Page 9 of Every Sunset

ANNA

I was almost running to keep up with Maddox as he charged through their home like he was as desperate to get this whole thing done as I was.

Inside, what I saw of their place was quite a contrast to the very traditional exterior.

Inside it was modern and bright. The walls were painted white and varying shades of gray.

The huge windows that seemed to line every wall were covered minimally with blinds they kept pulled up to allow in more natural light.

The furniture was all made of what I guessed was very solid and chunky dark oak.

It almost had a handmade look to it, but not in a bad way.

It looked like the work of a real craftsman and it was beautiful.

Typical of the home of two guys, a huge flat screen television hung on the wall before a black leather sectional and several matching armchairs.

Maddox ended up in the kitchen, which was a part of the huge open concept living space the entire ground floor seemed to have been modernized into.

The kitchen was made up of white, glossy cabinets and solid, dark wood countertops that matched the furniture I already coveted.

On the counters it was very minimalist, with just a coffee machine and a blender in sight.

The whole place was immaculately clean and it smelled of some citrus cleaning product.

“This place is amazing,” I said awkwardly. I was standing in the middle of the kitchen, watching Maddox rummage through one of the lower cabinets and I just felt the need to break the silence.

“Logan did it all,” he replied flatly as he continued to search for something.

I tried hard not to ogle his ass as he dropped to his knees on the floor so he could get further into the cabinet, but it was a really good ass.

I could see even more clearly now how muscular he was under that t-shirt he wore, the fabric molding to the muscles across his back as he leaned into the cabinet.

He and Logan were very much alike, except where Logan had brown, kind of wild hair, Maddox’s was even darker and much shorter.

He had the same strong, almost square jaw as Logan, but he also had prominent cheek bones that gave him the look of a movie star, or maybe a sports model for one of those fancy men’s magazines.

In short Maddox and Logan were pretty much my idea of sex on a stick – sex that I was long, long overdue, and completely desperate for.

But I couldn’t have them, even if they were interested in me.

I’d fucked everything up for me and for Max the last time I tried to find some kind of love life for myself and, no matter what, I could never make that mistake again.

As nice as both of these men seemed – okay, maybe Maddox wasn’t exactly ‘nice’ but I did believe he was good, anyway – I could not risk my instincts being wrong again. Celibacy lay ahead for me and I knew it. Why change the habit of a lifetime anyway?

“Anna?” My name was said sharply, startling me, and when I snapped out of my thoughts I found Maddox on his feet stood just inches before me, a green first aid bag under his arm. He seemed annoyed and I considered just how long I had been zoned out.

“Sorry,” I uttered, praying he hadn’t caught me ogling him when he was on the floor.

“Did you hit your head when you fell?” he asked as he bobbed down enough to see into my eyes.

“What?” I knew I should be listening, but I was caught up in his eyes.

They, like everything else about him, were beautiful.

They were green like Logan’s, but where Logan’s were light in shade, Maddox’s were the complete opposite.

Green, such a deep, dark, sparkling green, just like two perfect emeralds.

There was so much depth in them too. As he met my eyes I felt the need to look away before he saw everything that I worked so hard to hide in just one glance.

“You could have a concussion. Do you feel nauseous?” he asked as he gently placed his hand around the side of my face and tried to tilt my head up to look into my eyes.

A small gasp left me at the heat of his hand as it touched my skin. Just that small contact had me coming alive with tingles, which was insane! I was a thirty-one year old woman, not a horny teenager.

“No…I…I didn’t hit my head. I’m fine. I’m good,” I babbled as I fought to get myself together and reluctantly backed away from his touch.

“So it’s normal for you to space out on people like this then?” he asked as he took a step back too.

“I didn’t space out,” I argued. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Like the reason you’re running?” he asked as he stared hard at me, unrelenting. The comment took me so by surprise I floundered for an answer. “Come and sit here,” he told me when I just stood staring at him, likely looking like a deer in the headlights. Way not to give the game away, Anna!

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I managed to force out. I was such a shitty liar and I knew it.

