10. Chapter Ten
Maya
T he months following Lita’s funeral were both long and yet fast as the seasons changed from winter to spring. I hadn’t heard from the guys since then. I had spent Christmas in Chicago with my sister and my sister’s new boyfriend, while Kara had eventually gone home for Christmas.
We had texted during break, and Kara admitted to going off on her brother and the guys again. I told her not to worry about it, and leave it be. The last thing I wanted was some fling coming between me and Kara—our friendship was too important to me.
For spring break, Kara, me, and all of our friends—Hunter included—had gone down to Panama City, Florida for all the spring break shenanigans. It was my last year of school and I had wanted to go out with a bang.
It had been a blast, and every day I took advantage of living in the moment with my best friends. Whoever said high school was the best years of your life never went to college, because my senior year was everything I had hoped for and more.
By the time Graduation rolled around, a sense of melancholy settled over me. Everything was changing, our little crew of friends would all be headed in different directions. Terri would head to her parents’ new home in Florida and Maya would have to move back in with her parents in Mourningside.
Stephanie and Kara still had two years left of undergrad before both were headed onto more schooling. Karma had graduated the year before, while Arturo was graduating from the architect program. Hunter was heading to the west coast for med school, while Kyle and Travis headed east.
Our little group was breaking up—and so did Hunter and I.
I had done it last night, but Hunter hadn’t been blindsided by it.
The two of us were never serious, though we had agreed to be exclusive, we knew we didn’t have a future.
We agreed to be friends, and weren’t going to stop hanging out just because we were no longer fucking.
The mature relationship I had with Hunter meant the world to me. The way we could talk about things and be comfortable about our time together, gave me hope for the future. We might not have been each other’s happily-ever-after, but we weren’t each other’s worst nightmares either.
Graduation day was a sunny and hot day in early June. Terri and I were nervously pacing the school’s gymnasium, waiting to be told to line up before we headed out into the football stadium where the ceremony would take place.
“Are your parents out there?” Terri asked me, already knowing my relationship with my parents was rocky at best.
“I don’t know,” I said, not wanting to think about it. It was depressing to think that my parents probably weren’t in the stands, despite the fact that I invited them. “Are yours?”
“Yeah. They got a hotel room last night.” Even after moving to Florida, Terri’s parents made sure to both be their when she walked across the stage and graduated.
My heart clenched at the thought. It made me upset, so I forced it from my mind. My phone pinging in the pocket of my Graduation gown, pulled me from my thoughts. I pulled out my phone and saw the notification of a text from a group chat.
Assuming it was my friends talking about our plans for dinner and dancing that, I opened the group chat only to freeze when I saw it was from Marcos, Nico, and Jason.
And it wasn’t just one message; it was multiple messages.
Each one of them sent me an apology after apology, and congratulations on my graduation.
Marcos:
Hey Maya, I never apologized for my actions that day back in December.
I am so sorry that I hurt you and that I wasn’t the man you deserved.
I’m sorry that I was petty and childish, and not able to see past my own selfish desires.
You were right in everything you said to us that day.
We don’t deserve you for a moment, and probably never did.
I’m sorry I forced both Nico and Jason to listen to me that day and invite those women.
It was my own selfishness that hurt you, and for that I’ll never forgive myself.
I just want to tell you how sorry I am, and that even now, months later, I can’t stop thinking about you.
Good luck today, and congratulations on graduating.
Jason:
Hey Darlin’. I know you asked us to stay away, and we have. But I wanted to apologize again and let you know I still care about you. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you at all in the last six months. Good luck today. Hopefully next time you see us, you won’t completely hate us.
Nico:
Hey Little Dreamer, I just wanted to say how much I miss you, and how sorry I am that our actions drove you away from us. You deserve so much better than us. You deserve the world. I just hope that one day you can forgive us. I’ll always miss you. Good luck today and congratulations.
I choked on a sob as I read through their messages. I tried to get myself together, as not to mess up my makeup, but it was hard. Terri took one look at my face and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “What happened?”
I showed her the phone and let her read the messages herself.
“Well, damn.” Terri huffed out a breath and handed me back my phone. “What are you thinking?”
I shrugged a shoulder and wiped my eyes.
Terri shook her head slowly. “Maybe it’s time to forgive them?”
I jerked my head up, my mouth falling open in shock. Terri had been my biggest supporter in the last six months, but she’d also been the most vocal against me ever getting back together with either of the three men. She’d been vehemently against the very idea of Marcos, Nico, and Jason.
“Look girl. I know things have been hard for you the last six month. Their betrayal really hit you. I’m not saying to jump back into their arms, but I guess I’m also not saying not to, either. You and Hunter broke up, and you guys were good together, but you never had that same spark, you know?”
I nodded, wiping my eyes.
“And you are about to be back in Mourningside again. It’s practically Creekton. You’ll probably run into them a lot.”
Again, all I could do was nod .
“I say give them a run for their money if they make an effort to try again.”
A whistle blew, signaling it was time to line up, saving me from answering her. There was a scurrying of activity as everyone in the gym formed our lines to walk outside. Then we were on our way, walking into the blazing sun and heat to march across the stage.
Two hours later, the ceremony was complete and I was joining my friends in a circle, knowing I didn’t have any family in the crowd. I was too happy and excited to be done with school to be upset that my parents hadn’t shown up.
“Maya!” a female voice yelled for my attention.
I whirled around to find the beaming and smiling face of my older sister, Jenna. Bright blond hair and my same curls, Jenna was as beautiful as ever. “Oh my god!” I cried and jumped at my sister, hugging her tightly. “What are you doing here?”
