Saving This (The McCallans #5) (18 page)

“Gretchen,” he gently called. She appeared down the hall from the study. Max set Chase on the marble entryway and knelt down at his level. “Okay, pal, give your mom a hug goodbye and Gretchen will take you to the playroom. Mommy and Daddy need to have a chat.”

“Okay,” he obediently agreed.

Kate gave Chase a hug, and as Max waited while they exchanged goodbyes, he quickly typed into his phone the date and time of Chase’s surprise arrival.

When Chase was in Gretchen’s care and out of earshot, Kate immediately pointed a finger at Max’s chest. “You really don’t want to fuck with me this time. If I hear one word about him being with your brother and
Camryn
,” she said in a snotty voice, “you’d better believe I won’t be so nice anymore.”

It was the same threat she always delivered, but for her to believe she was being so
nice
was a fucking joke. She “allowed” him to see Chase once a month, but sadly, it wasn’t even so the kid could see his father. It was at her own convenience and on her own terms.

For now.

“How long are you going to do this, Kate?” Max answered calmly. “How long are you going to fight the inevitable? He’s four years old. I know he’s young, but he’s not going to be little for long. He loves some of my family. He needs people in his life who will always be there for him.”

She snorted with disgust. “Are you kidding? Like your dad? He’s always there for you? Give me a fucking break, Max. You’re a hypocrite, you know that? A selfish, fucking
prick
. You can do one thing for your kid to give him a normal life and you won’t. One. Thing. So don’t you dare preach to me about what is right or wrong for him. You set your terms and I set mine. What you chose to sacrifice is on you, not me.”

He didn’t respond. He’d be a broken record anyway.

“Nothing?” she smirked. “I know we’ve kind of grown out of the whole arguing thing, but really? You don’t care about your son’s future?”

“Don’t even accuse me of that,” he lowered his voice. “You know how much I love him, and for you to stand there and rub it in my face is despicable.”

“Careful, Max. Your family’s reputation is at stake, here.”

He paused, not for lack of words to say but to rein in his temper. He eyed the set of keys she pulled from her pocket, the ones to her Mercedes. “You’re driving yourself?” She hardly ever drove her own ass around but expected Max to pay for her to have a full time driver.

You know, that image factor again…

The bored expression on Kate’s face changed into a smug smile. “Today I am.” Turning for the door, she added, “Be a good boy, Max,” and left.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned against the closest wall. His head dropped against it as well and sounded with a
thunk
. With all the senseless things going on in the world, why couldn’t people focus on what truly mattered? Kate wanted his money. He didn’t care and would give it to her. She could take his possessions, his reputation, or his fame…it really wasn’t a concern to him.

But he would fight her for his son. That little guy changed his world a few years ago, but not in the way he’d expected. Max couldn’t deny he’d been devastated to find out the results of the paternity test. Not only was it difficult enough to deal with life changing circumstances, but to later have it plastered all over the news with various twists was a fucking joke.

There were several reasons why he’d kept it private for so long, but there was no stopping his father’s actions when he chose to sell the idea to the public his own way.
“Between this and Olivia, you’ve been a giant clusterfuck to handle,”
his father had rebuked.
“You better stick your nose in your work to turn this shit mess around.”

So Max had, later realizing his father had fought for his reputation from his sick bed while he went through cancer treatments. And while Kate continued to play her hand, Max continued to prepare his own for when the time was right. He hadn’t bothered Craig with the weight of Kate’s blackmail threats. He wanted to take care of her himself, without his family having to deal with it.

However, the aftermath was not going to be so subtle …

Chapter Twenty-One

“There you are,” a female voice announced from somewhere behind her.

Anna had been hunched over the desk, looking over a new graphic design for a line of boogie boards, but she stood upright and faced Kellie. Kobe remained in the desk chair but continued to rotate the mockup on the computer screen.

“Hey, what brings you by?” She’d only seen Kellie here any time she’d come with Tate, but Tate was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s your handsome hubby? I’m expecting him.”

Kellie held up a folder with a frown. “That’s why I’m here. He’s not feeling well. You know, a man-cold. He’s dying.”

Anna laughed out loud but took the new designs from her friend. “Aw, poor guy. Tell him to get better soon.”

“I will. It’s called ‘suck it up, buttercup.’”

Chuckling, Anna flipped through the six new sketches that Tate had created. As usual they were all amazing, but she settled on a particular one right away before setting the folder on the desk for Kobe to browse. “He could have just emailed these, you know. That’s what I was assuming he’d do.”

“Meh, I know. But you know he has to have physical work in his hand. And…I wanted to come see you.”

Kellie gave Anna a suggestive raise of her eyebrows and pulled out a chair at the worktable. Kobe seemed to catch the hint because he grabbed some coffee and exited the office with the designs in his hand. His setup for the business was in a three-bay garage behind his house in Ventura. One bay was an office, and the other two were for production, but right now he was probably headed into the house for his family.

