Page 19 of Claiming Bennett (Montgomery Dreams #3)

MAGGIE

I whirl on my heel as Bennett disappears around the corner. My mind is a mess, fear and fury battling, but the one thing I know is that I can’t let him go. I can’t lose him like this.

Dad’s hand wraps around my bicep before I manage a single step, and he yanks me back around to face him.

“Let me go!” I scream, shoving uselessly at his grip.

Bennett didn’t even look at me before slinking off like a coward, and my heart beats in my throat, threatening to overwhelm me with tears.

“What was the rule?” Dad’s voice is thunderous, echoing off the barn walls as he shakes me by the grip on my arm. “What was my number one rule, Magnolia?”

“Don’t fucking call me that!”

I can’t bear to hear that name from anyone but Bennett.

“I let you walk all over me, gave you free rein, and you’re choking yourself with it!” he yells. “All I asked was that you leave my fucking employees alone!”

I put every ounce of strength I have into pulling free from his hold, biting back tears by sheer force of will.

“You haven’t let me do a goddamn thing that I cared about!

” I steadfastly ignore the implication in my own words—I care about this.

About Bennett. “You’re the one stifling me, Dad!

You make a big deal out of nothing, just because it’s me!

You’re doing it right now, you’ve done it my whole fucking life. ”

“Because you never think about the consequences! What did you think was going to happen, huh? You and Ben? What, were you going to be a ranch hand’s wife, give up that life in LA you never shut up about?”

“Maybe! What, you think Kenzie marrying Bo was a waste of her potential? What about you and Mom, huh?” I fire back, pain lancing through my chest. “You have no clue what I want!”

“This is what I mean,” he snaps, scoffing at me. “Change your mind on the drop of a hat and just expect everything to go your way.”

“I’m an adult, asshole, and I can change my mind if I fucking want!”

Dad looks about a second away from apoplectic rage, his face red, nostrils flaring, shoulders shaking with the effort of restraining his anger. I want him to blow up. Meet me toe to toe, scream every last bit of our anger into the air.

“You’re not acting like an adult,” Bo says sharply. “You’re acting like a spoiled kid who got her favorite toy taken away.”

I see red at his words. Bennett’s not a fucking toy .

“Shut the fuck up !” I scream, whirling on Bo and drilling a finger into his chest. “Don’t act like you’re so fucking smart. You’re only a few years older than me, asshole, you’re just as much of a kid as I am! Dad gave you everything you have, you piece of shit. Why can’t I have the same?”

Dad reaches out to pull me away from Bo, but I turn on him with my teeth bared in a snarl. I feel feral, panic forcing hissed threats from between my teeth as I try to find something to cling to for safety.

“If you try to grab me, you’ll never fucking see me again.

” My voice is flat with fury, dark enough that it surprises even me.

“Actually, fuck that. You’ll never see me again anyway.

I’m leaving. I’m going with Bennett, since he’s capable of treating me like a fucking adult, unlike you.

Have fun with your stupid ranch and the kids you actually care about. ”

Those last words tear my heart apart on their way out, and the first rush of tears make it past my lash line. I don’t know if they cut him as deep to hear as they cut me to say, but I don’t stick around to find out.

I turn tail and run, blindly rushing out toward the back of the barn where Bennett’s trailer is parked. Dad calls after me, shouting threats and demands for me to come back, but I don’t listen to him.

I can’t, not anymore.

I whip around the edge of the barn, relief slamming into me when Bennett comes into view. He slips his phone into his back pocket, and I wipe the tears from my face with trembling hands. I’ll cry later, but right now I need to have a clear head.

Bennett’s broad shoulders are tight with barely restrained frustration. The tension in his frame doubles when he hears my footsteps.

“I’m leaving,” he snaps, like he’s expecting me to hurry him along.

“Not without me,” I say.

He whirls, a look of surprise flickering across his face. Was he expecting Dad or Bo? Did he think I’d really just let him leave like this?

“Magnolia.” His face falls into a harsh frown, and I surge forward to snatch his wrists in my hands before he can turn away again. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Just give me half an hour,” I plead, digging my nails into his wrists as he tries to pull away. “I’ll pack a bag and come with you.”

“Come with me?” he asks, his displeased frown falling away only to be replaced with an incredulous grin. “Why the fuck would you come with me?”

The cold laughter twined around his words freezes me in place. He yanks out of my grasp with an angry huff, turning his back on me as I struggle for words.

We said we weren’t going to date, that feelings weren’t going to be a part of this, but I can’t be the only one who felt the connection between us.

The way he held me after he spanked me, the adoring quirk of his mouth when he smiled at me around the ranch, the way he was always so careful not to grip me too tight even when he pinned me against the wall—he has to feel something for me.

He can’t just leave me here like this.

That’s not what’s happening.

“What?” I finally manage to choke out.

Bennett already has the truck door open, keys in hand. He glances back at me like he’d forgotten I’m even here, and I see a flash of sadness and fear echoed in his eyes before they turn frigid again.

“I’m not going to be your ride out of trouble, Magnolia.” He laughs, the sound brittle and mean, shaking his head at me. “You were fucking me to piss your dad off. You got what you wanted. Congrats.”

Every word slams into me with the weight of a boulder, guilt and pain carving me open as Bennett climbs into the driver’s seat. I slam a hand against the doorjamb to stop him from closing it in my face, shoving the door back open.

“Bennett, that’s not—” I cut myself off, unsure of what to say.

Anything that would change his mind feels too real, too honest, but what else do I have?

Do I tell him that I’ve never wanted anything this badly, that I’ve never been happier or more fulfilled than I am in his arms?

Maybe it’s not what I had planned, but I could make things work. “Just let me explain, we?—”

“There is no we ,” he says with a bitter frown. “And I’m not taking you anywhere. You got yourself into this mess, get yourself out of it.”

He pries my hand off his trucks, still so gentle even though his words slice me straight to the core.

I stand there, shaking and terrified. My mind is blank, no ideas on how to fix any of this. Dad is pissed, Bennett’s leaving, and I can’t do anything about any of it. Is this really how it ends?

“Goodbye, Magnolia.”

The slam of the door echoes like a gunshot.

Bennett doesn’t look at me, his face stony and cold as he turns the key in the ignition.

The sputter of the engine tears into me like vicious, unfeeling claws, and my breath clogs in my throat as Bennett’s truck lurches forward.

The tires leave deep imprints in the soft soil, perfectly preserved trails of abandonment.

“No,” I whisper, ragged and achingly hollow. “Don’t… don’t ?—”

My half formed pleas don’t mean anything. Bennett can’t hear them, halfway down the driveway with that stupid fucking trailer bouncing along behind him.

Dust billows in the late afternoon light, motes struck golden by the setting sun as I’m left behind.

Again.

Tears bleed down my face in lines of fire, my heart cracking and falling to pieces as Bennett turns out of the driveway and disappears. I sink to the ground, filth seeping in through the knees of my jeans. Dully, I think I probably won’t be able to get the stains out.

It doesn’t matter.

Nothing matters.

There’s nothing left to fix between us. There wasn’t ever an us . I have no clue what to do without him, no way to fix the rift between me and Dad. Everything backfired so spectacularly, I just lost everything in one fell swoop.

What’s left of my heart dissolves to nothing more than soot, the crackling embers of a fire burnt out too fast. It blows out of me on my shuddering exhales until it falls with the rest of the dust on the driveway, paving it with my sorrow.

And just like everything else I do, it doesn’t matter.