Page 22 of Claiming Bennett (Montgomery Dreams #3)

BENNETT

The past month has somehow been both exhausting and mind-numbingly normal. I wish I could say Maggie is a forgotten memory, but the truth is that I see her every time I fucking blink. Even sleep isn’t safe, my dreams full of soft skin and sweet giggles.

My little brother checks in on me while I work myself to the bone on our irrigation, fighting the urge to unblock her number every time my thoughts drift to her.

That’s what I’ve been doing since I got back home.

It’s what I’m doing when everything goes to shit too.

Benji and I both look up in confusion when an unfamiliar car turns into the winding driveway.

I frown at the approaching sedan. A bright pink sign labeling it as an Uber shines in the windshield, which is unusual to begin with.

Pa doesn’t often have clients come out here, since this is the smallest of his businesses. Maybe Ma has someone stopping by.

I shrug, ready to turn my attention back to the irrigation system we’ve been trying to fix, but a flash of blonde hair through the window catches my attention. “Mag?—”

I don’t even get her full name out before we lock eyes, her baby blues blowing wide. The car screeches to a halt in the dirt, only barely past us, and the back door swings violently open.

Maggie tumbles out before the dust has even settled.

She looks messier than I’ve ever seen her.

An oversize, rumpled hoodie dwarfs her tiny frame, the hem of her shorts just barely peeking out from beneath it.

Her socks are mismatched and her shoes are untied, a far cry from the stylish outfits she always wore in Montana.

All that blonde hair is tied back in a ratty bun, strands falling loose, and she has bags beneath her eyes that are so dark she looks sick.

She’s still the prettiest thing I’ve ever fucking seen.

Just can’t stay away from trouble, can I?

“Who’s that?” Benji asks, eyes bouncing between the two of us.

I don’t bother answering him before I vault over the pasture fence. What would I say, anyway? There’s too much to explain right now. Leaving was supposed to solve all of this, my idiotic mistakes behind me, but I should have known better.

I hate that part of me is relieved to see her.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I bark the words out at her, bristling with a fresh dose of fear. “How’d you even find my address?”

Did David figure out who I am? Is she here to warn me that he’s coming to bring the wrath of God down on my head? Did I make a mess of a friendship my father has been trying to cement for years?

Does Pa already know? Is he expecting this? Will he?—

“I’m pregnant!”

She throws the words at me like they’re both an accusation and a prayer, her eyes red-rimmed and her hands shaking.

Pregnant .

The word echoes in my brain as my blood freezes, memories best forgotten bouncing around in my skull with a vengeance.

I haven’t thought about Chelsea in years, nothing more than passing memories and bitter reminders.

But now, hearing that word again, I feel like I’m standing in front of my ex, my life about to spiral out of control once again.

A bitter, brittle laugh claws free from my chest, and Maggie flinches.

“Say something,” she demands, her voice fragile as she stares at me.

“Say something?” I repeat, my mouth turning up at the corners in a hysteric grin as I fight back panicked laughter. “Fuck you, Magnolia. You want me to say something? Fuck you.”

She gapes at me, the trembling in her hands getting worse.

I haven’t been like this since I found out Chelsea was cheating on me for our entire relationship. But that word, that goddamn word , makes something caged and animalistic in my chest snarl and snap. All I can see is my own bitter, hateful memories.

Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to let venom spill from my lips even as tears well in Maggie’s eyes.

“Your dad put you up to this?” I sound like I couldn’t care less about any of this, disbelieving and unphased, but the pain of her rejection and how she used me has been festering in my chest for weeks , and it’s starting to seep into my bloodstream.

Now she shows up, unannounced, pulling the same tricks Chelsea did?

“You only fucked me to get under his skin in the first place. Pretty sure you succeeded. You think I’m going to take the blame for you if you pretend to be pregnant? ”

Maggie’s brows scrunch together, anger filling her eyes. “ Pretending ? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“I knew your dad was an asshole, but I didn’t think he was cruel enough to rope his own daughter into his bullshit.”

