Facing Fear

by Harley Turner

  “Why are there two of you?” Maya asked Troy. “You didn’t tell me you had a twin,” she giggled.

  “I’m taking her upstairs,” Troy told Cody. “She needs to sleep this off. She’s going to really hate herself in the morning.”

  Cody glared at Troy. “You’re not going to do anything stupid are you? Like, you know, take advantage of her?”

  Troy couldn’t help but laugh. It was a real laugh and it felt good. He looked at Cody. “I’m not going to take advantage of her drunken state,” he attempted to say with a straight face.

  Cody turned red. “Wouldn’t you say that even if you were?”

  Troy adjusted Maya in his arms and put his hand on Cody’s shoulder. “You’re a good friend,” he said sincerely. “She just needs a quiet place to sleep this off.”

  “I don’t feel so good,” Maya mumbled into Troy’s shoulder.

  “And a trash can,” Troy added. “Can you grab the door for me?” he asked Cody as he hurried through the room.

  He had made it upstairs and into his bedroom before Maya threw up all over him.

  “I’m so sorry,” she cried, suddenly aware of her condition. Her face burned with embarrassment.

  “It’s fine,” he told her as he placed her on the cool bathroom floor. She immediately turned to the toilet and continued to empty her stomach. Whatever she had been drinking must have tasted better going down.

  Troy pulled off his soiled shirt and turned on the shower. He sat next to her and pulled back her hair until he was certain she was finished.

  Then the tears started. Troy sat behind her, running his fingers through her hair until she finally turned to him.

  “Do you think you can stand?” he asked her softly.

  Maya shook her head. She couldn’t stop shaking. Her stomach hurt from the violent retching. Her throat burned. She just wanted to sleep and forget the entire day.

  “Let’s get you cleaned up and to bed,” he whispered.

  Maya turned red, but she didn’t fight him when he pulled off her dirty shirt. He pulled her to her feet and supported her as he pulled off her jeans, leaving her standing in front of him in only her bra and underwear.

  Troy’s eyes narrowed when he saw the bruises on her sides and thighs. Tears filled his eyes as he pulled her into his arms.

  “I’m so sorry he hurt you,” he whispered to her. “He can’t get to you anymore. I’ll make sure no one ever hurts you again.”

  Maya didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to talk about it. Her whole reason for drinking was to forget the entire day.

  Troy didn’t press her to talk. He scooped her up and placed her in the bathtub. He kneeled down next to the tub and used the detachable shower head to wash the vomit from her hair and body while she sat hugging her knees to her chest.

  When he was finished, he wrapped her in a towel and carried her into his bedroom. After gently placing her on his bed, he helped her dress in a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that he pulled out of his dresser. The clothes were enormous on her tiny frame, but they were clean. He assumed she would be embarrassed enough if she realized she was half naked in front of him, so he decided to fully dress her.

  He got Maya settled into bed and pulled a trash can next to her. “Get some sleep,” he whispered as he kissed her forehead.

  “Don’t leave me,” she whimpered as he moved away from the bed. The last thing she wanted was to be alone. After the day she had had, she wasn’t sure if she ever wanted to be left alone again.

  “I’m just going to clean up the bathroom,” he assured her. “I’ll be right back.”

  “I mean later,” she said. “Don’t leave me thinking you’re protecting me.”

  Troy froze in the doorway. How had she known? He stared at her for a few minutes, not knowing what to say. Eventually she started softly snoring.

  He quickly cleaned the bathroom and took a quick shower himself before returning the bedroom and crawling into bed with Maya.

  It was barely seven, but he didn’t care. By the time he finally closed his eyes, he felt like he could sleep for days.

  It felt like he had just closed his eyes when Maya started getting sick again. Each time, he held her hair back until she was finished, got her a fresh glass of water, and cleaned up after here before he returned to bed.

  It happened three more times.

  The next morning, he woke up when he heard her groan. She grabbed her head. “What happened,” she whimpered.

  Troy quietly chuckled as he rolled over and watched her down her glass of water with the ibuprofen he had left out for her.

  “I feel like someone attacked my head with a jackhammer.”

  “Not much of a drinker, are you?”

  “I drank last night?”

  Troy nodded. “After everything that happened with Jake, I think everyone had a few drinks.”

  “What happened with Jake?”

  Troy stared at her. “You really don’t remember?” Maya shook her head, making her headache even worse.

  “Wait. Don’t you have to meet him today?”

  Troy shook his head as he pulled Maya closer to him. “It’s all over,” he assured her. “Jake won’t be able to hurt you ever again.”

  “Jake hurt me?”

  Troy blinked back the tears in his eyes as he lifted her shirt just far enough to reveal the bruising on her sides. “There are other bruises too,” he said sadly.

  “I don’t remember any of it,” she admitted. She looked down at what she was wearing. “Where did I get these clothes?”

  Maya turned red when Troy explained he had cleaned her up after she was sick the previous night. Suddenly, she pulled away from him.

  “What else happened last night?” she demanded as she noticed Troy was only wearing boxers while she was dressed in his clothes.

