Page 65 of The Hearts We've Broken
I glanced back and forth between the two guys.
“Let me get you some ice for that,” Nico offered, pointing at Mikey’s hand, like this was a normal occurrence.
“Thanks, man.” Mikey nodded in acknowledgment.
My jaw dropped. In what world was this normal? “Can someone explain to me what’s going on? How do you know him?”
A sigh slipped from Mikey’s mouth. “He’s slimy. Used to work for a newspaper in Billings, but they caught him doing shady practices, so now he’s trying to do whatever he can to get back in good graces. No one will hire him, so he thinks his best bet is finding the most scandalous story out there to do an exposé on.”
Understanding hit me. “And you just happen to be the hottest topic in Montana right now.”
“Yep.” Shooting me a reassuring glance, he added, “Don’t worry about him, I’ll take care of it. He won’t bother you again. By the way, Ellison invited us over for dinner tomorrow.”
“Both of us?” My eyes widened.
Nico came back, handing Mikey a small bag of ice, which he quickly grabbed before placing a kiss on my cheek.
“Of course. We’re a package deal, don’t you know?” He winked and followed Colter and Reid to the door, turning around at the last minute to announce, “I’ll pick you up at six!”
Nico and Liv both said they could handle the bar and told me to go home after the scene Hackett made, so I packed up my stuff and drove back to Natalie’s house.
She was waiting for me when I walked through the front door, arms folded across her chest.
“Hi,” I greeted her.
She gave me a blank look in return.
“What’s up?” I asked, acting as cool, calm, and collected as I could.
“Are you sure this whole thing is worth it? I mean, why are you going through all this trouble of being in the public eye just to get back at your shitty ex? You’re getting assaulted by reporters?—”
I cut in. “I got assaulted byareporter.”
“You shouldn’t be getting assaulted at all!”
Well, she had a point there.
“Mikey took care of it.” I shrugged her off, heading toward my bedroom.
“Took care of it, how? By punching him?”
I looked over my shoulder, a sarcastic grin on my face. “Exactly.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
mikey
Normally, Miles City and Silver Creek were pretty quiet. Everyone respected others’ privacy. But with the stir that Juniper and I caused in Houston, I wasn’t necessarily surprised that people were talking about us. I didn’t think any other reporters would bother coming out to Montana, but I’d be keeping a watchful eye.
Luckily, word about me clocking Hackett didn’t get out, but I’d informed Travis about the situation in case something did arise. I thought Hackett was too scared he’d be run out of town, though, if he published anything or went to other news sources—not that they’d believe him anyway. He was trouble, and everyone in town knew it. I may have gotten into a few squabbles myself, but they were always in defense of myself or someone else, never as the initial aggressor.
Ellison had teased me once about how violence was never the answer and I should think with my brain before my fists, but we all knew she’d do the same thing. The girl was ruthless.
Dinner was tonight, but I had a few hours before I’dneed to go pick up Juniper, so I headed to the gym to work off some of my pent-up emotions.
Instead of hitting the weights, though, I wanted to focus on endurance. I didn’t work out to get big and bulky like most guys. Believe it or not, size actually did matter when it came to riding bulls. Being smaller was an advantage in controlling the animal. Sure, a small number of guys were tall, but they were thin and didn’t weigh much.
At five-foot-eight, I weighed in at around one hundred fifty pounds.
