Page 31 of Dependable Cowboy

Ultimately, she didn’t correct him or continue to raise her voice at him. She didn’t reiterate that he’d been the one to ruin their marriage with his drug use, undependability, and endlessly long absence. It wouldn’t do any good in this less than rational mindset. She knew there was no way he could be reasoned with right now. If anything, he was a menace to her and her daughter’s safety.

So, she did what she could to deescalate the situation.

“I did love you once,” Joy conceded to him, keeping her voice purposely calm and even. “And I did make a vow to stay with you forever. But after such a long time without you, I had to assumeyou were gone. Then, I chose what I thought would be best for Kara and me.”

Wayne was standing there seething, and since she couldn’t tell what he might do next, she knelt in front of her daughter while maintaining sight of her former husband. “Kara, why don’t you go back to the bedroom, okay? This is a discussion meant for only Mommies and Daddies.”

The little girl’s eyes were noticeably red and swollen now and quiet sobs still rattled her petite form, but thankfully, she nodded and vanished into the bedroom.

The instant that Kara disappeared, Joy heard steps jogging up the stairwell. And the next thing she knew, Aaron had materialized there at her threshold, his features taking in the damage from the broken door and the unwelcome man who’d appeared. Then, her childhood friend’s face became as hard and relentless as she’d ever seen it.

Unforgiving.

“I don’t know who you are,” Aaron said with a steadiness that belied that tautness of the muscles in his arms and how each of his hands had now clenched into fists. “But if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get yourself away from Joy.”

And in a nightmarish sequence that she wished she could halt, the man she married took a massive swing at the man she’d grown up with, and Joy couldn’t help but shriek in panic.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Aaron glareddaggers at this other man inside Joy’s apartment. He didn’t care why the guy was there or whatever business he might think he had with Joy, Aaron hadn’t liked what he heard through the phone.

And when he’d caught sight of the hole in her door and how it’d literally been ripped from its hinges, his brain had lasered in on every detail. Yet he’d only had room for a one thought and one thought only.

Protect Joy and Kara.

That didn’t change one iota as the man took a swing at him. Aaron didn’t find it difficult to duck out of the way. Working with large herd animals meant he had to have swift reflexes.

The guy who’d thrown the punch didn’t fare so well, though. He lunged forward off-balance, then straightening himself, his complexion reddening—though how much of that was fury and how much embarrassment Aaron didn’t know—began to bellow at the top of his lungs.

“You’ve beencheatingon me.”

The man aimed this accusation at Joy, which told Aaron this waste of skin must be Wayne Randall.

But what spurred Aaron into action was Wayne’s next move, a move that entailed him snatching at Joy’s arm and saying the following. “I’m taking her with me. Her and my girl both. They’re mine, and they’re going with me whether they like it or not.”

Joy yanked free of his grasp, backing toward the bedroom where Kara stood in the doorway, openly weeping. All the color had drained from Joy’s complexion, and she was trembling all over. Aaron didn’t know if this was from anger or fear, but either way, he was finished with this yahoo and his threats.

Slowly, deliberately, Aaron paced forward until he stood in the center of the room. He glanced back at Joy and Kara, remaining as a barrier between the increasingly desperate looking woman and child Aaron felt responsible for. Keeping his motions purposeful, he retrieved his phone from his pocket and tapped the number nine and then the one on the keypad.

“I’m calling the police unless you get your tail end out of here right this second.”

“But—” Wayne protested, yet as Aaron made of show of hitting that last numeral, he at last took off, barreling down the stairs and slamming the broken door in his wake, bouncing it off its broken hinges.

Aaron pulled the door to and rushed down to his truck, making certain to search for any vehicles that might’ve belonged to Joy’s ex. He didn’t see any, nor did he see Wayne.

He headed back inside to check on Joy and Kara as he dialed 911 on his phone. The cops would at least come by and take a report. This break in by Wayne Randall needed to be on record.The damage would have to be repaired after the police were done with whatever investigation they could do.

“You two all right?” he asked, but even as the question left his mouth, he already knew the answer. Joy confirmed this.

“No. I don’t think so.”

Kara was no longer sobbing, but her poor little face was a wreck. Aaron grabbed at a nearby box of tissues and cleaned her up as Joy watched him, looking like she was about half a minute from tumbling over into a heap herself.

“Hey, that was a lot of excitement, but he’s gone now,” Aaron soothed them. “And I’m going to make sure he doesn’t come back.”

“But that was my daddy.”

Kara’s words tore into Aaron. Not because of the truth of them. There was no getting away from that. But because of the sorrow and devastation behind them. Wayne Randall might not have realized it, but he’d just broken his daughter’s heart into thousands of pieces.

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