Sophie Oak - Two to Love

Rachel slapped at Rye’s hands. He was trying to wrap a towel around her. “Stop it.”

Max was grinning like a loon watching them fight.

“Wow, I just love this tattoo,” Jen was saying as she stared at Zane’s chest. She glanced back at Callie. “Have you really looked at this? It’s so intricate. It must have taken forever.”

“Days,” Zane conceded. He nodded at Nate. “Nate got off easy. His only took a couple of hours.”

Nate remembered the day they had first sat on the chair and gotten inked for the Barbarians. It was a statement of intent for the MC. It proved a man was in for life. Ellis took those tats seriously. Each one had the snake logo, but the art surrounding it was slightly different. Nate’s had been relatively simple, Zane’s insanely complex. There were at least four bikers with the same level of intricacy as Zane. Two of them were dead.

“What do the numbers mean?” Jen asked.

Nate dropped Callie’s hands as the world fell into place.

* * *

Zane looked down at the artist. “What numbers?”

He turned his head down, trying to get a good look at his chest. He could see the tat that marked him as a Barbarian, but all he could discern was a mass of curly-cue-looking things around a big, mean-looking snake. He tended to not pay attention to the mass of ink on his chest. Of course, he tried not to look at the other side of his chest, too. It reminded him too much of that day when he was strapped down and tortured. Ellis had branded his right side with superheated metal, and he’d cut his face all to hell. The one part Ellis insisted on leaving alone was his Barbarian tat. That had been off limits when making the pig squeal.

Zane shook off the dark thoughts. He would never figure out how his cover had been blown. Someone had known and told, and then his life had gone to hell. Now things were looking up. His eyes moved around the small crowd of people on the lawn. They were smiling and teasing each other. He was a part of it. Max Harper elbowed him in a friendly way. Jen had hugged him and thanked him. Rachel Harper was apparently ready to accept him as an uncle to her baby. Damn, he was getting misty-eyed just thinking about raising a family in this little place. The last thing he wanted to do was think about his tat. He would get it lasered off as soon as he had the cash.

“These numbers,” Jen was saying. She had called Callie over and ran her index finger over the ink. “See? They’re kind of woven into the design. Did you do that?”

A cold knowledge rushed in, seeping into his bones. He might not have wanted a career in law enforcement, but he’d been a cop long enough to have instincts. “Ellis designed it.”

He turned quickly to Nate, who was pale, his eyes locked on the tat.

“Damn it, that would explain everything,” Nate muttered.

Zane swallowed as the full reality hit him. No wonder there was a bounty on his head. Hell, they didn’t give a damn about his head—his chest was another story.

“What’s wrong?” Callie’s eyes were moving between them.

Nate’s face had already taken on that hard-as-granite look he got when he went into full-on lawman mode. Nate’s eyes got cold, and his mouth became a flat line. Everything about him became still, like a rattler waiting to strike. Nate was a true cop, and that was a good thing because it looked like they would need one.

“Nothing’s wrong, baby. At least nothing we can’t handle.” Nate stood beside Jen, who also seemed to understand that something was wrong. “Jen, I’m going to need you to write down the numbers you see. If you can discern a particular pattern off of them, I would greatly appreciate it.”

“Oh, it’s there.” Jen’s hand ran across the tat lightly, tracing the ink. “See how it flows. It starts here and winds around all the way back in a counterclockwise pattern. It’s very subtle and very distinct. This man was a true artist.”

“Yeah, well, he’s also a drug dealer and a sadist.”

“Oh my god, the account number is on Zane’s chest!” Callie finally caught up. Her eyes filled with fear.

“We need to get you to El Paso first thing in the morning.” Nate was already reaching into his pants, pulling out his cell phone. “At least we have something to talk about tonight. All the town needs to do is keep a watch out for a day or two. Once we get that account and prove to Ellis we’ve found his cash, he’ll leave Zane alone. This was never about revenge, thank god. It’s always been about money.” He turned away. “Yeah, Worthington, I think I have a solution to our problems…”

Nate’s voice faded as he walked away.

Zane reached out and grabbed Callie’s hand. The Harpers were now quiet and watching him with solemn eyes.

“You going to be okay, Zane?” Max asked.

Not Hollister. Zane. This group wouldn’t use his last name. It wasn’t intimate enough. His heart seized a little. Damn, if he played his cards right, this would be his family. He would even forgo beating the crap out of Talbot if it meant belonging in this close-knit group. He pulled Callie into his chest, needing to feel her close to him. “It’s going to be fine. I’ll give the agency the info they need, and then I’ll be out of it. Once Ellis knows the game is up, he’ll call off the dogs.”

Callie wrapped her arms around his waist and held on like she would never let go. He kissed the top her head. If he had his way, she would never have to.

Callie turned the shower to hot, as hot as she thought she could stand. It was only moments before steam started to fill the room. Callie watched in the mirror as her image faded in favor of a coating of moisture. She was an opaque ghost in the glass. She brushed the steam away, but it came back immediately. In a way, she was glad she couldn’t see her reflection. It would only show the truth—that she had aged more in the past couple of weeks than in the years before.

Tomorrow, Zane would leave, and there would be nothing here to bring him back. Sure he’d said a lot of stuff about wanting her, but he’d left her behind once. There was nothing to stop him this time. If Zane was safe and happy, then there was no reason for Nate to return, either. He would, of course. Duty would bring him back until they could find someone to take his place, but he would be marking time.

