“No, Rowe!” Lucas thundered. “No! You’re not doing this! You’re not even considering this bullshit.”
“Lucas, calm down. He’s right. We need someone on the inside.”
“Then let the fucking cops do it. It’s their job!” Lucas pointed at the door Hollis had just exited through.
“I doubt they have anyone on the inside. I’m your best bet.” Andrei finally looked up at Lucas who was watching him with glittering pale eyes. Every muscle in his body was tensed as if he were fighting to hold his anger and desperation inside his body. “I’ve been there. It’s only been three years since I fought last. If they believe I’m unemployed and desperate for cash, they’ll not question it.”
“Will you have to fight?” Lucas asked in a deceptively low voice. Andrei hesitated, pressing his lips together in a tight, thin line. “Will you?” Lucas snapped, his voice cracking through the tense air like a whip.
“Yeah, a few times. I have to make it believable.”
“No!” Lucas glared down at Rowe, who had been watching his old friend very closely. “He’s been injured. He can’t fight. That’s why he gave it up in the first place.”
“I know.”
“Then you can’t allow this. He’s going to get himself killed!”
“He’s still a strong fighter. Just needs to get a little sparring practice in, knock the ring rust off, and he’ll be fine.”
“No! I forbid it!”
Andrei waited until Lucas met his gaze. “I can handle this.”
Lucas drew in a slow breath as if trying to pull himself together when it was obvious that he’d rather tear the office apart in a fit of rage. “Get out, Rowe,” he said in a low, calm voice. “I want to talk to Andrei alone.”
“Luc,” Rowe started, but his next words were caught in his throat by the dark glare Lucas turned on him.
“It’s okay,” Andrei said.
Rowe gave a sharp nod and pushed to his feet. Andrei clenched his teeth, swallowing the groan that rose up when he met Rowe’s eyes one last time. His boss knew or at the very least had some serious suspicions. Fuck. There was a good chance that Rowe wasn’t going to have to fake fire him. By the end of the day, Andrei was going to be fired for real (again) and very likely have the shit beaten out of him for breaking company policy with his boss’s best friend.
Lucas waited until the door closed behind Rowe before he moved. Kicking Hollis’s chair out of the way, he rounded Rowe’s desk and stepped up to Andrei, putting his hands against the wall on either side of Andrei’s head. Pain and anger radiated from him in waves until he vibrated where he stood. Andrei watched as he took in a deep breath as if trying to control himself.
“And here I thought being jealous of some tiny woman was going to be the worst part of my day,” Lucas started in a low voice.
“No need. She’s like a little sister,” Andrei replied, trying to smile. “But I am flattered. I thought you were just interested in my ass.”
“No,” Lucas gritted out through clenched teeth. “You don’t get to make jokes.”
“Lucas.” Andrei sighed. He reached up to lightly touch his cheek, but Lucas jerked away. “It’s my job to protect you. It’s what I do.”
“If that’s the case, then I’ll tell Rowe that we’ve been fucking. Tell me that’s not grounds for termination right now. No job. No reason to go through with this stupid scheme you’ve cooked up.”
“That won’t stop me.”
“No! You are mine and no one touches you.”
Andrei smiled. He’d expected that reaction, but that didn’t stop the flutter in his chest to hear the words cross Lucas’s lips. They’d been constant companions for just over four days and he already knew this man so well. Lucas was the born protector of his small group of friends. He rallied them, pushed them, supported them, and when the time came, protected them with everything he had. And somehow, Andrei had found his way into that small group…at least where Lucas was concerned.
“Doesn’t that mean you’re mine? That I have a right to protect you? That I can snarl at every fucking woman who looks at you, calculating the best way into your bed? And I sure as hell have the right to take a baseball bat to any man who smiles at you.”
Lucas looked lost, the anger draining from his face, as if he were truly stunned that anyone would feel that same level of possessiveness. He obviously didn’t know how to handle it. The ground was slipping away under his feet.
“I know you,” Andrei whispered, smiling to try to ease the sting of his words. “I know this isn’t going to last. You don’t date men. When you’re safe again, I’m gone. I get that. But while I’ve got you, I can’t accept you being in danger. I can end this by going back to the fights.”