Page 92 of Maximus

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 the 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.