3. Maya
Maya
“So what are we going to do?” I asked curiously after a few minutes of driving. I felt excited to be hanging out with real friends. At least, I assumed we were real friends. I didn’t have any fake friends to compare them to.
“We wondered if you wanted to come do homework at our house,” Henry said. “Or we can go to the library.”
Ledger sighed. “Either way, we have to get it done or Marco will flip.”
Marco? It couldn’t be the same one, could it? I didn’t know how common the name Marco was, but now I had to know.
“We can go to your place,” I said, my hands tangling together nervously. What would my mother do if she found out?
The boys talked as they fidgeted with the heat and radio buttons, and I took the time to examine the coastal town I found myself inhabiting.
The sky was a cold gray that reminded me of Henry’s eyes, a storm seemingly always a minute away.
The air smelled of water and brine, with seagull cries echoing from every stone surface we passed.
Small but expensive cars littered the driveways of coastal homes, and jacketed individuals hurried out of the wind into storefronts.
Despite the gloomy atmosphere, or maybe because of it, I felt at home. I had felt a connection to this place the minute I’d arrived. I had to wonder if that feeling was connected to my new friends at all, because I couldn’t imagine the place without them in it.
“Holy crap,” I muttered.
The house we pulled up to was larger than the church I had been locked up in.
The slate gray walls and angular glass windows complemented the natural environment.
Lush greenery surrounded the building and reflected against the front windows.
The thing that really caught my attention, though, was the familiar BMW that sat in front of the house.
After seeing Marco’s car at the gas station, I’d asked my mother about the brand. Jed sneered and said it was a ‘stupid-ass’ foreign car, but the fact that he hadn’t liked it just made me like it more.
“It’s Marco’s home, but we all live here,” Henry explained.
“I’ve met Marco,” I said with almost certainty. “I recognize his car from the gas station yesterday.”
The car went silent as Ledger shifted into park. I wish I knew how to drive. That was on my checklist of things to do. I wondered if my new friends would teach me.
“That bastard,” Anani finally chuckled, the sound making me perk up.
“Explains how he was acting,” Henry muttered in a dry, exhausted tone.
“Let’s go give him shit.” Ledger grinned. “Come on, firefly.”
I frowned but followed after them. As I stepped up onto the slate gray stairs, the massive stone door opened with ease.
“What are you guys doing home?” a deep, accented voice asked. A figure rounded the corner. “Be careful, Marco is all caught up on some—Shit.”
“This is firefly,” Ledger offered quickly. “I have a feeling this explains that.”
“Explains what?” I asked as my eyes darted around the room. It was nearly too much to take in. So sleek and modern.
The house had an open square ground level with cool slate flooring and massive ceilings.
The living room was filled with greenery, expensive artwork, and dark, comfortable furniture.
An open staircase led to the top floor, and through the steps I could see the forest through a wall of glass panels.
Very masculine, yet comfortable. I loved it immediately.
“Maya?” the voice asked. I focused on its sender and felt my eyes widen.
“How do you know my name?” I wondered out loud. No one that beautiful should speak my ugly name. My mother had said it meant ‘water’ because it was the opposite of the hellfire that burned inside of me.
She was a peachy woman. Really.
“Marco mentioned you, but he left out that you’re our?—”
“Friend,” Anani finished for him. “She’s our friend, Maya—aka peanut—and is very unaware of our family dynamic, Sai.”
“What family dynamic?” I asked curiously, unable to look away from the man in question.
Sai stunned me. It was like someone had lit a flame and it had turned into this muscular, tall man.
He had beautiful obsidian hair that hung to his shoulders in soft curls, and sparkling black eyes.
There was an element to him that spoke to fire and passion.
Maybe it was his structured jaw or stunning white smile, but his entire demeanor was smoky and hot.
Even his skin was burnt into a beautiful deep tan.
“Just that we all live together,” he muttered with darkening eyes. As he stepped forward, the scent of cinnamon surrounded me like warm flames. I swayed toward him, his large hands grasping my shoulders gently.
I hissed just slightly, trying to hide the pain, but it didn’t matter. He noticed.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, looking panicked.
“She has bruises,” Ledger murmured before I could respond.
“Why do you have bruises?” he demanded with a spark of temper I hadn’t expected.
I snapped out of my trance and stepped back, repeating my lie of taking a fall.
