"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.

Rather than asking permission, Cooper lifted the wood top and slid behind the bar to join Tessa. He walked right up to her, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and whispered in her ear. "Come dance with me."

To his surprise, she didn't argue, and Cooper took her hand, leading her back out the way he came and over to the dance floor. Joining the group of other dancers, Cooper fell in step and pulled Tessa up against him, wrapping her in his arms and holding her tightly against his body. They didn't talk, but the way she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his chest said everything he needed to hear.

Dalton ventured into another slow song, giving Cooper more time with Tessa, but he knew he would eventually have to let her go. When his buddy decided to take a break, Cooper released Tessa, but grabbed her hand when she would've walked away.

"Can we talk for a few minutes?" he asked, nodding his head toward the back door.

When she relented, he realized just how much she'd been through tonight. Hell, today. After that morning, he knew something had upset her, but he wasn't able to get her to open up to him. Hoping she might now, he took her hand and led her outside.

"What was that about?" he asked calmly once the door closed behind them, glad that enough time had lapsed for his temper to settle.

Tessa looked up at him briefly, but then diverted her gaze as she stepped away. He waited patiently for her to answer, and to his surprise, she didn't make him wait long.

"His name is Chad."

"What's his deal with you?"

Tessa's head jerked back toward him, her eyes weary. "I used to date him."

Cooper nodded, hoping she would continue.

"It's been a year since I broke it off with him."

A year and the guy was still going crazy on her.

"Did you do something to him?"

Tessa's back straightened, and he noticed the moment her defenses went up. He wasn't trying to piss her off, but he knew that the sort of anger that man showed was usually triggered by something. That or he was just plain fucking crazy. Based on Jack's reaction to the guy, Cooper was leaning toward the crazy.

"I broke up with him, that's what," Tessa said defiantly, her hands going to her hips. "If you don't mind, I really need to get back to work. I don't have any desire to discuss Chad with you or with anyone else."

"Then do me a favor," he retorted, his anger slowly starting to build.

"What's that?"

"Stay away from him."

Tessa's eyes narrowed on him, and he felt the chill all the way to his bones. She obviously didn't take too kindly to his demand, but he couldn't help himself. He hated seeing that bastard talk to her that way. If Cooper had anything to say about it, the guy would've been leaving in an ambulance, but luckily for everyone involved, he had somehow managed to keep himself under control.

"In case you didn't notice, I own this bar," she said adamantly before turning away abruptly and heading back inside, leaving Cooper standing there, staring into the night.

Shit.

He hoped like hell this night didn't get any worse.

Chapter Twenty Four.

A short while later, Tessa was standing behind the bar once again, making change when Izzy's statement from earlier resounded in her mind.

"Just think of it this way. The night can only get better from here."

She hoped like hell Izzy was right. There for a few minutes, when she had been dancing with Cooper, she thought her friend might be on to something. Being in Cooper's arms for even that short period of time had been just what she needed to calm her nerves. The safety and security she found in his arms was such a welcome change from the chaos that had erupted not long before that. It was difficult to admit, but Tessa was actually getting used to him being there and the comfort that his nearness afforded her.

At least until he went and said something idiotic like he did outside.

"Stay away from him."

It was almost as though he believed she had started the incident with Chad. She had seen the doubt in his eyes, known that he wasn't absolutely sure of her because of what happened, but for the life of her, she hadn't wanted to argue with him. Especially not about Chad. She had no intention of talking about him. Ever.

"Can I get a Crown and coke over here?"

Tessa's spine straightened as the voice registered and she turned slowly to see Marcus Evergreen once again gracing her bar with his presence.

Oh, hell. Apparently, Izzy spoke too soon. Tessa got the feeling things were about to go from bad to worse.

Tonight Marcus looked not much different than the night before, only this time his suit wasn't gray, it was either navy or black, she couldn't tell in the dim light.

Nodding her head when he continued to pin her with his beady eyes, Tessa took her time getting the Crown from the shelf. There was no way she could warn Cooper this time. There were too many people there, too much going on and quite frankly, she didn't want him to have to endure this guy just yet. For the first time since Tessa had met him, Cooper seemed perfectly at ease, like he was doing what he loved to do the altercation with Chad notwithstanding.

Once she had the drink poured, she gave him the total as she pushed it toward him. And just like last time, he told her to put it on Cooper's tab.

"Sorry, no can do. Cooper doesn't have a tab here anymore."

Marcus' chocolate brown eyes narrowed. Tessa felt as though he were examining her, trying to determine exactly what he needed to say. Or perhaps how he needed to say it. As she waited, refusing to walk away until he paid for the drink, the guy continued to make her uncomfortable.

"Fine," he said with a huff, standing from the stool and pulling his wallet from his back pocket. Slapping a ten on the bar, he told her to keep the change, and she offered a small smile in return.

"You mind going up there to let Cooper know it's time to go," Marcus said, grabbing her arm just as she was turning to walk away.

