Page 128 of Risking it for the Cowboy

No, her heart whispered, but her brain had watched him snap.

He’d, time and again, proven himself to be better, to obliterate her expectations in the best way. So why did he have to go and confuse everything now?

“Jason showed up tonight. Drunk. He attacked me.”

“Jeezus, Char,” Heart breathed. “Does Ty know?”

She shook her head. “Not sure what Thad’s told him or not.”

“How would T. Rex know? Did he see it?”

She couldn’t go into the details, knowing Daisy was just over the railing in the loft, because what if she woke up? She didn’t want to relive them just yet. Wished Thad was here to be her pillar like he had two nights before when he’d crashed his lips to hers and wrecked his way through her front door with her in his arms, and carried her to her room to give them both the release they’d needed—

She shoved back out onto the porch as Heart followed. The door hinged shut and, in the porch light, she pulled her hair over her face.

The handprint. Gone for the most part, but a shadowy bruise forming in its place.

“He lost it. He’s been arrested.”

“Wait, T. Rex has been arrested?” Heart grabbed her face and turned her cheek, grimacing with disgust. “He did this to you?”

“No, Jason did. And Thad just … snapped. He attacked him and…” He’d let go the moment she’d spoken to him.

At the time, his actions, although frightening, had been valiant.

“He loves you.”

“He…” Charlie looked out over the silhouette of the escarpment where she’d time and again fantasized about winters by the fireplace, looking out on frost or a rare snow. “Lied to me. He’s been convicted of domestic assault, Heart. And he might have defended me tonight, but I saw what he’s capable of, and if he’s done that to a woman before—”

“He hasn’t been convicted of that,” Heart argued.

“Yeah, he has, I heard the police talking about his priors. Something up in New York a long time ago, and I’m so confused, Heart, because he just, he didn’t seem like that at all. He buys Daisy corsages and turns her books into songs and puts her art on the fridge, and did you know, he built her a whole chicken coop out back so she could keep Pumpkin? He bought her a, a—” Her voice shook and she sniffled through the tears, whispering, “A horse. Because she loves unicorns. How can a man be so sweet, and have hurt a woman in the past? I just … my brain is telling me to walk away but my heart is…”

Heart fell silent. Charlie was still holding the boot.

“Wait. New York?” Heart huffed a laugh, even though it was clear she didn’t think anything was actually funny. “His sister …” Heart’s amber eyes flitted up to hers. “Charlie, didn’t you know?”

Charlie shook her head harder now. Know what? God, couldn’t anyone be straight with her? “What about his sister?”

Faith had mentioned that too. His cousins had mentioned it.

“The sis who lost to you in Miss Lone Star, remember?”

“Charity McClintock?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Heart nodded.

Charity had gone on to launch an illustrious modeling career with her agent boyfriend.

“Her ex-boyfriend was a real piece of work. Coerced her into an eating disorder, stepped out on her all the time. Ty better explain it.”

She pulled out her phone and tapped her boyfriend’s number. He picked up on the first ring.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Tyler said, noise and footfalls echoing, and Heart smiled, fidgeted with her ring finger, where a ring now sat. An engagement? They must have worked through their struggles if Tyler had managed to clip her adventurous friend’s wings. “Total BS. I can’t talk long. They want to book him, but this is clear as glass defense of loved one, and the police are pulling city surveillance footage—”

“Charlie’s here, babe. And she needs to hear about Charity.”

Could Charlie handle the sordid details, whatever they might be? “It’s none of my business—”