“You really think I’d miss my only sister’s college graduation? Are you out of your mind?” Jenna’s matter-of-fact tone was like aloe on a sunburn, healing my heart after my parent’s blatant dismissal.
“Thank you!” I cried, hugging her tightly.
When we pulled apart, both of us with tears in our eyes, I turned and introduced my big sister to my group of friends. Even Kara and Stephanie had showed up to celebrate with us, despite the fact they had moved out of the dorms the week before .
After an hour of heartfelt reminiscing and tearful goodbyes—despite the fact they’d be meeting up at the bar later that night—my friends finally departed. Jenna and I walked with Kara and Stephanie back to the gym so I could grab my purse and change out of my graduation gowns.
“What the hell?” Kara said as she stopped walking.
I looked up to see three men, dressed in sharp black suits with ties, looking hot as fuck, just a few feet from the gymnasium. Students eyed them as they streamed by, wondering who the hell the three tattooed and pierced, rough and tumble looking men were.
“Hot damn,” Stephanie muttered.
“What’s going on?” Jenna asked, looking from the three women to the three men.
“Kara?” I questioned.
“This wasn’t me. I swear.” Kara shook her head.
My heart pounded in my chest. I could feel my cheeks heating as Jenna looked at me. “Maya?”
“I uh—it’s them.” I nodded toward the men.
“The three guys?” Jenna asked. I had told my sister over Christmas break everything that happened between me and my guys.
Jenna had been properly pissed off for me, but she had also been very supportive of me doing whatever I wanted when it came to them. “Oh, sister. They are fucking hot. ”
“Yeah.” I let out a breath, my voice strained. Each man held a red rose in his hand and was watching me patiently. “Why are they here?”
Jenna laughed and said, “I’d say they’re here for you, sister.”
“Kara?” I asked again.
“I uh—yeah. I’d say so. They’ve been asking about you nonstop the last several weeks, seeing if I’d agree to help them with some plan.
I told them no.” Kara had always supported my decision to cut ties with those three, despite them being her family.
“But if they’re going through all this effort…
the choice is yours, babe. I won’t tell you not to. ”
“You could just see what they say,” Stephanie reasoned.
“Hear them out,” Jenna agreed.
“And if you don’t like what they say, tell them to fuck off,” Kara added.
I felt dazed as I nodded and slowly walked over to where the three of them were standing. It was so odd seeing them in suits, granted they were all black, even their shirts and ties were black. The three of them seemed to stand up taller—straighter—as I grew closer.
Nico’s long blond hair was no longer shaggy, instead it was sleek and shining in the summer sun.
Reaching the middle of his back, his hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail at the back of his neck.
His bright blue eyes sparkled and his face was covered in a thick trimmed beard.
He looked like something out of a wet dream.
Next to him, Jason looked a little more hardcore with his neck tattoos rising over the collar of the black shirt, his spiky blond hair styled in a purposely messy look and his pierced eyebrow and a new lip ring glinting in the sunlight—a circle ring in his lower lip that made my mouth water.
His piercing gray eyes tracked every move as I slowed to a stop in front of them.
Marcos looked the same as always, if not a little thicker in the arms and shoulders—more muscles bulked on his already thick frame. His dark hair was still trimmed short against his skull, his dark eyes deep pools of sin that pulled me in.
Standing before them, I could already feel myself flagging in my resolve. Did I really want to tell them to fuck off again? Instead, I asked, “What are you doing here?”
“We wanted to congratulate you,” Marcos spoke up, stepping toward me. “Congratulations on graduating.” He handed me his rose.
I did my best not to blush or show too much emotion as I took the rose from him, but it was hard with them so close. Especially with how fucking hot all three of them looked.
Jason was next, stepping forward and handing me his rose. He stared down at me with all the emotions clouding his gaze. His gray eyes shining, like tears were welling, as he pressed the rose into my hand. “Congratulations, Maya. I’m proud of you.” He stepped back before I could respond .
Nico swooped in and kissed the corner of my mouth, as he handed me his rose. I was stunned as he pulled away, his lips pulling up at the corners. “Congratulations, Little Dreamer.”
“We know we fucked things up bad,” Marcos said, drawing my attention back to him. “And we’re sorry for hurting you. Is there any way you’d see yourself being able to forgive us?”
I sucked in a breath. This was the moment of truth. I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to say either. “I don’t know—”
“We can work with that,” Marcos said immediately, steamrolling over anything else I might’ve said.
“Just like that?” I shot back, annoyed. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“You didn’t say no, though,” Nico smirked. “So we can work with that.”
“You don’t know about us,” Jason added. “That’s fine. We can change your mind.”
I huffed out a breath of annoyance. “Just like that?” I asked again.
“Yep,” Marcos said.
I narrowed my eyes on them, not trusting them entirely, but also intrigued as to what they might to do to convince me.
“We’ll be seeing you, Darlin’.” Jason smirked and turned away from me.
“See you, Little Dreamer,” Nico said.
“Be safe tonight,” Marcos said .
I nodded mutely, watching as they turned and walked away from me.
“Hot damn,” Jenna crooned as she walked over to me.
I was startled out of my thoughts as my sister and friends surrounded me. “So, what’s the verdict?” Stephanie asked.
“I told them I didn’t know.” I shrugged a shoulder. “They didn’t give me a moment to speak. The second I said I didn’t know, they pounced, basically. Said they could work with that.”
“What does that even mean?” Jenna asked.
“You didn’t say no, so it gave them an opening,” Kara explained. “Not an outright no , means they have room to try to convince you.”
“They could try to convince me any day,” Jenna laughed.
I groaned and shook my head. “Let’s get out of here. I’m dying of heat exhaustion.”
“So dramatic,” Jenna shot back.