  “Nothing,” Troy promised her. “We got you back from Jake. You made up with Cody. You celebrated a bit too much. Got sick. I cleaned you up, and we slept.” Troy reached out to pull her closer to him. “We just slept,” he repeated.

  “Jake’s really gone?” she asked, slowly moving closer. Troy nodded and she moved back into his arms.

  “Maya, I have to leave,” he whispered, not wanting to even speak the words. “I have to return home for a while. There are some things I need to face before I can really be free from Jake.”

  “Will you be back?” She voiced her biggest fear even though she was terrified to hear the answer.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “If I can control it, I will be back,” he promised. “I have to face the club. I have to take responsibility for Jake’s death.”

  “I want to come with you.”

  “No.”

  Maya couldn’t fight the tears. She didn’t even try. “If you can’t promise you will be back, then I’m going with you.”

  “You have work. School. Gavin.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Maya, please don’t make this harder than it already it,” Troy begged. “If I don’t face the club, they will come looking for me. That would put you in danger all over again. I can’t have that.”

  Defeated, Maya chewed her lip. “How long will you be gone?” Troy only shrugged. “Promise me you will be back,” she pleaded.

  It broke Troy’s heart to look her in the eye and lie to her. He didn’t know if he would be back. He didn’t know how long he would be gone.

  He didn’t know if he would live to walk out of the clubhouse.

  “I promise,” he finally said. “I love you Maya,” he went on “I always will. No matter what happens.” Troy reached over and pulled Maya’s lips to his. He put his entire heart and soul into that kiss, just in case it was the last chance he had.

  It took every ounce of strength he had to pull away, get dressed, and walk out the door of his bedroom. He didn’t look back because if he did, he knew he would never leave.

  From The Author

  Thank you so much for joining me on Maya and Troy’s journey.


  Don’t worry; their story is far from over! Keep reading for a sneak peak of Conquering Fear.

  Be sure to visit my website, www.harleyturner.net While you’re there, sign up for my Reader’s Group so you never miss an important update!

  When I first started this story, I had no idea what would become of it. I was sitting in the back of a van, leaving Deadwood when I realized I could bring some of Deadwood home with me!

  That was nearly two years ago!

  I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted the story to be about, so it took quite some time to find where I wanted to go with it. Then the characters had their own ideas! I never planned on having Troy’s brother come back to attack his brother and kidnap Maya. I never planned on killing any of the characters, but they had a mind of their own.

  I am already hard at work on the conclusion to this series, so don’t worry, it won’t take me as long to finish this one!

  Thank you to my super awesome husband who comes home from work to a messy house because I spent an entire day lost in my notebook.

  Thanks to my crazy kids that have come to expect me to sit and write at their many sporting events!

  Thanks to all of my friends that have given up on asking me to do anything these last few months because I’ve always been busy writing.

  Most of all, thank you to my readers! I couldn’t do this without you! Thank you for making my dream a reality!

  Sneak Peak of Conquering Fear

  One

  “You look like shit,” Cody told Maya as they walked out of homeroom.

  “Thanks, I appreciate that,” she said sarcastically as they made their way to their lockers.

  Cody had been Maya’s best friend since they were in elementary school. When she first met Troy, Cody had told her he couldn’t handle seeing her with other guys and their friendship seemed to be over. When he showed up at Tom’s apartment the day Maya had been missing, Troy told Cody how much Maya missed him. During the celebration, she patched up the friendship and everything seemed like it was back to normal.

  Too bad normal sucked for Maya.

  It was finally their senior year of high school. They had been looking forward to it for years, but Maya wished it would just end already.

  “You were late again this morning,” Cody pointed out. “You’ve been drinking again, haven’t you?”

  “My mom abandoned me. I don’t need you to take her place,” she snapped on him.

  “Maya, I’m worried about you. This drinking thing is getting out of hand. Having a few drinks on the weekends is one thing, but it’s been every night this week. You’re late for school almost every day.”

  Maya pulled her long blonde hair out of her ponytail and pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, but it did nothing to conceal the dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. “I’m fine,” she mumbled.

  “Is this just because he’s not back yet?” Cody asked. He had been careful not to mention Troy since he left, but he was really worried about his friend. “Maya, maybe you need to think about moving on.”

  “No!” she shouted. She didn’t care that she was in a crowded high school hallway. “Cody, you and I will never be together!”

  He put his hands up in surrender. “That’s not what I meant,” he told her. “I know we will always only be friends. I just hate seeing you hurting like this.”

  Maya hated fighting with Cody, but for the past week it seemed like all they had been doing. She didn’t mean to push him away. She needed him, but couldn’t admit it.

  She sunk to the floor, pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face as she started sobbing. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she cried.

  Cody sat on the floor next to her and wrapped his arms around her. The bell rang and they were alone in the hallway. It was only a matter of time before a teacher found them and they would be in trouble, but he didn’t care. He loved Maya, and if she needed him, he would be there for her.

  “You haven’t heard anything?”

  Maya shook her head. “A few days after he left, he posted on Facebook. All it said was ‘Tim to face my past.’ What does that even mean?”

