Rage had never filled my body faster than in the moment I opened the doors to the ballroom. There, standing in another man’s arms, was Maya. I couldn’t see who it was in the dimly lit room, but it didn’t matter to me at that point. I was going to beat the shit out of whoever had his hands on Maya. I had come all this way to win her back, and nothing was going to stand in my way.
“Kyle! Help me! It’s Tyler!”
Her shouts snapped me out of my anger then her words hit me: “It’s Tyler.”
Without thinking, I ran over to her and pried her from Tyler’s grip and shoved him away, and he tumbled toward a table, trying to regain his balance. I quickly turned to Maya to see if she was okay.
“Maya. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No, not yet. He just confessed to everything,” she looked me dead in the eye.
My eyes narrowed and whipped back at Tyler, that son of a bitch.
“Call the police. Now,” I told her.
She nodded and got out her phone to dial.
“Damn, Kyle. I never knew you had it in you,” a familiar voice cooed from the table.
How did he know my name? I turned my head, tilting it to get a better assessment of why it sounded familiar. I stepped closer, slowly, careful not to get too close to this guy.
“You might as well give up now, Tyler. The cops are on their way,” I warned him, ready to dash and tackle him down if it came down to it. I just hoped my years in football would come in handy here.
“Tsk, tsk. That’s not the name you usually call me by,” he said as he turned around from the table. My feet stopped in their tracks, mimicking the stop of my pulse. No way.
Louie?
As if reading my mind, Louie opened his arms with jazz hands, “Tada! How’s it going, boss man?”
“What the fuck are you doing?!” I demanded and took big strides to him. I grabbed him by the collar, gripping hard enough I might have torn his shirt.
“Whoa, hey now. Let’s calm down now, shall we?” he put his palms as a peaceful gesture.
“I will not be calm until you tell me what in the hell you’re doing with Maya!”
Maya then came over,
“The cops are on their way here! Don’t try anything stupid, Tyler!”
Louie...or Tyler...whatever his name is...snickered, which then erupted into a maniacal laugh. I lost my grip, unable to believe this was Louie in front of me, and let him go.
Maya jumped to my side, “Kyle! Don’t let him go! You had him!”
I gritted my teeth and stared down at my fists, the fists that let me down.
“Didn’t fake fiancé tell you? We know each other,” he said matter-of-factly.
“What?” Maya said, whipping her gaze from me to him. “How?”
“Oh, we see each other at work every day. It’s no big deal. He’s been a real great mentor,” he continued.
“Louie. What does being a great CA mentor have to do with anything with this?” I growled at him.
“Louie? His name is Tyler!” Maya looked at me with confused eyes.
“Louie T.— Tyler— Baker,” I snarled under my breath. I felt stupid I hadn’t figured it out sooner.
“You’ve been a wonderful mentor of becoming the new, younger and improved you, Kyle,” he lowered his gaze at me then averted it to Maya’s. “The job is whatever— great money— but what I wanted to gain from working at the firm was getting to know you, Kyle, and in result, be a better you for Maya than you did back in college.”
Maya covered her mouth in shock and shook her head.
“You son of a bitch,” I growled again. “That’s why you were so damn nosy to learn about me and my life all the damn time.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Kyle. I was merely studying to get my reward— my sweet Maya,” he sighed as he stared longingly at her. “And now I will finally get what I deserve!”
He pushed passed me, knocking me over to the next table, and lunged at her, pinning her down to the floor.
Maya was helpless, screaming and kicking her legs, trying to break free from his grasp.
When I regained my composure, I turned and saw him nuzzling his face into her neck as her screams continued to cry out. The veins in my body were ready to burst with exploding hot blood. Adrenaline took over, and before I knew it, I had tackled Louie, pummeling clear over Maya and flipping to the other side of the room. I had him pinned to the ground when the doors crashed open with the police shining flashlights at all three of us.
“Freeze! Miami PD! Put your hands in the air!”
***
It was a blur, like I had blacked out. The sound in my ears muffled as everyone moved and shuffled around me. Everything slowed down in time.
I had my jacket around Maya as we watched the police take Louie away in handcuffs. I dared him to glance back at us as he got into the cop car, but he didn’t. The tension in my shoulders relaxed.
“Let me take you home,” I gave her shoulder a squeeze.
She nodded in agreement.
On the drive, we mostly stayed silent, unsure of what to say. Maya had told me where she was staying, and I knew how to get there but didn’t want to take her back. I needed to talk to her; we needed to talk and work this out. And she shouldn’t be alone tonight after what just happened. At the freeway junction that separated us in opposite directions, I jerked the car toward my apartment.
