CHAPTER 34 Maya
Maya
Maya lay on the guest bed, clenching her teeth.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him there—kneeling by the door, looking so… pathetic.
Reid had always been so steady, so put-together.
Tonight, he had looked lost.
He hadn't needed any proof, in the end. Did that matter? She didn’t know.
Reid had been her most selfish choice.
Everything else in her life had been sensible. She thought about others, what she could do for them, what they needed.
Reid hadn’t been like that.
Reid had been something she wanted.
Just—him. The way he looked at her, the way he chose her. Being with him had felt like stepping into something self-indulgent.
She had taken him for herself.
Maya shifted slightly onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. Her hand drifted down, almost absently at first, resting against her stomach.
She could still feel his hands on her waist. His warm palms spanning her hips. He’d been close enough that she could feel the heat of him. Close enough that if she’d leaned forward even slightly, her mouth would have brushed his hair.
I choose you.
The words wrapped themselves around the memory of his touch, sinking somewhere dangerous.
Her fingers curled lightly against her stomach.
She remembered the way he touched her. Not just the physical memory of it, but the emotion behind it. The way he had touched her as if his body belonged to her as much as it did to him. The way he had given himself to her, like there had never been any doubt between them.
Her breath hitched, just slightly.
Her fingers moved, slow, gently at first. Her body responded anyway, instinctive, automatic.
For a moment, she let herself have it.
Not him. Not really.
Just the echo.
Just the feeling of being wanted. Of being known. Of being his.
Her eyes closed, her breath deepening as sensation built.
And then—
You are under arrest.
The memory of it cut through everything.
Her hand stilled.
The fantasy dissolved, warped, broke apart under the reality of what had happened. His hands on her wrists—not gentle. Not giving.
Maya inhaled sharply, pulling her hand away from where she’d been touching herself, the fragile thread of desire snapping cleanly.
She turned onto her side with a huff, pulling the blanket up, as if she could hide from this new and inescapable reality.
It didn’t matter that she’d loved him. It didn’t matter what dreams she’d had for their future.
None of it mattered.
She had loved her job, too. Another casualty of this nightmare.
Even if Reid undid everything—if the charges were dropped, if her name was cleared—she would never be able to do the same work. There would always be something attached to her reputation now. A shadow. A question.
She exhaled slowly. It was no use pretending her life could go back to what it was.
She swallowed the hiccuping sob, trying to push it down, trying to make it smaller, more manageable.
Maya closed her eyes, the darkness behind them no different from the emptiness of the room around her.
She was alone now, she had to accept it.