A Man's World 2: Detective Shea (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Becca Van

  “There was nothing you could do, Darius. It was his word against mine and he’s been a valued member of the homicide squad for fifteen years.”

  “What did he do?” Ward asked.

  “That’s the problem,” Darius said. “He never did anything. He’s a lazy misogynist but he wants all the glory for work that isn’t his. He made Lori’s life a living hell but no matter how often I’d pull him and Regent up for their sexist comments it didn’t make a bit of difference.”

  “You tried, Darius.” Lori patted Darius’s hand. “You can’t control what other people do or say. Don’t worry about him anymore. He’s gone.”

  “Fill me on what went down today.”

  Between the four of them they filled Darius in.

  “Damn, this asshole is getting bold.”

  “That’s what worries me,” Lori said.

  Chapter Four

  Lori glanced in her rearview mirror as she headed home. She was aware of the three men following her in the truck and unmarked police car behind and knew she should have said that she lived in the same condo as them earlier, but they intimidated her and she hadn’t wanted to reveal that tidbit of info. She should have taken a circuitous route but she hadn’t thought that far ahead and now it was too late. She just hoped that they weren’t living in the apartment next door to her. It had been empty for over two months, but someone had moved into it a couple of weeks ago. And that married up with what they had told her tonight. But there was nothing she could do about it and it didn’t matter if she had driven a roundabout way home. If they were her new neighbors she would run into them eventually anyway. It was better that they found out about it sooner rather than later.

  She had been surprised over their anger for her because of Geoff and Regent, but it had made her feel warm inside. And that worried her. All three men were tall, muscular, sexy, and handsome. Darius was the only person who had ever stood up for her, but it seemed these three men were of the same ilk. And they had actually worked along with her without her asking and to her that was an anomaly. She wasn’t used to having help and was used to doing everything on her own. It was going to take her some time to let some of the reins out and let them work with her rather than against her like Geoff had. Arrogant prick.

  Geoff had been such an asshole but she was glad she didn’t have to deal with him anymore. Lori hoped that Regent missed his buddy so much that he ended up transferring to Waco, too.

  She slowed her car, pulled into her parking spot, and then sighed when Colby parked his car in the space for the neighboring apartment to hers as Ward parked the truck in the other one. Lori looked over at them and saw them all smiling at her as they got out of the truck and car.

  Scott rushed around her car and opened her door for her and then he reached in and took one of her hands in his to help her out. “You live here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Which apartment?” he asked, and she told him. He released her hand, snagged his arm around her waist and then pulled her in against his much larger, brawny frame. “We live right next door to you, honey.”

  “Yeah,” Lori said, and she closed her eyes and soaked up the warmth emanating from his body. “I sort of figured you did earlier.”

  He kissed the top of her head and released her. Lori cleared the lump of emotion from her throat and turned back to her car, closed the door and locked it. She couldn’t remember the last time she been hugged by anyone. Not even Darius hugged her. It had felt good and she could feel the walls around her heart melting, thinning, and she didn’t like that. There was no way in hell she could let Scott or his brothers close to her. She didn’t want to get hurt by coming to care for them and then having them transfer out of her department and leaving her behind.

  “What are the other neighbors like?” Ward asked from close behind her, and when she turned back around all three of the Stanford men were standing nearby watching her.

  “Quiet,” Lori started, walking toward the entrance.

  “That’s good, but I’ll bet it gets quite rowdy around here when it’s football season.”

  “Yeah,” Lori replied. “You’d better appreciate the quiet while you can. Football starts in a month.”

  “Oh don’t you worry about that, darlin’,” Colby said. “We will definitely be out on our balcony to watch any games played.”

  “Who do you root for?” Lori asked.

  “The Cardinals, of course,” Colby, Ward, and Scott answered.

  “What about you, baby?” Ward asked.

  “Dallas Cowboys.”

  “You need to change your team, honey,” Scott winked and smiled at her as they walked down the hall toward the stairs. “They didn’t do so good last year.”

  “Bite your tongue.” Lori laughed and pushed open the door to the stairs before heading up to the second floor.

  She paused in front of her door and watched as they moved past her to their own apartment.

  “Sleep well, Lori.” Ward frowned at her. “We’ll see in you the morning.”

  Lori waved and then opened her door, walked inside, and closed it behind her. She slumped against the cool wood and sighed. All her senses went on high alert and she immediately pulled her gun from her harness, flicked the safety off, and walked through her condo, checking into closets and anywhere else someone could hide. No one was here and as far as she could tell nothing had been disturbed, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of another presence.

  She walked back through the two spare bedrooms and even checked the bathroom before heading to her own room again. She flicked the safety back on, holstered her weapon, and then she removed her holster, put it in her bedside drawer, and locked it. After removing her clothes she walked into the bathroom and opened the opaque shower door.

  Lori gasped and backed away as the gruesome scene stared her in the face. There, in the bottom of her shower, was a blow-up doll with a blonde wig with splashes of red paint in the shape of cuts and slashes all over it. Plastered against the tile shower wall was a message in red block letters on a black piece of cardboard.

