Chapter 9 – Figure Your Shit Out
Grady –
We’ve bowled, white-water rafted, and downhill skied. I even played doubles in tennis with Erma and we kicked Miss Lillian Rose and Betty’s asses. I thought I was gonna come out of my skin, because Maya wasn’t shitting me when she said Foxy liked to hula-hoop. Since there was no actual hula-hoop, Foxy could get really close to her. I never thought I’d feel the need to beat an elderly man to a pulp, but that’s how I felt today. He was going for the bump and grind with my new favorite physical therapist and it did not make me happy. All the while, Maya laughed and played along as I had to sit and watch her hips move in circles, side to side, and back and forth.
Who knew fake hula-hooping could be hot? I’ve never been so pissed and turned on at the same time.
I helped her clean up from Donuts and Dominoes and we got the video games put away in the TV room. I hugged and kissed every old lady on the cheek—I swear they were lining up for it. This morning has been interesting, that’s for sure.
Maya is putting away the last of the controllers. The residents just left us to go to lunch. Tomorrow is Saturday and I just found out she doesn’t work at the Ranch again until Monday, which is good. The winery is more secure. I got an email from Crew during downhill skiing with both Maya’s and MacLachlan’s backgrounds attached, with a message saying, “The woman sure isn’t boring. You’ll want to focus on his report. Don’t take your eyes off her.”
I haven’t had time to read the report, what with all the reindeer games, but that made my blood boil, wondering what it could be. Now I’m glad I listened to my gut and came with her this morning. Besides the guy being an asshole, I’d rather Maya tell me why she’s running than having to read it on her background. I know women. If she finds out later I knew more than she wanted me to, that’s a sure-fire way to piss her off. I can’t afford to do that yet.
I’m sure I’ll piss her off eventually. I am me after all—it’s inevitable. But this soon? No way.
“You sure are popular with the ladies.” I look up and Maya is walking to me with her bag, grinning. “You had them lining up for a piece of you.”
My mouth tips because really, all I want is Maya, but instead of saying that, I tell her the truth. “I’m good with women.”
She stops in her tracks, only making it halfway across the room to me. She puts a hand to her hip and a frown mars her pretty face. “What do you mean you’re good with women?”
“Settle down—don’t throw a salad at me,” I defend myself. “I meant I grew up surrounded by women. I’ve got four sisters. If a man doesn’t learn how to survive swimming in a pool of estrogen in that environment, he’d drown.”
“You have four sisters?” Her eyes get big.
“Yep.”
“Wow,” she shakes her head a bit. She moves again, passing me.
It takes two steps for me to catch up and tag her hand. She tries to pull away, but I hold tight.
“Grady, you need to stop this.”
I ignore her and look over her head as we walk past the cafeteria. I see a large table of my new friends and wave. “See you ladies Monday.”
A gaggle of goodbyes are squealed as we leave.
“You’re not coming back Monday,” Maya insists in a low voice, again trying to pull my hand from hers.
I don’t have the chance to argue with her, because the moment I turn my head as we hit the electric sliding front doors, I’m stopped mid-step. I pull Maya close, and this time she doesn’t fight it or pull away. She squeezes my hand as her free one comes up to my bicep to hold on. She nestles halfway in back of my arm, shielding herself from the men we practically walk into.
Today in the daylight, it’s easier to see his frustrated rage. Unlike last night when I surprised him, today there’s no surprise in his features. His glare, which was initially focused on Maya, moves slowly to me.
What a dumbass.
Unlike him, it’s easy for me to rid my face of emotion when needed. I’ve spent too many years dealing with scum of the earth much more intimidating than he is.
“Wes,” I greet him with a blank face, and almost want to laugh at the expression he makes, probably because I shortened his name. “I’m surprised you’re still wandering the countryside. You visiting a resident here?”
Weston’s jaw tenses and the older guy with him takes his side. He’s got to be in his fifties and has a paunch hanging over his belt. He’s not the threat he’s presenting himself to be. I can see the piece he’s got strapped under his jacket since he’s overweight and his clothes don’t fit.