“My dad has nothing to do with this!” she shouts. “What the fuck is wrong with you? He doesn’t even know?—”

“Shut the fuck up, Magnolia. I’m not listening to this shit.

” I sneer at her, desperate to make sure this is finally over .

The tears in her eyes are nothing more than a distraction, nothing more than trouble, just like she’s always been.

A voice in the back of my mind whispers that she can’t be this good of an actress, but I firmly ignore it.

“So what are you two after, huh? You aiming for the businesses, or just the money? How greedy is your old man?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Maggie’s voice is shrill, panic coating her words as she takes a few shaky steps forward. “Bennett, I came here to be with you, I don’t?—”

“Jesus fuck, Magnolia, do you think I’m that stupid?

At least be straight forward if you’re trying to fuck me over.

” I shake my head, fury buzzing like wasps inside my brain.

“Guess I’m expecting too much from someone trying to trick me about being pregnant.

Should’ve known you weren’t any different. ”

I expect to see guilt or panic on her face, but what flashes in her eyes is pure anger . Her cheeks go red with it, her shaking hands balling into fists at her sides.

“What the hell are you on, you asshole? I’m not lying, and I’m not trying to baby-trap you!

I came down here because you wouldn’t let me talk before you left because I was trying to tell you that I didn’t want it to be casual anymore!

I was trying to fucking apologize, and you just left !

” she shouts, throwing her hands in the air as she stomps her foot in the dirt.

“And what the fuck are you talking about money for? You’re a ranch hand —I’m offering to use my own money to have a life with you!

I’m willing to change everything about my life just for a chance to make things work between us. ”

Tears flow down her face steadily, and my blood is still frozen in my veins. The look in her eyes is agonized, the same one I see in the mirror every day, and I realize the weight of my stupidity all at once.

Maggie doesn’t know.

She doesn’t know any of it. Not about my Pa’s connection with David, not about my family fortune, not why I left in such a hurry in the first place.

Which leaves only one option.

She’s telling the truth .

I don’t even have time to get dizzy with the realization before she’s talking again, and I can barely hear her over the sound of my own breathing.

“I just want to be with you, Bennett.” She sounds miserable, and it’s my fault. “Just give me a real chance. Please .”

My vision goes blurry around the edges as my panic shifts tides so rapidly, my heart going from paralyzed to beating so fast I can damn near taste it.

Adrenaline floods me, a million words passing through my mind so fast that I can’t grab at any of them.

All I can do is stare as the real world finally comes back into focus.

This isn’t a repeat of my past, isn’t heartbreak and lies and vicious schemes.

This is Maggie, pregnant , who found me after I ran off like a coward and is begging me for a chance.

My lungs ache as I try to pull in air, but I can’t seem to breathe past the enormity of the realizations slamming into me one after another.

I’m surprised I’m still fucking standing.

“All of that, and you still won’t say anything?” Her voice is so far past broken that the syllables barely even string together properly, but her eyes never waver from mine. “You could at least be a man and turn me down instead of staring at me like that. Just… fuck you.”

I blink, and she turns her back on me.

I open my mouth, and she dives back into the still open door of the Uber.

I finally manage to pull into my lungs, and the door slams shut.

“ Magnolia !”

My limbs are still frozen, refusing to fucking move as the car turns quickly in the driveway and speeds off the way it came.

I don’t know how long I stand there, one boot on the dirt of the driveway, the other in the overgrown weeds at the edge of the pasture. Benji’s hand on my shoulder hardly even registers past the urge to run after the car.

“Bennett, are you okay?” Benji asks, worry heavy in his voice. “What was that?”

I laugh hollowly as I meet his pale blue eyes. What the hell can I say? He heard it all— everyone probably heard it.

And now, as if my humiliation can get any worse, Ma’s voice rings out from the porch.

“Bennett! Come join me.”

She leans against the railing, a cup of coffee steaming in her hand. Her face is set in the same easy, warm smile she always wears, but I’m not stupid enough to miss the glint of worry in her eyes.

