Hadley Chapter 5

The past several hours watching Griffin and his team talk to all of our guards had been enlightening in many ways. One was the way they went about it. They didn’t do much more than ask about their past experience and if any was spent in the military. They asked them about how long they’d been working for my dad. Then they switched to asking them if they were in control of making the security decisions here and at the office, what would they add or eliminate. When it came to that question, they all looked at Dad first, then me. Dad was quick to assure them they were allowed to speak freely. I was impressed by what some of them said.

Others, I thought, were giving the Dark Patriots vague answers. Maybe they were worried they’d lose their jobs if they were truthful. Maybe they really didn’t have the capacity to come up with ideas. Or maybe they were resistant to outsiders coming in and telling them what to do. I could understand it, but this wasn’t a game.

People might think I only say that because I was the target, but that wasn’t it. I wasn’t as concerned for myself as I was for my dad because I didn’t believe I was the target. There were very few people who knew of my existence. Why do this now? If they wanted me dead, they could’ve just kidnapped or killed me and been done with it. No, they wanted my dad to take the focus off his security and put it on me, making him easier to get to. I planned to talk to him and the Patriots later about this, but first, I had some physical training to be a part of.

It was chilly outside, but they insisted we had to do it outdoors. I made sure to be bundled up. The first group up was the ones who guarded the grounds, the gate, and the corporate office. I watched as they put them through their paces. It became clear early on who was in top shape and who wasn’t. Some were panting like they were about to die after running and doing the other things.

Griffin and his guys kept telling them they were lucky they didn’t have their obstacle course here, or they’d be given a real workout. Some did alright, though, which was good to see. I wasn’t sure if the Patriots wanted to instill resentment in them or force them to work harder. By the time they walked off, I wondered how the others would do.

I was surprised Dad stayed for part of it, but then he got called away to take business calls in his home office. When our personal guards came, I noticed that Justin and Heath had left. All of Dad’s guards—Fletcher, Ellis, Royce, Holloway, and Kellogg, were there. And all of mine were, too—Rockwell, Ortiz, and Sanders. Rockwell was my main one, but the others filled in when he needed downtime or time off. Since most people didn’t know who I was, I didn’t need people around the clock like Dad. Wait, if they were all here, who was guarding my dad?

I whipped around to run for the house, but Griffin caught my arm. “Let go. I need to check on my dad.”

“He’s fine. I’d never leave him unguarded. Justin and Heath are on him. I need you to stay here so we have eyes on you. Come on, don’t you want to see how your guy, Rockwell, does?” I heard the faint taunt in his voice.

“Sure, let’s see how he does. He might just surprise you, you know. He’s not a bad guy. I know you’re pissed at him about this morning, but he was just worried about me. He would never hurt me. I admit, he should’ve never insinuated what he did. He was upset and worried. I’ll talk to him about it.”

“No, you won’t. If I have anything I need him to know, I’ll tell him. No matter how upset he was, he shouldn’t have grabbed you like that.”

“You just grabbed my arm. Why is it okay for you and not for him?”

“I caught your arm, and I didn’t grip you hard enough to leave bruises. He did,” he muttered, then before I could stop him, he shoved up my sleeve. Dark fingerprints were visible on my skin. I jerked it down, and then I walked off to stand by Beau. Ben was talking to the guards and telling them what they wanted them to do.

“We don’t like to see women hurt, no matter the reason. Protecting innocent people is what we do. Rockwell’s anger with you bothered us. You can’t blame us for being worried,” Beau said softly.

“No, I can’t, but you also don’t know him. He’s been with me for four years. He’s never hurt me, and he’s had ample opportunity if that was his goal. We’re alone together all the time.”

I swore I heard a faint growl coming from Griffin’s direction, but when I glanced over, he was watching Ben and the others. When I faced Beau again, he shrugged. “Then I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I gotta earn my paycheck,” he told me with a wink.

I grinned. I did like them even though I didn’t know much about them. Well, I liked four of them. Griffin, I was still trying to figure out what I felt. Like was too silly of a word. I found him attractive but also infuriating. One second, I wanted to argue with him. The next, to punch him, then I flipped to wanting to kiss him. Wow, I’d obviously been without sex for too long. I needed to get laid. An image of me and Griffin in bed popped into my head. I shoved it away. Nope. Not happening, forget it, Hadley, I lectured myself.

I moved closer so I could hear and see everything. Like the first group, they put them through their paces. Most of them could at least do it for a while, and they didn’t give up, but only Rockwell, Ellis, and Royce made it through all of it.

Griffin nodded. “That’s enough. Nice job, you three. The rest of you didn’t do too badly. We’ll work on improving everyone’s stamina. That’s it for—,” he started but was interrupted by Rockwell.

