Page 33 of Hideaway Reunion

He followed her into the tree line, and through it, to the construction site. The scream had turned to an angry wail amid a flurry of raised voices.

Bursting out of the trees a few steps behind Veronica, he skidded to a stop.

The aluminum office trailer used by the Indigo Reef construction crew was sitting directly under the broken oak branch. The massive limb had crushed the roof of the trailer like a soda can, shattering the windows and pinning the structure under hundreds of pounds of wood and metal.

He caught her arm before she charged in. “Slow down. We stay together.” He waited until he got her nod and then pulled out his flashlight as they moved forward.

Through the driving rain, he could see three figures in yellow safety vests scrambling out of the wreckage, shielding their heads as the torrential wind threatened to blow them off their feet. They were shivering, drenched to the bone, and completely stranded in the middle of a powerless construction zone.

One of them was the burly surveyor who had threatened Roni on the beach. Brayden was tempted to turn around and let them fend for themselves.

He must’ve twitched or muttered or something. Because Roni found his hand and held firm. “We need to get them to the Hideaway.” Pointing, she said, “The driveway out is nothing but mud. A truck will only get stuck. Their shelter is destroyed. And unless they’ve left someone inside, they don’t seem to have injuries severe enough to warrant an urgent emergency response.”

“But it’s severe enough that we have to help them?” That heart of hers was too big for her own good. “You can do that?”

She cocked her head as if he’d asked a foolish question. “We need to help. We both know basic first aid,” she continued. “We’ll recognize the signs if we’re out of our depth.” She looked up at him, silently pleading. Her eyelashes, dark and spiked from the rain, made her eyes even bigger, the expression even more impossible to resist.

Not like he wanted to resist. But she was wrong—he was definitely out of his depth with her and he hadn’t recognized a thing until it had been too late. He’d fallen irrevocably in love with her and convinced himself he could handle it whether or not she felt the same way for him.

When she looked at him with those big blue eyes, he wanted her to love him back so badly his chest ached with the pressure. Pressure he couldn’t put on her. Not ever. And especially not at this particular moment.

She tugged on his arm. “Brayden, we need to hurry.”

Between the lightning, heavy rainfall, and whatever injuries those men had, she was right.

He gave a nod and hustled to keep up with her as she picked her way closer to the men. “Just the three of you?” she shouted when they were close enough to be heard. “Who was injured?”

The men stared as if they were seeing ghosts. “Come with us,” Brayden said. He tried not to think about whether one of these men had been watching the Hargrave sisters, zip ties at the ready. “You can’t stay out here.”

“We’ll take the truck,” the burly surveyor said.

“You won’t make it to the street,” Roni shouted. “Not with this mud and possible flooding. Come on.”

More thunder and lightning rattled around them. There were too many dangerous possibilities out here. “Go back to the trees,” he said to Roni. “I’ll bring these guys along.”

But she held her ground, her hand finding his again. “Together.”

“Is someone stuck inside?” A gust of wind nearly pushed Roni down.

“No.” The three men started moving, but one man took a step and went down with a groan. His friends helped him up and supported him as they moved as quickly as possible through the trees to the Hideaway.

At the house, Veronica unlatched the storm shutter and opened the sliding door, leading into the kitchen. Brayden brought up the rear of their soggy parade.

He had to give the sisters credit. When they decided to rent out the beachside home, they’d added a whole-house generator that made storms like this less disruptive. At least inside. They had lights, working appliances, and air conditioning too.

For a moment, Brayden was stunned into merely staring while Roni pulled out chairs and passed out towels. “All right, guys. Where does it hurt?”

“You an EMT or something?” the burly guy asked.

Brayden started to intervene, but Roni posted up.

Planting her hands on her hips, she gave the man a hard look. “I’m what you’ve got for the moment. That includes first aid, a hot shower, and dry clothes if you’re willing to spend a few hours in a Hargrave Hideaway robe.”

“Shut up, Bobby,” the injured man scolded. “I’m fine. Whatever she is, we’re better here than out there.”

“You didn’t look fine when you were pinned down.”

“Didn’t sound fine either,” the third man added. He stuck out his hand. “Frank Cavanaugh. Call me Cav.”