Two to Love

Chapter Eleven

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.”

Nate hauled her up. Callie stumbled and held on to his waist to stop from falling. Nate’s arm slid under her shoulder and pulled her close. “Yeah, well we are, and it’s really none of your business. You just find a way to get this bounty off Zane’s head.”

Leander stood. He put a hand on his partner, neatly separating the men. His handsome face was all smooth and conciliatory. “Whoa, Nate, man, we didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just a surprise. Of course, we’ll do our best for Hollister.” He nodded Callie’s way. “Ma’am, I apologize for the misunderstanding. We’ll go now, but if you can think of anything that might help, give us a call.”

Worthington backed off with a little shake of his head, and the agents retreated through the community’s heavy gates. Nate stared as they walked away.

“Why did you do that? I can handle them, Nate.” Callie took a step back.

He turned and looked a bit startled. “Why should you have to handle them? They were being jerks. I knew they never liked Zane, but I didn’t think they would be such pricks where a woman was concerned.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t to a woman they considered a lady,” Callie explained. “But I’m just a country girl. We’re good for a quick lay and not a lot else.”

It wasn’t the first time she’d come up against the type. She’d had more than her share of handsy tourists who thought she should be thrilled they were willing to give her a whirl.

Nate’s jaw tightened. He forced her to look up into his face. “Is that what you think of me?”

She shook her head. Nate wasn’t like that, but their problems were unworkable all the same. “I know I’m not an easy lay for you.”

“Damn straight. You’ve actually been really difficult, Callie.” His face softened, and he leaned over, brushing his lips sweetly against hers. The sensation made her heart clench. It took everything she had not to wind her arms around his neck and deepen the kiss. Nate pulled back, his face wary and a little disappointed. “I love you, Callie. I won’t let anyone put you down.”

And they would in his world, Callie knew. Unless she was willing to change everything about herself, she would be an albatross around his neck. “It’s okay, Nate. It didn’t bother me. So they’re going to figure out who’s after Zane?”

It was time for a change of subject. She turned from the picnic table and began walking back toward the lawn.

Nate looked like he wanted to argue but finally went with her. “We know who wants Zane. We just don’t know why, beyond revenge. If Ellis just wanted him dead, he could hire a killer. I don’t understand the game he’s playing. I know Ellis. I worked with him for years. He’s a bastard but a straightforward one. If he wanted Zane dead, someone would have shot him.”

“Is it a tradition in that club of his to take a trophy?” She shuddered at the thought of someone carving up Zane’s body to prove he was dead. It was a horrible thought, but these were criminals.

“Not that I’ve heard of. The only trophy these guys are interested in is money. This is a business, sweetheart. They can be brutal men, but I’ve never heard of taking someone’s tat.”

Callie thought of the elaborate tattoo on Zane’s chest. It was a work of art covering his entire left pectoral muscle. There was a fierce snake at the center with flames weaving around it. The multi-colored design must have taken hours and hours to impress on Zane’s skin. Her gut twisted at the thought of Zane dying for that damn tattoo. “Are they any good? Those agents, I mean.”

He stopped and took her right hand in both of his. “Baby, I know I haven’t given you a reason to believe me, but I promise it’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let them kill Zane, and I won’t let them hurt you. Leander and Worthington are real movers in the agency. They can bring other people together. They’ll find out the information we need. This was a big case, Callie. We locked up the bad guy, but we didn’t find all the money. The DEA still has people looking for Ellis’s accounts. Besides, Zane used to be an agent. You have to understand that cops take care of their own.”

Callie didn’t think they had seemed very caring. They had been downright rude when talking about Zane. But she had to trust that Nate knew what he was doing. “All right. Let’s go see if Zane’s settling in.”

“Zane’s gone fucking insane, that’s what he’s done.” Nate shook his head and suddenly his whole face flushed. “Oh, shit. They think I’m sleeping with Zane.”

Callie smiled, with real amusement this time. She thought he’d misunderstood portions of the previous conversation, but she hadn’t been about to point it out. “If it helps, I think he thinks you’re sleeping with me, too.”

“Damn it, I am sleeping with you. But this is a perfectly straight threesome. There is nothing weird about it at all. It’s a normal threesome. Well, it’s a normal twosome, and then there’s Zane.”

Callie got her first look at Zane. He stood on the lawn with a group of six other men. His arm came back and then pitched forward, a silver horseshow flying through the air and perfectly circling the stake ten feet away. He nodded with satisfaction and shook Bill Hartman’s hand before ceding his turn. He, like all the men around him jovially playing the game, was completely naked.

“He’s trying to fit in.” Nate’s lips curled up, and he obviously was stifling a laugh.

