“I’m the Sheriff of Ashbourne! I know all sorts of classified information! Some of it would make your head spin!”
I realized too late that my outburst had cost me her trust.
“Get away from me!” she screamed. “I’ll never believe a word you say! Not now! Not ever!”
She shoved me and my temper flared to the temperature of the surface of the Sun, white-hot and glaring.
I could have flown out and struck her and no one would have blamed me.
She deserves it!
You didn’t insult a man of the law and get away with it!
“All lies,” Isabella said. “Just like the lies you told me about Kelly.”
The blood rose to my cheeks at the memory of my little indiscretion with her high school friend.
“I told you,” I growled. “I was drunk and she was the one who came onto me!”
And right then, at the perfect moment, came her white knight.
“Is something wrong?”
Clint had crept up so quietly it took me by surprise to see him standing at my shoulder.
“No!” I snapped. “Nothing’s wrong! Go over there and mind your business!”
I reached for Isabella’s arm but she dodged to one side, stepping up beside Clint.
She reached for his hand—his hand!—and squeezed it.
My eyes narrowed and my fury boiled over.
“I think you should go,” Clint said calmly.
I shifted my eyes up at his hulking mass.
All his strength would count for nothing with my firearm in my hand.
A single movement and the pistol would be aimed at his chest and three rounds would enter him before he could even blink.
And Isabella…
Isabella.
Her eyes were filled with rage and shimmered with tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.
The only thing worse than being caught in a lie was losing the trust of the one person you had told the lie to in the first place.
“You’d better watch where you step,” I growled at Clint. “Because the minute you take a wrong step, you’re going to turn around and find me there.”
I marched over to my cruiser, slammed the door, spun the wheel, and spat gravel as I sped down the driveway.
I caught the sweet scent of the roses on the passenger seat.
The stink assaulted my senses and reminded me of the failure I’d endured.
The smell mocked me and everything I held dear.
I scooped them up off the seat and hurled them out the window.
I wouldn’t give up on Isabella so easily.
She would love me.
She had to.
Or I would take everything she cared about away from her.
Isabella
I pulled my sweater off over my head and hurled it in the corner.
I slammed my bedroom door shut and jumped on my bed.
I couldn’t believe what Liam tried to do.
He lied to me.
Again!
And I believed him.
Again!
I’m such an idiot, idiot, idiot!
I screamed into the blankets and pummeled at them with my fists.
Sometimes being away from a place made it difficult to recall certain aspects of it.
I forgot what it was like to be under someone’s finger and feel like I had no power as I had when I was a teenager.
He told lie upon lie, each one piling atop another, forming a fragile house of cards.
And I’d believed him.
Of course I did—why wouldn’t I?
Who would lie to their girlfriend?
Liam was a habitual liar, used to getting what he wanted by telling someone else whatever they wanted to hear.
It didn’t matter to him if someone got hurt in the process.
Least of all the girlfriend he supposedly loved.
I grabbed a pillow and buried a scream inside it.
Was it too much to ask for a regular, honest guy?
Or were there none to be found?
I never had any intention of making the same mistake twice.
I would never be with Liam again.
Ever.
Life was hard enough without being a part of someone’s sick twisted games.
The moment he said I could trust him, any trust I had for him slid rapidly from me.
I felt like the awkward teenager I had once been, lacking confidence when it came to feelings and emotions.
Well, I’d mastered them a long time ago and wasn’t about to let anyone—least of all that dickhead!—get the better of me again.
He’d grabbed me by the arm, twisted it painfully, and that dark and sinister look in his eye was one I recognized from other needy men in the past.
A deep savagery that suggested it was pointless to resist.
So, I didn’t resist.
The first chance I got, I went to the bathroom and slipped out the window and never saw those dudes ever again.
I dreaded to think what would have happened to me if Clint hadn’t been there to protect me.
The barn was just behind us and Liam could have forced me inside and had his way with me…
The thought alone made me quiver with fear.
It wasn’t only strangers I needed to be careful of.
It was the people I knew too.
That left me with a very small pool of people I could trust.
Was Clint one of them? I wondered.
He couldn’t be.
I hadn’t known him long enough.
But how long did it take to be able to trust someone?
Months?
Years?
Or was it better to listen to that little voice deep inside that informed me he was a good one?
A knock came at the door and made me jump.
“What?” I snapped with more bite than I intended.
“Lunch is ready,” Pop said.
“I’ll be right down.”
He turned and knocked on Clint’s door to tell him the same.
Dinner.
With my parents.
And the hot stranger.
After the scene that’d happened outside with Liam, I wasn’t sure I could show my face.
I glanced up into the small circular mirror hanging from a rusty nail and knew with certainty there was no way I could show that face.
I broke out my makeup and got to work tidying up the grey bags that hung under my eyes.
I really didn’t know why I was going to all this effort.
It wasn’t like I was doing it for anyone.
Or was I?
I’d had enough of relationships.
I needed to get on with my life.
The moment I helped Clint recover his memories, I would prepare to leave home and get as far away from here as
