Sophie Oak - Two to Love

“Maybe there’s no future for you, but me? I don’t know. I like it here.” Maybe he shouldn’t make such a big decision based on one day of following Callie around, but it was the way he operated. Zane made decisions based on his gut, and his gut told him that Bliss was a good place to be.

“Where are you planning on working? Or, are you going to let Callie support you?”

That was something Zane had been thinking about ever since last night. Bliss was rural. It relied on tourists, but there were enough people to support a few businesses year round. From what he could tell, there were tourists coming in and out all year. They came in the summer for the beauty of the high plains and the mountains. They came in the winter to ski. What did every tourist need? A drink.

“I’m going to open a bar, one where Callie doesn’t get nearly murdered.” He’d seen a little place near the diner that might work. He’d tended bar a little in college. Surely he could figure the rest out. Now, money was another issue, but he’d cross that bridge if he lived long enough to actually get to it. “You didn’t answer my question, Nate. Where do I fit into your perfect suburban paradise? You think I can just pretend to be your roommate? Am I supposed to be some pathetic ass who lives at his friends’ place when he’s forty? Do I ever get to hold her hand in public, or might that ruin your career path?”

Nate’s face went white, and Zane had a sudden feeling that was exactly what Nate had planned. He meant to stroll off with the girl, and Zane could come and go, as long as he did it quietly. Maybe their fight wasn’t over yet. His left fist tightened.

“Damn it, Zane. I don’t know.” Nate fell back against the sofa, his head lolling back and his hands over his eyes. “I haven’t figured it out. I just know that I can’t move up the ladder here. Can we shelve this for now? As far as Callie’s concerned, we can go jump in a lake. She’s not wondering how our permanent threesome is going to work.”

There was a short knock on the door before Bill Hartman entered, followed by two men Zane had hoped to never see again. Special Agents Ben Leander and Marcus Worthington strode behind the director of the community. They were dressed in what Zane liked to think of as upwardly mobile asshole wear. Suits, ties, expensive shoes, and sunglasses they often wore whether or not they needed them. They were friends with Nate, or more importantly, they had been friends with Nate’s father’s contacts. Nate was one of them, an agent who could have a stellar career. Zane was not. Zane, as far as they were concerned, was just a fuck-up who’d blown his cover. It didn’t matter that he’d done nothing wrong. It didn’t matter that he’d just walked in one day and Ellis knew. No one believed that he hadn’t screwed up. Not even Nate.

Ben Leander slid the shades off, and there was no mistaking the contempt in his baby blues as he looked around. “Wright? I almost didn’t recognize you in that costume. It looks like Halloween around here.” He briefly inclined his perfectly coiffed head toward Zane. “Hollister. I should have known you would be here.”

Bill looked around and seemed strangely comfortable being the only man in the room with his dick hanging out. Zane respected that about him. “Please feel free to use the office as long as you need to, gentlemen. If I can be of any assistance, I’ll be out on the lawn.” He closed the door quietly behind him.

Worthington shook his head. The sunglasses came off, and he smoothly slid them into his pocket. His eyes narrowed on the closed door. “Why the hell was that guy naked? Wright, what kind of place is this?”

“Hell, as far as I can see,” Leander replied, giving the office a once-over. It was obvious to Zane that Leander didn’t care for the homey surroundings.

“Welcome to rural Colorado, city slickers,” Zane said, throwing Max’s earlier words out. It felt good. Finally a place where he fit in and these jerks stood out like sore thumbs. Zane couldn’t believe Nate had called these guys in. Nate sure hadn’t thought outside the box on this one. “Shouldn’t the two of you be kissing someone’s dress shoes in El Paso?”

Leander rolled his eyes and then pointedly ignored him. It wasn’t the first time. Zane wasn’t stupid. These two put up with him because they thought Nate was going places.

“The director wanted us on this as quickly as possible. So Ellis is causing trouble?” Leander asked.

Nate reached in his pocket and pulled out the note from earlier. He passed it to the tall, dark-haired agent. “He had some men jump Zane last night. Apparently there’s a bounty on his head.”

“I didn’t think it was Hollister’s head he was interested in,” Worthington murmured. His lips curled slightly in distaste. Zane was pretty sure the agent was offended by the scars on his face.

Nate went a pale white. “Damn, you know that already? I didn’t put that in the report.”

Worthington raised a single aristocratic brow as he looked the note over. “You didn’t have to put it in. I have my ear to the ground. When you called in, it didn’t take long to get a snitch talking. Ellis still has men in Texas willing to work for him. I was surprised they managed to track you down, though. Hollister fell off the grid. He isn’t even pulling a paycheck. The Barbarians must be very serious about him. The word on the street is that Ellis is offering a lot of cash for him.”

“Where is he getting the money?” Zane asked the question with an exasperated sigh. “The man’s in jail. We shut down his operations. I know he still has followers, but where is he getting the kind of cash he needs to put a hit out on me?”

Leander shrugged. “You didn’t find all the cash. According to the forensic accountants, there’s millions missing. We just can’t figure out where he put it. It has to be in accounts somewhere, but there’s no paper trail. We’ve taken apart every computer associated with the Barbarians and can’t find the account numbers. He must have them memorized. We aren’t allowed to torture him, so we’ll probably never know. He kept everything hidden, even from his own lieutenants.”

“Son of a bitch,” Nate growled in obvious frustration. “Everything else is in the report. I want this guy taken down. I want to prove he’s running his gang from prison and get him shut in solitary for the rest of his freaking life.”

