Mastered by Mavericks [Doms of Destiny, Colorado 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Chloe Lang

  The sheriff’s fists clenched in obvious frustration. “I’ll be back after I find out what Miss Blue has to say. Nicole, please stay here with Reed and Sawyer. I’ve got more to discuss with the three of you.”

  She nodded, and the duo stepped out of the room through the same door she’d entered.

  Gold folded up the stepladder and held it in his arms. “I’m going to put this up. I’ll be in my office if any of you need me.” The owner of the club walked to another door at the opposite side of the room, leaving her alone with Reed and Sawyer, the two beautiful cowboys who were ramping up her anxiety to the max.

  Being alone with them was adding to the little quakes already inside her. What was wrong with her? I’m a cop. She wasn’t one of those women who needed a man. Never had. Never would. She was self-reliant. Always. Then why am I shivering? The room wasn’t cold.

  “This might be a good time to get to know each other better.” Reed looked her straight in the eyes, and she felt her whole body begin to melt. “Chicago, you have family in the Windy City?”

  Her gut tightened as her constant companions, guilt and grief, wrapped their claws around her insides. “No. Just me.”

  Sawyer cupped her chin, causing her to catch her breath. “You’re alone?”

  God, he was so devastatingly handsome.

  This was none of their business. “I have family, just not in Chicago anymore,” she lied.

  He sighed, removing his hand. “Not true. I know. Reed and I lost our parents a while back. I know loss when I see it, and I definitely see it in your face, Nicole.”

  She felt her eyes widen in shock. How could he see into her so easily? It was unsettling. She tightened her jaw, willing her internal walls to thicken. With her guard back up and in place, she wanted to get back to the case at hand. Even if Wolfe and Alexei were right about the Russians looking for her, how would they know she was in Destiny? The Coleman brothers definitely looked the part as big, brawny protectors, but she had her pistol. With it, she could handle just about any asshole who dared to show up.

  While the sheriff remained in the hallway with Phoebe, Nicole thought it would be a good idea to interrogate these cowboys.

  She’d start with the easy question. “Do either of you know Katherine White?”

  “You mean Amber?” Reed nodded. “Yes.”

  “No, I mean Katherine White.” She’d never heard of the other woman. “She was missing for a few days about three months ago. Who is Amber?”

  “Same person,” Sawyer interjected. “She had amnesia, so the Stone brothers, the guys who found her, started calling her Amber. After her memory returned, the new name suited her more. That’s what everyone in town calls her now.”

  “Except her sister, Belle. She still calls her Katherine.” Reed seemed to be studying her like she was a newly discovered species.

  Though everything inside her pushed her to look away from his intense stare, she didn’t. She needed to hold her ground or she would lose this battle of wills, and Reed’s seemed to be limitless.

  “What about Sergei Mitrofanov?” she asked, resisting the urge to chew on her lower lip like a silly schoolgirl. What’s wrong with me? It wasn’t like she was an innocent. She’d had sex, though not as much as most in the station thought. Unfortunately, most of her sexual experiences had occurred during her low time, which meant her memories of them were clouded. Guilt scraped the inside of her head, making her wince.

  “I know he’s dead,” Sawyer interjected.

  “Is that why you’re here in Destiny, Chicago? Investigating the bastard’s death?”

  She’d said too much already. “I think I should be asking the questions here, not you two mavericks.”

  Sheriff Wolfe walked back into the room, but Phoebe wasn’t with him. The look on his face seemed to indicate whatever she’d said to him wasn’t good.

  “Everything okay?” Sawyer asked.

  The sheriff frowned. “The parole board approved Shane Blue’s release. He’ll be back in town soon.”

  “Damn…” Reed shook his head. “What happens now?”

  “Miss Blue is concerned that I’ll give her brother hell when he returns. I assured her that as long as he stays out of trouble, I’ll leave him alone.” The sheriff turned his attention to her. “I’ll say the same to you, Flowers. I’ll be the one asking the questions. This is my town. You’re on suspension, not on duty. Remember that.”

