Page 54 of Take Her On

So why did reading her words feel like a tight embrace?

She’d felt so elated, so euphoric just minutes ago, and now it was as though everything was crumbling around her.

“Maya,” she heard Jamie say, but she pocketed her phone, fingers rushing, failing to slip the shirt over the wooden hanger. “Are you alright?” When she didn’t respond, Jamie took Maya’s hand in hers. “Just breathe. It’s okay.”

Jamie’s own chest was still heaving, the pink tinge to her cheeks telling of their earlier encounter. Maya forced herself to look into her eyes. The blues and greys stirred together like gentle ocean waves. Something in Maya relaxed.

Jamie brushed her thumb over her hand. “What do we need to do next? Let me help.”

* * *

After the game, Jamie pulled into an empty parking space and stopped the car. Bright yellow streetlights poured in through the windows, and Maya peered out.

The Balti King.

“You want to go for Indian food?” she asked. “I thought you wanted to teach me how to drive.”

“The restaurant is shut on Wednesdays.” Jamie nodded at the empty car park. “That gives us a nice big area to play with. You said you had some lessons months ago, right?” Maya nodded, and she continued, “So, this is just to get you back into the swing of things.”

She jumped when Jamie squeezed her thigh.

Jamie laughed. “You don’t need to look so nervous. It’s gonna be fun. Come on.” She hopped out of the car, and they switched seats.

Maya ran her hands over the steering wheel, feeling the cool material under her fingers. A part of her couldn’t quite believe Jamie was trusting her with her car. For all she knew, Maya had been banned from driving after hitting too many pedestrians in her driving lessons—she hadn’t, but still, she could be a raging moron, trying to soar into the night sky via a vertical route up a lamppost. The truth was that after Grandpa’s first stroke, she’d just…stopped taking her lessons. It wasn’t a priority anymore. It felt selfish.

Jamie patiently recapped all the different parts for her: the clutch, the accelerator and—Maya’s current favourite—the brake. She checked her mirrors, and Jamie even let her adjust the driving seat so she was sitting bolt upright.

Her fingers gripped the steering wheel, thumbs rubbing in hard circles.

“Are you ready?” Jamie asked.

It was a simple question—and driving around the empty car park was a simple manoeuvre—yet Maya’s mouth struggled to form any words. When she was distracted, things went wrong. Whenever she let things go and focused on the moment, life seemed to spin out of line. What happened to Grandpa was proof enough of that. Maya needed to be focused. She needed to be present. She needed to be in control. When she wasn’t, life had a habit of throwing her a curveball.

She tightened her grip, knuckles burning white. “I don’t know if I should.”

When she’d lost control earlier, caught in the whirlpool of Jamie’s touch, Coach had nearly walked in on them. It’d thrown her into such a loop, she’d played a terrible first half. They’d scraped a win—just, thanks to one of Jamie’s thunderbolt shots—but Maya was the captain. She should be leading by example. Not knocking the whole team off balance.

And then there was Carly.

That pretty little headfuck pops up at the worst of times.

“What’s wrong?” Jamie asked.

Maya could feel her soft gaze in her peripheral vision, but how was she supposed to explain all of this to her? Mentioning the blonde woman who’d taken Maya’s heart and snipped it into tiny pieces seemed a major turn-off. Her thoughts weren’t easy to explain.

“I…shouldn’t.”

“You want to learn to drive, right?” Jamie asked.

“Yeah, I do, but—”

“Come on, then. Clutch down and move the gearstick into first.” Her voice was soft and encouraging. Before Maya knew it, she’d done what she said. “Remember about the biting point on the clutch? If you lift your foot slowly, you’ll feel the car respond.”

The car juddered as Maya lifted the clutch. She panicked, let go of it completely, and the engine spluttered and cut out, jumping them forward.

“Ah, shit. Sorry. I knew I shouldn’t do this. I—”

“Maya, it’s fine. It’s just stalled. Try it again. This time, if you feel it move too much, just press your foot back in again.”