My shoulders jump to my ears before I can stop them.
The other truck door shuts.
Who else was in the truck? Who didn’t I see?
The other man whistles. “It’s the slut.”
“Travis,” I mutter under my breath.
My ex’s best friend’s nasally voice grates like nails on a chalk board. I’d know it anywhere with how much it starred in my nightmares back then.
Rochelle’s nails dig into my skin.
The sharp bite keeps me grounded. I face them head on.
Kurt leers as his gaze wanders over me. “More of a slut than ever, I see. Fatter too.”
I was in such a hurry when I left, I didn’t think about what I was wearing. I took the jacket off earlier, so I have nothing to cinch shut to block out their disgusting stares.
I cross my arms over my chest, but it doesn’t help. I still feel naked. But I’m not going to let them in on that secret. “We all know the truth.”
“Everyone knows you’re a fat slut who begged for it.” Travis smirks. “We were obliging you. And then you tried to ruin our good names by spreading lies about us.”
“What are you doing back here, slut?” Kurt asks as Tex ends his conversation with the rancher, his posture alert.
The rancher looks down his nose at me—or it feels that way—as he climbs into his truck and drives away.
Tex thrusts himself between the two men and us. “I’m going to need you to take a step back.”
Kurt and Travis stop and assess the man who is at least a foot taller than both of them; who seems somehow to be wider than the two of them combined.
“Get in the car, ladies,” Tex orders with a gentle tone, but underneath it’s steely.
“We’re not towing shit for you.” Kurt holds my gaze as he spits a slug of tobacco-stained saliva in the dust. “You shouldn’t be here. You’re not wanted, slut. This is our town. Thought you would have got the message the first time, but we’ll be glad to teach you that lesson again.”
My lungs seize. I can’t breathe. The whole world becomes a pinpoint through which I can see one moment—one memory. And then it expands and everything disappears. These people are too much. The adrenaline surging through me is too much. My heartbeat is too loud.
Tex takes another step toward the two men.
They fall back.
“I’ll arrange a tow truck from the next town.” He takes my elbow, not waiting for an answer. Ro still has hold of me on the other side.
Together they guide me to the back seat of the Range Rover. Tex shuts me in, creating a bubble where those bastards can’t get to me.
Ro climbs in on the other side while Tex returns to the other car to transfer their luggage. He doesn’t say a single word to the two men as he stalks toward them, not adjusting his path. They’re forced to jump out of his way when they realize he’s not stopping.
She takes my hand in both of hers. “It’s hard, but don’t let them get to you. They hurt you because they’re assholes. That’s on them. The fact that people believed them means those people are idiots.”
“Mmhmm.” I don’t trust myself to speak, as watery as my throat is.
“You didn’t deserve it then. You don’t deserve it now.” Her gaze is watery too, like I’m not alone in still needing to hear that from time to time.
The trunk thuds and Tex climbs into the driver seat. His kind gaze meets mine and flicks to Ro’s as he starts the car.
“G-give me more details. About the accident, I mean,” I stammer. Talking about anything other than that fresh hell sounds like a good idea.
Another gaze flicked from the bodyguard to Ro. “I was distracted.”
