Page 20 of Cruel Expectations

Before she could close the door, she heard Colton say, “Are we really letting her go out like that?”

“You can’t clothing-shame someone, Colton. If she’s comfortable…”

She slammed the door, cutting off her sister and her boyfriend’s discussion about her outfit. Hunter landed in the seat next to her, and this time Ivy let out the grunt.

He caught her gaze. “Is there a problem?”

She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t have a problem. It’s you guys who seem to have a problem with my style.”

“You understand why, right? We’re going to a place called Badlands.”

“I’ve been around the block a time or a thousand, Hunter. Guys are going to be stupid when they’re drunk whether I wear a trash bag or this skirt.”

“So that’s what you’re calling it.”

She twisted on him. “What would you call it, then? And who made you the authority on fashion? Are you one of those men?”

From behind the wheel where he’d climbed in, Colton burst out laughing. Her traitorous sister in the seat next to him wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding her giggles.

Hunter cracked the door and stuck one long leg out. “I’ll just go back in the house for my gun.”

She rolled her eyes. “Look, in my vast experience of traveling Europe alone, I learned I can wear sweatpants and men will still be stupid.”

Meadow twisted in her seat to look at her. “Wait—you were alone? I thought you were with your friend!”

Dammit. She’d done so well hiding that fact.

“She ran out of money and had to go home.”

“When?”

She waved a hand dismissively. “About a month into the trip.”

Meadow’s jaw dropped. Nobody seemed to be laughing now.

“You’ve been alone this entire time?”

Ivy bobbed her head. “Yes, which is why I’ve got this. Please drive, Colton. I could really use a drink now.”

* * * * *

Hunter had to hand it to Ivy—she knew how to get that drink she asked for.

In fact, the minute she walked through the door of Badlands, no fewer than six guys flocked around her, chomping at the bit to buy her one.

He’d seen women like this before, daughters of powerful men who got whatever they wanted with a bat of their long eyelashes. He wasn’t impressed by that—but he could admire that she had enough common sense to take care of herself for months in Europe. And managed to keep it from her own family.

It was a tough world—he should know. While his action was a lot more brutal, he understood the challenges of living overseas. Ivy was stronger than she looked.

Keeping a close watch on her, Hunter walked up to the bar and ordered a draft beer. He looked around for Colton to buy him one as well, but his buddy had disappeared into the crowd with Meadow.

Clearly, those two weren’t concerned about Ivy’s safety. Why that was, he couldn’t figure out until he saw her walk right up to the huge, six-foot-four-inch bouncer and throw her arms around his neck.

“Ivy!” The man lifted her off her feet just by straightening to his full height. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”

Hunter missed her reply in the noise of a drumbeat coming from the live band set up in the back of the busy establishment. Busy was the wrong word—booming was more like it.

Didn’t Colton tell him that the town of Eden had a very small population? And that there were a handful of bars? It seemed like the whole village was jam-packed into the four walls making up Badlands Bar and Distillery.

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