Chapter 24 - Maya
TWENTY-FOUR
MAYA
“Maya! I know you’re out there! If you just come here, then all of this will be over! You have my word, sister of mine.”
As Notch and I approached the edge of the shadowed forestry, he slipped his hand into mine.
He locked our fingers together and held me at his side, already answering my brother’s plea for me.
Not that I’d step out into the light anyway.
I knew what would happen. The second I stepped out, someone was prepared to take me out.
I was naive, sure. I thought the best of people, of course.
But I wasn’t an idiot.
Mostly.
“Don’t go. It’s a trap,” a man beside me murmured.
I looked over at him and found a stone-cold face looking down at me. A face sitting atop a massive man who had bloodlust in his eyes and a snarl on his lips.
“Stone’s right,” Notch said.
“Wait, his name is actually Stone?” I asked softly.
The man beside me chuckled as my brother’s voice rang out again.
“If you come, the Lost Boys and these Celtic Rider bastards can go free! You have my word,” my brother exclaimed.
I flinched, which caused Notch to hang onto me tighter.
“He’ll slaughter all of us. I know you want to believe the best of your own flesh and blood, but even you said it yourself. He isn’t the brother you grew up with anymore,” Notch said.
I looked over at Notch, and my heart slammed against my chest. I wiggled my hand out from his, and he quickly grabbed my arm. Men surrounded me creating a blockade so I couldn’t get away. I pleaded with Notch silently to let me go. To end this, once and for all.
“Please,” Notch said.
“Did he just beg her?” someone murmured.
“Your brother’s lying,” Stone said.
“But what if he’s telling the truth?” I asked.
I heard a collective sigh wrap me up as I slid away from Notch’s grasp.
“What if he wants me so badly, he actually is willing to let all of you guys go?” I asked.
“We came out here for you,” Notch said.
“No, we came out here to end this,” Stone said.
“Fine. I came out here for you. You know damn good and well he isn’t telling the truth, Maya. For once, will you just listen?” Notch asked.
But I’d never been good at that. It was one of my mother’s complaints all throughout my childhood. I was more stubborn than anything, and I’d stop at nothing to make sure I got my way.
Which meant I’d stop at nothing to make sure Notch was safe.
“Thank you for everything,” I whispered.
Then, I slipped through the wall of men around me.
“Damn it, Maya! Stop!” Notch exclaimed.
The men wrestled with him as I walked out of the shadows.
“Ah, and the prodigal sister returns,” Harry said.
“Stop this,” I said softly.
I stood in between everyone—the Celtic Riders at one end, my brother and his cronies in front of me, and the Lost Boys behind me.
Notch still wrestled with them, grunting and cursing and whispering harshly for me to come back.
I still had hope, though. I still had hope I could talk to the little boy I’d grown up with.
The little boy that had become so lost, so helpless, and so scared.
I saw the fear in my brother’s eyes. Even as the detective beside him raised his gun at me.
“No!” Notch roared.
“Harry, you can stop this. All of it. What are you getting from this? What has this pursuit really been over?” I asked.
“Shoot her, Terry,” my brother said.
My eyes slowly gravitated over to the man standing at his side. The detective the boys must’ve been talking about. His sad eyes looked me over once before his lips parted in shock. His hand trembled. The gun physically moved with every muscular twitch his body afforded him.
He was hesitating, and maybe I could appeal to that.
“I don’t know what my brother has you wrapped up in, but it isn’t worth it. It isn’t worth your reputation and your career. I think you know that,” I said.
His gun faltered one last time before he slowly lowered it to his side.
“I’m not shooting an innocent girl,” Terry said.
“This wasn’t the deal, detective,” my brother spat.
“Nor was it the deal to kill women,” Terry said.
I looked over at my brother and saw him turn his body toward the man with the gun standing at his side.
“You want these motorcycle assholes gone just as much as I do. That was the deal. To take them down by any means necessary. You heard the man yourself. They chased this girl out here! You want the first hit to their gut? You’ll put a bullet in that woman’s chest,” my brother said.
“I don’t want them gone. I just want my daughter back,” Terry said.
I furrowed my brow as I looked back at the guys. Notch’s pleading eyes looked at me as Stone held him back. There were three other men standing around him. Men I didn’t recognize. All equally as massive, with just as much fear and hesitation in their eyes as the detective.
I slowly panned my gaze back to my brother and drew in a deep breath.
“Just stop, Harry,” I said.
His eyes whipped over to me as he drew his own gun.
“Fine. If no one has the balls to do this, then I will,” he said.
“Like you did with Mom and Dad?” I asked.
“What?” Terry asked.
My brother’s gun faltered in his hands as tears welled in my eyes.
“It’s over. You have nowhere else to go. Nothing else to do. Just… listen to me. For once,” I said breathlessly.
Then, everyone cried out as Harry whipped his gun around, pointing it at Terry.
“Our deal is fucking over,” my brother said.
“Harry, stop this,” I said curtly.
“You’re a goddamn pussy, you know that? I stuck my neck out for you with my damn boss. I put my own ass on the line to reassure him you were worth the investment, worth the time, when my boss wanted me to put a bullet in you months ago,” my brother said.