  She had no idea who this Shane person was, but Sheriff Wolfe clearly wasn’t happy to have him back in town. The harshness she’d heard during their phone call yesterday was back in full force.

  “What do you need from us, Jason?” Sawyer asked. “Nicole mentioned something about the Russian who lied about being Amber’s husband.”

  “She did?” The lawman glared at her. “What else did she say?”

  She didn’t like his demeaning tone and wasn’t about to let it slide without a fight. “I’m not a rookie, Sheriff.”

  “Maybe not, but Chicago PD took you off your beat two years ago and chained you to a desk job, right?”

  Had her commander shared all her black marks with Wolfe? If not him, then who? “I like working the desk.”

  Reed snorted. “Not true. I may not be law enforcement, Chicago, but even I can tell you’re lying about that.”

  Sawyer stepped between her and the sheriff as if he meant to defend her from him. It only made her angry.

  “Move out of my way, Mr. Coleman. I’ve been taking care of myself for a very long time. I don’t need you to try to protect me, especially not from a fellow officer of the law.” She held up two fingers. “I have been awarded two accommodations from my department. One was for sharpshooting and the other was for martial arts. Which would you like to see a sample of? Or will you trust me that I can handle whatever crap comes my way.”

  Sawyer turned to her, his face showing kind concern. “You’ve had more than your fair share of crap, Nicole, I’m sure. Too much, I bet.”

  His words softened her instantly, but she couldn’t be vulnerable, no matter how much she wanted to be. Strong. She had to remain strong. She rolled her eyes, hoping the gesture would push him back some. It worked. He shook his head and stepped away, and she immediately regretted her success.

  “I don’t have time for this shit,” the sheriff barked. “Flowers, you know you’re in danger. Alexei’s intel is spot on.”

  “Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean the Mitrofanovs know where I am, Sherriff.”

  “I got a call from a guy named Henry Underwood. You know him?”

  “Yes.” Why had Henry called the sheriff? He was her last connection to her grandfather. He was the one person she still trusted. She’d called him on the road to Destiny and filled him in on what she was working on with Sheriff Wolfe. “I don’t understand? Henry knew I was coming here. He’s the only one I told. He didn’t seem overly concerned at the time.”

  “Well, he is now. Henry has been working to clear your names, too, Nicole. Did you know that?”

  “Figures. Henry’s a good cop. He’s not going to roll over without a fight.”

  Wolfe nodded. “Got to admire that in any officer.” He continued, “Turns out that Alexei wasn’t the only one to dig up info on the Mitrofanovs. Right after you left Chicago, Henry got a tip that the Russians were looking for you, too. That’s when he called me to make sure you had protection in Destiny. Niklaus Mitrofanov has been released by the feds, you know.”

  Of course she knew. It had been all over the local news.

  “Niklaus?” Reed’s eyelids were narrowed.

  “The Russian mobster who was the dad of Sergei. The prosecutors had to let him go since the two thugs we captured here in Destiny were killed in a car bombing during transport to a safe house.” The sheriff’s face darkened. “Fuck. Those creeps were ready to sing like canaries to get their sentences lessened. Now we’re back to square one.”

  Worry pricked the back of her mind. “I’m still not sure why I’m on the
Mitrofanov family’s radar.” Is someone at the station trying to frame me? I’m not sure why. I’m no threat to anyone there.

  “Their mole inside your station must’ve found out you were looking into Amber’s missing persons report. You’re a loose end, and the Mitrofanov family doesn’t like loose ends. They might also believe you have uncovered more about Sergei’s drug possession arrest and it will eventually lead back to Niklaus.” The sheriff let out a long breath. “Now that he’s free, he’s going to make sure he stays that way.”

  “That’s why you want us, right?” Sawyer asked. “To be Nicole’s bodyguards.”

  “I don’t need bodyguards.” she reiterated. “Let Niklaus’s men come. I’ll be ready.”

  Reed shook his head. “Not happening, Chicago. Not a chance.”

  She was a cop. They weren’t going to treat her like some helpless female who needed a man to rescue her. “Who are you to tell me what to do, cowboy? We just met.”

