Defiance (New Adult Romance) (Isaac & Maya) (37 page)

“Isaac…” Baron trails off. I’m so glad I came here with him. He won’t do anything in front of me because of my father. Who the hell knows how this would have gone down otherwise?

“Maya was already broken. She’s perfect for me. Glory knows about us, I swear on my life. Think about it. Her two surrogate kids will get married, give her a few genius grandchildren to spoil, all that good stuff. She’s ecstatic, she is
constantly
on my case not to mess it up,” Isaac chuckles, rolling his eyes. If that part is true, those will be some fucked up family gatherings.

Baron smirks, shaking his head and laughing like any other father who should be frustrated with his son, but finds himself amused instead. “Why didn’t you just tell me that you wanted her?”

Isaac’s cocky grin is devoid of its usual humor, mirroring his father’s. “Because I don’t ask for what I want,” he rasps. “I take it.”

Maya makes a pathetic moan and jerks her head as Isaac’s eyes widen. Baron strides across the room and drops his future daughter
-in-law into his son’s outstretched arms. Just when I let out a sigh of relief, he pulls out a gun from his jacket. Isaac screams, “Don’t!” at the same time I do, but he doesn’t aim it at them. Instead, Baron turns and empties the clip into Luke’s chest as he screams around that gag and thrashes in his restraints until his head slumps forward.

Holy fucking shit. It’s really over now. We finally came back around to Plan A, where the blood gets on his father’s hands instead of Isaac’s. Well, what’s left of it anyway, because quite a bit ended up on Isaac’s blade.

Baron turns to see us staring at him in disbelief “What?” He shrugs. “Do not mention this place to your father,” he insists, pointing at me.

“Of course not.”

“You.” His finger aims at Isaac. “Take Jace to the hospital immediately and get your girl checked out. Tell them she overdosed and you found her like this,” Baron orders. “And wash your hands and put a shirt on first, for God’s sake. You look like you just tortured someone to death.” Nodding, Isaac eyes his father warily and takes a step toward the door. “Hurry up!”

My friend’s surprised eyes meet mine, both of us wordlessly agreeing to get the hell out of here. I walk behind him down the hallway because I know Isaac will feel better if there’s a barrier between him and his father. Of course, the shit hits the fan right before we cross the finish line.

“Get down! Get down!” men’s voices call out from several directions.

48

Jace

In a flash, I’m forced to my knees, surrounded by girls screeching and suited men running in all directions as masked, armored agents complete with riot shields and assault rifles storm the place.

Two men rip Maya out of Isaac’s arms when he won’t comply and get on the ground. He goes completely fucking ballistic, kicking and screaming as he fights his way toward her. One of them finally clocks Isaac over the back of the head, which only slows his advance. It takes five agents to finally wrestle him down.

“Don’t touch her!” Isaac screams. “You’re fucking scaring her!”

Baron is cuffed and being pulled out of the room Luke’s body is in, staying relatively calm until he sees Isaac struggling beneath a pile of DHS agents. “Get your hands off my son!” he roars. “Isaac!
Isaac!
Get your fucking hands off my son!”

Baron is thrashing and screaming hysterically as they drag him out the back of the building. His display is so unexpected and frantic, it silences everyone as we all watch him disappear. Even Isaac stops freaking about Maya for a moment, completely dumbfounded at his father’s outburst of concern for his safety.

Now that the King has been removed from the scene, I’m expecting the assholes pinning Isaac to the floor will lighten up on him, considering he’s the one that made this whole bust possible. Perhaps they would have if he hadn’t put up such a vicious fight, although maybe their rough treatment is strategic. There are still a lot of people around watching that might report something suspicious back to his dad.

“No!” Isaac shouts as they haul him away. “Maya!
Maya!
” Like father, like son. They sound so much alike, it’s eerie.

Poor Maya’s eyes finally flutter open at the sound
of her man calling her name. She reaches out for him, but he can’t see her because he’s already gone and she quickly blacks out again.

Wow. They really took him, just like he said they would. There are paramedics on the scene, but the only girl that appears to need medical attention is Maya. I watch helplessly as the
y take her away too, but at least she’s going to the hospital.

Everyone who didn’t get arrested in the first wave gets put in one of the freaky sex chambers to get sorted out, literally the scariest place possible to use as a makeshift interview room. I’m cuffed in a regular chair, surrounded by instruments that I only halfway understand because I’m the only vanilla person here and I don’t like weird porn. Diego finally walks through the door with a man in a suit. I’ve met Isaac’s friend exactly once, but he seemed nice enough and he confirms their stance that I have nothing to do with this. I’m suddenly free to go because they have a lot on their plate, provided that I don’t intend to leave the state or anything and I’m willing show up for questioning at a later date.

