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Andrei paused, his body stiff before he finally gave a nod. “It’s working fine.”
A giggle slipped from Geoffrey and he reclined back in his seat. “This thing could be so much fun. Can you imagine the videos we could take?” he said, his usually quick speech slowed to a soft purr. “Snow stretched out above me, all those beautiful muscles moving as he pounds my ass. The sounds he must make would be music.”
Jude opened his mouth to snap at Geoffrey but Andrei beat him to it. “Lucas says stop it and concentrate on the job. Snow doesn’t have an earpiece and Lucas doesn’t want to hear about Snow’s sex life right now.”
Geoffrey grinned back at Andrei and shrugged. “Lucas is sexy too. I bet he—”
Andrei immediately turned in his seat and pointed at Geoffrey. “Stop.” The young man smiled but closed his mouth.
They all got out of the car. A brisk winter wind rushed through the city to greet them, pulling at their clothes with icy fingers. Geoffrey shivered, wrapping his arms around his waist. He was the most lightly dressed of the trio in skin-tight leather pants and a thin, pale blue silk shirt. Jude had tried to get him to take a winter coat, but he’d argued that it would mess with his sex kitten vibe. No one else argued with Geoffrey so Jude let it drop.
He led the way down the empty street. Unless there was an event at Music Hall, like an opera, Elm was quiet in the evenings. All the hot restaurants and bars were a couple blocks east, starting on Vine. And what did it matter if the rich men of Cincinnati were being dropped off in front of Music Hall in the evening? It was just another charitable event raising money for one good deed or another.
He’d never had the chance to step in Music Hall before—trips to see the symphony or opera or even the ballet when they’d performed at Music Hall rather than Aronoff were not part of his normal routine—and now this place would be forever stained in his mind with this memory.
“Head up. Shoulders back. Spine straight,” Andrei bit out low and sharp from behind him. Jude glanced over his shoulder at Andrei, but the bodyguard’s eyes were sweeping over their surroundings, searching for hidden dangers. “These people are beneath your notice. Tonight, you own him and you own me. You can buy and sell the world. Now act like it.”
“You mean act like your boyfriend,” Jude teased.
Andrei didn’t react, his face a blank slate as he stared straight ahead. “If you can pull off just a tenth of his arrogance, these people will welcome you like their long-lost son.”
Jude had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling as he turned his attention forward and followed Andrei’s advice. He had no doubt that Lucas, and possibly Snow, heard that entire conversation. There was going to be hell to pay later and Jude had a feeling that Andrei was looking forward to every second of it. Someone like Lucas would need a little needling and Andrei appeared more than happy to provide it.
Cincinnati Music Hall suddenly rose up before them, as the enormous red-brick building took up almost an entire city block. Built more than a century ago, it was once the center of the city’s music scene, but as new venues popped up, Music Hall nearly dropped into obscurity, relegated to the world of old money and overdone wedding pictures. But the revival of nearby Over-the-Rhine and Washington Park had put Music Hall back in the center of events.
Jude paused just over the threshold, his breath leaving him at the sight of the pristine white walls and intricate gold-leaf covering the molding on the columns and above the doors leading to the main auditorium. A sparkling crystal chandelier dangled overhead, its bright light reflected off the shining black-and-white squared floor. It was like stepping into pictures he’d seen of old opera houses and palaces in Paris, Prague, and Berlin. Despite its openness and size, the foyer felt oppressive as if the weight of the entire building and its decades of history were pressing down, threatening to crush him.
The silence was broken by soft footsteps echoing across the floor. Jude looked up to see a slender young man in a dark suit hurrying to them. His smile was timid and his eyes darted to their faces for only a second before he lowered them again. That quick, nervous action was enough to remind Jude why they’d come. To catch the man threatening Snow and who had terrorized Ian.
“Good evening, sir,” the man said upon reaching them. “Do you have a reservation?”
As Lucas instructed, Jude reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a white card with his fake name printed across his along with a number. The young man tapped on the small tablet in his left hand and compared the information on the card to the tablet.
