Chapter Three - Look Alive (Maverick)

The rest of the night passed uneventful, though Maverick didn’t risk falling back asleep. He simply held Riley as she snored against his shoulder. This was the first semi-serious relationship he’d had in years and Maverick was determined to make it work. He was tired of living alone. He’d always thought he’d be married with a houseful of rugrats by this age, and yet here he was, still running from the ghost of a childhood relationship while a beautiful, fascinating, available woman lay in his arms.

He’d met Riley through a dating app, and they’d both been pleasantly surprised by the sparks they’d felt on their first date. She was a biology teacher at a nearby middle school and coached soccer. They’d bonded over their shared love of the sport, though she did have questionable opinions regarding the players she followed. She seemed to have the same concern about him; and yet, they’d still ended up leaving the restaurant on their first date to catch a game at a local sports bar, and Maverick couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun. Conversation flowed easily; and best of all, her humor matched his own.

What followed was more of the same — enjoyable dates, laughter, and good times. They’d been seeing each other for less than a month, but Maverick could see a real future with her. For the first time since that night, he’d felt the exciting promise of something new. Until his past walked back into his life, infiltrating his friends and his community, all in one fell swoop. He should buy a lottery ticket with those fucking odds.

When the sun began to peek beneath the curtains, Maverick extricated himself from Riley’s hold and snuck away to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. He had an early shift and it was a school-day, so it would’ve been necessary even without the events of the night prior. She’d never quizzed him on what happened, she’d only asked if he wanted to talk about it and then accepted his weak deflection about a recurring nightmare with no further questions.

The pot was gurgling to its finish, the smell of rising muffins mingling with the heat of the brew, when Riley stepped out of his bedroom. She’d put back on the t-shirt and shorts she’d arrived in, and looked up from the phone in her hand to smile as she slid onto a stool at the island. Her face was bare, her eyes bright, and her hair styled short, a pixie cut that emphasized the long column of her neck, the cutting lines of her jaw and cheek bones. In short, she was stunning.

“Good morning,” Maverick said, pulling the baking tray from the oven.

“Mornin’,” she answered, a subdued yawn her only indication of having just woken up, her eyes sharp and assessing as she watched him move around the kitchen.

“I have to leave in ten, but how would you feel about dinner this weekend?” He asked, pouring her a cup of coffee. “There’s this new steakhouse that just opened up in Lakeview that I’ve been wanting to try.”

“Actually,” Riley mused, accepting the muffin he slid across the counter with her mug. “I’ve been wanting to give The Eyrie a try, didn’t you mention being friends with…”

“No.”

Riley blinked. “I’m sorry?”

Maverick cleared his throat, looking away. “I’m not asking her for any special favors,” he grunted. He knew Jeden wouldn’t mind giving him a reservation, but knowing who she had employed… he couldn’t risk it. Panic clawed at his gut, just considering the idea. He flipped off the stove, bypassing his own empty mug. He’d stop for a shitty cup in the hospital cafe.

“Maverick?”

“I- I’m sorry, Riley, I have to get to work. I’ll call you after my shift, okay? Is that alright?”

“Um, yes, I suppose,” she answered, confusion evident in every word she spoke.

Maverick knew he was making a bad impression. He could basically see the wheels turning in her mind as her eyes darted between his own, searching for an explanation. But he simply pressed a chaste kiss to her temple before turning away and grabbing his work bag from the bench by the door. “Just lock the knob when you leave alright? I promise I’ll call.” That bought him a shift, at least, to figure out how to communicate this mess without ruining his chances.

She nodded and Maverick flashed a smile that didn’t reach his eyes before he stepped through the door, and hurried away.

---

Walking back through his front door that evening made Maverick feel claustrophobic. His mind was exhausted from the events of the day, but his body was hyped on the adrenaline of his rolling emotions and the copious amounts of caffeine he’d ingested. He took one prolonged glance at the space, then dropped his bag on the floor by his feet and turned back around, walking out onto the street as the conversations of the day played through his mind.

”You called Maya a whore? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Drie had whisper-yelled, hunting him down on the pediatrics floor as soon as he’d clocked in.

He’d gripped her arm, dragging her down the hall towards the break room, past the nurse station where all eyes turned unabashedly to track their movement. “You can’t say shit like that here, there are little ears.”

”Well maybe the little ears should find out how you treat innocent women in your off time,” she snapped, yanking her arm free and crossing them in front of her chest. “I want to be understanding, Maverick, but what the fuck. Maya is amazing.”

”Stop calling her that.” He shouted, slashing a hand through the air. “Her fucking name is Maria and there is nothing innocent about that woman.”

Drie’s eyes widened as she stared up at him. In all the years of their friendship, from the day they’d been assigned as lab partners in college, they’d never once argued over anything more serious than what to have for lunch. “This is not you.”

Maverick shrugged. ”I am who she made me. And you’ll learn for yourself soon enough if you don’t cut her loose.”

“What happened between you two?”

”Now you want to hear my side?” Maverick scoffed. “Why don’t you ask the amazing Maya?” He cocked his head, raising a brow, but Drie just shook her head, disappointment clear in her eyes. Maverick didn’t have time for this shit. “I have work to do.”

