Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
The squawk from his portable radio had Nolan pulling it off his waistband and pausing on his way to the stables. Since the weather was perfect this afternoon, he had decided to forego using the ATV for his rounds and hoof it on foot instead.
He could use the exercise, despite the fact that he’d had plenty already this morning.
While Cam still slept, he had sex with Hope in the shower before she left to go teach yoga.
As soon as Cam woke and found out they had let him sleep in, he bent Nolan over the end of the couch and ate his ass for a good ten minutes before grabbing the coconut oil off the kitchen counter.
Then, after lubing up his bare cock, Cam fucked him hard and deep until they both came.
He and Cam had stopped using condoms right after they both got their negative test results a couple of weeks ago, but they were still using them with Hope until she had a chance to get to her gynecologist to get on some form of birth control.
If Cam thought fucking him over the couch would be punishment for not waking him earlier, then Nolan would accept every minute of it. He would, in fact, encourage more of it.
“Gate to Supervisor.”
Instead of letting his thoughts wander to his two quickies this morning, he should answer the radio.
He pushed the button. “Supervisor to Gate, go.”
“Have an issue here, if you can come advise.”
That didn’t sound good. Normally, the guards didn’t need assistance. Cam had previously joked about Nolan taking a security job at an old folks’ home. Truthfully, there were probably a lot less issues at the Double D.
“On my way,” Nolan answered before slipping the radio back onto his belt.
Since walking to the resort’s entrance would take too long, he stopped at the equipment shed to grab the ATV Cam and he now shared.
As Nolan approached the guard shack, he saw a vehicle parked in front of the metal barrier gate and a dark-haired man he didn’t recognize standing almost toe-to-toe in a threatening manner with their gate guard.
Whoever he was, he was clearly irritated. His tense shoulders were pulled back and his chest puffed out in an attempt to intimidate Kirk, a Navy veteran.
Nolan’s guess? Kirk wasn’t going to back down and would do whatever was necessary.
He parked the ATV up close to the barrier, blocking the lane, just in case, and as soon as he shut off the engine he heard, “I know she’s here!”
She?
“Let me in. I have every right to see my girlfriend.”
Girlfriend?
Did a guest book a stay without her significant other and this guy was bent out of shape over it?
“You!”
A finger was jabbed in Nolan’s direction.
“Make this asshole open the gate.”
Nolan calmly asked Kirk, “Does he have a reservation?”
“No.”
“Is he on the visitors’ list?”
Kirk shook his head. “Nope.”
Even Nolan could tell Kirk was clinging hard to his patience.
Great. Good thing the gate was far from any guests so no one would be witnessing this shit show.
“I know she’s here. At this”—he flung a hand around, barely missing Kirk—"this place.”
Nolan pulled in a breath to cool his annoyance. “Who’s the guest you’re seeking?”
One side of the man’s lip pulled up in a sneer. “She’s not a guest! She works here.”
Great. “And her name?”
“Hope Reed.”
All the blood drained from Nolan’s face. This jack wagon had to be Darren, her ex. Because Nolan and Cam were her current boyfriends—and lovers—but he kept that important tidbit to himself.
Nolan wasn’t sure that Hope was even on the property since he didn’t check to see if her vehicle was still parked in front of the cabin. Sometimes she hung around the resort if she didn’t have to run home to teach another class from her home studio or get housework done.
“She’s probably at home,” Nolan forced through clenched teeth.
“She’s not. That was the first place I checked.”
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
First of all, why was Darren back in town? Second, why was he looking for Hope?
Whatever the reason was, it couldn’t be good.
It took everything in him to ask, “Did you try to contact her?” since he’d rather Darren not contact her at all.
“She’s not answering. What have you perverts done with her?”
Nolan ground his teeth to avoid knocking Darren’s out of his mouth. His law enforcement training taught him to deescalate, not throw punches.
No matter how much he wanted to knock out Hope’s ex.
You like your job here. Don’t do anything stupid.
A screaming engine could be heard coming up the lane.
Nolan spared a glance in that direction to see Cam speeding toward the gate in one of the trucks belonging to the maintenance crew.
The pickup came to an abrupt halt at an angle directly behind the ATV. As soon as the driver’s door was flung open, Cam burst from the driver’s seat. Before his feet even hit the ground, he asked, “What’s going on here?”
When Nolan’s eyes flicked to Kirk, the guard gave him a chin lift that said he could hold down the fort while Nolan pulled Cam off to the side.
Nolan kept his voice low. “Did you hijack that truck?”
“It’s commandeering when the good guys do it, and of course I did. What’s going on?”
