Page 14 of Every Sunset

“Have you eaten today? You look pale?” he asked as he took the final step so he was now right before me.

He slowly reached up and cupped his huge hand around my cheek.

His palm felt a little rough against my skin, but in a good way, and I shuddered as goose pimples rose on my arms at his touch.

It was so gentle and cautious and it felt way too good.

He rubbed his thumb back and forth just below my eye and I closed my eyes and savored the sensation of his touch.

It filled me with a feeling of peace and contentment that I didn’t expect, but needed more than I even knew.

For some reason I didn’t fear him the way I had other men since what happened back in the city.

It had been the same with Maddox too. They both just seemed to make me feel safe when they were near.

I jolted at that realization and stepped out of his reach as panic seized me.

They make me feel safe, but with the secrets I had to keep, that comfort was a very dangerous thing.

I couldn’t fall into the trap of feeling safe with Maddox or Logan, because I knew if I did, all of the turmoil within me would come spilling out and then what would become of Max and I?

No! No matter how desperately I wanted the tenderness these men offered, I couldn’t take it.

Max came first and he always would. Protecting him was what I had been put on Earth to do and I would not allow my selfish needs and wants to ever hurt him again.

“I’m fine!” I almost snapped at him. “Just busy. I need to get on.” I turned away from him and moved to the trunk of my car, fighting not to turn and look at him again as my body was begging me to.

“Anna?” I still didn’t look up, but I knew Logan had moved closer to me.

“Sorry, I need to get these groceries inside and start on dinner. Was there something you needed to talk about?” I asked as calmly as I could, while loading my arms with the groceries.

“No. Nothing important. Do you need a hand?” he offered from where he stood off to the side at the back of my car now.

“Thanks, but I’ve got it. You should finish up your run.”

“Do I scare you Anna?” he asked, shocking me so much I lifted my head and met his eyes. He looked anxious about my answer and I knew I couldn’t lie to him.

“No,” I sighed. “You don’t scare me, Logan. Nor does Maddox. I believe what you told Max and I about you being good guys, but I…I have a lot to cope with right now.”

“I could help with that if you’d let me. I’d like it if we could be friends,” he said earnestly.

“I thought we already were.”

“So did I, but you’re avoiding Madd and I, and just now you looked as though you were afraid of me,” he pointed out.

“I’m not afraid of you Logan,” I sighed tiredly.

“But you are avoiding us,” he challenged.

“It’s not that simple. My life…Max and I…things are just messy right now, and I don’t want you or Maddox getting mixed up in it all.”

“You can trust us, Anna. If you’re running from someone, or in danger for some reason, we can and will help you and Max,” he told me vehemently.

“Thank you, but we’re not in danger. No one is coming after us. We just…we need some time and space right now.”

“I understand, but please believe you can come to me if you need anything. I get that someone has made you distrustful and wary, but you can trust my brother and I, Anna, no matter what.”

“I’m starting to see that,” I replied in a small whisper, more to myself, but Logan must have heard it because he nodded, seeming pleased.

“And that’s the problem,” I added. His face fell and he looked confused as I slammed my trunk shut, then turned my back on him and walked into my place without looking back.

***

I came to consciousness slowly, finding it a struggle to even open my eyes. I was laid on my back, which was odd for me, since I always slept on my side, but the stark white ceiling I was staring at proved it.

My head was pounding and I felt a little groggy as I turned my head to look for the time on my alarm clock, which sat on the nightstand.

The red letters shone against the black background – 04:00.

I groaned as I tried to recall when I had even gone to bed the night before.

I felt as though I hadn’t even slept. I tried to turn over completely on my side, but froze when something stopped me from doing that.

I looked to where something was pulling at my right wrist and stared in horror at the rope tied around it so tightly my hand was a strange shade of purple.

When I looked to my other hand with blind panic I found that wrist wrapped tightly in thick rope too.

The rope was coming from beneath the mattress and gave me enough room to move my arms a little, but not enough to even sit up.

Fear filled me as I looked down my body and realized I was naked and also tied to the base of the bed by ropes around my ankles.

