Chapter 35 Maya
MAYA
The last time Nate and I had been at Lacey’s together, we’d slow danced in front of everyone we knew. Then he’d bolted for the parking lot like the building was on fire.
Tonight, he held the door open for me with one hand and guided me through it with the other, his palm warm and steady on the small of my back.
The moment we were through the door, he took my hand in his.
No bolting. No white-knuckled restraint.
Just Nate, walking into Lacey’s with me like it was the best choice he’d ever made.
The jukebox was losing its war with the Saturday night crowd, same as always. Sticky floors, the crack of pool balls from the back corner, the smell of beer and fried food and something that might have been nostalgia. Lacey’s hadn’t changed. But everything else had.
He leaned down, his mouth close to my ear. “You good?”
I tilted my face up to him. “I’m great. Why?”
“You’re squeezing my hand hard enough to cut off circulation.”
My gaze dropped to our hands. He was right. I loosened my grip and he flexed his fingers with a quiet laugh, then laced them back through mine before I could pull away.
“Didn’t say let go.”
Something fluttered behind my ribs. Days of this and the man could still undo me with a few words and a half smile.
The pool game was already underway in the back corner. Dan was lining up a shot, Brody leaning against the wall with a beer. The girls were clustered around the high tables nearby, drinks in hand, a low hum of conversation and laughter drifting across the bar.
Poppy glanced up from her drink, clocked us walking toward them and her whole face changed.
She pressed both hands to her cheeks, her bright blue eyes going wide and glassy, and stared at our joined hands like she was witnessing a religious event.
Hannah’s head snapped around to follow Poppy’s gaze, and the grin that split her face could have been spotted from space.
The ripple went through the group fast. Emily nudged Cassidy.
Samara grabbed Annie’s wrist. Mia set her drink down and clasped her hands together.
Within ten seconds, every woman at that table was staring at us, and the collective energy radiating off them could have powered every light in Lacey’s for a month.
So much for a subtle entrance.
Nate’s hand tightened on mine. “Why are they all looking at us like that?”
“Because they’ve been waiting for this since approximately chapter one of my life.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
The minute we were close enough, Hannah cupped her hands around her mouth, and called across the noise.
“Operation Bang Nate was a success, everybody!”
I was going to kill her. I was going to kill her and bury her in the park and no one would ever find her body.
Nate stopped walking. “Operation what?”
“Nothing.” I tugged his hand. “Keep moving. Don’t engage.”
“Maya. Operation what?”
“It’s just a name. It’s not important. Hannah is about to die, so it won’t matter in a few minutes, anyway.”
“Right.” He was either horrified or trying very hard not to laugh.
Over at the pool table, Brody’s head had snapped up at Hannah’s announcement. The pool cue dangled forgotten from one hand. His expression cycled through about five emotions in two seconds before landing on pure, undiluted delight.
“Hold on.” He pointed the cue at us. “Hold the fuck on. Are you two...” His gaze dropped to our hands. Shifted to Nate’s face. Bounced to mine. Then he threw his head back and laughed so loud that half the bar turned to stare.
“I knew it!” He slammed the cue down on the table, rattling the remaining balls. “I fucking knew it! Daniel, I told you. I told you at the station, I told you at the truck lot, I told you every single day for weeks.”
Dan, still bent over his shot, didn’t look up. “You told everyone. Constantly. It wasn’t exactly a secret, Brody.”
“It was to me!” Brody jabbed a finger in Nate’s direction. “This guy. This guy right here looked me dead in the eyes and said ‘nothing happened in the parking lot.’ Remember that? Remember those exact words?”
Nate rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “I remember.”
“‘Nothing happened,’ he says. Nothing happened!” Brody spread his arms wide, appealing to the room at large. “Meanwhile, the man was out here launching… What did you call it?” He asked Hannah.
“Operation Bang Nate,” she replied, her face solemn.
“Operation Bang Nate! And I’m the last to know!”
“You were not the last to know,” I put in. “You literally just heard about it three seconds ago along with the entire bar.”
Hannah materialized beside Brody, palm extended. “Twenty bucks, please.”
Brody reached for his wallet without even looking, too busy grinning at Nate. “Worth every cent.” He slapped the bill into Hannah’s hand, grabbed Nate by the shoulder, and pulled him into a hug that was more tackle than embrace. “About goddamn time, brother.”
“Yeah. It is.” Nate’s eyes found mine over Brody’s shoulder, and the smile he gave me was so open and unguarded that my heart tripped over itself.
With that, Brody dragged Nate back to the pool table with a possessive arm around his shoulders, already talking strategy like the last ten minutes hadn’t happened. I claimed a stool at the high table as Poppy pressed a glass of wine into my hand.
“You’re glowing.” She stated it like a simple fact, the way you’d say the sky was blue or water was wet. A fact too obvious to argue with.
“I’m not glowing. I’m just... happy.”
“Babe. You are radioactive with happiness. I could charge my phone off you right now.”
I laughed a little self-consciously and took a gulp of wine.
She bumped her shoulder against mine. “I’m really glad,” she said softly, her eyes shining. “That’s all. I’m just really glad.”
My throat tightened. I nudged her knee with mine under the table and left it there.
The pool game started and lucky me, I had a front-row seat. Nate shed his jacket and pushed his sleeves up. Of course the muscles in his forearms shifted and flexed as he leaned over the table, doing all sorts of things to my insides.
He sank the ball, straightened up, and looked directly at me. Like he’d known I was watching the entire time. One corner of his mouth pulled up and my stomach flipped.
Gorgeous.
“Has he said anything to you?” Emily asked, following my gaze. “About what happens next?”
“No.”
“But he’s not looking at places,” Cassidy said. It wasn’t a question.
“Not that I know of.”
Poppy tilted her head. “And the west coast thing?”
“Hasn’t come up.”
A beat of silence settled over the table. Everyone was thinking the same thing but nobody wanted to be the one to say it out loud in case saying it somehow broke the spell.
Mia said it anyway, because Mia always did. “He’s staying, Maya.”
Something sharp and hopeful twisted under my ribs. I crushed it before it could take root. “He’s not. That’s not what this is.”
Mia’s eyes lingered on me for a second before she turned back toward the pool table. “If you say so.”
Nate was leaning against the wall, talking to Dan. He looked settled. Relaxed. Almost... happy?
I traced the rim of my wine glass. “I’m not poking at it. If it’s happening, I don’t want to scare it off by naming it.”
Poppy reached over and squeezed my hand. “Smart girl.”
The rest of the night blurred in the best way.
More pool, more drinks, more laughter. We slipped out near closing, fingers laced, the best idea I’d ever had bubbling away in my brain.
As we stepped through the heavy wooden doors, the cool night air hit my skin.
I tipped my head back, letting the feel of the evening settle around me.
Nate opened the passenger door of the Tacoma.
I caught the frame and stayed planted on the asphalt. “I’ve got an idea.”
His hand slid down my back, settling at the base of my spine. “Yeah? What’s that?”
“Take me to the river,” I said.
He quirked a brow. “It’s almost midnight.”
“I know.” I tugged the hem of his shirt. “Moonlit swim. You and me. Unless you’re chicken shit.”
His eyes darkened. The smile that spread across his face was slow and dangerous and full of promise.
“Get in the truck, Slayer.”