Shatter (Unbreakable Bonds 2)

He laughed. Yeah, Jude would take that. Snow needed to laugh more and he was happy to cause it.

Jude looked over at Geoffrey and saw the uneasiness crowding the young man’s eyes as he shifted in his seat. “Don’t worry. We got this.”###

Snow flipped off Lucas and slouched in the front passenger seat of his friend’s Mercedes. He loved the tingling flush that had swept through his body at Jude’s low, hot words, but Lucas’s wide grin and laughing eyes had quickly reminded him that they had an audience and he wasn’t going to fucking share Jude. Not even with his best friend. This…this thing with Jude felt too new, too fragile, and he didn’t want to have to explain it or defend it when he couldn’t find the damn words to describe it.

Shifting in the front, passenger seat, he pushed buttons, moving the seat as far back as he could then forward, tilting it back then forward again. Nothing felt right. He remembered this thing being more comfortable. Of course, the other times he’d been in Lucas’s car, he didn’t feel trapped, desperate to be somewhere else because someone he cared about was in danger.

Grabbing the tablet, Snow glared at it, but there wasn’t much to see. All three men wore micro cameras. Geoffrey’s was implanted in his choker, while Jude and Andrei had one hidden in their pocket squares in the suits. All the cameras had mics so Lucas and Snow could easily hear their conversation through the tablet. The only problem was that only Andrei wore an earpiece. Not a big deal if Andrei stayed with Jude and Geoffrey, which was the plan.

But if they were separated, Lucas couldn’t give Jude and Geoffrey information or instructions. Snow also wasn’t a fan of the fact that Jude was completely unarmed, but the paramedic had been adamant. He refused to shoot another person, even if it meant protecting himself. Fuck! He couldn’t fault him for it.

“Are you quite through with your temper tantrum over there?” Lucas slowly drawled.

Snow looked up to find his friend sitting at an angle facing toward him, his left elbow up on the door and his head resting lightly on his hand. Lucas may have looked relaxed, but it was an act. Snow could see the flexing muscles in his jaw as he clenched his teeth, and right hand fisted on his thigh, half hidden by his heavy wool coat.

“Shut up,” Snow growled. “You’re not any better off than me.” He forced his gaze back down to the tablet, while at the same time blocking out Geoffrey’s nervous chatter. Hell, the man’s mouth seemed to run nonstop.

“This is stupid. That should be us in there,” Snow said after another minute of tense silence broken only by the howl of the wind and the soft whoosh of cars as they passed, heading toward downtown and the river.

“I agree.”

“Why the hell do you have to have such a well-known face?”

Lucas snorted. “And yours is any better?”

“Hey! I wasn’t the one who was on the cover of Fortune and Forbes last year.”

“Entrepreneur.”

“What?”

“Forbes and Entrepreneur,” Lucas corrected, earning him an eye roll from Snow. “And it doesn’t matter. If Gratton spotted either of us in there, he’d know something was up. He’d be gone in an instant.

“And your Romanian isn’t a dead giveaway? You have been out with him the past few months.”

“Of course I have! I’m proud to be seen with him. We’ve got nothing to hide.”

Snow snickered at Lucas’s defensive walls going up in record time. It wasn’t what he’d meant at all, but he knew his friend was edgy about his relationship, worried not only about its potential impact on his future business plans, but mostly about changes to Andrei’s life. “Idiot. I meant that Gratton likely knows that Andrei is with you.”

“If he knows that, he likely knows that Andrei a bodyguard for hire. He’s on a job. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Lucas smiled at Snow. “Yes, Andrei can protect Jude and Geoffrey. He will keep them safe. I believe in him.”

Snow grunted and looked back down at the tablet in his hands. His eyes caught on the little speaker icon in the bottom right corner, causing him to swear silently to himself. Of course Lucas would say that. Andrei could hear every fucking word they were saying. Snow pulled up the control panel and held up the tablet so Lucas could clearly see him turning off their microphones. Andrei couldn’t hear anything they said.

“Can he—”

“My answer is exactly the same,” Lucas cut him off, his voice become deadly sharp. “I didn’t say that for him or for you. I said it because it’s the damn truth. Andrei is the second most dangerous man I know. Unfortunately, the most dangerous man is out of town, grieving the death of a wonderful woman.”