Page 15 of Brandishing Betrayals (Devil’s Psychos MC #2)

Marcos

W hen I arrived at Dagger’s townhouse, I pulled my bike alongside Maya’s beat up Civic—the same Honda Civic I’d helped her buy brand new eleven years ago. Her first brand new car. She’d been so excited and damn proud of herself and I’d been so happy for her and proud of her too.

She had worked so hard through college, and then after when she got her first career job, using her degree.

It had been shortly after her parents had thrown her out of their house.

My heart hurt every time I thought of the past and what we had back then.

There wasn’t a day that went by in the last decade that I hadn’t thought about her, hadn’t missed her.

She was the one that got away…and now she was back. I only wondered if I could set aside my own feelings of hurt and resentment to move on.

I let myself into Dagger’s garage using the keypad on the garage door and headed into his house. Upstairs, I walked into the living room to find Dagger sitting on the couch, his back to the stairs, as he watched TV quietly…alone?

Dagger turned to me immediately and pressed a finger to his lips, motioning for me to be quiet. I frowned and walked quietly into the living room. Maya had her head on a pillow in Dagger’s lap and a throw blanket draped over her—she was sound asleep.

I walked around the couch and eyed her warily. Her golden blond hair was pulled back in a messy bun, her curls in disarray. The blanket was pulled up to her chin, so I couldn’t see the bruising on her neck.

“How is she?” I asked, voice soft, as I walked closer.

Dagger shrugged a shoulder and gave me a so-so wave of his hand.

I sighed and moved even closer. I wished I could touch her, hold her. I wished things weren’t so fucked up between us. I kicked off my boots and took a seat on the couch at Maya’s feet. She was curled up, so there was plenty of room unless she stretched out.

I made myself comfortable on Dagger’s stupidly plush sofa.

It wasn’t long before I was nodding off to sleep myself.

Marcos

I woke to the shifting of the couch and feet sliding over my lap, dangerously close to my dick. I grabbed the feet before they could hurt me and cracked open an eye. Maya had rolled over onto her back and stretched out, but looked like she was still sound asleep.

I glanced at Dagger; my brother was sliding his fingers through the curls on Maya’s head. He must have pulled her hair out of the bun and was toying with it.

I smirked, knowing how damn pissed Maya got about people fucking with her hair. “Stop,” she grumbled, sleepily slapping his hand away.

So maybe she wasn’t asleep after all.

Dagger stopped, a wide grin on his face as he stared down at her. I could see his feelings written all over his face. Dagger wasn’t like Stone or I. He didn’t bottle his emotions up as badly as we did. He was more open with his feelings, and he forgave too easily.

Seeing him, utterly in love with Maya still, I had to look away. It didn’t sit right. We couldn’t just go back to how things were, too much had changed between us all. I only wanted to make sure she was okay, and that Stone hadn’t permanently harmed the mother of my child.

Now that she had rolled onto her back and the blanket had fallen away, I could clearly see the bruising around her neck. Deep red bruises, purpling in color, mixed with tinges of blue, wrapped around her neck. Some spots you could make out where Stone’s fingertips had been.

My heart stopped as I cleaned closer and studied her neck. I didn’t notice her watching me, until she said, “Why are you here?”

I looked up from her neck to see a sliver of amber eyes watching me from beneath thick eyelashes. Her voice was thick and raspy; she sounded like she had smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for life. It was rough.

“Wanted to see how you were,” I said, shrugging a shoulder nonchalantly.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she frowned, her eyes darting between mine, watching me warily. The uneasiness on her face killed me, watching her walls go up before my eyes, tore through my soul.

As her mask slipped into place onto her face, a cool composure that hadn’t just been there, she slowly pulled her feet off my lap and sat up. She looked away from me and grabbed her hair tie off the coffee table where Dagger had tossed it and gathered up her thick curls.

She stood from the couch while she finished tying up her hair, and walked toward the kitchen.

I watched her go, knowing I was making her uncomfortable.

In the kitchen, she grabbed her extra-large travel mug, the stainless-steel one with the handle on the side and a straw that all the online girlies went crazy over.

She took a sip of whatever she had in there, before she turned and met my stare. Her eyes narrowed in a glare as she stared back at me. “I beat the shit out of Jason,” I said, not really sure why I was telling her.

“Good.” She didn’t seem to care at all.

“Dude,” Dagger sighed and shook his head. “You should probably go.”

I turned to my brother and frowned, but I knew he was right. Maya was clearly uncomfortable with me here; she’d been resting peacefully before I showed up. Now she looked like she was crawling in her skin.

“Alright,” I agreed and nodded.

Maya watched me warily as I stood from the couch and walked toward her. “I’m sorry about Jason,” I said.

She didn’t respond, just stared at me.

I nodded again and turned toward the stairs. “Dagger, I’ll see you tonight.”

“Yep,” Dagger replied.

I left them and went downstairs and out the garage door. I would give her space for now, but I wasn’t going to leave her alone. Now that I saw how guarded she was around me, I had a feeling she was hiding something, and I would find out what it is, no matter what it took.