“It might,” Bailey admitted. “But I can’t just stand aside and let them do whatever they want to this place. Warrior Peak is sacred ground as far as I’m concerned.”
Hannah smiled. She was right about that. The lodge and the core staff here were a safe place for Hannah, had been for years now. She loved it up here, even if it was cut off from the rest of the world. She had everything she needed, and she wouldn’t ask for a thing more than that.
Apart from the Haynes brothers, if they really were behind this, to leave them the hell alone, of course.
The sound of a car drew their attention, and both women lifted their heads. A pair of taillights were vanishing out of sight, and Hannah knew from a glance who they belonged to.
Uh-oh. Looked like Xavier was going to confront the Haynes brothers all on his own.
Hannah didn’t envy them one bit.
Chapter Five
Xavier drummed his fingers on the wheel, his teeth gritted as Lawson stared out the passenger window.
“They can’t keep getting away with this,” Lawson stated suddenly. “All the problems they’ve been causing around town have gone on for way too long. It has got to stop.”
Lawson had agreed with Xavier the moment he suggested they go to the Haynes’ ranch and talk to them face-to-face. Might not have been a good idea, since they didn’t exactly have hard proof that the brothers had been the ones to vandalize the generators at the lodge, but they had been causing enough trouble these last few months to at least warrant a visit.
The Haynes brothers, Ron and Dave, were making waves in the small town of Blue Ridge, North Carolina, every time Xavier turned around—or at least, that was what it felt like. Whether it was squaring up to someone at the local bar, getting drunk and causing a commotion, minor vandalism, or attempting to expand the edges of their property right on to Warrior Peak Sanctuary land, it was enough that someone should step up and show them they weren’t going to get away with it for another moment.
Xavier narrowed his eyes as he stared out on to the dark road ahead of him. The main thing on his mind right now was Hannah. He had heard the fear in her voice when she said she wanted to go back inside the building, and he knew it wasn’t just from the fall she’d taken.
It made him so angry to hear her like that—not angry at her, and not because she didn’t have any reason to be afraid, but because he hadn’t made this place safe enough for her to feel comfortable. She had been there on the night of the fire, and he could tell she still carried the psychological scars, just like he did. The dirty cops who had set fire to the lodge property months before had been dealt with, but everyone there was still dealing with the emotional fallout in their own ways. This incident had stirred all those feelings back up. So, it needed to be dealt with. Tonight.
“We’re going to have to move everyone down to that crappy hotel in town if we can’t get the heat back up and running by tomorrow morning,” Lawson added. “This is a bad situation, Xavier. We need to make this quick. Everyone at the lodge will be feeling the cold soon. We need to find a fix fast.”
“I know,” Xavier muttered. The sanctuary grounds were supposed to be a safe place, a place where their guests could come to heal, where they could rely on Xavier and Lawson to provide them everything they needed. At this time of year, heat was the bare minimum. They would already be waking up to the freezing cold, and Xavier hated the thought of it.
All the more reason to go and confront the Haynes brothers and make sure they understood exactly how seriously Lawson and Xavier took the current situation. Even if they hadn’t made the attack outright, they probably knew who did. Something told Xavier they had connections to every shady corner of this community. And Xavier had seen that there were far darker edges to this town than he would have liked to imagine.
They pulled the SUV up at the Haynes ranch. The small ranch house at the center of the property was lit up. Lawson and Xavier exchanged a look, and both of them climbed out of the vehicle. As they headed up to the building, the older brother, Dave, camestumbling out on to the porch. The air stank of booze and weed, the thick smell coming off the man in waves.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Dave called to them, clearly unable to tell who it was.
Xavier slowed his pace slightly. “We’re here to talk,” he replied. It was true, though he doubted that would be the only thing they did if they found out that either of the Haynes brothers had been involved in cutting off the power.
“It’s too damn late for a social call,” Dave protested, spitting off the porch just as Xavier reached the bottom step. He was stumbling drunk and had to grab on to the rickety porch railing to keep upright.
“Looks like you’re still up,” Lawson pointed out. “Just about.”
Dave grinned, a crooked smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Xavier felt a wave of anger rush through him. These guys had been trouble for years, ever since he and Max were kids. Even back then, he hadn’t liked either one of them, but if they were thinking of causing serious trouble at Warrior Peak, they had another think coming.
“Soooo what do you want to talk about at this time of night?” Dave slurred, his eyes darting between the two men. They settled on Xavier for a moment, and he laughed and shook his head. “Haven’t seen you around here since your little brother was throwing stink bombs on to my father’s property,” he sneered, still clearly holding a grudge against him for it. “What ever happened to Max anyway?”
Lawson sucked in a sharp breath, and Xavier took a step forward. Lawson grabbed his friend’s arm to halt his progress.
Dave knew damn well what had happened to Max, and he was trying to get a rise out of Xavier by bringing him up. It was working. The animosity between them was heavy on the air but they didn’t have time to get in a skirmish. They needed to ask their questions and be on their way. They still had the generatorsto worry about. Lawson let go of Xavier’s arm and turned to Dave. “Look, we didn’t come here for a fight. We just need to know if either of you were up at the lodge tonight?”
Confusion crossed Dave’s face. “The lodge?” he asked, shaking his head. “What the hell would I want with that place?”
But before he could say another word, the door next to him opened, and Ron came out, holding a shotgun. It was aimed squarely at Xavier, though his grip was clearly shaky from all the partying they’d been doing.
“Get off our property,” he snarled at Xavier, but Xavier wasn’t going to take orders from someone like Ron. He grabbed the gun, twisting it out of Ron’s hand with an almost comical ease. He checked the chamber—empty.
“Maybe try putting some bullets in next time, dumbass,” Xavier told him, as he tossed the gun back to Ron. He caught it awkwardly, and Xavier took a step toward him.
