Page 15 of Property of Spike

“I’m anything but tiny,” she says.

And isn’t that fact fucking delicious.

“You okay Prez?” Skip grins. “You need a cold shower? I know I do.”

“Fuck off,” I tell the asshole. “Get up and let her have your seat.”

“Here you go, tiny female,” he stands and gestures…you guessed it…dramatically. “It’s already warm for you.”

“Thank you, strange man,” she says, her voice light but cautious as she carefully settles into the chair. Her little bundle is snug once again in the carrier, cocooned as if the outside world doesn’t exist.

“Jealous, Prez?” Skip grins, throwing a playful glance my way. “She called me strange.”

I watch as she relaxes slightly, a little tension easing from her shoulders. Skip has a way of disarming people, whether he means to or not. I guess I’ll let him live… for now.

“You ready to talk, baby?” The words are out before I can stop them. Shit. I meant,babe. Not that it’s much better.

“Not really,” she admits softly, hesitating as her fingers graze the edge of the chair. “But I guess I might as well give it a try. I’m warning you now, though, you don’t want to get mixed up in my problems. I just needed somewhere safe to catch my breath, that’s all.”

“Why don’t you tell us what’s going on and let us decide if we want to get mixed up or not,” I say, my tone sharper than Iintended. She’s putting me on edge without even trying, and it’s pissing me off.

Her gaze flickers toward mine, and after a moment, she sinks a little deeper into the chair. “I guess that’s fair,” she murmurs. “Alright… a little over nine months ago, I found out I was pregnant. My husband and I were so happy. Or at least, I thought we were.”

“Husband?” I ask, my eyes catching on her hand. No ring.

“Well, he’s not really my husband,” she confesses, her voice low. “That’s just what he tells everyone. Anyway, Chuck wasn’t always… gentle. Especially after a bad shift at work. When things didn’t go well, he came home looking for an outlet for his anger.”

“Did he hit you?” Skip asks, his usual humor gone, his voice steady but cold.

Riley looks up at him and nods, her expression haunted.

Motherfucker.

“After I found out I was pregnant, I did everything I could to keep him calm,” she continues, her voice trembling slightly. “A friend of mine works with him and would call me on his rough days to warn me. Those days, I tried harder. I didn’t want to risk him hitting my stomach.”

The room feels like it’s holding its breath, every man in it silently seething. I clench my fists, imagining the piece of shit’s face under them.

“A few months ago, I found out he was cheating on me,” she continues, her voice quieter now. “Not that I cared. But one night, I overheard him on the phone, saying that once my baby was born, he and whoever he was talking to would raise him together. He was planning to take my son away from me.”

“It’s not easy to take a child from their mother,” Max says, trying to sound reassuring.

“Maybe not for most people,” Riley replies, her arms tightening protectively around her baby as she gently rocks him.The motion seems to soothe her more than the sleeping child. “But it wouldn’t have been hard for him. I have no family, no home, no money. No real way to take care of Asher. They wouldn’t let a homeless mother keep custody over a father with a stable career and a house.”

No one argues because we all know she’s fucking right.

“No family at all?” Maverick asks.

She smiles sadly, shaking her head. “None. I was an only child, and my parents had me late in life. They passed away years ago. If they had any relatives, they never told me about them.”

“What happened next?” I ask, my voice steady, though my blood’s boiling.

She takes a deep breath. “About a week ago, Chuck came home in a rage. Something about a case he was working on falling through. I asked him if he’d like me to bring his dinner to him, thinking it might help him calm down. But apparently, he didn’t like that I spoke.” Her voice cracks slightly, but she keeps going.

“He came at me and grabbed me by the hair. I tried not to scream, but it didn’t matter. He threw me to the ground and kicked me really hard. Right in the stomach.” Her hand moves instinctively to her midsection as she talks, her lips trembling. “I was just a week away from my due date.”

She pauses, swallowing hard. “The doctors were worried at first, but Chuck told them I fell while mopping the floors. They believed him. I ended up having an emergency C-section. Asher’s alright, thank God, but he’s so small.”

Her voice trails off as she looks down at the baby in her arms.

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