Page 49 of Training the Heart

Dear Universe, if I stab him with my pen, you know why.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Wade

I’ve never seen Ivy wear a look on her face that says she’s actually angry. She’s always a giant ball of happy, carefree sunshine, so to see her face now, staring at whoever the fuck this shiny cowboy is across the aisle, has me poised and ready to attack if necessary. Her eyes are dark and stormy. I start moving quicker, pushing my legs to move faster to get to her before he can.

Just as I close in, Cowboy Ken moves closer and tries to put his arms around her. The look on her face is sheer panic so I stand in front of her and smoothly extend my hand for shaking.

“Wade Ashby,” I say as I physically feel Ivy relax behind me.

Cowboy looks up at me, startled like he has no idea where the fuck I’ve come from.

“Brad, Brad Bellingham,” he says, taking my hand. I can instantly tell he’s a wet noodle, just like his handshake, and I knew he looked familiar.

“So, can we talk?” he says, looking between Ivy and me, as if he’s trying to figure out why I am standing between them. Ivy steps forward, and I wonder just exactly what went on between her and her former employer’s son.

“I haven’t answered you for almost three months—that should tell you that I don’t want to talk to you, Brad. And I’m not going anywhere alone withyou.”

Wait, why the fuck not?My eyes zero in on him. If he hurt her—

“Ivy, it’s all been a misunderstanding, I just want to—”

“I believe she said no, Brad,” I bite out. “So that’ll be all, but it’s been mighty nice to see you.”

Brad opens his mouth to protest, he seems to have a problem with understanding the wordno, and I’m using every ounce of my self-control to not let my mind roam to why Ivy looked as angry and uncomfortable with him as she did two minutes earlier. Brad looks between us, back and forth for a second, and then he snickers.

“Got yourself a bodyguard?” he asks Ivy.

The fuck did he just say?He just made the stupid mistake of taking my politeness to mean I wouldn’t take him out at the knees. I’m about to show him I can be a gentleman and still fuck him right up.

“Actually, I’m her friend. It doesn’t seem like you are though, so I’m only going to ask you nicely one more time. It’s time to give Ivy some space now.” I give him the universal flick of the wrist forget the fuck out of here.

He looks at me, sizing me up. He’s polished, his cowboy boots don’t even have a single scuff. He’s no match for me and I’m pretty sure by the look on his face, he knows it. If he even tries to breathe too close to her, I won’t really give a fuck about how it’ll look when I knock his ass out. But he sure will, because I can already tell appearances mean more to this guy than they do me.

Brad smirks, and something sinister I want nowhere near Ivy hovers in his eyes as he opens his mouth to speak to her.

“Yep. That’s what I thought. Someone to threaten me with is just how you’d operate.” His eyes snap to mine. “Ashby, yeah? Silver Pines,” he says. “It all makes sense now.”

My fists clench at my side as I try to remain calm. He isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, which is why he looks at Ivy and keeps talking.

“Fucking your way through another ranch? I guess that’s your thing?” he says to her with a grin.

Well, that does it.

Before my brain allows me to even think, my fist connects with his jaw and sends him right back into the mud and horseshit below him.

I crouch down, making sure the dirt stays on the bottom side of my boots. Speaking low so he’s the only one to hear me. “I gave you the opportunity to leave here peacefully, Brad. It’s been a long day already, and I really don’t want to have to make a total fucking spectacle of you, so I suggest you stay down here in the shit where you belong until Ivy and I clear the barn doors, understand?” I pat him on the shoulder and then pick his hat up out of the mud and toss it at him, and it hits the fucking wet noodle squarely in his chest before I stand.

Our little show has now attracted a small crowd. He starts chuckling like the smug little prick I can already tell he is, even though his lip is profusely bleeding. The thought of this trash anywhere near Ivy has my blood boiling, as I clench my fists and will myself not to hit him again and land him in the hospital.

“You’re up, my friend. She’s really good at sucking you in.”He looks at Ivy behind me. “You’re a good little tease, aren’t you, honey?” Then back to me, grinning as he pulls a hanky from his pocket and holds it to his lip. Looking right at Ivy, he adds, “Thing is, she can’t offer you much though in the long run, pal.”

Fuck sakes. Why can’t people just fucking listen?

One hand grips his shirt, the other connects with his jaw again. He’s instantly dozy as some of our spectators gasp.

I stand and turn to Ivy to get her the hell out of here, but when I face her, she’s shaking like something he said actually gotto her and then she’s hightailing it out of the barn as fast as her still-weakened ankle will carry her.

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