“I have to go somewhere really quick,” Maya said after she and Arsen gave their statements to the police, making sure that Octavia was safe and secure in the hospital.

 

Arsen’s face immediately fell, his brows furrowing together as he stared at Maya in silent disagreement. “It’ll only be thirty minutes, an hour tops,” Maya said. “I just have to do one last thing before today is over.”

 

“I really think you need to rest,” Arsen said softly, keeping his tone calm rather than pushy. Maya appreciated that. After everything she’d been through, she didn’t need anyone bossing her around anymore, which was why she had to do this one last thing.

 

“I know,” she said. “You’re right. And I will rest. I’ll rest for like three days. But I have to take care of something first.”

 

Arsen was quiet a moment, chewing on his bottom lip for several seconds before looking back up at Maya and speaking again. “Are you leaving me again?”

 

“What?” Maya asked, completely dumbfounded.

 

“Are you leaving me again?” Arsen repeated himself. “I need to know. I just…I need to have warning. That’s all.”

 

Maya didn’t have the words to answer that question, so instead, she just leaned in and took Arsen’s head into her hands, pressing their foreheads together for a moment before sliding her mouth against his. “Does that answer your question?” she whispered onto his face, allowing herself to finally smile again as Arsen nodded within her grasp. “Good. I’ll be back.”

 

After walking over to the Inked Hunters’ compound to grab the car, it was a quick drive back over to Chuck’s hotel, dropping the car off in the back lot before she headed back up to his room. She knocked on the door before opening it, finding him almost exactly where she left him, sitting on the bed.

 

“Jesus, you look like hell,” Chuck muttered as he saw her.

 

“Yeah, well, been there, done that,” Maya said with a shrug, dropping the car keys on the dresser.

 

“Are you coming back to me?” Chuck asked slowly, looking up at her with heartbreaking hope in his eyes.

 

It hurt her to do it, but Maya still shook her head, smiling sadly at him. “I belong here. In the city.”

 

Chuck stared down at his lap, tapping his fingers on his legs. “With him?”

 

“Yes, yes, with him,” Maya said honestly. “You knew that already. I…I want to apologize to you, Chuck. I used you as a way to escape myself. It wasn’t fair to you at all. I’m sorry.”

 

“I didn’t mind it so much,” he said sheepishly, smiling up at her, the sadness in his eyes dimming a little bit.

 

“I did,” Maya admitted. “It wasn’t you. It had nothing to do with you. I just…I need to be the person that I was, the person that I’ve always been. I need to stop hiding from myself. You understand that, right?”

 

“No,” Chuck said, shaking his head. “But I guess that’s the whole problem right there, huh?”

 

“Yeah, I suppose it is,” Maya said, slowly backing away from the bed. “It was nice knowing you, Chuck. Be happy. Please. Be as happy as you can.”

 

“You, too,” Chuck said as Maya finally retreated for the room, going back down the stairs and out into the dark night. The darkness welcomed her like an old friend, and this time, she wasn’t scared of it. In fact, she wasn’t sure that she was scared of anything anymore.

 

# # #

 

Arsen felt like he was on pins and needles, waiting for his body to be impaled at any moment. His leg was shaking furiously, his fingers continually moving over his phone screen to check if Maya called to tell him that she was running away with Chuck again. But instead, about an hour after he last saw her, he heard the front door of his apartment open. Maya walked inside, looking like she hadn’t slept in about a million years.

 

“Hey, there, stranger,” she said as she walked over to sit beside him on the couch, groaning in pain before stuffing a pillow behind her back.

 

“Hello to you, too,” Arsen said softly, reaching forward to put his hands on Maya’s shoulders, finding them as tense and stiff as he expected.

 

“I need to sleep for like ten days straight,” Maya sighed, leaning back into Arsen’s touch. She whimpered a little as he dug his fingers into her skin, reaching under her shirt to get to her shoulder-blades.

 

“You deserve it,” Arsen said softly, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to the top of Maya’s head. He could practically feel her smile, even though he couldn’t see her face. He’d never felt this connected to her before, but there was still one thing nagging at the back of his mind, preventing him from relaxing fully.

 

“What were you going to say, in the woods, before I restrained Zane?” Arsen asked.

 

“You already know the answer to that question,” Maya said shyly, leaning forward to grab a mug full of water off the coffee table in front of the couch.

 

Arsen bit down on his lip, rubbing at Maya’s shoulders a little harder than before. “Still…” he whispered. “I mean, I know it’s asking a lot of you. You’ve been through enough today, but I’m…selfish, I guess. It’s who I am. You know that about me.”

