Maximus

by Riley Edwards

  “So, they’re looking for her,” I surmised. “But they’re looking for Eve Dane.”

  “And if the prosecutors are looking for Eve Dane to tie up their case and possibly press charges, then Kenneth Eklund would be looking for her, too.” Thad picked up the thread and finished it.

  “Mother—” Tex started, then stopped. “You’re correct. The prosecutor’s office is running searches on Eve Dane.”

  I’d long ago learned not to ask how Tex got his information and how he did it as fast as he did. It seemed there was nothing the man couldn’t find.

  “If they find that plane, they’ll have her prints,” Kyle added.

  “Plane’s been taken care of, no one’s gonna find it, because there’s nothing to find,” Tex told us. “The prosecutor’s office was nowhere near finding Eva. They’re not even on the right track, but just in case, I wiped Eva’s new identity clean. Eva, Liam, and Elijah Dawson no longer exist. Neither does Eva Dawkins for that matter.”

  I glanced over at Eva as the first tear rolled down her cheek.

  Earlier, Eva had told me she was nothing, and now standing in the dining room of a safehouse, Tex wiping her identity clean, she was less than nothing. She was a woman who didn’t even exist.

  She was no one.

  And that was unacceptable.

  If I gave her nothing else before we parted ways, she’d know she was something.

  Someone special.

  Chapter 21

  I stood frozen, listening to a group of men I didn’t know, save Max who I only knew slightly better—and most of that knowledge was in the biblical sense—and Tex, who I only knew from speaking to him over the phone, as they dissected, scrutinized, and investigated every part of my life.

  Brooks had been scribbling notes on a pad of paper. Kyle had his tablet out and was scrolling. Thad, Declan, and Max hadn’t written anything, nor had they been scrolling, but they were intently participating verbally.

  It totally unnerved me—these strangers knew pretty much everything about my life.

  Tex already knew everything down to the very last detail because he’d deserved to know all of it before he agreed to help me.

  Mark Wright knew what he knew about me, which was to say a lot, and even though I’d done what I had, he’d helped me.

  I couldn’t begin to wrap my head around that.

  And now Tex was doing more for me, and that was interfering with the prosecution of Tracy Eklund.

  It wasn’t right. I should be in jail.

  That was where I belonged.

  “Kenneth hired an investigator,” Tex announced. “A good one.”

  “So he found her,” Max, who was pacing the room, guessed.

  “Yes. He found her,” Tex confirmed.

  “This is good,” Max said, and I glanced in his direction, noting he was speaking to me. “Now we know who took out the contract. We’re one step closer.”

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  Though it didn’t feel good—all of it felt bad, really fucking bad.

  “Give me a few hours and I’ll call you back.” Tex’s voice boomed. “Bubba, thanks for your help. Know how difficult it is to dredge up the past.”

  “Glad I could help. Eva, take care of yourself.”

  “Thanks…um… you, too, Mark.”

  “Is that Mark?” Liam shouted from behind me.

  Damn. I’d been so caught up in my misery, I’d missed him entering the room.

  “Liam, honey, what are you doing?” I asked as my son came closer.

  “Is that the Mark Wright? I wanna say hi,” my son continued.

  Okay, this is not good. Not even a little bit.

  “This is Mark, who am I speaking to?”

  Oh, shit.

  “This is Liam. Is it true, what Mom told us about you, that you’re a Navy SEAL?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.”

  “Wow. Mom says you’re the bravest person she ever met. She says you’re like a hero. Mom says that Navy SEALs are better than superheroes because they’re real. I said that Captain America was cooler but she said, and I quote, Mark Wright can beat Captain America any day. Is she right? Could you beat Captain America?”

  Mark’s deep rumbling laughter came over the line and I closed my eyes.

  “Don’t know if I could beat Captain America. Though I could totally take Spiderman.”

  Oh, God, Mark was being a good sport. Laughter from the other men filled the room.

  “Really? Spiderman?” Tex sputtered. “I think you mean Captain Underpants.”

