Fuck me. Mark “Bubba” Wright throwing down for Eva.
Christ. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that Bubba had tossed his hat in the ring for sainthood.
“Why would he do that?” I mumbled.
“Believe it or not, Max, there’s this thing, it’s called forgiveness. It happens when someone who fucked up shows genuine sorrow and remorse for the wrongs they’ve done.”
“Seriously? You’re gonna be a smartass?”
“I’m not being a smartass.”
“Then why the hell are you talking to me about forgiveness? I’m just surprised Bubba’s being so generous.”
“First, Mark Wright’s character is such he’d never allow a single mother to suffer, no matter what she did to him. He might hold a grudge about Zoey being there, but, that’s neither here nor there.” I could almost picture Zane waving his hand in front of him in a nonchalant gesture. “My point is, people forgive. They don’t build walls and towers—”
“Says the man who literally lives in a penthouse high above everyone else. If that’s not a tower, I don’t know what is.”
“Touché. Yet, I invite people up to my tower. You’ve decided to hate the world and not trust anyone.”
“I trust you,” I pointed out. “And anyway, we’re way the fuck off-topic. Bubba forgiving Eva doesn’t matter—”
“I bet it matters to Eva.”
Well, he was damn right, it did matter to Eva, and if I was being honest, it mattered to me, too. Her reasons were pure and mine were purely selfish. Bubba and Zoey forgiving Eva gave me the green light to pursue whatever the hell was going on between us guilt-free. I can’t say that I would’ve given her up if Bubba hadn’t pardoned her, but it would’ve been a problem I’d have to figure out how to overcome.
And I wasn’t sure I liked what that said about me. I was loyal to my friends and the mere fact I would’ve picked Eva over Bubba gave me pause. It was also something I wasn’t going to dwell on. Not when there was enough shit blocking our path.
“You’re right, it does. But right now, we need to talk about how Eva is not going to Alaska.”
“Why would you think I was going to Alaska?”
Fucking hell. Without turning around to face Eva, who obviously had overhead my conversation, I dropped my head forward and I wrapped my free hand around the back of my neck and squeezed, trying to relieve some of the building tension.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“Didn’t lock the door, did you? I see fallin’ in love has made you soft.”
Prick.
“Max?” Eva’s voice sounded so unsure.
“I’ll let you go. Run the plan past Eva. I’ll be over in a few hours.”
Before I could argue, the bastard hung up. Pure Zane Lewis, he always got the last word.
But not with this, he didn’t. Just because he’d rang off before I could argue didn’t mean he’d gotten his way.
No fucking way was Eva going to Alaska.
I tossed my phone on the bed and turned to find Eva standing in the doorway.
Brow furrowed, nose scrunched, but this time she didn’t look cute, she looked dejected.
Fucking hell.
“Babe—”
“Who were you talking to and why were you talking about Alaska?”
“Where’re Liam and Eli?”
“At the table eating. Now tell me.”
“I was talking to my boss. He was discussing the possibility of you going to Alaska and talking to the prosecutor.” I was so engrossed in the color seeping from her face until she was left so pale and washed out, that I missed her legs start to wobble, until she grabbed the doorframe for purchase.
“I told him you weren’t going,” I said as I rushed over to her and pulled her into my arms—which she willingly allowed. And when she burrowed her face into my chest, I knew there was not a chance in hell Zane was getting his way.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Why does he want me to go?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
We stood there, me holding Eva tightly for a long while—long enough for her to stop shaking. Long enough for her to tense in my arms and try to pull away.
“No, Eva. Just relax,” I told her and held on. “How about after Zane comes over, we put on a movie, chill with the boys for a while, then we’ll have that get-to-know one another talk you wanna have?”
My question did not one thing to diminish Eva’s unease like I hoped. She grew stiffer in my arms. And her hands trapped between us tightened into two tiny fists. Which she used to push against my chest.
“Your boss is coming here?” she croaked out.
“You have nothing to be afraid of, honey.”
“Will he…”
After a beat of silence, I prompted, “Will he what?”
“Never mind.”
I lifted my head and pulled back a fraction so I could see her face and when I did, the urge to take Eva and the boys on the run hit me so damn hard it was a miracle my knees didn’t buckle.
Christ, I’d turned into my brothers—the men that I’d made fun of when they’d found the women who’d turned their lives upside down. The men who vowed to protect the women they loved at all costs. But I didn’t love Eva. I couldn’t. I didn’t believe in love and forever and all that bullshit. I lived in the here and now—moments of pleasure and mutual satisfaction. Yet, I’d asked—no, begged—Eva to give us a shot at more. Was that love?
The longer we stood locked in an embrace I wouldn’t release her from, the more pissed I was at Zane for mentioning that goddamn word.
“Will he what, honey?” I repeated.
“Will he take me and the boys? Make us leave?”
“Fuck no!” The declaration was out of my mouth before I had a chance to calm the fury her inquiry sparked. “No one is taking you or the boys anywhere.”
The thought of her leaving made me absolutely felonious.
Eva Dawson was mine and so were her boys.
