Page 5 of Exposed

“Wait, you’ve already scheduled her for travel? Why wasn’t I told about this?” I demanded, furrowing my brow.

“I asked Danielle to start asap. I told her to call Mark for help,” Elijah told me.

I watched as the Lauren chick shoved her hands in the air, pissed off.

“Hello, she is right here, and I don’t need to get permission from anyone before going somewhere. Kenny and Vivien Armstrong live in New York.”

“Now you’re under my watch, so that changes today,” I told her, stalking over, closing the space between us. She didn’t back down, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let some pampered princess tell me how to do my job. She pointed her manicured nail in my face. “This isn’t the Army. I suggest you take that up with someone who cares,” she spat back, her gaze boring into my eyes.

“I feel like there’s more to you two than him being your bodyguard. Are we missing something?” Danielle questioned.

“Yeah, I’d like to know that as well. It was the Navy, Lauren, and he’s my old SEAL team member,” Mark instigated, folding his arms.

“He has no elevator etiquette,” Lauren commented.

“And you have no awareness of your surroundings. If you paid more attention to your surroundings and less on what was happening on your phone, you’d know the door had opened,” I growled, crossing my arms.

“Wait, you bumped into each other on the elevator, and you’re pissed about it?”

“He didn’t say sorry, excuse me, my bad, zilch,” Lauren remarked.

Danielle and Mark busted out in laughter, and I observed the amusement on their faces.

“That’s not funny,” I said, running a hand down my face.

“I agree with him on that. Danielle, you’re supposed to be on my side,” Lauren said, which caused Mark and Danielle to laugh even louder.

“Shooter, you have to take this job. I can already see the fireworks kicking off. Wait till I tell Jackson and Catherine,” Mark replied, patting me on the back, swaggering out of the office.

“I’m sorry, Lauren, but this was too funny. I promise Dominic won’t get in your way. He’s only here to protect you. Right, Dominic?” Danielle questioned.

“If I decide to take the case, I will do my best to not get in your way, Mrs. Armstrong.”

“Miss Armstrong. I’m not married,” she replied and walked out of the room. Danielle shook her head and giggled, as I watched the most aggravating woman I’d ever met, piss me off in less than five minutes.

“Well, I see you two will get along great,” Danielle teased.

“Call someone else,” I announced, dropping the file folder back down on the desk.

“Dominic, we wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t that important,” Elijah said.

“Dominic! Come on. Lauren’s nice. Yes, she’s young, but I think she’s great for the company. We need the best, and you’re the best person to keep things running smoothly. Please!”

“How old is she?” I asked.

“Twenty-five,” she mumbled under her breath.

“I figured between twenty-two and twenty-six. I’m no babysitter, Danielle, you know me, and I don’t take crap from anyone. When I say it’s time to go, we leave and I suggest you let her know. I’m not on her payroll,” I stated and walked out, not waiting for an answer.

Chapter Four

Dominic

As soon as I left, I called my brother to let him know that I was running late for the basketball game he set up with our friends. It was normally three on three, and Mark usually joined us, but he had some work to do at Cole Security. I pulled into the parking space at the park and grabbed my gym bag out of the back seat and jogged up to the basketball court right as they were going into a time out. Desmond Combs is my older brother at thirty-eight; he works as a police officer for the Virginia Police Department. Our father is a retired Army man and police officer, so we both took after him in wanting to help people. My mother was a stay-at-home mother raising two boys and a girl. Little sister’s in college for her bachelor’s in music, and at first, my parents weren’t happy about her wanting to be a singer, but in time they came around and got on board. Lauren reminded me of my sister, Devan. Partially my and Desmond’s fault because we gave her anything she wanted and never said no. We could never turn down those big brown eyes when she was a kid, and now at twenty-one, I prayed for the man that ended up marrying her because he’d have a lot to live up to.

“I see you finally showed up,” Desmond said, fist-bumping me as I removed my bag and grabbed the ball out of his hands.

“Yeah, I had a meeting that ran over at Raven Cosmetics.”

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