“I am known to be generous from time to time, and I’m feeling mighty generous at the moment.” Torky smiled at Snooke. The smile was anything but friendly. It was taunting and knowing. Snooke had to get to Kane before Torky and give a plausible story of why he’d been there. Bring it up casually somehow.
“Later…spy.” Torky walked past Snooke as he stood there wondering what Torky was going to do.
There was one flaw in Snooke’s plan to get to Kane first. He didn’t know the way in to the warriors’ apartment building. It wasn’t like any other building around. You couldn’t just waltz up in there. You had to know how to get in. And Snooke hadn’t a clue. Leaving was easy. Getting in was the hard part.
Snooke took off down King Kennedy, busting a right onto Broadview. He headed straight for Chris’s house and prayed like hell along the way that Chris was home.
Snooke was out of breath and panting by the time he jogged up the front steps and rang the doorbell. He glanced around as he tried to slow his racing heart and get his breathing back to normal.
Yes! Hondo opened the door, smiling down at Snooke. Damn these warriors were big as fuck. “Hey, can I come in?”
“Always.” Hondo stepped aside, allowing Snooke to enter. It amazed him how Hondo went from wanting to kill him to being friendly as hell in such a short span. Hondo had pinned him as being a spy, and then when Snooke saved Chris’s life, wham—instant friend.
Snooke was still pissed that one of Marino’s men had chased him and Chris down. Thank goodness neither of them was killed and the fucker was in a detention cell now. Oh yeah, thankfully Marino called the hit off, too. That was a big plus.
“Is Chris here?”
“He ran to his job for a moment. Is there anything I can help with?”
Snooke thought of the cookies from the trash Hondo had tried to serve him the first night he had come around and stayed for dinner. He shuddered. Although Hondo was acting cool now, no thanks.
“I needed to ask him something.”
“Shoot.”
Should he? “I need to get in touch with Kane.” He was desperate enough to ask Hondo right about now, even as he thought about the cookies.
“That’s all?” Hondo chuckled as he pulled his cell phone out. “Easily done.”
Snooke found himself chewing his thumbnail—something he never had done before—as he waited for Hondo to talk to Kane.
“Hey, I have someone here looking for you.” Hondo winked at Snooke. “Damn, how’d you guess?”
Snooke gulped as he watched Kane walk down the steps from the upstairs. Did the guy run? It was so cool and creepy how the warriors did that. Although he’d seen it done a few times before, it was still weird. Snooke wondered why only the warriors had the ability to walk through shadows but quickly pushed the thought aside. He was too busy looking at the most gorgeous man alive.
“What’s up?” Kane nodded once at Snooke, his lust-filled eyes perusing Snooke’s body. Snooke gulped and looked over at Hondo, who stood there smirking. He glanced back at Kane, wondering what the warrior was thinking about.
“Is there somewhere we can talk?”
“Sure.” Kane smiled and held his arm out. Snooke took a step forward and placed his hand in Kane’s, feeling the warm palm and noticing how Kane’s hand swallowed his. He felt so damn dainty next to Kane. “Follow me,” Kane said in a deep timbre that had Snooke’s cock filling.
They walked through the kitchen and out to the backyard. Kane held onto his hand as they walked toward a shadow. He’d gone through the portal at the Black River, but using a shadow was a new experience. Would it hurt? Kane must have felt his hesitation.
“It’s easy. Don’t be frightened,” Kane said in a soft and coaxing tone.
Snooke nodded, allowing Kane to take him through. He became slightly dizzy and a sense of disorientation washed over him as they emerged into a bedroom. Somehow using a shadow was different. Kane turned, pulling Snooke into his arms. “Now what is it you needed?”
Snooke caught the innuendo in Kane’s question, and his heart started racing. He wasn’t untried, but to be with a warrior, this was every gay man’s dream. So why was he shaking?
Don’t get him involved.
Snooke pulled away, thinking he was insane for doing so. “I just wanted to ask you about my bruises.” Man, that sounded lame, even to his ears.
Kane’s face hardened slightly, and his jaw clenched. “I don’t know too much about it. Do you have enemies?”
Plenty. But he wasn’t going to confess that to Kane. “I can’t think of anyone offhand who would want to do that to me.” Snooke felt like shit for the lie, but he couldn’t tell Kane what was really going on in his life. The warrior would hate him.