I didn’t know jack shit about love, but I was one hell of a good SEAL. I thrived in the chaos of combat. Surely I could conquer a tiny slip of a woman and two little boys.
Couldn’t I?
Fucking Zane Lewis and his big mouth.
Chapter 25
Max’s boss, Zane, was not what I’d pictured—though maybe I should’ve—the man was just as good-looking as all the men he employed. Tall, black hair, and piercing blue eyes that were almost as beautiful as Max’s.
He also looked like he could snap a man in half and not think twice when he dumped the body. In other words, he scared the shit out of me. Max must’ve sensed it because he hadn’t moved from my side in the last five minutes.
What Zane did not do was scare Liam. My son took one look at the rather large, imposing Zane Lewis and asked him if he was friends with Tex, too. When Zane confirmed he indeed was, Liam commenced asking a million questions. I found it rather shocking that Zane indulged Liam and had made it a point to soften his features when talking to Elijah.
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if he had children, but after Liam’s third degree, I didn’t think Zane would be receptive to anymore questions.
After the introductions were made and Liam ran out of things to ask, the boys happily went into the bedroom to play with the bazillion new toys Max had bought for them. None of which I made him return.
What can I say? I was a sucker.
“Has Max talked to you about the plan?”
The ball of nervousness in my belly quickly grew into a boulder and I blindly reached out for Max, needing him to anchor me in the storm of uncertainty.
“No. He said we’d talk about it when you got here.”
And that wasn’t due to my lack of trying. I’d asked Max to talk about it with me but he’d clammed up and gave me his signature frown and fiery stare. When he explained he was pissed and needed a minute to get himself sorted, I stopped pushing. It wasn’t like he was keeping secrets from me, a
nd if he needed some time, I needed to give it to him. And the fact he’d been honest about being upset and didn’t try to hide it made my decision to let it go easier.
Zane’s gaze skidded to Max and the two men locked eyes. Icy blue to cold-hard-steel blue. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that they were united in some sort of telepathic conversation.
“The plan is solid,” Zane broke the silence. “Tex and Bubba agree.”
“Mark?” I asked.
Max severed the stare and looked down at me and tucked me closer to his side.
“I’ve asked that in the future, Bubba is left out of any further communication.”
“You did?”
“You said you didn’t feel comfortable with him being involved,” Max unnecessarily reminded me.
“I don’t,” I confirmed just as needlessly.
“I’m afraid that’s no longer an option,” Zane cut in. “It would appear your son had quite the impact on Bubba. He’s made it clear, he’s down to help any way he can.”
“I don’t want that.”
“Sometimes you don’t get what you want.”
“Careful, Zane,” Max growled.
“I fucking hate this part,” Zane shot back with the same snarly tone as Max had, only his wide smile belied his harsh words. When he was done grinning at Max, Zane turned to me. “Let me ask you something, Eva. Does it matter to you what Bubba wants?”
“Of course it does.”
“Then you’ll have to find a way to be okay with him providing us with intel. His job prevents him from doing more than that. He can’t just take leave and go to Alaska with you, but he can deliver valuable information. He knows the players involved better than we do. So I suggest we take him up on his offer and not offend the man.”
Go to Alaska with you.
My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I vowed never to go back there—bad things happened in Alaska. The whole state was bad luck—unpredictable and unfortunate things happened to me in the ice box.
“But—”
“Eva,” Zane sighed, obviously losing patience. “This is something Bubba wants to do.”
“You said that,” I snapped. “What I was going to say was, I want to go.”
“What?”
“Fuck.”
Both men spoke at once so I wasn’t exactly sure who said what, but I could guess it was Max who nearly shouted the expletive.
“But won’t I be arrested?”
“We’ve already thought about the possible prosecution for your crimes. Tex is taking care of that,” Zane told me.
“Eva—”
“It will have to be soon, before the boys start school.”
“No!” Max interjected.
“Max brought up the boys in our earlier conversation. I was thinking—”
“Enough,” Max once again interrupted. “You’re not going to Alaska.”
“I have to.”
“What the hell, Eva? No, you don’t.”
So, that may’ve been the moment when I started to fall in love with Maximus Brown. Or maybe that was the moment when I finally admitted that I’d fallen for a man I barely knew.
It wasn’t the outrage or vehemence in his tone. It wasn’t the way he’d tucked me close in an effort to protect me.
It was the fear I saw in his eyes.
He was scared for me. Big, bad Max Brown was worried about me. No one had ever looked at me the way he did just then.
His anxiety gave me the strength I needed to follow through with what I needed to do. I had to go to Alaska—I owed it to Bubba and Zoey.
“Please listen to me, Max.”
He started to shake his head, and when he opened his mouth in what I assumed was an attempt to argue, I cupped his cheeks and brought his face closer to mine.
“Please, Max,” I whispered. “Remember when you told me I had to let it go? I had to stop dwelling and move on? Well, this is my chance. The prosecutor’s office is looking for me for a reason and if they want me to testify, I’m going to do it. There’s something I haven’t told you.”
I sucked in a breath. It was time to come clean—about everything.
“I recorded the conversations I had with Tracy Eklund and Malcom Wright.”
“You did what?”
