Cowboy Boots and Unadulterated Pleasures [Cowboy Boots 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (8 page)

“Damn it! Tell me this isn’t so, Kelly.” He slowly shook his head from side to side as he processed.

“Colt, let me explain—”

“When? Damn you, when?” he screamed, rushing her. He lifted her by her upper arms and slammed her against the wall, holding her in place.

Tears streamed down her face. She gasped for air as she accepted the rage, realizing she’d always feared he’d respond this way. She’d always assumed Colt would take her induction into the Underground Unit the very hardest. “Last year. Dad didn’t want me to tell you. He didn’t want any of you to know.”

Colt squeezed his eyes shut. Tears gathered in the corners, but none fell to his face, which further shattered her heart, not to mention her control. Her hand trembled like a fragile vine whipping freely in a violent wind as she reached for him, wanting to comfort him but coming to terms with the fact she was the source behind his pain.

He grabbed her forearm and glared at her. His nostrils flared and his face was aglow with fury. He was hurt, destroyed. His heartache fell to her shoulders.

She caused this. She was to blame.

“Colt, you understand how this works,” she said, explaining her position but keeping her head down and her voice low. She didn’t need casino security picking up on their conversation. “The only women in the Underground Unit are those who have a father in the business. Our division needed—”

“Give me a minute, Kelly.”

“I—”

“Only a minute,” he whispered. His forehead met hers, and for a split second, she thought he might kiss her. She found herself awaiting the kiss, wanting his lips to savagely take and claim hers. She needed his body, wanted him more than she’d ever longed for another.

“Colt, it was the only way.” Already fearful casino security may have picked up on too much of the conversation, she cupped his nape and drew him closer. Whispering in his ear, she said, “Lorenzo Molinelli and his family have used government grants from our country to open hotels, restaurants, and now casinos. His organization has strong ties in several countries. Dad thinks he has connections to the most violent criminals in the world.”

Colt snatched her wrist and pulled her hand away from his neck. “And Daniel put you inside?” A forced chuckle fell from his lips. “You would think any normal man wouldn’t want his daughter involved in something like this.”

She took a deep breath and raked her fingernails over her forehead. “I don’t think he had a choice.”

Colt’s left eye twitched, which was never a good sign. “Oh, he had a choice all right. He chose wrong!”

“Colt…I…I was already involved with Lorenzo. At one time, I thought I cared deeply…for him. I even thought if I could ever get over you and Crue, get beyond what I needed from the others, that maybe I could fall in love with him.”

She slapped her hand against her mouth, willing herself to silence. She witnessed the deep-rooted pain she’d inflicted. The rage in Colt’s eyes disintegrated as the sadness replaced the anger.

Her eyes fogged over. She couldn’t see for the tears. She wept in front of him, detecting the impact and the toll her confession took on the one man who knew her better than anyone. Because he understood her so well, Colt would realize she was telling him the truth. He could read whatever he wanted into the rest, most of what would likely be accurate assumptions.

Colt glared at her now as if he’d never cared for her at all. He glanced down at her left hand and focused on her third finger. When he looked up, total disgust lingered in his eyes. “I want that damn ring off your hand by tomorrow morning, and I don’t mean maybe. How you end it with Lorenzo doesn’t matter. Just do it.”

After making his demands, he stomped down the hallway, slinging his arms back and forth as he marched to his suite. Kelly eased back inside the gym, covering her mouth with one hand in an attempt to muffle her cries. Right before she closed the door, she heard elevated voices.

There wasn’t a doubt in her mind. Colt had met Lorenzo in the hallway.

Peering around the corner, she spotted them. Colt sternly shook his forefinger at Lorenzo and screamed, “Lay another hand on her, you twisted son of a bitch, and I’ll cut off the hands that feed you. Capiche?”

“I understand,” he said all too willingly as he glared down the hallway.

He looked straight past Colt and focused on her, his eyes suggesting he’d found appropriate blame for this embarrassing confrontation.

“Look at me, motherfucker!” Colt screamed, extending his middle and forefinger and pointing at Lorenzo’s eyes and then his own. “I want you to see that I mean business.”

“And who shall I tell my associates has made such a bold threat?”

