Page 22 of Every Sunset

ANNA

I sat up with a deep, violent gasp and looked all around me in panic.

The image around me faded until there was just Callum over me with that knife, then he was gone too.

The nightmare was unclear as I fought to breathe, but the fact that I was pressing a hand through my shirt to the rough and jagged scar beneath, told me I’d been tied to my bed again, at that monster’s mercy.

“Anna?” I turned swiftly at the gentle voice and found Logan sat in a chair beside the bed I lay on. He looked exhausted.

“What?” I panted with confusion. I looked all around me and saw the darkened room I was in wasn’t my own.

The walls were white and the space around the bed was much bigger.

Maddox was laid out on a sofa that sat before the floor to ceiling window, over which hung heavy navy drapes.

“Where am I? Where’s Max?” I demanded as my panic rose.

Was I right not to trust these men? What had happened to me?

I ripped back the comforter so I could glance down my body in complete, blinding panic, but my clothes were intact and my limbs were all free to move.

“Anna, calm down, sweetheart. You’re in our house. Max is safe. He’s fast asleep in the room right next door. He wanted to stay with you but he was exhausted,” Logan told me calmly.

“Why am I here? What happened? Did I pass out?” I asked all at once as I racked my brain for my last memory. I wished I hadn’t when I recalled myself screaming at my son in the garden. I remembered getting inside and slamming the door, but the rest was just a blank.

“Kind of. You were conscious, but you weren’t responding to any of us.

It was like you just checked out. I think everything just got to be too much,” he explained, and shame filled me at realizing what I had once again put Max through with my weakness.

I was sure he’d have been terrified to see me that way.

“Max?” I uttered as tears filled my eyes.

“He’s okay, Anna. He was a little shaken up at first. He was worried you were sick, but once Maddox assured him you would come around, he calmed down. We kept him close,” Logan promised and I reached for him, grabbing his hand as he moved to take mine.

“Thank you,” I stuttered between my still too fast breaths. “F-for taking care of him. I never should have put him through that. I’m sorry.”

“Of course,” he nodded as he held my hand in his much larger one on the bed between us.

“We want to look after the both of you if you’ll only allow us to.

What happened wasn’t your fault, Anna, but it may not have happened at all if you’d just stopped being so stubborn and trying to do everything alone.

We’re here and we don’t want anything you’re not willing to give. Let us in, please.”

“I’m scared to,” I whimpered as more tears threatened.

“I know you are, sweetheart. You told me before, but look what happened. You completely spaced out. It was like you weren’t even there when we spoke to you.

Whatever happened to you, it’s too much for you to just lock away and push through.

You’ve tried and it’s not working, is it?

” he asked as he leaned closer and ran his free hand through my hair.

“I guess not,” I sniffled as I swiped at the tears that fell.

“Then give us a chance. I promise you that there’s nothing to be afraid of. Madd and I won’t hurt you. What you see is what you get with both of us. We have our own baggage that haunts us plenty, so believe me when I say we can help you with yours.”

“There are things that I can’t…and w-won’t tell you,” I warned him, and myself. No matter how close I may get to either of the Easton brothers, I could never tell them everything.

“Then tell us what you can and let us help you with that. Jesus Anna, I’d be happy if you’d just let me drive you to work and back at this point. Just give us something so we don’t have to sit back and feel so fucking useless, just watching you in pain and struggling.”

“Max is struggling too. He’s been through too much,” I admitted.

“We know and we’re gonna be here for him too. That’s what we’ve been trying to do, and Max has allowed us to get to know him a little, but not you. I think you might be the most stubborn woman I ever met,” he laughed dryly.

“Not stubborn,” I denied as I clutched his hand between both of mine. “I…I was just scared to trust myself, Logan. I learned the hard way that I have become way too trusting over the years since Max was born.”

“What do you mean?”

“I…I made a decision. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but it was the biggest mistake of my whole life and it almost cost me everything. Fuck, it cost my son way too much,” I confessed.

“Some one hurt you both?” he pushed.

Images of what I remembered of those two days and nights played out in my mind like flashes of strobe in a club and I slammed my eyes closed to try and block them out.