Sai frowned and met Henry’s eyes, the two of them exchanging a look.
“Marco,” Anani finally called out. Even his name sent shivers through me.
From somewhere upstairs, a door slammed open, and I cringed as footsteps echoed down onto the landing.
I snapped my head up and found a familiar pair of mint green eyes.
In a movement so quick it couldn’t be normal, my body was pressed into the scent of vanilla and pine.
I sighed into it. I was even okay with the pain from his massive hands biting into my back.
A deep rumble echoed through Marco’s chest and up my spine as his nose trailed in my hair, making my knees go weak.
A flame that I didn’t know existed roared to life inside my heart.
I could barely breathe, and tears collected in my eyes as I gripped his shirt, feeling a burst of pure joy at seeing him again.
“Holy shit, Marco,” Sai mumbled. “You could’ve told us.”
Marco didn’t respond, simply tugging me tighter against his body. He was so much larger than I remembered. Was this normal? My reaction didn’t feel normal, but at the same time, it was natural.
“Be careful, Marco—she has bruises, and you’re holding her pretty tight.” Henry’s words brought what sounded like a growl from Marco. I knew that sound; I growled sometimes too. I pulled back to see if he was frustrated.
Those green eyes looked down at me, and all the composure that he’d had yesterday disappeared.
His massive hand smoothed the back of my neck in gentle strokes as my eyebrows shot up.
What in the heck was going on? My pulse was moving like butterfly wings, and an infusion of warmth saturated through me.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his brow dipped in concern. There was a tightness in his jaw I didn’t like, so I brought my hand up to smooth the clean-shaven skin.
A rumble started up in Marco’s chest that had my eyebrows raising. Instead of lying in response to his question, I continued to smooth my hand on his neck. I could feel myself melting into him as certain parts of him grew harder against me.
Now that I had read about in Cosmo. A hard-on, I think they’d called it, and now that I’d felt it for myself, the description made a lot more sense. Though the biology textbook my mother had thrown at me after trying to give me the sex talk had called it an erection.
Whatever it was called, I didn’t want to tell Marco I noticed… But I was pretty sure it meant he liked me—the physical equivalent of hitting on me.
“Are you purring?” Anani laughed so hard he gasped, holding his stomach.
“Shut it.” Ledger smacked him on the back of his head. “You were practically shifting during gym class.”
Henry smirked, despite the darkness lingering in his expression. “Accurate.”
“How about I make you some tea?” Sai asked, drawing my attention. Marco made a frustrated noise as if he was upset I’d looked away from him.
“Sure? I’ve never had it before.”
The room silenced. Sai frowned and asked, “You’ve never had tea?”
“She doesn’t have a cell phone either,” Anani commented. I shot him a scowl and wiggled away from Marco—or tried to. He grumbled and hooked an arm around my waist, and I settled against him, facing the group.
“Can we not talk about what I don’t have?” I wasn’t against learning new things, but it reminded me of all the reasons why they wouldn’t want to be friends with me…and I didn’t like that at all.
“Yeah, Anani, stop being an ass,” Ledger said, giving me a wink. Sai jerked his head toward the kitchen, and I followed as he stepped down into the main room.
It didn’t escape my notice that Marco was still plastered to my back, chest rumbling.
Sai sighed and shook his head, but I didn’t mind at all.
In fact, I was more comfy than I’d ever been.
It sounded naive, even to me, but with Marco and my new friends in the same room, I felt safe—something I’d never truly experienced before.
Silly, right?
“Get her a cell phone,” Marco said quietly to Henry, who immediately sped from the room.
He definitely moved faster than normal. Was I the only one noticing this?
“Wait!” Ledger called out before looking back at me. “Any color preference?”
Henry peeked his head back over the stairs and explained, “They come in red, pink, black, and blue.”
I smiled. “Pink, please.”
I blushed a little because Henry nodded quickly with a cute grin before rushing away.
He made the butterflies jump in my stomach as well.
There was an underlying vibration of energy coming off him that I didn’t completely understand—I felt like he was hiding half of himself, and I was very interested to find out what that other half was.
“What flavor do you want?” Sai asked as Marco picked me up and placed me on top of a large granite slab.
I didn’t answer right away because the fancy kitchen made me flustered. I shouldn’t be in a kitchen like this, and I shouldn’t be on the counter. Kitchens like this only existed in the paper.