Fit in? Callie looked at the men around Zane. Despite the fantasy of a nudist resort, the truth was it was mostly middle-aged men and women. Six foot five inch Zane had at least three inches on the next tallest man who, like most of his friends, sported a pot belly and a body gone mostly soft. There was absolutely nothing soft on Zane. He stretched unselfconsciously as he watched the other man pitch a horseshoe. He laughed at something, his head thrown back, all that black hair shaking. He was broad shouldered and lean waisted. He had a six-pack that made her eyes widen, and his ass was one of the most perfect things she’d ever seen. Even completely relaxed, his cock swung in a…Callie had to take a deep breath. “He’s never going to fit in. He’s so obviously meant to stand out.”

Nate frowned at her. “Like what you see, huh? Fine. He’s not the only one who looks good. I work out.” Nate started to pull at the buttons on his shirt.

“What are you doing?” Callie grinned as she watched Nate took his clothes off. She wanted to laugh out loud, but she wouldn’t do anything that made him stop and think. Nate was running on emotion, and it was a lovely thing. He quickly unveiled his own hot body. It was different from Zane’s, but just as gorgeous as the other man’s. He was powerfully muscled with big arms, and every muscle looked like some artist had carefully sculpted it with beauty in mind. She longed to run her hands over the smooth skin covering his body.

“I can fit in, too, damn it.” He made his declaration with the same look of determination she’d seen when he talked about his plans for the future.

He kicked his boots off and strode arrogantly over to join the game. Callie noticed Bill’s surprised expression when Nate walked up and asked if he could give it try. Bill shook Nate’s hand, and Zane said something that had Nate promising vengeance.

Gina Winters, a forty-something friend of Callie’s, walked up to stand beside her. She was a pretty redhead. Her eyes flared as she looked at the sight in front of her. “Oh, my. When did the boy toys show up?”

An insane sense of satisfaction spread through Callie. “They’re with me.”

“Really?”

They were. At least for now. If she only had a few days with them, why shouldn’t she enjoy it? Callie tugged her T-shirt over her head and toed out of her shoes. “Yes, really. Those are my boy toys, Gina. And I don’t share.”

She didn’t. She didn’t share. It was a freeing revelation. Callie Sheppard had two men, and she wasn’t sharing them.

He was naked. He was naked and holding a horseshoe. Nate took a deep breath. He eyed the stake and let his arm flow back. He could do this. It was the same game, despite the fact that his junk was hanging out for all to see.

Actually, now that he thought about it, it felt kind of nice. It was different. The air felt different on his skin, softer but strangely crisper. He was more aware without the encumbrance of clothes.

His arm pitched forward, and he released the horseshoe. He’d never actually done this before, and he was horrible at it. He didn’t even get close. The horseshoe landed in the grass with a thud. Nate frowned.

“Don’t.”

He turned to Zane. “Don’t what?”

Zane put a hand on his hip. It was weird. Everyone was naked. “Don’t be an asshole. It’s just a game. You can’t be good at everything."

But he was supposed to be, a little voice inside him said. Sometimes that voice wasn’t so little. Sometimes that voice was a roar telling him that he wasn’t good enough, and he had to do better. God, what would his father think of him now? He was standing in the middle of a nudists’ colony, with his dick hanging out, playing horseshoes. “It’s all about practice.”

Zane groaned. “That’s your dad talking, man. You know, there was a time when I envied you. My mom couldn’t have given a crap whether I made anything of myself. When I got the opportunity to get that scholarship to go to private school, I had to forge her name on the paperwork. She didn’t even know I’d changed schools for six months.”

“Your mom was a drunk.” She still was, though Nate refrained from mentioning that. Nate didn’t think Zane had spoken to her for years. When Zane was in the hospital, Nate had called her. She’d said she didn’t have a son, but if she did, he owed her money. Nate had hung up, and he’d been the only one sitting by Zane’s bed when he’d finally woken up. “And you shouldn’t be jealous. My parents just wanted the perfect son. I screwed that up when I joined the DEA instead of taking over the family business.” Which his father had run into the ground. Could he have made a difference? Guilt burned through him.

Zane tugged at his elbow and led him away from the group. “Stop it. You aren’t responsible for what happened.”

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“I’ve lived and worked beside you for years. I know when you’re letting the old man get to you. He pushed you so fucking hard you couldn’t take a dump without wondering if you were the best at it.”

Nate couldn’t help it. He laughed, really laughed. It was true, and Zane knew just how to put it to him. His father had pushed him on his grades, pushed him at football, pushed him to date the prettiest girl. Only the best for a Wright… His father hated Zane.

His father wouldn’t like Callie.

That thought sobered him really quickly.

Zane’s brow was furrowed. “Now I don’t know what you’re thinking.” It seemed to bother him.

“I was wondering how Callie and my parents would get along.”

