Page 23 of Claiming Bennett (Montgomery Dreams #3)

MAGGIE

“ Fuck !”

I stifle my screams and sobs into the pillow clutched to my chest, body shaking with agony and terror.

As much as I wish I could be angry, I just feel like an idiot. How could I have thought this would go any differently? Bennett left me behind at home without so much as a backwards glance. I can’t believe I deluded myself into thinking he actually cared .

“Goddamnit.” I whisper the word into the crumpled, tear stained pillow. “Goddamnit.”

The blinds block out most of the sunlight, leaving me shrouded in the semi-dark of the cheapest motel room I could find in Lubbock.

It reeks of cigarettes and loneliness. The thought of picking up my phone to call Penny is enough to make me flinch, so I just stay huddled on the ground, sobbing.

I can’t close my eyes without seeing the unclouded fury on Bennett’s face, so I keep them open, staring at the warped linoleum floor as tears stream down my cheeks.

I didn’t expect him to blow up on me like that, and I didn’t expect it to rip me to shreds.

I have no idea how much time passes before a sound shocks me out of my stupor.

A knock. Two. Three.

I whip my head up to stare at the door with wide, disbelieving eyes.

Another series of knocks, a little louder this time.

I scramble up from the floor, my knees slipping as I try to get my exhausted limbs to cooperate.

Fear and hope clamor in my gut, the thought of Bennett standing outside my door both all that I want and the most terrifying thing that could happen right now.

Did he chase after me? Decide he believed me after all?

All I want is to fall into his arms, I don’t even care if he apologizes right away. I just want him to be here .

The tears don’t stop as I yank the door open, but I’m not greeted by the sight of Bennett at all.

In fact, the person at my doorstep is a woman I’ve never seen before.

She’s stunning, perfectly set bleach-blonde waves and bright, warm blue eyes.

Her smile is so wide that it almost hurts to look at with how shattered my heart is right now.

“I—hello?”

“Hi, Magnolia.” Her voice is soft, gentle, and she holds out a pack of tissues in a well-manicured hand. I take them, rocketing between heartbreak and total confusion. “Can I come in?”

I blink at her, tears still clinging to my lashes, the pack of tissues crumpled in my palm.

“I—Do I know you?”

Does she have something to do with Bennett? Is she his sister, his cousin? Someone he sent to get me to go away because he doesn’t even want to tell me to fuck off himself?

“Not yet,” she says, still so kind as she smiles gently at me. “My name is Sophia. I’m Bennett’s Ma. Saw you hightail it off the ranch earlier, figured I should come have a chat with you.”

His mom ?

She looks so young, so put together, so perfect.

I’d never have guessed she was old enough to be his mom, but now that I look, I can see the similarities.

They both have the same sloped nose—I always thought it looked oddly delicate on Bennett, but it suits Sophia perfectly.

Their eyes are different colors, but they crinkle the same way in the corners.

“Oh.” It’s all I can say, all I can even think.“I’m Maggie. I don’t—no one calls me Magnolia.”

Not anymore .

And probably never again. Sophia may look kind and sweet, but I’m terrified of what she has to say. Is she going to tell me to leave? Tell me that Bennett’s not interested in me, and that she won’t ever let me anywhere near her son again?

“Maggie, then. It’s nice to meet you. I’m glad you didn’t head straight for the airport,” she says with a laugh. “I was worried I was going to have to chase a flight to track you down.”

Track me down ? How did she even find me here?

“I didn’t tell Bennett where I was going.” My voice wobbles over his name, and I grit my teeth against a fresh wave of tears. “I just told the Uber to take me to a cheap motel. How’d you find me?”

I don’t even really know why I’m asking her. I went all in, bet everything on my stupid idea working, and it all fell through. Now I’m in Texas, alone, with a baby on the way and a man who wants nothing to do with me.

I’ve never been more miserable in my life.

“A friend of mine owns this place,” she answers.

“I run the fundraising campaigns for most of the orphanages and battered women’s shelters around here.

This is one of the places I put folks up in if they’re on the run from a bad situation and need a roof over their heads.

I put some calls out after I talked to Bennett, and Heidi said you’d just checked in. ”

Any other day, I’d probably try to make polite conversation, but my mind is somehow both utterly blank and completely full of thoughts of Bennett.

“Right.” I tug a tissue out of the pack with trembling hands, needing something to distract myself with.

I feel like enough of an idiot for having come here in the first place, and standing in front of Bennett’s perfectly put-together mom with tears and snot on my face isn’t helping.

“I’m only staying for tonight. I’ll book a flight and go back home tomorrow, you don’t?—”

“I was actually stopping by to see if you’d let me give you a ride back to the house.” She cuts me off without remorse. “Bennett has a lot of apologizing to do, don’t you think?”

My tattered heart soars at the thought of seeing him again, even after he cut me so deeply. I can’t imagine just walking away, going back to a life without him in it.

“Does he really want to see me?”

I don’t meet Sophia’s eyes when I ask, my chest tight with terror. She tips my chin up, keeping her touches soft and careful, and snags a tissue from the pack still in my hand to dab at my cheeks as she talks.

“You two didn’t know each other for very long, and Bennett has had some…

issues in the past. I’ll tell you some of it on the way back because I think it’ll help you understand.

” Her smile softens, affection lighting her eyes as she crumples the tissue and lets my chin go.

“I’ve never seen him care so much about anyone, and I don’t want to watch him lose you. Come back with me?”

I nod, scared to agree out loud for fear that it’ll make all this disappear somehow.

Sophia can surely see the anxiety written plainly across my features, but she doesn’t say anything.

She just tilts her head toward the door, and I grab my bag and follow her out to the only car in the lot.

It’s a neat little sedan, the glossy paint covered in splotches of dust.

