Page 13 of Maximus

Both kids had looked happy and were letting Eva know it. I couldn’t make out the words, but Liam’s mouth had been moving a mile a minute.

This was the right decision. I still didn’t like what Eva had done to Bubba and Zoey, but her children shouldn’t suffer for her crimes. They’d been victims, too.

My thoughts drifted to when I was Liam’s age. That was right about the time I’d realized the hell I was living in wasn’t normal. I understood what was going on around me.

I’d realized love meant pain.

No child should have to endure the horrors Liam and Elijah had.

The music cut off and ringing filled the SUV, pulling me from my morose memories.

“Tex,” I answered. “Any news?”

“Yeah. The guy’s a total tool. I easily tracked him. Chris Peters. He’s from California, not Idaho. He’s got some arrests, nothing major. And there’s nothing in his past that makes him qualified to carry out a hit. Which is troubling.”

Troubling didn’t begin to cover it for a variety of reasons. Chris Peters accepted a contract kill either because he was in desperate need of twenty-K or he had a taste to carry out a murder.

“How’d someone get a lock on Eva?”

When Tex didn’t want someone to be found, they weren’t. It was that simple. Yet, someone knew where Eva and the boys were.

“Because I fucked up.”

“Come again?”

“I thought because Jay Dawkins was taken care of, so was the danger. She didn’t want to change the boys’ names, she was adamant. It’s not hard to track an Eva, Liam, and Elijah. She also wanted to be settled some place new so Elijah would be ready to start school on time. I shouldn’t have let her talk me into it. I should’ve given them all new names and they should’ve been kept in a safehouse longer. But—”

“You don’t have to explain it to me, Tex. I get it.”

And boy did I. They were on a vacation instead of safely tucked away because Eva had talked me into it.

Shit.

“Is there any way she’s playing you?” I asked.

“No. Eva wants those boys safe. But she allows her guilt to rule her emotions. She didn’t want to explain to Liam and Elijah why they had new names, why her name was changed. She just wanted them to have a normal life. She’s refused every bit of help I’ve offered since being in Florida. That little house she lives in, she pays for. She’s tried to pay me back for the car I bought her. Five thousand dollars. She doesn’t have that kind of money, not working in a grocery store supporting two kids on her own, but she’s offered. Fuck, Max, five grand is nothing to me, but that’s five months’ worth of rent for her. Eva fucked up, she knows it, and I would’ve never helped her after what she did if I didn’t know she had no other options.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“A lot.”

Tex’s honesty shocked the shit out of me. I continued to scan the road in front of me. Eva and the boys were one car length up ahead, cruising along.

“I can’t protect her if you’re keeping shit from me.”

“You don’t need to know what I’m not sharing for you to keep her safe.”

“You’re wrong. I need to know everything.”

“Then ask her. I’ve given you what you need to know, what’s important to the case. If you want to know more about her, ask her. She had no problem sharing everything with me. Spilled her guts with very little prompting. I think once you get her talking, you’ll find you have a lot in common with her.”

That’s what I was afraid of.

“Did she tell you that motherfucker burned Liam?”

“Yep. He has six burn marks on his arm.”

I couldn’t think of that while driving. My anger was always too close to the surface, the past always simmering, making itself known.