  “Tex, brother, I don’t even know who that is but—”

  “Tex, too?” Liam cut off Mark. “Wow. This is so cool. Mom says you’re a hero, too. I don’t need to ask you if you can beat Captain America because you can beat anyone. Mom says she thanks God every day for you. And that’s the truth, she totally does. Every night when we say our prayers me and Eli do, too, and Mr. Mark and Miss Zoey, too. All of you. You saved us.”

  The room went deadly silent. So silent, I could hear my breaths coming out in pants and I really wished my son hadn’t announced that.

  “That’s real kind of you, Liam,” Mark said after he cleared his throat.

  “Got stuff to do,” Tex clipped. “Liam, we’ll see you soon.”

  Before Liam, or I for that matter, could ask what that meant, Tex disconnected, and with him went Mark since Tex had patched him into the call.

  “Wow, Mom that was so cool,” Liam gushed.

  “Yeah, son, it was. What brings you out here?”

  “I know you said we had to stay in the room while the adults were talking, but me and Eli are hungry.”

  “Go on and get them something to eat,” Max said. “We’ll finish up.”

  I took a chance and glanced around the table—four sets of eyes were on me. All identical in their inspection yet I couldn’t read any of their thoughts.

  Damn, damn, damn.

  They all must think I’m a fool, having my children pray for the very people I’d tried to harm.

  It wasn’t the first time I’d felt like a total idiot and I doubted it would be the last.

  “Come on, Liam. Let’s get you and your brother something to eat.”

  Thankfully my son was completely oblivious to the tension in the room as he happily skipped into the kitchen.

  “Does anyone want anything? I could make some sandwiches or something.”

  “No, but thank you,” Declan answered. “We’re gonna be on our way in a few minutes.”

  “Right,” I mumbled, and followed Liam.

  It wasn’t until after I’d made the boys lunch, sat on the bed with them while they consumed their sandwiches, and Max’s team left, did I think about what Tex had said: he’d wiped my identity clean.

  I was officially a no one and that meant my boys didn’t exist either—not on paper anyway—and they didn’t even realize it or the significance. That was what my life choices had come to.

  Fuck.

  “Sorry to drop in on you like this.” I was in the bedroom folding the boys’ new clothes while they sat on the bed playing the video games Max bought them, when I heard a woman’s voice in the other room. “It’s good to see you, Max.”

  My back went straight and suddenly my stomach was protesting the spaghetti we’d had for dinner.

  “I was gonna call you to thank you for all the stuff you got, but the day got away from me,” he answered her.

  That wasn’t an exaggeration, the day flew by.

  First, the team meeting, which had dispersed by the time the kids finished their lunch. Then I went through all of the bags with the kids. We found there weren’t only toys, books, and handheld video games. There was also an abundance of clothes and shoes. Whoever had guessed sizes had guessed correctly because all of the clothes fit and the shoes for Eli fit perfectly. Liam’s were a half-size too big but they still worked.

  And there was a boatload of toiletries for me.

  “I hope I didn’t go to
o crazy.”

  So, that was Anaya in the living room with Max.

  “Nope. You did great. I really appreciate it.” There was a lull in the conversation, then Max continued, “Why are you here, Anaya?”

  The humor in his voice was easy to read.

  A lighthearted tone that had been missing all day and for some strange reason, I was jealous he was giving it to her when all day there’d been tension between us. It was so thick, the boys didn’t miss it, even though Max had been nothing but sweet to Liam and Eli.

  He’d helped them unbox the toys he bought them and didn’t complain once about the ungodly amount of plastic packaging that locked action figures into their clamshells, or the myriad of twist ties that made you wonder who in the world had that job and made you happy it wasn’t you.

  But Max had been different around me.

  The only way to describe the atmosphere was chilly and uncomfortable.

  “I was hoping to meet Eva and the boys.”

  “Anaya.”

