"You would not believe how long the line is in that cafe. You'd think they were giving it away for free." Theo laughed as he returned. "Is Maya up yet?" He put the coffee on the counter and the keys in the bowl.

"Was here a few minutes ago." I shrugged.

"He said what!?" We both jumped a little when we heard Maya's voice coming from her room.

"That did not sound good." I frowned.

"What did you do?" Theo looked at me reproachfully.

"Why me?" Something goes wrong and I'm immediately to blame?

"I should go check on her." He started to walk towards her room.

"Bad idea friend." I said more to myself.

I heard the door open as it hit the wall in Maya's room. Okay, she's pretty pissed.

"Maya what the hell are you doing?" Theo said. "Put that down."

Before I could ask what it was about. Maya walked past me to the door with a baseball bat in her hand.

Oh this will be fun.

"Maya stop." Theo stopped her before she opened the door. He stood in the doorway, blocking her way.

"Get out of my way." She said harshly.

"What do you want to do with it?" He pointed to the bat, on her shoulder.

"Play baseball, what else? Now move."

"You don't have the ball for that. What do you really want to hit with that?"

"Car or person, now move Theo, I won't ask again."

"You should let her go." I joined their conversation.

"Really? You have to support her right now?" He frowned at me. "And you," he looked at Maya, "do you realize that if you break something with it, you'll end up at the police."

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"God Maya." He grabbed his head. "Why do you want to kill someone? What happened?"

"I'm not in the mood for a conversation."

"Is that because of the Alex guy?" I asked curiously.

"Alex? Who is Alex?" He kept looking between me and his sister. "Your date? Did he do something?"

"Not my date." She said a little disgusted. "He hurt Julie, that's what happened. Now let me through." She tried to go around him, but Theo stood like a rock. It's useless to mess with him. Unless he wants to, he won't move. Maya doesn't stand a chance.

"But that doesn't mean you have to go smash his head right away." Theo knows his sister less than I thought.

It's obvious that she and Julie are closer than twins. I'm surprised Maya didn't just pull a gun on him.

"Theo, I swear to God if you don't move, I will shove this bat so far up your..." She held up the baseball bat a little higher.

"Yeah, yeah." I interrupted her. "We know exactly where." I threw the last piece of toast into my mouth and stood up from the table.

I walked over to them, took Maya's cell phone from her back pocket, to which she just yelled, "hey!", and tossed it to Theo.

I snatched the bat from her hand and dropped it on the ground. I bent down, grabbed Maya by the hips, lifted her up and slung her over my shoulder.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She was hitting my back with her little fists and kicking her legs.

"Find where that guy lives." I told Theo as I walked with his sister on my shoulder to her room.

"Let me go asshole!" She was still struggling. "Put me down idiot!"

"Yes, yes." I rolled my eyes.

I put her on the floor in her room. I have to say, she doesn't look thrilled.

"Stay." I motioned to her and turned around. I took the keys from the door and left her room. I closed the door, which I then locked before she tried to open it.

"Acker! Unlock it! Now!" She started banging her fists on the door.

"Shout more, maybe they'll unlock themselves." I stepped away from her and walked over to Theo who was by the door. "So?"

"I couldn't find his number."

"Give it to me." I snatched the phone from his hand and went to the contacts. I found Julie and dialed her number.

"Maya thank god where did you go?" Julie spoke up from the other side.

"Not Maya, babe. Sebastian."

"Sebastian? What are you doing with Maya's phone?"

"Do you know where Alex is?"

"Alex? Why?" She asked cautiously.

"Do you know or not?"

"What do you want to do?"

"No worse than what Maya would do with a baseball bat. So? Do you know where he is?"

"I don't..." She exhaled heavily. "I'll send you the address."

"Thank you doll." I smiled and hung up. "What?" I frowned when I noticed Theo looking at me.

"Are you doing this for Julie, Maya or because you're bored?"

"Because I'm bored." I slipped past him. "Now let's go before Maya slams the door down and we'll have a bigger problem than that idiot who crossed her friend."



He threw me over his shoulder like I was a feather and locked me in my room. Again! What does he think of himself?

I'll kill him. Mark my words, one day I'll kill him.

I was sitting on my bed staring at the ceiling when I heard the front door open.

Heavy footsteps approached my room and the key turned in the lock. The door opened wide and Acker was leaning against its frame with a satisfied smile on his lips.

"Where's my bat because I'm going to use it on you right now." I jumped off the bed. "What were you thinking?" I quickly walked over to him and pushed him.

"He got what he deserved, isn't that enough?"

"No. It should've been me." I pushed him again and he took a few steps back. "You had no right!" I raised my hand to slap him, but he caught it before it hit his cheek.

"That's enough. If you don't want to end up locked in a room again, calm down."

"Get the fuck out of my apartment." I said through my teeth. "I'm serious. Pack up your shit and get the hell out." I yanked my hand out of his grip.

"You'd get in trouble, you should thank us." Is he serious? Oh my god he is.

"And what did you do to him?" I crossed my arms over my breasts. "Did you two tell him to not do that again and shaked hands? I wouldn't be surprised if you had friendship bracelets by now. Or did you jerk off with him? I really wouldn't be surprised." I snorted.

"Really?" He asked slightly offended. "FYI, he's gone out of town and won't be coming back. Your friend won't see him again, so he won't do anything to her. He also left her this." He took MY cell phone out of his pocket, unlocked it with MY password and played a voicemail.

