“Breathe, Ward. I’m just giving you shit.” Noah paused, licked his lower lip as he flashed a wicked grin at Rowe. He loved the way Rowe followed the movement with hungry eyes, a flush staining his cheeks before Noah quickly pushed on. This he could work with. He’d back off for now. “Nothing has changed between us.”
And just like that, Noah could see the tension flow out of Rowe’s shoulders and out of his body. They were out of dangerous territory and back on firmer ground.
“It was just nice to discover that you could do something else with that mouth of yours besides get me into trouble,” Rowe joked.
Noah threw his creamer at Rowe who just laughed, raising his hands to protect himself as the little container bounced off his chest and spiraled over his shoulder. A chuckle escaped Noah as well. “You’re an ass.”
“Yeah, you love my ass.”
Noah groaned and Rowe just sat looking pleased with himself. This was a glimpse of the man he hadn’t seen in too many fucking years. Let him have his laugh. Noah didn’t mind.
A few minutes later the server delivered their food and they were content to lose themselves in a shared meal. Noah smiled to himself, feeling better simply being near Rowe again, as if the world was suddenly a little closer to being balanced. They let their conversation drift to lighter topics like football, the coming college basketball season, and the latest tech for security.
“You finally going to tell me what the hell’s going on with you?” Noah demanded when their bellies were full.
Rowe’s shoulders stiffened at his words and for a breath, he thought his friend was going to deny it, but Rowe sighed and his shoulders slumped.
“There’s a man…Boris Jagger. He runs the local crime family, mostly drugs, extortion, and sex trade. Lucas, Snow, and I ran afoul of him some years back. It took some doing, but we got square.” Rowe paused and raised his right hand, rubbing his thumb and index finger together to indicate that it had taken a lot of money to reach “square.” Rowe stared down at the table, the paper napkin bunched in his left hand. “It’s been quiet. Not a peep from this guy for years and then…out of the blue, he sent his demented muscle after us. The fucker killed Mel, Melissa—my wife. He almost killed Ian. He framed Snow for murder and planned to kill me, Snow, and Lucas.”
“I’m assuming the bastard is six feet under.”
Rowe grunted. “For nearly a year.”
“But…”
“Jagger’s not done. He wouldn’t just drop this. Not if he went to the trouble of sending this fuckstick, Gratton after us.” Rowe lifted worried eyes to Noah, who had to grind his teeth together to stop himself from reaching across the table to comfort his friend. “It’s been quiet awhile, but Jagger’s been wrapped up in a pretty nasty court case with the feds until recently. He was acquitted just days ago, and I feel like he’s now free to direct his attention back to us.”
“New attempts?”
“Not like being shot at, no. But Lucas’s new club went up in flames two nights ago. It was arson. And we don’t have a freaking clue as to why he even started with us recently. There’s no reason for it. We went our separate ways.” With a low growl, Rowe shoved a hand through his short red hair, leaving it sticking up in different directions.
“I’m in,” Noah announced. He knew there were bits that his friend was holding back, but he wasn’t doing it because he didn’t trust Noah. It was likely that it had something to do with his friends and he was protecting their privacy as much as he could. Didn’t matter. Rowe needed someone watching his back. He was still getting over the death of his wife and his friends were in danger from this Jagger. He wasn’t doing enough to keep himself safe and Noah could easily do that. Hell, after being around him less than twenty-four hours, he realized he’d do just about anything to protect the man. Those old feelings hadn’t disappeared at all. Maybe they never would.
Rowe shifted in his seat so he could pull his wallet out of his back pocket. “I wasn’t telling you so you could risk your neck in this shit. I just wanted you to know if you decided to stay. If someone is looking to put a bullet in my brainpan, you need to know that you’re gonna get hit with the splatter. It’s only right.”
Noah mirrored his movements, grabbing his own wallet. “I know you weren’t looking for help. Unfortunately, you’ve got it.” He threw a twenty on the table while Rowe did the same. It more than covered breakfast, but they were each too stubborn to let the other pay.