  “What? Jeez, Max, don’t get all alpha-protective. I just wanted to welcome them to Maryland and ask Eva if she needed anything else. I kinda know a thing or two about being locked in a house under guard. I got a lot for the boys but not much for her.”

  Anaya knew what it was like to be under guard?

  “You weren’t locked in the house,” Max argued.

  “You’re right. I was kept in the basement,” she corrected.

  “Whatever.” Max chuckled. “I think you mean you were kept in Kyle’s underground love cave.”

  “Call it whatever you want,” Anaya said, not sounding the least bit upset about being locked away in a ‘love cave’. “But you can’t deny that I know how difficult it is to suddenly find yourself around a bunch of strangers. The sooner we pull her and the boys into the tribe, the better. She has to know there are women around her who will offer support.”

  “Eva’s different,” Max retorted. “Her situation is not the same as yours. And she has kids. I don’t think—”

  “Max, you and the guys are great at what you do. How about you handle the protection and mission planning and you trust that I know better what Eva and her kids need emotionally right now? She’s not alone and she needs to know she has more than just you to lean on.”

  “And what if I don’t want her to lean on anyone but me?”

  Whoa, there, Nelly, what did that mean?

  “Momma, is someone here?” I jerked back when I heard Liam’s question, feeling slightly guilty for eavesdropping. Probably not as guilty as I should—I was justifying it as payback for Max listening to me sing to the boys.

  “Yeah, honey, it sounds like one of Max’s friends is here.”

  “Can we go say hi?”

  “Um. Maybe we should wait in here,” I told him and shoved the t-shirts I’d been folding in one of the drawers.

  “But—”

  “Hey.” Max poked his head into the room, cutting off Liam. “My friend Anaya’s here. She’d like to meet you three.”

  “Cool,” Liam muttered and climbed off the bed.

  Elijah was much slower to crawl to the edge. My sweet, shy boy had had enough of meeting people for one day.

  “C’mon, baby boy.” I lifted Eli into my arms. His small frame still easily fit on my hip, but it wouldn’t be too much longer before he outgrew me holding him.

  That was something I wasn’t looking forward to.

  We followed Max into the living room. I didn’t know what I was expecting but a tall, beautiful woman with shiny brown hair was not it. And when the woman smiled, dimples formed in each cheek, making her look like the sexy girl next door.

  “Hey! I’m Anaya.”

  Great. Not only was she beautiful, stylishly dressed—when I was in sweats and a t-shirt—but she was friendly, too.

  What an awesome way to finish my evening—not.

  “Hi, Anaya,” I greeted. “I’m Eva and these are my boys, Liam and Elijah.”

  Liam gave her a wave and said his hello and Eli lowered his head to my shoulder without acknowledging Anaya.

  “Elijah’s shy,” Max explained.

  “Ah.” Anaya’s smile grew, making her dimples pop. “I get it. I’m shy, too.”

  Seriously? There didn’t seem to be anything shy about the woman.

  “It was a nice day out today, did you boys get to play on the swing set?”

  “Yeah. Eli wanted Mom to push him on the swing for like ever,” Liam told her.

  That was only a slight exaggeration. Elijah loved the swing and I’d spent the better part of an hour standing behind him pushing.

  “Cool.”

  “Thank you for the shopping you did. That was very kind of you to go out of your way.”

  Anaya waved away my gratitude. “It was no problem. Besides, that’s what we do. When I first got here, Tatiana and Emerson had my back.”

  I didn’t know who Tatiana was and I wasn’t going to ask. I wasn’t sure if I could take hearing about another woman Max cared about.

  When the silence stretched to uncomfortable, Anaya spoke again.

  “Anyway, I wanted to stop by and meet you but also to ask if you needed anything. Clothes? Shoes? I can run to the mall and pick up whatever you need.”

  “Thank you, but we’re fine. You set the boys up pretty well.”

  Anaya’s smile fell and her head tilted to the side. “But I didn’t get much for you. Kyle said that you…” She paused and I prayed she wouldn’t bring up my car exploding and the suitcases I’d packed for our vacation going up in flames.

