“Yeah. He just surprised me. Um. Thanks for saving me, by the way. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.”
“You’re welcome.” Gio cleared his throat, took a step back, and asked, “So, what’s next?”
“We search the staff room, I guess. Then check the coats after that.”
Gio made a great sweep of his arm. “Lead the way.”
CHAPTER
TEN
The two ofthem 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 cashanywhere. 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, hedid.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.”
“Iknow, 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 theyweregoing 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 ofGio’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…”
