In fact, this was more…tame. Felt like a cocktail party. Almost. People were in various stages of dress from suits down to a few who were completely naked. Those were mostly being led around by leashes. None of this bothered him, and there were a few guys in leather who looked pretty damn good.
But his mind was on finding the one tattooed guy who’d hurt Jordan.
He wouldn’t be able to stay neutral then.
“Remember,” Snow murmured into his ear, his breath warm on Jude’s neck. “This Donald guy has a warrant out for him. We see him, we leave, and we call the cops. It’s that simple.”
But it wasn’t that simple.
Jude wanted a piece of the guy. He wanted to wail on him with his own fists, hear him plead and beg the same way Jordan had. Wanted the man to feel pain and fear the same as his brother.
Unfortunately, Jude hadn’t realized how hard it would be to spot him in this crowd. There were lots of tattoos. Lots of big, muscular men. And he’d worn a mask in the video. Jude focused in on arms. The man from the video had a decorative skull with an owl on his right bicep. Jude was sure he’d recognize it.
The one nice thing was that he didn’t stand out at all looking over the bodies because everyone was looking. And a lot of people were on display. There were dancers in every corner—slim, sinuous-looking men who thankfully looked old enough to be here. He couldn’t have stomached seeing anyone underage. And there were couples with leashes who had their subs on display—one had his sub on some kind of wooden pedestal. One Dom in particular wore nothing more than a leather jockstrap. He caught Snow eyeing his ass and couldn’t help but grin at him.
“Can’t say the scenery is bad,” Snow said.
“I’d have to agree,” Jude murmured back as he took in a couple in the corner making out. While this wasn’t his usual scene, he could appreciate the aesthetics of a room full of mostly attractive men.
Soft music with a heavy, thumping beat played behind the conversation noise, and the few pieces of black leather furniture in the room had people in various states of dress on them. One couch held a couple who obviously didn’t need any privacy as they provided live porn to the room. The shorter man was all top and he fucked into his bigger partner with force. Jude watched them for a few moments, because it was damn hot, until Snow tugged him toward the bar in the corner and asked for bourbon. Jude didn’t much care what he held in his hand—he didn’t plan on drinking a thing.
Glancing over at his companion, there was no missing that Snow was struggling. He stood with his back to the room and his eyes locked on the glass tightly clenched in his hand. His face seemed paler than normal, and a bead of sweat gathered at his temple even though the house wasn’t particularly hot.
While he’d told Jude that he’d never been into participating in scenes, he’d frequented parties worse than this one in the past. But he hadn’t missed how Snow’s sharp eyes went over everyone in the room as they passed through or how he looked faintly uncomfortable. Did anyone else recognize Snow?
Had any of these men slept with Snow?
Jude wasn’t the type to be jealous, not when he knew he had the doctor’s complete heart, but the thought was a little disconcerting.
“Are you okay?” Jude asked, his voice barely reaching over a whisper.
Snow gave a jerky nod and when he finally spoke, his voice sounded as if it had been rubbed raw with sandpaper. “Never thought I’d be back here.”
Jude watched him for a moment. Snow had been up-front about his past, but they’d never really discussed it. He’d just laid out the information and then worked to distract Jude from the information by any means necessary. And Jude had let him because it eased Snow’s pain as much as his own.
“Was it all bad?”
Snow looked over at him, surprise widening his blue eyes and helping to remove some of the lines of strain. “No,” he admitted. One corner of his mouth tilted up in a tentative smile. “It wasn’t all bad. And it definitely didn’t start that way. But it got darker as time passed and the deeper I went into…this.” He finished, slowly turning back to face the room, his drink in hand like a lifeline. “It was like I got sucked down into the mire and couldn’t get out.” He softly sighed. “I don’t think I really wanted to get out. Didn’t have a good enough reason.”
Jude reached up and placed his hand against Snow’s cheek. “Until now.”
“I never wanted you to see this,” Snow murmured. Shame and pain blazed in his eyes. “It’s one thing to tell you, but for it to be right here in your face is worse.”