Then Paulie had died, and Hunter had been adrift. Not destroyed—hurt, but not broken. It had taken Josh Salinger to show him that.
“So what does this have to do with Chicago?” Josh asked, taking a thoughtful sip of coffee.
“During my job with Pinter, he took a trip to Chicago. I was the driver, but we went to some sort of social event downtown. Paulie and I stayed with the car”—and got laid—“but Chancellor and Creighton were the ones at Pinter’s elbow the entire time. They said it was some sort of auction. Then we got back to Arizona, and two weeks later, Chancellor and Creighton went down to Guadalajara with Pinter, got laid, and came back. Again, they had no idea what they were doing, or so they claimed. All they did was pick the package up and party. Two weeks after that, Pinter’s brains were all but running out his nose, and Chancellor and Creighton took out the gate guy and blew town, leaving the car wired to blow on the assumption that me, Paulie, and Pinter would be in it when it blew. But Pinter wasn’t completely stupid—high, but not stupid—and for some reason he was like, ‘I gotta get outta here.’ And he was so panicked, I went to go check things out at the gatehouse before we left, which was where I was when the limo blew.”
He took a big breath and looked Josh in the eyes. “What does that sound like to you?”
Josh inhaled carefully, setting his coffee down. “That sounds like they figured out what Pinter had, stole it, and tried to take down anybody who might have known anything about it. So we need to look up Guadalajara a year ago?”
“Fourteen months,” Hunter said. “But those guys—they got what they wanted. The odds of them coming back for more—”
“Are pretty big,” Chuck said. “I helped plan bank jobs for years—and I sweartagod these assholes had nothing more going for them than walk in, wave the gun, and run out. Fact is, most bad guys don’t have that much imagination, Hunter. They got money stealing one of these things before, and probably a lot. If they blew up your boss last time, that means they’ll keep ki….”
Chuck trailed off, and the silence in the room was thick.
“What?” Grace asked. “Why aren’t we talking anymore? Chuck, are you dead? Your eyes are big. Is your brain about to run out of your nose?”
Chuck slow-blinked at him, his big green eyes almost dazed. “Hunter?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re a brave man. Grace, buddy, you remember the guy who shot at you and then ended up dead?”
“Jenkins?” Grace sounded surprised. Then, “Jenkins?” A little more thoughtfully that time. Chuck, Josh, and Hunter all exchanged glances, and Josh held his hand up, counting down on his fingers.
Five, four, three, two—
“Jenkins!” Grace said excitedly. “Oh my God! He was working for your bad guys.”
“Which would explain why he was taping us,” Josh said. “If Chancellor and Creighton got a look at Hunter while he was nearby, they would have wanted to know how much he knows.”
“Which wasn’t much until I put it together right now,” Hunter said. He looked at Grace curiously. “You are a superfreaky genius. Why were you the last one in the room to get it?”
Grace shrugged. “You know what you need?” he asked. “Some of that raw sugar. Or some of those international creamers that aren’t real cream. They taste good. The kind with chocolate and toffee? Yum!”
Josh tried hard to put his eyes back in his head. “Because he had to go through three extra train stations, two stops, and a tunnel to get to the same place,” he said, and Hunter nodded in agreement.
“As long as he enjoyed the trip,” he said loyally. “We’ll get a few groceries this week, Grace. Mostly I see us staying at Josh’s, but this place will be good a couple nights a week.”
Grace grinned at Chuck and Hunter. “I’m loud,” he said. And there was so much pride in his voice, Hunter couldn’t even object.
“Sadly enough, I know that,” Josh said, and Hunter had to laugh to himself. Brothers—they would always be brothers.
“I coulda guessed,” Chuck said dryly. “But I also could have stood living my entire life without knowing.”
“So Chancellor and Creighton are probably going to be at the gem gala,” Hunter said.
“Yup,” Josh told him. “And also at the premiere night. I would put money down that Artur’s going to get a heads-up sometime this week. Sergei has used Artur too often for him not to have a part in this. I feel it.”
“So,” Hunter said, wrapping his other arm around Grace’s waist, the better to pull him tight and feel him, warm and pliant, in his lap and keep him safe from all the scary things that they both knew were out there. “Do we have a plan?”
Josh gestured to the almost empty box of donuts. “Are we awake? Are we sugared up? Have we had enough caffeine? Because I think it’s time to go back to my parents’ basement and come up with a couple. What do you say?”
“I’m wearing Hunter’s sweats for the rest of my life,” Grace said happily.
“You’ll have to change them to wash them,” Josh said. “And give him back his sugar spoon. Don’t think I can’t see it sticking out in your pocket.”
Hunter grunted in exasperation. “Dammit, Grace!”
Grace pulled it from his pocket and smacked it down on the table. “I’ll get it eventually,” he promised. “Don’t even bother to deny it.”
“I’m not going to deny it,” Hunter muttered. “I’m just going to try to give you something better. I like that spoon!”
“See?” Grace shrugged. “There is nothing better.” He kissed Hunter’s cheek, and Hunter cursed the fact that the only ideas he could come up with at the moment were how to hang on to his damned sugar spoon.
THEY STAYED the night in Grace’s room, and Hunter spent a few moments lying on the soft mattress, his eyes roving the vaulted ceiling, taking in what he understood now was Grace’s real home.
There were pictures of K-pop stars on the walls, and he had to smile, but there were also pictures of Gregory Hines, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sergei Polunin, and Carlos Acosta.
Heroes.
Pictures of him, from the second grade on, perhaps, with Josh and his family at various school outings, Felix and Julia looking very young and happier than most married couples Hunter had ever known, including his own parents.
A secret picture, probably smuggled to him by Josh, of Josh with Felix, Julia, and Danny. Danny and Felix were standing couple close—so before their breakup—and Josh was looking so very proud.
Family. Hunter had a picture of his parents and brothers that he kept in his wallet against all protocol and good sense. He loved them, distantly, but since he’d joined the service, they’d been people he sent Christmas packages to. Grace had seized upon Josh and his family with two hands, but he’d always been afraid he’d be kicked aside.
So easily wounded, Dylan Li.
“Dylan?” he murmured.
“What? Why are you still awake? Do you want to fool around?”
Hunter grunted and ran his hand under Grace’s T-shirt and the waistband of his briefs. “Yes, but no. Are you going to be okay tomorrow?”