Page 16 of Brandishing Betrayals (Devil’s Psychos MC #2)

Maya

A fter Marcos left, I settled back on the couch with Nico and wrapped several ice packs around my neck. We watched another movie while I did twenty minutes on and twenty off with the ice. Nico made me hot coffee to sip and we chilled on the couch for the rest of the afternoon.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had such a peaceful day. Nico didn’t talk much, other than to ask me if I wanted food or something else to drink. When it was time to go home, I had to fight back the tears.

“Hey Nic,” I said, my voice thick.

“Yeah, babe.” He looked up from his phone to look over at me.

“I’m sorry I left you,” I said softly. I watched as pain flashed in his blue eyes before I continued. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Tears welled in my eyes as his eyes shuttered closed.

He turned away from me and ran a hand over his face, rubbing at the scruff covering his jaw.

“It would help, if you could tell me why?” His voice was hoarse, like he was choking back his own emotions.

When he turned to me again, his blue eyes were red rimmed, the tears slid down his cheeks. “Can you tell me why?”

A sob choked me and curled in on myself, as I shook my head vehemently. “I can’t, I’m so sorry,” I sobbed.

I kept shaking my head as sobs wracked my body.

Nico moved quickly, pulling me against him and onto his lap. I buried my face into the crook of his neck as I cried uncontrollably. “Fuck, baby,” Nico groaned, and held me tight.

I gripped the back of his shirt, as I held onto him for dear life—like he might disappear from me forever. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.” I just kept chanting it over and over.

He rocked me body slowly, back and forth. He didn’t say much as he held me, occasionally murmuring that I was okay, even though we both knew I wasn’t. I had fucked up so many times in the last ten years and it all had started when I walked away from them.

Only time would tell if I could redeem myself, to ever have a semblance of a friendship with them again.

Maya

Wednesday had been a relatively slow day in the office. It was our late day, so we wouldn’t get busy until most people got off work. I was sitting in the small lounge of our Clinic, eating my homemade lunch, when there was commotion up front at the desk.

Lots of cooing women saying, “Oooo”, and “Ohhh”, and ‘Aww’.

I had just looked up from my phone when the lounge door opened and a massive bouquet of yellow carnations and orange lilies was carried in, covering the face of my coworker.

I froze, my sandwich still halfway to my mouth as fear pooled in my belly. My heart pounded and my breath caught in my throat. “Oh my God, Maya!” Jayla, the front desk girl, gushed as she walked in with the bouquet.

I quickly schooled my face, forcing myself to smile and put down my sandwich as Rori and Aeyla walked in the lounge, with huge smiles on their faces. “Someone must really love you,” Rori said.

“Uh, yeah,” I forced a laugh. Thank God these women didn’t know Flower Language and had no idea the true meaning behind the yellow Carnation and orange Lily.

They were not friendly flowers. In fact, they were quite the opposite. Orange lilies symbolized hatred, pride, disdain, and contempt; while yellow Carnations symbolized disdain and disappointment.

It was not a friendly or romantic bouquet of flowers by any means, and the true meaning rattled me to my core.

HE had found me.

HE knew where I worked.

HE was watching me.

I had hoped the first yellow carnation on my car last Saturday had been a fluke, or a reminder. This was an all-out assault. The line had been drawn in the sand, and I was standing behind enemy lines.