“Get your hands off her,” he says, his round cheeks flaming with anger.
“Mind your business, kid.I’ve had about enough of your mouth.”
“Don’t talk to him like that,” I growl.Hyperaware my son is watching my every move, I snap my hands free from Russell once and for all.“Go inside the bar, Dylan.Shadow is there.”
My son stops glaring at his dad, and his eyes find mine.
“I’m not leaving you,” he fires back.
There’s an edge to his tone, and it causes me to freeze in my tracks.He sometimes deepens his voice when he’s around Shadow, and I laugh it off.I tell myself it’s cute, that he’s just a boy trying to fit in with the guys.But tonight it hits me differently, and as I stare at my son, I realize there is a hardness to him that wasn’t there before.
“Go,” I say a little firmer than I intend.“I’ll be fine.Your dad and I are just going to have a little chat.”
“Fuck this,” Russell says.“I don’t have the time for you to read me the riot act, Amelia.You want to play like you’re the better parent when all you’re doing is turning the boy into a fucking pussy.”
I don’t think; I just react.My hand rears back, and I slap him hard across the face.
“Call my son a pussy again and I’ll fucking knock your teeth down your throat.”
“You’re fucking crazy,” Russell sneers, holding a hand to his reddened cheek.
“If you think that’s crazy, I promise you have seen nothing yet,” I spat.
He scoffs.“What are you going to do, Amelia?You going to call your outlaw cousin?Have him do your dirty work for you?”Still holding a hand to his cheek, he turns to Dylan.“Your mother is a fucking hypocrite.She says I’m a danger to you, meanwhile, she lets you hang around with fucking criminals.You should ask her what Shadow does for a living, kid.”
“Everything okay out here?”
My body goes still at the sound of Maddox’s gruff voice.I like to think of myself as a woman who can handle just about anything, but the moment I feel him place a hand on my shoulder, I quickly learn that even I have my limits, and apparently Maddox Meadows intervening when I’m having a fight with my ex-husband seems to be one of them.
Before I can smack his hand away, Russell’s attention snaps to the rancher behind me, and a sinister laugh escapes his lips.
“Fuck off, Meadows.”He lowers his hand from his cheek, and his gaze comes back to me.“Got tired of spreading your legs for trashy bikers, did you?Or did they get tired of you?I bet it’s the latter, but fucking a dirty farmer isn’t an upgrade, Amelia.”
“The fuck you just say to her?”Maddox growls.His fingers curl possessively around my shoulder as he steps even closer, pressing his hard chest against my back.
Russell’s eyes lock with Maddox’s over my head, and he quirks an eyebrow.“What’s the matter farm boy, you didn’t know?Watch your boys around her.She craves attention, and parts her legs on a dime.How do you think he got here?”
He points his thumb at Dylan.
“Keep talkin’, Cain.Every word out of your mouth gives me more of a reason to make you disappear.”
Something inside me snaps, and I spin around to face Maddox.He’s not the first person in Saddle Ridge to witness Russell and I go at one another’s throats, and he probably won’t be the last.But I don’t think I’ve ever been more embarrassed or angry about it.I don’t need him to defend my honor.He’s thirteen years too late.
“That’s enough,” I sneer.Shoving a hand against his chest, I push him back a step.“I don’t need your help.I can handle Russell on my own.”
“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have to.”He glares at Russell.“That’s no way to talk to the mother of your son, and to do it in front of him makes you an even bigger piece of shit.”
“I don’t remember asking for your input, Meadows.”
“You didn’t,” Maddox replies.“I’m being generous.”
“I said that’s enough,” I snap.Maddox tears his gaze away from Russell and is about to say something when I shake my head.“No, I’m serious.I can handle him on my own.If you want to help, then take Dylan inside.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” Dylan says.
I turn to my boy, pressing my hand to his cheek.“I’ll be right behind you, I promise.”
Everything about his facial expression says he doesn’t quite believe me, but then he reluctantly turns to Maddox.“You’re Shadow’s friend, the guy who owns the ranch.”
