Page 88 of Theirs to Take

“Give me one good reason not to,” Ruby insisted. “Tell me why you’ve been acting this way. Are you unhappy?”

“No,” Millie lied.

“Are you homesick?”

“No,” she lied again.

“Do you hate your new job?” Ruby questioned.

“No, Ruby,” Millie shouted, “I’m pregnant and alone. How do you think I should act?” Millie gasped and covered her mouth with her trembling hand as if trying to stop anything more that might come out of her pie hole. It was too late though. Thedamage had been done and there would be no taking her words back now.

“You’re pregnant?” Ruby asked.

“I am,” Millie whispered. “Please don’t tell Ranger. He hates me and I just don’t think I can raise this baby with him. He won’t even talk to me, you know?” The silence at the other end of the call worried her. “Ruby.”

“Um, I’m so sorry, Millie. The guys put me up to it. They wanted to know if you were really happy at your new job,” Ruby said. A sense of doom filled Millie’s gut and she knew that she wasn’t going to like what was about to come.

“What did you do?” she asked. “Tell me that he’s not there listening to what I just told you.”

“I wish I could,” Ruby said. “I’m so sorry.”

“So, he’s there, listening to everything that I just said, and he still won’t talk to me?” Millie asked. She couldn’t deal with his silence anymore. It was why she decided to leave town after finding out about the baby. She had grown up in a home where her parents fought constantly. They hated each other and Millie didn’t want her son or daughter growing up in a home like that. If Ranger didn’t want to talk to her, that was on him, but she wouldn’t be made to feel guilty about any of this. He was the one giving her the cold shoulder and not the other way around.

“Listen, I have to go,” Millie said. “I have a busy day tomorrow and I need to get some sleep. I think it would be best if you don’t call me anymore, Ruby,” she said.

“Millie,” Ruby shouted into the phone just before she hung up on her. She didn’t care if she sounded like a bitch or that she had just told the father of her baby that she was pregnant over the phone. None of that mattered. In fact, the only thing that did matter was her baby right now. Millie rubbed her hand over her belly and longed for the day that she’d be able to feel her baby kick her, but for now, she’d settle for the little flutters that toldher that her baby was just fine inside of her growing belly. Yeah—he or she was the only thing that mattered, and she’d make sure that her baby had the best she could give. Even if that meant being a single parent.

Ranger

Ranger paced the floor in front of Luke and Ruby. Why had he convinced Ruby to call Millie and pretend that he wasn’t listening in? It was an invasion of privacy and he’d be pissed if anyone did that to him, but now, Millie might not ever talk to him again.

“I’m so sorry, Ranger,” Ruby breathed. “I had no idea that she is pregnant. I would have never put her on speaker had I known.” She rubbed her belly and Ranger wondered what Millie would look like with her belly swollen with his baby.

“Would you have told me that she was pregnant if you had known?” he asked.

“I would have tried to get Millie to tell you, but yes, I would have ultimately told you about the baby. I had no idea that you two were even together. How long did you date?” Ruby asked.

“We didn’t really date,” he admitted. “I mean, we kind of had one date.”

“How can you kind of have a date?” Ruby asked.

“We got takeout and watched a movie—well, part of one. And then, she coaxed me into her bed, and I guess that’s how she got pregnant.”

“She coaxed you into her bed?” Luke asked. “I’d love to know how that happened.”

“Well, too bad,” Ranger grumbled, “it’s really none of your business how I ended up in her bed. I just did. I was trying to show her that she could trust me.”

“Gee, how did that work out for you?” Ruby mumbled.

“Not well,” Ranger admitted, “she refused to let me stay at her place to protect her. She said that she wanted me to want to be there. She was under some crazy delusion that I only wanted to hang around her out of some sense of duty.”

“Was she right?” Luke asked.

“Hey—whose side are you on anyway?” Ranger griped.

“Yours, I’m just trying to figure this all out,” Luke admitted.

“I wanted to keep her safe. After everything that happened to you two, I wanted to make sure that she was safe. I mean, I did make you a promise that I’d keep an eye on her.”

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