 

“I do,” Maya said, not disputing his own diagnosis of his personality. That made him smile a little, knowing that Maya would always call him out on his flaws. “But I guess I can give you a pass this one time.”

 

“Yeah?” Arsen prompted her, feeling his heart pick up in his chest as he sat completely still.

 

“Yeah,” Maya said, her tone as light and casual as can be. “Because I love you. Always have.”

 

Arsen couldn’t help himself, he had to crush Maya into his body and wrap his arms around her waist to keep her as close to him as possible. “Jesus Christ, I fucking love you.”

 

Maya turned her neck to kiss him, pressing their mouths together firmly before letting Arsen’s tongue inside, massaging it with hers until he was moaning into her mouth. But she pulled back a minute later, probably wanting to avoid getting overly excited. She obviously wasn’t in any position for their usual rough sex tonight, but that was okay. Arsen could wait.

 

“I wasn’t even sure you were coming back, you know,” Arsen said, thinking out loud as he traced his fingers over Maya’s, dragging his nails gently over her skin.

 

Maya shook her head and lightly smacked Arsen on the thigh. “Nah. I couldn’t leave you. You should know that by now.”

 

“But…I mean, a year ago, you said you couldn’t take it anymore. I figured you meant me. How we met, working on that case years ago…I figured it’d be impossible for you to ever move past that, and that was why we couldn’t be together.”

 

“I’m not going to lie to you. We’ve got some tough roads ahead,” Maya said. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know we’ll face it together. I can’t…I can’t be without you. It’s just not how I work. I hope that’s okay with you.”

 

“Of course it’s okay,” Arsen said, hugging Maya closer. “More than okay. But…if you need to leave the city, if you need to go somewhere else to feel better, to feel safer, we can do that. My job is wherever you want it to be.”

 

“What about the Inked Hunters?” Maya whispered, grasping back at Arsen’s hands.

 

“They’re my club, my brothers,” Arsen admitted. “But you’re my family.”

 

They were silent for a long moment, hugging each other tightly, before Maya spoke again.

 

“I’m not ready to leave the city yet,” Maya said. “There’s some stuff I got to work through, and I’m not going to be able to do it by running away. At least not yet.” She tapped her fingers on Arsen’s hand, making his skin cells prickle with pleasure. “Will you help me? Work through all my shit, you know?”

 

“Of course,” Arsen answered immediately. “Whatever it takes. I’m here for you, you know that.”

 

“And the opposite is true for you. I’m here for you. I know the past isn’t in the past, for either one of us. And we’ll face it together.”

 

“What do you mean?” Arsen asked, even though he had a suspicion he knew what Maya was going to say next.

 

“Lizzie’s diary,” Maya whispered, turning around in Arsen’s lap to face him, staring up at him with wide sincere eyes. “We’ll have to face it one day, sooner or later. I want to be there for you when you’re ready.”

 

Arsen swallowed thickly, willing the words he knew he had to say to come out of his mouth without a fight. “I think I’m ready. Tonight,” he whispered.

 

“Okay, then,” Maya said, smiling encouragingly at Arsen. “Let’s read it. Together.”

 

“Okay,” Arsen said, his voice trembling a little as he reached one hand out to grab Maya’s again, bringing it to his mouth for a sweet kiss.

 

He walked into the other room to get Lizzie’s diary, his hands shaking as he wiped the covers clean of dust. Arsen returned to the living room to sit next to Maya on the couch, placing the diary down on both of their laps, staring at it for a long moment before tracing Lizzie’s name on the cover. “I have to let her go, right?” he whispered.

 

“No,” Maya said, leaning in to kiss Arsen’s neck. “You have to realize that she’s never left you. Not really.”

 

Arsen exhaled forcefully and nodded, his blood rushing to his head as he lifted the cover, opening up to the first page, immediately recognizing his younger sister’s handwriting in purple ink across the pink page. “That’s my girl,” he whispered as he ran his finger along the first line of text.

 

“She always will be,” Maya said, nestling in closer to Arsen’s body. “And I will be, too.”

 

They didn’t know if they were going to be okay the next day or the day after that or the next week or the next year or the next decade. They had no idea what the future held, really. But sitting there together, clutching each other’s hands like it was the end of the world, they knew that they had each other, no matter how broken they were. And ultimately, that was all that mattered.

 

THE END

 

 

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