“I’ll explain later,” I mutter, shrugging my brother’s hand off my shoulder. “Sorry, Benji.”

My head is swimming too much to manage much more, and I trudge up the driveway to join Ma on the porch. It feels like the whole world is spinning off center, the balance of my life suddenly not what I’m used to.

My boots thud on the worn wood of the porch, and I keep my eyes down as I stop in front of Ma.

“So,” she says softly, taking a sip of her coffee before continuing, “who was that little spitfire?”

She sounds almost fond, her words carrying the same warmth and brightness she always speaks with.

My eyes are unfocused when I look up at her, but the sight of that familiar smile makes it easier to open my mouth.

It doesn’t rid me of the guilt and shame in my chest, but it lets me speak through it.

“Magnolia. David Montgomery’s daughter,” I say raggedly, flinching as the admission falls from my mouth.

It’s too late to try to hide it now. “We… we were seeing each other in Montana. It was supposed to be casual—” I’m not about to tell Ma that I couldn’t keep my hands off her, so I just let my words fade to nothing.

She’ll put it together, she’s always been good at reading between the lines.

“David caught us kissing the day I came home, kicked me off the ranch. I was too scared he’d figure out Pa sent me to check in on him, so I just left.

Thought that was the end of it. Apparently, I got her pregnant, though. ”

It all sounds pathetic out loud, and I swallow down the heavy guilt that tries to rise up my throat. I’m sure Ma will be plenty disappointed in me for the both of us, even if she’ll understand.

She always understands.

“She’s why you’ve been in such a mood since you came back?”

Ma’s voice is sharper than I expect, but I just nod miserably. There’s no point lying. I already feel like a child being scolded, I don’t need to make it worse.

“So you’ve been miserable and missing her, and when she showed up to tell you she’s pregnant and wants to be with you, you decided to be the most callous, awful asshole I’ve ever seen?

” She sounds perfectly cheery, her smile not fading in the slightest as I gape at her, green eyes drilling into me viciously.

“It’s been so long since you’ve opened yourself up to anyone, but if that’s how you’re going to treat the poor girl, maybe you deserve to be miserable. ”

It’s my turn to choke like a fish out of water, struggling for words as Ma stares me down, her smile nothing but teeth and cold anger.

“I— What ?” I manage. “No, I thought?—”

“You certainly didn’t,” she cuts me off, voice as sharp as a razor even as she continues to smile at me.

I’ve never seen her this pissed in my life that she wears a smile yet cuts me with every word.

“You reacted without thinking at all, and your terrified, pregnant girlfriend ran off alone, and you didn’t even have the guts to go after her. ”

“She’s not my—” I stop myself halfway through my instinctive denial. We may not have defined our relationship, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Lying to myself isn’t going to help. “I have no idea where she’s going, Ma. I don’t—what am I supposed to do?”

She sighs at me, her smile finally dropping as she reaches up to ruffle my hair. It’s relieving, knowing that I can lean on her like always. The soft touch keeps my panic at bay, but it doesn’t change the fact that I fucked up.

“I’ll make some calls. Chances are, she’ll end up at a motel or a diner somewhere in town.” I’ve never been more grateful for Ma’s connections in my life. “No son of mine is going to act like that and not apologize, you understand? Not when I’ve got a grandbaby on the way.”

I know she’s just being her usual self, rolling with the punches as they come and thinking ten steps ahead of me, but it’s soothing to hear her so confident. That’s probably why she’s staying so calm. She knows I’m freaking out enough as is.

The thought of being able to see Maggie again bolsters something inside me, and my panic slides a little further back. I won’t lose this, won’t lose her . I won’t let myself.

Sure, I’m still terrified—I’m about to be a dad , and I never expected when I first saw Maggie that we’d wind up like this, but my gut tells me this is the right choice.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good,” Ma says with a reproachful grin. “Go and get cleaned up and figure out something to say that will convince the poor girl you’re just an idiot and not an asshole. We’ll fix things from there.”