14. Maya #2
“I’m not sure what you were trying to accomplish,” I said, my voice steady. Everyone stilled around me.
“To fucking expose you for the fraud you are. No amount of shopping for nice clothing is going to make up for the trash that you reek of.”
“How do you know we went shopping?” I asked.
Her face turned pink. “I wanted to expose all of this. Followed you to see what other shady shit you were doing.”
I see.
Something inside of me snapped, and I moved towards her, stepping over the pictures.
“Becky, I understand what you were attempting to do—that you wanted to humiliate me by drawing attention to the differences between everyone else and me—but you care about all of this more than I do.
I never pretended to be anything more than what's in these pictures. All it is evidence of is that you followed me around enough to capture it on film.”
Becky’s mouth popped open in shock. I turned on my heel, ready to escape this situation, but a shriek echoed in my ears and I was yanked back, hard.
I hissed as my head crashed into the hard floor, everything going to hell around me.
Her shoe hit my rib as the yelling grew louder, and I was snatched up by Henry, a few people restraining the manic woman who’d clearly lost her mind.
I met Becky’s gaze as she practically foamed at the mouth like a rabid animal, and I clutched onto Henry as he carried me away.
I exhaled sharply as we stepped outside and the cool air hit my skin.
The police had arrived, and Anani spoke to the man I’d met before, my eyes stinging and my ears ringing.
Once we were in the car, my ears popped, and I relaxed into the seat, the sound of my heartbeat loud and wild. I realized then that Anani was yelling.
“Fucking mental ward is where she belongs,” he spit out. “Who attacks someone like that?!”
I placed a hand on his leg, startling him, as Henry muttered “a crazy bitch” in answer.
I almost laughed at that.
“Sweetheart,” Henry said quietly, “we’re stopping at the local branch to talk to Marco—is that okay? Or do you need the hospital?”
I lifted a hand to the back of my head and pulled away, the twins growling at the blood. “No, it’s fine,” I mumbled. “It means it’ll heal.”
“That’s fucked up,” Ledger groaned.
We pulled up to a low gray building with a familiar BMW parked out front. I could already feel the wound on the back of my head healing as I stepped out of the car and inhaled the fresh air. Without waiting for the others, I was through the door and searching for Marco.
“Can I help you?” a stunning woman at the front door asked. I scowled at her narrowed gaze on me. Normally I would have attempted to be more friendly, but after everything today, I was exhausted and ready to be alone with my friends. I didn’t want to see anyone else.
“Where is Marco?”
“In a meeting,” she responded right away, and I watched her cringe as Marco rounded the corner.
“Cecile,” Marco stated, his tone harsh, “if you ever turn her away from this office, you’re going to find yourself without a job.”
I tried not to stick my tongue out at her because I’m an adult. Although I had a day and a half…
Cecile’s eyes widened. “You didn’t tell me that you’d found?—”
“Well I have,” Marco interrupted. “She has the same privileges as any of my brothers, understood?”
“Yes sir,” she muttered. I walked over to Marco, and he tilted his head, looking alarmed.
“Why are you bleeding?” he asked, turning me and lifting my hair up. The other men entered the office, Henry explaining before Marco could bark out orders.
I, in the meantime, could only appreciate how modern and beautiful the office was. I really needed to know more about what my friend did.
A voice inside of me argued with the label. Mate, not friend. I still had no idea what that meant, but a part of me hoped it meant this was something bigger than I’d been treating it. The other part of me knew I wasn’t worthy of that.
“Get Johnson on the phone,” Marco bit out. “I want her institutionalized or something, and we need a restraining order immediately.”
Cecile, I had to admit, moved impressively fast, opening up a phone line for Anani, who spoke fluently in a different language. I was a bit jealous, to be honest. I wanted to speak more languages.
“It’s healing,” Marco noted quietly.
“It’s because it broke skin,” I said, just as quietly.
He searched my expression as a dark light filtered through his gaze.
I knew my time for secrets was over. That was okay.
One could only bear that weight for so long.
I listened as he arranged to leave the office, and I mentally prepared myself to lose the only people I’d ever cared about.
I wrapped my jacket around me tighter as we walked out of the office, Cecile quickly looking down when I caught her staring at me.
The other boys went towards the car we’d arrived in, but Marco led me towards his BMW.
Once he made sure I was buckled in, the handsome man rounded the car that had already been started and was fairly warm.
“She’s wrong. You know that, right?” he said, turning in his seat to face me.
“Wrong?” I frowned.
He grasped my hands and kissed the tops of them softly. “You’re the furthest thing from trash, Maya. You’re fucking perfect. Don’t let her words affect you for even a moment.”
He wouldn’t think I was perfect for long. My secrets had reached their expiration date. I sighed, taking a moment to appreciate how good he smelled, how peaceful the car was, because I just knew.
I knew that the moment I started talking and told them everything, things would be different.