Page 2 of Saving Noah

As well as he could remember, he and Connor hadn’t had a serious argument in their entire twenty-six years of inseparable best-friendship, which started at the ripe old age of four. If Connor didn’t take his hands off John, that would change. Zachary wasn’t a violent man, but he wasn’t having any problems whatsoever picturing his fist connecting with Connor’s arrogant smirk. It also didn’t take much effort on his part to imagine bending John over the nearest hard surface and fucking him into submission.

He shook his head, forcing the images away. John wasn’t his. John belonged to whomever opened their wallet. Zachary had never paid for sex in his entire life and wasn’t going to start. In a tone he hoped to be harsh enough to snap Connor out of his lust-fest, he said, “Let’s go, Connor. Trust me, you don’t want to get mixed up withthat.”

John’s head swung around so fast Zachary feared the kid would need to visit the chiropractor in the morning. Zachary found the shocked expression on John’s face comical. What had the kid thought? That nobody would notice the shit going in and out of his apartment? Hell, a blind nun would have caught on to what happened next door.

Connor stared at him like he resembled a zit on somebody’s ass. Too bad; his friend could be pissed all he wanted. Zachary would have the last laugh when he finally revealed to Connor what John did to pay his rent.

“What in the hell does that mean?” John asked quietly, his voice low and trembling slightly.

His blue eyes darkened to a color Zachary was certain wasn’t in the Crayola crayon box, but needed to be. The only other time he’d seen the shade he’d been in the Caribbean and the normally bright turquoise waters were darker than normal due to an impending storm. The waters had looked so beautiful, yet so deadly. John’s eyes appeared the same. Well, except a hint of sadness still lurked there.

As John glared at him, Zachary couldn’t let his bleeding heart find sympathy. The kid had made his own decisions about life. It wasn’t Zachary’s fault if his lifestyle created sadness or shame. He glared back and answered. “My friend Connor is a cop, John. Do you really want me to explain what I meant?”

John’s high cheekbones turned a faint pink even as his eyes sparkled with outrage. If Zachary considered him hot before, when he was all shy and flirting with the floorboards, outraged John blew that hotness right off the fucking charts. The tattooed rosary beads practically vibrated with fury as John’s heart thundered in his chest. His hands were on his hips, and Zachary tried not to note how long and graceful his fingers looked. He should be a musician instead of a whore.

“You’re being an ass, Zachary,” Connor said with an irritated frown.

All Connor’s playfulness had disappeared, but instead of going into full cop mode as Zachary would’ve expected after his comment, his friend had a look about him that closely resembled a mama bear about to protect her cub. What in the hell? Connor didn’t know the first damned thing about his neighbor, but he was willing to step right up and protect his honor. Yeah, as if John had any ofthatleft.

Zachary suddenly felt outnumbered and that pissed him off even more. He responded to Connor’s comment. “Better to be one than sell it.”

The faint pink blossomed into a full-blown fire-engine red as John took one tiny step in his direction…before pulling himself up short and then moving in the other way until his back pressed flat against his door. A myriad of emotions flashed across his face—shock, anger, outrage. All of those, but mostly, there was pain. The other emotions vanished quickly, but the pain remained lodged in his blue eyes as he stared at Zach.

After a few seconds, he said, “I just wanted to let you know your dog was barking a lot today. Really loud. I called the desk to see if there was a number where you could be reached, but there wasn’t one on file.”

Zachary couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Seriously? The hot neighbor from hell dared to complain about noise fromhisapartment? Zachary closed the distance between the two of them. When they stood only inches apart, he hissed, “Are you seriously complaining about my dog barking too loud when I’m forced to listen to this bullshit music coming from your apartment every damned time you decide toentertainguests?” He loved his dog a hell of a lot more than he loved looking at John’s ass.

John met him glare for glare. They stood so close Zachary could feel the other man’s breath tickle his face. He smelled so fucking good that Zachary kept reminding himself he was pissed. Part of him wanted to punch John’s pretty face but another part wanted to lean closer and see if he tasted as good as he smelled.

“I was worried about your dog,” John answered softly. “She’s always very quiet, so I was afraid something might be wrong with her.” He took a deep breath and added, “I’ll worry about her even more now that I realize she lives with an asshole.”

Zachary’s anger wilted when John told him he’d been worried about Denala. Well, shit. Now he felt like a prick. An apology died on his lips when John’s words really registered in his head. Denala didn’t bark just to hear herself bark. While she might have been rejected by the police academy for not being aggressive enough, she was the best damned dog he’d ever had in his life. She was also very pregnant with her first litter of puppies.

