Page 94 of Brandishing Betrayals

I finished my business in the bathroom, washed my hands and limped my sorry ass out of the bathroom. Someone how I made it around the bed and managed to get myself tucked back under the sheets. Maya was nowhere in the room though.

I huffed a sigh and wondered where the hell she went. The recliner in the corner of her bedroom still had the footrest up and blanket pushed to one side, like she had been sleeping there and jumped up when I woke, not bothering to push the footrest down before she rushed to my side.

I didn’t have to wait much longer though when she walked in the room carrying a plate of food and a glass of milk. “I heated up some leftovers. My mom made a pot roast for dinner.”

My stomach let out a loud grumble that had me rolling my eyes. “Thanks,” I muttered as she set the plate in my lap. There was a dim nightlight on the lamp on the dresser that gave off enough light in the room to see my food. I started eating as Maya grabbed a pill bottle on the dresser and popped the top off. She dumped a couple into the palm of her hand and put the cap back on.

Maya turned and walked over to me, handing me the pills and then held up the glass of milk. I quickly downed the pills with a gulp of milk before I went back to eating. The food was pretty good, even reheated. I was starving—because apparently, I hadn’t eaten in two days.

I watched Maya return to the recliner, out of the corner of my eye. She curled up and wrapped the blanket tightly around her. I hated the fucking awkwardness that settled over the room while I ate in quiet. Maya might not even feel it, because of the looks ofher, she had closed her eyes and was trying to doze back off, but I felt it sitting heavy in the room.

Awkwardness and unspoken words.

I fucking hated it.

“Why didn’t you come to us? Back then, we would have protected you. Why didn’t you come to us?” I finally demanded.

Maya startled in her chair, as if she really had dozed off again.

I almost felt bad, but I needed to know the truth. “Why didn’t you trust us to protect you?” I hated that the pain in my voice was leaking out, but I was tired of hiding how she fucking ripped out my heart and stomped on it when she left us.

Maya gasped.

“No more lies, Maya. Why didn’t you just tell us what you saw the next day, or that night when we got home? Why keep that from us? We would have protected you.”

“I don’t know,” she said softly. “At first, I was so utterly terrified. I’d never been in that situation before. I thought if I just kept my mouth shut, it would go away.”

“But it didn’t.”

“No.” She shifted in her recliner, pulling the blanket tighter around her. “Then he started stalking me. He had figured out who you guys were, and he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t tell you. He constantly terrorized me, followed me.”

I hissed, letting the fork hit my plate as my head came up to look at her. Even in the dim light of the room, I could see the terror etched into her face. “Maya.”

“I was scared, Jason. I was fucking terrified and I didn’t know what to do. Yes, I should have fucking told you guys. I know that now. I fucked up and was I scared. I don’t know what else to tell you, I thought I was protecting you buy not saying anything. The day I decided I was finally going to tell you guys, you and Marcos got shot by Hillcrest. I was pulling bullets out of both you in thekitchen and wondering if the next time you might not make it.” Her voice broke on a sob and she covered her face.

I sighed and set the plate on the nightstand. “How long was he threatening you before you decided to leave?”

“About a week and half. It wasn’t that long. Like I said, by the time I finally decided to tell you guys, you two were shot. Then the night Trish was at the clubhouse she said that Hillcrest wasn’t going to miss next time. He said he’d kill the three of you and give me to his crew.” She’d already told me all this, but hearing her say it again, seeing the truth on her facefinally, after seven months of her showing zero emotion behind her stone-cold mask, it sunk in in a way that hadn’t really before.

I was sure it would still take some time before I really wrapped my head around it. If I ever could.

“I thought if she could just walk into the clubhouse without anyone realizing who she was—being Dax’s girlfriend—then anyone of his crew could just walk in and you guys wouldn’t know. The danger became more real for me, and I freaked out. Those last two days before I left were a lot. I was not in a good place mentally and then the scene in the woods—”

“We went too far,” I surmised. My head fell back against the wall behind the bed.

“I don’t know, maybe.” She shook her head. “I think everything had gotten to me those last couple days. I knew what I was doing when I went to Karma and Arturo’s. We all played a role that night and I should have safe-worded.” Again, she shook her head, as if lost in thought. “I don’t know, we’re not talking about that night.” She paused to take a deep breath. “All I’m saying is that those last two days I was here—shit, even those last two weeks—I was not in a good place mentally and all of that played a part in my leaving.”

I looked away from her, trying to process what she was saying. It was finally sinking in how difficult everything had been for her back then.

“I’m sorry for that.”

“I can’t—” It was my turn to shake my head, letting my sentence trail off.

“I don’t expect you to,” Maya whispered.

I swallowed thickly, feeling myself getting emotional. I didn’t like that she was across the room. It was dim enough that depending on how she shifted, her face would move into the shadow and I couldn’t get a read on her—not that the tears and choked voice and labored breath were enough. Maya usually wore her heart on her sleeve; her face was the window to her mind—or at least it used to be—and I hated that I couldn’t read her.

Maya yawned deeply and I sighed. It was the middle of the night and she’d clearly been taking care of me nonstop, on top of the stress of losing her father recently.

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