by L A Cotton
No one had ever stood up for me before. That was my role. I protected Macey and Kyle and Summer from the bloodsuckers. The people out to use us to climb their way up the social ladder or even worse, get in with my father.
As soon as I stepped into the kitchen, silence descended. Gentry's eyes were hard on me, and I heard his silent message loud and clear. I'd broken my promise to stay away from Lo.
“Maverick.” Mom rose from her stool and came to me, carefully sweeping me into her arms. “Do you have any idea how much you scared us?”
One second. I allowed myself one second to absorb her comfort. To let myself be an eighteen-year-old guy in need of a hug from his mom. Then I untangled her arms from my shoulders, wincing with pain, and put some space between us.
I didn't expect to feel a hand graze against mine, and my head snapped down to where Lo was entwining our fingers. She smiled at me and that single look fueled me. Reminded me that she was here, choosing us—choosing me.
“How long has this been going on?” Gentry's voice cut through the tension like a knife.
My lips parted to reply, to tell him how his niece had saved me that night last summer, but Lo cleared her throat. “Does it matter, Uncle Gentry? We care about each other. We tried to fight it. Maverick tried to push me away. But we need each other.”
“I see.” His jaw clenched, and I didn't miss his fists pressed into his thighs as he leaned against the counter. “Can we assume you were sneaking around in this house? In my home?”
“Gentry,” Mom soothed. “I won’t pretend this hasn’t come as a surprise, but there are bigger things to discuss here.” She gave me a pointed look. “What on earth made you do this to yourself, Maverick? If it wasn't for Kyle and Lo,” her voice cracked, and Gentry stepped up behind her, squeezing her shoulder. She covered his hand with her own and let out a long breath. “Well, Maverick, explain yourself.”
It wasn’t the first time we’d fought over this: the fighting, the cuts and bruises, the bloodstained clothes and bed sheets, but this was different. I’d never been beaten to a pulp before. Lo squeezed my hand, pouring her strength into me and I dragged in a long breath. “He sabotaged my shot at UCLA Bruins.”
Mom’s face creased with confusion and then her eyes widened with realization. “Wh-what? I don’t understand.”
Because she thought I was going to East Bay. She’d even agreed when my father sold the idea to her. The two of them had been ganging up on me for months, priming me for business school. But that was my father, the master in lies and manipulation. The fact Mom had been lying all of these years too, only made it worse.
I dragged a hand down my face. “You knew I wanted to go to UCLA to play basketball. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. Well, Coach pushed me to apply. Helped me fill out the forms. They wanted me, Mom. Bruins wanted me. But that piece of shit sabotaged my application.”
“I- I don’t know what to say. This is…” she spluttered looking to Gentry for back up.
I barked out a bitter laugh. “Really, Mom? You knew how much he wanted me to go to East Bay. And you know how he’d do anything to get what he wants.”
Her expression slipped. She knew something was up—the flicker of awareness danced in her eyes—she just didn’t know what.
Not yet.
“Maverick,” Lo said. “Tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Mom looked from me to Lo and back again. “What’s going on, Maverick?”
“I know.” The words punctuated the air, and she gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth. It was ironic, really, that she’d kept the truth from me for all these years and yet, the simplest of actions gave her away.
“What do you think you know, Maverick?” Gentry finally joined the conversation.
“That he threatened you, Stone and Associates, if you told us the truth.”
“Sweetheart, that isn’t for you to worr—” Mom started, her mask back in place, but Gentry squeezed her shoulder again.
“Rebecca, maybe it’s time?”
“No,” her voice quaked. “This is not your concern, Gentry. This is between me and my ch—”
“Mom, stop,” I said meeting her glassy eyes. “Were you ever going to tell us?”
“I—” Silent tears slid down her face, twisting my insides. “He was your father, sweetheart, I didn’t want to…”
“When did you find out?” Gentry asked, his hard expression softening a fraction.
“About four years ago.”
Mom sucked in a sharp breath, but I continued. “I heard some things in ninth grade and then I saw you arguing with him. He was angry. It was like watching a different man. But I guess part of me didn’t want to believe it. It wasn’t until last summer when he got drunk and started spouting a bunch of shit… I finally confronted him.”
Lo’s fingers tightened around mine.
“You’ve known, for all this time you’ve known… that night, I just thought you’d had another argument about school.” The blood had completely drained from her face. “And… and Macey, does she know?”
I nodded.
“The fighting?”
Another nod.
“Oh, Maverick, why didn’t you say anything, why didn’t come to me?” Mom broke down and Gentry slipped his arm around her.
How did I tell them the truth?
How did I tell them the day I discovered who my father really was, the world as I knew it imploded? We’d been pawns in a game we didn’t understand, and it unleashed something in me. A darkness I struggled to contain every second of every day.
But even now, I couldn’t tell them everything.
I couldn’t tell them that when he’d pinned me against the wall and I’d seen the monster underneath his well-polished façade, my own walls shattered. The darkness finally consuming me whole.
“Is it true?” I addressed Gentry. “Does he have the power to bring down Stone and Associates?”
