Page 62 of Protective Cowboy

She got out of bed and discovered she was sore in lots of interesting places this morning. Looking down, there were some finger-shaped bruises on her hips. She touched her throat, skimming her fingertips over several tender patches.

Oops. Time to wear that silk scarf Grandma Abigail gave me for Christmas.

She decided she liked Bossy Matt. And she definitely wanted him to take her to bed—or up against the wall—again sometime soon.

But for now, Matt was right. It was time to get up and face the new day.

And figure out how to deal with this latest Phillip-induced crisis.

Chapter Fifteen

Firestorm

Saturday, August 22

Bracing herself to deal with the fallout from Phillip’s interview, Autumn went to sit on the living room sofa while Matt cleared the breakfast dishes. She took a moment to gather her courage, then pulled out her phone and re-read the article posted on RedCarpetRumorMill.com.

She didn’t want to see all of Phillip’s hurtful lies again, but she knew she needed to publish a rebuttal ASAP if she had any hope of damage control.

The dishwasher loaded, Matt came to join her on the sofa.

“Listen to this,” she said, her voice trembling with rage. “The author claims he tried to contact me for my side of the story. But I never saw any messages from him! And I checked my spam folders for all my accounts.”

The thought that she might have missed an opportunity to clear her name sickened her.

She reached the bottom of the article, where thousands of comments piled up like vultures on roadkill.

“Autumn, whatever you, don’t read the comments,” Matt warned, but it was too late.

Fire the b*tch already! That cheating wh*re doesn’t deserve a job or a child.

Wow! Momzilla of the year! Her poor husband. He had to put up with sooo much!

Someone should call CPS on that woman and rescue her little boy!!! Phillip totally deserves to get full custody.

The tears she’d been holding back finally escaped. They stung her cheeks and dripped off her chin.

“Aw, dammit,” Matt groaned. “I warned you, didn’t I?” He grabbed a box of Kleenex from the coffee table and handed it to her.

“I can’t believe he’s using his own son like this!” she sobbed, unable to stop the torrent of hurt that threatened to drown her. “After I’ve worked so hard to keep Jayden out of the media spotlight.” She wiped at her eyes and blew her nose. “It’s not just that he’s trying to destroy me. He’s using our son to do it!”

Thank goodness Jayden was still at the ranch, where he’d spent the night with his grandparents while Autumn and Matt went on their date.

“Because he’s an asshole,” Matt said flatly. “You know it, I know it, and Judge Arran knows it, too.”

“Look at all these comments.” Autumn jabbed at the screen. “Over six thousand already. And almost everyone’s on Phillip’s side. They’re calling me a horrible mother and saying that Jayden would be better off with Phillip.”

“It doesn’t matter what a bunch of strangers think.” How could Matt sound so calm when her life was imploding?

She voiced her greatest fear. “Why wouldn’t a family law judge think the same if Phillip challenges the custody order?”

She felt herself spiraling into panic. Her chest tightened, and she couldn’t draw a full breath.

“Autumn,” Matt said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Believe me, Phillip will never get custody of Jayden now. He may be following the letter of your Order of Protection, but not the spirit. Any judge will view this interview as harassment and treat it accordingly.” He snorted. “I’ve met guys like him before. He’s ‘That Fucking Guy.’ The one who just knows he’s smarter than everyone else, and that the rules are for rubes too dumb to figure out a way around them. Judges meet his kind all the time. And they really don’t like ‘That Fucking Guy’.”

“I hope you’re right.” Autumn badly wanted to believe him.

But her gut churned with acid doubt.

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