Shit. She always waited on him at the door, but he’d been so caught up in Connor’s cockiness and John’s nakedness he hadn’t even noticed she wasn’t there. She wasalwaysthere. He left John and Connor in the hallway, terror sweeping through him as he dashed inside.

An hour later, with the bloody mess cleaned up, Connor and Zachary were exhausted but wiped clean, and Denala was the proud mommy of eight squirming puppies. They hadn’t lost a one, but the last baby had been touch and go. Without Zachary’s medical experience, Denala or the runt might not have survived the birthing. From the looks of the spare bedroom and Denala’s exhausted expression, she’d labored all day with her delivery. He didn’t know how long the last baby had been turned sideways in her birthing canal, but his dog had been near death when he’d gotten to her.

With a broad smile, he tapped his beer bottle against Connor’s and said, “Good job, Uncle Connor.” He eased back on the couch and shoved a piece of cold pizza into his mouth. He beamed with pride. Not even the dull thud of the music next door could squash his good mood. Denala would make a good mommy dog…even if she’d been a slut that had apparently gotten herself knocked up the first time he’d looked the other way. Hell, as far as he knew, the delinquent dad was probably a Chihuahua. Denala was a German shepherd. Right now, the puppies resembled rats, so it was too early to tell if she’d been selective in her partying.

“That was disgusting, man. Please don’t ever make me do shit like that again,” Connor said as he studied his hands carefully, no doubt trying to assure himself he’d gotten off all the dog goo before he touched the pizza. Zachary saw no reason to tell him about the smear of blood on his chin.

“Your hands are clean, idiot. Eat the pizza while there’s still some left. I’m starved, so it won’t be around long.” To prove his point, he dove into the box to steal his second piece. The thing about pizza was that it was as good cold as it was hot. Add ice cold beer to the mix and Zachary skated on the outskirts of heaven.

Connor studied his hands another second and finally shrugged in defeat. Once he started eating, he didn’t stop until his half of the pizza was nothing more than a sweet memory.

After licking his fingers clean, he turned to Zachary and said, “You really were a jackass earlier, Zach. That’s not like you. What’s your deal with Hot Stuff?” His grin stretched across his face. “I’ll tell you this much, if he was my neighbor, I would’ve already nailed that ass at least ten times.” He whistled through his teeth. “Seriously, Doc, did you see his ass? Those ab muscles. Sad eyes and pouty lips. He wassweet.” Connor lazily sipped the remainder of his beer, brown eyes alert and daring Zach to deny the obvious.

Connor propped his socked feet on the coffee table, almost knocking a vase off in the process. Zach shook his head. His best friend had grown up in a family loaded with both money and love—hell, there’d even been enough leftover love for the poor kid whose family had so little to give and even fewer morals—but being born with money, Connor didn’t value material items quite as much as Zachary. And he’d let that jackass comment go because he loved the big oaf. John wasn’t Connor’s type anyway. Connor liked them big and brawny, someone he could get rough with and not accidentally break. No, Connor was antagonizing him because John was exactly the type Zachary normally went for.

“Yep, he’s a real Georgia peach,” Zachary answered with a laugh he hoped sounded like he didn’t give a fuck about his hot neighbor. Even to his own ears, he sounded fake…and desperate. “Want another beer?”

“Nope. Beer distraction—epic fail,” Connor answered. “Although you almost got me with the Georgia peach comment. My mind immediately pictured his bubble ass and started comparing it to a firm but ripe peach, all juicy and dripping with a sweet taste I could suck on all damned night long.”

Zachary’s jaw clenched in what felt like jealousy, but that couldn’t be right. No way would he be jealous where John was concerned…or of all the men who had tasted John’s juicy peach while Zachary was fucking starving for a sample. Nope, he wasn’t jealous. Couldn’t be.

Connor leaned toward Zachary and asked in a fake whisper, “Be honest, Doc. You’ve hit that, right?”

“You know that I haven’t, Connor. Quit acting like an idiot. If you knew what I know, you wouldn’t be so quick to sing his praises, whether physical or anything else. He’s not the angel the wings on his back would have you believe.” How had he missed those angel wings? Sure, the kid always had on a tank top, but sometimes it was white, and Zach’s eagle eyes should have noticed something so incredibly sexy. Somehow, he’d missed it.

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