Page 4 of Every Sunset

LOGAN

I watched from my bedroom window, like a total creeper, as the kid – Max – crossed the lawn, obviously headed for the pool.

He’d seemed like a good kid- polite, strong, and confident, but wary too.

He clearly didn’t trust easily, and he demonstrated that several times in our short interaction, especially in the way he tried to protect his mother from me – not that he would ever need to do that.

I was a big guy, and I knew I looked intimidating, but I would never lay a hand on a woman or child.

I wouldn’t, but someone had laid hands on that tiny little scrap of a woman.

It was obvious from the way she trembled in my presence.

She’d been jumpy as hell, and as determined to keep me away from her kid as he’d been to keep me away from his mom.

What had they both been through? An abusive husband and father seemed most likely.

It made sense when I considered how easily she had agreed to the rental lease for the guest house, and how eager, and almost desperate she had seemed to get it all finalized.

Were they running? And if they were, was someone going to come looking for them?

I glanced over to the guest house where all seemed quiet and still, but I couldn’t stop the stress that filled me at the thought of Anna Hart being in danger.

She was so small, at barely over five feet and she’d looked so pale and exhausted.

It hadn’t taken away from the beauty of her small and delicate features, or the fire that burned in her deep, dark brown eyes when she showed her fire for just those couple of moments.

Anna Hart was not my usual type of woman.

Being as tall and built as I was, I usually looked for taller and curvier women, but something about that petite beauty had called to me the second I laid my eyes on her, and now there I stood obsessing about keeping her safe if anyone came looking for her or her kid.

I was peeking between the blinds in my room fucking spying on them both. I was losing my damned mind!

“LOGAN!” At the sound of my brother yelling irately, I rushed away from the window and out to the landing.

The last thing I needed was our new tenants witnessing one of Maddox’s meltdowns.

They were already jumpy. They’d flee for sure if they thought Madd was violent, which he wasn’t.

He just looked and sounded it when he got worked up lately.

“I’m here! What’s all the noise about?” I asked as I hurried down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

“What the fuck is that heap of junk doing blocking our gates. I had to leave my car out front!” he snapped from where he stood just inside the doorway, clearly pissed.

I had meant to move the car before he got home.

He liked to be able to drive onto the property and see the gates shut behind him before he stepped out of his truck.

It was understandable after what he had been through.

“That’s my bad. Sorry bro. I’ll get it moved now. It belongs to our new tenants,” I explained.

“They showed up then?”

“They did. A young mom and her teenage son. They seem nice. The son’s fifteen and a big guy for his age, but he’s harmless,” I warned, knowing Madd could freak out if he saw a six foot stranger wondering in the grounds.

“I’m not gonna hurt a fucking kid, Logan!”

“I know that. I just wanted to make you aware. You’re gonna have to go easy when you see the both of them. They seem jumpy. I think someone hurt them,” I added carefully.

“Who?” Maddox demanded as he stepped towards me with a fire in his eyes I so rarely saw anymore. If there was one thing that would bring back my heroic brother I had once known, it was anyone hurting innocents.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t exactly question them. Maybe the husband or a boyfriend? The kid was really protective of his mom.”

“You think they ran?” he asked. His whole body was tensed and his fists were balled at his sides.

“It’s possible. Just go easy around them, and keep your eyes open for anyone sniffing around, okay?”

“I’m not their fucking bodyguard!” he hissed, and I knew the new, bitter, and angry version of my brother was firmly back in place.

I tried to tell myself – as I always did lately – that it wasn’t all his fault, but it didn’t make me miss the brother I grew up with any less.

“Get that heap of shit moved from out front! I want to be able to drive into my own damned property!” With that he stormed past me and straight for the kitchen.

I didn’t follow. I couldn’t bare to watch him reach for the bottle I knew he was going to grab.

I was losing him piece by piece with every day that went by and that terrified me, but I had no idea how to even begin to bring him back. Or if that was even possible anymore.

