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So no, it was best that he kept this as friends only.

He’d eat breakfast, then go out and finish off the yard before tackling some jobs inside the house and give her a chance to have some rest.

She stared at the words on her e-reader, but she wasn’t really seeing them.

Her thumb was in her mouth, and she was sucking it for comfort, but that wasn’t really helping either.

Nothing seemed to be helping stop the words going over and over in her mind.

So far, only two things had managed to stop her from thinking too much, from worrying and being scared.

And those two things were the Rage Ranch and being held by Ammo.

One, she couldn’t access all the time. It wasn’t like she could drive out there every time the voices in her head got to be too much.

And the second one was dangerous. He wasn’t hers and she certainly couldn’t come to rely on him.

Urgh!

Also, had she imagined that he was turned on just before? She’d just come out from under the blankets, and her eyesight had been slightly blurry, so she’d probably imagined it. He’d turned away pretty quick though, hadn’t he? Was that because he’d wanted to hide what was going on in his pants, or was it another reason?

Probably something else.

God. This was getting her nowhere. She rolled onto her back and blinked up at the ceiling. Kevin nudged against her cheek, and she turned her head to look at him.

She slid her thumb from my mouth. “You’re my best friend, aren’t you, Kevin? You and Kirsten. Oh, and Owly McOwlFace.” She hugged Owly McOwlFace tight.

“What am I going to do?” she said. “What can I do with my life? I need to get out of this town, don’t I? Nothing’s ever going to change unless I do.”

She really thought that hiding in here all day would make her feel better, but so far it hadn’t. She just felt confused, alone, and overwhelmed.

With a sigh, she got up and got dressed. Tonight, she’d feed the cats before she went to work. She checked the backpack, but there was still plenty of food inside it, along with some paper plates.

Then she sat on the bed with a notepad and pen. She needed to make a to-do list. Perhaps that would help her messed-up brain.

Fix up the house.

Finish the yard.

Pay down some debt to get the debt collectors off her back.

She was still a bit confused. Debt collectors wouldn’t really send a message that said, ‘pay up or else’, would they?

That churning in her gut told her all that she needed to know. She knew a proper debt collector wouldn’t have left that message in the envelope or the text message.

Should she tell Ammo that someone was threatening her?

What did ‘or else’ mean? She didn’t even know what the threat was. Or which debt they were talking about.

Her breathing started to grow faster, and she had to attempt to slow it down to stop herself from panicking.

Aimee had been so focused on getting through Charlie’s funeral that she hadn’t let herself think about the rest of it.

But the bills weren’t going to pay themselves. The threat wasn’t going to disappear. The people in this town weren’t going to just go away.

What was she going to do with her life? Where was she going to live?

Oh, this was all too much. She glanced at the clock and saw she had to leave soon. She hadn’t really eaten much, so she picked up a piece of cold toast and munched on it as she carried the tray out to the kitchen.