Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(32)
She’d find a way to kill del Rio before she allowed him to sell David like he’d sold her.
Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, she concentrated on eating the protein bar Dave had given her and making her way safely to the house. The house wasn’t in a great area, and in the past, she’d always walked as fast as she could to try to avoid the men looking for trouble, but today she knew with complete certainty that she was safe. Simply because Dave was there somewhere, watching over her.
It was a little scary how quickly she’d found comfort in Dave’s presence. But she’d felt alone for so long that knowing she wasn’t any longer was the best feeling in the world.
Chapter Eight
Mags watched as David ran around the small fenced-in yard kicking an old soccer ball. He’d been overjoyed to see her, as usual, and seeing his chubby little face made her feel one hundred percent better.
Since there weren’t any other children in the house, he was used to playing by himself. He usually wasn’t quite so energetic, but she loved to see it. She hated that he had to stay inside most of the time.
She hadn’t recognized the woman who’d escorted her to David’s room after she’d been searched by two of del Rio’s men upon arrival, but that wasn’t exactly a surprise. The women were rotated in and out of the small house frequently. Probably so David didn’t get too attached to any of them, and vice versa. Del Rio might be an asshole, but he wasn’t stupid. The women probably enjoyed the break from the main compound, and if they got too friendly with either her or her son, it was possible they might try to assist her in getting her son out of there. Del Rio wouldn’t risk her disappearing for good.
She’d never taken much notice of the men who’d watched her and David in the past. They were just always there, just as they were in the main compound. They were frequently too liberal with their hands when they searched her. She’d always tolerated it because she had no other choice. But today, their fingers squeezing her boobs under the guise of making sure she hadn’t stashed anything in the cheap cotton bra she was wearing made her skin crawl. And when one of them kept his fingers between her legs a little too long, she shoved him away and told him that she no longer worked for del Rio.
The man had sneered and informed her that she would always be working for del Rio. When she’d looked away, he’d chuckled, as if he knew he’d gotten to her.
Lost in her thoughts, Mags hadn’t realized that David had gotten tired of playing with the ball and had wandered back over to where she was sitting. He climbed onto her lap and rested his little head against her breast. Mags wrapped her arms around him and held him close. He hadn’t bathed in a few days, she could tell, but she could still smell his little-boy scent under the dirt and sweat.
She hadn’t seen any sign of Dave, but she hadn’t wanted to seem too interested in the wall either. Standing in the yard, there were two men holding rifles, and the last thing she wanted was for them to get suspicious. She just hoped Dave would be able to get the picture he needed for David’s passport without being seen. She was nervous and anxious, and she hated it.
“Had enough playing with the ball?” she asked David softly. Mags had been speaking English to her son since he’d come out of her womb, and as a result, he was bilingual.
“Sí. Tell me a story, Mamá,” her son begged.
“What do you want to hear this time, mijo?”
“The story about Papá.”
Mags smiled. “Are you sure you don’t want me to tell you a new story? Maybe about a pirate and a princess?”
David shook his head. “No. Papá.”
For the first time, Mags didn’t feel sad when thinking about Dave. She’d been telling David stories about his “father” since he was old enough to understand her. She hadn’t thought he’d ever get to meet Dave, but she felt better giving her son a role model to look up to. Lord knew the men who hung around the house weren’t the kind of men she wanted him to emulate. But now, with the possibility that he just might get to meet Dave, Mags almost felt giddy.
“But first tell me what he looks like,” David demanded, as he did every time they talked about him.
“He’s big. Tall and muscular. His arms are as big around as tree trunks, and he’s taller than even the wall surrounding this yard,” Mags said fondly. “He’s got a scar that runs down his neck into the collar of his shirt. It makes him look scary, but to those he loves, he’s the most protective and gentle man you’ll ever meet.”
“Scar?” David asked with a furrow in his brow. “You never told me that before. How did he get it?”
Mags blinked. Of course she hadn’t described it in the past, because she hadn’t known about it. “Yeah, baby. It’s pretty big.”
“Did it hurt?”
“I’m sure it did.”
“Did you kiss it and make it better?”
Mags felt tears well up in her eyes, but she closed them and refused to let them fall. “If I had been there when he got it, I would’ve,” she told her son.
“I bet he put a Band-Aid on it. If I scraped my knee, would he bring me a Band-Aid?” David asked.
Mags smiled and hugged her son tighter. “Yes. Not only that, but he’d pick you up and carry you to a chair. He’d blow on it to make it feel better, and if you cried, he wouldn’t scold you. He’d simply hug you until the pain was gone.” Mags knew exactly what her son wanted to hear. He didn’t get any love from the women and men he encountered on a daily basis, and she knew when he was scared or hurt, and cried, he was yelled at instead of reassured. He barely ever cried anymore, and she knew it was because he was abused when he did.