A guard appeared like smoke and opened the door for them. They were immediately surrounded by more guards. Salem barely noticed. The couple held his full attention. No one ever spoke to him about JD without sneering at him, other than the boys, of course.
Noir flashed him a smile. “He spoke highly of you. JD had an eye for quality, so I was admittedly intrigued to meet you tonight. He said you would ensure his companies continued to run and profit exactly as they always had when he was gone. Truthfully, I thought that wasbullshit, but I also know better than to judge a person by their age or where they started. He was right, of course.”
In minutes, they were sequestered in the back of a huge SUV. Salem barely noticed. He hadn’t expected to enjoy himself this much. Salem’s hands rose and fell. “JD was adamant about his wishes. Of course I honored them.”
“We should show you where we live. Maybe you can bring your puppies one day and visit.”
A smile exploded across Salem’s face. No one except JD and Salem referred to Quest and Dodge as puppies. Nothing else could have shown howwell Noir had known Salem’s husband. “Are you sure? They can get pretty destructive.”
Lazarus and Noir both laughed.
Salem took a cleansing breath. The night moved to eight out of ten stars. He didn’t give another thought to Shaw.
The guy sat on their front porch. He had been there nearly an hour. Quest might have gone out of his mind with worry when Shaw showed up without Salem. Thankfully, Salem had immediatelyanswered his texts. Dodge and he had decided to leave the visibly drunk and enraged visitor outside to wait. They stayed close to the door, though. Just in case. Quest truly hoped Shaw would give up and leave before Salem got home. He didn’t want to kick a lawyer’s ass. That was likely a lifetime of legal drama he didn’t need or want. But when Salem appeared and Shaw shot to his feet, Quest was on his.
Dodge grabbed his arm. “You know damn well it won’t end well for you if you go out there. We can afford to win anything he throws at us. But Salem might not forgive you for thinking he couldn’t handle himself.Salem is a badass. He’ll take care of this.”
Quest settled back down and went back to eavesdropping on the pair through a phone app, showing them everything through the security cameras.
“What the hell? You just left. You didn’t even tell me before bailing on me.”
Salem looked completely calm. Just as Dodge pointed out, Salem knew how to handle himself. “I did you a favor. You said you couldn’t afford to lose Noir as a client. It didn’t look like you gave a fuck about that when you were fighting withyour man. Thankfully, Noir wanted to reminisce about the parties JD used to throw.”
Dodge and Quest exchanged glances. Those had been some wild parties.
“My man?” Shaw’s outrage had them returning to the drama.
“Yeah. Your man. Surely you don’t think I’m an idiot. You don’t harbor that much animosity toward someone unless you’re fucking, and you were definitely both feet in on Joesph.”
“Ha!” The loud, obnoxiously snide laugh made Salem visibly jump.
Quest was back on hisfeet. Salem needed him.
Dodge pulled him back down.
“You have a lot of goddamn nerve. Don’t think I don’t know you keep accepting my dates as a way to run from the way you feel about dumb and dumber.”
Dodge was the one on his feet this time. They were barely holding each other back.
Except Salem held his own. He went toe to toe with Shaw. His voice came out like ice. “Those two have twice the class you’ll ever have. I honestly don’t know how you convinced Joesph to have anything to do with you. You’re obviously a huge piece of shit and you should definitely find him and kissthe ground he walks on. There’s zero chance anyone else sees how ugly you are on the inside and loves you.”
“Goddamn.” Dodge sat back down.
Shaw stepped even closer, obviously not cowed. “Oh. I see it now. Those poor bastards. Do they even realize you’ll never love them? This little ice princess act toward me is just your way of hiding the fact that you’re incapable of loving anything except money. I never stood a chance with you because no one does. If I’m ugly inside, what does that make you?”
Salem took a step back. “Realistic. I’m not incapable of love. The opposite, in fact. But no onecould love me. Not really. It’s best I don’t believe otherwise. If you go to the garage, there’s a flight of stairs that leads to the guest loft. Don’t drive home and kill someone or ruin your career. I could smell the liquor on you when I hit the sidewalk.” He stepped around Shaw and headed for the door.
Shaw threw his hands in the air.
Salem didn’t look back.
Dodge and Quest closed the app and immediately headed for the door to meet him. Quest’s chest hurt. He supposed he knew Salem felt that way. There was no pretending Salem wasn’t a mental mess, just like them. The funny thing was, Salem was theone who couldn’t see them. He didn’t see how fucked up they were.
When Salem walked through the door, he barely spared them a glance before walking past them and into the bedroom. They exchanged a glance and followed. Salem removed his jacket and bow tie. He untucked his shirt. The entire time he was wooden—like he might snap at any moment. They didn’t even look each other’s way before wrapping Salem in a tight embrace. A lump grew in Quest’s throat at the way Salem trembled.
Salem let the hug go on for a few seconds before pushing his way out from betweenthem. He paced away. Before Quest knew what would happen, Salem broke.
“FUCCKKK!” He bent at the waist and screamed at the top of his lungs.
