Maximus

by Riley Edwards

  Fight!

  I broke free from his hold and swung wildly, I wasn’t aiming at any particular body part, I was just punching, then I remembered I wasn’t using my feet, and I started kicking. The impact of my blows had no effect on the man, not that I was actually making that much contact, the man was so much larger than me he easily deflected my strikes.

  “Stop, Eva! Max sent us.”

  My fist finally connected, the man’s head jerked to the side, and before he could recover, I ran again.

  I was off my feet, a hard wall of big-bad-scary-man behind me, the wool of his mask scratched my neck as he lowered his face, his mouth to my ear and he growled, “Stop, goddamn it. Max sent us. We’re here to help you. Tex and Max. Stop fighting me so we can get you home to your boys.”

  My body started to sag in relief when I remembered how stupid I’d been in the past. No way had Max and Tex sent these men. They had no idea where I was.

  This was a trap. It had to be.

  I strained to get free, arching my back and jerking my body with every last bit of strength that I possessed.

  “Fucking hell, woman. Stop. My name is Gabe. I work with Max. If you stop fighting me, we’ll get you home.”

  “Gabe?”

  I knew that name. I’d heard Max say it on the phone.

  “Yes, Eva. I’m Gabe.”

  “What team are you on?”

  “Blue.”

  Hm. Still could be a trick.

  “Who else is on your team?”

  “Myles, Kevin, and Owen.”

  “What are you doing in Alaska?”

  Please get this right. Please be a good guy.

  “We were transporting Joshua Lemont, the man who was hired to kill you.”

  Thank God.

  All the fight drained out of me and my body slumped as the adrenaline waned and I fought to catch my breath. Now that it was over, everything hit me. Gabe must’ve felt it because he slowly set me on my feet and gently turned me in his arms.

  “I need to get home.”

  “Yeah, you do, before Max has a stroke.”

  “Have you talked to him? How are my kids?”

  “I talked to Max thirty minutes ago. He threatened disembowelment if I didn’t have you on a plane home to him within the hour. So if you wouldn’t mind getting a move on it, I mightily like my intestines where they are.”

  Gabe gave a sharp whistle and threw his arm around my shoulder.

  I was going home—alive.

  In a few hours, I’d have my arms wrapped around my boys.

  “Wait.”

  I shrugged Gabe’s arm away, turned, and ran toward Natasha.

  “Whoa, Eva.”

  “I can’t leave Natasha,” I told him.

  “We’re not.” Gabe gestured to the woman now cradled in a man’s arms, his rifle gone as he carried her our way.

  Minutes later, we were safely stowed in the third row of an SUV. A man that was not Gabe was speeding away from the small private airport, Natasha was mostly leaning against me as I pressed a shirt a man had produced against her forehead. Throughout this, I didn’t mention I was a tad squeamish when it came to blood and tried my best to breathe through my mouth so I didn’t gag. I’d already puked once, I didn’t think any of the men would appreciate a repeat performance in the tightly confined space.

  “What day is it?” I asked.

  “Wednesday.”

  Holy shit, I’d been gone more than twenty-four hours. I sucked in an unfortunate breath, a coppery smell filled my nostrils, and I started to cough.

  Hold it together, Eva.

  With my free hand, I felt my neck but couldn’t find the puncture wounds I was looking for as I searched my mind how many times Novak had injected me. Two that I could remember for sure. But there were a lot of blurry parts.

  “I don’t remember getting here. I was passed out.” Gabe turned to look at me and now that he’d taken off his mask, I could see the creases around his deep brown eyes, and his thick eyebrows that matched his dark hair were pulled together in a frown. “Where are we?”

  “Sheep Creek Trail,” Gabe answered.

  So we were in Juneau.

  Gabe looked away from me for a moment and when his gaze came back to me, he was smiling.

  “Your man’s calling.”

  Gabe swiped the screen and held the phone out. I may’ve been a little overeager and snatched the phone out of his hand with an overwhelming urgency to speak to Max.

  “Max.”

  “Thank fuck.” His exclamation was guttural and I felt it slice through me.

  “Max,” I repeated.

  “Are you hurt, honey?”

  “No. I’m okay.”

  “Thank God. Fucking hell, I’ve been out of my mind.”

  I heard the hitch in Max’s voice and I lost it. All the stress and fear I’d pushed aside came rushing to the surface and I couldn’t stop the sob that escaped. Raw pain slipped past my lips in a rush of air that burned.

  “I’m so, so sorry.” Next to me Natasha rested her head on my shoulder and placed an arm around my chest, pulling me closer. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “Shh, honey. Nothing’s your fault.”

  The sadness in his voice cut me to the quick. God, how could I have been so stupid?

  “You told me to watch my surroundings,” I reminded him. “God, I’m stupid. I almost…almost…”

  “You’re killing me, honey,” he groaned. “You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

  “The boys! How are the boys?”

  “They’re scared. But holding it together.”

  “Can I talk to them or do you think—”

  “I think you better talk to them or Liam’ll be pretty mad at me. We’ve been waiting twenty-seven hours for this call.”

  Oh, God, he’d been counting the hours.

