Page 52 of Every Sunset
I was relieved when Max got to his feet and allowed me to embrace him as I felt I needed to. His body was shaking as I wrapped my arm around the top of his back and pulled him close.
“It’s gonna be alright, bud. I promise you,” I tried to reassure him.
“I know,” he agreed as he pulled back from my hold and swiped at his eyes with some unnecessary embarrassment.
I patted him on the shoulder as he furiously swiped at more tears in his eyes. He was obviously badly shaken up, and I wondered what, or who, could have him so terrified.
As Max backed away and slid back into the seat he’d been in before, I noticed Anna for the first time. She was sitting on the seat opposite her son, her knees pulled up to her chest and making herself so small I hadn’t been able to see her around Maddox when I walked in. She was pale too, and I could see her entire body trembling even from where I stood. She looked up at me, and the fear I saw reflected at me from her red, puffy eyes hit me like a physical punch. She was trying to hide the fact she was terrified for the sake of her son, but she wasn’t doing a very successful job of it.
“Jesus, sweetheart,” I gasped as I moved closer and leaned over the table to get closer to her. “What happened?”
“I’m okay,” she squeaked tearfully, then she dropped her head to her knees, hiding from me.
“Is she hurt?” I demanded as I looked to Madd.
“I don’t think so, but we should get them both home,” he told me quietly.
“Home?” Max gasped. “We can’t! Tell them, mom! We can’t go back there. He’ll know…he’s been watching us and he has to know where we live, right mom?”
“I..I don’t know,” Anna floundered as she lifted her head and looked between Madd and I, almost as though she were a little dazed. I wondered if she were in some kind of shock. She’d almost been hit by a car, swept violently from the road byTate, and seen a ghost from her past. It made sense she’d be struggling.
“Our house is the safest place you guys can be right now,” Maddox told her as he turned in the seat so he faced her a little more. He took her hand in his and rubbed it between his own like she was cold.
“No. We should go. We have to run, mom. If that fucker came this far to follow us, it’s bad. It’s really, really bad. He’ll hurt you again. We have to get away from here and from him,” Max panicked as he struggled to his feet again and looked poised to flee.
“How about we just get back to our place for now? Your mom’s in no condition to do anything but rest right now, Max,” I pointed out as calmly as I could. “Madd’s right. Our place is very secure. We’ll know the second anyone tries to break in, and we can handle this guy, whoever he is. We can and will protect you and your mom.”
“He’s right, Max. Us running off alone right now seems like a bad plan. As much as I hate dragging the guys into my mess, I think they’re the only ones who can protect us right now,” Anna spoke up, her words sounding exhausted and shaky.
“We could go to the cops,” Max suggested, but Anna just shook her head vigorously.
“I won’t risk your future, honey. The cops aren’t an option,” she told her son as she looked up to him and forced a smile. “Just try to trust me, okay? I made this mess. I’ll find a way to fix it.”
After thanking Tate and Cat for all of their help, and telling Tate to keep the bar closed and take a much needed night off after what he did to save Anna earlier, we all left the diner. Max wasexhausted and terrified, and Anna was in such a state I ended up scooping her up and carrying her out to Madd’s car, which we all decided to ride in together. I’d get my truck later. Right then, when Madd and I really weren’t sure who or what we were dealing with, staying together was the best option we had.
Both Maddox and I were resolute in our need to keep Anna and Max safe, and the second we left that diner and set off home, we were both in protector mode, our heads on a swivel the entire drive back. We had meant the words we had said – there was nothing we wouldn’t do to protect the both of them. It would just be a whole lot easier to do that if we knew who we were protecting them from.
CHAPTER 21
ANNA
“I should be down there with you when you tell them, mom,” Max protested again from where he was sat on the end of the large bed in one of the guest rooms in the big house. Logan and Maddox had already made it clear to me and to Max that we could no longer stay in the guest house, or my cottage, as I had dubbed it. They wanted us close in the main house, where they said the security was better and where they’d be with us. I hadn’t argued because I was terrified to be alone with Max knowing that mad man was alive and coming for us.
“No,” I shook my head. “I can handle telling the guys everything. You don’t need to hear it all, honey. You’ve been through enough.”
“I haven’t been through anything like as much as you have, mom. Just stop trying to protect me! You can’t! I’m not a kid any more. If that bastard is coming for us, I can help keep you safe,” he argued, but the redness around his still glassy eyes was enough to have me sticking to my guns. Maybe Max wasn’t a kid anymore. Maybe he was growing into a strong, protective, amazing man, but I was still his mom, and it would always be my job to protect him as much as I possibly could. This – the recounting of everything that had happened with Callum – Max could be spared all of that at least.
“You’re right,” I agreed as I sat on the bed beside him and wrapped my arm around his back. “You’re not a kid. I know that, but I will always be your mom, Max, no matter how old you are. Please just let me spare you this talk. I can’t stand to see you upset again today. You may be grown, but you’ll always be my baby, and I need to be able to protect you too sometimes,” I pleaded as I ran my hand in soothing circles over his broad back.
“I don’t want you to be upset again either though. You’re the one who’s been through enough. I want to be there for you.”
“You are, Max. You have always been, since the day you were born and I held you in my arms. Having you at my side has gotten me through so many days that I thought I’d never survive. You are always here for me, but I can handle this. It’s just a conversation,” I assured him. I was relieved when he let loose a deep sigh that I was sure was him giving in.
“Is it true? What they said? Logan said he loved you,” he asked instead.
“He can’t love me. He barely knows me,” I scoffed, but deep inside I knew the feelings I had for both Logan and Maddox were stronger than any I had ever known, and the ‘L’ word wasn’t that crazy.
“Are you dating them? Like, both of them?”
