Page 58 of Every Sunset

ANNA

I saw Logan waiting outside the department we had been directed to from the I.C.U.

I was already pissed with him for not bothering to tell us when I texted him, where Maddox had been moved to.

I’d been horrified when Max and I walked into the room we’d left Madd in the night before, only to find it completely empty.

For one awful minute I’d thought I’d lost him, and Logan hadn’t even bothered to tell me.

Thankfully, a nurse who recognized me from the previous night, had calmed me down quickly by explaining Maddox had been moved out of the I.C.U. because he was improving speedily.

Of course, knowing I’d reached out to Logan earlier and he’d mentioned nothing, had only served to fuel Max’s rage, and he had plainly told me the only reason he was staying was to look out for me, He told me he didn’t care about Logan or Madd anymore, but he wasn’t fooling either of us.

I knew as well as he did that he was just hurting because of the way Logan had acted the day before.

“Anna.” Logan stood and started towards us the second he saw us.

“Nice work keeping us updated, asshole. Mom freaked when we got to the other room and found it empty, but maybe that’s what you wanted?

” Max barked right away. His chest was heaving with fury as he yelled at Logan, and I had to grab his arm to pull him back, scared he was actually going to hit the man.

“Max!” I cried.

“Fuck. I didn’t think. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. Max’s right. I should have told you they moved Madd,” Logan rushed to apologize. “I’d never hurt your mom knowingly, Max.”

“Then what the fuck do you call what happened yesterday?” Max threw back.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I stepped in and I pushed myself in front of Max, “We all just need to calm down.”

“Madd’s doing much better this morning. The doctors said he’s out of danger, and they think he’ll even be able to go home in the next couple of days.

He’s been sat up and eating this morning.

I’m so sorry I scared you,” Logan told me more calmly.

“You can go in and see him if you want to, but I was hoping we could maybe talk a little first, if that’s okay? ”

“About what?” Max demanded before I could utter a word.

“Max! That’s enough now,” I hissed as I grabbed his arm once again and pulled him to my side. “We talked about this. I said I didn’t want you being rude,” I reminded him in a lowered voice.

“I want to apologize, Max, to your mom and to you too. I’d like to talk with the both of you if you’ll give me a few minutes?

” Logan requested, and when I looked over to him he looked almost scared that I would deny him.

It was hurting me to see him looking so pained, especially on top of how exhausted and pale he was.

“Let’s go and get a coffee,” I suggested.

I wanted to try and make sure Logan ate something, and despite Max’s anger, I was eager to hear Logan out.

I was desperate for him to give me some explanation for his behavior the day before, that would allow not just me to forgive and forget, but my son too.

More than anything I just wanted things to go back to the way they had been between us all before Callum crawled out from under that jetty and destroyed everything.

There was silence between the three of us as I led the way back down to the café that sat near the main entrance of the hospital.

When we walked in things became more awkward as we all looked to each other and tried to decide what happened next.

Max was glaring at Logan, his jaw tense and his fists clenched.

Logan was trying not to meet his gaze, but it was obvious he could see and likely feel how pissed my son was with him.

“Max, grab a table, honey. You want a coffee?” I asked, desperate to do something to ease the tension.

“No. I’m good, thanks, mom.” With that he finally turned his glare from Logan and went to sit at a table in the back corner of the dreary café. It was pretty empty, the decor white and stark and not a single window in the whole space.

“I’m sorry. He’s just angry and feeling pretty protective after what happened yesterday,” I told Logan as we both walked towards the counter.

“He’s right to be angry with me. I failed you both yesterday. I should have taken care of you guys and I didn’t.”

“Let’s just get some coffee. When’s the last time you ate anything?” I asked, not ready to dive into deep conversation just yet, and I wasn’t sure Logan was ready to either. He looked dead on his feet.

“Please don’t, Anna. I already feel shitty enough about the way I treated you, without you being nice and worrying about me,” he almost pleaded as he lowered his gaze to the ground.

