Page 7 of Without Fail

“Aren’t you glad we convinced you to come back from Switzerland?” Syn jokingly reminded him.

“I was strong-armed,” Ryker pouted, putting on his seatbelt.

“Did they bully you, baby?” Jennifer laughed with a gentle pat.

“All we did was show up. I invited you,” Syn reminded Jennifer, but his eyes danced with laughter.

She snickered and kissed Syn’s cheek.

“Yeah,fiveof you showed up,” Ryker huffed, but he hadn’t been angry. He had been surprised and shy when Syn, Cohen, Bishop, Marshal, and Mateo had flown over and taken a car to the small villa he’d been hiding away in.

After one look at his friends, he’d burst into tears. Within two hours, Syn and Cohen had talked him into coming home. It helped that Marshal, Bishop, and Mateo had been there silently giving their support.

“Well, Cohen was a last-minute surprise,” Syn grinned. “And I just got his text, he’ll meet us at the club.”

“Since it’s almost dinner time, I say we grab some food and then hit the club after dark,” Jennifer suggested.

“What about Bishop?” Ryker asked Syn. “Don’t you have to go home and do honey-dos?”

Syn snorted. “No.”

“Are you going to tell him where you are at least?”

“He’ll find me,” Syn said

Ryker ran his eyes over his friend. Syn was hands down one of the sexiest men alive and had been recently featured as just that on the cover of a famous magazine. He had no doubts that the man’s sexy fiancé would show up to wherever they were headed.

Jennifer and Syn launched into a light-hearted argument about where to eat.

Ryker smiled for a second, but then he turned to gaze out the window at the passing city blocks.

That day in Switzerland, Marshal hadn’t said much other than an initial greeting and that his parents would like himto come home. When the plane had landed on the ground at Denver International, Marshal had walked away.

It peeved him that he hadn’t seen Marshal since. He’d tried calling, but the calls went to voicemail. The only responses he had from Marshal were one-word responses to his text messages.

The man was annoying.

“Fuck.”

Marshal’s head snapped up at the muttered word from his good friend and co-worker, Bishop Rothschild.

“What?”

Bishop rolled his eyes with a sigh and handed over the cell phone.

“I want to see,” Rock said, walking into the office of Suwan Guardians.

“I don’t know if I want to see,” Marshal muttered at Rock.

Rock smirked and dropped down next to him in an extra rolling desk chair.

The triangle video button on the phone screen had Marshal hesitating. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to see what the hell it was.

“Just watch it,” Bishop grumbled at them and Marshal hit the play button. Rock leaned over his shoulder to take a look.

Lights flashed in the dark room and music blared as young adults gyrated to the pulsing beat. It looked like the exclusive members club just off of Maine Street. The video camera swung upward and landed on the gyrating form of a slender young man with the brightest blond hair Marshal had ever seen. The way theman moved held his attention and then the stunning figure spun around.

Ryker Langston danced on the tables and someone had filmed it.

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