Colt chuckled. “You tell your associates whatever the fuck you wanna tell them. This isn’t about business. This is personal. Lay another hand on
my woman
, and I’ll snap every one of your fingers until I hear them pop.”

“So we don’t have a name?” he asked, this time looking away from Kelly long enough to address Colt.

“Damn straight I do, and you know it, too. The name is Colt Candy. Write it down this time so you don’t forget. Then, tell your friends and family, those business associates of yours, too. Colt Candy. Say it with me, motherfucker, because I’m the man who plans to kill you.”

“Are you out of your ever-lovin’ mind?” Crue entered the suite, slamming the door behind him. He paused long enough to glare at the entrance. He turned on his heels and faced them again. “And that’s brilliant. Leaving your door unlocked after threatening a mob boss. Sweet.”

“The ghost shows his face,” Colt muttered, tossing back a glass of liquor.

“What the hell was that, Colt?” Crue stared at the whiskey on the table. “And since when do you drink at nine o’clock in the morning?”

Colt smoothly reached across the table and poured another glass of liquor.

“And just where did you go after you threatened Lorenzo, huh?”

“For a run.”

“Well if you hadn’t pissed off our congenial hostess, you might have been able to use the private facilities on this floor. Maybe then Gabe and I could’ve covered your sorry ass when Lorenzo’s men came looking for you.” He took a deep breath. “What in the hell were you thinking, Colt? Huh? Answer me! What was going through your mind when you told Lorenzo you planned to kill him?”

Brand entered the room, scrubbing his wet hair with a towel. “You know how your brother is. He thinks he has a license to kill when it comes to Kelly.”

“I do,” Colt assured them, emptying his glass once more. His face felt hot. His veins were ready to pop. Never mind his heart. He felt as if he were a good candidate for a heart attack, maybe even a stroke. “I dare anyone to tell me differently.”

“This is insane, Colt,” Crue said. “Think about what you’re doing. For once in your life, think about Kelly!”

Colt kicked the coffee table, and the glass top cracked down the middle. “I am thinking about Kelly! She is all I think about! She’s my last thought at night, the first one in the morning. For five fucking years, she’s been all I’ve needed, all I’ve wanted, and now Daniel…” He stopped abruptly and dragged his palm from his forehead to the crown of his head.

Crue sneered. “Daniel what?”

Colt narrowed his gaze on his younger brother. Did he know? Did he realize Kelly was on the inside? Had he known Daniel had placed her in the line of fire? Was that why the shadows had been on the job long before the rest of the team had been alerted and assigned? If so, he wished like hell Crue had never kept such a secret from him.

“Answer me, Colt. What did Daniel do?”

“He fed her to the lions as far as I’m concerned,” Colt barked, wondering if he’d given away a truer fact. Did his brother know he’d left the building because he’d been overwhelmed by grief? Did he realize he’d fled the casino so he could grieve in private?

“Is that all you can give me?” Crue asked, his jaw square and firmly set.

“For now,” Colt said, lowering his voice. “It’s all I have.” He couldn’t say too much until he dug a little deeper and found out more. He needed to talk to Brock and Riley Donovan and find out what the hell was going on here. Kelly had mentioned something about Lorenzo using government funds to back investment properties. Where had she gotten such an idea? Daniel? The Donovans? Was it true? “I want you to set up a poker game.”

“With what?” Crue asked, his eyes fierce with anger.

“Take it out of our personal account,” Colt told him.

“You’re out of your mind. Lorenzo will eat you alive. He has deep pockets, Colt. Deeper than ours.”

“I can’t help that. I’d much rather have a chance to win a hand against him in his favorite game than to face Daniel and tell him how we used our expense account.”

“If you think Daniel doesn’t already know what happened here last night, you’re insane. Nothing happens on that casino floor that Daniel doesn’t find out about,” Crue said. “Besides, since when do you worry about Daniel and money? If I were you, I’d be more concerned about the Donovans. Brock has a straight line to the Underground Unit authority.”

That was because Brock was the authority, a fact no one else in the Underground Unit could wrap their heads around.

Kemper, who had been napping on an oversized chair, rose to a seated position. “He has a point, Colt. We might as well call Brock up and tell him what happened.”

