"Someone should," I growled, getting right back into the man's face. "Did it ever occur to you to consider howshemight feel about this, or are you just here to get your rocks off? She's not here to be some ornament for you to show off!"
Ashton didn't back down. "Looks to me like you had no problem looking, either, cowboy. Or did you just want me to go away so you can start the touching? Because I'm not about to vanish any time soon." He reached up and pushed my shoulder once more.
That was more than I could take. Pissed at how this guy treated her, angry that I'd stumbled into the middle of it, and livid that I'd successfully lost any chance of impressing this woman, all of my rage came together at the end of my fist. I jabbed upwards, connecting solidly with Ashton's stomach. Unfortunately, the pretty boy wasn't as soft as I'd hoped.
Air whooshed out of Ashton's lungs, but he came back with a vengeance - and without hesitation. I got a knee in my gut for the trouble, then an elbow jammed down on my shoulder, but I managed to duck back before the fist touched my face. That was it. This was on.
Seething and snarling like a pair of rabid dogs, we began pounding each other. Behind us, Violet yelled. She screamed. She tried everything she could to get our attention, but hormones had taken the place of both our brains. I wouldn't let this idiot get away with what he'd done.
Ashton got in a solid hit, then I managed to get in a resounding punch. He charged, shoving his shoulder into my gut just to drop both of us to the ground. I rolled, throwing another punch at the asshole, but the bastard just wouldn't stop.
"You want to act like dogs?" Violet yelled.
Then a hard stream of water came out of nowhere. I got hit in the face, Ashton in the ass, and Violet just kept soaking. In seconds, the water turned from warm to ice cold, and neither of us could ignore it. We gasped, sputtered, and tried to keep her from hitting us right in the face. She kept on spraying until we pushed away from the stream, effectively separating ourselves. Then she finally let go of the handle, proving she'd pulled the water hose over to use as a weapon, and she wielded it with power.
"I am only going to say this once," she told us, standing there in her bra and panties proudly, looking at my face and then Ashton's. "If you two want to fight?" One perfectly painted nail stabbed in the opposite direction, right toward the gate to the property. "That is the way out. If either of you think about doing it again, you will never be welcome back here. Do you two understand?"
"He shouldn't've -" I tried, but her glare cut me off.
Ashton couldn't be outdone. "Vi, what did you want me to -"
"Do you understand?!" she screamed, making both of us tense.
I just sighed and pulled myself to my feet. "I'm sorry, Miss Dawson. I just stopped by to let you know I put my horses in the barn and picked up your mats. I'll get out of your hair."
With that, I walked away, never once looking back. If I hadn't moved my horses in, I probably wouldn't be coming back. As it was, I needed to do some real hard thinking.
Chapter Nine
By the time I found clothes, Luke was gone. His horses were quietly munching on hay in their stalls and a pile of rubber mats was stacked on the far side of the barn, but that was it. Everything was in its place. Like always, he'd taken care of anything that needed to be done, but he wasn't there. Even more annoying was that Ashton didn't really care.
I was pissed. After the ordeal in the pool the day before, then this happened? When Luke didn't show up by sundown, a sinking feeling was twisting my gut. My best friend tried to get me to eat, but I wasn't interested. All I wanted was to explain things to Luke, but it looked like he wasn't going to give me the chance.
I was touching up my mascara when Ashton appeared in the mirror. He was leaning against the door to my room looking just as perfect as always. That was the first thing we’d learned when modeling. If you didn't come from money, then you made sure you were always pretty. For Ashton, it had been easy. For me? Not so much. Thankfully, my best friend had jumped in to teach me everything I needed to know.
We’d been best friends for as long as I could remember. When Ashton applied to a modeling agency, he'd listed my picture on the same site, and we’d both started our careers before we’d started high school. Now? He'd taken it one step further. Risqué Lingerie had been his idea. He said he loved boobs, which was why he'd gotten into making lingerie, but I knew better. Ashton loved clothes, makeup, cameras, and everything that had to do with women. Designing was his dream come true. Managing the business was mine. That I’d been willing to model his product for free? It had put me on the cover of three nationally-known magazines, and I had my best friend to thank for my fame. That didn't mean I was ready to forgive him for beating up the one man I really wanted to impress.
"I hope you're proud of yourself."
"Vi, I was trying to help. Figured if that guy saw you bent over and looking sexy, he'd stop fucking around and ask you out."
I wished I could stay mad at him. "I don't need your help."
"Looks to me like you kinda do." He sighed and stepped the rest of the way into my room. "Sweetie, I'm sorry. I forgot that people get all weird about getting a woman undressed out here in the boonies. I honestly thought I was helping."
I refused to turn away from the mirror. "Could you remind me how throwing a punch at him was convincing him to talk to me again? Seriously, Ash? I told you I already screwed up yesterday! Now this?"
"Yeah," he breathed, dropping to sit on the edge of my bed. "I just know what this town did to you. I know how much you hated it here, and how they tore you down. I guess I thought having your boy-toy see you working would prove that you’d made it or something." He sighed again. "I'm sorry, ok? I wasn't thinking."
"Luke isn't 'this town.' He's the only person who went out of their way to be nice to me. And I like him, Ashton, ok? I'd kinda like to get to know him better, but you picked a fight with him. Hell, you two were rolling in the dirt trying to beat the shit out of each other!"
"He wasn't backing down." Ashton said that like it explained everything.
Tossing my mascara onto the dresser, I spun to face him. "And I really don't care. You ran him off. You picked a fight with the one person who's been civil to me in this entire town! What the hell were you thinking?"
"He shoved me!"
I lifted both hands, palms up. "And? People call you gay all the time and you just laugh it off. Why now? Of all the times for you to revert to the angry teenager, why now?"
