Owned By The Mountain Man (Montana Mountain Men Book 2)

by Gemma Weir

  The need to find her, to touch her, to kiss her, to bring her home to me only intensifies as I stare down at the picture on the screen. I never planned to let her go, but now it’s not even an option. She can kick and scream and fight me, she can hate me if she needs to, but she’s mine and I won’t let her leave me, not now, not ever.

  19

  Cora

  My cell rings again, but I ignore it, clicking in and changing the caller ID from Grumpy Elf to Asshole before it starts ringing again. Pushing the red button, I shuffle back up the soft hotel bed and exhale slowly.

  What the hell am I going to do? I can’t stay at this hotel forever, but the thought of going home and seeing him makes me both want to punch him and burst into tears at the same time. I asked him why he did this to me and all his reasons drove me crazy. How long would be have lied to me, how long would he have dragged this game out if I hadn’t have gotten pregnant this month? Would he have ultimately have told me what he did, or was he planning on hiding it forever?

  Not knowing is almost worse than his complete lack of remorse. He hasn’t apologized, and I think it’s because he’s not actually sorry. None of this was a mistake, it was planned, thought out and very deliberate.

  If I didn’t love him, I’d hate him. But I hate him too. I hate that he did this, that he forced what should have been a wonderful thing between us and all because he selfishly wants to own me.

  Why doesn’t he understand that he owned me before he planted a lie in my womb? How am I meant to feel? How am I meant to love a baby that he forced on me? How am I meant to ignore this almost overwhelming love I already feel for this child we created?

  I hate him almost as much as I love him and finally the tears that have refused to fall roll from my eyes and a sob chokes from my throat. Sadness overwhelms me and I roll to my side, one hand cradling the baby growing in my stomach and the other covering the sounds of desperation falling from my mouth.

  I’m not sure how long I cry for, but at some point I must cry myself to sleep, because when I blink my eyes open I’m curled up in a ball in the unfamiliar bed, my hand still resting on my stomach. My cell is on the bed at my side, the notification screen advising me of forty missed calls and ten new text messages.

  My battery is low, and for a minute I consider just letting the cell die so I don’t have to deal with Huck or anyone else who’s noticed my absence by now. Rolling off the bed, I use the bathroom, glancing at myself in the mirror and wincing at my ravaged reflection. Grabbing my purse, I pull out my charger cable and push it into the USB plug built straight into the wall, then connect it to my cell.

  Exhaling weakly, I ignore my cell for a moment and instead order room service, letting the food act as a distraction from the reality that’s awaiting me. I may be able to ignore him, but I at least need to reassure my family that I’m okay and just taking a few days away. I’ll tell them Huck and I had a fight and that I just need some time to myself before I decide what to do. Hopefully he won’t be stupid enough to tell my mom what he’s done and that I’m pregnant.

  My food is delivered thirty minutes later, and I don’t even glance in the direction of my cell as I sit in the middle of the pillows and eat the soup and grilled cheese I’d lied and told Huck my mom had made for me earlier. Instead of the vodka I’d wanted to order, I’ve chosen a glass of soda, and as I drink, I try to pretend it’s laced with the alcohol I wish I could have to get me through this situation.

  Eventually I retrieve my cell and without looking at the calls, I dial my mom’s number. She answers on the first ring.

  “Cora, what’s happened? Huck said you’d gone, but he doesn’t know where. That boy is an absolute mess, sweetheart. Let me come fetch you.”

  “Hi Mom,” I whisper brokenly.

  “Oh baby,” she gasps, hearing the way my voice cracks.

  More tears spill from my eyes and I close them to try to stem the tide. “I’m okay, I’m just gonna stay here for a few days to get my head straight.”

  “Did you two have a fight?”

  “Kind of. I don’t think we’re going to work out,” I confess, hating each word as I say it.

  “Oh honey, whatever it is I’m sure you can work through it.”

  “I don’t know if this is something you work through,” I sob.

  “Let me come get you, you can stay with us,” Mom gasps, my tears upsetting her.

  “No, I just need some time, and if I’m in town Huck will just barge in and I don’t want to see him at the minute.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m at a hotel, I’m fine, but can you cover my shifts at the shop for the rest of the week?”

  “Of course I can. I’m just worried about you, honey, I’ve never heard you like this before.”

  “I’ll be fine, I just need a couple of days.”

  “Okay, well call me tomorrow.”

  “I will, Mom. I love you.”

  “I love you too, honey. If you change your mind just call me and I’ll come get you, or I’ll just come and be with you.”

  “Thanks Mom, I’ll speak to you tomorrow.” I end the call before I give in and let my mom come and be with me. I really need her, but I don’t want Huck to know where I am and the best way to keep things quiet is to make sure I don’t tell anyone that might tell him.

  Pulling my cell from my ear, I look down at the notifications filling my screen and reluctantly click into the call log. Of the forty missed calls thirty are from Huck, three from my mom, two from my dad, three from Bonnie and one each from both Beau and Teddy.

  For a moment, I wonder if he’s confessed what he did to Bonnie and his brothers, but my gut instinct says that he hasn’t. I’m not sure even his crazy family could get on board with him tricking me into getting pregnant just so he could keep me, when he already had me.

