Chapter Six - Stuck With Me (Maya)

The crashing of pots landing in the sink was obscene and unnecessary, but it soothed some of the turmoil in Maya’s chest, so she picked up the dirty stack to her left and flung them into the basin behind her first victims. Then she flipped on the faucet, drizzled any exaggerated amount of soap on top, and attacked with a scrubbing brush, violently removing any and all signs of use. Suds flew over the rim, splashing the counters, but Maya didn’t slow — she’d deal with the counters later.

Then a throat cleared and Maya screamed. She spun in place, brandishing the scrubbing brush like a weapon in the face of… Jeden.

“Shit,” Maya said. She lowered her arm and dropped her head, embarrassment heating her cheeks. She expected an admonishment, at the very least, and was therefore speechless when Jeden simply handed her another pan.

Maya flipped her wrist to examine the back as well. “This is clean?”

“Well yeah,” Jeden shrugged. “But it’s heavier than the others.”

Maya looked up, her brows drawn in confusion.

“It’ll make a bigger bang,” Jeden explained, nodding towards the sink.

The meaning of her words settled over Maya slowly, then all at once. A giggle escaped at first, then laughter, and then somewhere along the way, it morphed into great heaving sobs. Until she found herself sitting on the tiled floors with her face in her hands and Jeden sitting patiently at her side.

Once the worst of the emotion had been exercised, Maya sniffled, turning her head on her arms to look at her friend. “You are the best person I’ve ever known.”

Jeden’s smile was soft. “It was just a pan, Maya, there’s plenty more where it came from.”

Maya shook her head, not bothering to expand further. To explain how much trouble she would’ve once gotten into for making noise. The things her husband would’ve said if she’d thrown such a fit. The way her parents would’ve reacted.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jeden asked. “Or do you just want to sit for a while?”

“I guess he must’ve told you what I did,” Maya said, picking at the fuzzies on her knee.

Jeden hummed. “He told me his side of it.”

“And now you want mine.”

“Only if you want to offer it.”

Maya turned on the spot, wide eyes meeting Jeden’s squint. There were no secrets when it came to Jeden, every reaction was genuine, every word sincere. “How can you say that?”

Jeden sighed, “It would be different if you were a stranger, Maya. But we’ve been working together for years now. I’ve babysat your children. I’ve seen you cry. You helped me get through some of my darkest moments. I consider Maverick family but I consider you family as well. You’ve more than earned my loyalty at this point and—”

“It’s true what he said,” Maya interjected, anxious to halt Jeden’’s monologue. “I cheated on him. The night after he proposed to me. I slept with a coworker, got knocked up, and then asked Maverick to forgive me anyways. As if I deserved it.”

Jeden tilted her head back against the stainless steel appliance at their back, staring up at the ceiling. “I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that the way you just stated all that is a gross oversimplification.”

Maya shrugged. “The circumstances surrounding what I did don’t change the facts of what occurred that night.”

“Humor me,” Jeden said.

“Well.. I guess it starts with the fact that my parents were always against us being a couple. They hated Maverick. He wasn’t a bad guy at all, a little eccentric maybe, but you know, we were young.”

Jeden shook her head, “Nah, that’s just Maverick.”

Maya snorted, running her sleeves across her cheeks. “Regardless, I never understood the depth of their animosity. Until we were getting ready to leave for college. Two weeks before we left, my mom walked in on me and Maverick in bed together,” Maya grimaced. “My parents did not handle it well. They demanded that we break up. They pulled my funding and said I needed more discipline. They told me that if I worked as an intern for the family company for a year, they’d let me leave for college the next year. I would’ve taken out my own financial aid but it was far too late.”

Maya shook her head. “We did alright in the beginning, Mav and I, keeping our communication secret. We fought a lot but that was normal for us. Then he flew in for a surprise visit. He snuck into my room. And he proposed in the middle of the night. We made plans for me to apply for my own spring aid so that I could join him. To fully break away from my parents. It was perfect.”

Maya closed her eyes, allowing herself a quick flash of the moment when Maverick had rolled out of the bed, naked as a jay bird, and gotten down on one knee, holding up a simple golden band between them. She could still picture the shining joy in his eyes, the flush of the red staining his tan cheeks — it was the last moment in her life when she’d felt fully content. Simply and truly happy.

Jeden cleared her throat and Maya snapped back to the present, shaking her head. “But my parents had caught him sneaking around the yard on the security cameras. As soon as I got back from dropping him at the airport, they were waiting for me. They demanded I cut him out and I refused. During the fight, I told them my plans. That I was going to marry him and leave after the holidays. It did not go well, as you can imagine. My dad started threatening to do crazy things — press trespassing charges against Maverick, get a restraining order on my behalf, have me admitted for psychiatric evaluation, but I didn’t believe it. I thought it was all for show, I still do — but then Mom brought me some tea and asked me to attend the company banquet that evening. She said that if I attended it, she would speak to my father for me. Try and help us find some middle ground. So I went. And maybe I was feeling a little rebellious that evening, because I began drinking. It’s a miracle I didn’t get arrested for being underage, but nobody questioned me when I asked for refills.”

Maya’s hands clenched at her sides, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat as she continued, “It happened that evening. I had an opportunity to turn it all around and instead, I burned it to the ground,” she spat. “What happened afterwards was just cruel on my part. I had hoped that maybe Maverick could be the father when the pregnancy was confirmed, but it was foolish to tell him so, and selfish to want it in the first place. It was a pipe dream. He’d always been careful to be as safe as possible with me. Always protective to a fault.” Maya turned to meet Jeden’s misty eyes head-on, “I never once blamed him for walking away. He made the right choice.”

Jeden bit her lip and then scooted closer, wrapping an arm around Maya’s shoulders. “And then you married the baby’s father?”

Maya nodded. “I grew up as Maria Astor. The man I married was Charles Vendai the Ninth.” She scoffed. “Such a fuck boy name. It was fitting.”

“So where did Maya Falcon come from?”

“Maya was the nickname Maverick used to call me. It just… made me happy — and I was sick of being Maria. I never thought I’d actually see him again,” she threw her hands out, before letting them fall useless into her lap. “And Falcon was really just for the symbolism. I needed to distance myself and the kids from the family name after the fallout surrounding Charles’ death — and I liked the meaning behind Falcon. It symbolizes freedom and victory and perspective. And I love that Falcons are raptors. Predators. After feeling like prey my entire life, just accepting the cards I’d been dealt, I thought that channeling a little predator spirit could do me some good. I decided I’d take on a name that made me feel strong, and maybe with it, one day, I’d actually become strong enough to deserve it.”

Maya frowned, glancing sideways at Jeden. “I’m not going to push him. I’m not going to fight back. I’m not going to deny the truth. But I’m also not going to let him run me out of town either. I’ve made my home here and I plan to stay.”

Jeden nodded, squeezing her tighter. “Good. Because you’re stuck with me.”