  Reed put his big hand on her shoulder. “Maybe so, but trust me, you’re not going to walk around Central Park like some kind of lone gunslinger ready to bring down the bad guys, accommodation in sharpshooting or not.”

  “Enough of this shit.” The sheriff stepped right in front of her. “I’ve been in office for two years. You know how many murders Destiny had during the last sheriff’s twenty years of service? Two. I’ve already had eight. I won’t have your blood on my hands, Nicole.”

  She didn’t need anyone to protect her. “You don’t have a say in what I do or don’t do, Sheriff.”

  A ruthless look crossed the sheriff’s face. “Flowers, you’re going to go to their cabin with them.” Then the lines in Wolfe’s face softened. “Go with them, Nicole. One police officer to another, would you do this for me?”

  She’d heard that final phrase from her grandfather more that a few times. Jason reminded her of how her granddad saw the world. Black and white. She’d learned there was a whole lot of gray in it, too. “I want to, Jason, but I’m really here to clear my name. Can’t you understand where I’m coming from?”

  “Totally, if I were in your shoes. I promise to work on this with you, but I can’t do the kind of job I need to if you aren’t safe. I swear on my badge that these two are good guys. I would trust them with my own life. You can’t risk any more problems. They’ll be strong for you. That’s why I chose them for you.”

  There was only one thing Wolfe could mean by that. He knew her secret. “Okay,” she said, defeated. “Promise me you’ll keep me in the loop on this investigation.”

  “I will. I swear.”

  She suddenly realized it hadn’t been her commander who had shared her dark past with him. The one and only man still living that she still trusted—even though he likely thought it was for her own good—had betrayed her. “Henry told you all about me, didn’t he?”

  Sheriff Wolfe nodded.

  The truth of her situation crushed her into a million bits of debris.

  I’m alone in this.

  Chapter Four

  “You okay, Nicole?” Sawyer edged Jason out of the way to take his place in front of her. Jason had hit some kind of button in her with his words and the color in her face had drained away.

  She turned to him with eyes full of determination and fire. “I’m fine.”

  He knew better. She was obviously putting up a front to protect herself.

  “What’s it going to be, Officer Flowers?” Jason was not going to budge on this. It was clear that he wanted her guarded and out of the city limits for her own good.

  He glared at the sheriff. “Back off, Jason. Give the woman some breathing room.”

  “Coleman, you and Reed weren’t my only choice to see to her safety. Should I have picked Dylan and Cam instead?”

  Jason was a friend, but right now the sheriff was pushing his limits. “Reed and I will take care of her.”

  “Nobody needs to take care of me.” The hurt he’d seen in her face was gone, replaced now with a don’t-you-dare-fuck-with-me look. Nicole was tough. Really tough.

  “Gotcha,” Jason said, pulling out his cell from his jacket. “I won’t have your blood on my hands if the Russians show. Time to let your commander in on your whereabouts.”

  Sawyer could tell Jason was bluffing, evidently hoping to nudge Nicole into what he wanted from her—going with them up to their cabin. The idea suited Sawyer, too. The sexy policewoman would make great company. Very great company for sure.

  Seeing her eyes widen in worry impacted him in a way he’d not felt before. He had the distinct urge to wrap her up in his arms and tell her everything was going to be okay. He wanted to protect her from whatever she was running from. He wanted to take the troubles she’d clearly been carrying for far too long and lift them off her shoulders.

  “Chill, Jason,” he said, hoping to quell Nicole’s uneasiness. “How you won your election with your attitude is a mystery to me.”

  “I won fair and square,” the sheriff barked. “You have no idea what kind of mess this woman is in.”

  “Fill us in,” Reed said firmly. “Don’t keep us in the dark.”

  “No need,” the raven-haired beauty stated. “I’m going back to Chicago. This was a big mistake.”

  The thought of her leaving before he got a chance to know her stabbed him with a sudden jagged alarm. “Wait, Nicole. Jason’s a lot of things but he isn’t Destiny’s best person to welcome visitors.”

  “And you are?” She shrugged away. “I came here to help with an investigation. If that’s not what he wants”—she pointed at Jason—“so be it. I’m outta here.”