  When I check the texts next, all of them are from Huck, so I ignore them and dial Bonnie’s number, needing to tell someone everything that’s happened.

  “Cora,” she answers on a cry, and I hear a ruckus and Huck’s voice in the background.

  “Hi”

  “Huck’s losing his mind,”

  “I don’t want to talk to him,” I reply quickly.

  “Okay, gimme a sec. Let me go somewhere private and I’ll call you straight back.”

  “Okay,” I say, and end the call just as I hear shouting from Bonnie’s end.

  It’s nearly ten minutes later when she calls me back and I answer, bracing myself to hear Huck’s voice instead of hers.

  “Hey, sorry it’s taken me so long, I’ve had to come to my dad’s while the guys hold Huck down. He really wants to speak to you, he even took a swing for Beau when he told him to just let me talk to you first. What’s happened?”

  Pulling in a slow breath, I exhale, then speak. “I’m pregnant.”

  “Oh my god,” she cries loudly. “Is that good or bad news?”

  “I’m pregnant because for the last five weeks Huck has been deliberately giving me the sugar tablets, the ones they put in the pack for you to take while you’re on your period.”

  “What?” she asks, her voice full of confusion.

  It all comes out in a rush. “He took the sugar pills from five different packets of my birth control pills. Every morning he brought me my contraceptive pill, and I thought he was just being super responsible because he refuses to use condoms, but instead he’s been giving me the fake pill. He knew the whole time. He deliberately got me pregnant.”

  “Oh my god.”

  “It worked, I’m pregnant. I’m twenty-one and pregnant, and his only defense is that if I’m pregnant I can’t leave him.”

  “That asshole. I mean, I know they’re crazy, but this. This is just beyond, this is insane.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” I cry, more tears leaking from my eyes.

  “Where are you?”

  “In a hotel. I don’t want to tell you where just in case he forces you to tell him.”

  “W
hy would he do this? This is mental even for the Barnett’s.”

  “I asked him why and the reasons were all bullshit. So I didn’t leave him, so he could tie me to him for the rest of our lives, because he’s a caveman and he wants to own me.”

  “Wow. Cora, I’m…” she trails off, obviously at a loss for what to say. “How do you feel about all this?”

  “Numb. Broken. Betrayed.”

  “Oh babe, I don’t even know what to say. I can’t believe he’d do this. What are you going to do? Are you going to keep the baby?”

  “It’s our baby,” I whisper, not even wanting to say the words aloud, not wanting to confess that there’s no way I could get rid of mine and Huck’s child, no matter the circumstances in which he or she was created.

  “What do you want me to tell him? The guys aren’t going to hold him down forever and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be kicking down my dad’s front door any minute.”

  “Nothing, tell him nothing. He made all the decisions for me on his own, he doesn’t get to be a part of any decisions I make from now on. Right now, this feels unforgivable.”

  A loud banging sounds from Bonnie’s end and I wince, knowing that it’s more than likely Huck.

  “He’s here,” she says sadly.

  “I’ll speak to you later, I’m fine, I’m safe, I just don’t want to speak to him.”

  “Okay, let me know if you need me. I can sneak out and not tell them where I’m going.”

  “Thanks hon.”

  “Love you.”

  “Love you too.” Then I end the call before my crazy boyfriend can hijack her cell.

  Stripping out of my clothes, I crawl beneath the covers and close my eyes, hoping that when I wake up, today will have all just have been a bad dream.

  Even though my cell is on silent, it buzzes on and off all night and by the time I finally give up on sleep and open my eyes, I have twenty-five more missed calls from Huck and ten more texts. Not bothering to read them, I crawl out of bed and take a shower, then get dressed in yesterday’s clothes minus the panties. Breakfast is a buffet served all morning, so I grab my purse and room key and take the elevator down to the restaurant.

  After I’ve forced myself to eat, I head out into the city and buy myself a couple of outfits and some pajamas, then return back to the hotel, getting undressed before getting back into bed and closing my eyes, hoping sleep will stop me from having to deal with reality. By lunchtime, I’ve tossed and turned while my cell buzzes and buzzes as Huck refuses to accept that I’m not prepared to answer his calls.

  Flopping onto my back, I clear my call log and angrily click into my texts, typing out a message and hitting send without reading any of the thirty texts that are waiting to be read.

  Me – Stop calling, I don’t want to speak to you and calling every three seconds is just pissing me off.

  His reply is almost instantaneous.

  Asshole – Talk to me and I’ll stop calling.

  Me – What exactly do you want me to say? That I forgive you for lying to me, deceiving me and deliberately getting me pregnant.

  Asshole – Peaches.

  Me – You did this, asshole. You didn’t care what I wanted, you didn’t care about my feelings or how this would change my life. You did this because you’re an insecure mental case and now you just want me to accept this and forgive you. THAT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

  Asshole – Just talk to me, tell me where you are and talk to me. I’m going crazy not knowing where you are.

