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was. What did you think—that you could just roll up to my door and expect me to fall into bed with you again?’
    ‘Jesus, lady, what in the hell gave you that idea? Seth and I just wanted to stop by and say hello.’ Aiden scrambled for the right words—words to defuse the situation and take the anger out of her eyes. ‘We know you are married, from the stuff we read about you in the newspapers and saw on TV a while back. We weren’t here to try to seduce you.’
    ‘So what do you want? Money, is that it? Well, you missed the boat on that one too. The days when I had any money, not that I’d have allowed you to blackmail me for it, are long gone.’
    Another silence fell over them and Seth looked to be just as stunned as Aiden by her outburst. Again Aiden tried to turn away, at a loss what to say to her in the face of her apparent hatred for them, but Seth didn’t give up as easily.
    ‘What in the hell has happened to you, Misty?’
    Regret clouded her eyes for a moment before she quickly chased it away. ‘What happened to me is that I was fucked over one too many times by one too many cowboys. I’m not the fool I once was.’ She shrugged. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you.’
    ‘We were friends once, if nothing else. All we wanted to do was visit with you. I guess Aiden’s right. We made a mistake. The Misty we knew doesn’t exist anymore.’
    With that, Seth walked away, punching the wall for good measure. Aiden hoped he hadn’t busted his hand up.
    Turning to her, Aiden had so much he wanted to say, but knew it fell on deaf ears. He shook his head in disgust. At least he had the satisfaction of seeing she had some shame over her behavior when she blushed and looked away.
    Aiden went to look for Seth before he let loose and did something stupid that would get them fired.
    Maybe now they would both forget about her.

    Chapter 3
    Misty shut the door as Aiden walked away, her hands and knees shaking from a mix of anger and nerves. She sank down onto the hard wooden chair in front of her makeup table, wincing when she caught sight of her reflection. No wonder Aiden and Seth had been so surprised at the change in her. She’d surprised even herself.
    The tears came not long after they left. What
had
happened to her? Did Wade fuck her over so badly, she didn’t even recognize friendship when she saw it? Misty cried for her broken dreams, her lost career—and for the optimistic young woman she’d been when she first met the men she had just insulted.
    She owed them an apology. Misty scrubbed the smudge makeup from her eyes with a remover pad, blew her nose, and walked out into the bar, hoping they would still be there. Typical of her luck, they had gone. She returned to her dressing room, packed her small bag and headed home.
    She didn’t live on the compound. So she had to use a car she hired locally at an exorbitant rate to get to work and back. It was yet another expense she hadn’t allowed for, along with buying all her own meals and paying rent, due to her not being willing to stay in the lodgings provided by her employer. Sharing a room with a handful of teenage girls working through their summer holiday might have been fun a few years ago, or if her mind had been in a better place, but not right now. Misty didn’t want to have to put on a show for others when she was offstage too.
    The small two-room apartment she’d rented gave her what she needed the most—somewhere safe to lay her head at night in blessed peace without the fear of drunken insults from her ex-lover and soon-to-be ex-manager. She ran from him so many times, but he’d always found her. Maybe this time, she’d run far enough. Or hopefully, the ink would be dry on the legal documents before he showed up.
    Misty’s new home seemed particularly welcoming after the night she’d had. The sparse, modern interior still seemed cold when she looked around at the modular furniture and minimalist décor, yet it gave her some much needed