My lungs seize up as she unlocks the car, and I take a deep breath. It doesn’t do as much to calm me as I hoped it would, but I pull the door open regardless.

“Ready to go?” Sophia asks.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I clip my seatbelt on and let silence settle over us for a bit as Sophia merges out onto the road.

Traffic is light this time of day, and the motel isn’t too far from their ranch.

Curiosity and anxiety burn inside of me, and I don’t manage to keep quiet for long. “You said… about Bennett’s past?”

It’s not exactly a question, but stringing words together is hard right now. Thankfully, Sophia seems to understand what a mess my head is, and she starts talking, her voice a low, soothing hum in the car.

“Bennett’s the oldest. He’s got a little brother, Benji, who we adopted when they were both young.

He’s always been protective, but he’s not the best at protecting himself.

He had a girlfriend in high school who cheated on him with his best friend.

She lied to him about being pregnant, and he found out a week before their wedding.

She and his best friend were planning on ripping off the family fortune in the divorce and had been seeing each other behind his back the whole time. ”

She says it matter of factly, just the slightest hint of bitterness creeping into her tone, but anger slams into me at the thought of someone hurting him like that.

“The whole time? How could she?” I ask, brows furrowed as I clench my fists on my lap. A realization slams into me as I remember the fury that flashed across his face when I said I was pregnant. “Is that why he?—”

“Was an asshole?” Sophia says with a wry twist of her lips.

“Yes. It’s been hard for him to trust people ever since, and he hasn’t even considered dating anyone after her.

He still needs to apologize for what he said, but I thought knowing might make it a little easier to understand his side of things.

I’m telling you this because I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt.

I’m trusting you not to hurt my son, Maggie.

He never moped like this over Chelsea, just closed himself off and refused to open up.

He cares about you. I’m trusting you to care about him. I won’t let history repeat itself.”

I nod slowly, guilt churning in my gut even though I had no way of knowing.

“No, I… I get it. My brother, Bo—well, they weren’t dating, but someone tried to do the same thing to him.

I wanted to kill her when I found out, so I get it.

That kind of thing isn’t easy to forget about.

I would never . Especially not to Bennett. I—I care about him, too. A lot.”

There are more parallels between me and Savannah Ward here than I’m comfortable with, even though I know the situations are completely different.

I don’t want to be anything like that bitch, and if the decisions I’m making are putting me on a remotely similar path, maybe it’s time I take a good look at what the fuck I’m doing.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she says, reaching over to pat my knee.

“But I’m glad you can understand, even a little.

He looked miserable when he came home. When he found out about Chelsea, he brushed it all off.

Didn’t even cry. He didn’t miss her the way he’s missed you.

I don’t know much about you, Maggie, but I think you were good for him.

I think, if he’ll open himself up, you could continue to be good for him. ”

Tears burn at the corners of my eyes again, but I refuse to let them fall.

I’ve had enough of crying, even if I’m no more certain of anything than I was half an hour ago.

The only thing I am sure about is that I can’t let Bennett go.

Even if it means losing out on my trust fund entirely, I need him.

I don’t want to live the rest of my life wishing he was by my side.

“I don’t know if he will,” I admit quietly, looking down at my lap to hide my panic. “Even if he only got so mad about the pregnancy because of his ex, that doesn’t mean he actually wants me.”

Sophia hisses out a breath and winces, muttering something about handing her son’s ass to him. When she looks back at me, her smile is a little more strained, but no less honest.

“I take it he didn’t tell you who his Pa is, then?”

“His dad?”

What does his dad have to do with any of this?

“Has your father ever mentioned someone named Joseph Hernandez?” The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t come up with any details, so I shake my head.

“He’s a… friend of your father’s. Tries to be, at least. He owns a few businesses, and we buy cattle from David for one of them.

They used to be on good terms, but after that whole business with Peter Wallace embezzling from him, Joseph offered to help your dad out. ”

That was so long ago! Why does he and his goddamn family ruin everything they touch? I swear, if this is another bullshit story like Chuckles, I’m going to go ballistic.

“He offered to buy shares of the ranch, just to get some money flowing. He didn’t want to take over the ranch, didn’t even want to have any say in decisions, but David didn’t take it well. He… had some very nasty things to say about Joseph’s offer.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” I say with a scoff.

I doubt Dad even let this guy try to explain himself before going off the deep end.

“Well, Joseph still tries,” she says with a sad grin.

“We send someone up every year to help out with the cattle drive so Joseph can get a report on how the ranch is doing. He knows David won’t tell him if he needs anything, so Joseph just sends someone to check on things in case there’s something he can help with.

We usually send Carlos, but he’s on paternity leave, so we asked Bennett to go this year.

I assume you know more about the rest than I do. ”

So Bennett is… what, the son of one of Dad’s old friends? And Dad has been too stubborn to actually talk to them, so they’ve been making sure everything’s okay without telling him? Which means that Bennett?—

“Bennett left because he was worried he’d get his dad in trouble?” I ask disbelievingly.

“He was scared his pa would find out, is more like it,” she says with a fond roll of her eyes. “But yes, that’s my guess. You should ask him about it.”

My head buzzes at the thought of there being another explanation for all of this. If Bennett didn’t leave because he didn’t care, then maybe I still have a chance.

It won’t be easy, but maybe Bennett’s more like my dad than I realized. They both seem to have a habit of being suspicious and always expecting the worst of people.

Fuck, dealing with Dad is going to be a nightmare.

I thought him finding out I’m pregnant was going to be bad, but this is going to be a total clusterfuck. Better the beast I know, I guess. It looks like sorting all of this out is going to be a little more complicated than I originally thought, though.

I’m sure it’ll be fine. If Sophia is right, Bennett and I will figure this out together. That’s all I can hope for right now.