How had she run out of time so fast?

With shaking hands, she placed a towel within reach and stepped into the shower. They were leaving in the morning. She had one last night with them and only two hours before they had to be at the town meeting she herself had called. She’d thought about cancelling it so she would have more time with Nate and Zane, but these people were her friends and family. They had the right to know what was going on. The people coming after Zane were dangerous and would be until everything was sorted out. Bliss needed to be vigilant.

She felt sick at the thought of not being with them. For the first time, she really thought about going with Nate. Nate seemed to really want her to leave with him. Of course, he would probably regret it once she screwed up his career path by being a complete hick, hippy weirdo. Tears swelled in her eyes as she realized she couldn’t risk him coming to hate her when she didn’t fit into his world.

She was going to lose them both. This time it just might break her.

“Babe?” Zane’s deep voice cut through her misery. She turned away to hide her face as he pulled back the shower curtain. “Babe, are you crying?”

“How did you get in here? I locked the door.” The cooler air from outside her little shower stroked her skin, causing her to shiver. In an instant, the curtain closed, and she was warm again.

Unfortunately, Zane was on the wrong side of the curtain. She felt his hands cup her shoulders. “I spent years posing as a criminal. I can get through any door you put between us. If I can’t pick the lock, I assure you I can kick the door down.” He forcibly turned her around. “Now tell me why you’re crying.”

Callie was too shocked to hide her face now. He was still in his jeans. “Zane, you’re getting wet.”

He groaned and lowered his forehead to hers. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t thinking about my clothes. I was thinking about the fact that you’re crying.” His lips touched the tip of her nose. “Please don’t cry, babe. It tears me up.” His voice was rough, as though he was on the edge of tears himself.

He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and Callie’s hands smoothed over his skin, stopping at each puckered scar to run a loving touch over it. She loved his body, every inch of it, every scar and imperfection made him the man he was. She wound her arms tightly around his lean waist.

“I love you,” she whispered against his chest. It made no sense to hold it back. She would never say those words in this way to anyone but Zane and Nate. When they were gone, she would close off that part of herself. “I love you so much.”

His hand tangled in her wet hair. “Then marry me.”

Callie’s heart lurched, threatening to pound straight out of her chest. Her head shot up to look into Zane’s painfully serious face. His eyes were a dark green, and he seemed to be waiting for her to reject him. “Marry you? I thought you would leave.”

Now a little smile curled his lips up. His hands ran down her back, waking every nerve in her skin until he curved his fingers around her buttocks and gave them a sizzling squeeze. “Never again, Callie. I will never leave you again. I made a mistake leaving the first time. Nate made a mistake, too, but I can’t force him to acknowledge it. We both love you so fucking much, but I think he’s going to leave. He’s my best friend, Cal. He’s my brother, but I’m choosing you this time.” He took a little breath. “Do you think you would be okay if it was just you and me?”

The thought of Nate on his own made her eyes water, but there was no chance she would turn Zane down. She would love him and make a home for him and thank her lucky stars that she had a man like this. She managed to nod.

He kissed her, deep and long. His tongue reached out to caress hers. She felt his longing in that kiss. He would miss Nate, too. They would be incomplete, but they would have each other.

Zane urged her close, rubbing his jean-clad erection against her belly. “I love you, babe.” He tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back so she looked into his eyes, couldn’t miss an inch of his scarred, gorgeous face. “I’ll never let you down, Callie. I’ll try so hard to be the best husband you could have.” His throat worked up and down, choking on some unnamed emotion.

Callie easily read his face, knew what he was saying. She lifted her hands to cup his face. He would try to be everything to her. He would try to make up for the fact that Nate wasn’t with them. She sighed. She’d been so selfish. She’d thought only of how much she would miss Nate and not once of how much Zane would miss him. Nate and Zane might never have kissed or had any sexual feelings towards each other, but they were soul mates. Zane’s life would be less for the lack of Nate in it. She went on her toes and kissed him, her tongue licking along his plump lower lip, causing him to shiver. She felt a thrill race through her. She had power over this big, glorious man. It was a good thing because he had so much power over her.

“Touch me,” he demanded. His fingers tore open the fly of his jeans. He shoved them down over his hips, cursing the friction the wet denim caused. “Next time I’ll take the damn things off before I get wet.”

She grinned up at him, sliding her hands down over the hard plane of his chest to the well-defined abs. “No clothes allowed in the swimming pool. That should make it easier.”

He groaned as her hand grasped his cock. He filled and overflowed her palm. “Oh, babe, this is a great place to visit, but we can’t live here. I’m always hard around you. I can’t walk around with a naked erection. I might get called a pervert.”

He felt so good. Callie let her hand stroke him from the broad base of his cock to the engorged purple head. She was fascinated by the way he shook and moaned as her hand tracked across the silky skin. “That could be a problem. I don’t think there’s any way to hide this monster. It could scare the children.”

His eyes widened in startled dismay. “There are kids here?”

She laughed at his horror. She also noticed that his cock was weeping. She swiped her thumb over the slit of his cock, and he gasped. “No kids. This is an adult community, but there are family resorts if you like the lifestyle. I was thinking about our kids. If you want them, that is. I’m not getting any younger.” She brought her thumb to her mouth and licked off the pre-cum.