Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(26)

Shit!

Mags hadn’t meant to let that slip.

Reluctantly, she nodded. “I have no idea who the father is. I was knocked up by one of the hundreds of men who paid del Rio to fuck me,” Mags said plainly. “But he’s mine. I gave him my maiden name, Crawford. And I don’t know how, but one of these days I’m going to get him out of there, and we’re going to live a life free of del Rio.”

“How old is he?”

“Four and a half.”

Mags held Dave’s gaze firmly. She wasn’t ashamed of her son. It didn’t matter how he’d been conceived and what she’d had to do to keep him. All that mattered was that he was hers, and he was a beautiful, mostly happy little boy.

Without another word, Dave dropped his gaze, nodded at the other women still sitting on the floor staring at him and Mags, and turned toward the door.

Then he slid the piece of metal away from the opening and left, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Mags’s stomach dropped. She instantly felt as if she was going to throw up.

Dave had done exactly what she’d told herself she wanted. He’d left. He couldn’t deal with the fact that she’d had another man’s baby . . . and she’d never been more devastated.

“What just happened?” Bonita asked urgently.

“He’s gone,” Mags said softly in Spanish.

“Go after him!” Teresa urged.

Mags shook her head. “I can’t.”

“You have a baby?” Gabriella asked gently.

Looking up at the youngest member of their little group, Mags nodded. “You understood?”

Gabriella shrugged. “Some. I used to listen to you and Zara talking, and have picked up words here and there. Where is your son? Why don’t you have him here?”

Zara wanted to cry. Wanted to lie down and sob about how unfair life was, but the women gathered around her had experienced just as much heartache as she had. Instead, without answering Gabriella, she wandered over to the fire, where a lone meal sat nearby, wrapped in aluminum foil, ready to be eaten.

During the last week, Dave had always made sure to bring her something to eat every night. Even though she’d been avoiding him and treating him like shit, he’d still taken care of her.

She sat down and slowly peeled back the foil.

Closing her eyes, Mags felt her chest grow tighter. Dave had somehow found her chicken nuggets and fries. It had been her favorite meal, and he used to tease her that she would turn into a chicken nugget if she didn’t cut back.

The food was lukewarm and a little chewy, but Mags didn’t think she’d ever tasted a better nugget in her life.

Realizing she’d finally lost the man she still loved with all her heart, she began telling her friends the story about how she came to have a son.



Dave entered the motel room he hadn’t spent much time in, slamming the door shut behind him hard enough to shake the wall.

Ball sat up on his bed and asked, “What the fuck? What’s wrong? Where’s Raven?”

“In the barrio,” Dave said shortly.

“And the others?”

“Also there.”

“You come here to change clothes or something?” Ball asked.

“No. I’m sleeping here tonight. Arrow’s still over there keeping watch.”

“Shit,” Ball said, and swung his feet off the edge of the bed to put on his boots. He picked up his phone and clicked on a name. Within seconds, he was talking. “Gray, it’s Ball. Dave’s back. No . . . I don’t know. Arrow’s got eyes on the women; I’m gonna go check in with him. Yeah, I’d appreciate that. No, he didn’t say, and I’m not sure now’s the time to ask. Okay, I’ll meet Ro in the hall. Thanks. Bye.”

Dave didn’t even flinch at his friend’s conversation. He was numb. He lay down on the bed and put his arm over his eyes.

He couldn’t get the devastated look on Raven’s face out of his head. She’d sounded defiant enough, and was almost casual about telling him how many men she’d slept with, but he knew simply by looking at her that each one had eaten away a bit of her soul.

A baby. A son.

His wife had a son.

He knew he was a coward for leaving without a word. She’d probably never forgive him for that mistake. But in that moment, he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that his Raven had a child.

It was something he’d so desperately wanted to give her, and he’d failed.

He’d held her the night after they’d visited the doctor and been told that a biological child just wasn’t going to happen for them. He’d been so worried about her because she wouldn’t stop sobbing.

He’d spent the last two years before her kidnapping praying he’d somehow be able to give his wife what she wanted most in her life—and he couldn’t.

Not only that, but some stranger, someone who didn’t love Raven, who didn’t give one little shit about her, had succeeded where he’d failed.

The pain was so overwhelming, it had been hard for Dave to remain standing.

He would’ve done anything, paid any amount of money, to give Raven the child she’d wanted so badly. And instead she’d found her heart’s desire in hell.

He was having a hard time processing all of it. He shouldn’t have left her—he knew that the moment he’d slid her door closed . . . but he’d needed space to come to terms with how badly he’d failed his wife.