“Piper,
please
answer your phone,” I beg into her voicemail as I’m driving toward the hospital. “Isaac just got arrested, Maya’s in the hospital, and my father is probably going to die today.”

She doesn’t call me back or text, but I do find her standing outside the door at the hospital, hopefully waiting for me. I shouldn’t get excited, she’s probably here for Maya, but I can’t help it. I smile every time I see her, even at crappy moments like this. Parking Isaac’s car as fast as I can, I run up to the door and nearly knock her over when I crash into her.

“Are you okay?” she asks. “What happened?”

I know I should explain the hell that I’ve just been through, but it doesn’t seem as important as everything else I need to say to her. “You left,” I blurt out, stepping backwards.

“Jace, you are scary pale. Maybe you should sit down.”

If I sit down, I am not getting up any time soon. “You told me that you loved me and I woke up by myself. You let me make love to you all night and then you completely stopped talking to me. Why did you leave?”

At least she looks like she regrets it. “I… I got scared.”

“Of me?” My jaw starts to shake.

“Of us, I guess,” she murmurs. “We can talk about it later, you should probably go see your dad.”

“I don’t want to. I’ve already seen two dead bodies today, I don’t want to see his.”

“You what?”

“Isaac and his dad just killed Luke. Well, Baron technically shot him, but Isaac tortured him first. In front of me. It was some twisted, messed up shit, but he deserved it. Luke hurt Maya again and he… killed my friend…” I croak. “
Lisa. You met her a couple of times at the gym.”

“Oh, my God.”

“I’ve had an incredibly shitty day, Pipes.”

“Yeah, I’d say. Come here,” she tempts me, reaching out.

I want to fall back into her arms so badly. “No,” I breathe. “I can’t take this anymore, Piper. I can’t. If you’re never going to want me, I need to know. Don’t tease me again, not today. Please.”

She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth as tears fill her eyes. I guess that’s a no. But then she reaches forward, her fingers grazing my brow and traveling into my hair. “Come here, Jace. It’s okay.”

I don’t care if it’s not real, or if it will only last a day. I need her. Tumbling into Piper’s arms, I hold on to her waist as tight as I can without hurting her as I rest my head on her shoulder. She’s so soft. I shudder as she kisses my temple, drawing in a ragged breath against my skin. “Take me back, Piper. Please forgive me, I’m begging you.”

Her hand cups the back of my head as my eyes flutter closed. It feels so good. “I forgave you a while ago,” she whispers. “I just wasn’t ready to admit it yet.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Yes. Shhhhh.”

I hadn’t even noticed that I was crying. “I don’t want to go up there.”

“You should.”

“What about Maya?”

“She’s fine. I already saw her, I was here when you called. She isn’t fully conscious yet,” Piper says.

“Will you come home with me for a little while? We can come back when she wakes up.”

“Jace,” she says seriously, pulling her face back to look at me, keeping her hands on my jaw. “Oh, God, you look so pitiful,” she breathes, standing on her tip toes and pressing her lips to my forehead. Piper’s touch is so soothing, I’ve missed it so much. “I have a confession to make. I guilt tripped my mom until she strong armed a nurse into telling me how your father was doing and then I totally spied on your mother and sister for a few minutes. I think that he’s going to be okay, his oxygen levels are up, his heart rhythm is normalizing. They’ll probably release him tomorrow. That’s why you should go up there.”

“Really?” I ask. My father is one tough old bastard. Piper nods, grinning at me. “It is so like you to break important confidentiality rules and spy on my family. You’ll make a great lawyer.”

“I know,” she replies, smiling mischievously. “Come on, I’ll go with you.”

“Thanks.”

“Your mom is the youngest one of them, right?”

“Yeah, by ten years. My sister is 58.”

“That is so crazy. They don’t get along at all, do they?”

I just start laughing and shake my head no. I guess I’m out of convenient, life altering distractions to get out of this awkward family shit storm. Piper holds my hand the whole way, on the elevator ride up and as we walk down the hallway. I don’t think she’s joking, I think we’re really back together. My mother is standing outside Dad’s room because my brother and sister are in there with him and that’s just the way it has to be because no one can put their differences aside long enough to be in the same room together.

“And where the hell have you been all day?” Mom snaps at me as her eyes stay glued to her phone. “Oh, my God,” she gasps when she lifts her face. “Are you alright?”

I stand there speechless, trying not to fall. The muscles in my legs always feel like jelly once a crisis is over. I can’t wait to lay down.