“Yes you do,” he said nonchalantly. He took hold of my arm gently and led me around the corner of the huge central island that sat in the middle of the vast kitchen.

He led me to a stool and I automatically climbed onto it and sat.

Maddox sat kitty corner to me and started pulling items out of the first aid bag, which he'd set on the counter.

“You’ve barely even met me. You d-don’t know anything,” I argued.

“I’ve seen enough. You’re jumpy and suspicious.

Your kid too, though he’s better at hiding it than you.

I know you rented the guest house in a really big fucking hurry, and that you turned up here with only what you could pack quickly and fit in your car.

I know you’re scared,” he told me as he grabbed my hand.

As he spoke he seemed to assess the damage, not even meeting my eyes.

“You know all of that after meeting me once when you were falling down drunk,” I scoffed, though inside I was starting to freak out. This guy had been a cop. Would he figure everything out? Could he call some contact he had on the force and have us arrested for what we’d done?

“You live on my property. I’ve seen enough,” he shrugged. He pulled some cleaning wipes from small packets and started to wipe away some of the blood from my hand.

“So you’ve been spying on us?”

“Not spying. I’m sure Logan already told you I’m a little paranoid. I like to keep an eye on things,” he shrugged again and it was pissing me off. He was fucking with my entire life and he seemed way too damned relaxed about it.

“You know what? Thanks for your help, but I’m good. I can clean my hands up myself. I...I have to go,” I stuttered as I pulled my hand from his gentle hold and slid from the way too tall stool.

“Come back here and stop freaking out. I don’t care what you’re running from,” he sighed as he lifted his head and finally looked at me.

“The only reason I pushed on the subject was because I want to know if you’re in danger.

I need to know if someone’s going to come sniffing around looking for you. ”

“We’re not running from any…”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay. You’re not running,” he cut me off.

“Like I said, don’t care! Just tell me if I need to up security around here though, yeah?

Logan is renting that place to you for a steal.

Least you can do is be honest about this one thing.

” He glared hard at me and I gave in. He was right.

Logan was being so good to us. Maddox too in his own asshole-ish way.

He was working on my car and he’d offered to give me aid. I owed them something.

“No one is going to come looking for us. There’s no danger,” I told him honestly. That danger was gone, at least in the way Maddox thought anyway.

He stared at me in complete silence for what felt like forever, and I knew he was looking for the truth in my face. Finally he seemed to see the honesty I had given him, and he nodded.

“Good,” he said. “Now get back up here and let me fix you up before your son gets back and freaks out any more.”

I stood frozen for a moment, weighing up my options.

I could walk out of there, go to the cottage, grab my son, and run again.

Of course our car was out of commission and we were miles from town again.

I was exhausted and feeling pretty terrible, but I could make it.

I would make it if I felt that was our best option.

But where would we go? If we ran again right then, we’d be running forever and that wasn’t the life I wanted for Max.

He deserved the world and I had already failed to give him so much.

“Anna, come and sit down. I promise you’re safe here.

You don’t need to keep running,” Maddox sighed, and when I looked up to him he smiled just a little.

His face was softer now and in his eyes I saw some understanding of the fear I was feeling.

It was enough to have me moving back to the stool and struggling to get back up to the seat.

“Sorry,” I whispered once I was seated. I dropped my gaze to the wood countertop below me and urged myself to get it together again, not that it seemed to be working for me.

“Let me see your hands,” Maddox said as he held his hand palm up on the counter before me. I placed my own in it with a quick glance up to him. He was studying me, I realized, and I dreaded to think what he would find.

“How old’s your kid?” Maddox asked after ten solid minutes of him working to clean up and pick out remnants of road from my hands, and me, just trying not to meet his watchful gaze.

“His name is Max, and he’s almost sixteen,” I answered as I lifted my head and looked at him.

“You were young when you had him?” It wasn’t an accusation like I usually got, or even really a question. Just an observation, but I answered anyway.

“About the same age he is now when I got pregnant.”

“That explains it,” Maddox said.

“Explains what?”

“How protective he is with you.”