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“Right, sorry,” she said. She wasn’t entirely sure she was meant to be apologizing, but he gave a nod as though he was satisfied with that. She’d expected him to get back in his truck and leave, so she was surprised as he followed her into the bar.

“Are you coming in for a drink or something?” she asked.

“Yep,” he said.

Ammo fucking hated this.

What the hell was she doing working in this bar? She was clearly exhausted. She should be resting and taking care of herself.

She looked to be growing more and more exhausted. Her steps were becoming slower, and the asshole owner of the bar didn’t seem to care at all about her wellbeing.

There was a particularly loud group of men in the corner, and if they didn’t start minding their manners, well, he’d just have to teach them some.

Aimee walked toward the corner table with a tray full of beer. The bartender needed to cut these assholes off.

“Hey there, it’s Nip Slip Aimee!” one of them cried.

What the fuck did that mean? Ammo scowled as Aimee froze, then grew red with obvious embarrassment.

To her credit, she gathered herself, stuck her shoulders back, and continued on her way.

She set the beers down on the table and glanced around. “Do any of you need anything else?”

“Flash us those little titties, yeah, darling?” one of them called out. The rest howled with laughter. Ammo was already getting to his feet. He’d had enough. No way was he going to sit here and let them talk to her like that.

She was under his protection now, and it was time the people of this town learned what that meant.

But before he’d even taken one step, the guy she was standing closest to reached a hand up and squeezed her ass before slapping it.

She jumped and turned to him, but Ammo was already there. He grabbed the guy’s hand in his and then bent his arm slowly backward.

“Hey, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” the guy screeched as he jumped to his feet and attempted to pull Ammo’s hand away from his. “Let go. You’re going to break my fucking hand.”

“Ammo,” she said warningly. “Stop. You need to let him go.”

The rest of the table got to their feet, but he wasn’t concerned. He’d faced worse odds than this.

“Get back behind the bar,” he told her. “I need to teach these assholes a lesson.”

Her heart raced. Shit, shit. What was she going to do? She looked around for a weapon or some backup.

But everyone else in the bar was just looking on curiously. They weren’t going to help the guys at the table, but they also weren’t going to help Ammo.

Fucking bastards, all of them.

She glared at a few men who she’d known for years. But they simply shrugged. That was part of the problem with this town. Everyone was in it for themselves. They loved the drama of an argument, a fight, or some scandal, but they weren’t ever going to help each other out.

There was no sense of community, which was the one thing she’d hoped for when she’d moved here with Charlie.

He’d grown up here. So even though he was a dick who most people didn’t like, they still sided with him over her.

She was an interloper. And they weren’t going to do anything to help her. They especially weren’t going to do anything to help Ammo. He’d only been here two seconds.

She raced behind the bar as all of the guys at the table descended on Ammo.

“Danny, you’ve got to do something,” she said urgently.

Danny grunted. “They break anything, it’s coming out of your pay.”