“Okay, let’s talk,” Anna agreed as she grabbed some coffee for herself. She offered up a cup for Kellie but she declined, so they sat at the table across from each other. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is great for me.”

“Feeling okay? Pregnancy looks amazing on you.”

Kellie smiled. “Thank you. You know I feel like a fucking cow, though. And I’m starting to ache a bit more down low, but I guess that’s normal.”

“And you’re still not sharing the gender, huh?” Anna smirked as she sipped her coffee.

“Nope.” Kellie shook her head resolutely. But she leaned forward, elbows on the table, and asked what she’d obviously come to ask. “So you and Max, huh?”

Anna took another sip and eyed her over the steam. She knew she could trust Kellie, and Max even trusted Kellie, but she still didn’t like her life poked at. Even by friends. It was a cold, cruel world sometimes. Your own thoughts and decisions were sometimes the only thing you had to keep for yourself.

“Yes, Max and I have been seeing each other,” she replied.

“Just seeing each other?”

Kellie’s quirky smile was hard to ignore, and Anna felt her own lips break into a smile. “Well, yeah.”

“Oh brother,” Kellie scoffed. “You two are both like pubescent teenagers, you know that?” She laughed with amusement but shook her head. “You know I understand, right? I get that you both want your privacy and all that. But I will be completely upfront and say that I wish you wouldn’t shut some of us out. We want to celebrate your happiness with you. We’re not the ones you need to be afraid of.”

“Max speaks very highly of you,” Anna replied with confusion. “I thought he’s told you about us.”

Kellie pursed her lips. “Mmm, somewhat. But that was a few weeks ago. I haven’t seen him since.” Anna could feel allegation weighing against her immediately, but Kellie must have read her quite clearly and added, “Hey, no meaning to that whatsoever. I just mean I miss him, I want him to be happy, and I just want to make sure he’s okay. He’s got a lot going on in his life right now.”

“And you’re here to warn me about it too?”

Kellie’s eyes betrayed her worry. “What do you mean by ‘too’? Who else warned you? If my uncle—”

Anna waved a hand to halt any quick assumptions. “No need to stress. I just meant Max himself. We’ve discussed quite a lot, actually.”

She paused, just to smile to herself. The guy was fucking adorable and sexy as sin, all in one. He made her heart pound so hard in her chest it almost felt dangerous to her health. But he also had a lot of weight on his shoulders. That alone made her cautious, but she was willing to throw caution to the wind this time. Everyone had a tender corner of their heart that tried to suffer stoically. Max needed someone to help bear the burden, and she would be that person if he would just let her. He was still holding back.

“I’m meeting his son today,” she told Kellie for some reason. She felt she could trust Max’s cousin, but most of all, it just felt good to have another female to talk to. She didn’t have many of those in her life, including her own uninvolved mother. Becoming friends with Melanie, Camryn, Sarah, and Kellie had been a huge blessing in her life. “He’s bringing him to my place tonight. Pizza, popcorn, movie…just casual.”

Kellie’s smile was a bit confusing with her pause, but finally she nodded and quietly replied, “That’s awesome. It means he trusts you. I guess I didn’t realize you guys were that serious already. I came here to relieve you of any reluctance. Silly me.”

“Reluctance?” Anna repeated, even though she didn’t have to beat around the bush and ask what Kellie meant. “Nah, I’m not reluctant with Max. I mean I was at first because he just couldn’t be himself around me. I have a hard time trusting people who can’t trust
me
, if that makes sense.”

“Well, you know your own integrity. I get it. So does he. And I wouldn’t last a day in Max’s shoes, to be honest. I really don’t know how he does it. And I know he’s been in the middle of his dad and Teague for too many years, but I hope that will stop being the struggle it is once he sorts some, uh, things out.”

Anna smiled. “Yeah, I’m still in the dark with some ‘things,’ I’ll admit it. It’s his life, his steps to take, and his choices. I support it and he can share with me when he’s ready. I was completely forthcoming with him and laid out the gist of my life, but I never expected him to do the same so easily. I’m at peace with my decision; it was my path to take. I’m patient while Max takes his. Not everyone gets there the same way.”

Kellie glanced at her phone and stood. “You and Tyse surely bring that chill beach vibe to this family. Jay is that way too, and finally Teague again after he met Camryn. But I agree. The pursuit of happiness… It’s different for all of us.”

She winked as she made her way to the exit.

***

The light knock on the door was enough to affect Anna’s pulse. She glanced around the kitchen and front room, just to make sure nothing was out of place. She wasn’t nervous to meet Max’s son; just excited.

And she was especially eager to see the kid’s dad again.

She wasn’t expecting the feeling that washed through her upon opening the door. Max stood there with Chase in his arms, a sight she wasn’t used to seeing. It was beautiful, and heart melting, and the smile he gave her when their eyes met was extremely charming. And Chase was an adorable four-year-old with dark hair like his dad, and dark brown eyes lined with long eyelashes.

But the way Max was holding his son, glancing over his shoulder before entering the apartment, caused her worry to take over. She knew he was very protective of Chase and didn’t like the paparazzi to use him for stories.