  “You’re the only one who sees me. We will be together, soon.”

  Lori couldn’t believe she’d made a rookie’s mistake and hadn’t thought to open the shower door when she’d first searched her apartment. She knew if she didn’t get a full night’s sleep soon, she was going to make more mistakes and maybe even end up dead, now that this fucker was targeting her. She hurried back to her room, unlocked the drawer, retrieved her gun from the holster and quickly pulled her clothes back on. When she was dressed she walked back to the main bathroom and pointing her gun at the shower she yanked the glass door open, and sagged with relief when she found it totally empty.

  She knew she should call in a team but she didn’t want to worry Darius more than he already was, and even though she felt bad about it she wasn’t going to tell her new partner and neighbors either. She could just imagine how angry all three of the Stanford men would be and she didn’t want to end up having them as body guards twenty-four-seven.

  No, she was having a damn hard time being around them after only one day and trying to keep her hormones under control was a bitch. Lori didn’t trust anyone. She’d never had a reason to and she wasn’t going to start now. The one and only person she did trust was Darius and she could see him riding her ass about having someone with her at all times. There was no way she could handle that. She was used to being on her own and knew she would probably go stir crazy if she didn’t have her alone time.

  Plus she needed time away from those three men to keep her wayward libido under wraps and have the space she needed to shore up her defenses against them again.

  Lori had never ever reacted to anyone the way she had Ward, Scott, and Colby, and she didn’t like it one little bit. But what aggrieved her the most was that she trusted them, and that scared the shit out of her.

  Decision made, Lori grabbed her car and apartment keys and hurried back down to her car. After pulling her kit
bag from the back seat, she went back inside and got to work. By the time she was done dusting her place for prints and finding not even a partial on anything, it was two in the morning. She was about to head to bed and strip off but then she realized if she didn’t clean up all the black powder and her neighbors came calling, they would know something had happened. So with a tired sigh she went to the kitchen, took another couple of painkillers to try and circumvent the almost-constant headache, and got to work.

  Two hours later, too tired to even bother about showering, she stripped off and got into bed with her gun beneath her pillow. But every time she closed her eyes all she saw was the gruesome-looking blow up doll she’d deflated and packed into a large plastic evidence bag and the message on the black cardboard. By the time her alarm clock pierced the quiet, she hadn’t had any sleep and didn’t know how she was going to get through the day. But she didn’t have time to slow down and she had a lot of work to do. Those deceased women deserved all her attention so she could put this sick fuck behind bars, and lack of sleep wasn’t going to stand in the way of doing her job.

  * * * *

  Scott and his brothers entered Lori’s office and she didn’t even look up at them. In fact, she totally ignored them as her fingers flew over the keyboard and she stared at the computer monitor. The light from the screen highlighted her face and he noticed that the dark smudges beneath her eyes were even darker. Her face was pale and drawn and she looked like she could keel over from exhaustion at any moment.

  He glanced at his brothers and saw them both frowning at her and knew they had noticed her pallor, too. Scott moved around her desk and behind her and saw that she was just completing the report on their latest victim.

  “Damn, honey. What the hell time did you get here?”

  Lori jumped and spun around and her hand immediately went to the gun in her holster the moment he’d started speaking. She released a sigh and almost slumped with relief in her chair. Once more he glanced at his brothers and saw that they were both watching her intently.

  “Do you have to sneak up on a person like that?” she snapped.

  “We didn’t sneak.” Scott moved and sat on the edge of her desk next to her. He reached out to stroke a finger beneath one of her eyes but she flinched back from him. He dropped his hand and clenched his fist in frustration, but kept his voice calm when he spoke again. “You were so intent on what you were doing you didn’t hear us come in.”

  “Sorry.” Lori shrugged her shoulders and he heard the contriteness in her voice, but he also heard what sounded like a tremor.

  “What’s wrong, baby?” Ward asked as he moved closer to the front of her desk and stood with his legs shoulder width apart and his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Nothing’s wrong. Geez, I just have a shit load of work to do and as far as I know so do you three, so get to it,” she snarled.

  Scott knew then that something was going on with her, but also knew she wasn’t about to enlighten them. With a sigh of frustration, he grabbed up some files and headed out to his own office, which was right next door to hers. He heard Colby following him and without saying a word, passed half the files to him and got to work.

  Lunch time came and went but he and Colby didn’t stop working as they ate at their desks. By knock off time, he hadn’t picked up any new clues on the perp and neither had Colby.

  As they walked out of their office to meet Ward, he glanced in and was surprised to find Lori gone.

  “Where is she?” Scott asked.

  Ward shrugged as he walked toward them. “She left half an hour ago, saying she had an appointment.”

  “Did she talk to you?” Colby asked.

  “Other than to snarl at all three of us this morning, no.”

  “Not a word?” Scott asked.

  “No.”

  “Damn, what the hell is going on with her?” Colby snapped.

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Ward replied.

  “Did you see her reach for her gun?” Scott asked.

  “Yeah,” Ward and Colby answered at the same time.

