Holy shit, this is awful! I didn’t even know what to think about it, it was as if I was seeing the most hideous thing come to life in front of my eyes, and there was nothing I could do about it. I blinked a few times, desperately wishing that I could make the image vanish, but unfortunately it wasn’t going anywhere however hard I tried.

Carson was here – and it was definitely him, I’ve spent quite a while trying to convince myself otherwise – he was already at The Oasis, and he wasn’t alone. Not only was he not alone, he had two girls running their mouths all over him. There was one point where I thought they might be shipped off into a room it was getting that bad.

I glanced my eyes towards the door, knowing that Hannah was out there by the pool, innocently, without any clue as to what was happening out here. It broke my damn heart. She loved Carson, even if he didn’t deserve it. She adored him, and much as I could tell all she wanted in her life was to have someone loving her back. She’s lost everything, her dad didn’t have enough time for her, and the one person who was supposed to be making that better was in here dry humping some random skanks.

I pumped my fists by my side, hot rage coursing through my veins. I thought Carson was an asshole before, I hated him for leaving Hannah alone, but now... this was something else. It took all that I had not to lurch forward and punch him smack in his smug fucking face.

I tentatively took a step closer, wanting to at least confront this man. Maybe there was some explanation in there somewhere. I couldn’t imagine it, there didn’t seem to be any way this behavior could be gotten out of, but I had to at least try... didn’t I?

“Ooh, why don’t you take us up to your room?” The blonde woman purred, while stroking Carson’s smooth cheek. “We could show you the time of your life.”

Okay, this was it. Maybe if he turned them down right now I could try and put this hideous image out of my mind. Hannah had shattered her heart in front of me enough today, I didn’t want to make that any worse...

“Okay, how about one more drink, then I’ll take you up? You go and get the drinks, and I’ll go and check in with the front desk. I just need to... ensure my keys are free.”

Urgh, what he meant was see if Hannah had checked in yet, this guy was too much...

But then again, it wasn’t my fault. I was hired by Joe to look after Hannah. I hadn’t been hired to check up on this guy. I had to tell her, she probably wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t, and considering I now knew that I had a couple of minutes window before they left this area I needed to go now.

I raced back outside and flicked my eyes over to where Hannah was before. She was still sitting in exactly the same place, but now she had three massive glasses of cocktail clutched tightly between her fingers. This was bad, this was really bad, and I hadn’t even gotten started yet.

“Hannah!” I yelled over the crowd. “Hannah, I need you.”

“What for?” she slurred, her eyes rolling backward a little. “I’m good here, I’m happy.”

“No, Hannah, seriously,” I grabbed onto her arm and stared deeply into her eyes. “You have to come with me. I’ve seen something that you need to see.”

“I have everything I need to look at right here.” She indicated wildly around her. “And the lady at the bar loves me, she keeps bringing me drinks so I’m all good.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed deeply. “Okay look, I didn’t want to tell you this, I would much rather you see it for yourself but Carson is here.”

“He’s here already?” Her eyes lit up, crushing my soul. This was the absolute worst thing I’ve ever had to say. “Oh good!”

“No, it isn’t that... he’s here with company.”

“Oh God, not ‘the guys’?”

“You don’t like Carson’s friends?” I shook my head, remembering that this wasn’t the current topic at hand. “No, you know what, it doesn’t matter. No, he’s not with friends, he is inside with two women and they’re about to go up to your bedroom. If you go inside right now then you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.”

Her skin turned green, her face fell, I could see the wide range of expressions crossing her face. Sadness, heartbreak, denial, temper... yep, a red hot anger. It seemed that this was what she was settled on which was good. Anger would work perfectly when she confronted him.

“You liar!” She spat out as her entire body turned red. “You’re making that up as an excuse to get me into bed.”

“Huh? Wait, what?” I exclaimed in sheer shock. Why was she angry at me? None of this was my fault. Sure she was drunk and probably irrational, but still this seemed a little extreme. “What are you on about?”