Fear consumed me as my heart started to beat so fast and loud that the sound rattled through my ears. I pulled violently at the ropes as I panicked in a way I never had before. I tried hard to remember what had happened to land me in the situation I found myself.

Max was away for the weekend. That was my first thought, and it was a reassuring one.

He’d gone camping for the weekend with a couple of his friends from school, and a couple of the guys dad’s.

They were going to spend the weekend out on some fancy lake outside of the city, so Max was safe at least.

Then it came to me. The dating site. I’d signed up in a moment of weakness the week before.

I was so sick of being alone, and I didn’t see the harm in putting myself out there, just to see if anyone would even be interested in a thirty-one year old single mom.

My son was sixteen and pretty independent.

I just felt like it might be time for me to get out into the world again and find some kind of connection.

It had been so long since I even got laid, let alone had any kind of a relationship.

I had thought I would be safe looking through ads on my cell from the comfort of my home.

I’d been shocked when guys started messaging me and flirting with me.

One of them had been so funny and witty, but also kind and generous with the compliments.

I’d agreed to meet up with him on Friday night, knowing my son would be busy and away from home.

It wasn’t that Max didn’t want me to date, but I was just wary of bringing anyone into his life when I knew only too well what assholes men could turn out to be.

But the guy I chatted with…what was his name?...he’d seemed so genuine and kind. He said he was an elementary school teacher and in all of the photos he sent me he was smiling and looked so genuine and harmless. Callum! That was the guys name! I recalled.

That’s what I’d done the night before…a date.

I met him at a steakhouse I’d been to with Max before.

The place had been busy when I arrived so I had thought I was safe.

Callum turned up just after me and he was handsome.

He looked just like every one of his pictures.

I remembered us sitting down and me ordering a beer.

I’d been nervous, but Callum was confident and sure.

I tried to remember what happened next. Did he do this to me?

Then the door to my room opened and all thought left my mind as pure, adrenaline soaked terror filled me.

“Finally awake. About damned time!” Callum walked into the room.

He was shirtless and wearing a pair of tight fitting black jeans.

His feet were bare and in his hand glinted a wicked looking knife.

It wasn’t a kitchen knife. More like a hunting knife, and it was at least five inches long as he held it casually at his side.

“Wh-what is this? What do you want?” I gasped through my frenzied and erratic breaths as I still fought to get free of the ropes.

“Everything you have to give, little Anna,” he uttered as he turned a terrifyingly chilling smile on me.

He strode towards the bed and crawled onto the end, then he was over me, caging me in as he lifted the knife and pressed the tip of it into the skin on my chest, just above my breasts.

I held my breath and watched on, unable to do anything to fight him, sure he was going to end me right then and there by plunging that blade into my chest. Instead he just smiled, all kindness gone from his face as he pressed the tip down harder and sliced down between my breasts and right down to my navel.

I screamed at the burning pain of the knife through my flesh.

I could feel the warmth of my own blood running down my skin on both sides of my body.

It felt like he had sliced me clean open and I was sure it was the end for me.

“MOM!” I felt hands grab my arms and I was shaken awake from the nightmare. “Mom, wake up!” Max was yelling at me as I opened my eyes in terror and looked all around us.

“Max!” I gasped as I grabbed his waist and tried to pull him closer to me, but he didn’t move.

“I’m okay, mom. We’re both okay. Just take some deep breaths,” he coached as he released my arms and instead perched on the edge of the bed beside me.

“Oh God! Thank God!” I cried breathlessly as I sat up and wrapped my arms around him, holding him as tight as I could. “I’m sorry, Max. I’m s-so so sorry!”

“Sshh mom. You have nothing to be sorry for. It wasn’t your fault,” Max told me as he held me just as tightly as I held him.

“It was. I was so fucking stupid!” I cried as I fought to breathe between my desperate words.

“Just stop. You have to try and calm down. You’re gonna pass out if you don’t,” he warned as he continued to hold me.

He was so much bigger than me now and it terrified me.

I longed for the days when he was small enough for me to wrap myself around him and protect him. Now he was the one wrapped around me.