I’d shake my head at him if I could. Carrying concealed isn’t worth it if it isn’t concealed. I should know. After what happened last night I’m carrying now, but unlike this jackwad, I’m actually concealed. Even with my bum shoulder, I could take them both down before he could reach for his weapon.
On the other hand, I can’t tell where Weston’s carrying. Still, I have no doubt I could have them face first on the floor within fifteen seconds.
Weston’s eyes move to where Maya’s clinging to my arm and he finally growls out an answer to my question.
“I’ve come to take Maya home.”
*****
Maya –
Of course, I should’ve expected this from him, but I’ve been so distracted by Grady, I haven’t thought about the possibility of him showing up here.
So far this morning, if Grady wasn’t being sweet or finding a way to touch me, he was charming the old ladies’ club. He made them so happy, it was almost too much for me to watch. I haven’t had very many genuine people in my life—my brother is pretty much it. Everyone else wanted to be my friend because of whose daughter I was. The worst was when people wanted absolutely nothing to do with me because of who I was. It sucked because no one wanted to invest in a true friendship, and honestly, most people were too careful with me to be genuine.
But I’ve come to love all the residents here, and I think I’ve done okay at winning them over. They don’t have an ulterior motive to like or hate me—they’re just happy I’m here to spend time with them and provide some fun in their lives.
Many of them don’t have a lot of visitors, it doesn’t take much to give their day a boost. It doesn’t matter if Grady only brought them joy by some secondary means while he primarily wanted to follow me around all day. He brought a smile to the faces of many. It was hard for me to overlook that all morning as he flirted with his harem.
So almost walking into Weston after being distracted by the wonderfulness of Grady shouldn’t surprise me, but nonetheless, it does. Weston was alone last night, but I shouldn’t be surprised he has a lackey with him.
And of course, he brought Byron Murray, the man who made my options clear just before I decided I had to escape. He sure did his part threatening me before I left. Of course, it wasn’t Weston or his dad who explained the ways of their world to me.
I couldn’t help it, the second I saw Weston walk through the front door of my place of employment, I latched onto Grady before I realized what I was doing.
“I’ve come to take Maya home,” Weston growls, staring straight at Grady.
I cringe, and if I could melt into Grady’s side, I would.
“I think we went over this last night—but just to jog your memory—she’s not going anywhere. She doesn’t want you here. She told you as much last night, and after you left, she continued to express it to me the rest of the night in our bed.”
I really need to have a talk with Grady about Weston. It’s not a good idea to goad him, and at this point, that’s exactly what Grady is doing by insinuating we’re something we’re not. Grady doesn’t know the tiniest fraction of my background with Weston, but he needs to stop. He’s only making things worse.
Weston looks back to me, anger radiating from every pore of his body. “Okay, I get it—you want to give me a taste of my own medicine with this guy?” He jerks his chin toward Grady. “Fine, it’s done, but this shit is getting old, Maya. Whatever phase you’re going through, get over it—I’m losing my patience. We’re even. I told my father you’d be home. You know I won’t disappoint him.”
“Not sure who your father is,” Grady answers before I can, “but Maya’s not with me to get back at you. It’s time you come to terms with your disappointment and realize she’s not going anywhere.” Grady then looks Byron up and down before adding, “I have no idea who you are, but she’s really not going anywhere with you.”
Weston looks to me and keeps talking. “I don’t know what you’re doing, what you think you’re going to accomplish here, but you know you’ll end up back home eventually. Don’t drag it out and make it harder than it needs to be. If you come now, we can easily explain things—to your family and mine. Everyone wants you home.”
Saying my first words, I look at Byron when I respond, “Oh, I bet they do.”
“Maya,” Weston bites out my name to get my attention.
I might be grasping at Grady, but from somewhere deep inside, I find the will to strengthen my voice. “I’m not going anywhere with you ever again. You shit all over what was left of our relationship a year ago when I found you with her. Your perseverance did no good, and others telling me to look the other way was more than I could handle. But you know what pushed me over the edge.” I look back to Byron and narrow my eyes. “The threats. I’m never coming back.”
