Sophie Oak - Two to Love

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?”

Agent Worthington huffed and turned away. Leander leaned in. “There’s nothing illegal about getting a drink, Miss Sheppard, but that is a known place where outlaw bikers hang out. You don’t seem to keep good company.”

“I didn’t know anyone there except Zane.”

“Like I said, you don’t seem to keep good company, ma’am.” Leander sat perfectly still, almost unnervingly so. “If you didn’t know anyone, why did you go?”

Callie felt her eyes narrow. “I’ve answered that question for you, Agent Leander. I was thirsty.”

“Fine, we’ve established you were thirsty and can’t pick your friends. Let’s move on. What happened when you got to the establishment?”

She folded her hands in her lap and clenched them tightly. She was going to get through this little interview for Zane’s sake. “I ordered a drink and talked to Zane.”

“How do you know Zane Hollister?” Worthington stood over her, one foot on the bench, arm negligently across his knee. “Or were you just trying to pick up a date for the night?”

“Is this how you question a witness, Agent Worthington?” Nate’s deep voice cut through the condescension. Callie turned, and Nate strode toward her. He sat down beside her, his hand entwining with hers. He didn’t look at her but kept his eyes on the men across the table. “Ms. Sheppard is a witness, not a suspect. She’s also my girlfriend. I expect you to treat her with some modicum of respect.”

Leander sighed. “Sorry, Nate. I didn’t realize you brought a girl with you.”

“We thought she was some local piece Zane was doing.” Worthington snorted dismissively.

Glancing at Nate, she saw his eyes narrow and knew he was about to explode. She needed to avoid that. He wanted to go back to the DEA, and beating the crap out of a couple of agents wouldn’t help his case. It was time to start standing up for herself. A slow smile slid across her face. She wasn’t about to let these jerks intimidate her or make her feel bad about herself. She could do that all on her own.

She pulled her hand out of Nate’s. “I am local, gentlemen. And I’m definitely doing Zane.”

She felt Nate stiffen beside her. At least he wasn’t thinking about punching the agents now. Her heart thudded dully in her chest when she realized his face had turned a bright red, and he wasn’t trying to hold onto her anymore. This was what a relationship would be like with Nate. He would always be ashamed of what they were.

“I thought you said she was your girlfriend.” Leander was talking to Nate but stared straight through Callie.

Callie shrugged. It didn’t matter what they thought of her. She just wanted Nate to get out of this with his pride intact. She loved him. She couldn’t put him through this type of relationship. Zane could handle it, if he really wanted to. Nate would never be able to live the way a threesome required, and she couldn’t live the life he wanted. “I’m his friend, and I’m a girl. That’s just the way we talk out here in the country. I’m not Zane’s girlfriend, either. I only saw him a couple of times. I’m the Sheriff’s admin. I run the office.”

“I bet you do.” That came from Worthington. His sunglasses were off. He stared openly at her.

Then he was staring at Nate’s enraged face. He pushed his body away from the table and was in the other agent’s space with the inherent grace of a predator. “You back the fuck off. She is my girlfriend, and she is Zane’s girlfriend. It isn’t a friendly relationship. Get it? And neither one of us is going to allow you to treat her with disrespect.”

Worthington pulled back and held his hands up. “Sorry, man. Didn’t realize you and Hollister were…like that.”