Page 44 of Maximus (Gold Team #4)

“When’s Mom gonna be home?” Liam asked.

I checked my watch and tried to hide my concern.

“Any minute now.”

That was the third time in the last ten minutes I’d given that answer.

Eva was ten minutes later than she said she’d be home and it went against everything inside of me but I wasn’t going to call her.

She could be running late for a variety of reasons.

Eva had made a solid argument the other night about needing her independence and I wasn’t going to turn into an overbearing asshole and start calling her because she was a few minutes late.

Though I wanted to. All sorts of shit was running through my head, everything from her broken down on the side of the road to her being trapped in my truck after a horrific accident.

What the hell was wrong with me?

If one of my teammates was ten damn minutes late I wouldn’t be concerned. Hell, if one of their women was late I wouldn’t bat an eye. But Eva? I was freaking the hell out over ten fucking minutes.

“Can I help?” Elijah asked.

I looked down into a pair of yellowish-green eyes and my heart constricted.

Eli looked so much like Eva but that wasn’t what had started the ache in my chest. The normally shy boy had totally come around and he was now openly affectionate.

Not that tugging on my hand was demonstrative, but for Eli it was huge.

“Sure, buddy.” I reached down and picked Eli up, plopped him on the countertop, and looked around for something for him to do.

We were surprising Eva with tacos. One of two meals I could make that was edible.

“Here.” I moved the bowl of half-smooshed avocados next to Eli and handed him a fork. “Smash ‘em up.”

Eli happily went to work and Liam continued to grate the cheese. Together, we got so lost making Eva dinner that when I looked up, another ten minutes had past.

Fuck this shit.

Twenty minutes was too much.

I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and dialed her number.

Straight to voicemail.

I waited a moment in case she was trying to make a call and tried again.

Voicemail.

I sucked in a breath trying to tamp down the panic I told myself was unnecessary and dialed the office.

“Lo,” Garrett greeted.

“Track my truck.”

“Come again? And hello to you, too, dick.”

“Garrett, please track my truck. ”

“Damn, brother, someone steal it? Thought that house was good—”

“Eva took my truck to go to a job interview.”

I glanced back in the kitchen, keeping my eyes on the boys but walking far enough away they couldn’t hear me.

“It’s sitting on Chesapeake Avenue near Sixth Street. Hold on, let me check the address.” Garrett paused a moment then continued. “Looks like it’s actually in the parking lot of Bakers Delight.”

“Do me a favor, call the bakery and ask if anyone’s seen Eva, then ask them to go out into the parking lot and check to see if she’s in the truck.”

“Tell me what you’re thinkin’.”

“I don’t wanna think anything, Garrett. I just need to know if Eva’s there and I can’t make the call myself with the boys in the next room. Both of them pick up on everything. Especially Liam. If I give him one inclination something’s wrong, he’s gonna panic.”

“I’ll call you back.”

Garrett hung up on me and for the first time since I’d met the boys, I closed down. They needed me stone-cold and focused.

I walked back into the kitchen, went to the stove, and started pushing the ground beef around in the pan.

I was overreacting. I had to be.

My phone vibrated and I pulled it out and read Declan’s text: Garrett called. We’re on it. I’m on my way over. Everyone else is going out to look.

My hand shook as I tossed my phone on the counter and lowered my head.

This could not be happening.

Then dread hit my gut and I snatched my phone back up and shot off a text to Zane: Where the fuck is Joshua Lemont ?

Zane: In the air.

Fuck .

Yeah, I was overreacting. I had to be.

Eva was just running late.

But I knew it was a lie.

I knew twenty minutes ago, something was wrong.

Fucking knew it and ignored my gut and now Eva was in trouble.

“Five hours,” I growled. “It’s been five hours, Tex.”

“Max, I know,” he barked back. “She had three tracking devices on her. None of them are in service. I’m working as fast as I can. We all are.”

Fuck. I was a total dick.

“I know you are. I’m… Christ… I can’t breathe.”

“Hang tight. We got the images from the toll booth near Dulles. It shouldn’t take me long to run them.”

A hand on my shoulder had me uncharacteristically jolting, nearly dropping my phone.

“I’m sorry, Max,” Anaya mumbled. “But Elijah’s super upset. He wants you. I tried to calm him, but he’s not having it. I know you—”

“Thank you, Anaya. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here helping me with them. I’ll just…”

I’ll what ?

What the fuck was I going to do?

Go talk to a four-year-old and tell him I didn’t know where his mom was? Face Liam’s revulsion that I’d let something bad happen to his mom after I told him I’d protect them?

What in the actual fuck was I going to do?

“Max, I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but you guys will find her. I know you can’t see it right now, because you’re so worried. But this is what you guys do. You find people.”

“Today before she left she asked me if I wanted kids,” I told Anaya.

“I froze. I didn’t know what to say. I never wanted kids—as in never.

Then Eva came into my life and with her came Liam and Elijah and I thought that was cool, because I’d have a shot at being something special to them, someone to teach them things.

But I still didn’t want anymore. Liam and Eli were enough.

Then tonight we were making dinner and I looked down at Eli and something happened.

I saw Eva’s eyes staring back at me, and for the first time in my life, I felt an ache.

I want kids, Anaya. And I have to find Eva so I can tell her. ”

I stalked down the hallway thinking I’d pretty much lost my mind, telling Anaya some stupid ass story about kids when Eva was out there lost and alone.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about the way she looked before she left. Happy. Hopeful. Full of joy and life.

And she was asking me about babies and I didn’t answer.

Fucking hell.

“Did you find Mom?” Liam asked as soon as I walked into the bedroom.

Tatiana stood from where she was sitting on the end of the bed and gave me a tight smile as she walked past me. Her pat on my shoulder made my blood run cold. I didn’t deserve anyone’s sympathy. I should’ve been more vigilant. I should’ve driven her to her interview.

“Not yet.”

I made my way to the bed and no sooner had my ass hit the mattress, Elijah climbed into my arms. His arms wrapped around my neck and his face burrowed into my shoulder, a move I’d seen him do to Eva plenty of times.

“What…” Liam started then trailed off .

“Ask, bud. I’ll answer anything you wanna know.”

“What happens if you can’t find her?”

“Liam, we’re gonna find her.”

“But what happens if you can’t?” I took in Liam’s panic and pain-filled eyes, his bright red cheeks, and his vibrating body, and bile churned in my gut.

“We’re—”

“What happens if you can’t find her?” Liam shouted and Eli startled in my arms. “Where will we go?”

“Where will who go?”

“Me and Eli.”

“Nowhere, Liam.”

“You won’t get rid of us? You promise.”

Fucking Jesus Christ. My throat clogged and my sinuses tingled. I was so lost in what Liam had said I couldn’t contain my response.

“Son, no matter what, you and Eli are mine,” I choked out, not bothering to hide the wetness I felt spilling from my eyes. “You and your brother will never go anywhere. You understand?”

Liam nodded his head and crawled across the bed when I picked one arm off Eli’s back and motioned him over.

Somehow, some way, I had to shove my fear aside. Eva needed me on my game, she needed me to be smart and find her and bring her home.

The three of us huddled together on the bed I’d shared with Eva. I was stuck in the worst possible scenario. I had two children who needed comfort and reassurance—they needed me. Yet everything inside of me was screaming to go out and find her—hunt, rescue, kill.

But I didn’t move. I held my boys and trusted my team had my back.