Page 103 of Maximus

Max patiently waited for Liam to continue his tirade.

Unmoving, unwavering support.

Something that me and my boys had never had before.

And suddenly, something inexplicable happened—the loathing slipped away.

Jay was gone. He’d never hurt my boys again.

We made it.

I made it.

Max was not Jay. He wasn’t my father. He wasn’t the man who’d duped me when I was a teenager, knocked me up, then bailed.

Max was Max.

It was as simple as that. I could list a hundred reasons why he was different but I didn’t need to. I didn’t need to convince myself I was doing the right thing by taking a chance with him. I didn’t need to ignore red flags and excuse away bad behavior because I was too fucking weak to walk away. Because there were no flags waving, no neon signs flashing, or anything else. And that was because Maximus Brown was a good, honest, fearless man.

And we were keeping him.

He was ours.

I would fight and die so my kids could have a strong, decent man in their lives. No, not just any man—Max.

“Are we going to live here?” Liam asked Max.

“Yes.”

“Will you live here, too?”

“Yes.”

“And when we’re in Alaska, my dad’s not going to take us?”

“I swear on my life, you will never see him again.”

Somewhere in a dark corner of my mind, I wondered if Max could make that solemn oath because Jay was dead. Tex never told me what happened, the only thing he said to me was that Jay would never be a problem again. When I asked how he knew that for sure, Tex’s response was “trust me” and since I already trusted him, I stopped pushing for answers I knew I’d never get.

I wondered what it said about me that I felt relief at the prospect of him being dead. As fast as the thought flitted into my mind, it fled just as quickly. I wouldn’t feel guilt over being relieved my kids were safe and I refused to give Jay anymore headspace than he’d already taken.

“You won’t let anyone take us?”

“Correct, Liam. I won’t ever let anyone take you and your brother from your mom—not ever again.”

“Okay.”

Okay?

After all of that, Liam’s only response was, okay?

“Okay,” Max repeated. “Then tomorrow, we fly to Alaska.”

Liam severed their connection and his gaze slid to me. “Sorry, Mama.”

God, I missed Liam calling me Mama. He’d graduated to calling me Mom and anything Liam does, Eli parrots, so now Eli mostly called me Mom, too. But I missed Mama.

“I know you are, sweetheart. And Max is right, I don’t want you holding all that anger inside of you. If you have something you need to say, say it, I promise I’ll listen. I want you to know, you and Elijah are my two most precious people and I will do anything for you.”