Page 89 of Theirs to Take

“Right, an eye,” Ruby hissed. “But you kept a whole lot more than an eye on her, didn’t you? Millie isn’t like other girls, Ranger. She’s sensitive and sweet and you used her for one night of sex.”

“I did not,” he said. “She used me for sex if we’re being honest. I tried to stick around and keep an eye on her, but she refused to let me stay with her, so I took the hint and left her alone.”

“What happened after your one night together?” Luke asked.

Ranger shrugged, “She told me that she wanted to take the job that I had offered her. When we were getting to know each other, I told her that McTavish could use someone like her. She blew me off, but after we slept together, she said that she wanted the job.”

“That’s when you came into the office and pitched for us to hire her. I mean, it was a good call, but were you doing it becauseyou felt bad about the way things turned out between the two of you?” Luke asked.

“No,” Ranger almost shouted. “I didn’t have anything to feel bad about. She pushed me away. Hell, she ran away and didn’t tell me about my own kid. How am I the bad guy in all of this?” Ranger asked. He knew the answer to his own question, but he wasn’t about to admit that to either of his friends. He had all but ignored her from that day on. He got her hired at McTavish and then he shut her out of his life. Millie had even asked him out to eat once and he turned her down flat. He wasn’t about to lead her on. She was the most stubborn woman on the planet and getting involved with her wasn’t something that interested him. At least, that was what he had told himself. He wanted her more than he wanted any other woman that he’d ever met and that was what had him shutting her out of his life. The bottom line was that Millie scared the hell out of him.

“After she started working at the company, how were things between the two of you?” Ruby asked.

“Why do you ask?” Ranger questioned.

“Millie isn’t the type of person to up and leave without a reason. And there’s no way that she’d leave town and not tell you about the baby. Something had to have happened between you two.” Shit, why was Ruby on his case? She had pegged him right and he hated that.

“She started working at McTavish and asked me out to eat. I told her no. I mean, that’s all I can think of,” Ranger insisted.

“Why did you turn her down?” Luke asked.

Ranger ran his hand down his jaw and rolled his eyes. “No clue,” he said. “I don’t do well with commitment, and I think that was what Millie was after. I didn’t want to lead her on.”

“That doesn’t explain why Millie would leave town and not tell you about the baby,” Ruby insisted.

“You ignored her, didn’t you?” Luke asked. “I saw how you gave her the cold shoulder around the office. I just thought that you two didn’t like each other. I had no clue that you had slept together and were acting like an ass. You didn’t want to commit, and you gave her the shaft. That day that she asked you out to eat—was that the last time that you spoke to her?”

He didn’t want to answer Luke’s question because it would prove that he was in fact the bad guy that he insisted that he wasn’t. Luke crossed his arms over his massive chest and stared Ranger down. He wasn’t as intimidating as Ruby who stood next to him, mimicking his stance. She was terrifying if he was being honest.

“Yes,” Ranger grumbled, “that was the last time that I talked to her.”

“Jesus,” Luke mumbled. “You shut her out and she had no choice but to leave and keep her secret from you.”

“He’s right,” Ruby agreed with Luke, “you acted like an ass and now, she’s all alone out there, and she’s pregnant.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I have her address.” He wasn’t sure what to do with her new home address, but he was forming a plan. “I think that it’s time that Millie and I talked.”

“You think?” Ruby hissed.

“I’ll leave in the morning,” Ranger said. “I’ll fix this.”

“You’ll leave tonight, and you’ll get to her before she takes off again. This time don’t fuck everything up, Ranger,” Ruby said. Luke chuckled and Ranger shot him a look, silently telling him to shut the hell up.

“Fine,” Ranger agreed, “I’ll run by my place and grab a few things, and then, I’ll head out. If you talk to her again, don’t tell her that I’m on my way to see her. She’ll take off again and then, I might never find her.” He had fucked everything up once and Ruby was right, he needed to get himself together and find a way to get through to her. He didn’t want her to have to go throughher pregnancy alone. Hell, he wanted to be there for both her and their baby, he just needed a chance to prove that to her.

“Thank you and please let me know when you’ve found her. I need to know that she’s okay. She might be pissed at me right now, but she’s still my friend,” Ruby said.

“Got it,” he agreed, “I’ll call as soon as I have her.” After that, he planned on sitting Millie down and begging her to forgive him for acting like an ass. Then, he’d ask her to come back home with him. If his intel was right, her new job was a work from home opportunity, and she could work anywhere she liked. He had done a bit of checking up on her after she left. What his intel didn’t tell him was that she was pregnant with his baby. He felt like a special kind of stupid for missing the signs with her. Were there signs? He had no clue, but he wasn’t going to turn a blind eye to her again. If she gave him another chance, he’d take it and prove to her that he was worthy to be their baby’s father and hopefully, come to mean something to Millie along the way.

Millie

She couldn’t believe that Ruby would do that to her. She had put her call on speaker with both Luke and Ranger in the room and gotten her to admit that she was pregnant with Ranger’s baby. She was a fool for trusting her former friend. That’s what Ruby was to her now—an ex-friend for what she had done to her.

Millie tried to think about her next move. She should run. That way, if Ranger came looking for her, she’d be long gone. But running while six months pregnant wouldn’t work. She was already tired and having to pack up her stuff and leave now would be too much. Plus, she had already paid in advance for six months and didn’t have any way to come up with another down payment since she had just started her new job a few weeks ago. She was stuck—pregnant and stuck.

“He probably won’t even show up here anyway,” Millie said to her bump. She found herself talking to the baby most of the day. Working from home was lonely, especially with no friends or significant other to share her day with. She was completely alone, and that had to be the way things were now.

Her cell phone rang again, and she picked it up from the couch where she had tossed it after getting off of her call with Ruby. Her ex-friend had tried calling her four times now and there was no way that she was answering the call. She texted back to Ruby to leave her alone and shut off her phone. That should send her a clear message—hopefully.

---