“That’s not going to be easy.” Worthington stared down at Nate. “We’re going back the motel to call the Denver office, and then we’ll be at the meeting tonight. We just wanted to check and make sure you found…suitable arrangements.” A smirk lit the agent’s face. Zane wondered if he’d still smirk if he broke his nose. “Obviously no one will look for you here.”

Leander snickered. “Yeah, Wright, just shoot anyone wearing pants, and you’ll be fine. It should make the job easy.”

Nate stood and sighed. “It’s a good, defensible position, okay? I’m doing the best I can with a bad situation. Back off. I have enough to deal with.”

“No shit,” Leander replied pointedly, looking at Zane. “Everyone knows what you have to put up with, man.”

Nate shook their hands. Zane stayed right where he was. No way was he kissing anyone’s butt.

Callie was his focus now. If she wasn’t Nate’s, then they would part ways. Zane didn’t like the thought of it. It left him unsettled. He’d watched Nate’s back for years, depended on him for his very existence while they were undercover. They were closer than brothers.

And Zane would let him go, if the choice was between Nate and Callie. A strange quiver hit his gut. Callie was his future.

Nate was talking quietly to the agents while Zane had a sudden vision of building something here. He would have his bar, and he would have Callie. The only thing marring that vision was the thought of Nate being so far away.

The door closed as Leander and Worthington walked out.

“Well, that went as well as it could go. Damn it, Zane. Why can’t you try to get along with them?” Nate stood over him, a disapproving frown on his face. “They have power in the agency. They can get things done. Why can’t you play the game for once in your life?”

Because he’d tried, and he wasn’t good at it. Zane got up. He was never going to be good at politics. Nate was a natural when he wanted to be. Nate could schmooze and cajole and get people to do what he wanted. He’d shown not an ounce of charm since the day they came to Bliss. Nate had saved it all up for those assholes from the agency.

Zane sighed. Nate’s priorities were all screwed up. He compromised with people who didn’t care and fought with ones who did. Well, Zane wasn’t making that mistake. He pulled his T-shirt over his head and let it fall to the ground.

Nate’s eyes widened when Zane’s hand hit the fly of his jeans and drew the zipper down. “What the hell are you doing?”

“You want me to play games and compromise?” Zane shoved his denims down with his boxers after kicking off his shoes. “I’ll play, but only when it counts.”

He walked out of the office as naked as the day he was born. This place meant something to Callie. He was going to prove he could fit in.

Callie took a deep breath as she made it to the lawn. The air held a wonderfully crisp feel to it, but Callie could feel her cheeks burning with heat. There was a smile she didn’t feel plastered on her face as she walked by people she’d known since she was a child. They called out greetings and asked how she was doing. How was she doing? She was falling apart. The last twenty-four hours had been a hurricane of emotion, and she wasn’t sure how to handle any of it.

She was in love, but naturally she couldn’t be normal. She couldn’t fall for a guy and settle in to something comfortable. No, she had to fall for two men, neither one of them easy. Zane had a death wish, and Nate wanted something she wasn’t sure she could give him. If she looked deep down, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to try. Callie turned at the edge of the lawn, preferring to walk for a bit before she headed to her room.

She walked down the narrow path that led to the front gates. The aspens were beginning to turn to browns and golds. It was almost fall, and soon it would be winter. Where would she be when the snow started falling? Would she be holed up here? Would she be packing to move to Denver? And where would they be? Nate would be waiting for his time to be up so he could move on. Zane would be drinking in some bar, maybe.

She forced herself to slow down. She could hear the clang of horseshoes hitting the metal post and the jovial laughter of the men playing the game. A small group of women walked past. Callie recognized a few of them from her mother’s old group of friends. She found a picnic bench and pondered the fact that she felt apart from everyone. She was surrounded, almost constantly, by people she knew and cared about, and she felt so alone. It was last night that had done it, she decided. She never felt as connected as she did when she made love with Nate and Zane. She became a different person. When they were alone together, she felt loved and wanted and free.

How could she give that up? How could she keep it?

“Callie Sheppard?”

Callie turned with a little gasp. She hadn’t heard the man walk up behind her. Scratch that. Two men in some serious suits. Cops. She knew two cops when she saw them.

“Officers?” They had to be here about last night. Nothing else happened in Bliss. Certainly nothing that would bring out Feds. There was zero doubt in her mind that these boys were Feds.

“Agent Benjamin Leander, I’m with the Drug Enforcement Agency,” the taller of the two said. His skin was bronze but with the slightest hint of orange that came from a salon rather than the sun. His dark brown hair was impeccable, and she bet he had a skin care regime. Definitely not a rough-and-ready cop. He was a bureaucrat. “This is my partner, Agent Marcus Worthington. We’re investigating the threats against Zane Hollister. You were at the bar when Hollister was attacked last night?”

Callie glanced at the second man who looked like a blond clone of the first. She nodded. “Yes, I was there.”

He studied her behind those mirrored aviators he wore. She couldn’t see his eyes, and it was a bit unnerving. She felt a bit like a bug under a microscope. His mouth was turned down as he took in her clothes. She was suddenly very aware of how cheap everything she owned was.

“What were you doing at that bar? You don’t look like a biker,” Worthington commented.

She swallowed. She wasn’t about to admit that she’d gone there to get laid. “I was just getting a drink. Is there something illegal about that?”