"Hi Julie." Alex said in a shaky voice. "Look, I'm really sorry for what I said and...and...if I ever offended you at any other time, I'm sorry. I'm an asshole and you don't deserve it." Why does it sound like he's crying? "I'm an idiot if I've ever seen you as less than a wonderful woman with a great personality. I'm...I'm really sorry. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. I'm leaving town, so you won't have to see my...my disgusting face ever again. " The voicemail was cut there.

"Is that enough for you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Don't wait for a thank you." I swallowed hard and tried to look and sound confident.

"Should I start packing or wait for Theo so we can jerk off together again?"

"Jackass." I snorted and slipped past Acker to the door where I grabbed keys from the counter before slamming the door behind me and heading to Julie.

*****

I looked at Julie as she listened to the voicemail from Alex. She was smiling from ear to ear. "Why does he sound..."

"Like his balls are in a clamp?" I finished for her and she just nodded with a laugh. "Maybe they were, who knows?"

"I should feel sorry for him, shouldn't I?"

"Why?" I frowned with a confused expression. "You don't owe him anything."

"I don't know." She shrugged and handed me my cell phone. She is too good for her own good. "He sounds really bad though."

"Not because of me." I snorted.

"It's not that I don't like you protecting me Maya, but I'm glad Sebastian and your brother took care of it and not you. I don't want you in trouble."

"It would be worth it." I tilted my head back until I hit the back of the couch.

"But it's nice that Sebastian is protecting you. Even yesterday when he threw Paul through the glass door and took you home. It sounds like..."

I opened my eyes and looked at Julie.

"Sorry." She blurted out. "I'm quiet now." She put her hands on her legs and looked at them.

"Would you mind if I stayed here today? I'm not in the mood to go back home."

"You've been spending more time with me than ever since those two arrived. I like it." She smiled and sat beside me. She put a pillow on her legs and patted it to make me lie down.

I laid down on her legs while Julie picked a movie to watch.

"Julie?" I spoke after a while.

"Yes?" She said without looking down at me.

"I'm sorry I wasn't the one who got to Alex first."

"Don't be." She looked at me. "I know that if they weren't here, you would have done it. But I've told you a hundred times that you don't always have to protect me." She ran her hand through my hair.

"And I'll tell you a thousand times that I always will. You're the only family I have."

"You have Theo, Maya. You told me you were doing well lately."

"It's only a matter of time before that changes." I turned on my side so I could see the TV. "He'll leave, but you won't. And even if you did, I'd go with you."

"I expected nothing less." She laughed.

*****

I didn't come home yesterday. I stayed with Julie and we went to Eddie's together in the afternoon. I borrowed clothes, that were mine by the way, from her closet. You wouldn't believe how many of my clothes were in her closet. Julie Sanders, my little klepto.

I shifted my attention to the guy who walked from his table with his friends to the bar. Who drinks at three in the afternoon?

"One beer for me and whatever you want honey. Beer, something stronger, whatever." He smiled and threw the money on the bar.

"Sure, I'll have something later." I started pouring beer for him.

"I want you to drink with me now."

"I don't drink at work." I said annoyed. I should be nice to a customer, but he picked a bad day.

"I know how this works, so why don't you just have a drink with me?"

"Like I said, I'm working. So if one beer is all you wanted, make room for others." Although no one is waiting at the bar for a drink. This guy is persistent. Doesn't he know that no means no?

"You're a good looking woman. I wonder how far those tattoos go." I must have thrown up a little when he licked his lips and slid his gaze to my boobs.

I put the beer glass in front of him and took the money. I gave him back change and smiled. "These?" I ran my hand to my shoulder. "Ask your wife, she knows." I winked at him.

Maybe I overdid it and pissed him off. No, correction. I pissed him off. How do I know that? Not by his pissed off expression, but by that beer glass that flew past my head and almost hit me.

The glass shattered on the alcohol bottles behind me and landed on the ground. Some small pieces of the glass bounced off and damaged the skin on my right shoulder.

"You little whore!" He yelled at me, but before he could climb onto the bar, Arnie appeared next to him and started pulling him away from me.

"Oh my god Maya are you okay?" A frightened Julie ran to me and looked at the blood running between my fingers.

"Watch out for the glass. It tends to fly around here." I hissed in pain as I pulled my hand away from my shoulder. It's deeper than I thought. I reached for a clean cloth and put it on my wound.

"I'll take you to the hospital."

"What no." I frowned. "Stay here while I treat it, but watch out for that glass." I alerted her and headed to the back, to Eddie.

I knocked on his door and opened it. "One second." He raised his hand while looking at the notebook and immediately wrote something down on the papers next to it. After a while he looked up at me. "Maya." He looked scared at my hand. "What happened?" He immediately got up and walked over to me.

"A customer lost his temper." I'm to blame, but I didn't tell him that. "I don't need stitches, but a first aid kit would be nice."

"Yeah of course. Sit down." He pointed to the couch in the corner of the office and walked over to his desk, from which he took out the first aid kit.

Meanwhile, I closed the door and sat on the couch. I hope I don't get any blood on it, it looks expensive.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He sat down next to me and carefully folded the white cloth.

I clenched my jaw to keep from hissing in pain. "Sure. I can do it, you don't have to..." I tried to take the disinfectant from the box, but he stopped me.

"Stop it, Maya. Let me take care of you." That did something to me. "You are my employee after all." Ouch. A dagger straight to the heart. Maybe it would be better if he let me bleed out. Is that still an option?



Maya and Eddie are kind of cute.