  Cody hated that he didn’t have the answers that she needed. “I know you miss him, but maybe it’s time to accept that he’s really not coming back,” he said.

  Maya shook her head violently. Her messy blonde hair whipped him in the face. “He promised he would come back unless the club wanted retaliation,” she reminded him. “He will be back.”

  “What if something happened to him?” He couldn’t imagine how Maya would take something happening to Troy, but they had to understand it was a possibility. He had been responsible for the death of the president of a motorcycle club, even if he hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger.

  She shook her head again, not so violently. “Chloe has been getting a check from him in the mail every week,” she explained. “He feels guilty that Jake never paid child support for Mason, so he has been helping her.”

  “Maybe he has someone else send them,” Cody suggested.

  “Her check yesterday came with this.” Maya pulled out a tear-stained, crumpled note from the pocket of her hoodie.

  Tell Maya I still love her.

  Cody didn’t know what to say. He pulled Maya closer to him and held her as she continued to cry.

  “Cody. Maya. My office. Now.”

  Cody jumped when their principal, Mr. Jacobson approached them. He had known they would eventually get caught, but he had hoped it would have been by one of the more lenient teachers.

  ***

  “You’re here early today,” Chloe commented when Maya walked into the restaurant. She glanced at her watch. “Shouldn’t you still be in school?”

  Maya shrugged. “Nope. Suspended for the rest of the week,” Maya replied.

  Chloe gasped. For as long as she had known her, Maya had been a straight A student who never got in trouble. Even when her mom left her grades didn’t suffer. She didn’t act out when he father had his accident, leaving her to singlehandedly take care of her entire family.

  She regretted giving Troy’s note to Maya. Maybe it would have been better if Maya could just move on.

  “Tom is starting to notice the missing vodka,” Chloe whispered to her.

  Maya shrugged again. She knew she should feel guilty stealing from her boss, but she didn’t. Tom had been nothing but kind to her the entire time she knew him, but yesterday had been horrible.

  “Still not sleeping?”

  Maya shook her head. The only time she was ever able to sleep was when she was literally passed out drunk. It was the only thing that stopped the nightmares.

  Chloe and Jeremy were the only ones that knew about the nightmares. She couldn’t talk to Cody about it. He wouldn’t understand. Chloe had the terrors too. She had been with Troy when Jake attacked him. Jake had actually wanted to take Chloe with him that night, but Troy had stopped him. He had told his brother he had already taken one girl from him. Jake had left Chloe alone thinking she was with Troy.

  The difference was Chloe remembered everything that Jake had done. Maya didn’t remember anything.

  “Maya, you’re not working today,” Tom called from behind the bar.

  “I’m scheduled at five,” she pointed out.

  “Not anymore you’re not,” he told her. “Take the day off. Spend time with your family. Catch up on some sleep.”

  Maya rolled her eyes but was careful to not let Tom see. She definitely wasn’t going to catch up on sleep and she didn’t want to be around her family.

  Gavin had been mad at her when she had to rush away and cancel their camp out. He was furious that she avoided the house the entire next day when they were supposed to go boating with Troy. He didn’t even care that the storm would have cancelled their plans anyway.

  In the days following Troy’s disappearance, Maya just wanted to be alone. She shut Gavin out. By the time he returned from his camping trip, he didn’t even try to patch things
up with his sister.

  “I’m off at five,” Chloe told her quietly. “Come on over if you want.”

  Maya nodded as she left the restaurant. Tom stopped her just before she made it to the door.

  “I’m worried about you,” he said.

  “I wish people would stop worrying about me!” she shouted. “I’m fine!”

  “I miss him too,” Tom replied.

  Maya knew Tom meant it too. Troy become like a son to him in the short time he had been in Deadwood.

  “If you really missed him, maybe you shouldn’t have rented out his room,” she retorted. “Now even if he wanted to come back, he couldn’t.”

  Tom shook his head. “Jeremy knows that room is Troy’s if he returns.”

  “When he returns,” Maya corrected.

  “Maybe it’s time to accept that he’s not coming back.”

  Maya shook her head. She didn’t care how long it took. She knew he would return for her.

  He promised.

  He had to come back.

  She needed him.

  ***

  Cody couldn’t find Maya after school.

  They had both gotten in trouble for not being in class. He had spent the rest of the day in in-school suspension. Maya had been told to go home for the week after she pulled out a flask in the middle of the principal’s office.

  He had run all the way to the restaurant after school, but Tom told him he sent her home for the day.

  After stopping by the theater to let them know he wouldn’t be to work that day, he headed to Maya’s house.

  Gavin told him she was working.

  Cody headed to Mt. Moriah cemetery, which used to be their favorite hangout. No sign of Maya.

  Finally Cody looked up and knew exactly where to find his best friend.

  She was sitting in the opening at the top of Friendship Tower. Only a month ago, she had been forced to sit there at gun point and watch as Jake killed her boyfriend.

  Thankfully Jeremy had showed up and he had shot Jake just in time.

  But Maya didn’t remember any of it. Tom and Duke had to tell her what happened.