Page 34 of Every Sunset
“I didn’t even realize. Does it hurt?”
“It did when I first got out of the hospital, but then the old man died and left us everything. I was able to get a consultation with a private specialist and get a whole new prosthesis. That helped a lot. There’s still some pain, but not as much.”
“The old man? Your grandfather?”
“Yeah. Apparently he had an attack of conscience about abandoning his only kid when she married our Dad. Since mom was gone, he left the house and all of his inheritance to Maddox and I. We moved here after everything and decided to start over. I bought the bar to keep me busy and Maddox worked on the guest house to get it fixed up. Renting the place out at the price we did was about us wanting to help someone who needed a hand, just like we had needed so many times in our early lives.”
“And your parents?”
“Mom died of a heart attack in prison about five years ago. Dad got out just after that, but we haven’t spoken to either of them since the day they were charged in court, and they never reached out to us,” Logan replied.
“They weren’t exactly parent material. They gave us everything we ever needed or wanted, but that was where it stopped. There wasn’t any love or affection from them. Logan and I were basically raised by nannies and each other,” Maddox added.
“I’m so sorry for everything you’ve both been through,” I sighed as I returned to my seat between them. “What happened to you, Madd. I…I can’t even…there aren’t words for how terrible it was. That woman…the wife…she should have been sent to prison too.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Logan announced.
“Anyway…” Maddox said, pulling our attention back to him. “…the reason for this long and depressing tale of woe was to make you see that you’re not alone in what happened last night to you. I suffer with PTSD after what happened to me, and I’ve zoned out on Logan more than once when the memories and my own destructive thoughts just become too much for me to deal with anymore. I’ve had panic attacks and I’m paranoid as fuck about security and keeping the people I care about safe. I have issues, Anna. A fucking ton of them. We get what you’re going through, even if we don’t know why.”
“He’s right, sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about us seeing what you’re dealing with, because it won’t be anything we haven’t already dealt with.”
“You guys are too nice,” I sighed with a sad smile to each of them.
“Not sure anyone has ever called Maddox ‘nice,’” Logan laughed.
“He is nice, to Max and I anyway,” I defended. “I guess what I meant to say was thank you. Thank you for being here for me and Max, and for giving us a place to live that’s beautiful and feels safe. Thank you for being honest with me, and patient. I know I’ve been a bit of a bitch since we moved here, but I just…I wanted to be careful. There’s only me, you know? There’s only ever been me to keep Max safe and to give him what he needs. I was doing okay at it until recently, but I…I fucked up and I can’t ever allow myself to do that again.”
“You don’t need to protect your son from us, baby. We’d never hurt either of you,” Maddox told me firmly.
“I think I’m actually starting to believe you,” I told them honestly. I shouldn’t. I knew I absolutely should not, but God help me, I really was beginning to trust them. It was like a partof that spell they seemed so able to ensnare me in, and try as I might to pull away, and maintain a distance, I just couldn’t seem to make it happen. They were luring me closer and closer to them, and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to fight it any more, which terrified me.
CHAPTER 14
ANNA
I wasn’t sure exactly how I left the hardware store after my shift that afternoon. Confused was definitely in there, along with anger too. Anger for Maddox and all he’d been through at the hands of that insane couple he hadn’t even known. Anger for both Madd and Logan, and the family that should have loved them, instead abandoning them to a care system that separated them and ultimately led to them living for years on the streets.
I was confused by what they said about being into me. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t believe I was hideous or anything, but I was no supermodel either. I was short, and too thin after the last month or so of barely being able to eat. I left pale as a skin tone a few weeks back too, and was getting more to the ‘deathly pale’ kind of pallor. Even without all of that, I wasn’t curvy or sexy. I did have a good pair of boobs for someone as slight as me, but that was about it. Logan and Maddox…well, they were like models, and not those too slim pretty boys on catwalks, but like models on the covers of those fancy sports magazines, all muscle, bronzed skin, and sexy, alluring smiles. It wasn’t an exaggeration when I said they could have their pick of women, so I had no idea why they would be drawn to me.
Then there was the whole ménage relationship thing. Was that even a thing? I thought I remembered reading something likethat in a romance novel before, but it wasn’t anything I had ever known of in real life. The guys had told me they’d had relationships like that before, so obviously they made it work to some extent, but long term? I wasn’t so convinced. What would people think of me if I were in a relationship with two guys? What would Max think about it? Hence the confusion I was also feeling.
By the time I pulled the car in through the gates of the house I was giving myself a headache with the inane but constant thoughts about what the guys had said to me. Did I even want to pursue a relationship right then? I had sworn off men, and rightfully so after what happened, but it was becoming so hard to deny myself the feelings that were building between Logan, Maddox, and I.
I could see that Logan and Maddox were cooking on the grill out on the patio again as I drove around the side of the main house, towards the cottage. Max was with them, laughing uproariously at something, and I smiled at seeing him so filled with happiness and light once again. I may be questioning if the Easton brothers were good for me, but I had no doubt they were helping my son. He was so much more relaxed and at ease when he was with them, and I wanted that for him.
He’d had no male role models in his life, which is why, I suspected, he had latched on to Madd and Logan as fast as he had, but it was good for him. I was pretty sure Logan and Maddox were about the best men I had ever known and I was good with them getting to know Max.
Maddox came jogging across the perfectly cut lawn to me before I had even pulled into our parking spot outside the cottage. By the time I stepped out he was almost to me, and I marveled at how easily he ran, knowing that he was doing so on a prosthesisand not his own lower leg. I didn’t even know which leg it was, and I only watched close enough right then, trying to figure it out, because he had told me about it. I guessed it was his left leg since he took slightly shorter steps on that side, but it was tough to tell when he had it covered in his perfectly fitting black jeans.
“Hey,” I greeted with a smile. He’d paired his black jeans with a hugging white t-shirt that clung in all the best ways to his muscular frame beneath. Him jogging towards me with a relaxed smile on his face and his focus solely on me would definitely replay in at least part of my dreams that night, I was sure.
“Everything okay?” he asked when he reached me and slowed to a stop. I was taken aback when he leaned in and softly kissed my cheek, the sensation of his coarse stubble against my skin making me instantly come alight inside.
“Good,” I nodded. “Are we grilling again?”
“That’s pretty much the only way Logan and I know to cook anything other than breakfast,” he laughed. “It’ll be the red meat that gets us in the end, for sure.”
“It’s gonna get me too if I keep eating those monster steaks you buy. You should let me cook sometime. I’m not amazing or anything, but I know a few recipes and the break from steaks might un clog some of your arteries,” I joked.
