Page 3 of Every Sunset
Thankfully, I had been saving every spare cent for years, always wanting to have a back up pot just in case things went to shit. When they actually did I had enough saved to put down a deposit and first months rent on a new place, and to keep us going until I found work again.
“I hope I didn’t get scammed. I was in such a hurry I just filled in the paperwork and paid the money the second they got back to me. What if it was one of those scammer things?” I panicked as I scrolled through my email for the communications.
“Mom,” Max said as I finally found the email I was looking for. I glanced up at my son and he nodded out of the window past me. I turned and saw the gates of the mansion we were parked outside of were rolling open and coming through them was a mountain of a man.
“Oh fuck.” I tossed my phone back into the cup holder and fumbled to turn my key in the ignition, desperate to move away from the fancy house before the stranger – who had to be the security - got to my car.
Finally I got my hand on the tatty old key and turned it, ready and raring to race away, but my car, which had just driven perfect for the last thirty four hours, spluttered and failed to turn over. I was trying it again, my panic rising when there was a loud rap on my window, making me jump so hard I swear my head touched the roof of my crappy, piece of shit car.
“Shit!” I gasped as I tried hard not to freak out. I hated myself for my reaction. I had grown up with some seriously bad news men in and out of my home. I had lived alone since I was sixteen.I had faced my fair share of asshole guys again and again, and I had dealt with each and every one of them. I had never feared men in general, or jumped the way I just had then, at anything. My life had made me resilient. But now I was a jumpy mess and men in general made me feel a nervousness and fear I had never known before.
“Just stay here, mom. I’ll talk to him.” Max was out of the car and slamming the door closed before I could even argue with him, and that changed everything. Fear for my son had me pushing my car door open without hesitation, and I hurried out as fast as my aching limbs and throbbing ribs would allow.
“Max!” I cried, way too dramatically as I looked up and saw him shaking hands with the stranger who towered over him by several inches. The guy was huge! He was broad too, his muscular shoulders and arms stretching the black henley that he wore, at every seam. His long, tree trunk like legs were encased in black denim and he wore white sneakers that registered in my brain as an odd choice for a security guard. Maybe they were good for giving chase or something?
Giving chase?What the fuck was going on with me?! I grabbed Max’s arm and tried to pull him to my side, but he outweighed me by a lot, and pulling him was not an option. Instead Max led me to his side and I strategically placed myself half in front of him and before the stranger, even though I felt physically ill being so close to this man who clearly had the ability to crush me if he so wished.
“Mom, it’s okay,” Max told me gently. “This is Logan. He owns this place.”
“I’m so sorry we’re parked outside your gates,” I blurted shakily. “We…we’ll be out of your way in j-just a moment.”
“Sounded like you’re having some car trouble,” the stranger said.What did Max say his name was? Jesus, why couldn’t I think straight?
“We drove pretty far. I think the car’s as desperate for a break as we are,” Max laughed. He sounded so relaxed and easy going, but he also grabbed my arm gently around the wrist and was pulling me back and to his side as he spoke. I didn’t like that. It was him trying to protect me again when I was the one who should be doing that.
“Where are you headed?” The stranger asked as he looked from where Max was holding my wrist, and up to me. His eyes locked on mine and the color of them had me hypnotized for a moment. They were green, but not the usual shade of dark green. No, his eyes were bright green, like the freshly sprouted leaves of the tree that used stand outside my bedroom window when I was a kid. They sparkled and almost shone as he locked them on my own. His skin was sunkissed, as though he worked outdoors a lot, and he was handsome, that was for sure. His jaw was square, covered with heavy, dark stubble, that same color as his thick head of dark brown, floppy, and messy hair. He was almost perfect, but for the fact his nose was slightly askew, as though it had been broken at some point and not quite healed right. It didn’t take from his ruggedly handsome aesthetic though. He was beautiful, and definitely someone I would have dreamed of being with before. Now I just saw him for the threat he was though.
“Here. We just moved here. My mom rented a place. We were just trying to find it,” Max answered, pulling me from my fears and back to reality.
“Rented a place? It wasn’t by chance a small two bedroom cottage was it?”
“How do you know that?” I accused as I shook off my son’s hold and instead held onto him warily. The car may have given up on us, but we’d damn well run if we had to.
“Anna Hart?” The stranger went on, and I stepped back and pulled Max with me, but he remained where he stood. “I’m your landlord. The cottage is my guest house. It’s around back. I should have told you that in the last email.”
“Your guest house?” I questioned. “Y-you own this place?” He was hardly dressed like a man who owned a huge mansion of a home.
“I do. Me and my brother. We inherited it from our grandparents.”
“So we’re in the right place then, right?” Max asked.
“I believe you are,” The stranger agreed. “Shall I show you your new place?”
“Mom?” Max looked to me, a little unsure.
I didn’t like any of it. I didn’t like that I couldn’t see the house from the road. I hated that once we went onto the property the gates could lock behind us, locking us in. I did not like that this beast of a man would be our landlord. None of it felt safe or wise. But I’d paid the rent and deposit, and I was just so tired.
“Yeah, okay,” I gave in, which I knew may be a decision I would live to regret, but what choice did we have? The damned car wouldn’t even start.
“Logan Easton.” Our new landlord held his hand out to me and I forced myself to place my shaky hand into his. The last thing I wanted was to be touched, but I didn’t want to seem crazy to him when he may be the only option we had for a roof over our head.
“Anna Hart,” I said weakly. “And this is my son, Max.”
“Your son?” Logan questioned as he looked between us.
“That a problem?” I barked as I slid my hand from his and glared. It was a complete over reaction but I was so tired, sore, and filled with anxiety that I was sure I was about to lose my freaking mind.
“No problem,” Logan replied with a slight smirk on his face. “You just look too young is all.”
