Chapter Fifteen - Try (Maverick)

Maverick didn’t sleep the night following his conversation with Maya. He never even went home. He simply walked the neighborhood until the morning sun peeked over the horizon, bringing with it a promise of hope that Maverick no longer felt.

He’d hoped for a future with Maya, and that had slipped through his fingers, no more tangible than a fistful of sand.

He’d hoped to find peace after their breakup, and then spent a decade searching fruitlessly for lightning to strike him twice.

He’d hoped to finally find some degree of happiness with Riley . . . and now he couldn’t even bear to answer her call. His phone buzzed as her name flashed across the screen, and he shoved the phone into his back pocket.

He’d been a fool. A fucking fool. Every step of the way. Every decision he’d made. All of it, in vain.

He’d thought Riley would be the one to finally fill that crater Maya left behind. But now—now that he knew the truth of the matter . . . how could things ever go back to the way they were? Knowing what Maya had suffered? Knowing that she’d never meant to betray him—that she’d never lied? Knowing that he’d turned her away. That he’d been the one to give up on their love . . .

He remembered that day in the hall of his dorm. How she’d begged for him to listen, and how he’d shut her down. Three weeks had passed since the video showed up on his phone. He’d talked to her the morning after, and she’d admitted it easily. He’d asked for details. How far did you go? And she’d told him she couldn’t answer. She didn’t know. It felt like a cop-out at the time, just a desperate attempt for her to brush away her wrongs without taking any accountability.

Then she’d shown up on his doorstep three weeks later, claiming she was pregnant with his child. But he’d known they’d been safe. He had video proof and an admission of her cheating. Maverick bowed his head at the memory, how cruel he’d been in the face of her heartbreak, simply requesting a paternity test and sending her away.

And once it came back, revealing Charles to be the father—he’d been so devastated by the confirmation of everything he didn’t want to believe, he’d never even considered the possibility—

Maverick turned on his heel, his shadow lengthening before him as the rising sun warmed his back.

He’d thought he could continue things with Riley, but knowing everything he did now—it felt impossible. He wasn’t foolish enough to think Maya would take him back, but without the barrier of that betrayal between them, all he could see on that porch was the girl he’d left behind. The son he’d walked away from. The future he’d let go.

How could he have known? There was so much evidence. She admitted to it. Maverick tunneled his hands through his hair, pulling at the ends until his scalp burned, his mind reeling. It didn’t matter. He should’ve fought for them. He should’ve let go of his pride and his hurt and just fucking listened.

Now ten years was gone—ten years he’d never get back with his own son. With the woman he’d asked to marry him. Even though he may never earn Maya’s forgiveness, there was no point in denying the facts. The simple truth of the matter was that Maverick was no closer to moving on from Maya than he’d been the day he received that video.

He turned back towards his house, his mind made up.

He’d let his hurt and anger drive his decisions for far too long. He was done making mistakes. He’d wasted too much time being stupid. From now on, he would fight. For Toby. And for Maya.

And that all started with doing the right thing.

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The sound of Riley’s engine revving as she pulled out onto the street disguised the approaching footsteps, causing Maverick to jerk when Jeden slipped onto the stoop beside him. She crossed her ankles and waited, as patient as always.

“You’re very sneaky for a blind person,” he grumbled.

“Legally blind and blind are two different things, doofus.”

Maverick shook his head, watching as Riley turned at the end of the street, speeding off into the distance.

“I’m surprised you came over.”

Jeden shrugged. “It looked like you could use a friend.”

He nodded, rubbing his hands on his knees. It was selfish, but he’d gratefully accept any grace she wanted to offer. “I’ve really fucked this situation up, haven’t I?”

Jeden squinted up at him, her lips pursing to the side as she considered the question. “With Maya?”

“Yeah, Maya. And Toby and Gus. Riley. You and Drie— it’s just— it’s all a mess.”

“Hmm,” she hummed before settling back onto the step, her weight leaned back upon her elbows. “Explain it to me.”

So he did.

For the next half hour, he purged the story as he knew it. How much they’d struggled with her parents, and how happy he’d been despite their disdain. He talked through the breakup—the video, the fight, her flying out to see him about the pregnancy. The way he’d sent her away. How much he’d hoped, despite himself, that she was telling him the truth. How destroyed he’d been when the results came back—and how he’d been forced to delay his graduation by a semester with how poorly he’d been performing. The depression that followed as he struggled to find a new path forward in a world he no longer recognized. And how hopeful he’d been when he met Riley and realized that she may be able to heal that hurt.

He talked about how it felt the day he’d walked into Jeden’s house and found Maya standing there. How quickly it brought back all the feelings and fears that he’d become a master at hiding. He spoke about Gus and the friendship he’d found playing soccer with the kid, and how he’d ruined it all the day Toby had his emergency and his discovery that the boys were brothers.

“Last week I learned something about the night everything fell apart, back when we were eighteen. I learned there were other forces at play and Maya never— she didn’t—“ Maverick paused, laying a hand over his mouth as his breath caught in his lungs. “She was innocent in what happened that night, and I shunned her for it.”

Jeden held her silence as he took a beat to compose himself. She always did that. She didn’t deny the reality of his words, offering false assurances or empty promises. She just waited and listened, taking it all in.

The only thing Maverick didn’t tell was the truth about Toby being his son. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told Maya that he was in no rush. Maverick knew that he only stood to gain from the discovery . . . but Maya—this must be rocking her world off its axis. Why would she want to be tied to a man like him? A man who’d turned his back and left her to the wolves at his first opportunity.

So he sniffed, rubbing a rough knuckle against his nose, and changed the subject. “Knowing what I know, how I . . . feel. I couldn’t pretend to feel the same for Riley.” He stared down at the hands hanging limply between his knees. “She deserved better.”

“So . . .” Jeden paused. She cleared her throat before saying, with a worrying degree of caution in her tone, “So, what is the plan now?”

“I don’t know,” Maverick answered, his shoulders drooping helplessly. “I wasn’t there, Jeden, when she truly needed me. And I was such an ass—then and now. I don’t even know how to begin fixing this.”

“And if she doesn’t want to fix that rift?”

“That’s her choice. I’d deserve it. But—“ Maverick turned, his eyes reflecting the desperation within as he met Jeden’s steady gaze. “I have to try.”