“They wouldn’t, and you know it. He’ll see her as a little piece of fluff who could never help you socially. I know exactly what your father would say. He would tell you that if you simply had to have her, keep her as a mistress and find a proper wife. That’s when I would go to jail for assaulting your dad.”

Only if Nate didn’t get to him first. Damn, Zane was right. Callie was far too sweet for his high society world. “They would tear her up.”

“I didn’t say that,” Zane corrected with a shake of his head. “She’s no shrinking violet, Nate. She can be downright mean when she wants to. Did you see what she did to my bike? That was a custom-made bike. It took some strength to pry the seat off. And what she did to the tires… I’m kind of scared of her now. I don’t think I’ll piss her off again anytime soon.”

Nate grinned at the thought. She had been one pissed off sweetheart of a woman. Callie often allowed them to take the lead, but when she put her foot down, he had the feeling he and Zane would fall in line. She could handle herself, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t get her heart broken. “You need to stick close to her. I don’t trust Ben and Marcus with her.”

Zane’s eyes went positively arctic. “What did they do?”

“I just didn’t like the way they questioned her,” Nate admitted.

“Why the hell did you call in those two? Damn it, Nate, they’re going to cause problems here. They’re assholes.”

Nate sighed. “I didn’t ask for them. I actually tried to get Tyler Williams out here.”

Williams wasn’t as senior, but he was a solid agent. He didn’t mind getting his hands dirty and did undercover like he was born for it. He would have fit in here because he fit in anywhere. He was smart and quick. He didn’t think Zane was a fuck-up.

“Yeah, he would be good here. So why send in the suits?”

Nate shrugged. “This is serious, Zane. I guess they wanted their best agents on it.”

“The director’s blind. Those two are paper pushers. The only reason they move up is the fact that they went to Harvard and their dads are big in Washington.” Zane laughed bitterly. “I know why they sent them. They want you back. They’re really here to convince you to return to work.”

“Well, I think they might reconsider now that I apparently outed us as a gay couple.” He waited for Zane to roar.

A slow smile broke over Zane’s face. “What?”

“Yeah, I was pissed about the way they treated Callie. They were acting like she didn’t matter. Assholes. I might have outed us as a threesome, and they took it wrong.”

“Nice. Now I’m not only the agent who blew his cover. I’m the gay agent who blew his cover.”

He didn’t seem upset. Zane was grinning from ear to ear. It surprised Nate. “This doesn’t bother you?”

“Nah. I’m perfectly comfortable with my heterosexuality, man. I have no desire to jump your nasty ass, but our lady likes a little kink. I put up with you for her sake,” His smile faded slightly. “It doesn’t matter what they think of me. I’m never going back. This could hurt you. Go and talk to them. Tell them you were just protecting your partner.”

“Fuck that. It’s the truth. I love Callie. I share her with you. I’m not hiding it.” He wasn’t going to hide it. He still wasn’t sure about the future, but he didn’t want to hide Callie and Zane. It didn’t feel right. He looked at Zane and realized they had a problem. “Damn it, Zane, try to be less comfortable with yourself.” Zane’s cock was lengthening by the second. “Seriously, you can’t walk around with that thing.”

Zane pointed to a spot behind him. Nate turned, and then his dick was hard, too. Callie was standing next to a woman talking animatedly. She was gloriously naked, her skin glowing in the sun. Her smile was lit by a warm glow that came from deep within her. Even as his dick got hard, Nate felt his heart soften. She was so beautiful. He heard a feminine squeal as two women ran to Callie. It was Callie’s friend, Jen, who seemed to make Stef insane, and the twins’ wife, Rachel. The three women hugged enthusiastically, and he heard a bunch of questions about what had happened. Nate felt a definite affection for the women who seemed so concerned about his Callie.

“Damn, Sheriff, you gotta put on some pants,” a wry voice with a deep western drawl said. “The naked thing only works when you keep your dick calm, man.”

Nate cupped himself and reached for his pants as the Harper twins walked up.

The second twin laughed out loud and didn’t give him the courtesy of looking away. “Yeah, Rye, this is why we couldn’t live up here. I would be hiding too damn much of myself.”

Nate tried to quell his rising embarrassment. He carefully zipped up his pants and left the shirt off. He wasn’t going to show just how uncomfortable he was. It was a natural damn reaction. She was his mate. She was naked. He would be worried if his cock didn’t react.

He looked back at Zane, who was calmly grabbing a towel from the stack near the horseshoe pit. Zane wound it around his waist. There were piles of towels neatly stacked throughout the place. Like Nate, his chest was still on full display.

“Harper,” Zane acknowledged.

“Damn, Max, you were right about him.” Rye Harper was wearing a blue shirt while his brother was in a black T-shirt. Otherwise, they were identical. The former sheriff looked Zane up and down and finally whistled. “You are one big, scary dude. Callie has way more exotic tastes than I would have thought.”