His face paled, and I had my answer. “When I met your mother, the company was going through a rough patch. Your father offered to come on board as a gesture of goodwill, but he screwed us over.”
Fuck.
“Did you know?”
“Know?” His brows knitted in confusion.
“What he’d done to Mom? When the two of you got together, did you know?”
He looked at my mom with such reverence, but I saw the flash of regret. “Not the whole story, no.” His eyes met mine again. “If I had, things would be very different, Maverick.”
It didn’t change anything, but I believed the conviction in his voice. If Gentry had known exactly the kind of man my father was he would never have brought him into the business.
Mom sniffled, drying her eyes with a towel. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted this, Maverick. I just wanted to protect you from the truth. All of you.”
God this was so fucked up. She’d lied to Gentry. Let him enter a business deal with my father knowing what kind of man he was. And they’d spent years beholden to him.
Gentry cleared his throat. “I’ve been looking for a way out of the contract with your father. My guy thinks there may be a way, but we have to play it right.”
My ears perked up.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, Maverick, but…”
“You need me to smooth things over with him.” My mouth soured, anger simmering in my veins. As if Lo sensed it, she rubbed her thumb over the crease of my hand.
“If there’s a way to work this so I don’t lose the business,” he let out a heavy sigh. “I just need more time.”
At the expense of my future?
At the expense of our family’s stability?
But if there was so much as a small chance we could all be free of Alec Prince once and for all, I’d take it.
I had to.
“Fine. I’ll do it.” The words almost choked me.
Understanding shone in Gentry’s eyes and for the first time in our strained history, I saw a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. We
’d never seen eye-to-eye. I’d resented him for stepping into my father’s shoes and I didn’t doubt he resented me—the son of the man who threatened to destroy his business if the truth ever came out. But this, we could agree on.
“Now,” he said settling his gaze on the girl beside me. “Are you going to break this to your father, or am I?”
~
“You didn’t tell them?” Lo’s fingers danced over my arm as we lay on my bed, her pressed into my side.
“I couldn’t do it.” I swallowed hard, letting my gaze slide to hers.
“I understand.” Her lips curved up in a faint smile. “But, what if he does it again, Maverick? What if—”
“Ssh.” I pressed my finger to her lips. “He wouldn’t dare.”
Because I wouldn’t walk away again, and I think part of him knew that. Like Mom and Gentry, he knew about the fighting. About my raging temper. He’d been on the receiving end more than once, although it usually ended up with me smashing the nearest glass or lamp or punching the wall, only wishing it was his face.
As if she could hear my thoughts, Lo sat up with a heavy sigh. “You have to learn to control your anger around him. You can’t lose control, you can’t give him any more ammunition against you, Maverick.”
“I know.”
“But you can’t fight again, I can’t see you like that—”
“Ssh, come here.” I pulled her down to me, tucking her back into my side. It hurt—my whole body lit up with pain—but it was worth it just to feel her close. “They took it better than I thought they would.”
Especially after Gentry had been so clear that I was to stay away from Lo before she arrived. But something had changed in the kitchen. The truth hadn’t fixed us—we were too broken for that—but maybe we understood one another more now.
“We still have to tell my dad.”
“Are you worried about what he’ll think?”
Lo lifted her head and looked at me with fire in her eyes. “I don’t care. I’m eighteen and besides, he has Stella and Bethany now.”
“You know, you could have them too, Lo. It’s okay to move on.”
“I… I’m not ready.”
“That’s okay.” I pushed stray wisps of hair from Lo’s face. “I’m just saying, one day, you might be.”
Silence enveloped us, the weight of the last couple of days heavy in the air.
“What would you have done, do you think, if UCLA had accepted you?”
“Honestly?” I breathed out. “I don’t know. It’s always been my dream, and I guess when Coach handed me the application, I clung on to the hope of it becoming reality.”
“There has to be another way, Maverick. It’s your future, your life. You can’t let him win.” Steel determination rang in her voice, but I was tired.
So fucking tired.
Maybe if Gentry could get out of my father's fucked up contract, I would have a shot at college, at a future I wanted for myself. But right now, all I saw was an immediate future of more secrets and games.
“Now you know why I was so hellbent on keeping you at arm’s length.” Turning in to her, I ran my nose along Lo’s hair, breathing her in.
“You wanted to protect me… from him. From this mess.”
“He’ll use anything to his advantage, Lo. Including you.”
“He won’t come between us, Maverick, I won’t let him.”
“And if he starts making demands again?”
That had her attention, and Lo went rigid in my arms. “Like what?”
I shrugged. “He’ll think of something.” But I already suspected what he’d want. And it was the one thing that would come between us. No matter how much Lo wanted to stand beside me, there was one thing that would drive a wedge so deep I knew I could lose her.
“We’ll cross that bridge when it comes.”
My arm tightened around her. “Promise me, Lo? Promise me that when it does, you won’t run.”
I couldn’t lose her. She was the only thing tethering me right now.
Silence filled the space between us and for a second, I wondered if she’d fallen asleep but then she whispered, “I promise, but you have to promise me too. No more fighting, if something happens, let me help. You have to let me help, Maverick.” Panic laced her voice as she clung to me. I dipped my head, brushing my lips over hers.