Tessa's outrage at being manhandled nearly broke loose, but she managed to stare down at her arm, then back up at Marcus. "You're gonna take your hand off of me now." Her voice was low and calm, but she hoped he understood how deadly her statement was. She might not have the ability to kick this guy's ass, then again, she might. He was kind of puny in her opinion. But there was a bar full of her cousins, not to mention her brother Jack was somewhere close, who'd do the deed for her if she just said the word.

Marcus' fingers slowly uncurled from around her arm, and Tessa pulled far enough back that he couldn't reach her. "And I'm not your messenger, so you'll have to go talk to him yourself."

"Oh, that's right," Marcus said, acting as though he just recognized her. "You're the gal he's hooked up with this time."

Tessa tried not to let the "this time" in his statement bother her. She failed. It'd been an emotional day, she was curious. "What do you mean 'this time'?"

Marcus glanced away, his eyes searching the room before landing on hers once more. Tessa kept her mouth shut, waiting for him to answer when she wanted to grab him by the shirt collar and insist he tell her everything.

"It's just time Cooper go back home. He's done this before, but this is the longest I've seen him stay away."

A sour taste filled Tessa's mouth and her stomach felt as though it might revolt. She gripped the edge of the bar, trying to convince herself that this guy was a liar, and she shouldn't listen to anything he had to say.

Marcus sipped his drink, and after setting it back on the bar, he looked at her with a serious expression on his face. "Oh, sorry, sweetheart, I guess he hasn't informed you that this is a phase he goes through every now and again. Takes him some time to cool off, but he always comes back where he belongs. Sometimes I just need to give him a little push."

"What do you mean a phase?" Tessa asked, just for the hell of it. She'd already heard more than she needed to. A smart woman would've told this guy to fuck off, but something had Tessa rooted in place. A need to know more? To get someone else's opinion, maybe? Heaven knew she'd already gotten herself in over her head with Cooper.

"Oh, you know," Marcus began, acting as though she should already know what he was talking about. "Last year he ended up in Arkansas. Some backwoods town he took up residence in. Stayed there for a couple of weeks with some filly he picked up in a bar."

Tessa actually felt her heart drop from her chest to her stomach. She didn't want to believe this guy, didn't want to take him at his word. Not after all she'd learned about him, but he sounded so confident, she was having a hard time.

Wanting to appear busy, Tessa grabbed a towel from beneath the bar and began wiping down the top slowly, staying close to where Marcus was sitting. Her gaze darted between the guy in the expensive suit and the cowboy who was now heading down the steps at the side of the stage. Cooper didn't look happy.

"It's about damn time," Marcus said with enthusiasm. "You sounded good up there."

Tessa watched as the men shook hands, Cooper's eyes darting back and forth between Marcus and her as though he were trying to figure out whether they'd had a conversation or not. Was he feeling guilty? Did he not think she'd learn that he did this frequently? After all, the topic of their conversation from the day before did get derailed every time she had asked about it.

She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Really, really sick. Thankfully a customer walked up asking for a beer and Tessa moved out of earshot to handle the request. Before she could finish, Cooper and Marcus were heading out through the front doors, obviously wanting to talk in private.

Well, she was more than willing to let them chat it up if they wanted to.

"Hey, Eric," she called out after she made change and the customer was on his way back to the table he'd been sitting at.

"What's up?" Eric's deep voice startled her, sounding much closer than she expected him to be.

"I'm not feeling well," she explained hurriedly, her eyes darting toward the front doors. "You think you can handle things tonight? Jack's here and so is Izzy."

When Eric didn't respond immediately, she glanced up to meet his eyes. "You know I can, Tessa. But I don't think "

Interrupting him before he could finish, Tessa mumbled her thanks, grabbed her keys that she kept under the bar and fled to the back door. Never looking back.

A few minutes later she was driving out of the overflowing parking lot, not bothering to look around to see if Cooper was out there. She didn't want to see him. Not now. Hell, maybe not ever.

When she was halfway home, Tessa glanced down to realize she had her hand over her heart. It was aching. Physically hurting in her chest, but she knew it wasn't a heart attack. No, this pain was self-inflicted. All because she had been stupid enough to get caught up in Cooper's life. She should've known better.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Once she was home, Tessa continued to fight the urge to have a breakdown. He wasn't worth her tears. She knew that. And no matter how much she'd started to like him, she had worked diligently to keep some emotional distance between them. Even if he had seemingly tried to bridge that gap a time or two, Tessa had forced herself to stay back.

She was grateful for that.

That and her two huskies.

"Hey there. Did you miss me? Huh?" she asked Harmony and Havoc when they met her at the front door.

She wished they could talk, but since they couldn't, she settled for taking solace in the way their entire bodies wagged with their happiness. Making her way into the house, she went straight for the dog food, knowing that's the first thing they expected even though she was several hours early. Just as she was pouring the last scoop in Harmony's bowl, a knock on the door nearly sent her into hysterics.

Whirling around, she found Izzy standing on her front porch, staring at her through the screen door.

Damn that Eric. Why'd he have to be such a loyal friend?

"Eric send you?" she asked her friend as she motioned for her to come inside.

"Of course he did. And I came running."