  Not wanting to take the chance of her saying something that would upset the boys, I spoke over her. “Really, I’m fine. We actually stopped on our way up here and I picked up a few things. We’re not going to be here long and there’s a washer and dryer here so I can just do laundry.”

  I followed Anaya’s worried gaze when it moved to Max.

  And for once he wasn’t wearing his frown. His face was blank, maybe a little contemplative, but there was no anger.

  “Okay. Well, if you’re sure you don’t need anything.”

  “I appreciate the offer but really, I’m fine.”

  “If you change your mind, have Max call me or Kyle. It’s no problem for me to run out.”

  That was nice of her.

  “Thanks, Anaya. And thanks again for all the stuff you picked up.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll let you guys get back to it then. It was nice meeting you all.”

  “You, too.”

  Liam gave her a wave, Eli didn’t budge, and Max followed Anaya to the door.

  “I’ll walk you out.” I heard him mutter.

  “You boys want a snack?” I asked.

  Elijah nodded against my shoulder and Liam gave a verbal answer.

  “Yeah. I’m hungry.”

  “You’re always hungry.” I smiled at my son.

  “I’m a growing boy,” he joked.

  “That you are.”

  I was in the kitchen looking through the pantry when I heard the front door open and close. I wasn’t sure what would be worse, Max going directly to his room, ignoring me and the boys completely, or him joining us in the kitchen.

  What I was sure about was I’d messed everything up. And not only did I not know how to make it right, but I wasn’t sure if I should try.

  If the distance between us hurt this bad now, it was a damn good indication I was in over my head.

  The problem was, I missed Max.

  Chapter 22

  I was sitting on the couch, beer in one hand, tablet in the other, reading a report Garrett had sent when I heard a door creak, then footsteps. I glanced at the right corner of my screen, noting it was after midnight, and waited.

  My day, technically yesterday, had been shit.

  It started with Eva accusing me of being a liar, then it had descended further into the murky pits of shit when we called Bubba, and had not gotten any better from then on. Eva had been withdrawn, guarded, and
so fucking detached my jaw hurt from clenching it all day.

  I swear, there were a few times I tasted blood because I bit my tongue so hard instead of saying what I wanted to say.

  Eva silently walked past me on her way into the kitchen. I feigned disinterest and kept my head down. Only when I heard the fridge door close harder than it needed to be did I look up and find her pouring a glass of apple juice.

  Fucking apple juice.

  The sight had me setting my tablet aside and standing. My mind filled with memories of Eva tasting like goddamn apples and I stalked into the kitchen.

  Then I snapped.

  “You done?” I growled.

  “Done?” Eva’s body jolted, her back went straight, and her eyes narrowed.

  Yeah, sweetheart, I’m pissed, too.

  “Done with whatever crawled up your ass.”

  “You didn’t… you didn’t just say that.”

  “I sure as fuck did. All day I’ve been treated to your shit. You done yet?”

  “My shit?”

  “I’m speaking English, Eva. You don’t need to repeat everything.”

  “I’m not the one who’s been in a mood all day.”

  “Right.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I wake up thinking we’re finally settled in a house, the boys can have semblance of normalcy, we can relax, but instead I catch a bunch of shit about how I’m a liar. Then when I get out of the shower, you give me the silent treatment. And when you’re not doing that, I get one-word answers. And if that’s not wacked enough, you’ve made damn sure there’s at least ten feet between us at all times. So, yeah, babe, I’ve been in a mood. A bad fucking mood because you’re acting like a child instead of a grown-ass woman.”

  Eva’s torso jerked so violently, her juice sloshed and spilled over the rim, and it looked like I’d landed a physical blow when in reality I was still feet from her.

  “I apologized.” She set down the glass on the counter and pointed at me. “I told you I was confused and afraid.”

  “Yeah, sweetheart, you think you’re the only one confused? Welcome to the club.”

  “Why are you confused?” she asked, bending slightly at the waist leaning toward me. “You’re the one that’s throwing—”