Chapter 4
Maya answered Lucas honestly, saying, "I wanted to help you. I thought maybe I could tail you, get some proof of what was going on, and take it to the cops."
Lucas ground his teeth, looking away from her for a minute to gather himself together a little. He was dancing the line of becoming the boy who'd pinned a twenty-year-old to a locker, and Maya knew it, knew that her interference had caused that. But she only wanted to help!
After a second, Lucas turned back to her, asking calmly, "Have you ever suspected that this was going on with me?"
"No. I had no idea until I saw it myself, otherwise I would've tried to help you earlier!"
His smile was bitter as he demanded, "Stop saying that, Maya. My dad's careful – he never hits me where people will see, and Mama's practically a makeup artist by now with how well she can cover up what he does to her." Maya winced, sorry that her earlier speculations had been correct, but Lucas wasn't done yet. "You're not going to find proof, so you might as well stop trying. The only thing you're going to do is get yourself hurt, and I refuse to see that happen on my account. Please listen to me while- while I'm still being nice about it, and just stay away. I can handle this on my own; I'll be fine."
"What about your mom?" she asked instantly, knowing exactly how to get to him. "She's nice. I like her… and he hurts her more than he does you, doesn't he?" she added gently. "That's why she doesn't want you alone with him – because if she isn't there, she can't take the blows, and when she is there, that's exactly what she does. Am I right?"
Lucas was looking away again, eyes dark and nostrils flaring. Suddenly he pointed at the back door a couple of feet away, ordering sharply, "Get out." Apparently he was done "being nice about it." "And if anybody at all hears about what's going on, I'll know that you're the one who told, so don't."
"Come on, Huckleberry," Maya tried to reason with him. He only stood up and took a step towards her – was he actually going to throw her out? – but she made one last attempt to get through to him, even though seeing him like this was starting to freak her out. "Lucas!"
He took another step towards her, narrowing the space between them dramatically, and repeated, an agonized, almost… dead sort of look in his eyes, "Get out."
Seeing how much this was really hurting him to do, she stood, as much for his sake as anything, and left. But once again she was left confused and unsure of where to go. Then like a lightbulb flashing in her mind, she remembered: "I know him!" Zay. She could go talk to Zay! She didn't know where he lived, though… but she did have his phone number.
She walked down the street, ignoring the cacophony of the New York City streets as she pressed her phone to her ear and he answered the call. "Hey, Pancakes!" he answered cheerfully.
Although Lucas had only used the nickname once, Zay made sure to employ it frequently just to get under her skin, but today she just didn't feel like taking the bait. "I need to talk to you. Where are you?"
"I'm at my house," he answered slowly. "Why? What's up?"
"I need to talk to you-"
"So you already said."
"Can I come over?" she asked, trying not to let an edge come into her voice.
He must've heard something in her tone anyway because he hesitantly answered "alright" and rattled off the address.
"You're kidding," Maya snorted. "That's in my apartment building." She started back towards the building, adding, "I didn't know you lived on that end of town."
"Yeah… I'd like it if that was kept between you and me."
Well, that was happening a lot today. "Does Lucas know?"
"Yeah."
"You and Lucas share everything, then?" Maya asked, edging towards fishing to find out what he knew. Maybe she wouldn't have to say anything if he was already aware of the situation.
"Yes and no. He's pretty private, you know, and not just once he got here because of hiding his life in Texas. He never has talked about himself much. Why?"
"No reason." If she was going to go any further into that conversation, she wanted to be face to face so that she could look in his eyes as he spoke. Zay was as loyal as they came, and she already knew that he would protect Lucas as well as anybody ever had, but she had learned that he was also a horrible liar. "I'll talk to you in a few minutes."
"Okay. See ya then."
They hung up and Maya made record time in getting back to her building. Zay met her at the door of his apartment and let her in.
"Hiya, Maya," he said cheerfully, closing the door and gesturing to the woman who emerged from what Maya assumed was the kitchen. "That's my Mom. Mom, this is Maya."
"Hi, Mrs. Babineaux," Maya gave her a tiny wave and resisted the temptation to tap her foot in impatience.
More parents to meet. Yay. Sometimes she forgot that other kids beside Riley had ones that stuck around the house. This could be problematic.
Then Zay said, "We're going to go on up to my room and get started on that homework for my extra math class."
Without allowing Maya a word in edgewise, he grabbed her hand and tugged her up a staircase as Mrs. Babineaux called after them, "Keep the door open!"
Zay rolled his eyes as he and Maya skidded to a stop in his room. She looked around before following him with her gaze and feeling thoroughly confused as he started blaring music from a stereo set.