“Improve our stamina! Why the three of us? We did it. It’s those guys who need it, not us.”

“Yes, you did, but you can get even better,” Griffin told him.

“How the hell do we know you big shot SEALs, or whatever you were, have what it takes? I didn’t see any of you out here doing it with us,” Rockwell snapped.

I’d seen how they had been working out in the gym before Rockwell interrupted us. I knew they could do it. I tried to divert his attention. “I’m tired. Why don’t we go in and get something to drink? I want to talk to you about a few things we need to plan for,” I said as I walked over to Rockwell. I put a smile on my face and placed my hand on his arm.

I was taken aback when he shook it off and glared at me. “Did you tell your dad what that bastard did to me this morning?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Why the hell not? I don’t trust them. We know nothing about these men. Just because someone recommended them, your dad brings them in and gives them control? That doesn’t make sense, Hadley. He has qualified men here who can do what they’re doing. He has never allowed unknown men near you without thoroughly vetting them. Hell, I worked for him a year before I was given your main security detail. There’s no way I’m leaving you alone with any of them.”

“Dad has his reasons. I trust my dad, and you should, too. These guys are the real deal. They don’t have anything to prove. Stand down.”

“No, I won’t, and I don’t take orders from women,” he said with a sneer.

Fury filled me. There had been times in the past when I suspected he was a chauvinist, but he was careful never to say anything too incriminating near me. However, it was that suspicion that made me not work out fully with him. Sure, he saw me on the treadmill, lifting small weights and using the elliptical, things like that, but he didn’t know about the other stuff I did. At night, when I was at home for the night, and he went back to his apartment on the grounds, I did my real workout.

I saw Griffin charging toward us. He looked furious. I held up my hand, and he stopped. I shifted my gaze back to Rockwell. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll go up against you, and I’ll match you in push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, burpees, and the run. If you beat me, I’ll go to my dad and have him send them away.” I paused as he began to grin. “But if I can keep up or I beat you, then Griffin and his guys don’t have to prove anything to you. You’ll back off and let them do their job, and you do yours.”

He laughed, the cocky asshole. “You actually think you can beat me? Come on, Hadley. Those cute little girly push-ups I’ve seen you try to do, running on the treadmill and lifting three-pound weights won’t match me, let alone beat me. I’ll give you a chance to take it back before you humiliate yourself. You’re a woman, and women aren’t as strong as men.”

“You’re on. I just need a minute,” I said with a smile.

His smile remained as I unzipped my jacket. I tossed it to the ground and took off my gloves and hat. Underneath were my workout clothes. I’d hoped I might get a chance to do this, and here it was. I shoved my heavy sweats to the ground and stepped out of them. I was left in my tennis shoes, yoga pants, and a tight, long-sleeved workout shirt—the kind that wicks moisture away when you sweat. My hair was still in a ponytail.

“Hadley, you don’t need to do this. I have no problem showing him what I can do, and neither will my guys,” Griffin said urgently as he came over to me. Beau, Ben, and the others had gotten very quiet.

“I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for me and every woman out there who has had to listen to a man belittle and downgrade them just because we’re women. I might not have the muscle mass of a man, but I’m not weak, and I’m not afraid. So, are you still wanting to do this, Wayne? I’ll give you this chance to take it back before you humiliate yourself.”

His face flushed dark before he answered. “Bring it on. Same rules as before. A mile run, followed by a hundred sit-ups, fifty push-ups, and they have to be the man ones, not the sissy ones, fifty chin-ups, and twenty-five burpees. I win if you tap out, or I finish first. You have to swear in front of these guys you won’t renege on your promise to talk to your dad. Deal?”

“I agree to it all. Deal. I believe we line up here, and it’s to that marker and back for the run. Who wants to start it?”

Griffin wasn’t happy, but I had to do it. It now had less to do with him and his men and more to prove a point, mainly to Rockwell but also to the others. I wasn’t nearly as weak and fragile as they thought. Dad should’ve remembered that.

Seeing I wasn’t backing down, Beau came to stand next to us. “On the count of three, go. You go to the marker and back to this marker. Understand?” We both nodded. “One, two, three.”

We took off. Rockwell pulled ahead, but I knew he would. I’d seen him train hundreds of times. I knew his technique. He’d come out of the gate like a bull and run as fast as he could until he had to slow down, then he’d bring it home at a much more leisurely pace. It was his thing. I let him do it.

He threw a grin over his shoulder as he edged further ahead of me. I didn’t let it bother me. I knew I’d have him soon. He made it to the marker ahead of me. As he passed me on the way back, he blew me a kiss. That’s when I hit my high gear. See, I was the opposite of him. I started out steady and running at about seventy percent of my capacity. It left me with plenty to kick it up with when I needed to. By the time I did that and hit my stride, my competitor was losing strength and speed and becoming winded.

