Ethan whistled a tune under his breath as he stirred the cocktail, the sound drowned by the music coming from the band playing on the stage at the far end of the club.

“Something good happen?” Akihito said, cocking an eyebrow.

Ethan smiled faintly. “You could say that.”

Ethan’s gaze flicked to where Joe sat talking with Cam and Gabe at a table some twenty feet away. Warmth filled him when he thought of the day they’d just shared.

After mercilessly teasing him that morning, Joe had made breakfast and served it on the tiny balcony overlooking the side alley next to Saron. They’d sat and eaten leisurely for the next few hours, their conversation so easy and flowing that Ethan’s heart ached.

He would happily spend every morning like that with Joe for the rest of his life.

They’d moved to the club in the afternoon, Joe working away at his laptop and making phone calls while Ethan prepped things for that evening. He’d almost not wanted Saron’s doors to open, wishing he could prolong these precious moments with the man he loved.

The phone behind the bar rang, bringing Ethan back to the present. Akihito took the call while Ethan and the third bartender continued serving the club’s patrons.

“Hey, you mind taking the delivery that just turned up?” Akihito called out to Ethan as he placed the phone back in its cradle. “The company’s usual driver called in sick today. They just sent another guy with our stock. He’s out back.”

“Sure.” Ethan finished an order, walked out from behind the counter, and headed to the rear of the club.

His cell vibrated as he crossed the kitchen and reached the door opening onto the rear alley. Ethan smiled when he saw the caller ID, turned the key in the lock, and grabbed the handle while he took the call.

“Hi, Sadie.”

“Hey, Ethan,” his aunt greeted him brightly. “Just calling to see how you’re doing, hon.”

“I’m great, thanks,” Ethan said warmly as the night air washed over him. “What are you and Bob up to?”

He stepped out into the alley, saw the taillights of a truck parked to the left, and turned to look for the driver.

Fire exploded through Ethan’s entire body from a spot on his chest, every single one of his muscles locking into painful spasm. Ethan’s mouth opened on a silent cry of agony while his widening eyes took in the figure who’d tasered him. Something hard struck the side of his head in the next instant.

Consciousness fled as darkness claimed him.

* * *

An uneasy feeling suddenly stirred inside Joe. He looked toward the bar.

“Hey, everything okay?” Cam said across from him. His best friend frowned faintly. “You’ve been kinda distracted all evening.”

“Yeah, I’m just—” Joe started to say.

The rest of the words died on his lips. He stiffened when he registered the figures behind the counter.

Ethan wasn’t there.

Joe rose and strode across the club, alarm rushing through him.

“Joe?” Cam called out behind him.

Joe ignored him, closing the distance to the bar in rapid, long steps.

He’s probably in the restroom.

Joe’s pulse thrummed wildly while he leaned across the mahogany counter, hoping with all his heart that was where Ethan had gone.

“Hey, Aki! Where’s Ethan?” he called out to Akihito.

The bartender blinked at Joe’s tense tone. “He went out back to get a delivery.”

Joe’s stomach twisted. “At this time of the night?”

Akihito grimaced. “Yeah, I thought it was strange too but—”

Joe whirled around and headed briskly toward the back of the club, the rest of Akihito’s words swallowed by the noise of the crowd.

Please, God, let him be okay!

He couldn’t explain the suffocating feeling filling his chest. The only thing he was sure of was what his instincts were telling him; something was wrong and whatever it was had everything to do with the man he very much feared he was already half in love with.

Joe’s worst fears were confirmed when he found the back door ajar and the alley vacant except for a parked truck. He dashed around the vehicle, yanked the driver’s door open, and climbed up to peer into the cabin and the cargo bay at the rear.

They were empty bar some crates.

Acid churned Joe’s stomach as he jumped back down and ran into the middle of the passage. He raised white-knuckled hands to the sides of his head, his frantic gaze searching the shadows in both directions and finding nothing, terror nearly driving him to his knees.

