Chapter Two Maia
Chapter Two
Maia
No. No. No.” I stared at my reflection, shaking my head. My red tresses had been styled into loose waves, courtesy of Erik. He’d also lent me his skilled hand at makeup, giving me a dramatic cat eye I never could’ve managed on my own. But the outfit?
Hell to the no.
Violet’s hands came to her hips, showing off the manicure she’d clearly had done for the occasion. Some had skulls, others, broken hearts, and her pointer fingers featured knives stabbing into hearts. It was a vibe. “You promised. Breaking it would go against bestie code.”
“I’m going to flash someone my underwear in this,” I argued.
“At least you shaved,” Erik added helpfully.
I scowled at him.
“Hey,” Violet cut in. “This was in your closet.”
“Yes. And I usually wear pants with it,” I shot back.
The lacy black top Violet was currently styling as a dress made me feel half naked. Because I was. Part of it was my height. At five foot ten, lots of things ran short on me. But this barely covered my ass.
The whole thing was only compounded by the heels Erik had pulled out of my closet, handing them to me and simply saying, “Yes, sugar.”
They’d been an impulse purchase. Jackson was only an inch taller than me and hated it when I wore heels. So, over time, I’d slowly almost stopped wearing them altogether.
But a few months ago, when I was in Denver to meet a friend from college, I’d seen them in a shop window.
They were so unlike anything in my closet, but something had pulled me inside the little shop.
And I swore a demon had possessed my body when I spent half a week’s salary on the deep-red works of art.
They were a good four inches tall with ribbon straps that wound to mid-calf. Paired with the black dress, I looked like some femme fatale assassin. And as Erik looped a black lace mask over my eyes, I felt a little more the part.
He tied the ribbon into a perfect bow, letting the tails mix with my red waves. “Believe in yourself. You deserve a little look-at-me fun.”
“And if you make me pick out another outfit for you, we’re going to be more than fashionably late,” Violet chided.
I let out another breath. Maybe this was me finding another part of myself. One I’d yet to discover. I might spend most of my days in work boots covered in dirt and animal excrement, but maybe I had this side of me, too. And I could love both.
Working in nature and checking on the various wildlife our preserve held fed my soul.
There was nothing like watching baby marmots bumble about with their parents, seeing a bald eagle prepare its nest and guard its eggs with its mate, or catching sight of a mountain lion or two.
It was the best job I could imagine. Especially with the added bonus of taking schoolkids and families on tours through our preserve.
But none of that meant I couldn’t do this once in a while, too. And figuring out if I liked it or not meant I had to try it.
I tugged on the hem of my shirt-turned-dress one more time and steeled myself. “Let’s do this.”
Violet sighed in relief as we headed for the door.
It took a minute to pull on the coats we needed, because mid-February meant it was still definitely winter in Colorado. And as we stepped outside, evidence of that fact fell in soft, thick flakes.
“I need to move to Arizona,” Violet grumbled.
“I’d settle for a hot mountain man taking me to Aruba for six weeks,” Erik amended.
I tipped my face up to the night sky. “I don’t know. It’s kind of magical.”
“It was magical the first dozen times it snowed this year, Pollyanna,” Vi clipped.
I choked on a laugh and patted her shoulder. “I’m sorry. Death to all snow. Sunshine only from now on.”
“That’s better,” she huffed.
I stole one more glance at the sky; even with the snow starting to fall, I could glimpse stars glimmering beyond the clouds. “There’s supposed to be a comet tonight. Two, actually. The Star-Crossed Lovers. They crossed paths forty years ago, and this is the only time they’ll meet again.”
Silence greeted me.
My gaze flicked to Violet, who simply shook her head. “Why am I not surprised you’re coming in with the nature knowledge?”
My lips twitched. “If you thought you didn’t have a nerd for a bestie, you’re dead wrong.”
Erik wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I think it’s romantic.” He booped my nose. “And that your nerdiness is adorable.”
Vi rolled her eyes. “Come on, hopeless romantics. Let’s get our party on.”
“Ladies,” Erik said, offering us each an arm as we headed for the steps outside my apartment building.
I expected us to hop in one of our vehicles, but I gaped at the full-on limo in front of my less-than-stellar building. “Who’s springing for the limo? Because you two work at the same place I do. Or did one of you rob a bank?”
Erik snickered as he opened the door for us. “I don’t know. I think I could be into the whole cops-and-robbers thing. Hot.”
Violet laughed as she slid in, and I followed, thankful my coat covered my ass, or I would’ve definitely been flashing my neighbors. Vi scooted over to give Erik and me some room. “The host of the party sent cars for everyone so there’d be no risk of drinking and driving.”
I let out a low whistle. “Hell of an expense.”
Violet shrugged. “They’re one of the platinum donors to the preserve, so I don’t think they’ll even notice this bill.”
We got some of that—donors who loved to make sure we knew just how much money they had.
But we also had the opposite—ones you never would’ve guessed were rolling in billions.
They just wanted some of that money to go to a good cause.
We even had an anonymous donor who gave a million dollars every single year.
But to me, the ones that meant the most were the families that scrounged to make small donations.
Or kids who hosted lemonade stands or babysat so they could contribute fifty dollars.
But all of it together helped keep our doors open.
“Maybe I’ll move into the mountain mansion and never leave,” Erik said with a chuckle.
I grinned at him. “If it’s nestled in the woods with a view, I’m with you.”