I vaguely noticed Dad, Justin, and Heath had joined the ones at the finish line. This spurred me on even more. I was catching up to Rockwell at that point, but seeing them gave me a burst of speed. I came charging up and then passed him. I heard Rockwell swear, but I kept going until I passed the finish line. I saw the Patriots smiling, well, all but Griffin. He wasn’t smiling, but I swear I saw his mouth twitch. I’d take it… for now. Dad rushed over and gave me a hug.

“Honey, you did great. I heard what was going on and why. I’m not sending them away, no matter what. You don’t need to finish this,” he whispered in my ear.

I gave him a squeeze and whispered back, “Oh yes, I do. It’s not about the Patriots anymore. It’s about me as a woman and him as a chauvinistic asshole. He’s gotten too big for his pants lately. I need to correct that. I can do this.”

He stepped back. “Then go finish it. I’ll be here until you’re done, and then we’ll go inside and have a glass of champagne to celebrate.”

I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then went over to Griffin. Rockwell wasn’t far away. He didn’t look happy as he studied me. I could tell that even though my win grated on him, he still thought he had this in the bag.

“Next?” I asked Griffin.

“A hundred sit-ups. They have to be full ones where the whole back comes off the ground. Each of you can have someone hold your feet,” he said.

“I don’t need it, but she can have someone. I won’t call it cheating,” Rockwell said with a smirk.

“I don’t need anyone either. Let’s go.” I challenged back.

We lay on the ground and waited. This time, it was Ben who counted us down. Again, Rockwell came out of the gate in a rush. He was pounding out the sit-ups. It wasn’t until he was at thirty and I was at twenty that he began to flag. I took off my brakes and began to fly with them. I had killer core strength. Sure, he had a six-pack, but so did I, and as a woman, I had to work harder to get and keep mine. I did two hundred sit-ups on abdominal days. In the end, we finished together. He flopped back on the ground to stretch out his cramping stomach. I did the same. He wasn’t smirking now.

After a five-minute rest, we went to the next one. This time, it was the chin-ups. I personally hated them. As a woman, I didn’t have the upper body strength of a man, so I had to learn to use not just my arms but my entire body strength to do them. After many years of battling them, I had perfected my technique. It was time to see if I could beat him or at least finish in a tie.

The other guards and Dad were cheering now. Justin offered to do the countdown this time. We went to the erected bars in the yard where the training had been happening. Large spikes held the metal legs into the hard ground.

Rockwell was taller, so it was easier for him to reach the bar. I saw Griffin coming toward me, and I knew he was planning to lift me up to it. I wouldn’t let him do that. I took off in a run, then jumped up using my strong thigh muscles and grabbed the bar with both hands. I was five foot seven. The bar was close to seven feet off the ground. I heard a few whistles.

When Justin said three, I zoned everything and everyone out. I had to in order to do this one. All that existed was me, the bar, and the count. I counted them off in my head and never glanced at my competitor once. When I hit fifty, I dropped to the ground. I was breathing hard, and my arms ached like hell. I shook them out as I looked over at Rockwell. He was on the ground, grinning. Shit!

“He beat you by one second. Don’t let him see you sweat,” Griffin muttered as he passed me. I kept my expression bland.

“Ready to admit defeat?” Rockwell asked.

“I can keep going as long as you can. Even longer,” I taunted him before walking off. We took another five-minute break. I kept moving and drank water. I couldn’t afford to let my muscles cramp due to dehydration and lactic acid accumulation.

Round four was push-ups. Rockwell had seen me do the sissy ones when I was around him. He had no idea those were for show. In my real workouts with my trainers, I did the same ones as a man. This was where my arm strength wasn’t more important than my core strength. You needed both to do them.

Heath happily came to do the honors. “Hadley, when you beat his ass, I owe you a drink. What’s your favorite?”

I grinned at him. “I love top-shelf tequila. You can have the groceries.”

He laughed. “Got it, no salt or lime.” Then he got to the countdown.

This time, I could see Rockwell out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t bother to track his count. Mine was the only one that was important. I did a hundred of these each time I did the real ones. Sometimes, I did more than one set of them. Fifty didn’t seem to take long at all. When I stopped and looked over, we were both stopped. He wasn’t smiling or smirking. I glanced at Heath. He winked, so I knew we were tied.

For the final bout, we took ten minutes to rest. Burpees were intense, and we’d been working the hell out of our arm, leg, back, and stomach muscles. They were all important for these. As we waited, Griffin came over to me. “These burpees are no joke. Have you ever done them?”

