Page 29 of Brandishing Betrayals (Devil’s Psychos MC #2)

Nico

I gave Maya the week to calm down after her weekend up north. I stayed away from Luke’s football practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, despite helping Marcos by dropping him off at practice while Marc delt with the Irish.

By Friday though, I was done waiting. Marcos had Luke this weekend, and Jason and Marcos were going to take him out on Lake White Buffalo in Mourningside to get some water time.

They talked about going fishing, camping, and swimming.

I was a little jealous of missing out, but I wanted that alone time with Maya.

The plan was to wine and dine her Friday night after work, then get her to spend the night at my place and treat her to a massage at the Spa on Saturday.

I would convince her to stay the whole weekend if I could, but knowing she had spent last weekend away from her ailing parents, I knew I was pushing my luck if she agreed to stay at all.

I followed Marcos over to Maya’s Friday night.

When we walked up to the front door, Luke was playing a video game in the living room and Maya was curled up on the couch reading a book.

Her curly golden-brown hair was pulled back from her face in one of those claw clips, and she had already changed out of her scrubs into a pair of leggings and an oversized shirt. She looked fucking delectable.

Marcos knocked on the door, for propriety’s sake, before he opened the door and walked in the house. Luke looked over with a grin and a quick, “Hey dad!” before he turned back to his game. He pushed some buttons on his controller but quickly saved the game and signed out of whatever he was playing.

“Hey Little Dreamer,” I grinned wickedly when I walked into the living room.

“Nico,” Maya smiled, though her eyebrows pulled together, furrowing in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

“I was thinking that me and you could go out to dinner.”

“Just the two of us?” Her eyes darted between Marcos and I. “Aren’t you going with for the guy’s weekend to the lake?”

“Nah, I’ve got plans tomorrow. I couldn’t commit to the whole weekend. Thought me and you could get dinner though.” I spoke smoothly, gliding past Marcos to stand in front of Maya.

She swallowed thickly as she stared up at me, slowly sliding her bookmark between the pages. “I uh.”

“You should go, mom! Dinner with Nic will be fun!” Luke encouraged her.

I would have to remember to give that kid some money next time I saw him.

Maya looked dumbfounded.

I smirked internally, knowing she wasn’t one for surprises. “Go put on a dress. You have ten minutes.” I threw down the order, wondering if her submissive side would come out to play, or if her fiery spirit would.

She narrowed her eyes at me, before those beautiful amber eyes of hers slowly slid down my body, taking in my dress pants and green dress shirt.

Her lips parted as her eyes widened as her eyes slowly slid back up my body.

I’d even washed and brushed out my shoulder length blond hair for her tonight.

I smirked and cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to make up her mind.

Maya shot a glance at Marcos and Luke, both of whom were watching her. Luke smiled at his mom, while Marcos remained emotionless, but I knew he was hoping she would take the bait. “And where are we going?” Maya asked, setting her book aside.

“You’ll have to come with me to find out,” I shot back.

An amused smirk tugged at Maya’s lips as her gaze returned to me. “Ok.”

Excitement roared within me as I smirked down at her. “Ten minutes,” I reminded her.

Maya stood up quickly from the couch and moved over to Luke. “Alright buddy, have a good weekend with your dad. I love you.”

“Bye, mom!” Luke wrapped Maya in a huge hug. “I’ll see you Sunday!”

Marcos gathered up Luke’s bag and pillow and headed for the door, he glanced back at me and gave me a subtle nod, before he walked out of the house with Luke in tow.

Maya zipped off to her bedroom and while she was gone, I headed down the opposite hallway in search of her mother. I found Mrs. Henderson walking toward me though, so I didn’t have to search. “Mrs. Henderson,” I greeted with a smile.

Mrs. Henderson raised an eyebrow at me. “Nico?”

“How are you? How’s Mr. Henderson?” I played things sweetly.

Elaine pursed her lips and headed for the kitchen. “He’s doing alright, for what it is,” she answered pragmatically. “The nurse that comes in during the day is wonderful.”

“Oh, that’s nice that you have help.” I nodded.

“Yes, well we wouldn’t be able to keep my husband home without her, or Maya really. She’s the one that helps move him and that’s when the nurse isn’t here.”

