Page 12 of Every Sunset

“I know that. I want you to go and wait in the hall for me, okay? I’m going to try and get close enough to wake him,” I told her.

“I c-can’t leave him!”

“He’d never forgive himself if he hurt you, Anna. It’s safer if you wait outside,” I explained.

“You can’t hurt him.”

“I won’t. You know I won’t.” I was relieved when she nodded. At least she trusted me enough to agree with that.

I watched to make sure she went, then pushed the door closed behind her. I knew she was strong, and liked to play that she was tough too, but she was also small and seemed so fragile right then. I didn’t want her to get hurt.

Max was still wielding the hockey stick, and I was surprised that he hadn’t exhausted himself yet, but he hadn’t since he still gripped the thing tightly and swung it with force.

“Max,” I said sharply, hoping my deeper voice might startle him enough to bring him back to reality. Instead he just turned towards me and swung harder.

“Just go mom!” he cried. “Just run!”

“Max, your mom is safe. You’re both safe.

You need to wake up now,” I told him calmly.

As I was speaking I was edging closer around his bed to him.

Just before he moved to lunge for me, I leapt at him, catching his arms as I did and we landed on his bed, him beneath me and face down.

The jolt did as I hoped it would and I felt him freeze beneath me.

“Max?” I said gently, not daring to let him go until I was sure he was awake.

“Maddox? What the fuck?” he panted. “Get the fuck off me!” He pushed up, lifting me with him, which again, surprised me. He was even stronger than he looked. I put my good leg on the floor and pushed myself up to standing.

“What are you….where’s my mom?!” he raged as he turned over and scrambled to get to his feet.

“I’m here, Max. I’m okay. Everything’s alright,” Anna said as she raced into the room.

She was dressed in an oversized t-shirt, her legs bare.

Her rich chocolate brown hair was a wild nest atop her head and her face was red from crying, but still I couldn’t deny she was beautiful.

She was so petite, but she also had curves I definitely wouldn’t mind getting my hands on.

Her eyes were wide and framed with long, thick lashes I knew had to be natural, since she rarely even seemed to bother with makeup.

I couldn’t see from across the room, but I knew, from sitting opposite her earlier in the day, that they were a swirling mix of pale blue and gray.

Her coloring was pale, almost like porcelain, and she had the whole ‘dainty’ thing going on.

Her son had inherited her dark hair and blue eyes, but his complexion was different, darker. I guessed whoever the Dad was, he was likely of Mediterranean or maybe even Latino decent.

“Mom? What’s going on?” Max demanded as he placed himself between me and her. His protective instincts were admirable. I doubted there was anything he would not do to keep his mother safe.

“You were having a nightmare, honey. You were yelling and Maddox heard you. I tried to wake you, but…well, I couldn’t get close,” Anna tried to explain.

“I thought you were both in danger,” I added, trying to explain myself and the kicked in front door they were going to discover soon.

Max looked around his now destroyed bedroom, his eyes landing on the hockey stick on the bed.

“I did this?” he gasped.

“You were having a night terror, bud. I’ve had them myself in the past,” I told him, hoping to ease the fear I saw fill his face.

“Did I hurt you? Did I hurt my mom?” he asked as he looked from me to Anna with terror.

“No!” Anna cried. “You didn’t hurt anyone. Everything’s alright.” She moved over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling his head down and against her shoulder as he started to cry.

“Anna, take him to your room, sweetheart. I’ll tidy up here,” I told her.

She smiled at me gently as she released Max just enough to lead him out of the room.

I heard her speaking softly to him as they went.

My heart hurt for that poor kid. He was too young to have gone through whatever he had already in his life.

I had no real idea what had happened, but judging by his fear in that night terror, it was bad.

It was so obvious now why they were both so cautious and wary of Logan and I.

We were both big guys, and not just in height.

We both liked to work out and had always kept active.

We had to be intimidating to Anna and Max.

I just hoped that we were already beginning to prove to them that we were safe and that we wouldn’t hurt either of them.

I grabbed a trash can from the corner of the room and moved over to the fallen dresser to start collecting the broken glass from a mirror that had also been broken in the carnage.