Frustrated I left the house, slamming the door behind me, and found the front gates already open. Max stood at the trunk of their heap of shit car, pulling more bags from the back.

“Hey, need a hand?” I offered. The kid stood up from leaning in to the trunk so fast he probably gave himself whiplash, and the way he looked all around him warily only put me on higher alert. I was right about them having been through something bad.

“Oh, hey Logan. I’m good, thanks. I was just getting the last of our stuff,” he replied as he covered the fear on his face like an expert. It was there one second, and gone the next.

“Everything okay with the house?” I walked over and leaned against the pillar that stood one side of the gates, giving him some space between us.

He was a huge kid for his age, standing at at least six feet and looking toned, likely from swimming on his school team, but I clearly still made him nervous.

“It’s great. Way better than our last place.”

“If there’s anything you need changed or brought in, just let me know, okay? I want you and your mom to be comfortable there.”

“Thanks,” he said with a nod. He slammed closed the trunk and threw a sports bag over his shoulder, another already held in his right hand.

He stood tall as he approached me, even though he was clearly unsure, and I respected him for that.

“You need help pushing our car out of the way of the gates?” he offered.

“Yeah, actually. I was gonna ask my brother but he’s…busy. I just want to get it onto the driveway,” I explained.

“I think I saw your brother storming into the house looking pretty pissed,” Max told me as he studied me for my response.

“You don’t need to worry about Maddox. He can be an asshole, but he’d never hurt you or your mom.

He used to be a cop until an injury forced him to retire,” I explained, knowing I needed to say something.

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind Max and Anna would know Madd was a complete asshole the second they met him anyway. “No one here will hurt either of you.”

“Why would you feel the need to tell me that?”Max asked defensively. He dropped his bags on the sidewalk and crossed his arms over his chest.

“It’s pretty obvious someone hurt your mom, or you, or both of you. You were both pretty nervous around me. You still are,” I pointed out.

“I can protect my mom just fine, thanks!”

“I don’t doubt that, kid. I just wanted you to know that you’re safe here. You don’t have to be afraid of me or Maddox. We might be a little rough around the edges, especially Madd, but you can trust us.”

“My mom always says trust has to be earned,” Max told me, and I nodded my agreement.

“She’s right, and I’ll earn that trust, bud. Just give me a chance, yeah?”

“We’ll see,” he replied as he turned to the car. “We should get this moved, right?”

“Right,” I agreed.

“You want me to push and steer while you do the heavy lifting, Hulk?”

“Hulk?” I laughed. “Not very original.”

“I’ll work on it,” Max told me with the hint of a smirk on his face.

I became more believing of the kid’s statement that he could protect his mom as he helped me push their car onto the driveway of our place.

He was stronger than I expected him to be.

He told me he also used to play basketball for the school team and was part of the local youth boxing gym in his old neighborhood.

It explained how in shape he seemed to be, but he also seemed really smart for a teenager too.

Intuitive and quick on the uptake. I liked him and respected the shit out of Anna for the great kid she’d raised.

“You sure you want to leave it here? It kinda ruins the millionaire image you had going on?” Max asked playfully as we left the car outside the double garages.

“Madd will move it into the garage when he starts working on it, but it’s fine there for now. I think my image can withstand it,” I chuckled.

“Okay. I should get back to my mom,” he said as he picked up the two bags he’d recovered from the car once again.

“Is she alright? I can call the local doctor in if she has any injuries or anything?” I offered.

“She’s just beat from the drive. I’ll take care of her.

Thanks though,” Max assured me, and with those words he turned his back and started jogging back towards the guest house.

I was desperate to follow him and push him harder for information, but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t tell me a damned thing right then.

He told me himself he didn’t trust me, and why should he?

He didn’t know me yet, but he would, and he would come to trust me.

Hopefully, they both would. If Maddox didn’t fuck it all up and send them both running.