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Appreciating Noah’s solid, warm presence by his side, Rowe sipped the expensive whiskey and watched as his friends settled into pairs. Lucas perched on the arm of the recliner where Andrei sat, the latter’s hand on his back. Snow sat on the couch and Jude stood behind it, his hands on Snow’s shoulders. Ian sat next to Snow, leaning in as usual. He’d always been tactile—with all of them—and the first thing Rowe had loved about Jude was his lack of jealousy where Ian was concerned because Ian snuggled into Snow often. Jude accepted their affection for Ian fully just as Andrei had. His friends couldn’t have picked better men for lovers.
And it seemed Noah might actually be interested in Ian and that affection could be returned. He should be happy because Ian deserved someone like Noah, who would make him laugh and treat him like gold. The whole idea just caused a painful knot in his stomach he didn’t understand at all. Noah was dragging up old memories and feelings he thought long buried, making them feel new again.
“This is the report from the investigator. The fire has officially been ruled as arson. The fire spread was not normal. There was an accelerant, a chemical that never should have been present in the club.”
“So whoever did this didn’t even try to make it look like an accident.” Rowe walked to Lucas and held his hand out for the paperwork.
Lucas passed him the report. “I’d say the pyro didn’t care. He didn’t even bother to cover his tracks well. The alarm and the sprinkler system were both tampered with so they wouldn’t work.”
Rowe scanned the pages, glancing over mentions of first responders’ notes, the condition of the building, the origin of the fire. There were witness reports, lab results, but not the kind of detail he was hoping for. It was impressive how quickly the report had been pulled together, but then the building was owned by one of the most powerful men in Cincinnati. People generally worked fast to keep Lucas happy. “Okay if I take these? I have someone who can get us deeper details.”
Nodding, Lucas picked up his snifter of whiskey. “I made those copies for you. Knew you could get more off that.” He started to smile, but it never took. “Whoever did this knew that we’d be there. It’s not in the report, but the investigator who called said the fire was created and fed in such a way to spread fastest to the second floor.” He nodded toward the papers in Rowe’s hand. “So you don’t need to dig deeper. We know what we need to.”
“No, I’m looking for signature moves, something to tell us who did this.”
Ian stood up, his slim body shaking with anger as he tightened his hands into fists at his side. “We know who did it. Take us all out in one fell swoop? You don’t think this is tied to what happened to us in January?”
Jude came around to settle on the couch. “Gratton is dead. So I’m assuming you guys think this has something to do with Jagger.” He pulled Ian back down between him and Snow, his hand massaging the back of Ian’s neck.
“Of course it does.” Ian crossed his arms between them. “Gratton was insane and took it to personal levels. This sounds like Jagger hired someone to take us all out at once.”
“Along with a lot of other people, too.”
“He wouldn’t care about that.” Ian cleared his throat. “He doesn’t care about people. He’s incapable of it. The man is a true sociopath.”
Rowe’s stomach churned as he thought back to the eighteen-year-old Ian he’d first met. Lucas and Snow had talked about a sweet kid they’d met at an awful party and he’d talked them into taking him to another of the parties so he could see for himself. He’d heard the rumors about Boris Jagger, but nothing had prepared him for what he’d seen. The whole night had ended in disaster after Snow had walked in on some kid in one of the bedrooms with a guy three times his age and decided the old guy no longer needed his face. Jagger’s thugs had taken Snow out to teach him a lesson and got schooled by Lucas and Rowe instead. But Rowe had been there long enough to meet Ian. They’d basically purchased him, though Ian didn’t know that and they hoped like hell he never found out.
He stared at their sweet, young friend, cradled between Snow and Jude, and couldn’t help but feel thankful he’d gone to that party.
To this day, Rowe left nasty surprises for Jagger in various forms, but he could never quite manage anything that would get the feds clearly locked on the dirtbag. He was sure he never left a trace, but he wondered if it was his fault they’d come back into Jagger’s sights.
