Read Here for You for Free Online Page B

rooms, Cole was treated to a view of Tomas’s splendid sculpted ass on occasion, but that was the extent of it. It worked out for the best. Cole couldn’t imagine living anyplace else. Tomas dated on occasion, but he never got serious, and Cole suspected it tied back to Marc, who never allowed anybody to get close to him.
    And why not go for Brendan? He was sweet and good-looking, with his serious, huge, puppy-dog brown eyes. But that was the reason. He was too good for Cole. Brendan had plans, and he had this deluded faith in the world, which instantly made Cole feel like a brother and not a lover.
    Now River, when he’d moved in, with his fine body and serious face, Cole could imagine tapping that. But by then their household was working so well…. He didn’t want anything to screw up his family, not even screwing the delectable River.
     
     
    F IVE BLOCKS of nothing. Cole paused in front of Ian’s law office. Nowhere to go.
    I’m on my way! Tomas texted.
    God, where was Brendan? Cole walked along the sidewalk, pacing back and forth by the law office. Miserable. That was the nine-letter word for his crossword puzzle. How fucking apt.

C HAPTER F IVE
     
     
    A CAR pulled up, and Cole recognized the black BMW. Ian’s car screeched to a halt, and he climbed out, a look of unease on his face. “Did you find anything?”
    “No. You?”
    “No.”
    Ian’s expression hardened, suddenly devoid of emotion. Ian was in a fighter stance, his legs braced apart, hands clenched into fists. For a guy wearing a suit, with a tie tightly at his neck and a starchy white shirt, Ian still resembled a warrior about to do battle.
    Ian had tough, sun-bronzed skin and those fierce blue eyes that had disturbed Cole right from the start. Cole felt as if he were being x-rayed by Ian’s eyes and Ian could see right into him. Ian wasn’t as massive as Tomas or as handsome as Marc, and certainly there was nothing sweet about him like Brendan, but his entire frame exuded authority.
    “Let’s try the bicycle shops. Maybe that’s where he is?” Cole asked.
    Ian nodded curtly. “Get in.”
    Cole got into Ian’s car and buckled his seat belt. “Hurry.”
    He directed Ian to the bike shop Brendan favored. When Brendan wasn’t there, Cole directed Ian to a few others. But again, no luck. None of the bike shops had seen Brendan. They ended up circling back to Ian’s office. By that time Marc had left his job and caught up with them. Tomas arrived minutes later.
    “What the fuck?” Marc’s voice thundered. “Where’s Brendan?”
    Tomas put a hand on Marc’s shoulder.
    “We should try the hospital,” Ian said, his tone cool.
    He was good under pressure, Cole thought. Not the type you’d want around on normal days—he was a lawyer, after all—but somebody to count on in a crisis.
    “Oh God,” Tomas said.
    Fear crackled between all of them. Cole ran the tip of his tongue over his dry lips. He looked at his housemates. He met Marc’s concerned hazel eyes and then Tomas’s dark ones.
    What if Brendan had been in an accident? What if he wasn’t wearing that new bike helmet Cole had bought him for his birthday? What if some car had struck him and left him on the side of the road? Drivers in Florida were notoriously bad.
    Cole’s throat jammed with fear. He couldn’t speak. He looked away from his housemates and over to Ian, who was staring back at him grimly.
    “Marc, you and Tomas go to Ocean Vista General, and Cole and I will drive over to Ocean West. One of them might have admitted Brendan.”
    Ian didn’t wait for an answer but gave Cole a little shove toward his car. Cole yanked his arm away from Ian and glared at him. Ian merely raised his eyebrows, and Cole flushed. He was right: it wasn’t the time to object to Ian’s high-handedness.
    Marc and Tomas looked too dazed to argue with Ian.
    “I’ll call all Brendan’s friends that I can think of,” Tomas said.
    “That’s a lot of people,” Marc said softly.