He’d walked away before she could say anything else, unwilling to listen to another minute of her unfounded judgement. What did she know about the situation? They’d never once discussed his prior relationships, what gave her the right to pry now? To not stand at his side after he’d stood blindly by hers without question?

The call he’d received from Jeden an hour later hadn’t gone much better. He would’ve let it go to voicemail, but her schedule was unpredictable and she was the one he needed to convince.

”Tell me why,” she’d begun, sans preamble.

”I’ve told you before,” he hedged, remembering their one date back when she was still figuring things out with Drew.

Silence met him, stretching heavy across the line. “She was the Maya you told me about. The one who stayed behind for an internship and married the family friend.”

”That’s the one.”

”The story you told me that day did not match your reaction yesterday.” She noted, never missing a thing. “There’s more to it that you didn’t share.”

”Yes,” Maverick agreed, bitterness making his words clipped and harsh. “Because it’s embarrassing Jeden. She cheated on me, the same day she promised me forever. She got pregnant and then tried to gaslight me, make me think the baby was mine. She lied every step of the way, made up these ridiculous excuses, and then she walked away and married the other guy without looking back.” He sighed, the words feeling like poison on his tongue. “I told you it was messy.”

”It is,” Jeden agreed. “But Mav, she’s told me pieces of the story too and… well, I just think that you should maybe talk—

”No,” Maverick snapped. “I want nothing to do with her, she’s a liar Jeden. She’s connected with people that I promise you don’t want to know. You’re putting everything at risk for a woman you don’t even know.”

”I remember when I could’ve said the same thing to describe you; showing up for Drie. And me. Worked out pretty well, did it not?”

Maverick sighed, exhausted by the conversation. She was comparing apples to oranges and he had hours of charting still to do. “So you’re not going to fire her?” He asked, his tone blunt. “Even knowing what she did.”

”I’m not. She’s been here three years, Mav. And what happened was ten—”

”Then we have nothing else to talk about.” He’d interrupted, hanging up the phone without another word, the sting of betrayal sharp in his chest. The audacity they had, to speak of the ways he’d shown up for them, then refuse to do the same… fucking hypocrites.

Dwelling on the conversations, however, did little to help his state of the mind when he’d called Riley, the moment he clocked out, as promised.

”I’m sorry,” she’d answered the phone. “I realized how that must’ve sounded after you left. I wasn’t trying to use you or your connections to get fancy dinners, I promise. I just—“

”Riley, stop,” Maverick interrupted, guilt eating a hole straight through his stomach. “I did not take it that way at all.”

“Then why—“

“Jeden, the owner, my…” Maverick hesitated, “friend. She and I are not seeing eye to eye at the moment. And she’s happily married,” he rushed to add. “It’s not anything like that. We just had a, uh, disagreement — and things are a little tense at the moment.”

”Oh. Well, I’m still sorry if I overstepped.”

”You didn’t,” he pressed, putting as much feeling into the words as he was able. “I was being an asshole.”

She chuckled, the sound a soothing balm to his frayed nerves. “Well,” she said, “if the offer still stands, I wouldn’t mind a steak this weekend, out in Lakeview.”

”I’d love that,” Maverick sighed, relief lifting some of the heaviness on his chest. There was something to look forward to at least. One bridge Maria hadn’t destroyed for him.

Maverick kicked at a rock in his path, his mind turning over all the words that had been said that day. It wasn’t like the Ravens were his actual sisters — but they sure as hell felt like it. Being at odds with those women was like standing on the outs of his own family. Who did Maria think she was, to infiltrate and steal his family away? How could they not see that it was all just a ploy?

But why?

What did she want?

Why was she targeting him after all these years?

The sudden impact of a soccer ball to his gut doubled Maverick over on the sidewalk, making him gasp as all thoughts of Maria, Jeden, Drie, and Riley fled his mind.

“I’m sorry Mister!” A boy called, rushing up the sidewalk to grab the ball from the dirt of the culvert. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Maverick wheezed, eyeing the kid before him. He was scrawny to have packed such a punch with that kick. “Aren’t you a little young to be out here alone?”

“I’m eight, I’m not a baby” the kid said, drawing to his full height and planting a snarky fist on his tiny hip. A whole riot of angry brown curls flopped about his head with every jerky movement he made. “Are you going to rat on me for hitting you, Mister?”

“No,” Maverick grunted, straightening. “That was a good kick, you’ve got the strength, you just need to work on controlling it.”

“Oh,” the boy said, deflating slightly. “I’ve got a goal in the field. There,” he pointed towards the empty lot in the middle of the street that had never been built upon. “Want to play?”

Maverick blinked at the sudden change in attitude. Kids were so damn simple sometimes. He glanced back over his shoulder at his own house. He could walk back and spend the rest of the night dwelling on his problems… or he could expel some of this nervous energy helping a kid practice his favorite sport — and then hopefully get some actual sleep.

Decision made, he sprung forward, knocking the ball from the boy’s arm and kicking it down the sidewalk, laughing at his gasp of outrage. “Look alive, kid!”

“My name is Gus!” The boy yelled back, the pounding of his footsteps hot on Maverick’s heels.