Page 54 of Brandishing Betrayals (Devil’s Psychos MC #2)

Maya

I stared across my dimly lit bedroom at Jason wondering if he had lost his damn mind. Maybe the pain killers were getting to him. Was he high? Either way, I didn’t move.

“Maya!” He barked, that dominate tone immediately sending shivers rushing down my spine.

I jumped, startled and quickly sat up. Kicking off my blanket, I stood from the recliner and walked around the end of the bed. I climbed into the space next to him on the queen-sized bed, on the other side of the throw pillows that he was resting his injured arm on.

It wasn’t until I was climbing into bed that I realized how easily and how fucking quickly I’d followed his order.

He chuckled softly when he saw the surprise flash across my face. “I’d call you a good girl, but we both know you’re not.”

I flushed a bright red and turned away. I wasn’t going to sit here and listen to his teasing. I went to walk away, but his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist.

He immediately groaned and let go. He grabbed the bullet wound with his good hand and slowly fell sideways in agony. “Fuuuck.” He panted.

“Shit, Jase,” I squeaked. I tucked his head against my chest and I held him loosely. That had to have hurt.

He straightened out his arm, still cradling his injury, but left his head resting against my chest. “I think you just wanted my face in your tits again.” His voice was hoarse, a rough gravel that sent a shiver down my spine.

I missed his voice.

“I uh—”

He chuckled softly, his breath fanning against my cleavage.

I held him, in disbelief that it was happening after everything that had happened. That I allowed it and that he did as well. I believed it was the magic of the darkness; things happened under cover of darkness that wouldn’t happen otherwise.

A moment later he groaned and pulled away, he leaned back against the wall, because there was no headboard on the bed, and tilted his back, sighing. His good hand came up to run over the bandage covering his stitches on his neck, and I bet they were being pulled while he was leaning forward.

Jason closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths. “Why didn’t you come back?”

The question hit out of the blue that I was stunned speechless.

I licked my lip and ran a hand through my hair as I thought about the answer.

“I thought about it a couple times. I thought about telling Marcos about Luke sooner. I came down here a couple times, but somehow Hillcrest always knew… and the updates I’d hear from Slade…

they weren’t good.” I took a deep breath to gather my thoughts.

“About two years after I left, I decided it was time, that I needed to tell you guys. I went as far as to come down here and look at apartments…” I trailed off as emotion choked my voice.

“What happened?” Jason asked, not opening his eyes. His voice was rough.

Tears flooded my vision and I curled up against the wall, hugging my pillow to my chest. “I was in town for two days. I looked at three apartments and was going to put a deposit down on one. I was at the bank when a courier brought me a bouquet of orange carnations—did you know there’s a whole language to flowers? ”

He raised an eyebrow, keeping his eyes closed.

“Yeah, I didn’t either, but I’ve learned a lot about the language of flowers in the last ten years.

” I gave a shaky laugh before I continued.

“There was a note in the bouquet. It said that what was about to happen, was my fault, and that I should have stayed away.” I took a gasping breath as tears fell down my face.

“I was in the bank across the street from the clubhouse. I stood there and watched the clubhouse get raided.”

Jason’s eyes shot open and looked to mine, searching my gaze. “You were there?”

I nodded, tears falling down my face. “I saw you and Marcos getting arrested in front of the clubhouse.” I had to take a deep breath before I continued.

“I stood in the entrance to the bank across the street, watching in horror as Marcos was slammed on the hood of the cop car and handcuffed. A moment later they led you out of the clubhouse, already in cuffs. You looked like you were cussing out the cop that was leading you.”

Jason frowned, a line forming between his eyebrows.

“I was terrified. I had no idea how he’d known I was even in town or thinking of moving back.

I looked through the flowers again and found a second note stuck deep in the bouquet.

It said if I left town, he’d make sure the sentences were low, but if I stayed, he would make sure you received ten years. ”

“What the fuck?” Jason demanded.

I let out a soft sob as emotions rocked me. “I later heard from Slade that the two of you were sentenced to two years at Illinois State Prison. So I didn’t bother coming back.”

He sighed and looked away from me. Anger was radiating off him and I knew he wouldn’t still be laying in this bed if he could get up and walk away. I needed to change the subject, but had questions of my own I needed to ask. And what better time than when he was laid up in my bed, unable to leave?

“Why didn’t you guys come for me?” I turned the question around on him. “You had to have known I would have gone to my sister, knowing I wasn’t on good terms with my parents. I know you have ways of finding people.”

Jason nodded slowly. He rubbed a hand over his face, which was way out of character for Stone , but he was never that person when it came to me. Never used to be at least. I was getting a glimpse beneath the mask he’d been keeping up whenever I was around and it was nice. “I did come up there.”

“What?” Shock and disbelief rocked through me.

“I came up about a year after you left. None of it felt right. I kept replaying everything in my head from both that night and the night in the woods. I knew we fucked up and took things too far, but after Trish… things didn’t feel right.

We never got a chance to fully question her.

Buckley killed her before the three of us could get answers. ”

I frowned. “Why would he do that? Isn’t he your president?”

“Was. Was our president. Buckley was in business with Hillcrest. They teamed up together against the Ravager Knights. They organized the hit on Mac Taylor, Johnny’s dad.

Before they killed him, they had him framed for a bunch of white-collar crimes that Vince Carmichael is currently awaiting trial on. ”

“Your president is in league with Hillcrest?” I asked incredulously, my voice rising.

“Was. He was our president. He’s dead now.” Jason said. He reached out with the hand of his injured arm and grabbed my hand.

My heart pounded. “You don’t think he—”

“I don’t know what to think, Maya.” Jason squeezed my fingers.

“Jason, if your president and Buckley were involved back then, and he had a hand in driving me away, it changes—”

“It changes nothing,” Jason said forcefully, his hand dropping mine.

“How can you say that?!”

“Because you still fucking left us! You didn’t come to us! You didn’t trust us to take care of you!” Jason’s voice rose with each word. He barely managed to keep his voice down as to not yell in the middle of the night and wake Luke or my mom, but his anger was still epic.

“You’re right,” I choked out, stifling a sob.

“Maya.” Jason sighed and tried to grab my hand again.

I evaded him and hugged my pillow. I buried my face into the cool fabric and let it soak up my tears. Life really wasn’t fair sometimes.

“You said you came up to Chicago?” I asked, needing him to finish that explanation.

“Yeah,” he huffed out. “About a year after you were gone. I went to the hospital you were working at. I saw you on the ICU floor. You were standing at the nursing station with two other women. You looked happy. You were laughing and you looked like you had a nice tan. It was summer.”

I frowned and pulled my face out of the pillow.

About a year after I left, I would have just been back to work.

Luke would have been about three or four months old.

I was probably fresh off maternity leave where I had spent as much time as I could in the sun, soaking up the vitamin D before I was due back to twelve-hour days under florescent lights. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Jason shrugged his good shoulder. “I ask myself that all the time.”

An uneasy silence settled between the two of them and I shifted uncomfortably. A yawn burst out of me, cracking my jaw with its intensity. “Where do we go from here?” I asked, my voice soft.

He sighed deeply. His hand rubbed over his face tiredly and he shook his head. “I don’t know.”

I rested my head on the pillow looking at him, feeling lost. “We have to figure out a way to coexist.”

Jason nodded slowly. “Yeah. Truce?” He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow.

“Truce.” I agreed.

“Alright, get some sleep,” he ordered. He shifted himself until he was laying down again and I had no choice but to also lay down.

I rolled onto my side, facing him, and slowly dozed off.