“Hey!” I said as I placed my hands either side of his face and lifted it until his eyes met mine. “I’m not going to say you didn’t hurt me yesterday, but I don’t want you beating yourself up over it. You were entitled to feel the way you felt, and you still are. I’m a big girl. I can handle it.”

“I didn’t…I…I don’t…” It was the first time I had ever seen Logan struggle to find his words and I took mercy on him.

“Food and coffee, then we can talk, okay?” I said, cutting him off.

He just nodded and moved behind me as I went over to the counter.

I ordered us all coffees and three different sandwiches.

I wasn’t hungry, but I was hoping if the food was on the table, Logan would realize how starved he was and would eat it.

Logan dove in to pay for the order before I could, and when I looked up at him to argue he just gave me a pleading look, which I instantly gave in to.

If it made him feel better to pay, I could give him that.

Logan insisted on carrying the tray filled with our order when it was ready, so I followed him over and we both took a seat with Max.

I handed Max a coffee, despite him saying he didn’t want one, then laid out the sandwiches on the table.

Relief flooded me when Logan grabbed half a cheese salad sub and took a bite.

I noticed as he brought it to his mouth that his hand was trembling slightly, which was so unlike him.

Max busied himself stirring sugar and creamer into his coffee, which was what I was hoping he would do when I bought him the coffee – a distraction from just glaring at a clearly beaten and battered Logan.

“Maybe we should take Maddox up a coffee? I don’t suppose he’ll enjoy the sludge they serve with the crappy food,” I said after a few tense moments of silence.

“Yeah, he’s been complaining about the coffee and food all morning. I told him I’d go and get him a burger and decent coffee while you were with him,” Logan replied.

“Is he in a lot of pain?” I asked.

“He says not, and he’s refusing any painkillers the nurses offer him.

He doesn’t like to take strong drugs. They mess with his head and since the head injury…

well, he says his head is messed up enough,” Logan explained.

“That’s why I acted that way yesterday, not that it’s a valid excuse, but I…

I saw Logan laid out and bleeding and all I could think of was before… when I found him before…”

“After he was run over and attacked, you mean?” I questioned.

“I found him that night, you know? He was late meeting me, which wasn’t like him and he wasn’t answering his phone, so I tracked his location with this app we had.

I walked out of the club and around the building and there he was, laid on the ground, covered in blood, his leg barely attached below his knee anymore.

He wouldn’t wake up then either. I was so sure he was going to die, just like I was sure I was going to lose him yesterday too.

Fucker keeps surprising me and holding on though, thank fuck,” Logan gasped.

He was breathless, like talking was too much exertion on his exhausted body, and his eyes were filled with tears.

He pushed his shaky hand through his hair as he glanced nervously to Max.

“I know what happened to Madd before,” Max told him. “He told me when I asked about his leg.”

“It was bad. The brain injury caused him these horrific symptoms at first. He’d have these night terrors that broke him, and he’d wake up yelling and crying out every time he slept.

His paranoia was really bad too. When he was in the hospital he refused to trust anyone but me.

He would go through days when he wouldn’t allow any of the medical staff to come anywhere near him, and if they tried he got violent.

But it was his fear that was the worst thing.

He was so scared and traumatized after what had happened to him, and because of the his own brain messing with him.

He’d try to hide if he were ever left alone, and when I was there he’d hold on to me the way he used to when he was a terrified kid, like I were the only thing that could keep him safe.

“What happened to him…it destroyed him. Even when I got him home he refused to leave the house, and his fears and paranoia just got worse. I had to sleep in his room with him every night for over three months, because if he woke up alone he’d get so scared that I feared he’d end up hurting himself.

“It took so long for his doctors to get his meds right to help him, and once they did and he started to come back to who he’d been, he realized how much he’d lost and sank into depression.

His leg. His career. His future as he knew it.

It was all gone. So was my brother. I only started to get him back when the two of you came into our lives. ”

“So yesterday it brought it all back, seeing him laid out and bleeding. You thought it was happening all over again?” I pushed.

“Yeah, and I was so fucking angry and scared, but I wasn’t really mad with you, Anna. I turned it on you, and I don’t know why I did that, but it was myself I was blaming. It was me who failed my brother all over again.”