“I can’t…I’m sorry,” I whispered tearfully.

“Sshh. It’s okay. You don’t have to. Just breathe.

We’re here, Madd and I. We’ll keep you both safe now,” Logan soothed as he stood and scooped me into his arms so effortlessly.

He sat on the bed and set me in his lap, holding me close as I fought back those damned images and the fear they sent coursing throughout my body.

Eventually, Logan’s comfort worked to push away the memories of the past and I found myself relaxing against him, my eyes getting heavy as he continuously ran his hand up and down my back, almost rhythmically.

“I’m falling asleep,” I uttered to him in warning. I didn’t know how long he had been holding me, but I was pretty sure his legs had to be going numb with my ass pressed against them.

“That’s okay. Sleep, sweetheart. You need to rest,” Logan told me gently.

“Max…”

“He’ll be fine. We’ve got him. We’ve got both of you. Stop worrying and just rest for me,” he cut in, quelling all of my arguments and lulling me to sleep with the peace he surrounded me with.

***

The second I opened my eyes the next time and saw that it was light enough in the room to suggest I’d slept right through the evening and night, I felt embarrassed.

I remembered waking to Logan during the night, and I remembered what he’d said about me freaking out on them all and zoning out completely.

How could I allow that to happen? How did it happen?

Was the chaos so bad in my head that my brain just shut down on me?

Is that what had happened? Whatever it was, it was embarrassing to know my son and two hot neighbors had been forced to care for me the entire time.

I lifted my head from under the blanket that now covered me and looked all around the room, which was cast in sunlight beaming in around the thick curtains.

The space was still dim, but light enough to be sure Maddox and Logan weren’t in there with me, much to my relief.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to face them again after this.

I sat up completely and pushed back the covers.

Underneath I was dressed in the jean shorts and black t-shirt I had worn to work the day before.

I was covered with a sheen of sweat, though I had no idea if that was from more nightmares that had haunted my sleep, or because I was just too hot.

Either way, I was a hot mess. My hair was loose and hung wildly around my face, and as I lifted a hand to push it behind my ear, I saw how badly my hands still shook before me.

It made sense of course. I hadn’t eaten the day before, despite the lies I told Max, and I’d gone into some kind of mental break down just to end the whole charade. I wasn’t okay, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to pretend otherwise that day, at least not to anyone with eyes anyway.

I slipped from the bed and buried my feet in the thickest, softest carpet that I had ever walked on.

The rest of the room around me screamed luxury too, even with it’s stark white walls.

The solid wood furniture looked like antiques, the tall headboard of the bed I had just gotten out of, carved intricately with the most detailed and perfect flowers.

Even the sheets, underneath where my hand still rested on them, were soft, almost like silk, but without the shininess.

It all far exceeded anything I had ever experienced.

I was still leaning slightly on the bed, feeling a little unsteady on my feet when the door opened quietly. I froze, worried Maddox or Logan would walk in, but I breathed a sigh of relief when it was just Max.

“Mom, you’re up. How are you feeling?” he asked as he closed the bedroom door behind him then hurried over to me. I stepped back, settling myself on the edge of the bed, not wanting him to see how unsteady I felt when I stood, then opened my arms for him, desperate just to hold him.

“I’m okay now. I’m so sorry about yesterday…about the yelling and everything that happened after.”

“I was just worried about you. You don’t have to be sorry,” he told me as he leaned in and hugged me just as tight as I hugged him.

“I must have scared you though. I never should have allowed things to get to that point. You were right, Max. I have to do better at taking care of myself. I’ve just been such a mess since…well, you know.”

“Yeah,” he nodded as he pulled back and sat beside me instead. “I get that and you have every right to be kinda messed up after what happened. I’m sorry I kept getting on at you about stuff. I just wanted you to be okay.”

“I am okay. You know me. I’ll get through this. I promise I’m not gonna let things get as bad as they were yesterday, okay?” I told him, hating to see how tired he looked. There were dark smudges under his eyes and he was too pale. That was on me.

“I know I’m just a kid to you, mom, but you can talk to me, you know? I’m old enough to be here for you when you need me, just the way you’ve always been there for me.”