Page 65 of Protective Cowboy

Her overnight “Do Not Disturb” setting expired, and her phone began buzzing nonstop.

She couldn’t help herself. She picked it up, unlocked it, and scrolled through her notifications.

What she saw confirmed that even now, hundreds of hateful messages were still pouring into her inboxes like a foul, unstoppable torrent from a sewer.

Grimacing, she changed into a simple blouse and jeans, trying to ignore the ache in her chest. She needed to pull herself together. For Jayden, if nothing else.

Her phone buzzed again on the nightstand, another hateful message lighting up the screen. Hands shaking, she silenced the notifications and dropped the phone into her bag.

She took a deep breath and opened the door. Matt was waiting in the hall, concern etching lines into his forehead. He was in uniform, which meant he was headed to work.

“You okay?” he asked, handing her a steaming mug of coffee.

She took a big swig of her coffee before answering and found that he had fixed it exactly the way she liked.

“No,” she confessed. “I really don’t want to go to work today. But I have to.” She managed a watery smile. “I’ve got to pay my rent, right? I’m really sorry I didn’t make breakfast this morning.”

“You know I don’t care about the rent or breakfast.” He stepped close and pulled her into a hug. She relaxed against him, breathing in the woodsy scent of his aftershave. “Now, come into the kitchen. You need to eat something before you fall over.”

She’d skipped dinner last night, though she’d made Instant Pot chicken and dumplings for Matt and Jayden.

She still wasn’t hungry, but she followed him down the hallway. If nothing else, she needed to make sure Jayden had breakfast.

Seated at the table, Autumn forced herself to choke down a few bites of toast, and doggedly drank a mug of coffee, knowing she’d need all the strength she could get to deal with today. The smell of the scrambled eggs that Matt had cooked nauseated her.

“What was wrong, Mommy?” Jayden asked her with a distressed expression.

Crap. She didn’t want to upset her son. She’d been able to fake her usual cheerfulness yesterday and the day before. But she didn’t have the strength to put on a smiling face this morning.

“Some people on the Internet are being very mean to me right now,” Autumn explained. “They hurt my feelings, so I’m feeling a little sad today.”

“Don’t worry, though. I’m working with your mom to fix the problem,” Matt assured Jayden. “I’ll stop the bullies and make your mom happy again.”

Her son nodded solemnly. “My teacher said that bullying is bad. I’m sorry you’re facing a bunch of online bullies, Mommy.” He frowned. “And when they’re online, you can’t make them stop by beating them up.”

“True,” Matt said. “But you shouldn’t be beating people up, in any case.”

“I want to!” Jayden persisted. “They’re bad people! Batman beats up bad guys.”

“I’ll protect your Mom,” Matt promised. “Just like Batman. Okay?”

Autumn shot him a grateful smile.

“Okay.” Jayden spooned up the last of his cereal and looked at Autumn. “May I be excused? I have to go to the bathroom.”

She nodded, and Jayden left the kitchen.

“We should get going soon,” she said, pushing her plate away. “I need to drop Jayden off at the ranch, and then I’m heading downtown to take photos of the Miss Huckleberry Parade.”

“I’ll be working security at the parade,” Matt reminded her. “If you need anything, I’ll be there.”

“I wish you’d been at the tourism info office yesterday,” she blurted.

He winced, and she immediately felt guilty.

It wasn’t his fault that a bunch of out-of-town paparazzi had shown up to get a rise out of her.

“Yeah, well, you call me if anything like that happens today,” he said in a stern voice.

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