Callum coughed and looked elsewhere. Ace buried his face in Codie’s hair, pulling her in tight.
It was surprisingly Desi, though, that came out and said it.
“Banks has some overzealous fans that are following him on the rodeo circuits,” Desi said, sounding not amused in the least. “We were brainstorming solutions when you came in.”
“And what solutions would that be?” I asked, turning to survey Banks.
Banks shook his head. “No good ones, that’s for sure.”
Desi snorted.
“I think you should go with the marriage one,” Codie suggested. “I mean, nothing says final like a ring on your finger.”
I looked at him with surprise.
“What kind of things have been going on?” I wondered.
“The kind of thing where he finds women in his camper after he rides,” Darby said.
“And the kind that has women following behind him every step he takes,” Ace said. “They followed him into the bathroom the other day when he took a shit. They recorded him.”
That was honestly the most embarrassing thing I’d ever heard.
“Shit,” I said.
“And we’ve been getting reports of people coming around town asking about him,” Callum said around his final bite of pancakes. “We’ve been doing our level best to hide where we live, but it’s only a matter of time before they find out.”
“When did this start?” I questioned, pancakes forgotten.
Banks continued to shove food into his mouth, acting for all he was worth as if he wasn’t affected.
But the stiffness in his shoulders told a different story.
Banks shrugged, as if he didn’t know when it started.
“We’re thinking it really started after he won nationals last year,” Ace said, ignoring his brother’s glare. “But he only started telling us about it after last week.”
“What happened last week?” I asked.
“Last week,” Banks sighed, “two girls tried to get into my truck where I was sleeping. I’d had something to drink before that the bartender had said was from a couple of girls. I didn’t drink it, but they thought I did. Which was why I was more than aware of them getting into the vehicle with me.”
I wasn’t sure I liked where this was going.
“They tried to drug you?” I guessed.
“Yeah,” he grumbled.
That’s when nice Candy went out the window.
***
“Ummm, what?” my father asked.
“I’m going to go on the rodeo circuit with Banks,” I said. “I’m still going to do all of this other stuff for your business. I’ll be doing it all remotely, though. At least for this week. I have access to all of the accounts, and I’ll be taking the business laptop with me to make sure that I can continue with the work while I’m on the road.”
My father blinked. “But what about the coffee shop?”
“That’s on me,” Desi broke in.
She’d come with me after I’d explained that I had to talk to my father. She’d promised that she would help smooth things over, and at first, I hadn’t thought it was necessary.
Then my father started to throw questions my way about whether I’d really thought about what I was telling him.
And the reason Desi wanted to come became clear.
Because she was the clearheaded one in this situation.
Something had snapped in me after hearing that Banks had almost been drugged.
What in the hell was the world coming to that people thought that was okay to do?
Ugly feelings were rearing their head as I remembered my own rape, and a decision had been made without my conscious thought.
Banks probably didn’t need my protection, but I would feel better if he had it.
Even if all I could offer him was the protection of being his fake girlfriend.
“We discussed it, and the coffee shop has turned into something that we would rather it not be,” Desi continued as if my father’s ferocious scowl wasn’t directed toward her. “We really never intended it to turn into what it’s turned into, and we’re going to change it up.”
“Y’all have only been open for a couple of months,” he pushed.
“And that was all it took for us to realize that’s not what we wanted out of it,” she said honestly.
My father sighed. “I just don’t want y’all to regret this.”
“We won’t,” both Desi and I said at the same time.
“You’re sure?” he pushed, hooking his arm around my neck and pulling me into his side with his good hand.
“Promise.” I gave him the scout’s honor sign. “We have discussed this, and it’s exactly what we want. And, in the end, it saves us about two thousand dollars a month because we don’t need a food distributor’s license.”
My father’s scowl lessened.
“You’re going to make enough doing it this way?” he worried.
Desi snorted. “She makes more in direct sales of her coffee than I do in my pastries. Plus, she has her online sales.”
That was true.
I was honestly extremely surprised that it was working the way that it was.
People were loving the coffee.