Page 39 of Every Sunset
“Maddox! Is he okay?” I cried as I ignored Logan and looked to his brother.
“He’s fine, Anna. Just breathe. He managed to break the fight up, but the parents called an end to the party. That’s all. He told me he wasn’t hurt,” Maddox told me firmly as he knelt at the side of the pool with a towel in his arms. Before I even knew what was going on, Logan had lifted me into the air and Maddox grabbed me, wrapping me in the towel, then standing with me pressed against him.
I grabbed the edges of the towel and started to dry off as fast as I could, puling away from Madd in the process. I was already half on with the hoody I arrived in when Logan climbed out and stood beside me.
“I’m coming with you,” I told Maddox flatly.
“There’s no need, Anna,” Madd argued.
“I’m coming, Maddox.”
“We’ll all go,” Logan spoke up, We both pulled on clothes hurriedly, me not even stopping to shed my wet swimsuit beneath. I just needed to get to my son. I was already regretting letting him go to the damned party.
“You’re not even dry, Anna,” Maddox said as I struggled to putt my jean shorts up my wet legs, but I didn’t care. All I could think of was that night at our apartment weeks before. All I could see was my son, stood terrified and in shock and that terror filled look on his face.
“We have to go!” I cried frantically as I finally got the shorts up and ran for the door, assuming it would be faster to go through the house to get to the car on the drive.
“Everything okay, man?” I gasped and skidded on wet tile as I tried to stop at the appearance of Tate in the doorway. I managed to remain on my feet, but only just.
“We just need to go and pick Max up,” Logan spoke up as Maddox came right over to me and took my shaking hand in his.
“I guess I should probably get sleeping beauty home too,” Tate laughed as he moved past me and went to gather Cat up into his arms.
“You okay to drive?” Maddox asked.
“All good. I only had a couple of beers.”
“Can we just go?” I demanded, knowing how rude I seemed, but I needed to get to my son. Adrenaline was surging within me and I knew it wouldn’t settle until I laid eyes on Max and saw for myself he was safe.
“We’ll meet you at the car,” Maddox said to Logan, then he was ushering me from the pool room and through the house.
“Jesus, you’re shaking like a leaf,” Maddox remarked as he reached for me when I stumbled out of the front door, and pulled me into his side. “Just try to calm down. I spoke to him, and he’s okay. The parents there won’t let him leave until we get there to pick him up.”
“I never should have let him go. I have to stop screwing up!” I hissed more to myself than to Madd.
“You didn’t screw anything up. He’s a teenager. He’s going to want to go to parties and shit. You can’t keep him home with you forever, Anna.”
“I just want to keep him safe!”
“Of course you do, but he’s a teenage boy. Even as responsible as Max is, he will get into scrapes like this. It’s what teenagers do. I think you should be proud that he was the one breaking the fight up, instead of one of the ones starting it. He’s a good kid and he has a smart head on his shoulders. You raised him right.”
I didn’t reply, because I didn’t know what else to say. Instead I got into the passenger seat of the car with a little help from Maddox, and buckled my seat belt. My anxiety wouldn’t abate and I was wringing my hands almost painfully as Maddox got into the car too, and we waited for Logan to join us.
I knew Maddox was right about Max being responsible and smart. I trusted my son to make good decisions, but Maddox didn’t know what Max had been through. No one but me did. Max was traumatized and who knew how a fight breaking out could have affected him after what he had been through?
It was my fault. All my fault. Had Max called me first? I didn’t know because I didn’t even know where I’d left my cell. I hadn’t seen it since I went home to get changed into the swimsuit, so I’d likely forgotten it there. How could I do that? I’d had too much to drink and I’d shirked my responsibility to my kid in my selfish pursuit of what exactly? Having fun? Getting off? I was so angry with myself for fucking up again. Max deserved so much better than me.
CHAPTER 16
ANNA
Finally, Logan jumped into the back of the car and we set out. It was silent and tense in the car the entire drive to the house where the party had been held. I was beating the crap out of myself mentally and I was relieved Madd and Logan weren’t trying to calm me any longer. I was too angry with myself to be calmed.
Maddox had barely even parked the car when I threw open the door and jumped out. The drive of the large, gated house, much like Logan and Maddox’s place, was filled with cars already, and I saw kids around max’s age jumping into them
“Anna, wait up!” Logan called behind me, but I ignored him as I looked around for Max, knowing I was way too panicked, but unable to stop myself.
A woman who was about a decade older than me, obviously hurriedly dressed in sweats and a baggy t-shirt walked past with me with her arm around a kid who was bleeding from his nose and already looking bruised around the left side of his face, and my fear just ratcheted up. What the hell had happened?