“I promise.”
I just hoped it was one I could keep.
Lo
“That bad?”
Kyle blew out a strained breath as I climbed into his Jeep and buckled myself in. “He’s getting crankier by the second,” he said, scrubbing a hand down his face.
“It’s been nine days. The doctor said he can start training again after two weeks, right?”
Kyle’s brow shot up and I sighed. “The doctor didn’t say that, did he?”
“He advised three weeks before resuming light exercise. I think we both know Rick better than that.”
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Do you think it’ll make a difference?” Kyle backed out of the driveway.
“Probably not but it won’t hurt.” Things were different between the two of us since Maverick came clean about everything. Kyle wasn’t wrong though; his mood was deteriorating with every day that passed. Rebecca had gone into mother hen mode, insisting he stay off school—and the basketball team—until he was healed. And for once, she’d put her foot down insisting that if he didn’t, she’d go directly to Coach Callahan.
“I don’t think talking is the answer, Cous.” Innuendo dripped from his voice and I punched his shoulder earning me a rumble of laughter.
“If you ask me, Rick just needs a good—”
“Kyle, don’t you dare…”
“What? It’s all good. We’re friends. I tell you about Laurie.”
“No, you torture me with all the sordid little details of your relationship with my best friend. There’s a difference.”
“Whatever you say, prude.”
“I am not a prude.” I just didn’t want to discuss my sex life with my cousin. Not when the sex involved his stepbrother.
“Are you blushing?” His laughter filled the Jeep and I gave him the finger and turned to the window, feeling the heat in my cheeks. My phone vibrated, and I retrieved it from my bag. “Hi, Dad.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t make it home,” he rushed out in one breath.
“It’s fine, I hung out with Kyle and Laurie.”
“And Maverick?”
“Yes, Dad, and Maverick.”
He grunted, and I could imagine him scratching his jaw the way he did whenever he was uncomfortable. “Lo, sweetheart, I’m really not sure I—”
“I thought we agreed, Dad? I’m eighteen. It’s my choice.”
“I know, I know, but…” he hesitated. “Just be careful, that’s all I’m asking.”
Maverick had wanted to come with me when I broke the news to Dad, but it was something I needed to do alone. Besides, when he realised how terrible he looked, I think he was relieved I didn’t want him there. And I knew from the deep lines creased across Dad’s forehead as I told him, it was the right decision. He didn’t scold me the way he had so many times before, since the accident, but disappointment poured from him. And I wondered just how much Gentry had confided in him about everything. But Maverick wasn’t the bad guy here. He was just a boy trying to protect those around him—his family.
“Can I expect you home later?” I changed the subject.
“I’ll probably head straight to Stella’s and meet you at the restaurant.”
“Okay, see you later.”
“Bye, kiddo.”
“Uncle Rob?” Kyle asked as I stuffed my phone back in my bag.
“Yeah.”
“You know, you haven’t said much about that in a while.”
“That?” I said.
“Yeah, you know, your dad, Stella, the living arrangements.”
“What’s to say? He’s at hers more than he is at ours. But
if the alternative is her at ours all the time, then I’d rather it be this way.”
“You should just move back in with us. You’re practically always at the pool house, anyway.”
“Because Maverick’s housebound. Once he’s back on his feet…”
We’d been wrapped in our own little bubble for the last week. I didn’t even bother going home some days after school, heading straight to my uncle’s house to see Maverick. But he wouldn’t be injured forever. Eventually, he’d return to school, to his friends… the team.
“Nothing will change, Cous.”
“How do you do that?” My head snapped over to Kyle and he flashed me a knowing grin.
“It’s one of my many superpowers.”
When the Jeep pulled into the parking lot, Laurie was already waiting for us. Kyle cut the engine and wasted no time going to his girlfriend. I watched them, a pang of jealousy vibrating in my chest.
“Kyle, put me down,” Laurie’s protests went unheard as my cousin swung her around, peppering her face with sloppy kisses.
“Guys, come on,” I groaned, and Kyle stuck his hand out behind his back and flipped me off.
“Whatever,” I called, walking toward the building. I didn’t see the person behind me until it was too late.
“Watch it, bitch.”
“Caitlin, nice to see you too.” I kept my voice level despite my blood boiling, and went to move around her but her icy glare pinned me in place.
“How does it feel being his dirty little secret?”
“Excuse me?” My spine straightened.
“I said,”—she leaned in close—“how does it feel being his dirty little secret? I mean, come on, did you really think he’d want everyone to know about the two of you? You’re nobody.”
My teeth ground together behind my lips. I wanted to bite. To tell her she knew nothing. But I refused to bend. To play her games.
Caitlin’s eyes narrowed, daring me to engage. But then Laurie and Kyle were by my side, flanking me. “Oh look, the cavalry has arrived,” she drawled.
“Back off, Caitlin,” Kyle warned but I stepped away from them and closer to Caitlin, trying to figure out her game. For the last week, she’d watched me. Accusatory eyes following me from class to class. But she hadn’t made her move until now.