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t know what you’re thanking me for. Tex and the team tracked you down. I’ve been pretty fucking useless.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “It’s the truth, Eva. I don’t know what I would’ve done without them. The boys and I… fuck, honey… it’s taken everything in me to pull my shit together for them.”

  “You taking care of them means the world to me. I couldn’t even think about them because I was afraid I’d have a nervous breakdown. But I knew they were safe and I knew no matter what happened to me, you’d take care of them. That meant everything.”

  “Hang on.” I heard rustling on Max’s end, then the sweetest sound warmed me from the inside out.

  “Mama?”

  I stifled another sob and cleared my throat. “Hey, little man.”

  My son on the other hand couldn’t contain his. It took a few moments for Max to calm him down as my heart ached. I wished I was there, but knowing that Max was and he was consoling went a long way to soothing my pain.

  “Are you on your way home?” Liam hiccupped.

  “I am. It’s gonna take a while, but Max’s friends are with me and they’re bringing me home right now.”

  “Max told us they were going to find you.”

  That made me smile.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, Mom.”

  “Tell your brother I love him, too, and I’ll be home as soon as I can get there.”

  “Okay.”

  There was some more static then Max came back.

  “You still there?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good God, it’s so good to hear your voice. I think I lost twenty years off my life when you didn’t come home.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Please stop saying that, honey.”

  “But—”

  “You coming home is all that matters.”

  “Okay. See you in a few hours?”

  “The boys and I will be at the airport waiting for you.”

  “I love you.”

  “Love you, Eva.”

  I hurried an
d disconnected the call and tapped Gabe’s shoulder. He turned and took his phone, but before he righted himself in his seat, he smiled huge.

  “Everything good?”

  “Everything is perfect. Thank you for finding me.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  We were on the private plane Zane Lewis had arranged before I was formally introduced to the rest of the guys. And much like Max’s team, these men were all tall, muscular, and menacing. But they all looked a little older than Brooks, Thad, Kyle, Declan, and Max. They looked a little rougher, too.

  After takeoff, Owen, the man who’d carried Natasha to the SUV, made his way to where she and I were sitting, knelt in front of her, and tenderly tended to her wounds while she gripped my hand to the point of pain. The poor woman was scared out of her mind.

  “Natasha?” I called once Owen was finished and was picking up the medical supplies he’d used to clean her forehead and butterfly her gash closed.

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re safe with these men,” I told her. “They’ll help you get home.”

  “I don’t have a home,” she whispered, and Owen’s intense gaze snapped back to Natasha.

  “What do you mean you don’t have a home?”

  “Novak bought me.”

  A deep rumble emanated from Owen and Natasha jolted and squeezed my hand harder.

  Good Lord, the woman was strong.

  “Where are you from?” Owen asked.

  “Nowhere.”

  “What does that mean, darlin’? Where did Novak take you from?”

  “Chicago.”

  “We can take you back—”

  “No. I can’t go back there. You can just drop me off wherever you’re going.”

  “That’s not gonna happen. I’m not leaving you outside an airport.”

  “Really—”

  “Not gonna happen, Natasha. Get some rest, we’ll figure it out. But I’m not leaving you stranded.”

  It was safe to say, I really liked Owen.

  “Glad you’re okay, Eva. You gave us all a scare.”

  “Um…I’m sorry.” Owen chuckled like he found me amusing. “Thanks for finding me when you did, I was running out of things to talk to Novak about and I was afraid I’d have to crash the plane to get away from him.”

  Owen’s features darkened but just as swiftly, he covered his irritation and cleared his anger.

  “We were watching. You did a good job.” Then Owen’s face split into a shit-eating grin and he continued. “And I hope to God that shot you got on Gabe’s cheek bruises. I can’t wait to tell Max his woman got the drop on the Great Gabe CQB.”

  “CQB?” I asked.

  “Close-quarters battle. Gabe’s the best on our team at hand-to-hand combat. No one ever gets the drop on him. Well, that is, until your right hook.”

  “Ohmigod. You can’t tell anyone that. I feel bad. I was a little crazy.”

  “You shouldn’t feel bad. And besides, Max will be proud as hell to know his woman fought hard.”

  That was weirdly nice. And since the last twenty-seven hours—not that I could remember all of them—had been filled with more stress and anxiety than I could handle, I decided not to think about Owen telling Max anything.

  Instead, I sat quietly, holding hands with a woman I didn’t know, and watched the clouds fly by.

  I was alive.

  Chapter 36

  “Are we almost to Tex’s?” Liam asked from the back seat and I smiled.

  This was not the first road trip I’d taken with Eva and the boys but it was the first one that was for fun.

  And strangely, it didn’t bother me that Liam had asked that very question no less than ten times and Elijah had asked double that.

  No, I didn’t give the first fuck the boys needed to stop every thirty minutes to use the bathroom. I didn’t care we’d stopped to eat lunch even though we’d had breakfast before we left and the drive to Pennsylvania and Tex’s house was only three hours.

  This was because Eva was sitting next to me smiling and happy and my boys were in the back seat and they, too, were smiling.

  Life was good.

