Shatter (Unbreakable Bonds 2)

A killer was stalking Snow.

Every protective hair on his body was standing on end. He needed the man in his line of sight; needed to put his hands on him and make sure he was okay.

So there he was, standing in front of the penthouse door of The Ascent. Tracking down Vallois wasn’t that hard. A rudimentary search on the Internet gave him several news stories about the man’s purchase of the place. The pictures he’d seen splashed across the news when The Ascent was finally opened after two years of being built hadn’t done it justice. The combination of white walls, tall windows and gleaming silvery steel made it feel like the occupants were living in a piece of modern art. Silence pervaded the entire building as if he were walking through a mausoleum.

Jude smoothed his hands down the jeans he’d changed into after work and wondered for the third time if he should have chosen a nicer shirt. He wasn’t usually the type to let rich people make him nervous. He was proud of his Spanish and Greek heritage, his job—confidence had never been a problem for Jude. Not even when he’d realized he’d rather yank the bigger and tougher basketball captain Boyd Travers under the bleachers in high school and nail him instead of one of the cheerleaders. He hadn’t tried to hide his sexuality after that—even when it had awarded him some pretty violent fights. He’d just learned to fight hard and fight dirty.

But surprisingly, he’d quickly discovered that smiling and treating his sexuality as normal seemed to disarm bullies faster than fists. One of his friends in college had once told him that his easy-going, laid back personality made most guys just shrug his gayness off. Whatever that meant. He didn’t care who had a problem with his love life. He was who he was.

Being nervous now when he was strung tight inside over Snow wasn’t going to work here, so he shoved it away and knocked. When the door opened, the ex-bodyguard stood there, tall, with his black hair in a short tail at the back of his neck. He looked at him in shock.

“How the hell did you get past security?” He crossed his arms, pulling his long-sleeved red T-shirt taut over pretty impressive arm muscles.

“Someone put my name on the accepted list. I’m assuming Snow. Jude Torres.” He held out his hand. “Is Snow here?”

Amusement twisted his nice lips as he nodded and shook Jude’s hand. Then he stepped aside to let Jude in. Jude could see why the famous land developer had come out so spectacularly in the papers for this man. He had the sort of poetic beauty that would inspire sonnets from both men and women. It might have even worked on Jude before, but not anymore. Now, he had a thing for hot, bossy, and emotionally damaged. A bad thing. He tightened one hand into a fist. He’d hung around the police station as long as he could, hoping to see Snow that morning, but had been forced to leave because he was needed at work. Throughout his entire shift, he’d burned to make sure the general was really okay.

“I’m Andrei.” He motioned toward the dining room. “I heard you already met Lucas.”

Jude nodded. It had been big news when Vallois started showing up in public with the bodyguard socially. But it seemed Lucas subscribed to the same attitude as Jude. He’d casually moved the man from obvious bodyguard to obvious boyfriend without making a fuss so the news died down. A few still sought out pictures of the two men out together, but most of them made it onto celebrity sites—those followed by men and women who got off on the thought of the two men together.

Jude looked around at the open, curved space with the massive floor to ceiling windows and had to work hard not to gape. The sun had set hours ago, so that Jude had a glowing view of the city. Yet the furniture surprised him more because it was comfortable looking instead of show floor fancy. The fanciest thing in the room was the man sprawled in one of the dining room chairs, a glass of something amber dangling in his long-fingered hand. Even in a pair of sweatpants and a black T-shirt, he looked elegant. There was something seriously wrong with that.

Lucas lifted one black eyebrow and took a sip of his drink. “I’m the one who put your name on the list,” he announced, causing Jude’s lips to part in surprise. “Snow is using the guest room on the second floor. Would you like a drink before you go up?”

“No, thank you.” He paused and cleared his throat. After talking to the gruff man at the police station, Jude hadn’t been sure what to expect when it came to seeing him again, but it wasn’t … this. “I’m sorry to barge in like this, but I wanted to see if he’s okay.”