“We made it out,” Lucas said in a hard voice, hoping that would be the end of it.
“Because of you.”
“Rowe…”
“But that next night, when we were all given a couple days of leave.” A low chuckle rumbled up Rowe’s throat and Lucas dropped his face into his hand. He couldn’t look at Milos any longer because he knew there was no stopping Rowe. “Now, our young Lucas needed to get drunk and get laid—not necessarily in that order.”
“Only natural,” Milos commented, sounding as if he was holding back a laugh.
“Keep in mind that young Lucas had twice the muscle that he has now and he was dressed to drench the panties of every female who came within fifty feet of him.”
“Fuck, Rowe…” Lucas grumbled.
“But dear Lucas wasn’t content to catch the eye of all the available women in each bar. No, he wanted the taken ones too. So, he picked a bar, had a couple drinks and then spotted the biggest guy in the place with a date. He then proceeded to flirt with that girl until the guy finally attacked Lucas.”
“How many fights?”
Lucas lifted his head and chanced a look at Milos to see the man watching him with a smile. “Six,” he admitted on a sigh. “We were kicked out of six bars that night because of fights I started.”
“And your boys had your back each time,” Milos supplied.
“Fuck no!” Rowe crowed. “Snow and I stood at the bar, drinking and placing bets on how long the fight would last before Lucas laid them out flat. I made a hundred bucks that night off the doc.” Rowe looked at Lucas, his expression growing a little more serious. “We came too close to death on that mission and Lucas wasn’t ready to forgive himself. Needed to fight to get it out of his system. To move on.”
“You ever get laid?” Milos asked.
Lucas smirked and shook his head. “No, but I was glad we got through that night without getting arrested…or worse.”
Rowe grabbed his beer and stood. Leaning over Lucas, he patted him in the middle of the chest. “Luc’s always got our back and we’ve always got his. Just glad he finally found someone he can trust with his heart.” He then wandered to the door leading to the deck where Snow and his wife were still telling mad stories that had them both laughing like hyenas.
Milos sat back on the sofa, staring at Lucas with a smile.
“I trust you got all that.”
“You mean that you’re a trustworthy, honorable man who takes his duty to his family seriously?” Milos teased.
Lucas flushed and looked at his hands. “Rowe isn’t a subtle man.”
“No, but he’s a good judge of character.”6The Closet“I know!” Ian’s sudden yell snapped Lucas from his musings and he almost spilled his drink. Ian pointed at the wall next to his dining table. “We could put my television trays against that wall and put some of the food there.”
“You actually have those?” Andrei asked, his tone incredulous.
Lucas couldn’t help but snicker because judging by how nice he kept his place, TV trays seemed out of place—like Ian would only sit at the table with wine, candles, and an elegant meal. But Ian had a side he didn’t let everyone see. One who put his feet up, ate in front of the television and yelled four-letter words at ball games along with Rowe and Melissa.
“I couldn’t resist them. Wait until you see. You’ll get it.” His infectious grin toward Andrei held a flirty edge that had Snow glancing at Lucas. Yeah, he was overly possessive when it came to Andrei and couldn’t help it, but none of the men Lucas called friend would ever do anything to hurt him.
“Can you two go up and bring them down? They’re in the back of my closet.”
As Lucas followed Andrei up the stairs, his gaze was again pulled to the way Andrei’s pants fit. His boyfriend turned, caught his stare and shook his head. “No hands. Promise. My poor dick is confused from all the up and down today.”
He would promise no such thing. He followed him into the closet, shut the door behind them and pushed Andrei against the only free wall. “I’ll take care of its confusion. Just have to work fast.” He nuzzled into the soft fall of hair on the back of Andrei’s neck. “Fuck, you smell good.”
“Lucas,” Andrei hissed. “We don’t have time for this.” But he tilted his head to the side.
Lucas opened his mouth on the side of Andrei’s neck, wrapped one hand around the front of his throat and sent his free hand to the belt and button on Andrei’s slacks.
“Shit,” Andrei breathed.
He got his pants loose, brought his hand around and dipped inside the back of his pants. Lucas groaned as one taut globe filled his hand. He dug his fingers in, pulling Andrei’s entire body closer to him by gripping his ass.