Page 9 of Battle Scars

I smile as I make my way up the stairs and down the hall toward the offices. I wave to Garrison and one of the main admins, farther down the hallway, then barge into my dad’s office without knocking or thinking. Both are things I should do more of because when I shove open the door, I do not immediately notice the room is filled to the brim with ridiculously handsome bad asses.

“Hey, Dad. Rowan said you wanted to see m—” I stop short like a cartoon character. I practically stumble into the room where he’s seated at the conference table with three other men. All of them look like they fell straight from the pages of He-Man or some other GI Joe shit. “Oh, sorry. I’ll come back later.”

I turn around to leave, but my dad jumps up to stop me. “No, no. I do want to see you. How was the last run?”

“Awesome,” I say. I can’t help my huge smile. It really was an incredible run.

“Come meet everyone,” Dad tells me.

Self-consciousness rolls over me. It’s not like this isn’t how I spend every day, but if I’d known we had an important meeting with a small arms militia, I would have showered and slapped on a little makeup. Instead, I’m sweaty, stinky, and gross-looking with my sticky hair slipping free from its plait down my back.

“This is Gabe, Manny, and Eli.”

“Hi,” I say shyly. And just to further prove what a dork I am around these guys, I toss a girly-pop wave. Shit.

“This is my daughter, Adrienne,” Dad says proudly to the room. “Here, have a seat.”

I drop into the chair next to him and sit on the edge of my seat with my hands neatly folded in my lap. I might be a badass driver, but my mom was determined to raise a lady with manners and makeup. I had no idea how handy it would become until much later, when the press decided I was the sexiest driver of the year.

“So,” I start. “What’s all this about?”

“Mr. Navarro—” Dad starts, but the tall drink of water—with golden eyes that seem to see everything and anything—stops him.

“Just Gabe,” the mountain of dark skin and muscles says.

“Right,” Dad replies, and there’s an overly bright note to his voice I do not trust. “Gabe owns Stonegate Security.”

“That’s… uh… nice,” I finish lamely. I mean, what else am I supposed to say? “How are Shipwreck and the other GI Joes?” Oh my God, I was closer to the mark than I realized. That is insane. And what could they possibly be doing here? “Well, if that’s all, I’ll just be making my way back down to the track.”

“No, Addie,” Dad says softly.

The sad look on his face has all the oxygen in my lungs whooshing back out.

“Dad?”

“Everything’s fine,” he assures firmly. “Everything is going to be just fine.”

“I don’t understand⁠—”

“What your dad is failing to explain is that you’re in danger,” Gabe says, and where I’d originally thought my panties would combust at the sight of him, I take it back. Because when the man speaks, he is an absolute asshole.

“Excuse me?” I narrow my eyes at him, and the other two men chuckle. What they could possibly find amusing right now, I have no earthly idea.

“You are in danger,” he says again, rolling his eyes like I’m an idiot. “Your dad hired my firm to keep you safe.”

“What?”

“I don’t like repeating myself, fresa,” he says, his voice low. “So pay attention.”

“Excuse me?” I repeat, snapping. But this time, my dad is there trying to smooth things over.

“There have been some… threats,” Dad says lamely.

“What kind of threats?” I ask.

“The kind where someone wants you hurt or dead,” Gabe rumbles.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” I spit out. The nerve of this man. I can’t believe I thought he was even a little bit attractive.