Chapter 55: Chapter 55

Xavier walked back to the seat where he had left Maya.

She was sitting right at the spot she had been, a grin on her face but he could feel that the air had changed, something had happened with her when he was away and no matter how hard he tried to figure out what it was, nothing came to mind.

"Are you okay?" He raised his brow at her as he snagged the glass of champagne she was sipping off her hand and swallowed it in one gulp.

"Hey, I was drinking that?"

"Hey, I was trying to get your attention."

"Ever been told you are so infuriating?" She glared at him but he could still see the amusement dancing in her orbs.

"Amongst other things, Yes."

"I'm hungry," she mumbled, he tried to stare into her eyes but her gaze darted at everywhere but him.

"Let's do early brunch then." Then ignoring his gut feeling that something wasn't okay with her, he asked for the menu.

"You sure you are fine?" He asked Maya again for like the fifth time as she played with her fork, her appetite non-existent.

"I'm not sure." She found herself replying truthfully wondering what it was with Xavier that made her want to bare her soul out to him and tell him her darkest truth and scarring fears.

"What is it?" His normally cold eyes held a warmth that was directed at her, with concern and another emotion she couldn't quite place her hands on but made her breathless.

She swallowed, the insides of her mouth unbearably dry. She reached for the bottle of cold water at his side and uncorking the bottle quickly took a sip from it directly not even caring for a glass.

Xavier studies her for some minutes and then pushing his untouched dish to the side, he stood up.

"Let's get out of here,"

"How did things go with Melissa?" Maya couldn't believe she had forgotten why they had come in the first place.

He beamed and helped her stand up, he draped his hand on her waist, a romantic gesture to a passerby but Maya knew he had noticed how jerky her movements were and was supporting her wobbling feet.

"What do you think?"

She turned her eyes back to study him for a brief second then beamed.

***

"You can tell me anything but only when you feel like," Xavier mumbled gauging all of Maya's movement which betrayed just how much she had in her mind and how troubled she was.

"I don't want to burden you with frivolities."

He chuckled lightly, "You can never be a frivolity, Maya. Don't be surprised if I leave a board meeting just to get you a lipgloss because you think it is super important."

He had not thought of what she might think of his words before he uttered them but as they were said even though they were just simple words, he could notice how intense they sounded, the promise he had made underlying his sentence.

She had noticed it too because her breath became erratic as she tried not to hold on to a promise he had not made.

"It is stupid," She found herself whispering, "When you had kissed me on my forehead, I remembered Bree's mother."

They both knew she was referring to her mother but it made sense if she only was a mother to the little kid who was scared and wore trashy outfits. She had brought Maya into this world, though unwillingly no one could change that but the woman that stood in front of him...

The fiercely hardworking, kind, lovely, beautiful woman that held his gaze was not mothered by a drug addict.

"She had been willing to offer Bree to a sex slave trade on the street for that," Her voice didn't shake or waver but in her eyes did he see the hurt that her voice had masked.

He held her hand wondering how a woman could be so cruel to her flesh and blood.

"I heard her tell someone over the phone like Bree was some clothes, a pair of boot heels, a sweatpant covered in acrylic paint that the kind-hearted widower next door usually use to paint the insides of our trailer."

She looked away from him, staring straight ahead, "She didn't sound like I was her daughter, her blood. Like I've lived inside of her for nine months and had kicked." Tears trickled down her cheek that blurred her vision momentarily but she didn't mind.

"I was a bump inside of her and I know she must have rubbed me once or twice maybe while cussing," She let out a dry spell of laughter, "Yet it had been so easy for her to offer me just so she could get a kiss on the forehead and a flower plucked next to our house behind her ears."

He cursed underneath his breath, not believing his ears as he tried to restrain the rage that filled his heart as he contemplated finding her mother and shaking whatever drug she had been on when she had made that decision out from her system.

"She wasn't high," Maya whispered as if reading his thought. She smiled, "In fact for the first time, she had a healthy flush on her face and her skin wasn't pale and she didn't mumble nonsense underneath her breath. No foul smell, no bottle of alcohol lying underneath her bed, she was high on love already and... at that moment when she had said those words, I had felt so worthless, so willing to give up myself if it came to that to retain the brightness in her eyes,"

"Oh Maya," he softly mumbled, holding her body close to his.

"And yet she never cared about me. She didn't give a fuck about me. She never did. When her husband moved in, it didn't take even up to a month and she was back to her toxic habit." Her eyes brightened as she placed her head against Xavier, not minding how intimate the gesture was.

He cradled her head.

"Guess the marriage was not worth my freedom at the end. Maybes It was not the perfect bliss she'd hoped for or just having him made him lose his appeal."

"And?" He urged, knowing that she had more to say.

"Then he picked interest in me. Started hitting me at the slightest provocation and most times his eyes will stray to my just maturing body for minutes that made it inappropriate," She curled against his touch, so vulnerable at the moment, "Then he'll mutter something about keeping me pure till he made so much fortune out of me, he escaped my whore of a mother. He made sure I never scarred and he didn't ever hit my face."

"And you never told your mom?"

Her eyes flashed with humor, "She'll hasten the process and discuss what she wanted out of the deal."

"She didn't deserve a gem like you."

"All my life I've been an inconvenience or even worst a means to an end, an exchange in a merchandise of some sort."

"Not anymore, Maya." He fervently promised again and again, and subconsciously as he rocked her comfortingly she realized she believed him.