Page 74 of Battle Scars

“Are… um… are you coming too?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he replies, his eyes still watchful and wary. I hate that I feel so off balance when we should be celebrating my dad’s win. Nothing else should matter.

“Oh, okay.”

The three of us stand there for far longer than necessary until Gabe finally breaks the silence. “Mind coming over here?” he says, gesturing for me to make the move to his side of the hallway. I don’t know why, but this feels like a big move on my part, one I’m not sure I feel safe making.

“I don’t know,” I reply before nibbling on my lip.

“What don’t you know?” he asks.

I want to scream Anything. I don’t know anything where he’s concerned. I feel like I’m just living this life as a first-timer and before all of this happened, I was a strong independent woman.

“If you’re mad or not, for starters.”

“I will be if you don’t bring your ass to me right now,” he growls, and I startle before taking the three quick strides over to his side.

Gabe grabs my hand and pulls me into his arms before his mouth crushes mine. I gasp at the brutality of it, and he seizes the opportunity to lick into my mouth, possessing me in front of Eli and anyone else who may be passing through the hall.

This is new.

He ends the kiss just as quickly as he started it. “Now we can go.” Then he leads me out to the parking lot and loads me into the SUV with Eli trailing behind us.

What I did not know, because I didn’t turn back to see, is that Eli followed us out to the parking lot with a happy smile on his face and the thought that maybe sometimes you can love and win.

The tavern in the next small town over is called The Stone Porch and it’s everything my dad said it was. Family owned for generations and passed down through them, Stone’s thrives in the sleepy town of Ransom Falls. There’s so much going on here and I want to know more. Real cowboys are all around and it doesn’t hurt that the famous bull rider, Levi Brooks, and his family are from here and known to frequent the bar from time to time.

There’s a band playing and a cute brunette with sad eyes running the bar. I know the feeling. I feel a little sad tonight too. Although I don’t know her story, I can guess that her heartache revolves around a man. It always does.

I see our party throughout the small building. Dad is in the back corner of the bar with Bobby and the rest of the DHR crowd. He’s in jeans and a T-shirt, like always, and holds a beer bottle loosely in his hands.

Bobby could be him twenty years ago. They are so similar it’s no wonder Bobby always looked up to him. But Dad wouldn’t treat someone as callously as Bobby’s treated me, or at least I hope he wouldn’t. As I watch the two men, I can’t help but wonder, how well do I really know them after all?

I’m not quite sure I truly know anyone or anything, not my best friend or my dad, and definitely not Gabriel Navarro.

In a crowd of people, I’m all alone, and I’m okay with it. This is the life I’ve chosen, and I’m at peace with it. Do I want more? Yes, but if that never happens, I’ll be all right.

“Addie!” Bobby calls out, and I feel Gabe stiffen beside me. “You’re here.”

“If he kisses you again, we’re going to have problems, fresa,” he says as Bobby makes his way over to me and pulls me into his arms.

I just sigh in frustration. There are always problems where these two are concerned and there always will be. They both have me all twisted up inside in different ways, and I’m not sure how I’ll ever get untangled.

Thankfully, Manny saves the day with a knowing twinkle in his eye as he leads a short and curvy-in-all-the-right-places woman toward me, her hand clasped in his. “Adrienne!” he shouts as he pushes their way through the crowd. “This is my wife, Marisol.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I chirp with a genuine smile. “There are too many men in this crowd. Can I buy you a drink?”

“Sure,” she says with a laugh and a knowing look to her husband.

I loop her arm through mine and tow her across the room to the bar in the middle of the room.

“Thank you for the rescue,” I say with wide eyes as we pony up to the bar. “I wasn’t sure I could make it another minute back there.”

She laughs, a tinkling-bell laugh that is so beautiful, and her whole face lights up as she does. “Manny told me a little bit about what’s going on,” she says. “I wasn’t sure I’d fit in with this crowd, but he said I’d love you.”

“I hope you do,” I reply honestly. “I need a friend who’s a girl.”

“They can be a bit much,” she says as she receives her drink from the bartender and sips it. She seems to weigh her words before speaking again. “So… you and Gabe?”