Page 60 of Bad Cowboy, Tennessee

“You shouldn’t be here. Not now.”

He furrowed his brow. “Great way to greet a guy.”

My blood was surging with rage and adrenaline. This would have been the best time for Max to stay the fuck away from me, but he didn’t know what was going on in my world.

I realized he was holding a bottle of nice whiskey in one hand.

A kind called Black Opal, which I’d just discovered last year. The bottles were at least $500 a pop.

“You paid that much for a bottle of whiskey?” I asked.

“Thought you might like it. I have some cash, after my videos have been doing well.”

He looked down at the crowbar I’d forgotten I was holding, then his eyes glanced over at the cut on my arm, which I hadn’t realized was bleeding a little worse than before.

I knew how I must look to him.

Villainous.

A thin sheen of sweat on my body as I breathed heavily. A frown on my face. Blood and dust.

Max’s sweet-boy Tennessee eyes could barely hide the judgement: to him, I was dangerous.

What the fuck else is new.

He swallowed, blinking after a moment and standing up straighter, looking me in the eye. “I came to say I’m sorry,” he declared.

How many times had he rehearsed saying that before he showed up at my door?

Adorable.

Too cute to be in a ten-mile radius of someone like me.

Especially when I’m in a mood like this.

My blood still ran hot as I looked him up and down again. “Sorry for?”

“Being unwelcoming to you.”

I put the crowbar down onto the floorboards near me. “Max, the hockey stick thing was fun, I promise.”

“Not just that. But… since then, too. I don’t know if you’re following me around town because youactuallywant to protect me, or if you’re just hell-bent on following a random bartender, but I refuse to be angry about it anymore. So I brought more whiskey.”

I paused for a moment before I spoke.

“Why?”

“Because you like it.”

Too nice.

He handed me the whiskey bottle and I held it, nodding at him. For a moment I thought he was going to turn and leave, but he stayed planted there outside my front door, his gaze trained on mine.

“You really do need to worry about your safety, Max. I am following you to protect you. That is the only reason.”

Not that I don’t enjoy looking at you, too.

“You don’t have to be nice to me,” I said. “I understand why you don’t trust me.”

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