“It’s kind of too late to worry about that, isn’t it? Don’t worry. I know what I got myself into, and yes, I’ve done them. Just sit back and watch.”

As I walked off, I heard him say, “You’ve got this. Give him hell.”

His words filled me with pride. Griffin came to stand in front of us. “You know the drill and what a burpee is supposed to be. The count is twenty-five. You’re tied going into this. One win each and two ties each, and whoever gets done first or can do more than the other wins. On your mark, one, two, three.”

We started in a squat position with our backs straight, knees bent, and our feet shoulder-width apart. From there, the next moves flowed one right after the other. I lowered my hands to the ground in front of me so they were just inside shoulder-width. I shifted my weight to my hands and kicked my feet back until I was on my hands and toes in a push-up position. I kept my body straight and did a push-up, then went right into a frog kick, which was just a jump back to my feet.

As I stood, I put my arms over my head and then jumped in the air, landing back where I had started in a squat. That was the start of another one. I completely ignored everyone and everything. I pushed my limit to do it as fast as I could. When I finally landed on my feet and knew I couldn’t do another one, I stole a glance at Rockwell. He was on the ground with his arm over his eyes. That’s when the cheering registered.

I was swarmed by the Patriots and Dad. The other guards congratulated me, but I wasn’t sure if it was sincere. As Dad hugged me, he told me what I had missed. “You did thirty-five to his twenty-eight. He couldn’t keep up, and his legs gave out.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Griffin said as he joined us. I was taken aback when he gave me a quick hug after Dad let go of me. As soon as he let go, the other Patriots each gave me one. By the time they were done, I saw Rockwell walking off. The other guards came over to me.

“That was amazing, Hadley. I had no idea you were that strong,” Holloway admitted.

“Neither did I,” Sanders said.

The rest pretty much agreed. “You didn’t just do that without a lot of time and practice. I’ve seen you in the gym. You don’t do those,” Ortiz stated.

“You’re right. The times you all have seen me working out, I haven’t. Your misunderstanding was that those were the only times I worked out, and I only did the girly stuff. My mom was kidnapped and murdered. There was no way my protection would ever only reside in others, no offense. I’ve learned many things over the years. In order to do those things, I had to be strong and fast. I hope there are no hard feelings.”

They shook their heads. “We’re not the ones you have to worry about having hard feelings. You showed up Rockwell,” Ellis stated.

“No, he did that on his own by assuming because I have a vagina, I’m weaker and less than him. Hopefully, this defeat will make him rethink his attitude.”

Ellis sighed, but he did nod. They didn’t stay long. After they left, Dad came back over to me. “I think this calls for a drink, and then you can tell me what happened this morning in the gym to start all this. I know you were out here and challenged him, and the winner determined whether the Patriots stayed, but I didn’t hear why.”

I glared at Griffin. He shrugged and raised his brow. Knowing I had no choice, I settled for glaring at him for a few seconds, then took Dad’s arm and walked back to the house. Our five silent elite guards followed us.

We ended up in Dad’s study. I told him to save the champagne, so we opened the bar he kept in there. He had a variety of alcohol. Heath did the honor of pouring him and me a shot of tequila. Griffin and Dad both had Dad’s favorite scotch, a Macallan 25. Justin, Ben, and Beau went for the whiskey. Once we all had a glass, Dad raised his and made a toast.

“To my beautiful, strong, and amazing daughter, you made me proud, but then again, you always do. Slàinte Mhath.”

I should’ve known he’d say cheers in Scottish. It was where our ancestors were from. We all said it back then drank. Instead of slamming them back, we took our time. Macallan and the whiskey, in particular, deserved to be sipped, not used as a shooter. We sat down and enjoyed them. Once our glasses were empty, Dad leaned toward me.

“Hadley, tell me what happened this morning in the gym.”

“Why did you tell him?” I asked Griffin.

“He didn’t tell me anything. Porter overheard Heath and Justin talking about what was going on outside. They had no idea he was around. You know he likes to ghost around to be sure everything is in order. He came to tell me, and that’s why I went outside. He didn’t hear what exactly happened.”

Heath and Justin groaned. Griffin frowned at them. I hoped they wouldn’t get into trouble for it. “Fine, I’ll tell you.” As quickly as possible, I filled him in on what happened. By the time I was done, he didn’t look happy at all. I didn’t want to get Rockwell fired. He’d always looked out for me. I only wanted him to learn a lesson.

“Even if he’d won, there’s no way I would’ve sent the Dark Patriots away! Your life is at stake. Is he stupid to think he and the others can protect you better than they can? I know you spent the day evaluating them. Who should I keep, and who should I let go? I can’t have men unable to protect my daughter. I’ll make sure they have a generous severance package, but they can’t stay,” he told Griffin. Crap, things were about to get serious.