Page 42 of Every Sunset

“W-we got him into the trunk and I dr-drove the car out of the city. I d-don’t even remember where I drove.

I was too focused on not passing out. Eventually we ended up on a back road, miles from the city.

There was a ravine and it was surrounded by woods.

The head wound…Callum’s head wound…it was at the front of his head so I…

.I thought a car accident would look real, you know?

Max got the bastard into the driver’s seat with he engine running and the hand brake off.

We pushed the car….o-or Max did mainly, anyway.

The slight hill down the small ravine took it fast enough that it hit a tree head on. ”

“The car would have been covered in yours and Max’s finger prints, baby,” Maddox pointed out.

“N-no,” I gasped, feeling out of breath. “I w-was careful. We s-sat on plastic in the seats and wore rubber dish gloves. I wiped everything in the car down anyway before we pushed it over. I w-was so careful, but I…I never considered he wasn’t damn well dead!”

“What happened then?” Logan pushed.

“We s-set off walking. Max was carrying the rolled up, bloody rug. Once we made it about a mile away we walked into the woods and set it on fire. We waited for it to burn to ash, then covered it with dirt and debris from the forest. My plan was for us to walk to a gas station, then order a cab from a public phone. I h-had cash to pay for it. I planned everything, but I…I should have taken care of the cuts…the bleeding. I passed out before we got near the city. Max…he had to carry me the rest of the way. I was in the cab when I came back around. It dropped us a block from our place and again Max had to carry me to our apartment. He was so scared about how hurt I was, but I knew we couldn’t go to the hospital. ”

“You should have called the cops right away. What max did was self-defense, Anna. He wouldn’t have faced charges. You could have killed yourself doing all of that when you were in such a bad state,” Maddox admonished.

“I couldn’t take that risk!” I snapped as I lifted my head and glared at him.

“It was my mess! My fucking idiotic mistake! I would never do anything that would cause Max to pay for my selfishness. I’ve seen the way these things go, Madd.

What if that guy was the son of someone important?

Max could have been hung out to dry and spent the rest of his life behind bars!

I would never chance that. I’d have happily died that night so long as I knew Max was safe and in the clear! ”

“None of what happened was your fault, Anna,” Logan sighed.

“Yes, it damn well was, and I will never change my mind on that. I was an idiot. I allowed myself to be selfish and I got what I deserved, but Max should never have had to face the consequences too. He should never have had to deal with what we did that night!”

“Anna…”

“Anyway,” I cut Logan off. Nothing he could say would ever ease the terrible guilt and shame I felt over my stupid, selfish mistakes.

“It took me a few days to get enough strength to move around. We managed to keep the wounds clean and dressed and Max got some strong painkillers from a friend who had broken his leg the summer before and hadn’t finished the supply.

I told school Max had mono and he stayed with me.

We both spent most of the time flicking between news networks and checking online for news of the body being found, but nothing ever came up.

We bleached the whole apartment like six times, top to bottom, then we started packing.

I knew we couldn’t stay there. Two weeks later I signed the contract online for your guest house and a few days after that we arrived here.

I thought that was it. I thought we’d be safe from it all here. We’re so far away now.”

“And you’re sure you saw that sonofabitch today outside the hardware store?” Maddox asked.

“Yes,” I nodded, but then I thought about the way I had questioned Tate, wondering if it had been him who I saw and just panicked. “No. Maybe,” I shrugged.

“What do you mean, sweetheart?”

“I was so sure when he stood opposite me through the glass. My fear, the way my heart pounded almost out of my chest and that desperate need to flee, it was all so real. I was so sure it was him, but then when Tate pulled me out of the road I…I wondered if it had just been him I saw instead. Tate said he hadn’t been outside the store, but if I had doubts then, maybe Callum wasn’t really there at all,” I tried to explain, knowing I sounded like I was losing my mind.

“I…I have flashbacks sometimes. I see his face. He’s in my nightmares every time I close my eyes.

Maybe I just started to see him in my real life now too,” I sniffled.

“Sshh baby. It’s okay. We’ll figure it out,” Maddox promised.

“Neil has a ton of surveillance cameras around the store. Maybe one of them caught something. We can ask him for the footage tomorrow, okay?” Logan added, and I nodded gratefully.

I was terrified to have it confirmed that Callum was alive and after us, but I was also terrified to have it confirmed no one had been there at all, and that I really was losing my mind.