Page 35 of Maximus

Hell to the no! I would never tell him about my parents. Max already thought I was trash, but he had no idea how right he truly was.

White trash.

Trailer trash.

A gutter rat.

That was all I’d ever been.

“That’s a story for another time,” I told him. There was only so much I could take, and adding my parents’ dysfunction and abuse to the stupidity of me falling for Jay was more than I could bear. “This went on for almost two years. Then Jay made his approach and asked me out. I thought I’d hit the jackpot. He was sweet, funny, good looking, and I was none of those things. A single mother trying to make ends meet. Six months later, he said he had a job offer in Anchorage and he asked me to go. I wanted out of Kenai but I was hesitant. Then he asked me to marry him, said he wanted to give me a better life, that he loved me and Liam. He said he’d waited so long to ask me out because he’d wanted us to be friends first. I fell for it. Like a fucking idiot.”

“So you moved.”

“Moved, married him, and got pregnant with Elijah. Now, you see, he had me trapped. That was when he let it all hang out. He showed me exactly who he was.”

God, it hurt to even think about how dumb I was. I’d never forget the first time I’d witnessed Jay sell drugs from our house. Liam had been asleep in his bedroom and I was in disbelief. I don’t know what I found more shocking; my beautiful baby boy being in the other room and Jay not giving a shit, or that Jay was selling drugs. Something that up until that point I hadn’t known, yet I should’ve because all the signs were there. Jay had told me he was a day worker on fishing boats, picking up jobs from the dock when they were available. That was how he explained always having cash, but he always had too much of it. Yet, I didn’t question him.

“Whose idea was it for you to become a pilot?”

“His. Jay said I needed to go back to work, he was tired of supporting us on his own. He said he’d pay for the flying lessons. I felt guilty because he had been supporting us for almost three years. So I went along with his plan and became a pilot, which are always needed in Alaska. I had a job with a private charter company a month after I finished my mandatory hours.”

“Did you like it?”

“I hated it. But I made decent money. Then I started planning my escape. I was in hell and I wanted out. Having a job was going to make it possible.”

Until it wasn’t, because I was fired.

“Why’d you agree to run drugs for him?”

There it was—I was a convicted drug trafficker. Well, sort of; I was arrested, convicted, and served time, but my charges had been reduced, thanks to one of Jay’s buddies who was a lawyer and owed him a favor. But there was more to it than that. It was Jay’s scheming, all the way down.

“I didn’t. It was all bullshit. I was set up. I didn’t know there were drugs in my plane. And not that anyone would’ve believed me, but Jay planted them there, then he was the one that called it in and tipped off the authorities. Just enough to get me busted, but not enough for me to do any real time.”

“What the fuck? I read the arrest report and the trial notes, why didn’t you fight the charges? You pled guilty.”

“Can we stop talking about this?”

Max’s features softened and for a moment I thought he was going to acquiesce, but then he frowned and I knew he wasn’t going to let up.

“This is important.”

“Why is it important for you to hear about what a fool I am?”

“Do you think you’re so unique you’re the first woman to be snowed by a con-man?”

“No, but I wasn’t snowed. I was buried in an avalanche. Most women are smart enough to get out long before I did.”

“You did what you could—”

“I stayed with him for three years after the first time I saw him deal drugs. I was pregnant with Eli. I should’ve taken Liam and ran then. But I didn’t, I stayed. That is not doing what I could, Max, that’s just plain ridiculousness.”

“So he used your arrest record to get custody?”

“Yes. But Jay had dirt on the judge, so he was gonna get the kids no matter what. His whole plan hinged on me losing the kids. Once that happened, he had full control.”

“Why’d he want them?”

“He had four thousand pounds of cocaine he and his partner, Novak Yazzie, wanted me to fly down to Seattle for them.”