I hit him so hard in the jaw it audibly cracks. “Don’teverfucking talk to my wife like that,” I shout as he falls to the ground.
“Damn,” Rhett grumbles. “I would’ve had him.”
I flex my hand, testing for pain. “It’s my fucking fight.”
“You’re gonna pay for that, you cocksucker!” Tobias screeches from the ground, clutching his face. “I’m going to sue you for everything you’re worth! This fucking property will be mine by the end of the year!”
“Yeah, yeah, get in line.”
Ava stomps forward, pushing between me and Wells. Instinct has me reaching to pull her back, to tuck her close and keep her safe, but I know I can’t stop her. That she needs to face him. She leans down, pointing a finger inches away from his nose. “You were asked to leave multiple times by the owners of this ranch and you didn’t listen. You knowingly trespassed and made a scene big enough to establish yourself as a threat. Myhusbandacted in self-defense. If anyone’s going to be paying for this, Tobias, it’syou!”
“Fucking bitch!” he yells.
This time, it’s Ava who punches him, and I’m hurling forward to grab her around the waist, pulling her back so she’s not in striking distance in case he decides to do something stupid enough for me to end his miserable life. Ava’s a ball of tension, muscles so rigid I have to grip her tight. “Don’t you fucking pretend to care about me ormy baby. Go back to Miami and stay gone, Tobias, or I’ll make sure the partners at the firm hear from every single one of these witnesses!”
Tobias rises to his feet, still clutching his jaw. I wonder if it’s broken. Hope it fucking is. His gaze bounces from Ava to me, eyes empty of anything good, and it’s enough to momentarily pull me into a panicked flashback of another man with depthless eyes who died from a shot from my gun. “Leave,” I growl at him, chest heaving.
He keeps his eyes on me as he spits a mouthful of blood on the ground. Doesn’t turn his back until he’s around the hood of his stupid fancy car. And then he’s sinking into the driver’s seat, starting the ignition, and roaring back down the driveway.
“Well. Shit.” Rhett turns to face Ava and me, his gaze narrowing in on her. “Did that fuck-for-brains call you the mother of his baby?” My heart sinks. So does Ava’s body in my arms. I shoot Rhett a sharp glare that tells him to back off, but he doesn’t. He gives me a sharp glare right back. “What did he mean by that?”
“Knock it off, Rhett.”
“Do you think he’ll come back?” Layla asks, her expression worry-stricken. “Maybe Ava and I can go somewhere, get a hotel room or . . .”
“Olivia’s house,” Rhett offers, though he’s clearly upset. “I’m sure she’d love to put you two up.”
“Ava’s not going anywhere,” I snap. “She’s safest here on the ranch. With me.”
Wells looks at Ava with a careful expression. “You know him best,” he says, not unkindly. “Do you think he’ll come back?”
Ava hesitates, her chest rising and falling with the force of her adrenaline. “I thought it possible that he’d come looking for me.” She turns to look at me, her eyes full of shame. I reach for her hand and give it a light squeeze—she has nothing to feel guilty about. She’d told me this might happen, and it’s not her fault that it did. “He’s never really been one to accept defeat inanythingin life. It’s what makes him a good lawyer.”
Wells’s gaze jumps up to meet mine. “Our workload on the ranch is already overcapacity. Without Brooks—” He sighs. Resets. “Unless Ava comes down here with you every morning, she’s alone up at your cabin. We have fences around the perimeter but they’re to keep horses in, not people out. He could come back and go looking for her.”
“Then we’ll move into the main house,” I counter, frustrated. “I’ll keep her close and?—”
“Kasey,” Ava says softly.
“No!” I look at her and swallow roughly. “You have nothing to be afraid of. We’ll make sure of it.Iwill make fucking sure of it.”
Now she’s the one reaching for my hand. “Will you walk with me?” she asks, voice featherlight. “Please?”
My heart beats so hard I feel like it might burst from my body. Every ounce of my focus narrows in on her face, on the worry creasing between her brows and the tight press of her mouth. I just got her back. I just fucking got her back and I willnotlet some dumbass piece of shit in a suit come here and support her thinking that she’s too goddamn messy, thathismess ishers.
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Fuck that motherfucker,” I mutter quietly, trying to catch hold of the reins on my fear.
“Please, Kasey,” she says again, her blue eyes watery.
I sigh. Give her a small nod. And follow her into the field, out toward the fence line of the mustang pasture. Once we’re well out of earshot from everyone else, Ava turns around and hugs me, hard.
“I’m so sorry,” she murmurs into my shirt.
I dig my fingers into her hair, rubbing gently against her scalp. “Ava, you have nothing to be sorry for. Absolutely nothing. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Maybe not directly, but . . . I don’t know what I ever saw in him. I mean, he was nice in the beginning. Fun, you know? But there were red flags that I just willingly ignored because I thought, who cares? What’s the point?”
I want to tell her he never deserved a second of her time, but I’m not sure it would be helpful. She already knows it. So I don’t say anything, combing my fingers through her hair to help her relax.
