecked. Someone was crying in the background. His heart turned to ice.
“Ian?” Snow breathed as panic shot through him. “Please tell me he’s okay.”
“He’s hurt,” Lucas said, his voice shaking. “Look Snow, it’s bad. I have to go. Just get here. Please, hurry.”
Snow stared at his phone in disbelief. Lucas had hung up without giving him any details. Anger and fear grew into a swirling black mass inside him and he blinked when someone touched him. He snarled, then focused on the man in front of him, having forgotten him. “I have to leave. Family emergency.”
The guy nodded, his expression surprisingly full of concern. “I hope whoever it is, is okay.” He touched Snow’s arm. “Hold on.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a card. “Here’s my number. Call me. We’ll have that date.”
Snow took the card though he didn’t date, and absentmindedly stuffed it into his pocket as he ran from the club. Why wouldn’t Lucas have told him more? The only reason he could think was it had to be the worst news possible.Chapter 4The first person he saw when he ran into the hospital was Jude. He sat in a chair, slumped over, uniform wrinkled and dirty...worry drawing his striking face taut. His eyes widened when he spotted Snow and he jumped up. Snow stopped, looked into dark brown eyes, shiny with sympathy, and knew without a doubt that he didn’t want to keep going, wasn’t sure if his legs were even going to carry him.
