“See, she’s still bitter. I won’t take her calls, so she has to pretend she’s not into me anymore.”

“I prefer men to boys,” Tessa mumbled, ashamed that she was succumbing to his antagonism.

“That right? Sure don’t seem like it to me,” Chad snarled. Turning his head toward the blonde, he grinned, “Her nasty cunt is already chasing Cooper Krenshaw. I heard he’s gettin’ ready to hightail it out of town just to get away from her.”

Tessa grabbed the twenty dollar bill that the blonde placed on the bar and turned toward the register. Before she was two steps away, the deep baritone of Jack’s voice startled her.

“See, son, that’s where you heard wrong.”

She turned abruptly to see Chad flinch while the women who’d been molded to his side were quickly moving away. Jack was standing behind him, one huge hand clamped down on Chad’s shoulder, the impression of his fingers scrunching Chad’s shirt.

“Fuck, man. Get your goddamn hands off me!” Chad yelled, ripping away from Jack’s grip.

“This is your last fucking warning,” Jack said slowly, his voice frighteningly low.

“Or what, man? You’re just pissed that I didn’t enjoy nailing the shit out of your sister. You didn’t have a problem until I tossed her out like yesterday’s garbage.”

“Jack stop!” Tessa screamed the instant her brother’s hands gripped Chad’s shirt, yanking him off of his feet as he got right up in his face.

Everything from that moment forward happened in a blur. Jack shoved Chad hard enough to send him sprawling on the concrete floor, forcing other customers to jump out of the way or be taken down like bowling pins.

“Out! Don’t let me see your face in here again,” Jack demanded, moving fast for a guy his size.

Chad was backing up on the floor, but unable to get enough purchase on the slippery concrete to make it back to his feet. Tessa couldn’t get out from behind the bar because Eric had moved close, keeping her sandwiched between him and the wood while Izzy stood by her side.

“Get up!” Jack growled.

Chad managed to make it to his feet, but as soon as he was upright, he was backing away while Jack was pursuing him like a cougar cornering its prey.

“She’s a fucking whore, man. The whole fucking town knows it.”

And that’s when the shit hit the fan. Tessa was watching Jack, waiting to see what he would do next when Chad was yanked backward, his legs barely managing to keep him up off the floor for a second time. Tessa glanced up to see Cooper as he forcefully pushed Chad toward the door.

“Not another fucking word,” Cooper barked. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your fucking mouth shut.”

Another chill raced down Tessa’s spine. She’d never seen Cooper that angry, not even after he had to deal with Marcus face to face yesterday. Part of her was worried he was going to kill Chad.

“Hey, folks,” Dalton’s voice crooned through the speakers. “Y’all keep lookin’ that way and I’m gonna get my feelin’s hurt.”

The distracted patrons laughed as Dalton effectively redirected everyone’s attention back to him.

Tessa glanced down to see her hands were shaking. There was no way she would be able to keep her past a secret now. Not from Cooper anyway. She glanced toward the front door just in time to see it shut behind Cooper and Jack. She took a deep breath and wondered if she should make a run for it. After all that, she knew she didn’t have it in her to try and explain herself tonight.

“It’s all good,” Izzy said, her hand rubbing up and down Tessa’s back.

She momentarily allowed the motion to soothe her as she tried to figure out what she was going to do next.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s a jackass,” Eric confirmed before stepping over to help the customers who had just had a front row seat to Tessa’s humiliation.

Nodding her head in agreement, she remained where she stood, wishing like hell she could sneak out. Since the bar was so busy, she knew that wasn’t an option.

“Just think of it this way,” Izzy whispered. “The night can only get better from here.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“What the fuck was that about?” Cooper asked Jack when they were heading back inside after Jack handed Chad off to Shane, one of the burly bouncers standing outside. His instruction to ensure Chad never stepped foot inside the bar again would be heeded, he was sure.

“Nothin’. He’s a dumbass.”

That didn’t answer Cooper’s question, and he realized Jack was deflecting. The dumbass part was a given, but what Cooper wanted to know was what the hell the guy had against Tessa. In all the time Cooper had been in Devil’s Bend, he’d never met a single person who had said anything negative about her. Until tonight.

Grabbing Jack by the arm, Cooper stopped abruptly. “That doesn’t tell me shit.”

“It ain’t your fucking business,” Jack growled.

“The hell it ain’t.” Tessa was his business, and he’d be damned if anyone would talk to her like that.

“He’s trash, man. Just let it go.” Jack’s tone dripped with disdain and his emerald green eyes shot sparks of fire.

Nodding his head because he knew he wasn’t going to get anything more from Tessa’s brother, Cooper moved to the door. Once he was inside, he made a straight line for the bar, moving people out of his way as he went. The only thing he cared about was seeing that Tessa was all right.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked when he approached her at the bar. Never mind that there were at least ten people standing in line waiting to get their drinks.

“Can’t right now,” she muttered but didn’t look up at him.

Cooper glanced over at Izzy who was watching him. When their eyes met, she shook her head slightly, as though signaling him to give her a break.

Fine.

He made his way to the wall, standing close to where the sound system controls were and waited. Jack joined her behind the bar, and roughly twenty minutes later, they had managed to get the waiting customers down to a minimum.

By then, Cooper’s temper had cooled, which he considered a good thing. As he moved toward where Tessa was now standing, he glanced up at the stage to see Dalton looking his way. A quick tilt of his head was the only nonverbal communication he needed to send because the next song that Dalton began was a slow one. Something to douse the remaining flames of the anger that had flared up inside of Cooper when that bastard had started talking shit.