Ace balls his fists at his sides. “I’m only going to tell you one time, back the fuck away from her.”

Jeremy laughs as he grabs a knife from his pocket and flips it open. “Or you’ll what?” Ace takes a step back and raises his hands, causing Jeremy to smirk. “That’s what I thought, tough guy. If you know what’s good for ya, you’ll get the hell out of here.”

Ace narrows his eyes at Jeremy. “I’m not leaving her with you.”

My heart leaps into my throat as Jeremy begins circling Ace with his drawn knife. Fear paralyzes me, as I struggle to sort through my brain for what’s the right thing to do in this situation. Do I jump between them, risking my own life, or let Ace handle it?

I clutch my chest as the realization hits that I have to do something. This guy barely knows me. I can’t allow him to get hurt.

I jump up from my seat and take a hesitant step toward Jeremy before placing my hand on his arm. “That’s enough. This is crazy. Stop!”

Jeremy seizes the opportunity and shoves me with his free hand so hard into the trailer behind me that the wind whooshes from my lungs.

A growl rips from Ace’s throat as he hits Jeremy’s arm, knocking the knife from his hand before blasting him with a fist in the face. The moment Ace’s knuckles make contact with Jeremy’s nose, an audible crunch sounds and blood pours down Jeremy’s face.

“Oh, God,” Jeremy cries as he covers his face with both hands and doubles over in pain. “You broke my nose.”

Ace stands there, fists drawn and chest heaving while keeping his eyes trained on Jeremy. “I’ll break a lot more if you don’t leave. Now.”

Those words do not need to be spoken twice, as Jeremy turns tail and stumbles to his car. “This isn’t over, asshole.”

“Yes it is. Touch her again and I will annihilate you.” Ace’s menacing words are a dark warning to Jeremy—one I pray he takes seriously, because I don’t want the poor guy’s blood on my hands. I obviously don’t know what Ace is capable of.

This time Jeremy opens the driver’s door of his car, flings himself inside, and fires up the roaring engine. A thick cloud of dust wafts around as the tires of the Trans Am spin before he speeds away.

It’s then I notice I’m still leaning against the trailer, frozen, in the same position I was just knocked into.

Ace turns to me once the Trans Am is out of sight, concern etched into his features. “You okay?”

I shove my hair back from my face and inspect the rest of me to confirm there’s no damage. “Yes. I think so.”

He gives me a curt nod and turns his back to me, not offering me a bit of explanation on why he intervened on my behalf the way he did. “Ace, wait.”

Midstride, he pauses but doesn’t face me. He turns his head to the side so that I can see his beautiful profile. “For what?”

I rush to him and allow my eyes to flit over his body, frantically searching for any injuries. When they finally land on his bloody knuckles, I reach down without permission and pull his hand up for inspection. “You’re hurt.”

As I run my fingers gently over his skin, he closes his eyes like my touch is painful. “I’m fine.”

“Are you going to tell me why you did that?” I ask quietly.

“I need a reason to save a woman from being bullied from some jerkoff who was determined to hurt her?” he says as he opens his eyes to gaze upon me. His eyes serious, and expression unreadable.

“Yes, if the woman you save is obviously one you hate,” I reply.

“I don’t hate you.” He hesitates for a beat and then shakes his head. “I just need to stay away from you.”

The answer he gives me still isn’t enough to satisfy my curious brain. “That makes no sense. Tell me why you feel that way.”

He lets out an exasperated sigh. “Just let it go, Iris. Pushing this issue will only be dangerous for us both.”

I open my mouth to argue with him once again, but he doesn’t give me the opportunity before he stalks off, putting as much distance between us as he can.

ACE

The cold shocks the heated skin on my knuckles as I shove my hand into a bowl full of ice. Beating the shit out of some local redneck isn’t exactly how I planned on beginning my low-key life here in Sarahsville, but there is no way I’m just going to stand by and let some douche bag talk to Iris that way and get away with it.

Not going to happen.

The fucker is lucky I didn’t kill him. The thought of ending his miserable existence crossed my mind the moment he put his hands on her, and he’s lucky I have enough self-control to reel myself back from going off the deep end. I’ve been known to go a little berserk when I’m angry, which is something I’m not proud of, because I’ve learned through time usually it’s better to keep a cool head. Being around Jane Ann for so long tamed me quite a bit. What losing my temper would do to my career if the media ever got wind of it made me think twice before I acted out, and it ended up making me soft—a fucking pushover yes-man—but there are times when going a little crazy is needed in a situation. I would do anything to protect someone I care about.

If this incident today had happened five years ago, before Jane Ann discovered me, Jeremy would’ve not been able to walk away without the help of some medical assistance.

I grab a cold beer from the fridge and then thrust my throbbing hand back down into the ice. Being around this girl is not good. The overwhelming urge I have to protect her and take care of her now that I know she’s all alone in this world like me is pretty damn strong. Hell, look at what already happened. I haven’t gotten that out of control in a long time. But she needed the help. I have this feeling down in my gut that I’m supposed to be the one to look out for her.