Page 17 of Insatiable

“You do know what the Marinos are involved in, right? They are one of the top mafia families in the state,” his boss reminded.

“I’m aware, but Zane has nothing to do with his family business. He’d never kill anyone, not even to help his father out,” Crew insisted. He worried that his boss wasn’t hearing a word that he was saying. In fact, he looked bored as he tried to defend Zane.

“We’ve thought about all of that, but he’s been labeled as an accomplice, we just need more information before we can arrest him.” That meant that his boss didn’t have enough evidence to bring Zane in and he’d have time to prove that his guy was innocent.

“As for you spending time with Zane Marino, it’s not a good idea,” his boss said. Crew wanted to tell him to go fuck himself—that he’d turn in his gun and badge if he was being ordered to walk away from Zane.

“Not happening, I won’t leave him because you have a hunch. It’s not true—he didn’t kill anyone,” Crew shouted.

“Keep your voice down, Crew. It’s not forever, and you can think of it this way—maybe you can prove his innocence before I can prove his guilt. Work both angles of the case and let’s see what you come up with. I’m not a total asshole.” Crew wanted to disagree with his boss, but he was right. He might just be the only person to keep Zane out of prison, and if he could do that, he’d leave his guy for a few weeks—but nothing more.

“Fine,” he said, “but I’m going to need time. I can’t just up and leave him without having to answer a lot of questions, and I’m assuming that you don’t want that happening.”

“No,” his boss breathed. “I’d like to keep this under wraps until we can get some more answers. His father being arrested will take his attention off our investigation of him.” He hated everything about this plan, but all Zane could think about was proving Zane was innocent, and that became his focus.

“Fine,” Crew agreed, “but I want to be kept in the loop. If you find something out about the case, I want to be the first person that you call.”

“Yeah, yeah, Montgomery,” his boss grumbled. “I’ll keep you in the loop, but you do the same.” Crew nodded and turned to leave his boss’ office. If he was going to have to leave Dakota and Zane, he wanted to spend as much time with them as possible.

Crew felt sick to his stomach knowing that he was going back home to lie to the man and woman he loved. He’d been in love with Zane since they met at the club, and falling for Dakota was the easiest decision that he had ever made. Lying to both of them was going to be hell, but he had no other choice. He wanted just one more night with them, and he planned on making it a good one.

He knew that if he told Zane or Dakota that he was investigating both Zane and his father, they wouldn’t understand. He was doing his job, and maybe his boss was right, and he was too close to the case, but he couldn’t help who he loved. Hurting the two people who had become his world was going to gut him.

He walked into the house and found Zane and Dakota sitting together on the sofa. She was practically in Zane’s lap and Crew was thankful that they’d be able to go on without him. He knew that Zane would take care of their girl, and that was what he needed to focus on now.

“Hey guys,” he breathed.

“How did it go down at the precinct?” Dakota asked. She had the day off, but he knew that she liked to check in on him from time to time. There would be no use lying to his girl because she probably already knew the answer to her own questions. “Did your boss talk to you about the case?” she asked.

“Yeah, but he didn’t have any update. He just wanted to go over what we had so far, to make sure that we’re both on the same page.”

“So, no suspects or anything?” Zane asked. “At this rate, we’re never going to find who killed that woman at the club. Ross and Leo are getting antsy. Clients are asking a lot of questions and rumors have been circulating about a murder taking place at the club.”

“Shit,” Crew grumbled, “that’s the last thing we need. I know that Ross and Leo want this nightmare to be over, but I need to do this properly. I can’t overlook any details just because you’re my boyfriend,” Crew insisted. He didn’t mean to add that last part, but it was too late to take back the words.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Zane shouted, standing from the sofa. This was not the way that he wanted their last night to go. “I’d never ask you to cover for me or the club, Crew,” he insisted.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Crew said. “I just can’t let my personal feelings get involved in this case, and my boss thinks that might be a problem since you are part owner of the club, and Ross and Leo are friends.”

“I get that,” Dakota said. She was always trying to keep the peace between the three of them, and he loved her for that. “It’s a conflict of interest. Did he ask you to step away from the case?” she asked. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that his boss had asked him to step away from her and Zane. And he definitely didn’t have the nerve to tell her that Zane and his dad were their primary suspects right now.

“No,” Crew said, “he didn’t ask me to step away from the case.” There, that wasn’t a lie at least. “How about we counter talking about the damn case and go out to have some fun?” he asked.

“Fun like how?” she asked, looking between him and Zane. He looked over to his guy, noticing his wicked smile and Crew could tell that Zane and he were on the same page. Crew nodded and Zane pulled Dakota up from the sofa, tugging her into his arms.

“Come to The Kink Club with us, baby,” Zane said. “It will be fun, and we can get you used to being there. We’ll start slowly—promise.” She looked at him as though he lost his mind.

“My brother will be there,” she insisted.

“No, he won’t be,” Crew chimed in. “He told Zane and me that he and Leo had the night off and that they were going to have a nice, quiet evening at home. Tonight will be the perfect night to go play at the club.”

“I’m not sure that I’m comfortable with that,” she whispered. “What if someone from town sees us? I’m pretty sure that Crew and I will lose our badges for being in a club like yours.”

“Hey,” Zane said, “my club isn’t so bad.”

“I didn’t mean it that way, Zane,” she said, slapping at his upper arm. “I just don’t think that the police department would want everyone knowing that their top detective and his girlfriend police officer were both naked in a kink club.”

“Aww, thanks for thinking that I’m the department’s top detective, honey,” Crew joked. “But Zane is right, we can take things slowly. And if a lot of people show up tonight, we can use one of the private rooms. Let’s go have some fun,” he begged. He wanted his last night with both of them to be perfect and Crew could think of no better place than the club to be with them both, one last time.

---