Shatter (Unbreakable Bonds 2)

Rowe turned a smug look Snow’s way. “Snow doesn’t agree. He’s a bar snob. Lucas and his fancy nightclubs have tainted his view of proper men places.”

Snow’s grin grew, stretching his mouth wide. He leaned back in his chair again and crossed his arms. “Proper men places? Do tell more.”

“You know,” Rowe said, closing his hands into fists for emphasis. “Man caves. Places where we don’t have to dress up. Where we aren’t on display or trying to pick someone up. Where we don’t have to smell nice for the ladies. We can be with other men in our natural slob states. Let our balls hang out.”

Silence followed his emphatic speech. Then Ian’s mouth fell open. “There are so many things wrong with what you just said.”

Chuckling, Snow picked up a napkin to wipe the condensation from his beer off the table. “Ladies aren’t the only ones who dislike body odor and not every man has a natural slob state. Just how does the world look with your head stuck so far up your ass? You’re the only man I know with a natural slob state—” He sucked back the laughter, cocked his head. “Wait, that’s not true anymore. I just remembered Banner.”

“The cop?” Rowe asked.

It didn’t escape Snow’s notice that Ian, who’d been looking over his shoulder, instantly turned back to their conversation. Hollis Banner, an annoying detective for the Cincinnati Police Department, had been wearing out his welcome more than usual lately and none of them were under any sort of misunderstanding as to why. The big, hard-edged asshole was sniffing around Ian and it made Snow want to hurt things. It wasn’t that he was interested in Ian himself—no, their friendship was too solid for that—it was that nobody was good enough for the young man. Ian brought out every protective instinct Snow had. Plus, they didn’t need law enforcement hanging around when they all had things to hide.

He wiped the napkin over another spot of condensation and when it stuck to the table top, he snatched his hand back, snarled and pointed. “Really Rowan? I prefer my real men caves to at least be clean.”

“This from a man who drops to his knees in men’s bathrooms all over town.”

“I thought you’d been paying more attention all these years.” Snow winked and Ian softly snorted a laugh. “I’m not the one usually on my knees.”

“Selfish bastard.” Rowe laughed, probably because he’d heard enough over their more than a decade-long friendship to know that was true. Snow sometimes marveled over how well Rowe took the frank talk among their group of four when he was the only straight man. Well, mostly straight. Snow had always had an inkling there was a little curiosity going on up in the scrambled mess of Rowe’s brain, that maybe Rowe was a little more bi than he’d ever been willing to admit. Tonight’s conversation stirred up old memories of Rowe with him and Lucas at gays bars and nightclubs. A flirtatious Rowe who seemed more comfortable with the touches and gropes than any straight man he’d ever known.

Snow didn’t worry Rowe’s eyes were straying. The man was crazy about Melissa and judging by how often he’d searched her out tonight, his infatuation with his wife remained strong. Curious or not, he would never cheat on her. But it did make Snow wonder if things would have been different if Melissa had been a man rather than a woman.

And while Lucas occasionally jumped the fence and slept with women, Snow had always known that was more about what Lucas felt he should want, not what he truly liked. He was for all intents and purposes a gay man. Like Snow and Ian.

The others came back to the table, fresh drinks in hand, and the talk turned to Melissa’s prowess with hard balls. Snow half-listened, finding that despite Rowe’s poor taste in drinking establishments, the company relaxed him. He let his gaze roam the bar again, hoping to see someone old enough to be interesting and frowned when a figure stepped quickly out of sight and into the thick of the crowd. He narrowed his eyes, tried to see who it was because he had the distinct feeling the person had been watching them and that feeling carried something, too. A faint, black edge that made the hair on his arms stand on end.

“What do you think?” Ian snapped his fingers in front of Snow’s face. “Snow?”

“Huh?” He turned to Ian, realizing he’d missed the subject entirely.

Ian frowned, brown eyes probing for a moment before he sighed. “Don’t you agree that grocery shopping together is like a commitment?” He waved his finger at Lucas and Andrei. “They go together now.”

Snow pursed his lips, biting back a comment. That was…unexpected. As far as he knew, Lucas hadn’t stepped foot in a grocery store in over a year. His housekeeper, Mrs. Mason, picked up any food that Ian wasn’t bringing over himself.