“You should call and talk to Joseph.” Weston gets my attention, and my eyes shoot back to him. Grady squeezes my hand and pulls me in back of him a little more, keeping his protective stance in front of me. “He’s home. He’s having seizures again. But you wouldn’t know that, would you?”
My heart catches and I can only imagine the expression on my face, because all of a sudden, Weston turns smug. He raises a brow and that evil smirk creeps across his face, one I’m more familiar with than anyone has the right to be. He knows he’s one-upped me, even though I shouldn’t trust a single word that passes his lips. It’s a sure possibility what he says is true.
“You haven’t called him in all this time? I’ve heard he’s more worried about you than anyone. Maybe it’s the stress causing the flare-up.”
Weston’s been around Joseph long enough, he knows stress has nothing to do with it, he’s just trying everything he can to get to me. Even though I know it’s not true, guilt flows through me for not being there. I haven’t contacted Joe since I left—I knew they’d expect me to do just that. It was all I could do to keep myself from reaching out to him. I miss him terribly. Now that they know where I am, it shouldn’t matter.
Weston goes on. “He wants to see you, you should come with me now. I’ll book you a flight home with us and take you right to him.”
“Enough,” Grady says, as if he’s bored with the entire horse and pony show. “I’ve told Maya if she wants to see her brother, I’ll take her. She’ll talk to him this afternoon, if she wants to go, we’ll go, but I’m not going to say this again—she’s not going anywhere with you. Now get the hell out of our way before you create a scene.”
I thought Grady was going to move to leave, but he doesn’t. He’s patient and stands stock-still, holding my hand tight. Byron finally slaps Weston on the back. “Come on, you know what your dad said.” I don’t like the eerie look on his face when he turns to me, but keeps speaking to Weston. “I’m sure she remembers her last conversation with me. She knows what’ll happen if she doesn’t come home. She’ll come around eventually, I just hope it’s soon enough.”
They finally turn to leave, even though Weston seems reluctant. They walk to the same car that was parked outside my bungalow last night, and I finally exhale deeply for the first time since we practically walked into them.
I watch as they pull out of the parking lot of the Ranch until I feel Grady shift. When I look up, he’s turned to me and I feel his hand in the back of my hair again. That’s when he pulls me close, and before I know it, his lips land on mine. I may not have initiated it this time, but I sure don’t pull away even though he surprised me.
Without saying a word, he lets me go and takes my hand. Leading me quickly to his Escalade while scanning our surroundings, he opens the passenger door and makes sure I’m in before slamming it with all his might.
When he gets in, I know I should explain, try and make another excuse for all the drama, or hell, even lie like I’ve been doing since I crossed into the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“Grady—” I start, but I have no time to say another word before he holds up an index finger, gesturing for me to wait and a phone starts ringing over the speakers of his ultra-clean SUV.
It barely rings twice before I hear Crew’s voice. “Yeah?”
“Do me a favor and tell Addy that Maya won’t be in for a while. Depending on how long this takes, she might not be in at all.”
“Grady!” I yell and quickly refute his plans. “Don’t do that, Crew. I’m coming into work.”
Of course, Crew doesn’t listen to me, but says to Grady, “Done. Everything okay?”
Grady quickly pulls out of the lot and turns onto the two-lane road toward Whitetail, simply answering, “No,” before he hangs up.
I guess those two aren’t chatty phone talkers, because I didn’t have a chance to get in another word, so I turn to Grady. “You can’t do that, I need to go to work. I can’t afford to miss a day.”
Grady glances over at me before turning back to the road and states matter-of-factly, “Then talk fast, Maya. Until I figure out what’s going on with you, you’re not leaving my sight. You’ve got until we get back to Crew’s house to get your story straight, and it had better be the real one. It’s time we figure your shit out.”
Sighing, I slump back into my seat. As I watch the bare trees fly by, I wonder what I’m going to do. I think I’m out of options and have no idea how Weston found me, but he knows where I live and where I work. I’ve known him long enough to realize he’s at least been watching me, trying to leave now would be stupid. Closing my eyes, I lean my head back, and breathe. Telling Grady the truth at this point should be the least of my worries.