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Feeling small and cold, as if the sun was just glancing off of her skin without warming it, Maria looked around the pool. One of the moms waved to her and she waved back. Fuck it. She didn’t care what any of these people thought if she spent less than ten minutes poolside. They all recognized her, but they didn’t know her.
She couldn’t just sit here acting like everything was normal. She needed to find out what she’d done wrong. Fortunately, she knew just who to call.
Grabbing her bag, Maria swept back up to her apartment, only hesitating in front of Rick’s door for a moment. Nope. She wasn’t going to knock. Not right now. Maybe later if no one picked up their phones. And only if she could get her roiling emotions under control.
The second she was alone in her apartment, with the door securely closed behind her, Maria dug her phone out of her pool bag.
“Please pick up, please pick up,” she murmured as the phone rang. Relief flooded her as the call connected.
“Maria! Hey, what’s up?” Angel’s warm, excited voice seemed to wrap around Maria, promising support and friendship and all the things Maria desperately wanted from the women of Stronghold.
Emotion welled in her throat and chest. She’d been on such a roller coaster ride for the past twenty-four hours. All the fear and anxiety last night, combined with excitement and arousal, followed by passion and pleasure, then confusion and caution and now this morning... rejection and doubts.
“I—“ Maria choked and burst into tears. She didn’t even know how to say what had just happened or what to say. Everything was just hitting her all at once and she sank down, leaning on the arm of her couch as she cried.
“Maria?! Maria, are you okay? Are you having sub-drop? Shit, do you know what sub-drop is? Maria? Should I call Rick?”
“No!” Well that word got out okay and it was the catalyst which allowed Maria to start to get control over herself again. Her cheeks were wet with her tears and her chest still ached, the fist inside of it clenching even harder, but at least she could get words out. “Don’t call him. Please. He doesn’t... he doesn’t...” want me. The tears threatened again as she swallowed the words.
“Are you sure?” Frantic concern laced Angel’s voice, helping to buoy Maria’s spirits. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“I don’t think Rick wants me.” God, she sounded so broken, and the sobs welled up again, tears spilling back down her cheeks. Stupid emotions. When had she gotten so wrapped up in him? Sure, she’d wanted him, and she’d thought, hey let’s try the sex thing to see if it’ll work out, see if a relationship is possible, but she hadn’t expected to feel like this if it didn’t. As if her heart was already breaking.
Through tears and sniffles, Maria dragged herself up and onto the couch, rather than kneeling beside it, curled in a little ball and hugging one of her cushions for comfort, she choked out the whole story to a sympathetically furious Angel. All the while, her head pounded, and her chest ached as if her rib cage was compressing inward.
By the time she was done, she was leaning her head on the back of the couch, feeling more than a little lost and forlorn, although at least the tears had finally stopped.
“I just don’t know what I did... or didn’t do. I was hoping maybe... maybe you’d heard something from Adam or... or knew something...”
“No, sweetie, I’m sorry,” Angel said, her voice low and soothing. Comforting. “Rick didn’t talk to anyone after you guys left last night, but I’ll bet—I’m sure—this is just some kind of misunderstanding. You didn’t do anything wrong. He told Olivia last night after your scene that you were perfect.”
“Then why doesn’t he want me now?” Maria practically wailed, although now that she wasn’t crying, she was starting to feel kind of pissed. What the hell was wrong with the man? Last night he was all communication, communication, communication and then this morning he wouldn’t even talk to her! How could they fix whatever had gone wrong if he wouldn’t talk?!
“I don’t know what happened, but you can bet I’m going to find out.” Despite the fact that Angel sounded grim and rather threatening, Maria just found that even more comforting. She had someone in her corner. Someone who wasn’t one of her sisters, which was a nice feeling. “Can I call you later?”
Sniffling a little, Maria glanced at the clock and groaned. “I have to leave for work in an hour, I’ll be there until around seven or eight tonight probably. But you can leave me a message. Or just come by and see me.”
“Awesome. I will get back to you today. You can count on it.”
Angel sounded an awful lot like Maria when she went into Mama Bear mode over one of her sisters. Was this how her sisters felt when that happened? All comforted and taken care of?
“Thanks,” Maria said with a little laugh. She wasn’t happy, but she was feeling much better. At the very least, she was hoping maybe if Rick wasn’t going to talk to her that he’d at least talk to someone, and she could at least find out what happened.
Maria could handle rejection, it had happened before, even if it hadn’t hurt this much. What she couldn’t handle was not knowing why. Especially when, from her end, everything had seemed so good. And Rick had told Olivia she was perfect, so seriously... what the fuck?
“What the fuck, Rick?”
Great. Angry, fire-breathing Adam. Definitely not what Rick felt like dealing with right now. Even worse, he had no idea what Adam was mad about. Could be just about anything. Rick had been at Adam’s office all morning, doing stuff for Justin, but he couldn’t actually remember what he’d done because his head was so fogged over and distracted.
Going by the expression on Adam’s face, he’d probably fucked up something major.
“Sorry man... I’m kind of out of it. What’d I do?”
Adam stalked into Rick’s makeshift office, slamming the door behind him as he glared at Rick, crossing his arms over his chest and making the suit jacket he was wearing go very tight around his shoulders.
“Would you like to explain what happened between you and Maria?” Adam asked, practically looming over Rick from across the desk.
Anger flickered. “How is that your business?”
