Chapter 10
CHAPTER
TEN
The two of them searched the break room thoroughly.
It wasn’t hard to do, being such a tiny room, and Hudson in particular was motivated by his hyper-awareness of the clock ticking down.
Gio had already searched, and the waiting men hadn’t bothered to tidy up after him.
All the cupboards were still open, the chairs askew from the table, and he’d even taken down the sound system that staff could hook up their own music to via their phones—and frequently did, in futile attempts to drown out DJ Bradylixer’s offerings outside on the dance floor.
“Nothing,” Gio said in disgust. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, anyway.
Whoever did it could’ve hidden the cash anywhere.
It could be behind one of the bars, it could be behind a sofa somewhere in the club, it could be in the bathroom trash—” He stopped and looked at Hudson.
“What do you think? Art could be our guy.”
“I don’t see how he could’ve gotten the money, though.
Either Dino or I heard Brady and Ziggy the whole time they were in that room, and then we walked them upstairs.
Art didn’t have an opportunity to take the money—” He paused.
“Oh, shit, he did. He cleaned the break room right after Ziggy and Brady came out. If one of them somehow hid the money—”
They were struck by the same thought at the same time, and ran back through to the dance floor, to where Art’s cleaning cart was parked in the corner.
“Maybe—” Gio said, then seized the trash receptacle off the cart and dumped out the contents on the floor.
Bits of old pizza, cans of drink, bottle tops, soiled Kleenex, and used poppers sprayed everywhere. “Nothing,” Gio said, disappointed.
“Nothing but a mess,” Hudson pointed out.
“Hey, dude gets paid to clean. He can clean. Come on, let’s go through those coats.”
They went back into the break room and opened the other door that led to the cloakroom. It was a small passage for staff only, allowing them to bypass the metal detector. Gio went first, and Hudson followed until Gio came to an abrupt halt a few steps in and turned around to face him.
“What is it?” Hudson whispered. “What’s wrong?”
“The Boss’ll be here soon.”
“I know, that’s why we’re in a hurry.”
“I don’t know what he’ll do, Blondie. I don’t know the guy all that well.
But if there’s a chance I’m headed to the big party in the sky before the sun rises, there’s one thing I wanna do again before I die.
” He put his arms on either side of Hudson’s head, pressing him back against the black-painted wall of the passage.
Hudson caught his breath. “But we don’t have—”
“Sure we do. Luca D’Amato can fucking wait on me,” Gio said, and rubbed his nose against Hudson’s. “Come on, Blondie. Don’t deny a condemned man his last kiss.”
It was reckless and stupid to stand there kissing Gio Carlucci instead of searching everywhere for the cash, but Gio was right in a way.
If they were going to die that morning, Hudson wanted to die with the memory of Gio’s lips on his.
Besides, the kiss they’d had in the stairwell had been such a surprise that he hadn’t been able to savor it.
He threw his arms around Gio’s body and pulled him close. “Oh,” Gio said, nosing into Hudson’s neck. “So you play all coy, but really you want me just as bad as I want you, huh?”
It must have been the fear and the adrenaline, Hudson decided, making him so horny. Because he was hard in his pants already, rubbing up against Gio’s muscular thigh pressed between his, and his heart banging so loud in his ears that he thought Gio must be able to hear it too.
“Please,” he said, although he wasn’t sure what he was even asking for. Kisses? More?
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do this?
” Gio asked, and grabbed the back of Hudson’s neck, pulling him forward.
Their lips met and Hudson felt the same naughty thrill he’d felt long ago at school when the solidly-closeted quarterback, who’d regularly made Hudson’s life hell, pulled him into the empty locker room one time after gym class and kissed the life out of him.
But Gio was no teen high school hero. He was all man, and he kissed Hudson with the confidence of one. Hudson let his hands wander, marveling at the hard expanse of muscle, the curve of Gio’s ass, the heavy knock of his gun holster. Hudson shivered at that.
No one had ever stood up for him like Gio had with Brady. No one except Connie, and she wasn’t around to protect him anymore.
“You okay?” Gio asked, breaking off the kiss. Hudson was pretty sure he’d let out a soft sob.
Thinking about Connie was difficult. He had to do it in bits and pieces, make sure he only let out little splashes of the grief now and then. If that dam ever broke he felt like it’d drown the whole of New York City.
“Yeah,” he gasped to Gio. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Gio ran a thumb over Hudson’s mouth, smearing their shared spit. “I could kiss you like this forever,” he said, his voice low and rough. “But…”
“Yeah,” Hudson agreed quickly. “We should check the coats.”
“If we get out of this—when we get out of this,” Gio said, “I wanna take you home and spend all day with you. In bed, but like, doing other shit too. Talking and stuff.”
It wasn’t the most romantic thing Hudson had ever heard, but it also kind of was. He swallowed. “Like a date?”
“Yeah,” Gio said, grinning. “Only a date spent mostly naked. If that’s okay with you. But I also want to take you out on the town, Blondie. Buy you dinner.”
“That’s okay with me. But we should go to my place.”
Gio frowned. “You live closer or something?”
“Well, yeah,” Hudson grinned. “Don’t you know where I live?”
“Why would I?”
Hudson just laughed. “You’re in for a surprise.”
Gio smirked. “Okay. You surprise me, Blondie. We better keep moving. I kiss you any more, I’m gonna start doing what I was dreaming about when I patted you down.”
“We get out of this alive, you can pat me down all you want later,” Hudson said shyly. He had never been very good at flirting, but it seemed to have the right effect on Gio, who cursed under his breath and gave him one last, hard kiss, before taking his hand and continuing down the passage.
The cloakroom was stuffy and smelled of stale booze.
But as far as Hudson was concerned, it was heavenly.
He knew, logically, that he was in deep shit, especially if they couldn’t find the money, and that even if they did find the money, there was still a dead guy in the bathroom who would have to be explained to Luca D’Amato when he arrived.
But all Hudson could think about was the way Gio tasted minty, like chewing gum. He tried to concentrate on the coats, but he kept looking over at Gio, wondering exactly what the hell Gio saw in him, Hudson Taylor, awkward, too-skinny, non-Italian…
Gio was the kind of guy who could get anyone he wanted.
Confident, competent, that bad-boy aura even when he wasn’t carrying a gun.
Even the leather overcoat he’d been wearing this winter was a sexy classic.
In fact, his was the next coat Hudson had to look through.
He finished with the one he was checking currently—it was probably Dino’s, judging by the size of it—and laid a gentle hand on Gio’s black leather coat.
It was soft and pliant under his fingers, and after another quick glance to make sure Gio wasn’t looking, Hudson put his nose to the collar and breathed in.
Yep. Leather and hair wax. It was a heady combination. Hudson began to wonder if Gio had any other leathers, and then shook the thoughts away. He was here to save his ass, not fantasize about Gio’s. But when he looked up again, Gio was smirking at him.
Screw it. Why should Hudson be embarrassed? He grinned back.
“You be careful with that,” Gio told him. “You scratch the leather, I’ll make you pay for it later.” The sexy rasp in his voice left Hudson in no doubt that the payment wouldn’t involve money.
“Is that a threat or a promise?” he asked, and Gio’s eyebrows went up.
“Now you’re talking, Blondie.”
Maybe Hudson wasn’t as bad at flirting as he’d always thought.
Something heavy in Gio’s coat banged against Hudson’s thigh. Hudson reached into the pocket and drew out a wad of cash, a thick roll the size of his own clenched fist, wrapped tight with a rubber band.