“Harry!” I shrieked.
“But you can’t separate family from the job long enough to do what needs to be done. However, I’m a giving man. Had a family my myself, once upon a time. So, I’ll give you one last shot,” my brother said.
“Maya, run!” Notch exclaimed.
“Shoot. The fucking. Woman,” my brother snarled.
My body felt crooked and unstable. The men struggled behind me again as the moonlight cast glares on the detective’s own tears. He looked back at me with sorrow in his eyes as he dropped his gun to the ground, giving up all hope of whatever it was he set out to accomplish.
“You’re a piece of shit,” my brother hissed.
Then, his weapon was aimed at me again.
I closed my eyes, knowing what was about to happen next.
I tilted my head toward the sky, ready to receive my offering if it meant Notch’s safety.
If it meant the safety of all the men who had gotten so lost in whatever it was they were fighting about—guns, ownership, or money.
I didn’t care. I just wanted it to stop. For them. For my brother. For Notch.
For the man I loved.
A gunshot rang out, and my entire body tensed. I braced myself for the inevitable, waiting for the pain to crash over me. Waiting for the darkness to shroud me. But it didn’t come. All I heard was something falling at my feet as my eyes fell open.
And when I looked down onto the ground, Terry lay there bleeding, groaning, and holding his stomach.
“No!” I exclaimed.
Another gunshot rang out, and I whipped my head up. As I raced to the detective, my brother’s eyes went blank. Blood trickled down his forehead. Down his nose. Down to his lips. And when he fell to his knees, face first into the dirt, I scrambled for his body.
Until someone wrapped their arms around me.
“Harry! No! Please!” I roared.
“Come on, Maya. Come on,” Notch said, grunting.
“Harry!”
Everything else was a blur. Someone moved the detective’s body.
The muffled sounds of gunshots rang out around me.
Notch dragged me back to his bike and tossed me on it, jamming a helmet down onto my head, covering up my tears and my twisted, contorted face.
I reached out one last time trying desperately to get back to my brother.
Because I didn’t see a lost, fully grown man lying in a pool of his own dusted blood.
I saw my little brother lying there. The young boy I used to climb cherry blossom trees with. The young boy I splashed around in the pool with. The young boy who walked me to school and fended off the bullies who tried pushing me around because I was always the runt of the pack.
My entire family was dead. And for what?
Some gang?
The next thing I knew, we were all tossed into a van. Notch was at my side, and the detective groaned at my feet. I looked over at Notch and saw his lips moving, but I couldn’t hear the words coming out of his mouth.
All I saw was him keeping pressure on the wound in the man’s stomach. A wound that bled out and covered my feet with blood.
As the world slowly came back into focus, the detective began sputtering. He coughed up blood that splattered my shirt. My face. My hair. I dipped down to my knees, pulling the man’s head into my lap. Trying to make him comfortable as the van twisted and turned.
“He needs a hospital,” Notch said.
“Tell her something for me,” the detective said hoarsely.
“Wh—what?” I asked breathlessly.
“Tell Hayley something,” the man said, coughing.
“Who’s—who’s Hayley?” I asked.
“Stone’s fiancée,” Notch said.
I watched the man’s eyes widen as he wrapped his hand around my wrist.
“Tell her… I al-al-al—”
I bent down, placing my forehead against the detective’s. I cradled him as best as I could while Notch did everything in his power to stop the bleeding. But we all knew it wouldn’t be enough.
Including the man driving.
“Try again,” I whispered.
The man cupped my cheek as he coughed blood into my face.
“Tell my daughter… I always… always loved her. And that I’m-I’m-I’m… I’m proud of-of her.”
The van came to a stop and the doors flew open.
Stone yelled for Hayley. For the woman that was his fiancée and apparently the detective’s daughter.
The doors at the back of the van flew open and a beautiful, curvy woman appeared with terrified blue eyes and wondrously wavy hair piled on top of her head.
I slid out of the way, trying to give her some space as she cried over her dying father.
“Hey, Daddy,” she said, sniffling.
“Princess,” Terry choked out.
I slipped out of the van and stood there watching this intimate moment as if it were a train wreck.
“Daddy, what happened to you?” Hayley asked softly.
“I got lost,” he said, coughing.
“That’s okay. We all get lost. I was lost for a while, remember?”
“You were always an adventurous one. Just like your—your mother.”
“Please, don’t die,” she said, whispering.
“I’m sorry for—the pain. The—the lies. I-I-I—just wanted you—you safe. And—and my heart. It was so—”
“It’s okay, Daddy. I know. I know. Save your strength, yes?”
“I love you, my sweet princess,” he whispered.
“Please don’t leave me.”
“You tell this Stone to take care of you. All of you. Demand it of-of him.”
“I love you so much,” she said, sniffling.
“And I love you,” he choked out.
With one last breath, the man was gone. Stone crawled into the van, reaching for the woman he loved as I collapsed into myself. I coughed. I heaved. I cried harder than I’d ever cried before. And when Notch’s arms came down around me, he cradled my body against his and rocked me side to side.
“It’s over,” he whispered. “You’re safe.”
But even though I knew it was over, I knew I’d never be the same again.
No matter what came after this.