“Where’s Hope?”
Cam jerked his chin into his neck and frowned. “She texted me earlier and said she’d be spending a few hours at the spa.”
Good. She needed to stay far away from this belligerent asshole.
“Sir, you need to calm down,” Kirk warned with extreme restraint.
“I want to speak to my girlfriend! By barring me from entry, I’m beginning to think this is a hostage situation. Don’t make me get the police involved.”
Nolan rolled his eyes so hard, he swore he busted a blood vessel.
“For fuck’s sake,” Cam muttered. “Is that her ex?”
“Yep. The one and only Darren Von Dump Her.”
Cam blinked at Nolan’s snarky answer before walking away. Out of the corner of Nolan’s eye, he saw his lover on his cell phone. Was he calling for backup?
Between the three of them, they could easily handle one pissed off man. As long as Darren wasn’t packing. If so, they’d soon be wishing they were, too.
A few seconds later, Cam took determined strides toward the gate and Nolan followed closely behind him.
Cam’s nostrils flared in irritation when he asked, “What do you want with Hope?”
“I need to talk to her. That’s all.”
“Does she want to talk to you?”
“Of course she does. I left her, not the other way around.”
What an asshole.
“You left her and you truly believe she wants to listen to what you have to say now?”
“Stay out of our business.”
“You’re making it our business by showing up here,”—Cam jabbed a finger toward the ground—"and creating a scene.”
“I wouldn’t be making a scene if you’d give me access to her.”
“She has a phone.”
“She’s not answering.”
“That should be a sign she doesn’t want to hear from you.”
Nolan realized exactly who Cam had called when he glanced over his shoulder to see Hope’s Subaru coming up over the rise.
As soon as she parked and climbed out of her car, Darren leaned into the metal barrier gate. “Hope! I need to speak with you.”
“If you walk around that gate, you will be arrested and charged with trespassing,” Nolan warned. “This is your one and only warning.”
Darren ignored him. “Hope! You owe me that much!”
“You don’t owe him anything,” Cam said with his expression hard and his hands balled into fists as she joined them.
With her features grim, her eyes slid between Cam and Nolan before fully focusing her attention on her ex. She shrugged. “So talk.”
“Not here. Not in front of these people.”
These people.
What did Hope ever see in this cretin?
“I don’t think we have anything to talk about. You made it clear with what you believed about me, my career, and about working here before deciding to give up on us.”
“I’ve had time to reflect—” When Nolan snorted, Darren scowled at him. “See? This is why we need to speak in private.”
“We don’t need to do anything, Darren.”
Nolan silently cheered at her response.
“Are you willing to throw away everything we had?”
Her mouth dropped open. A second later it snapped shut. “Me? I’m to blame?”
A muscle jumped in Darren’s clean-shaven cheek. “Please, just give me a chance and hear me out.”
Before Hope could respond, Cam pulled her away and stood between her and her ex. Nolan stepped up next to Cam, creating a wall to block Darren’s view.
“If you go with him, one of us is going with you, Hope.”
“He’s not going to hurt me,” she assured Cam. “Maybe if I let him have his say and I’m clear that I’m no longer interested, he’ll leave me alone.”
Oh, sure. Nolan wondered how many women thought that and ended up regretting it afterward. If they were still alive to regret it.
“I don’t like this.”
Nolan agreed with his lover. “I don’t, either.”
Hope sighed. “Well, then we all agree, but unless I squash this, he might not give up.”
“I’ll squash him for you,” Cam growled.
“No, you won’t. He’s not worth losing your freedom or your job. Or your self-respect. I can handle this.”
“Hope,” Nolan started, not comfortable with her handling what appeared to him to be an unreasonable man.
She lifted a hand. “It’ll be fine.” She yelled over to Darren. “Because we have a past, I’ll give you a few minutes of my time.”
Shit. He didn’t like that one bit.
“Not here,” Darren insisted.
“Fine,” came out on another sigh. “Let’s go to the house.”
Cam and Nolan reluctantly moved their vehicles and Kirk opened the gate so Hope could drive out.
Nolan and Cam shared a worried glance as she drove away and Darren followed in his own vehicle.
“I don’t like this,” Nolan grumbled under his breath.
“I don’t, either. But she’ll be fine,” Cam assured him.
Nolan wasn’t so sure. “What if he convinces her to take him back?”
“She won’t.”
He’d like to think the same, but he didn’t know how persuasive Darren could be. “How do you know? They were together a lot longer than us. In fact, they lived together. That’s serious. We don’t even have that. With him, she was getting all of his attention. Unlike with us.”