Chapter Twenty-Seven
Harlow
The next few hours are a blur of policemen, medics, and a hovering Jaxon who shows more mother hen qualities than I would have ever thought possible, but eventually, we’re allowed to leave. Both Kai and I were checked over; he had the cut on his head looked at, but they deemed it to not need anything. We were both sore from the airbags and the seatbelts, but apart from that, we came out relatively unscathed. He had managed to lessen our speed with the weaving and pulling the hand brake, and although I think the paramedics are trying to make us feel better, I definitely don’t feel lucky when they continue to assure us that it could have been much worse.How is reminding someone that they could’ve died supposed to be uplifting?
We decide to skip the helicopter tour, Kai being in no state to fly us, and make use of the hot tub facilities, ordering in Uber Eats instead of going to the luau. The kisses and assurances of a rain check go a long way toward making me less pouty. We all sleep in my room since Jaxon is in full overprotective nurse mode, refusing to let either of us out of his sight. It’s cute as fuck, but my body hurts too much to laugh. After essentially tucking us in, he finds us a non-porn channel to watch, and we put on a movie, but I don't think we watch much of it. Nestled between the brothers, my eyes become heavier and heavier until the last thing I remember is the both of them leaning down and giving me a kiss on the head.
The following morning, I groan as I wake up, but it's not in delight at having two gorgeous men keeping me warm all night. My body has been battered and bruised, and it wants to make sure I know that. Stretching as I wake hurts, so I’m not looking forward to moving. As I open my eyes and look around, I realize both boys are missing, but I hear a toilet flush before a very disheveled Kai walks out of the bathroom, grimacing.
“Did you get the license plate of the truck that hit us?” he grumbles, running his hand through his hair when he sees I'm awake.
“No, and I didn't catch it when he reversed it either,” I reply, bringing a smile to his mouth.
He pads over to the bed and gingerly climbs back on with a wince. “Good morning, baby,” he whispers as he leans in and gives me a gentle kiss on the lips. “Jaxon has gone to get us breakfast and will bring it back up here. I wanted to know if you think we should cancel the snorkeling trip.”
I sit up too fast at his words and groan, avoiding the urge to shake my head. “No! I’ll be okay once I have a shower and take some painkillers. Please don't cancel! We already missed things yesterday,” I beg, reaching out a hand to grasp his wrist.
He lifts my hand off his arm and places a kiss on the back of it. “Okay, as long as you feel up to it.” There’s definitely some concern in his eyes, but he seems willing to let my decision be the final one. I breathe out a sigh of relief as the door opens, Jaxon walking in with a room service cart.
“Room service,” he calls with a thick French accent. “I am here to service you.” Between the absolutely terrible accent and the accompanying eyebrow wiggle, both Kai and I are smiling and I’m about ready to fall over in surprise. Where has this silly Jaxon been this whole time? He comes to a stop and winks flirtatiously at us, but his phone rings before I can find out what’s coming next. Frowning, he pulls it out of his pocket, heading out to the balcony after he checks who’s calling.
Kai and I look at each other before climbing out and heading over to the abandoned cart. Lifting the couple of lids, I find omelettes and platters of bacon, breakfast sausages, hashbrowns, and pancakes.
“Yum,” I moan and start filling a plate for myself.
“Hey, save some for us,” Kai jokes, doing the same. We each take a seat on the sofas, resting our plates on the coffee table, and start devouring the food.
Jaxon’s frowning when he returns, and he grabs a bottle of medication off the cart and shakes some pills into his hands. “Here, you each need to take two of these.” He hands them to us before pouring us both a coffee from the pot and handing those to us as well.
“Who was on the phone?” Kai asks, taking his pills before washing them down with his coffee.
“That was the police from yesterday.” Jaxon fills himself a plate and joins us. “They were calling to say they spoke to the rental place and found out the car had just been serviced, so they checked the brake line. It had been cut. Not all the way through but enough for the brake fluid to slowly bleed out on the drive back from the waterfall.”
I drop my knife and fork onto my plate as my stomach fills with dread, my food almost threatening to return.
“Oh god.” I place a hand over my mouth in shock, not knowing what I should do. My body is filling with adrenaline, the energy telling me that I need to burst out of my seat and do something, but I have no idea what that something is.
“Fuck.” Kai’s expletive is loud in the quiet room.
“Yeah, I think maybe we call James and get him to file an earlier flight plan and head home,” Jaxon tells us cautiously. Tears start to burn in my eyes with the thought that once again the stalker has fucked up my life. What the fuck do they want? Why don’t they just come out with it? How can I possibly fix whatever I did, give them what it is they want, if I’m laid up in a hospital bed… or dead?
The guys must see the tears threatening to escape because Kai goes into panic mode. “I promised Harlow we would snorkel,” he blurts out at Jaxon before looking at me, the words coming out awkwardly loudly, like that will convince his brother not to disagree.
“What about making it a private tour then?” Jaxon suggests, but he still looks unsure about the idea.
“Every time the stalker has struck, he had a window of anonymity. Oliver’s car had the broken lights, the stable was empty, the shooting was far away, and my room was trashed while the whole family was occupied. I don't think they would risk attacking us in a group environment. It doesn't follow the pattern. The brake lines were another direct attempt to hurt someone, but even that was… quiet. He’s doing things that are all kind of distanced from us,” I point out to them both quickly. “If we take a tour that’s packed with other people, he probably would be too scared. We could do a check on the car before and after the tour just to make sure that we don’t have another brake incident.”
I don’t know if I’m actually making a great argument or if he just hears the desperation in my voice, but Jaxon’s looking resigned by the end of my plea. “Fine, but we leave from there, going straight to the airport so we can head home. It may be time to follow through on getting you a bodyguard until this person can be found.”
Shakily, I agree to their requests, and when breakfast is finished, I pack my things while Jaxon returns the cart. As the two of them pack up their own things, I stay in my room, trying to very gently stretch muscles that are stiffening uncomfortably fast.
Jaxon’s talking to his general manager in the lobby when Kai and I join them to hand in our keys, Kai only lasting through a few moments of small talk before he interrupts. “Come on, man, you can call him later if you’ve forgotten anything.” He follows the statement with a wink, softening the obvious annoyance on Jaxon’s face, then gives his grumpy brother a nudge until he agrees to move on.
When we go out to the car, one of the hotel security guards is standing next to it. Jaxon called him to come in this morning and watch that no one could tamper with the car after it had been delivered. As we climb into the car, something occurs to me. “Did that woman come in for an interview? The one with the kid from the mall,” I add as he climbs into the driver’s seat, leaving me and Kai snuggled together in the back.
His eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. “She sure did. She’s going to do somewhat of an internship with us. She’ll work in all the different departments, learning the ropes, and I’m going to make her assistant manager when she completes them. I also gave her one of the staff apartments that are in the back of the resort beyond the bungalows. There’s a two-bedroom place perfect for her and her son, and because the public areas of the hotel are fairly PG, the kid shouldn't run into anything inappropriate. There are underground access tunnels from those apartments to the hotel, so he shouldn’t accidentally run into any bungalow guests either.”
“That’s awesome,” I tell him, and his eyes crinkle like he’s smiling at my praise.