“You just... you’ve been trying to seduce me for ages. You want to have sex with me, then you’re going to leave me. You’ll go back in the army and forget I even exist.” I shook my head, wondering how the hell we’d gotten so off track. I couldn’t do anything to sort it out though, Hannah was on a real roll. “Carson is on my wavelength, he’s on my path. He’s the sort of man that I should be with. I could never even consider someone like you.”

I fell backward a little, her words slamming violently against my chest. Of course I knew that she was about a million levels above me and that I probably wasn’t the sort of man she expected to fall for... but didn’t we have an intense connection? Was I just imagining the bond that we’d been building?

“I... I didn’t mean...” I wasn’t sure what to say to that one. The barrage seemed to come right out of the blue. “I just thought...” Oh fuck it, it was probably too late now. Carson was probably getting his rocks off in that bedroom, and if Hannah didn’t want to see it that was up to her.

And if she didn’t want me, that was up to her as well.

“Right fine,” I finally spat out in a hollow tone of voice. “If that’s what you think my motivation is, then that’s up to you. I don’t need to stick around to hear this from you, like you so kindly pointed out before this isn’t my only job. I have a career in the armed forces. I can go whenever I want.”

“Pfft, as far as I can see you’re nothing but a guardian...”

I was done, I stepped back and angled my body away from her. “Right, well not anymore. I quit.”

I expected her to say something back, to beg me to stay but she didn’t, so I forced my feet to plow on forward. I knew where I wasn’t wanted, I totally understood that this world wasn’t for me. This was a good thing, it forced me out before I got in too deep. At least now my feelings for Hannah could die before they blossomed...

Oh for God’s sake!

I almost screamed out in frustration as I found myself staring at Carson with those women once more. How could Hannah not see it? Me telling her about her dickhead of a boyfriend had nothing to do with what I felt about her. It was human dignity... decency... Hannah having someone nice to love her.

“Okay, let me just neck this, then we can go.”

That was it, I couldn’t stand it for another second longer, it was now or never. Either I could confront Carson with an argument that wasn’t mine, or I could let it die and live in the regret that I said nothing.

“Hey, asshole!” I yelled, spittle and rage bursting out with every single word. “What the fuck do you think you’re playing at? Don’t you have a girlfriend out there waiting for you?”

Carson spun around to look at me and smirked as if he wasn’t doing anything wrong at all. “Oh hey there, Parker,” his tone was breezy enough, but I could hear the bitter rage there. “Come on, buddy, we’re friends aren’t we? Why not let this go? After all, this is only a job.”

I panted breathlessly, my heart hammering noisily in my chest. The smart thing to do would be to walk away, I knew that for sure. This was absolutely idiotic, my wage didn’t even begin to cover this, but still... could I walk away?

Nope, it appeared not!

“I am not your friend, I have never been and I will never be.” I took a step closer to Carson, which caused the girls to filter away from him. Maybe they were skanks, but clearly getting into the middle of a fight was not where they wanted their afternoon to go. “Now, you need to go out there and apologize to Hannah. You need to tell her what you’re doing in here, and you need to break things off with her in a kind and gentle way.”

“Oh, come on...”

“No, I mean it. She deserves so much better than you, so you’re going to set her free to allow her to find someone who deserves her love.”

Carson puffed out his chest to me, clearly not in the mood to have his reputation torn to shreds by some guardian, as Hannah so kindly put it. “And what if I don’t?”

“Do you want to find out?”

When he didn’t answer, I swung my fist backward, showing him where this would go. He flicked his eyes anxiously from side to side, before deciding that being seen as a coward wouldn’t be for him. I didn’t want to hit his unblemished skin, I was scared of what I might break, but if that was what it took to stop him from stitching up Hannah forever, then so be it.

I would give him three more seconds, after that if he didn’t apologize I would make my threat a reality.

Three... I hardened my gaze, letting him know this was serious. Two... he wanted to back down, I could tell, but he was afraid. One...