  Me – FUCK YOU!!! You made decisions about my life without involving me. Why the hell should I care about how this is affecting YOU? I have to figure out what to do with the baby you forced on me. I have to figure out how to cope as a single parent, where I’m going to live and how I’m going to look after me and MY baby. Working off your example of decision making, I don’t see how any of these things have anything to do with YOU.

  My cell starts ringing seconds after I hit send but I decline the call and a moment later a text appears.

  Asshole – That’s OUR baby, Peaches. You wouldn’t be doing this alone, we’d be doing this together. I know you’re angry at me, but we’re having a baby, a mix of me and you that will make the most perfect little person that we will love for the rest of our lives. Stop pushing me away and tell me where you are.

  Me – This is MY body and my life, asshole, and nothing you say or do now will change any decision I make. You might be the father of MY child, but you’ll be nothing to me. You destroyed us the moment you decided to play God and forced me to get pregnant without my consent. Eventually I might forgive you, but I can’t see a way I’ll ever get past this. You did this to us, and now you need to try to learn how to show me enough respect to stop calling when I ask.

  After I’ve hit send, my eyes glass over with tears and my breath seems to evaporate in my lungs. Struggling to breath, I gasp, grabbing at my neck like that will somehow make more oxygen appear as panic starts to overwhelm me. Tears drip down my cheeks and my heart pounds as I try to control the panic attack I now recognize this as being. Breathing through my nose, I try to calm down, hating how powerless and broken I feel as my throat slowly opens again and breathing starts to feel normal once more.

  Staring down at my cell, I burst into loud, sobs when there’s no reply to the last message I sent or any new missed calls.

  20

  Huck

  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read and reread the last text she sent me. The idea that she thinks this is over is almost comical, and I’d probably laugh if I wasn’t so angry and worried. My woman is pregnant with my baby and she’s out there thinking I’d ever let her walk away from me. That’s never going to happen, I’ll steal her away and keep her in a gilded cage for the rest of our lives before I’d let her raise our child without me.

  No. Fuck that. I just need to get to her, I need to see her and touch her and the moment I do, I’ll convince her to forget how this happened and remember that this baby is a part of both of us, of the love we share. The moment she remembers that, I know she’ll forgive me.

  She wants kids, we talked about it and maybe waiting a few years would have made more sense, but really, what are we waiting for? Life’s for living and when you find something as good as me and her, something so perfect, what’s the point in waiting?

  Whether we have kids in nine months or nine years we’ll still be together, we’ll still be it for each other, she’ll still be the center of my world and I’ll have her so bound to me, leaving won’t be something she could even consider, let alone actually do.

  But before we can get on with our happily ever after, I need to find her and make her admit how much she loves me and how amazing it is that we made a baby, regardless of how that baby came to be.

  By the end of the day she’ll be back in my arms, either willingly or not, but no matter what, both her and that baby are mine and I won’t ever give me them up. After I followed Bonnie to her dad’s last night, she came home and went straight to her and Beau’s room, refusing to speak to me and I left her alone. But now I need answers, and my new baby sister is the only one who might know where my errant girlfriend has run to.

  Sleep didn’t find me last night and I know I look like shit, but I don’t care. Grabbing my car keys, I get in my car, pulling my cell phone out and dialing my brother’s number as I drive away from the house.

  “You find her?” Beau answers.

  “Not yet. I need to speak to Bonnie, is she at the coffee shop today?”

  “No, she’s at the ranch, she’s pissed at me because of you.”

  “I’m going to talk to her, she knows where Cora is and I need to get to my woman.”

  “I’ll meet you there, if she knows, she won’t lie to me.”

  “Okay, thanks Bro, I’m just pulling up to the house.”

  Ending the call, I slow to a stop outside Hal’s house and jump from the car, circling the building to the ranch office at the back. I knocking on
the door and Hal lifts his head and motions for me to enter. He’s on the phone, so I sink down into one of the chairs in front of his desk and wait, agitation keeping me from sitting still, my fingers clenched into tight fists where they rest on my knees.

  Ending his call, Hal smiles. “Huck, what can I do for you?”

  “I need to speak to Bonnie; do you know where she is?”

  “Last I heard, she was avoiding her brother in the east paddock just behind the barn tagging the new steers.”

  “Thanks, Beau’s on his way and we’ll go track her down,” I say, pushing up from my seat and moving to leave.

  “Is everything okay, son?”

  “Not really, but it will be soon,” I nod decisively.

  Hal laughs, “I know that look. You pissed that little firecracker of yours off?”

  “Oh, she’s plenty pissed with me right now, but we’ll be fine,” I say confidently. “I just need to track her ass down first,” I mutter beneath my breath.

  Hal’s laugh is raspy and knowing. “Good luck,” he sniggers, lifting up his desk phone as I push through the door and back into the crisp morning air.

  Leaning against my car, I wait for Beau to arrive, forcing myself not to text or call Cora for the moment. I need to speak to her in person, to be touching her while I remind her why we’re so perfect together, and the texts we’re sending back and forth are only pissing me off.

  I hear Beau’s truck before I see it, watching as he rolls around the corner and slows to a stop beside me. “If she’s over in the far pastures we’d be better off waiting for later, I’m not borrowing horses to get lost trying to figure out where she is.”