Page 13 of Perfect Cowboy

She barely glances at me and leads the way to the back corner of the restaurant, which is just as dark and out of the way as I hoped.

I sit facing the wall and pray that no one recognizes me. The Moose has kept their prices so low, and twenty bucks gets me a surprising amount of food.

Even though I eat as quickly as possible, I’m still only halfway through the cheeseburger when someone spots me.

“Ashley Gibson? Is that really you?”

I turn my head and find a grown-up Mark Chalmers, who was a varsity athlete in high school. Since Gavin’s interest granted me reluctant acceptance into the cool kid clique, Mark was always decent to me.

But now his face is red with anger, and he’s clutching a pool cue so hard that I’m proactively wincing, scared that he’s going to strike me with it.

I definitely should have ordered takeout, but I wanted the unlimited coffee refills.

Just another mistake to add to the growing pile.

As much as I’d love to ignore Mark and hope that he disappears, it’s not going to happen with his attention so honed on me and people starting to watch.

“It’s me,” I confirm. “Nice to see you.”

“Niceto see me?” Mark demands incredulously. “Are you completely out of your mind? Do you have any idea how much money your family owes basically everyone in town?”

He isn’t wrong and I’m determined to find a way to pay everyone back. I always was. But first, I need to be able to survive on my own, starting with finding work.

“Look, I’m just here to eat dinner,” I reply. “I don’t want any trouble.”

Mark moves right behind me and rests his sweaty hands on my shoulders. His touch is gentle, but still makes my skin crawl.

“You’ve turned into a real pretty little thing,” Mark says, and the alcohol on his breath makes me gag. “I have some ideas about how you can work off your debt.”

“Don’t touch me,” I say, wrenching my body away from him.

I look around, hoping to catch the server’s eye. I need to pay and take the rest of my food to go. But no matter the risk to my personal safety, there’s no way that I can walk out of here without settling the check.

Not when everyone already thinks I’m a thief.

“Touching you sounds like a really good idea,” Mark says. “Where are you staying, Ashley? There’s only one hotel in town, so I bet that I can find you.”

His threat makes me shudder, and I wonder if I should risk making the drive to the cabin at night. Whatever happens to me on the road would sure beat whatever Mark wants to do to me behind closed doors.

When he puts his hand on my collarbone, his fingertips grazing my throat, I jump up and face him head-on.

“I said, don’t touch me.”

Mark steps closer and wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me toward him. No one is making eye contact with us, but surely they must be aware of what’s happening here.

They just don’t care.

My entire body tenses, ready to fight. There is no way that I’m going down easily.

“Everything okay over here?” Gavin asks softly.

I’d know his voice anywhere and when he comes into view, some of the tension eases from my muscles.

Whether I deserve it or not, he won’t let anything happen to me.

Gavin has always shifted my world on its axis. I fell in love with the boy, but there’s no doubt that my heart still skips a beat for the man he’s become.

“We’re good, man,” Mark says. “Ashley and I were just leaving.”

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