“Hey, beautiful.” Max set Chase on the floor and leaned down to give Anna a quick kiss on the mouth.

“Hey, handsome boys. How are you both?” She particularly smiled at Chase, impatient for an introduction.

“Doing pretty well,” Max answered as Anna led them both to the couch. He pulled Chase onto his lap when he sat. “Hey buddy, this is Anna. Can you say hi?” Chase waved his hand slightly, but shyly tucked his head against his dad’s chest. “Use your words, big guy.”

“Hi,” he whispered, a shy smile appearing on his face.

“Hi, Chase. I’m so glad you could come over today. I was so excited to have you here, I made sure there were some fun things for you to play with.” She pointed to the corner where a blue tub of toys sat, and his eyes followed. “You wanna go check it out with me?”

He nodded, still staring at the plastic toy box. Anna stood from the couch as Max set him on the floor. While Chase led the way to the toys, Anna took a moment to lean down and give Max a proper hello kiss.

“Mmm, no don’t leave me,” he whispered when she pulled away from his lips with a smile.

“Trust me, I’ll be back.”

“You better.” He swatted her ass as she left, and when she turned around to feign a glare his direction, he only gave her a sexy smile in return.

Refocusing her attention on Chase, she joined him just as he was pulling out handfuls of Matchbox cars. “Ahh, the cars?” she asked, sitting on the floor next to him. “Which one is your favorite?”

He was lining them up in a row, seemingly looking them over. Finally he grabbed the blue one—a Chevy truck—but he set it aside after a few seconds. Then with his index finger, he slid the black one forward. “This one,” he answered, pushing the car in a circle while making
vroom
noises.

Anna smiled. “Are you sure? That one is your favorite? How come?”

He shrugged. “’Cause it’s the horsey car.”

Anna glanced at Max on the couch, who was sitting on the edge with his elbows on his knees, trying his best to see what they were doing. He gave Anna a curious eyebrow, but ended up joining them instead.

“Wow, jackpot, kiddo.” He observed the toys, and even though Anna knew he’d been giving her time to get to know Chase, Max sat on the floor right behind her, pulling her against him. “So that was what all your questions were about?” he chuckled softly, his lips against her neck. “Cars?”

“I just like to get to know people in simple ways. You said his favorite color was blue, and that he’s generally easy to please but loves cars. Normally kids pick their favorite color—” she pointed to the blue Chevy truck—“but your child chose
that
one.”

Max studied the car for a few seconds, his brows creasing. “And?”

Since Chase had parked it and was now driving the truck around instead, Anna picked up the black car to give him a closer look. “And what kind of car is it?”

He barely shrugged. “Mustang.”

“Mmhmm. I couldn’t find the color yours is, but I think I got the make and model correct?”

Max smiled, but took his time answering. Then he chuckled. “You’re right, you don’t know your cars very well.”

She scoffed at him and swatted his arm. “That’s not what yours is?”

“Nah, mine’s a Chevelle. And he’s never seen my car.”

Confused, she tilted her head for understanding. “No?”

He stood and held out his hand to help her up so they could sit on the couch. “Hey buddy,” he called to Chase. “Who has a horsey car?”

“Teague. And Jay.” Chase answered without looking up. He was now pushing around both the truck and the black car.

Shaking his head, Max kept his voice low as he sat on the couch with Anna. “I have to be careful with what he innocently reports back to his mom. He’s never seen my car, the other house, many of the people I’m around… I’m afraid Kate drills him for information. She already gets a shit ton of money from me every month, but I just want to keep her out of my personal life as much as I can.”

“Don’t you have a legal agreement for all of that stuff?”

He paused for so long, she wondered if she’d asked too soon. But they were on the topic. He could choose to get into it or not.

“Something like that, yes, but not through the courts. It’s actually a subject I’d like to discuss with you sometime. Another time.”

Anna easily agreed. Chase was currently occupied by ™Matel, but the point of them getting together tonight was so they could get familiar with one another. And that’s just what they did. After an hour of playing with toys, the pizza arrived, milkshakes were made in the blender, and they cut out a batch of ninja cookies to bake. Chase was an absolute doll, and even though he’d been shy at first, the kid was starting to warm up to her.

She’d caught Max watching her on several occasions. It was easy to tell he was pleased with their interaction, and even though her goal had been to genuinely make friends with his son, it felt good knowing he was at ease.

However, Anna felt a bit of nerves as she occasionally dwelled on his mention of Kate. There was plenty there to take in, she was sure of it. But the bottom line was what mattered the most. Max was here, making an effort, and it was all she could ask for. This Kate chick may need some special handling in the future, but Anna was up for the task if necessary. The last thing she wanted was to be on bad terms with Chase’s mom, but it was obvious Max was extremely uncomfortable with whatever was going on.

Anna always preferred giving the benefit of the doubt, but it was hard to in this case when she knew Max barely got to see his son.

That
was not okay.