  Reed stepped in front of her, blocking her way to the door. “Stubborn, aren’t you, Chicago.”

  “You have no idea how stubborn I can be, cowboy. Now, if you don’t want your balls handed to you on a platter, I suggest you move aside.”

  “You can’t go back until this mess is sorted out. It’s too dangerous for you back in Chicago right now.” Jason punched the buttons on his phone. “Let’s see what your friend Henry has to say, Flowers. Maybe he can talk some sense into you.”

  “Stop.” She rolled her eyes and then stared at the ceiling for several long ticks of the clock. When she returned her gaze back to them, the deep-seated hurt in her eyes flattened him. “You win, Sheriff, though I’m not sure why you are so set on pissing me off.”

  Jason put his cell away. “Not my intention. I just don’t want the body count to go up in Swanson County. Let me handle this. I promise to keep you in the loop. Once I have a better handle of things, I’ll bring you in.”

  Sawyer could tell the sheriff hated being an asshole to her, but like always, his friend did what was necessary to get the job done. Of course, Jason had lost Phoebe, the love of his and his brothers’ lives, long ago because of his unbending ethics. Very sad.

  “One week, Sheriff. That’s all,” she said. Jason had won the battle with her but not the war. God, what wasn’t to like about this woman? “Do we have a deal or not?”

  “Deal.” Jason turned to Reed and him. “Take her to your cabin. I’ll be up day after tomorrow with what I find.”

  Reed gave a mock salute. “My pleasure, Sheriff.” As he turned to Nicole, Sawyer was surprised to see something new in his brother’s face. He was more than a little intrigued by her. “Seriously, my pleasure.”

  “Our cabin is very rustic, Nicole.” Being near her, inhaling her sweet musky floral scent was sending sparks through him and swelling his dick. God, she smelled good. “Perhaps we should ask the Stone brothers if we could use their house in town. They’ve been living in their cabin with Amber pretty much all the time since finding her.”

  “I’m not a princess. I’ll make do.”

  “You’re our guest. Naturally, we want you to be as comfortable as possible.” He needed to be several steps ahead of her if they had any chance of spending more time together, which was what he wanted more than anything at the moment. “Why don’t we take you to the cabin to see what you
think about it. If you’re okay with it, then we’ll stay. If not, we can drive over to the Stones’ cabin and get the keys to their house in town.”

  “Are you deaf, Sawyer?” Jason shook his head. “I told you that she needs to be kept out of town and out of sight. The Russian mafia isn’t something to play around with.”

  Nicole sighed in obvious frustration. “You guys are too much. See this.” She opened her jacket and revealed a Glock that was holstered underneath. “I’m not defenseless. Okay?”

  A pistol-packing doll. Hot damn.

  Reed smiled and walked to the table where they’d put their guns. He wrapped his belt with his holstered Ruger forty-five around his waist. “Neither are we.” Reed grabbed up the other weapon, his Colt, and walked it over to Sawyer. He turned back to Nicole. “Should the commies come knocking, isn’t it smarter to triple your odds, Chicago?”

  “Seems I’m outvoted here in Podunk, Colorado.” She put her hands on her hips.

  The sarcasm wasn’t lost on any of them, but Sawyer wasn’t taking the bait. “Nicole, give us a chance.”

  “It seems I don’t have a choice.”

  “You always have a choice with me,” he told her honestly.

  “What’s it going to be?” Reed asked, his sudden fascination so evident it nearly filled the entire room.

  She sighed. “I’m game. My car is parked outside the sheriff’s office.”

  Sawyer shook his head. “I doubt it will make it up the mountain. What are you driving?”

  “A Honda Civic. Why won’t it?”

  “The roads are mostly dirt and the majority of them take a four-wheel drive on good days to get up to our cabin. On bad days even more so.”

  “Fuck.” The swear word on her pretty lips shouldn’t have surprised him, her being a cop and all, but it did. “Fine. Let’s go then. I need to get my stuff out of my car though.”

  She marched out the door, clearly in a hurry to get this over with.