  It had been good before Eva had been taken. But something had changed in those twenty-seven hours she’d been missing. I’d never be able to say I was grateful my woman had been kidnapped, but now I understood Bubba.

  He’d never be happy he and Zoey had almost died, but something great had come from that, and Bubba had decided to concentrate on that and that alone.

  The silver lining.

  So I was taking a page out of Bubba’s playbook and focusing on what had come from Eva’s abduction—my boys.

  Mine.

  That day we sat on the bed together and shared our fear, we forged an unbreakable bond. And in the week since Eva had been home, it had only grown stronger.

  I was surprised how quickly Liam and Eli had bounced back from the ordeal. Eva wasn’t surprised and had told me it was because while she was gone I’d made them feel safe and loved. I didn’t think that was the case. I figured the boys were just happy their mom was home and that was all they cared about.

  Either way, the kids were good. Liam was excited about starting school soon and Elijah was looking forward to Eva starting her new job and getting to play with Mikey all day.

  And if they were happy, I was happy, even though the team was gearing up to leave on a mission. Eva had refused to let me tell Zane to pull up one of the guys from the Blue Team to take my place.

  I was still on the fence but I knew if I stayed behind, I would be in danger of Eva’s wrath and from what I’d heard from Owen and Myles, my woman had one helluva right hook. Gabe had proudly sported her mark for days and even joked he was going to ask her to be his new sparring partner.

  That would happen never.

  “Yeah, Liam, we’re pulling up now.”

  Eva’s hand on my thigh tightened and I glanced over at her.

  Damn, she was beautiful.

  But more than that, she was tough. Strong and smart and resilient.

  “Excited?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

  “Yes. I can’t wait to meet him. Melody and their kids, too.”

  I pulled to a stop in Tex’s driveway and told the boys to wait in the car until I got Eva out. They met my request with groans but I knew that even as excited as they were, they’d do as I asked.

  I grabbed my cell and got out of my truck and rounded the hood. There was something I needed to tell her before I lost another opportunity.

  I opened Eva’s door and she looked up at me with curiosity as I helped her out.

  “Before we go in, I need to tell you something. I should’ve found time before now, but the week’s been crazy.”

  “Everything all right?”

  “We started to have a conversation the day you were taken. We never got to finish it.”

  “Max—”

  “I want kids. I didn’t think I did. Even after I met you and the boys, I didn’t want more. I thought the boys would be enough—and they are. So if you don’t want more, you have to know, Liam and Elijah are—”

  “You want kids?” she cut me off.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  “I want girls,” I told her.

  “Seriously? I thought all men wanted boys.”

  “I already have boys,” I reminded her. “I want them to have little sisters.”

  “God. Just when I think I couldn’t possibly love you anymore than I already do, you prove me wrong.”

  “It’s you, Eva. All you. Before I met you, I had nothing and I was content to live out the rest of my life alone. Then you and the boys came along and thank God you did, because I realized I wasn’t really living. I was simply breathing. Nothing more.” I wiped the tear that started to fall and smiled. “Let’s get you and the boys in the house to finally meet Tex.”

  “All right.”

&nb
sp; During introductions and a lengthy greeting, where Eva had broken down into tears while hugging Tex, who looked so damn uncomfortable it was funny. When Eva was done with Tex, she turned to Melody and thanked her profusely, too.

  Mel was much more comfortable and simply muttered, “I know. He’s the greatest, isn’t he?”

  Akilah and Hope both stood to the side beaming with pride as Liam and Elijah told Tex’s daughters that their dad was “more awesome” than any silly superhero on TV. Then they told the girls that their dad had saved Eva. The vibe in the room changed as Tex’s girls simultaneously sucked in a breath and stared at their dad. Surely the girls knew Tex helped a variety of people, but I doubted they ever got to meet the people he saved.

  And he indeed saved Liam, Elijah, and Eva.

  The love I saw shining in Tex’s daughters’ eyes hit me like a jackhammer to the gut. I prayed that one day Liam and Elijah looked at me the way Akilah and Hope looked at Tex.

  He was the center of their world.

  With the women chatting in the living room and Hope and Akilah showing the boys their movie room, Tex and I went back to his office.

  Christ, the man had a setup that rivaled NASA. Three big screens hung on the wall, four more monitors sat on a huge desk alongside numerous keyboards, computer towers, and laptops.

  “This is damn impressive,” I told him.

  “What’d you think, I saved your asses on a Dell?” He chuckled. “Here.”

  He handed me a beer and motioned for me to sit in one of the three chairs.

  “Thanks.”

  “So, figured we should get this out of the way now,” he said and I braced at the tone of his voice.

  Tex took a seat, stretched out his left leg, the cuff of his pants riding up just enough for me to catch a glimpse of his prosthetic. It was easy to forget Tex had lost half his leg in an IED explosion—nothing slowed or stopped the man.

  “You were right,” I told him and watched his mouth twitch before his head tipped to the side and he roared with laughter.

  “Yeah, I was,” he said, still chuckling.

  “Well, I’ll be damned, you’re like a commando cupid.”

  “You can call me whatever you want but you know I was right.”

  “I said you were.”

  “All right, I’ll let you off the hook. But I want your first born named after me.”