“If I lose tonight, we will.” Colt clasped his hands under his chin and said, “But don’t expect me to make that call. When it comes to poker, I don’t lose. When it comes to Kelly, I always win.”

“You’re sounding like a lunatic,” Crue said, stalking him. Grabbing the bottle of liquor from the table, he secured the lid and let the bottle dangle at his side. “Sober up. Go to bed. I’ll set up the game. Be ready to go by nine o’clock, but it will likely be around midnight before Lorenzo will play. He’s a night owl.”

“I’d rather take this game to another casino.”

“No way,” Crue said. “We don’t have enough intelligence to determine where Lorenzo has his planted pawns.”

“I think it would be for the best,” Colt said. “We know he has a few here.”

Crue stroked his chin in deep thought.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Kemper asked, studying Crue.

“Yeah,” Crue mumbled. “He had eyes in the sky last night. In my opinion, he had some help at that card game. He cheated.”

“Probably not,” Colt told them. “Kemper and Brand can’t play poker. They’d lose at Crazy Eights if they were playing for a first kiss.”

Everyone snickered.

“They are pretty bad,” Crue agreed. “Still, there were numerous hands played that didn’t make sense. Lorenzo would turn up a two-seven off suit and pull three of a kind off the flop and the river card would bring him four of a kind.”

“Yeah and this kind of thing happened all night long,” Brand added.

Colt used his forefinger and thumb and massaged his tight jaw. “So he has someone upstairs.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Crue muttered.

“How the hell would we know what you’ve been saying, let alone thinking? We haven’t seen you since we arrived here,” Colt said. “You don’t call. You don’t e-mail. You don’t have my back. What kind of shadow are you anyway?”

Crue scowled. “I’ve always got your back. Trust me. I may not tell you when I’m watching your ass, but I’m always there, changing your diapers, mainly because no one else wants to do my dirty job.”

“Then tell me something, little brother,” Colt said, slowly turning his head to look him square in the eye. “If you’re our go-to guy who cleans up after us, how could you stand by and watch while Kelly took a beating like that? How could you do it when you know the dangers Lorenzo represents?”

“Apparently, you didn’t pay attention when you saw him in the hallway this morning. Kelly gave better than she took. That I can promise you.” He paused for a minute. “Just so you know, I care about Kelly. She means the world to me. She always has and you know it. Standing by and watching that bastard strike her while my hands were tied wasn’t easy. It’s been pure hell and I don’t wish that on anybody.”

* * * *

Lorenzo awoke with a start. He’d only been asleep a few hours, but he’d slept restlessly since his confrontation with Colt a few hours earlier. Kelly had tried to tiptoe around him, pursuing her closet in an effort to retrieve a few of her personal belongings and escape without consequence. No such luck.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, grabbing her arm as she passed him.

“I have to go away for a few days,” she replied, afraid he wouldn’t buy her story.

Lorenzo shot her an evil smile. “Are you going away
with him
?”

“Him, who, Lorenzo?”

“The big guy, the one with long blond hair. The pretty boy.”

“No,” she said, thinking Colt would singe Lorenzo’s eyebrows for calling him out as a pretty boy.

“Where are you going?”

“I have a meeting with my father. It’s family business. We discussed this six months ago—when you became so domineering and possessive—and I told you then and I’ll tell you now. When my father calls, I go, and it’s not often that he requires I leave on short notice, but when he makes that call, it’s crucial that I pack up and go. We have family businesses just like you.”

“Why don’t you tell me about these so-called businesses,” Lorenzo drawled, not at all buying her story and making his disbelief apparent when he arched a brow and smirked. “Are they as profitable as Poker Cristal Palace?”

About that time, the bedside phone jingled.

“Hello?” Lorenzo answered on the second ring. “Yes. Yes. This is her suite. What can I do for you?” He paused. His gaze narrowed. He held the phone away from his ear, cradling the receiver on his shoulder. “It’s your driver. What time will you be downstairs?”

“Fifteen minutes,” she replied, hoping it would be more along the lines of five to ten.

Lorenzo looked at her with lust in his eyes. He moistened his lips. Then, in a husky voice, he said, “She’ll be down in a half hour or so.”