“My little animal whisperer,” he chided. “Wants to be one with the deer.”
“Just don’t get us eaten by a mountain lion, please,” Violet cut in.
“I’ll do my best.” I took a moment to take in my friends. “Thank you. Both of you. I know I haven’t been the most fun the past few days. I appreciate you getting me out of the apartment.”
“Please,” Erik said, waving me off. “Who cooked and cleaned for me for the entire month of November when I got pneumonia?”
Vi’s lips twitched. “And you did help me egg that jerk’s car when he cheated on me.”
I choked on a laugh. “I’m still convinced a cop is going to show up at my door and arrest me for vandalism.”
“Live a little, Mai. We could do a repeat for Jackass Jackson,” Violet said hopefully.
“I think I’ll settle for never seeing him again,” I muttered.
But I couldn’t help feeling a little sad about the fact that not seeing Jackson meant I might not get to see his parents or Decker as often as I used to.
I’d loved them all. Even if Deck seemed to put distance between us in high school, we always supported each other on big occasions.
My graduation. His championship games. I couldn’t help but wonder if all that would end, too.
It seemed like it was already happening.
The past year I’d gotten to only two of Deck’s games and a couple of dinners with his and Jackson’s parents.
While Mr. and Mrs. West had seemed a little sad at the new state of things, Deck had avoided me altogether, giving me a quick hello before making excuses to do something with his teammates.
I didn’t blame them, but I couldn’t help missing the way things used to be—with them, at least.
As the limo navigated the steep mountain roads, the snow grew thicker, and I hoped they had some SUVs with snow tires to get people home from this event.
But the landscape was beautiful. The area we headed into was one of my favorites, with plenty of hiking trails and stunning lookouts.
The dark, cloudy night meant I couldn’t see much of it, but even the staggering pines, cast in shadow, had a certain kind of beauty.
The limo made a sharp right turn and, in a matter of minutes, slowed at an open gate. A man with an earpiece stepped up to the car window and waited as the driver gave him a name. A moment later, he waved us on.
“Whose house is this anyway?” I asked.
“I told you, a donor,” Violet said.
My eyes narrowed at her evasion. “Which one?”
Before she could answer, a man in a thick coat and hat opened the car door. “Welcome to Death to Valentine’s Day.”
Erik grinned at him. “Death to Valentine’s, indeed.”
I struggled not to laugh. “I think you’re meaning the opposite there, friend.”
Erik shrugged. “Hate sex can be the best sex, in my humble opinion.”
I frowned as he helped me out of the car. I didn’t think I’d ever come close to that—nothing that was heightened in any way. The sex I’d had always felt more like checking something off a list. Don’t get me wrong, it felt nice. Sometimes I orgasmed. But it wasn’t what my friends often teased about.
Shivering in the cold, I stared up at the house as I waited for Violet to climb out of the limo. The mansion was beautiful in some ways but a little too over the top for me. Turrets and things that would be more at home on a French castle than a house in Colorado.
A low whistle sounded next to me. “Quite a place, huh?”
I turned to see Henry, our head of all things school programming, approaching from another limo.
He was a master of calendars, spreadsheets, and marketing materials that went out to all the schools within an hour-and-a-half-drive radius.
I couldn’t help the grin as I took him in. “I love the Spidey mask.”
He sent me a sheepish smile in response. “It was the only thing I had.”
“Hey, Henry,” Violet greeted. “Spidey in a suit. I love it.”
The slight pink tinge to her cheeks had me looking back and forth between him and Vi. Was there something going on between them? Henry wasn’t the type my bestie usually went for, but maybe she was entering a new era.
“Come on,” Erik pleaded. “I really don’t want to find out what it’s like to get frostbite on my balls.”
I choked on a laugh. “By all means, we must protect the delicate balls.”
“Why do they say tough as balls anyway?” Violet asked, looping her arm through Henry’s.
“Seriously,” I echoed. “It should be tough as a vag.”
Henry started coughing.
Vi patted him on the back. “Sorry about that. Maia is entering her slut phase.”
The coughing only intensified as I struggled not to laugh.
As we walked into the monstrosity of a house, my gaze roamed the cavernous space. The inside looked like a castle, too, with countless hallways and a balcony around the second floor that overlooked everything below.
Everywhere I looked teemed with people dressed to the nines. Everything from short-and-glittery dresses to full-length ball gowns, tuxes with heart-adorned cummerbunds to a bloodred tracksuit. But everyone wore masks.
My gaze caught on someone on the balcony above. Tall and broad shouldered. The man was facing away from me, but there was something about the way he moved: powerful yet graceful as he dodged fellow partygoers. It was familiar, yet I couldn’t quite place it.
Still, my body reacted. A prickle of awareness slid over me as if invisible fingers trailed over my spine. I wanted to see his face. To know who the man was.
“Coat?” a woman asked, cutting into my hallucinatory spiral.
“Oh, yes. Thank you.” I slid off my coat, handing it to her and receiving a ticket in return.
And then my gaze locked with a familiar one: Frederick Ashford’s. One of the wealthiest—and sleaziest—of our donors. And he was clearly welcoming guests.
I whirled to face Violet, a glare in place.
She instantly winced. “He might be a douchebag, but he throws a great party. There are so many eligible guys here.”
“This is a bestie demerit,” I growled.
Erik wrapped an arm around me. “But worth it for a good dicking down?”
I sincerely doubted it.