Page 59 of Deserving Maddie

"Ray? The guy's car you've been borrowing? He's the reason you're in danger and didn't tell us?"

That innocence she witnessed minutes before was gone. Every part of her son's body was radiating with anger. She stepped in front of him and forced him to look her in the eyes.

"It's not that simple. Ray didn't intentionally put me, or our family, in danger."

"And where is he now? Why did he send some goon to relay the message?"

Maddie winced at the tone in her son's voice. She knew he wouldn't be happy when he found out about Ray, but she hoped it wouldn't be this bad. Finding out like this wasn't doing her any favors.

"He's on his way," Zack answered before she could. "He stopped at the barn to grab a few things."

"Who the hell names their housethe barn?"

Maddie wanted to throw her hands up and call it quits. There was no point in correcting Gabe's language when he was in this mood. She was talking to a wall. Actually, the wall would probably listen to her better at this point.

"The barn is the name of our office building, not Ray's house. The why is obvious. It looks like one. The real question is why are you continuing to cuss when your mother already corrected you once?"

She was speechless. No one besides Kat ever defended her. Anthony surely never did. She was lucky if he knew what was going on with her, but he would never reprimand either child. Not to defend her.

"You're not my father," Gabe shot back.

"You're right, I'm not, because there's no way I would stand for that. I got a son of my own, and if he ever spoke to or disrespected his mother that way, there would be hell to pay. No one, and that includes my own children, disrespects my wife."

Holy hades. Leslie was one lucky lady to have a man who would fight so fiercely for her. From the little she had seen, all the guys Ray worked with were the same. And she imagined if Ray were here, he would've said something similar.

Maddie was surprised to see her son look remorseful for his action, and was even more surprised by what came out of his mouth next.

"Sorry, Mom. I know you don't like when I curse."

"I appreciate the apology. How about we take this out of the entryway and into the kitchen while we wait for Ray to show up?"

She needed a few minutes to gather herself together before Ray arrived. She was supposed to have years to slowly introduce him to Gabe. More time to pave the way and hopefully repair her relationship with her son before dropping a bomb on him. Now that time was up and she doubted there was any amount of claiming Ray was just a friend that she could do. Gabe was going to see right through her. Charley did.

By the time Ray showed up, she was no closer to figuring out what to tell her son. Ray whipped in like a hurricane and beelined straight for her. For just a second, she thought he was going to pull her into his arms, but he stopped at the last minute. It was so close that she had to watch the emotions play out on his face as he physically restrained his body from reaching for her. It was then that she realized she wanted his hands on her. She wanted him to do it in front of her kids. She hated Anthony for making her hide her feelings because of the trauma he inflicted and the mess she was forced to clean up.

"I'm really sorry about this," Ray offered.

"It's okay. Zack didn't get to tell us much except there was a threat. He was waiting for you."

Ray turned to Zack who was standing at the other end of the room. "Thanks, man. I owe you one."

"Nah, you don't. We're family." Zack moved to leave. "I'll be outside for the rest of the night. I think Falcon was sending Panther as well."

"I appreciate it."

Zack waved it off and left. Maddie waited until she heard the front door close before asking, "What happened?"

Ray's response was to pull his phone out and hand it to her. "It's in my text messages from the unknown number."

She had to hide her disbelief; Anthony never let her touch his phone. Yet, here was Ray, handing it over without a care.

Maddie clicked on the text app and found the number he was referring to. Her stomach plummeted at what was right in front of her. There was a picture of her and Ray from earlier that day. They were exiting the diner where they met for lunch. Drawn on the picture in red was the wordclubhouse whoreand the message sent with it made her want to throw up.

My guys are going to love passing her around.

"What kind of sicko sends that to someone?" Maddie gasped.

"What does it say?"

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