Joe cursed as he suddenly recalled something. He took out his cell with trembling fingers and was bringing up the security feeds from the club’s cameras when a faint sound reached his ears. He looked around and spotted Ethan’s cell on the ground some fifteen feet to the east.

Joe stumbled toward the phone and picked it up. A woman’s panicked shouts reached him as he brought it to his ear.

“Who is this?” he barked, finger swiping across the screen of his own cell as he searched for the feed from the camera above the back door.

“I’m Sadie! Sadie Skye, Ethan’s aunt!” the woman cried. “Who are you? Where’s Ethan?! I was talking to him just now and—”

Joe froze when the feed finally came up on his cell, the woman’s frightened words fading to a distant, dull roar. He bolted in the direction where he’d seen a man carry an unmoving Ethan.

“Sadie, my name is Joe Cavendish! I’m Ethan’s boss! I’ll call you back!”

Joe dropped the cell phones in his pockets and put his head down, his heart slamming erratically against his ribs. There was no time to call the cops.

He reached the crossroad at the end of the alley and slid to a stop, his gaze swinging north and south. A metallic noise came from somewhere to his left.

Joe turned and sprinted toward the sound. Voices called out to him from the direction of the club. He ignored them and accelerated.

A cat darted out of a side passage forty feet ahead and to the left. It hissed and arched its back as it stared at something in the darkness from where it’d come from before slinking away into the night.

Joe skidded around the corner seconds later.

He froze to a standstill, his feet rooted to the ground for a timeless moment. His heart stuttered in his chest as his entire world tilted to a stop.

A man straddled Ethan’s body in the middle of the filthy passage, one hand locked around the bartender’s throat, choking him while the latter struggled weakly beneath him. The man briskly worked his own erection with his other hand, his hips grinding against Ethan’s clothed groin.

Redness filled Joe’s vision. He snarled and bolted up the alley.

Ethan’s attacker started to turn at the sound of Joe’s footsteps. A grunt of surprise left him when Joe tackled him violently to the ground. They landed in a mess of tangled limbs, their breaths loud and harsh.

The man recovered faster than Joe had expected.

Joe blocked the knee swinging up toward his head and saw a taser coming at him from the corner of his eyes. He knocked it out of his assailant’s hand with a growl and wrestled the man onto his back while the weapon skittered under a dumpster.

Joe’s vision blurred as he yanked Ethan’s stalker by the front of his shirt and repeatedly drove his fist into the man’s face, grunts of rage leaving his lips. He didn’t stop when he heard voices shouting out behind him. Didn’t stop when they called out his name in alarm. Didn’t stop until someone grabbed his wrist in an iron grip.

“Joe, you’re gonna kill him!” Cam barked.

Joe blinked. Shudders racked his body as he stared down at Ethan’s attacker, his arm straining rigidly in Cam’s hold, dying to strike the man beneath him again.

The stranger’s face was a bloodied pulp, his features unrecognizable, his eyes swollen to glazed slits that looked at him unseeingly.

Joe moved off the stunned figure and sat down hard on the ground, his chest heaving with his ragged breathing while his hands dropped limply against his thighs. Blood pounded in his ears as he looked over his shoulder to where Gabe cradled Ethan’s head in his lap. A visibly shaken Akihito was on his cell behind them, his face pale as he gave the cops directions to the alley.

Ethan started to come around. Air wheezed in and out of his lips as he coughed and tried to breathe through his swollen windpipe, the fingermarks around his neck livid in the pale light washing across the passage. His eyes widened when he registered his unconscious attacker and Joe’s bleeding knuckles. A choked noise escaped him. His face crumpled.

Joe moved. He rose, stumbled unsteadily across the alley, and dropped by Ethan’s side. He took Ethan from Gabe’s arms and cradled his face to his body, rocking him gently while the latter shivered and shook against him. Wetness soaked Joe’s chest. His heart shattered in a million pieces as Ethan’s tears slowly stained his shirt.