“What are you doing?” she asked. Her voice wasn’t unfriendly. Instead, she sounded tired.
“I would like to talk,” I said.
“I’m listening.”
“I want to sort this out. Will you come over to my place tonight?” It was a tall order, but I had to try. Maya thought about it for a while. I waited.
“All right,” she finally said to my surprise. I thought she might have protested more. “We can talk when we get there.”
“Okay,” I said and kept driving.
I had cooked that night, something I hardly ever did, in hopes I would have surprised her. Grilled cheese and salad was the only thing I knew how to make. I wished I could do more, make her the meal she deserved, like chicken or steak or something. Even mac and cheese would have been a step up, but I had a limited arsenal so I had to make do.
My salad was a bunch of ingredients, oddly chopped and thrown together in the hopes that I was doing it right. I had picked up a salad dressing and hoped the meal would impress her. I wanted her to realize that I would make an effort. That our relationship— if we could have one— would be something I would work on.
When I had met her at college I had been nervous to ask her out on a date, because she was intimidating. All independent women were. But this time, it was worse. This time, I knew what I would be losing if she rejected me. This seemed like an “all or nothing” deal. I had a lot to gain, and a hell of a lot to lose.
I was no stranger to losing things that were important to me, but that didn’t mean it would hurt any less.
When we walked into my apartment, I grabbed my jacket off of her. “Thank you for coming.”
She nodded and walked further in. For the first time tonight, I noticed the dress she was wearing and how it accentuated her curves. Maya always looked good.
“It might be cold now...but I made supper,” I said, pointing to the counter.
Maya looked surprised. “You don’t cook,” she said.
“I did tonight. I wanted to do something special for you.”
A small smile bled onto her face, and it was something, enough to show me it had worked, it had meant something. I pulled out her chair so we could eat while we talked, so we could face each other instead of sitting side by side at the counter.
“I owe you an apology,” I said once we had taken a few bites and Maya had sampled my food.
“I thought you didn’t owe me anything.”
I closed my eyes briefly. “Please, I don’t want to fight. I shouldn’t have said that. I was way out of line, and I’m sorry.”
Maya nodded once. Forgiveness or agreement?
“I am also sorry for how I acted when we broke up years ago. And for breaking up with you in the first place. I hurt you, and I was wrong.”
“I thought you didn’t want me anymore,” Maya said.
I shook my head. “I wanted you. I’ve always wanted you. But I felt like a failure. Everything I had worked for had disappeared just like that, and I thought that I wasn’t good enough for you anymore. You love sports. You dated a football player. You love to train. I didn’t think the person I was without football would be good enough for you. Why would it be? It wasn’t good enough for me, either.”
Maya shook her head. “I would have been there for you. I wanted to be.”
I nodded. I had known she would, but I’d felt so unworthy. Looking back now, it had been stupid. But what could I do? There was no changing the past.
“So, all of this is because of Jacob and his professional football career?” Maya asked, and I winced. When she said it like that, it sounded so petty.
But I nodded, because it was true.
“For a while, I tried to accept it,” I said. “I wanted to be happy for him. But I couldn’t stand by him and watch him live the life I didn’t have. I couldn’t watch him play football knowing I would forever stand on the sidelines.”
Maya frowned, “Are you injured somehow?”
I shook my head.
“So it’s just your wounded pride then.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You don’t need to be a bitch about it.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m still upset, but I know I’m making it worse. What I’m trying to say is that you don’t have to stop playing football altogether. Why don’t you join a club? I’m sure there are many of them around town.”
I nodded slowly. I had thought about that, too, but I was too worried that I would resent Jacob even more if I still played. It was never the real deal.
“What if I hate it?” I asked.
“Then you’ll know. But until you try, you won’t. Besides, you tackled Tyler pretty good earlier. You’ve still got football in your blood.”
It was like a light went on. I had spiraled around in the darkness for so long, wallowing in my own self-pity, that somehow I hadn’t seen how easy it could have been. I had been such an idiot.
“I’m sorry for everything I did to you,” I said. “Back in the day...and now. I want to be with you. I don’t want you to lose you again. Having you with me these past few days was amazing.”
Maya smiled and nodded, putting her plate down on the coffee table. When she shifted closer to me, I did the same.
“I don’t want to lose you, either, Kyle, but you can’t shut me out,” she said.
“I know.”
“So, how about we work through this? Together.”
I nodded, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. “I’d like that.”
She leaned into me, pressing her lips against mine, and finally, for the first time in a long time, I could breathe again.