Heat crawled up my neck.
My fingers went numb.
The flowers slipped from my hands and hit the floor in a scatter of purple and yellow petals.
I couldn’t bend down to pick them up.
Couldn’t breathe enough to move.
Then suddenly—
Ace stepped in front of me.
I hadn’t even seen him move.
One second the man was staring at me.
The next, all I could see was Ace’s broad back between us.
“Watch your mouth,” Ace said quietly.
The tavern went still.
Not because he yelled.
Because he didn’t.
The man scoffed. “Stay out of it.”
Ace shifted one step closer.
Slow.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
“It concerns me now.”
Something tightened in my chest painfully.
The man laughed under his breath. “You don’t even know what kind of woman you’re defending.”
“I know enough.”
My eyes burned instantly.
No.
He didn’t.
Couldn’t.
The man gestured toward me carelessly. “She got drunk, drove a car, killed her friend, and went to prison for it. That enough for you?”
Ace never looked back at me.
Not once.