Zane’s eyes were off in the distance, watching the women as they talked. A faint smile touched his lips. “Lucky for me, huh?”

Rye’s eyes went hard as he stared at Zane. “It is lucky for you, you big son of a bitch, and it better stay that way. The way I look at it, you might have some nasty people after you, but you break her heart and I swear I’ll make those bikers look like a toddler’s playgroup.”

Max was sighing heavily. “Back off, Rye. I told you. The big guy and I have a deal. He takes care of Callie, and I don’t kill him.”

Zane’s head was thrown back as his laughter boomed across the yard. “Yeah, believe that, Harper. We made that little deal of yours with my hand wrapped around your throat.” He looked at the twins seriously. “Don’t worry about Callie. I’m staying close no matter what. She owes me. She trashed my bike, so I can’t leave.”

Nate didn’t like the way any of this sounded. The way Zane was talking, he was taking responsibility for Callie on his own.

Rye Harper held out a hand and shook Zane’s. “All right then. Just know that when you take on Callie, you take on her family. Rach will have you out to the house for dinner as soon as possible. She’s completely obsessed with having a close family for our kid.”

“You better be ready to play the doting uncle,” Max tossed in.

Yup, Nate didn’t like this feeling at all. “I think Zane and I can handle it.”

Max turned to him with a frown on his face. “You’re welcome, of course, Sheriff. For as long as you’re here. The rumor is you’re going to leave as soon as you can. I’m just glad one of you has the sense to stay with Callie.”

“Callie is going to have the good sense to stay with me.” Nate heard himself grinding the words out of his mouth. Max Harper would just have to find his close-knit family with someone else. Callie would leave with him. She would leave behind the Harper twins and Stef and Jen and all her friends at the diner. She would say goodbye to Logan and his moms, Marie and Teeny. She would wave a fond farewell to everything she knew to follow him to Washington and a cushy job where he never had to deal with alien invasions, naturists, or vegans declaring their rights at the stoplight on Friday afternoons. Zane could be a well-kept secret. Yeah, the money he could make would be worth giving up all of this, right?

“Damn it, Rachel!” Rye Harper was screaming across the yard at his pretty wife. “You put your clothes back on.”

The woman with the strawberry-blonde hair and a faint curve to her belly placed a hand on her hips and yelled right back. “No, I won’t, Rye. I’m in Rome, damn it!”

Rye turned back to his brother. “She is pregnant. What the hell is she thinking? Pregnant ladies shouldn’t be walking around like that.”

Max’s grin was broad. “I don’t see why not, bro. That’s how she got pregnant in the first place. I think she makes for some really nice scenery.” He turned a black look back on Nate and Zane. “Not that anyone else should be enjoying it.”

“You’re safe, Harper. I only got eyes for one woman.” Zane slapped Nate on the back.

Jen ran across the yard and practically threw herself in Zane’s arms. Luckily, she still had her clothes on, but Zane seemed startled by it anyway. The slender brunette kissed his cheek enthusiastically. “Thank you so much, Zane. When I saw you earlier, I was so caught up in my own drama that I forgot to thank you for saving Callie this morning.”

Zane gently disentangled himself. Nate looked over at the two naked females who were approaching now. Callie didn’t seem bothered by her friend throwing herself at Zane. She was smiling.

“You know Nate helped, too,” Callie pointed out.

Finally, someone acknowledged his contributions. He braced himself for Jen’s impact. The brunette simply gave him a distant smile. “Thank you, too, Sheriff.” She went back to looking at Zane like he was a conquering hero.

The group crowded around Zane. In one morning, Zane had managed to make himself a part of this weird little place. Nate had no doubt that Zane would be invited to the monthly poker game, behind Nate’s back of course, since Nate had pointed out that gambling was illegal. Zane would spend family dinners at the Harper ranch. Zane would become a part of Bliss.

Zane would be happy here in a way he’d never been anywhere they had lived. This place was already ingrained on Callie’s soul. Nate realized with a sudden ache that he was the one who didn’t fit. After a lifetime of being on the inside, being outside the circle hurt like hell. Was this how Zane had always felt? Was this how Zane and Callie would feel if they followed him?

A warm hand slipped into his. Callie. Her brown eyes were luminous in the late afternoon light. The very air around her seemed soft. “You okay?”

He knew that she would go with him if he pushed hard enough. Despite her earlier protestations that she wouldn’t have anything further to do with them, the minute she thought he was hurting, she was there. He could use that if he wanted to. She would go because she loved him. Zane would go, too. Zane would go because Zane loved him. They would leave behind the only place where they belonged because he wanted them to.

“Yeah,” he lied. “I’m fine, baby.” He wasn’t anywhere close to fine, but the feel of her hand in his was helping.

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.