As I knelt on the floor, I pulled my phone from my pocket and hit dial on Logan’s contact.

I could try to fix the front door myself, but it was going to be a hell of a lot more secure and solid if my brother did it.

“Madd? What’s wrong?” Logan answered.

“How long until you get back here?” I asked quietly.

“Just locking up now. What happened?”

“Max had a night terror. A really bad one. I heard him yelling and crying out. I just panicked. He sounded like he was being hurt. I might have smashed through the front door of the guest house to get to them.”

“Fuck. Are they both alright?”

“Yeah. Kid smashed his room up pretty good, but they’re both unscathed.”

“Stay with them. I’m on my way now.” With that Logan hung up the call and I set to work trying to straighten up Max’s bedroom as best I could.

Once I got the dresser upright it seemed good, but much of what had sat on top of it was destroyed, as were the pictures that he’d obviously hung on the wall.

I threw out the frames but salvaged the arty prints from inside. They’d just need new frames.

“Maddox?” I looked up to the doorway and found Anna leant on the frame, just watching me. She’d pulled on jeans and a sweater, but I could see she was still shaken, her eyes red and puffy.

“How is he?” I asked as I rose from the carpet and walked towards her.

“Asleep, thankfully. He was scared that he got that violent. He’s worried he’ll hurt me if it happens again,” she told me. Her voice was raspy and she sounded completely exhausted.

“He’s not wrong. He’s a lot bigger than you,” I replied honestly.

“He’d never hurt me. It wasn’t his fault. He…he went through something. The nightmares are to be expected.”

“Did he speak with anyone…a professional, I mean, about what happened to him?”

“No. Not yet, but I’ll look into it,” she said, and they were the right words, but something about the way she looked away from me as she said it, made me question her honesty.

“You need to call me or Logan if this happens again. Let us come and deal with Max. He’s right that he could hurt you,” I said, hating the way she wouldn’t meet my eyes. I needed to move the conversation on and that did it. She looked to me with fire in those eyes.

“He’s my son! I can handle things just fine!” she snapped.

“Oh yeah? What was your plan when I walked in? Max may be your son but he’s still almost a foot taller than you and at least fifty pounds heavier.

When he has a nightmare like that, he doesn’t see you.

He doesn’t even know you’re there. He’s trapped in the past and if you get in his way, he will hurt you,” I warned her.

“Hey. The door was open,” Logan joked as he appeared in the doorway. “Everything okay here?”

“Logan? What are you doing here too? It’s the middle of the night?” Anna asked.

“I called him. He needs to fix the front foor,” I explained sheepishly.

“The front door?” Anna looked to Logan with confusion, then she seemed to realize. “You broke in when you heard Max screaming?”

“Yeah. Didn’t think I had time to stop and find keys,” I shrugged.

“It’s fine. He just bust the lock. Luckily, the door is solid oak so it didn’t break. I can fit a new lock right now,” Logan assured her. “How’s Max?”

“He was scared and upset, but he fell asleep again, which is good, I guess.”

“You want to talk about what happened that had him that scared. He was yelling for you? Was he trying to protect you?” I asked pushily.

Anna visibly paled before us and I saw her falter as she leaned more heavily against the doorframe, like her legs had tried to buckle under her.

“No, I don’t want to talk about it!” she hissed. “Look, I appreciate you both coming to help us, but we’re fine. Max will be fine,” she went on in a gentler tone, but it was clear I’d pushed too hard and we were being dismissed.

“You are fine, or you’ll be fine? Which is it, Anna?”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a nosey, pushy bastard?” she growled as she sent me a stone cold glare.

“I’m sure he hears it plenty,” Logan laughed awkwardly. “Just let me replace that lock downstairs so everything’s secure, then we’ll both be out of your hair.”

“Might as well get used to us both though, sweetheart. We live right next door. We’re not going anywhere,” I added, and I had to admit I loved the fire in her eyes when she turned that glare on me all over again.

It was cute. She was cute and I found I quite enjoyed firing her up.

Maybe that could become my new addiction, used to keep my mind from the pity it was filled with.

It did sound like fun and she looked so damned sexy when she was pissed with me.