“Holy fuck,” Zane sputtered.
I caught Zane’s movement out of the corner of my eye but my gaze remained fixed on Max.
“I’m not a complete idiot. I thought they might come in handy. Though Malcom Wright had me refer to him and Tracy as Boss when we spoke.”
“You hitchhiked to Alaska.” Max’s voice was vibrating with anger.
He was correct, I had. But after everything had gone down and Malcom and Tracy didn’t pay me what they owed me so I could get the boys back from Jay, I had to do something to get to Alaska.
“You needed money. You could’ve…”
“I could’ve what? I had no options. I needed to be close to Liam and Elijah. I needed to start working on a plan to get them back.”
“Why didn’t you tell Kenneth Eklund you had the recordings?”
“What? Why would I do that?”
“For money. You could’ve blackmailed him.” My hands dropped and I stepped away from Max, my heart shattered in a thousand pieces. “That came out wrong,” he stuttered.
“No, it didn’t,” I whispered.
I dodged his hand as he reached for me and fled as quickly as I could down the hall. I couldn’t go into my bedroom where the boys were playing with toys so I ducked into Max’s room and closed the door.
Of course Max would think the worst of me, why wouldn’t he?
With my back to the door, I slid down the smooth wood and landed on my ass, uncaring my rear end now throbbed from the impact.
After all, that was less than the pain that was eating my insides.
Chapter 26
“Well, that’s one way to put your foot in your mouth,” Zane said, looking down at his phone.
“Screw you!”
“I have to say, I was skeptical. Not so much anymore.”
“Great,” I snapped. “I’ll call the—”
“Christ, you’re a pain in the ass. You need to chill out, brother, before you give yourself an ulcer. Give her a minute, then you can go to her and grovel while trying to explain that your supremely idiotic statement was just that—thoughtless and stupid.”
“It came out wrong.”
“You said that already. But I know you, so I know you were genuinely shocked she didn’t use what she had on Tracy Eklund to get her husband to pay out. I’ll admit, I’m impressed she didn’t when she could’ve—she was in a tight spot wanting to get her kids back from her ex.
“But you and I are cynical assholes, and on top of that, you generally think all women are liars and opportunists. Which, knowing how your mom, aunt, and the bitch ex treated you, I don’t blame you. But it seems Eva Dawson is not what she was made to be. What she is, is a mother who loves her kids and would go to great lengths to protect them.
“And you know I got nothing but respect for Bubba, but as a father, I understand Eva. Hate that Bubba and Zoey got caught up in Eva’s shit—but if someone took Eric from me, I’d scorch the earth until I had him back and I wouldn’t apologize to anyone who got burned.”
My jaw ached from clenching my teeth. I didn’t mean to hurt Eva and Zane had it wrong. I wasn’t shocked she hadn’t blackmailed Kenneth, I knew she didn’t have it in her. I knew she felt rotten to her core over what she’d had to do to Bubba and Zoey.
She’d put her life in danger hitchhiking from Seattle to Alaska. Anyone could’ve picked her up and done any number of horrific things to her. She could’ve been killed. Then when Tex found her, she was living in a fleabag roadside motel and working at a motherfucking strip club trying to scrounge together three-hundred-K—like that was a possibility.
“No, Z, you got it all wrong. I trust Eva.”
I would’ve laughed at th
e comical way Zane’s jaw dropped open and his eyes bulged if I wasn’t so pissed.
“You what?”
“Let me get this straight. Earlier you spouted some crazy bullshit about me being in love but now you’re looking at me like I’ve cracked because I trust her.”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Don’t you have to trust someone to love them?”
“For a normal person, yes.”
“Now you’re pissing me off.”
My boss, who’d become a close friend over the years, stared at me in disbelief, and as much as I understood why, it was time to get back to business.
“Did you message Tex?” I asked in an effort to get back on track.
“I did. He said he wants to hear the recordings.”
“Then I better get to groveling.”
“Yeah, you better get on that.” Zane smiled. “Should I have Rena charter a jet?”
Rena was Zane’s assistant. She was scary efficient, and before Zane’s wife Ivy came along, Rena managed every aspect of Zane’s life both personal and private. Now the two women split the herculean chore of keeping Zane straight.
“As long as Tex can clear the path for Eva, I don’t want any surprises. We’ll fly up, meet with the prosecutor, and fly back. Eva doesn’t need to be in Alaska for one second longer than necessary.”
“Didn’t think it would be this easy,” Zane mumbled.
“Come again?”
“Everyone else fought it, you’re not. I never actually thought I’d see the day a woman caught your attention, but I figured if it did happen, we’d need to hit the bomb shelter. I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed you’re depriving me of the pleasure of threatening to kick your ass and fire you.”
“What can I say, boss? I’m smarter than everyone else. Why the hell am I going to fight against it when I need to be fighting for it? Hasn’t she had enough assholes in her past that put her through enough? Haven’t those kids? She understands me in a way that no one else does, because she’s been there. She knows what it’s like to have nothing, then lose more.”
“Fucking hell, Tex was right.”
Before I could ask Zane what he was talking about, I caught Elijah walking down the hall.
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