  “Something’s spooking her bad, but she’s shutting herself off from us even more.”

  “Do you think Darius will know what’s going on?” Colby asked.

  “I doubt it,” Scot said, “but I want to talk to him anyway. He knows that girl better than anyone. Maybe if we ask the right questions we can figure out what’s going on?”

  “I don’t like our chances,” Ward said. “They seem pretty tight.”

  “Yeah, but so are we,” Scott said. “Let’s go see what we can dig up.”

  His brothers nodded and then Scott headed down the hall toward Darius’s office. He was pleased to see him still sitting at his desk and not on the phone for a change. He knocked and then opened the door when Darius beckoned them to enter.

  “What can I do for you guys?”

  “Have you seen Lori today?” Ward asked.

  “I popped my head in first thing this morning. Why?”

  “She’s so damn tired she looks like she’s about to pass out,” Scott said.

  “And?” Darius asked.

  “There’s something going on with her,” Ward said. “She snapped our heads off this morning and hasn’t spoken to us since.”

  Darius raised an eyebrow and waited them out.

  “She was so intent on work she didn’t hear us come in, she reached for her gun when Scott spoke to her, and there was fear in her eyes.”

  “Shit!” Darius pushed his chair back and rose to his feet. “Where is she?”

  “Gone,” Ward said. “She left half an hour ago saying she had an appointment.”

  “Fuck!” Darius snagged his car keys from his desk and then he was pushing through them to get to the door.

  Scott and his brothers rushed after him and followed him down to the basement car park.

  “What the hell is going on?” Scott asked in a loud voice so Darius would hear him. He was already halfway across the lot and he and his brothers had to jog to catch up. For an older man he could certainly move fast.

  Darius stopped in his tracks and turned to face them. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

  “So you think something’s wrong, too?” Colby asked.

  “Oh yeah, something is definitely wrong.” Darius scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’ve known Lori since she was sixteen years old. The only time she gets more introverted and snappy is if she is really, really scared.”

  “We’ll follow you,” Ward said as he jumped into the back seat of Scott and Colby’s car. Then they were pealing out of the parking lot right behind Darius.

  Twenty minutes later they were all jogging up the stairs toward Lori’s condo apartment.

  Darius pounded his fist on the door and then shifted impatiently from foot to foot while waiting for Lori to answer. He was about to knock again, but the door opened and a bleary-eyed Lori swung the door open.

  Scott inhaled a deep breath at seeing her face flushed from sleep and her long golden blonde hair down and tousled. She looked so fucking sexy he imagined this was just what she’d look like after being made love to by him and his brothers. But when he looked closer he noticed dried tear tracks on her face and her eyes were a little puffy and bloodshot.

  “What’s wrong?” Lori asked.

  “That’s what we’d like to know,” Darius said in a low, calm voice—one that Scott and, from the look on his brothers faces, they, too, had never heard from him before.

  She glanced away to the left before meeting Darius’s eyes again and then answered, “Nothing’s wrong. I just didn’t get any…much sleep last night and I left half an hour earlier than usual.”

  “Bullshit,” Darius said and walked into her apartment.

  Lori back up and moved to the side as she glanced at them but then she completely ignored him, Ward, and Colby as she closed the door, leaned back against it and crossed her arms beneath her breasts.

  The action pushed her
breasts up and revealed more of her deep cleavage and he couldn’t help but notice how voluptuous she was. He unconsciously, or maybe it was a conscious action, licked his lips as he tried to imagine what color her nipples were and if they would taste as sweet as he suspected.

  He was pulled from his lascivious thoughts when Darius started talking again.

  “What are you hiding, Lori? What has you so scared?”

  She glanced toward Scott and his brothers as they stood near the sofa but then she met Darius’s gaze again. “I don’t know…”

  “Don’t feed me a line, young lady.” Darius moved closer and then he stared down at her. “How long have I known you, honey?” He didn’t wait for an answer to his rhetorical question and continued on. “Too long for me to believe the crap you’re spouting. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  A pink tinge crept up Lori’s chest and up her cheeks and then all the blood drained from her face. She closed her eyes and swayed on her feet as if she was about to pass out.

  Scott rushed over, snagged an arm around her waist, and pulled her up against his body. She sagged in his arms and then he felt her knees buckle and he swept her up into his arms. “Shit, she fucking passed out.” He carried her over to the sofa and gently placed her on it.

  Ward picked up a cushion and placed it beneath her head and Colby pulled the throw off the back of the sofa and covered her with it.

  “Do you know who her doctor is?” Colby asked as he frowned down at Lori with a worried expression.

  “No, but it doesn’t matter. I’m calling our department doctor,” Darius said, and pulled his cell phone from his belt and then dialed.

  Lori shifted on the lounge and whimpered in her sleep. The hem of her cotton T-shirt rode up and that’s when Scott saw her gun tucked between the waistband of her jeans and skin.

  Darius finished up his call just as Scott pointed to it.

  “Why the hell would she have that on her when she’s safe and secure in her own home?”