Page 94 of Heartbreaker

“Did you think we’d miss this?” Demi asks, smiling down at her. “Hell no.”

“But you were all on assignments!” she says. “I literally called you and Rory yesterday!”

“We lied,” Josie, who I learned to be the Maneater of the group, says with a wide grin.

“Gabriel gave us all leave to come. He says congratulations,” Rory, Josie’s partner, says.

“Why does he always give you the information?” Josie asks, sounding annoyed.

“Because I’m not afraid of him like the rest of you,” she counters with a shrug. Lana opens her mouth, but a new set of voices comes through, and her attention is once again stolen as her brothers jump the railing.

“Lookin’ good, little sis,” Archer says, pulling her away from me and into his side. “Fucking badass.”

“With this crowd, soon you’re going to need to hire me to protect you,” Drew says.

“That’s actually—” I start, contemplatively, since the idea of not being by her side 24/7 admittedly gives me some anxiety. She goes along with it since we both went through a lot, and she’s allowed the inspectors I hired to perform routine inspections of her truck to ease my nerves. Hiring her brother might be too much for her.

“Absolutely not. I would fucking kill him,” she says, giving me a cutting glance. “Plus, you’re busy with your pop star, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah. She wanted to come, but she didn’t want to take away from your big moment.” Lana’s brother works for Wilde Security, and his primary client is world-famous pop star Willa Stone. “But I was instructed to buy everyone a shirt from the merch booth, and Emma is demanding tickets to the next race.” Lana nods.

“Deal. Tell her I’ll let her drive my truck if she can convince her dad to let her.” Drew lets out a loud laugh.

“Oh, I’m sure Jesse will just love that.”

“Heartbreaker!” a new voice calls, and when Lana turns, Tyler and Oliver are running toward her, grinning wide. “You fucking did it!” Tyler pulls her in for a hard hug, one that a few months ago would have pissed me off. Since then, Tyler has become like a third brother to her, something I appreciate since it makes me feel better to know someone is looking out for her.

“I told you I’d kick your ass,” she taunts.

“You sure did,” he says. Phil walks over then with a crew of reporters, holding a trophy as big as her head, and Lana grins wide.

“You look proud,” my dad says, appearing out of nowhere.

“Never been prouder,” I say, watching as my winner is handed her trophy and is whisked away by Courtney for photos and press.

A few hours later, we’re out celebrating. We have a private area where the Monster Smash drivers, all of Lana’s friends and family, and a few Indy drivers are hanging out, but Demi and the Mavens pulled a very tipsy Lana out onto the dance floor earlier. I thought that after months of space between the sabotages and frequent separation, some of my protectiveness would have died down. Still, I’m beginning to think I’ll always be wildly protective of Lana Carson, and I can’t help but watch her from afar.

“She’s having fun,” Drew says, stepping over to me, eyes also on his sister as Demi spins her around. She stumbles, and they both nearly fall before Oliver catches them. Both women explode into a fit of giggles I can’t hear, but wish I could. I love her laugh.

“She deserves it,” I say, taking a sip of my drink.

“She does. I don’t know the last time I saw her this free,” he says. He’s still watching Lana with an intrigued look on his face. “She was always trying to show off. To fit in. Given that she grew up with Arch and me, it was inevitable. She didn’t have anyone else to look up to, and we were kind of assholes about it.”

“You were kids,” I say. Even though I still hold some of Lana’s old issues against the brothers, if anyone knows about how you can grow and change, it’s me.

“Yeah, but so was she.” There’s regret in his words, and it twists my gut, but still, I know that I’ve done what I can to heal Lana’s inner child, and I’ll continue to do that for years and years to come. “You’re good for her, you know,” he says after a moment. I look to him, confused. “You bring out something in her. Make her more… her.” He looks back to his sister. “I thought it was joining the circuit, but it’s not. It’s you. There’s something about you that makes her feel comfortable.”

“I’ve made it my goal to take care of every side of her, make sure she feels safe being who she wants to be.” He takes a long sip of his drink before nodding.

“Good. Keep it up.” Finally, he gives me a devious smile. “If not, I’m sure Jaime would be fine with helping me hide a body.” I blink, unsure if he’s joking, but considering he works for Jaime Wilde, a man not known for his sense of humor who probably does know where and how to hide a body, I’m not completely sure. I open my mouth, but he tips his chin toward Lana. “Might want to go down there, claim your girl.” Tyler is standing behind Lana, hands on her hips, dancing. He looks up to where he knows we are, even if he can’t see me watching, and flips off the private area. With a groan, I move, setting my drink down and heading to the main dance floor. I hear Drew’s laughter behind me.

“Get the fuck away from her,” I tell my best friend, who laughs.

“That worked quicker than I thought,” Lana says with a laugh. I look at her, confused. “I wanted you to come dance with me.” Her hands slide up my chest and loop around my neck. “Knew if you saw someone coming in on your territory, you’d come down and be all caveman.” My cock twitches with her words, and her smile grows wider.

A fucking troublemaker.

“Be good, heartbreaker,” I say, turning her in my arms, her back to my chest, and starting to sway with her before I press my lips to her neck right below her ear. “I know this is your party, but you’re still my girl.” She looks over her shoulder, lips tipping just a bit.