20. Vail
20
VAIL
My kitchen was coming along nicely. I’d made a lot of progress on it once my head wasn’t being fucked with by Gil. Thanks to the help of the contractor, the wiring and plumbing were where I needed it. A gas line was run for the stove. The appliances were gorgeous, bigger than I had in my home, but they needed to be. I was feeding many more than myself or giving personal cooking lessons. It wasn’t a monster like Untouchable had, but it was an upgrade for me.
I was running my hand along the beautiful stainless steel when I heard Jordan call for me. I leaned out of the kitchen to see him.
“Let’s go,” he barked. “I need to yell at Hartley, and your presence will help cool things down.”
“What happened?”
“You’ll find out when I lay into him.”
I put the few things I had out away and made sure everything was tidied up. Jordan waited for me at the elevator, a thundercloud of emotion on his face, while Raiden stood by his side. Jordan’s hands kept clenching and unclenching into fists on the ride up. Whatever Hartley did must have been awful. Jordan didn’t get angry at us often.
Tahoe was by my side all day. With the kitchen in good shape, there was no risk of him hurting his paws being down there.
The moment the doors opened, Jordan started seeking Hartley out, eventually heading up the stairs. I told Tahoe to stay downstairs. Raiden let me know he’d make sure he did.
I came to a stop the moment I entered our bedroom. There, lying on his back, was Hartley, completely naked with his dick in his hand as he lazily stroked it.
“That’s not going to work,” Jordan growled. He hadn’t moved more than a few feet into the room. “What were you thinking?”
“I’m horny and want to get off,” Hartley replied in a raspy voice. Just seeing him like this had my dick stirring.
Jordan’s anger didn’t frighten me. He’d never hurt us, no matter how pissed he was, unless we betrayed him, which we would never. Even then, I didn’t think he’d be able to do it.
“I want the whole story,” Jordan bit out. “Every fucking detail. I don’t care if you stroke yourself to orgasm. I’m not moving until you tell me your reasoning. And make sure you speak loud enough for Vail to hear it. This isn’t only about you, Hartley. Whatever your reasons, you could have put Vail in danger.”
That had Hartley’s hand slowing. “I didn’t do anything to put anyone in danger, especially not Vail. Don’t try to make me feel guilty for doing something just because I didn’t have your approval.” Hartley’s defiant tone was coming out. He let go of his dick and sat up.
“Tell. Me.”
“There was a paper left in my grandfather’s house. It had money owed written on it, including late fees. Together, they equaled a lot of money. There was nothing to signify why it was owed, but it was clear Pop was the one in debt. What was also clear was the name signed at the bottom. E. Everhart.”
“Son of a bitch,” Jordan seethed. “Why didn’t you tell me? More than that, when the fuck did you have time to go through the house and grab the paper? You didn’t leave my side.”
“Would you believe me if I told you I did so when I was there for the funeral?” He gave a lopsided grin, trying to be cute.
“Hart,” I said, drawing his attention to me. “How did you get the paper? If you had it before, you would have said something, been even more stressed about what was left behind and you would have tried to figure out who that was. But you didn’t. Where did you get it?”
“Before I say it, Vail, will you please stand in the doorway so Jordan can’t leave?” Hartley’s eyes met mine, silently begging me to do as he asked.
I did because I trusted him with my life. Hartley was going to say something that would cause Jordan to storm out of here. I couldn’t let that happen. I was also very curious about who gave it to him.
Another growl tore from Jordan. “Hartley.”
“Okay. Forest gave it to me but…”
“Goddammit, just fucking say it.”
“Sheldon gave it to him. He and Ollie found it when they were there scoping out the home the first time but decided not to grab it until after we met Lane.”
A deadly calm settled over Jordan. He reached into his pocket and dug out his phone. Before he could put it to his ear, Hartley was out of the bed, racing across the room naked to slap it out of Jordan’s hand where it tumbled to the floor.
“Don’t,” Hartley told him. “You can’t fire him. If you do, I’ll… I’ll leave.”
I didn’t think I’d ever seen Jordan turn that pale, like all the blood drained from him and he was about to pass out.
“I don’t say that lightly. Sheldon did nothing wrong. You know he feels something for Forest. This was him showing my brother he could be trusted. I want to protect Sheldon and Ollie. You can’t fire them. They are two of the best guards you have.”
“You said you’d leave,” Jordan whispered.
“Because like we have to trust you, you have to trust us. I didn’t do anything dangerous. I didn’t talk to Lane by myself. Forest was there as well as Sheldon and Ollie. I just wanted to do this on my own, so I knew what I was dealing with before I came to you. And I was going to come to you, but I also knew the moment you found out I went to see Lane, that I was allowed in to talk to him, you’d race here to put a stop to it.”
