Defending Zara (Mountain Mercenaries #6)(73)

Zara felt her own eyes tear up, which was crazy. She’d helped birth at least a hundred babies. Some didn’t live more than a few minutes, and for at least one other, she’d done almost exactly what she’d just done for Morgan’s child. And not once had she cried.

But sitting on the floor of Morgan’s bathroom, covered in bodily fluids and blood, Zara felt tears on her cheeks for the first time in years.

“I need to go get your phone,” she said after she could talk. “Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

Morgan chuckled through her tears. “Right. I’ll just be right here.”

Zara stood and grabbed another towel that was on a hook by the shower. She gently laid it over Morgan’s lap, giving her some semblance of modesty, although she didn’t think Morgan even noticed. She quickly washed her hands and turned to race back down the stairs and get Morgan’s cell phone.

This would be the last time she went anywhere without her own phone. Meat was right. It wasn’t smart to not have it in her pocket at all times.





Chapter Twenty-Two

Three days had passed since Zara had saved the life of little Calinda. Meat had never driven so fast in his entire life as he had on the way from Castle Rock to the hospital. Zara had called and informed him that Morgan had given birth and was on the way there, and Arrow had lost his shit. Meat and his friends had, luckily, been able to calm him down while driving like a bat out of hell to get back to Colorado Springs.

Zara had brushed off what she’d done, but Morgan had told everyone exactly what had happened, and how Zara had literally saved the life of her baby. Arrow and Morgan had changed Calinda’s middle name from Elizabeth to Zara.

Meat had held Zara as she’d cried after hearing that.

Understandably, she and Morgan had become much closer after everything that had happened. But more than that, Meat could tell something else had changed. All the other women had shown up at the hospital, and Zara had gone out of her way to try to be social. She’d sat with them, had actually joined in their conversations instead of just sitting on the outside, listening. She’d seemed far more open to their friendship than she had the last time they’d all gotten together.

Meat truly didn’t care one way or another for himself; he was just glad for her that she seemed to be finding her way. She’d told him how much she missed Mags and the others, and he hoped her new openness was the first step to lifelong friendships with some of the best women he knew.

Zara had also talked to Renee shortly after the birth of Morgan’s baby girl, and the other woman hadn’t seemed all that impressed with what Zara had done, just wanted to know when they might get together to go shopping, as they’d talked about recently.

Even though Meat hadn’t been able to find anything to be concerned about when it came to Renee, that didn’t mean he’d lowered his guard. His gut still felt like something was . . . off about the reappearance of her childhood friend. It seemed to him she was trying a little too hard to be friends with Zara again. But since Zara seemed to take comfort in the relationship, he didn’t have the heart to come between them . . . yet.

But he was admittedly relieved that Zara was making the effort to get to know the other women.

Things between him and Zara had been better than ever . . . and they were hardly bad before. Whatever she and Morgan had talked about before Calinda decided to make an appearance had obviously done Zara good. She’d been a little more forward when it came to physical affection—and last night had flat-out told him she was ready to move their relationship to the next level.

Meat was all for that, but only if she was doing it for the right reasons. He didn’t want to be just an experiment for her. Just someone to take her virginity so she could move on to a “real” relationship. As far as he was concerned, theirs was a real relationship, and he couldn’t imagine being with anyone else after Zara.

At the moment, they were on their way to a big-box store for food and some odds and ends Meat needed for his shop. He held Zara’s hand almost constantly now and actually felt bereft when he had to let her go. They walked into the store with their fingers intertwined—and their attention was immediately drawn to a woman speaking in rapid-fire Spanish to a police officer just inside the door.

Zara stopped in her tracks and stared at the duo.

“What’s going on?” Meat asked. “What’s she saying?”

The police officer looked frustrated and kept talking into his radio, even as the woman spoke to him.

Without answering, Zara dropped his hand and headed toward the agitated woman.

Meat followed right on her heels, his head on a swivel as he looked for an irate husband or anything else that might be of danger to Zara.

She walked up to the woman and said something in Spanish. The look of relief on the woman’s face was easy to see. She immediately turned to Zara and began urgently telling her something.

“My girlfriend is bilingual,” Meat told the officer unnecessarily.

“Thank God. I’ve been trying to get another officer here who speaks Spanish, but she’s been held up on another call.”

Zara put a reassuring hand on the woman’s shoulder and turned to the officer. “She says she can’t find her son. She was in the boys’ clothing section the last time she saw him, and when she turned her back for a second, he’d disappeared.”