“There was an accident at work and he had an insanely horrible day,” Piper answers for me. “He’s still a little shaken up.”

“Oh…” My mother looks at Piper and this is the point where I should introduce them, but I don’t have a voice yet.

“Hi, I’m Piper,” she says, shaking my mom’s hand. “Jace’s girlfriend.”

Girlfriend. I guess that makes it official. They exchange pleasantries for a few moments, until I finally interrupt them because I want to go inside and see my dad. Since I can talk again, I introduce Piper to the rest of my family myself. My dad’s color is a lot better than it was this morning, I guess it’s not the end after all. My girlfriend is such a unifying force, everybody likes her, Mom even comes in the room and doesn’t start a fight. Though some of that could be attributed to Piper, she is amazing at keeping the conversation flowing and steering it around the passive aggressive remarks that keep popping up. I don’t say much. I keep wondering where Isaac is.

Piper gets a text that Maya is awake enough now to understand what people are saying, so we say our goodbyes and go down to her floor. I certainly wasn’t expecting to meet my girlfriend’s parents when I woke up this morning, not that I anticipated any of the other crazy shit that happened today. They aren’t exactly happy to meet me, which makes Piper grin triumphantly, so it worked out well enough. That insanely hot rebellious look on her face only lasts for a few moments, because now we have to tell Maya what happened.

She remembers some of the day’s events in flashes. Luke’s death is a relief, but the confirmation of Lisa’s is devastating. Then she asks where Isaac is in the smallest, most pathetic voice that makes Piper burst into tears upon hearing it. Maya is beyond pitiful, it’s hard to look at her as I tell her the whole story. We don’t know where he is or when he’ll be back. Carl is standing there the whole time, fuming, and actually has the nerve to remind us that Isaac is technically an accessory to murder at this point and he might not be coming back at all.

Maya flips the fuck out on him, screaming about his hypocrisy and some secret she’s kept for years that she’ll use to destroy
him if he doesn’t do everything in his power to makes sure Isaac comes home. Without warning, she leaps from her bed, her hands outstretched like claws, screeching incoherently as the nurses call security. Maya wasn’t ready to stand up yet and collapses onto the floor, sobbing hysterically. I certainly wasn’t expecting that, but it’s nice to know that she’ll fight just as hard for him as he has for her.

Piper is also an amazing friend. She gets right down there on the floor with Maya and convinces her to calm down so that the nurses don’t forcibly sedate her. I help her get back in the bed, not surprised in the slightest when Piper crawls in with her and holds her while she sobs herself to sleep, though I am a little jealous. They’re still so close, I’m glad that didn’
t get destroyed in all of this.

We take Maya home in the morning. It doesn’t feel right to leave her alone, and my girlfriend asks me to stay because she is. It was nice of Isaac to make a second bedroom so Piper felt at home here and really convenient, because now that she’s done with school and things are on the rocks with her parents, she’s moving in because she thinks
she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. I fight the urge to ask her to come live with me, it’s probably way too soon and doesn’t matter at the moment because we will be here for a while.

I used to imagine how wonderful it would be when I finally got Piper back all the time. The reality turns out to be less enjoyable in a lot of ways. There aren’t any raunchy sex marathons, or wake and bake smoke sessions, and that damn cat is here and it’s very happy to see me. We do get a few heart to hearts, though, whispering to each other while cuddling in the spare room.

Some aspects of our reunion are even better because all that fun stuff didn’t happen. Maya stays in bed most of the day, even when she isn’t sleeping, so Piper and I have the place to ourselves, but we have to be responsible. It feels so normal, which makes it real. We cook, veg out in front of the TV, and just get to hang out together like we used to. Some of our conversations are serious, but most of them aren’t. It’s so satisfying just to see her face all the time. She snuggles so close to me at night now, closer than she ever did before, though maybe I just appreciate it more. I can’t believe I finally got her back. It will be even better when we eventually get to the awesome screw, smoke, and sleep in phase, which we definitely will because Piper is still Piper and I’m still me. That stuff won’t be superficial, there won’t be any risk of it distracting us from what matters. We’re solid again, we already talked about everything, it’ll just be us celebrating being us.

It feels like it did last fall, before everything went to hell. The only thing missing is Isaac. The four of us used to chill out sometimes, which was incredibly awkward because I had to pretend like I didn’t know him, but it was fun too. Now the food isn’t nearly as good and there’s an empty chair at the dinner table where he should be sitting. One laugh is missing when we watch a movie and Maya is curled up in that big recliner by herself instead of on his lap. The worst part is, we have no idea when he’s coming home,
if
he’s even coming home. It’s awful.