He should have known he couldn’t get anything past Vallois. “I’m free until six.” He cleared his throat and muttered, “I have a date.”
Lucas’s mouth fell open and then snapped shut as if he were struggling with this concept. “A real date? You?”
Snow nodded and slipped on his coat. “Crazy, isn’t it? And speaking of crazy, the reason I can just go is I was put on leave this morning.”
Lucas cursed. “How long?”
“Until I’m completely clear of the murder.”
“Fuck. I know several people on the board. Let me call them and get this straightened out—”
Snow rolled his eyes. “Drop it. I’m not happy about it, but it’s best for the hospital. Besides, if Gratton is hunting me, I don’t want to be near work.”
He walked past Lucas into the hall, turned back and realized that Lucas could have seen everything he’d done with Jude through the narrow window beside his door. He shook his head. That had been pretty damn stupid. Anyone could have walked past and caught the show. “Come on,” he said, chuckling when he caught Lucas’s wicked grin. Yeah, his friend had watched. “Let’s go so I can kiss Ian’s ass and beg his forgiveness.”Chapter 17Snow took off his coat as Rialto’s general manager waved them past the lunch crowd milling around the entrance to the restaurant. Rialto had been open for only a few months, but it was already a popular lunch spot for locals. Men and women in smart business attire chatted as they waited for tables. Snow had eaten here so often, he already recognized some regulars in the bright, natural light streaming in from the open curtains. The cold and rain outside had finally dissipated—on a day when it felt like his entire life was becoming permanently gray.
The only bright spot had been Jude and his creative use of antibiotic ointment. So. Damn. Hot. It had taken his mind off that meeting with his boss. Completely, if only briefly. It had left him a little uncomfortable in his briefs, though.
On the ride over with Lucas he hadn’t been able to think about anything else. He’d blown it off when talking to Lucas, but real fear burned low in his gut. What was he going to do without his job? He’d gone in this morning, desperate for it to take his mind off Melissa, Rowe, Gratton, and the dead man in his home. Whatever fucked up plan Gratton had, if wrecking their lives was his goal, he was succeeding.
Lucas had just draped his coat over his arm when he spotted Ian and pointed. The younger man, still in his wheelchair, had parked it at a big table in the back near the kitchen and away from the main pathways. He still had the full leg cast propped up on pillows. At that moment, his handsome, square face was marred by angry, tight lips and narrowed eyes. Three waiters, who had to be close to his own age, stood around his chair. With one last fiercely whispered word, Ian pointed to the kitchen. The black-clad waiters, faces pale, scurried away as Lucas and Snow pulled out their chairs.
“Yelling at the staff already?” Snow reached for the Italian bread, deciding he might as well splurge on the carbs today. He could burn off his anger at the gym this afternoon before he met Jude. He tore a chunk off and dipped it in the garlic and parmesan oil, then groaned as he chewed. Ian’s recipe for the homemade bread always came out perfectly crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.
“Did you hear me yelling? No, I whispered in angry undertones.” Ian smiled thinly at the new waiter who came to fill their water glasses.
Lucas looked around. “What are you angry about? Everything looks and smells great. The place is packed.”
“It’s not entirely work related. That trio is having some kind of lovers’ spat and yes, it’s between all three of them.” Ian paused, rubbing the stress lines digging into his forehead. “Apparently, their silent treatment toward each other has made other staff uncomfortable and I can’t have that. So I told them to go home as soon as their replacements come in and not come back until they screw it out of their systems.”
Snow, barely listening, dipped more bread and chewed, his mind going to the hospital chief’s anger, the patients he’d had to leave. Two especially. He planned to call in, possibly to Dr. Kleinberg, and check on them. He did have friends at the hospital—but it occurred to him that getting information would be a lot easier if he’d bothered to get to know people more. He realized Lucas and Ian had fallen silent and looked up. Both stared at him with wide eyes. “What?”
“Really?” Ian leaned forward. “I just told you those three cute guys are going home to have sex and you didn’t have one comment?” He glanced at Lucas. “Did you see that? He barely looked at them.”