Ian (Unbreakable Bonds 4.5)

“Tell me what?” Hollis demanded, halting in the process of reaching for one of the laminated menus in the center of the table.

“It’s just us,” Andrei replied. “No boyfriends tonight.”

“Really?” Hollis snatched up a menu and opened it, but he couldn’t stop from looking at the three men seated at the table with him. It was a night out…with just the outsiders to the tight crew of Lucas, Snow, Rowe, and Ian. “Why not?”

“Because it’s good to have a break,” Andrei admitted.

“Being around them…all together…it can be a bit much,” Jude added.

Andrei shifted in his seat so that he was partially facing Hollis. “Lucas and I have been together for more than a year, and I love him completely, but when he gets with Snow and Rowe and even Ian, they start swapping stories about things that happened five, seven, ten years ago…and I feel like an outsider at times.”

“And then when I started dating Snow, we grabbed drinks one night. Helped blow off some steam. Snow…can be stubborn.” But even when Jude made that small criticism, it was accompanied by a little evil twinkle in his eye like the man had plenty of ways to work the stubborn right out of Snow.

Hollis snorted. He could imagine the surgeon wasn’t the easiest of people at times. But then that went for the billionaire as well.

“And they helped keep me sane through the holidays,” Noah added with a bit of a nervous laugh as he shoved one hand through his loose hair.

“Look, Ian and I aren’t having any problems,” Hollis said.

Andrei chuckled, looking up at the huge TV showing the University of Kentucky Wildcats game. “No one said you were, hotshot. We—Oh! Come on! Where’s the foul? He was all over him!” Andrei jumped to his feet and waved an irritated arm at the screen, matching several other men in the restaurant.

It was only then that Hollis noted Andrei was dressed in a pair of old jeans and a blue UK T-shirt. He rolled his eyes. Another diehard Wildcats fan. It was going to be fun when he told him he was a die-hard Georgia Bulldog.

Jude laughed, shaking his head at Andrei before looking at Hollis. “This is just a night off. Drinks. Food. And the game,” he finished, motioning toward the various TVs.

A server stopped at their table, dropping off two baskets of wings, fried mozzarella sticks, and roasted garlic mushrooms. Yeah, definitely not the typical Ian fare, but it was so good to eat bad food every once in a while.

Hollis finally looked down at his menu while reaching over with one hand to snatch up a mushroom. Scanning the menu, he ordered a burger and a beer when the server got to him. She gave him a wink before sauntering off and he shook his head.

“You were right about Rowe and the Hyde Park house,” Noah suddenly said, reaching for a cheese stick. He dipped it in marinara sauce before taking a big bite. “He’s been hiding the insurance bullshit from me. Trying to shield me from the house and Mel stuff.” Hollis frowned. Ian had told him one night that Rowe had kept the house he’d bought with his wife and that all their things had gone up in flames thanks to the arsonists harassing them during the past fall.

“You sit on him?” Jude asked.

Noah shoved the last of the stick in his mouth and shook his head. “Tied him naked to a chair and threatened to smear honey on him before letting the dogs in.”

Hollis choked on chicken from a wing at Noah’s words. Andrei thumped him a few times on the back as he laughed. “That’ll do it,” Andrei murmured.

“You wouldn’t do that,” Jude said with an eye roll.

“Have you seen him and his boy in action?” Hollis asked incredulously. “They’re scary insane. He’d do it.” Both Jude and Andrei just laughed while Noah preened under the so-called praise.

“What about you?” Noah asked, pinning Andrei with a look that had the Romanian frowning and his gaze darting away. “You talk to Lucas?”

“No, we’ve been busy recently.”

“Oh, come on,” Noah grumbled, but Hollis wasn’t sure if he was talking to Andrei or reacting to the Alabama basketball game. Jude shook his head.

“There’s the wedding—”

“Which you said has been postponed until late summer,” Jude said.

“And Lucas found a new location for a nightclub.”

“Like that’s more important,” Noah sniped.

“And I’m looking into the logistics and cost of opening a West Coast branch of Ward Security.” Andrei was obviously stalling.

“What are you supposed to be talking to Odin about?” Hollis demanded, grabbing another mushroom.

“Getting a house…and kids,” Andrei said, his low voice barely audible in the loud restaurant.

Hollis paused in the act of tossing it into his mouth. “That’s kind of big.”

Andrei huffed a laugh, his eyes on the beer in his hand rather than on the game. “Kind of.”