Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(78)

Doing the only thing he could think of at the moment, he called out, “Chloe?”

The other woman stuck her head inside the apartment and said, “Yes?” She stared at him with a weird look on her face, and he couldn’t blame her. It was rare that he didn’t stand up when there was a woman around. Good manners had been bred into him by his mother, but he couldn’t stand. He could barely move.

“Will you tell Ro that I’m having trouble with my fuse box? I’d appreciate his help with it as soon as possible.”

“Um . . . okay. Yeah, I’ll tell him.”

“Thanks,” Arrow mumbled, then hunched over on the couch, clutching his stomach.

He heard the door shut and female voices, but he couldn’t look up to see what was going on.

“Arrow?”

He felt the cushion next to him dip and Morgan’s hand on his knee, but he didn’t look up. “I don’t feel good.” He could tell he was slurring his words, but he couldn’t seem to control himself.

“What in the world is wrong? Mom? How long has he been like this?”

“Drunk? He started drinking when I got here.”

“Arrow doesn’t drink,” Morgan said in shock.

“Well, he did today,” Ellie said matter-of-factly.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Morgan said. “I don’t see any bottles.”

“He already threw them away. He didn’t want you to see them,” her mom explained.

“Arrow? Are you drunk?” Morgan asked softly. She hadn’t moved her hand from his knee, and he wanted to both grip it tightly and do something to make her leave the apartment.

“No,” he managed to say. “Stomach hurts.”

“I’m calling an ambulance,” Morgan declared, standing up.

“I don’t think so.”

Arrow turned his head to see Ellie standing next to her daughter.

With a gun pointed at her head.

Groaning, he shifted on the couch, but froze when Ellie said, “If you move, I’ll shoot her.”

He immediately stilled. He knew he needed to do something, but his stomach was cramping now, and he could feel a bit of drool on his chin. He had no idea what she’d poisoned him with, but whatever it had been was extremely effective. Arrow wanted to protect Morgan, but he couldn’t make his muscles move.

“Mom, what in the world are you doing?” Morgan asked.

“Have a seat,” Ellie said congenially. “We’re going to sit and have a chat.”

“He’s hurting, Mom,” Morgan said quietly. “I need to get him some help.”

“No! I said, sit.”

Slowly, Morgan once again sat on the couch next to Arrow, and he groaned when the motion made his stomach twist. He turned his head and vomited. Right there on his living room floor, in front of the woman he loved more than life itself. But he didn’t feel even the least bit embarrassed. In fact, he wanted to do it again and again. His body wanted to purge whatever was inside it making him sick.

“Why don’t you have a cookie, darling?” Ellie asked her daughter, nodding to the half Arrow hadn’t eaten, which lay on the coffee table.

“I’m not hungry,” Morgan replied.

“Eat. It,” she ordered.

Moving slowly, Morgan picked up the s’mores cookie and nibbled at the end. Then she asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I can,” Ellie said. “Now, keep eating.”

Suddenly, Arrow realized he was an idiot. “No. Don’t!” he told Morgan.

“You shut up!” Ellie screeched at him. She’d gone from being calm and controlled to losing it in a second. “And you,” she said, turning her wrath on Morgan. “Eat it!” She lunged forward and shoved the cookie into her daughter’s face, smooshing chocolate and marshmallow all over her chin and cheeks.

Morgan struggled with her mom, and Arrow had never felt so helpless. It felt like his insides were being scraped out with a spoon. He’d thought he was tough, but whatever Ellie had put in the cookies felt as if it was eating him from the inside out.

He needed to help Morgan. Needed to protect her, but he was too weak to move. Too weak to be any kind of threat to her mom.

As the woman he loved fought her very own mother, he closed his eyes and prayed Chloe would relay his message to Ro sooner rather than later.



Morgan turned her face to the side as she struggled with her mother. She had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it was bad. Arrow hadn’t moved from his hunched-over position on the couch, and she could hear moans coming from his throat. His throwing up had startled and scared her, but her mother acting like a psychopath was even more terrifying.

“Mom! Stop it!” she ordered, but it did no good. Ellie continued trying to shove bits of cookie into Morgan’s mouth.

“Stop it? Did you stop seeing that cheating bastard of a father when I asked you to? No! Did you listen when I told you he was only using you to get back at me? No! You didn’t! He should’ve stopped trying to see you. He discarded me like a piece of trash, and I warned him he’d pay, but he didn’t listen to me either. And I made him pay! I bet he’s sorry now!”

“Who’s sorry? Dad?”

“Stop calling him that!” Ellie screeched, then abruptly straightened and hurried to the kitchen.