Which left him no choice but to acquiesce. If he wanted Maya’s trust, he had to earn it, and the only way to do that was to prove to her he would always respect her, and that whatever she asked of him, she got.
“If you need me, babydoll, I'm here for you,” Thunder reminded her as he turned and slowly walked out of her room, fighting against his instincts the entire time.
Walking away felt wrong, even if it was the only choice he had.
There was only one reason he could think of for Maya’s abrupt change in demeanor from when he’d left her in her art studio until now.
“She knows,” he said when he saw the others in the hallway outside her room. “She knows that we know her name.” It was the only thing that made sense to him.
“She was there earlier,” Blade confirmed.
“You knew she was there and didn't tell me,” he snarled, now fighting the urge to launch himself at Blade, who must have heard her, or at Dragon, who must have smelled her. “Why didn't you tell me?” If he’d known she was there, he would have shut the conversation down. Instead, he’d been so caught up in relishing finally learning Maya’s name that he hadn't been paying attention to anything else.
“Because you would have shut the conversation down, and she deserves to know everything,” Dragon replied. “In this instance, protecting her isn’t depriving her of important information.”
The answer was simple, and as badly as he wanted to argue against it, Thunder found he couldn’t. Because it was the right one. Maya did deserve to know everything, and he should havetaken her down to the study with him when he got the text that Prey had uncovered her identity. Should have included her rather than trying to protect her.
“I … don’t know what to do next. With her,” he admitted.
“Give her time, and when she’s ready, talk to her. She’s strong, a survivor, she found a way to endure the hell she’s been living in, she can handle this as well,” Steel said with more confidence than he would have been able to muster.
“Keep doing what you’ve been doing and prove to her that you're still her rock,” Lion added.
Why did that sound so much easier said than done?
The distance between him and Maya felt greater than ever.
March 3rd
1:16 A.M.
It was time.
The house was quiet and dark, everyone had gone to bed, and Maya prayed that no one would notice when she slipped away into the night.
Somewhat uneasily, she glanced around the room. This was the first place that had been a safe one for her since she was fourteen. Half her life had been spent in a constant state of terror, and the days she’d been there she’d actually been able to pause, to breathe.
It had been a nice break, but it was over now.
Now she had to sneak out into the unknown. She didn't have a plan beyond escaping this house. All she knew was that she wasn't going to hang around and wait to be tossed aside once they’d finished using her.
No one else was going to take control of her life. Only her. It washerlife, and even if she made bad choices, she got to make them. They were hers and hers alone.
But if she was making this decision, if she was choosing to strike out on her own with no job, no money, no place to stay, and not a single friend in the world, then she had to steal a few things to make it happen.
Definitely felt like stealing even if she was pretty sure that Thunder and the others would have told her to take whatever she wanted if she’d asked. Maybe they were using her, and the conversation she’d overheard yesterday certainly implied that they were, they still seemed to be somewhat decent human beings, and she didn't think they’d want her to freeze to death.
So she had dressed in layers, wearing more than she needed to, so she had something to keep her going for a while. She’d also found a backpack in her wardrobe and loaded it up with as many snacks as she could fit in. They wouldn't last long, but at least they were something. Hopefully, enough to get her to the nearest town.
Once she got there, she would figure out her next move. Maybe she could get a job waitressing or something. Someplace where someone would be willing to pay her in cash because she didn't have a bank account or any form of ID to get herself one.
If she was ready at some point to contact her family, she’d do it, but right now she needed time and space to figure out who she was. Time and space to untangle the mess of emotions lodged inside her.
This had felt like the perfect place to do that. She’d thought she had that time and space she needed right there. A place to feel safe, a place without pressure, a place to just exist with people who weren't expecting anything from her.
But they were expecting something from her.
Using her for different reasons than the people who had abducted her, sold her, bought her, but using her, nonetheless.
