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Shane stared at Jude like he was a freaking idiot, and he hated to admit that he was starting to feel that way. “How many things did you and I get into that would horrify you if Jordan did them now? Things that we were so-called ‘smarter than’?” Shane even lifted his hands to make the fucking air quotes.
His friend was right. Jude had done more than his fair share of stupid things when he was Jordan’s age. And yeah, he’d definitely known better, but he’d done them anyway for a number of equally stupid reasons that had seemed sensible at the time. He’d just been lucky enough not to land in the hospital.
“What am I supposed to do, Shane?” Jude whispered. “He stopped hanging out with his old friends. His place looks like it’s been cleaned out. I don’t know my own brother anymore.”
Shane clamped a hand down on Jude’s wrist. “First, you stop prepping Jordan for sainthood. I love Jordan too, but he’s a dumbass just like the rest of us. He’s done dumb things in the past, and he’s going to do more when he gets through this. Exactly like his older brother.”
“Okay,” Jude said, trying to let Shane’s words ease some of the worry still nagging at him.
“If you start thinking of Jordan as a twenty-year-old guy, and not some five-year-old kid, you might have more luck figuring this out.” Shane paused and picked up his fork. He cut a bite off his apple pie and motioned with it toward Jude. “Of course, it doesn’t hurt that you’ve got a private eye for a friend. I can dig into things if you want.”
“Thanks for the offer. Snow and I are good on our own at the moment.”
Shane shrugged and continued to eat his pie while Jude sipped his coffee. Shane made an excellent point. The changes in Jordan’s life didn’t make sense to him because he was determined to see Jordan as this unchanging figure in his life. But people changed, grew, found other interests, and inevitably…fell in with the wrong people at times. Jordan was no different.
“I’d personally like to hear more about this younger guy your dad is dating. Think he’s enjoying the new sex life?”
Shane stopped with the fork midway to his mouth, closed his eyes, and shuddered. “It’s good to see you haven’t completely lost your ability to be an asshole.” But there was still a hint of a smile when Shane opened his eyes again.
Jude snickered. Yeah, he still knew how to get under Shane’s skin when he wanted. They’d been friends too long to ever lose that.Chapter 8“I don’t think even Rowe would like this place,” Snow grumbled as he climbed out of Jude’s Jeep.
A single light towered over the small parking lot to the left of the bar, but it wasn’t doing much to push back the shadows that filled the area. There were a few other cars in the lot, and they were all showing off a collection of dents, dings, and rust spots. Silver duct tape and plastic covered a few windows. There was a sharp stench of piss and rotten garbage in the air that assaulted Snow’s nose.
It was definitely a good decision to bring Jude’s Jeep rather than Snow’s Mercedes. The Jeep was still in great shape, but it didn’t stand out as much as the Mercedes would have.
Frigid January wind swept over him and Snow pulled his coat tighter around his throat. “Maybe we should have brought a gun.”
“We’re definitely overdressed for this place,” Jude said.
Snow glanced down at his jeans and thick navy-blue sweater. Jude was similarly dressed. Their clothing was relatively nondescript, but it was obviously of high quality. But the dead giveaway was Snow’s Tom Ford coat. With a sigh, he peeled it off and tossed it into the front seat before shutting the door. They didn’t need to stand out more than they already did. At least it was a short distance to the bar.
Walking back to the sidewalk with his hands jammed in his pockets, Snow glanced up and down the street. It was quiet despite being barely after eight on a Thursday night, with no one out and only a few cars on the road. A quick glance around revealed some crumbling apartment buildings, a liquor store, a pawn shop, and a dingy gas station. This part of town had seen better days. Though it looked like those “better days” were about forty years ago, judging by the architecture and signs in the store windows.
It had taken them a couple of days to get around to checking out Dana’s since meeting with Austin. Jordan had suffered more setbacks, and Jude had decided to stick close to the hospital. The cops had popped by as well, asking all of Jordan’s family members more questions about who he hung out with and where he might have been the night he got shot, but so far not one of them had any answers for the cops. And it was increasingly obvious that the police didn’t know much at this point either.
