I ripped off my nasal oxygen tube and sat up, but Cowboy held me there, not allowing me to stand. “He didn’t do this!” I yelled, my throat burning from the effort.
“It’s okay, darlin’.” Cowboy squeezed my hand and gave me a wink. “Don’t worry. We’ll get this all sorted out soon enough.”
“This is absurd,” I said, my voice straining against the ashes in my throat as tears leaked from my eyes. “He didn’t do anything.”
“Maybe not. But someone did. And it’s my job to find out who.” Sheriff Wells motioned for the door. “Let’s go, Cowboy.”
I watched helplessly as the sheriff led him toward the door.
When they reached it, Mandy suddenly spoke up out of nowhere. “Wait,” she said, biting her lip. “I can vouch for his whereabouts. I…saw Cowboy earlier.”
“You already told me you saw him at the station when he showed up for the false alarm. But that was before Miss Weber was kidnapped.”
Cowboy and Mandy exchanged a look. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I saw worry in both of their eyes. “No, I saw him after that, too.”
“You didn’t mention seeing him earlier in your statement, Miss Barlow.” The sheriff glared at her. “So if this is true, then why didn’t you say that to begin with when I questioned you?”
Mandy’s gaze flickered from Cowboy to me, then back to the sheriff. “Because he didn’t want Anna to know.”
“Didn’t want me to know what?” I asked.
She looked down, keeping her eyes from meeting mine. “That Cowboy was with me tonight.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked with an angry bite to my words. “No. You’re lying. Cowboy, tell the sheriff she’s lying.” For a moment, there was nothing but silence. He didn’t say anything in his defense. Instead, his gaze lingered on Mandy and he frowned. “Cowboy…?”
“I’m sorry, Anna,” he said, not even having the gumption to look me in the eye. “It’s true.”
Hurt and confusion filled my heart. Cowboy had been with another woman. Even after he made the big play of pronouncing me as his and pretending we were ever anything more than a booty call. And I had believed him.
God, I’m an idiot.
“Why don’t we give you two a minute alone,” the sheriff said, motioning for Mandy to follow him out.
Once they cleared the room, Cowboy came toward me with an outstretched hand. “Sweetheart, I—”
I jerked away from him and tears filled my eyes. “Don’t touch me, you…you cheating bastard. I trusted you!”
He sighed heavily and lowered his voice. “Anna, it’s not true. I wasn’t with Mandy tonight. I swear.”
“Oh, really? Well, that’s not what the two of you just told the sheriff,” I sneered back at him.
“That was just her way of saving my ass. She was keeping me from going down to the station and getting my ass arrested.”
“And you went along with it? Yeah, right.”
“Darlin’, look at me.” When I wouldn’t allow my eyes to meet his, he raised his voice. “Damn it, Anna, I can’t sit in a goddamn cell at the county jail and leave you unprotected. The guy who did this is still out there somewhere. So I took a chance that you’d be reasonable and logical enough to allow me to explain myself before you thought the worst of me.”
“Explain what? Why you just humiliated me in front of the sheriff by letting him believe a girl like me couldn’t satisfy a man with your reputation?”
He cringed and ran a hand over his face. “I didn’t mean to humiliate you. But that’s always what it’s going to come back to, isn’t it? My reputation. Well, you know what? That road of trust drives both ways, honey. It sure the hell didn’t take me much convincing on my part to get you to believe I wasn’t faithful to you, but like you said…with my reputation and all.” The sarcasm oozed from his voice.