I swallowed hard. “So it’s the nurse or Maya?” I asked. “How’d you manage while she was in Chicago last weekend?”

Elaine shrugged a shoulder as she headed over to the fridge. “I can manage a little bit here and there. We have Clarice bathe him twice a week and help get him situated. Besides feeding and helping him use the bathroom, there’s not much that needs to be done.”

“You can help him up and get him to the bathroom?” I questioned, wondering just how strong Mrs. Henderson was.

“No, dear. He’s bed bound.”

“Ahh.” Nico could read between the lines on that one. Wiping his ass . “Did you have any plans this weekend?” I asked, trying to politely speed her along.

“No, I’ll be staying home with my Harry. Why, dear?” she asked, cutting straight to the chase while she peeked into the mostly bare fridge. She pulled out a glass container, containing left-overs most likely and set it on the counter and closed the fridge, before she turned to me.

I smiled sweetly at the hunched over woman. “I was going to take Maya out to dinner tonight, and was hoping to spend the day with her tomorrow. If she agrees, of course. I just don’t want her to feel pressure if you needed her here.”

Elaine pursed her lips again, her eyes narrowing on me. “And what exactly are you planning with her?”

“You know dinner tonight, maybe a movie. Tomorrow, I booked her in at the spa downtown. Thought maybe she could spend the day de-stressing.”

Elaine didn’t seem happy about what I had planned for Maya. Was she going to tell me no? Or would she give Maya flack about it later? I really didn’t want Maya to get into it with her mother. They fought enough as it was… or at least they used to ten years ago.

“Nico?” Maya asked, as she walked into the living room.

I left Mrs. Henderson in the kitchen without an answer and headed into the living room, finding Maya walking toward me, looking utterly breathtaking.

A short-sleeved black wrap dress hugged her curves and fell to mid-thigh.

It was classic and tasteful and stunning.

“Gorgeous,” I grinned and immediately walked over to her.

I reached for her hip and pulled her against me, and pressed a hard kiss to her lips before she could say anything else.

She was breathless when I pulled away from her a moment later.

“Come on, let’s go. I already told your mom I was taking you out for dinner.”

Maya frowned slightly and glanced at the kitchen, but she didn’t comment. She gathered up her purse, phone and keys and followed me to the door. “Bye mom, I’ll see you later!” she shouted over her shoulder.

Once outside, I let out a deep breath. Elaine had never liked any of us, and we had mostly kept our distance, but she was even more grouchy—if possible—in the six months since we’d started coming to see Luke.

It was a good thing Marcos mostly just picked up Luke to hang out and they didn’t have to hang around the house.

“So where are we going?”

I smirked, though she was behind me, and led the way to my sleek sports car. I opened the passenger door for her and turned to face her with an easy smile. “Your chariot awaits, Little Dreamer.”

A blush colored her face immediately and I had to bite back a smirk.

She was falling right into my hands. Once Maya was safely tucked into my car, I closed the door and walked around the hood.

Sliding behind the wheel, I started the vehicle and pulled away from the curb before Maya could say a word.

I was moving fast tonight. No time for questions, so she couldn’t back out.

Maya

I glanced around the fancy restaurant in disbelief, even though we’d been here a while.

On my second glass of wine and feeling good , I had a permanent smile on my face as I dug into my food.

Everything was tasting magnificent. Nico had been a complete gentleman since he picked me up, and he kept me laughing all throughout dinner.

I was on cloud nine. It was almost enough for me to drop the guard around him and just have fun—well, mostly enough.

I had dropped my guard just a bit and I was having a great time, but I couldn’t lose site the big picture here.

I wasn’t supposed to be overly friendly, but Nico was always so easy to get along with, so easy to talk to.

It was just another thing I had missed dearly in the last ten years.

After the waiter cleared our plates and refilled my wine glass—my third of the night—I smiled coyly at Nico.

“Was this your plan?” I asked, leaning an elbow on the table and resting my hand on my chin.

I didn’t care if it wasn’t appropriate—my mother’s damn etiquette lessons be damned—I needed to know if this had been his plan all along. “Wine and dine me? Get me drunk?”

“Sure was, Little Dreamer,” Nico smirked.

I rolled my eyes at him. “What’s next, you suggest we head back to your place?”

Nico’s smirk widened. “That was going to be my suggestion. It’s like you read my mind.”