“That’s why you’re naked,” I said.
“I thought maybe I could be a pleasurable distraction, and we could talk once Jordan had come.” He shrugged like he wasn’t the least bit sorry. Maybe he wasn’t.
I understood what he meant by wanting to take care of this himself. Jordan had to trust us. Not that he didn’t. He wanted to protect us and do anything he could to keep us out of harm.
“If I don’t fire them, will you stay?” Jordan asked. There was so much wariness in his tone, a fear that bled through at the thought of Hartley leaving. While I’d be fuming mad if Jordan fired them, I couldn’t leave. I doubted Hartley could either. Then again, he was so firm in his decision, his eyes leveling Jordan’s. Maybe he would. It showed how much he wanted to protect our friends. That was who they were. More than Jordan’s guards, they were people we cared about.
“I’ll stay, but you can’t get rid of them.”
“I won’t, but they can’t do things behind my back. That shows a lack of respect, which I can’t have.”
Hartley reached up to cup the back of Jordan’s neck to draw their foreheads together. “They didn’t do it with the intent of deceiving you. They let us in there because I asked them to.”
“It’s the same thing,” Jordan sighed, some of the anger bleeding from him.
“It’s not. We’re equals, right? You, me, and Vail? How can we be if you always want to take over and make all the decisions? If this was something that just pertained to you and not us, that would be one thing. But it’s not the case. The paper was found in my grandfather’s home by your men. Sheldon wanted to give it to Forest. And Forest showed it to me. Was my brother freaking the fuck out? Of course he was. Hell, I was too. Still am, if I’m being honest. But the point is, not everything we do has to be cleared by you. Lane isn’t a threat sitting on a couch watching TV with no weapons, no phone, and especially not with Sheldon and Ollie in the room with us. I didn’t rush in there alone. I didn’t go in without thinking. Give me some credit.”
Hartley reached his other hand out for me as he leaned slightly from Jordan. I went to him, not resisting the pull. He brought me close, so my body touched his and Jordan’s. “I wasn’t going to keep it from either of you. I just wanted to soften the blow.”
“There wouldn’t have been anything to soften if you had come to me in the first place,” Jordan stated .
“Yes, there would have. You would have still been pissed at them and you would have marched in to see Lane and demanded he tell you what the note meant, even if he had no idea, which he doesn’t, by the way. Lane wasn’t involved in the day-to-day dealings of his family.”
“Where’s the note?” I asked.
“For has it. He’s back at his place with Sheldon.”
That had my eyes widening.
Hartley chuckled. “I know, right? My brother is so damn clueless. He has no idea how much Sheldon cares for him. I mean, for Sheldon to go to For instead of Jordan…” Hartley whistled. “That’s some dedication.”
“That’s stupidity,” Jordan said low with danger threaded into his words.
“Nope, not doing that. You’re not going to fire or threaten them. You can yell about them not coming to you. I’ll give you that. Sheldon has feelings for my brother. What lengths would you go to for Vail or me? How many backs would you go behind for us?”
“It’s not the same.”
“It is. You see it. You just don’t want to admit it.”
“Stop making sense.”
I smiled and brought my hand to Jordan’s back to rub soothing circles over it. “You have to let us fly.”
“As long as you both always return to me. No more threatening you’ll leave either.”
“Drastic times…” Hartley stated.
“I get it, but no more. I can’t explain to you the icy fear that flowed through my veins when you said those words. Your point was made. Don’t do it again.”
“I won’t. I have a feeling that would only work once. I meant it when I said you have to trust us though. We need to be given the space to make decisions on our own. That note had everything to do with my family. If I only knew the why of it.”
“Any ideas?”
Hartley told us what he’d thought and how maybe his grandfather had been killed, but with no body and no proof, there was no way to say for certain. Plus, with Lane telling him how that would have cost his family money they didn’t have, would they waste it on doing that? Also, why did Hartley’s grandfather leave the note out? Why not keep it in a drawer or somewhere it wouldn’t be seen?
This was another puzzle we had to put the pieces together of. It was different from trying to solve Gil’s riddle. Hartley figured that out pretty quickly. This wouldn’t be solved nearly as fast. The only people alive who knew were the ones we wanted dead. And yes, I did too. After what they’d done, they had to go.
Damn, look at how far I’d come. Before, I wouldn’t have been able to even think of things like this. Now, I had clues in my head I was trying to solve. It wasn’t about death and murder. Never mind, it was, but not only that. There were breadcrumbs we had to follow until we discovered the complete picture.