Chapter 2 Unwanted Visitors

Maia was in her room packing clothes and was closing up her bag when she heard someone knocking on the door. Thinking it was the others, she yelled it was unlocked. Hearing the door open and close, she waited to hear someone thundering up the stairs, but heard nothing. It was quiet, to quiet.

She walked down the hallway and was trying to be quiet as possible. She'd just walked into the living when she was attacked from behind. She screamed, and fell to the ground. Rolling onto her back, she had a clear view of who it was. "Get off me Ray." Maia yelled and writhed under him, trying to get away. He punched her in the face and she held still.

Ray straddled her and wrapped his hands around her throat. Tightening his grip so he was choking her he coldly asked, "Can we have a civilized talk now?" Her face was turning purple as she tried to gasp out her reply. He loosened his grip so she could talk. "If you get the fuck off me asshole." She gasped for breath. He grinned and got off her. Still smiling he threw himself onto the couch.

"You look good baby." "And you still look the same." She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him, his grin faded. "So what the hell do you want?" She looked around for something to use against him and her eyes landed on his car keys. Easing towards them she tried to distract him by talking in a calmer voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you alone. I love you, I want you back….We can make it work, we'll buy a new house and all that good stuff." Sitting on the coffee table in front of him, she slowly slid the keys off the table onto the floor "Can we talk about this later? I'm not feeling so good." "What's wrong?" His face held what seemed like a look of concern, but she knew it was fake. "I'm crampy and I ache all over." She lied. He hated it when she talked about her period. "I see." His face was twisted in disgust. "You need anything?" He asked looking for a way out. "Yeah, I do. Midol and chocolate if you'd go get it for me." She smiled at him and moved to perch on the edge of the couch. "Of course baby." He kissed her on the cheek, then slyly kissed her on the lips. Forcing herself to kiss him, she groaned inwardly with disgust. He moved away from her and looked around. "Wheres my keys?" "Did you leave them in the car like always?" She suggested trying desperately to get him going. "Probably. You gonna be here when I get back?" He asked starting towards the door. "Yeah I'm going to go lay down." She smiled at him. "Alright I'll be back." He kissed her on the cheek and left. She grabbed his keys, hey keys, what she had packed, ran to her room and jumped out the window. She screamed when her ankle twisted at the force of impact. She was inching along the side of the house when she heard him walk back into the house calling her name.

Running as fast as permitted to her vehicle, she nearly cried with relief when she saw he was parked next to her and not behind her. She had just gotten in and started it when he came running out. "You stupid bitch." He snarled, slowly walking towards her. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at her. "You better give me my fucking keys." He yelled. She shifted into reverse and threw his keys as far as she could, as luck would have it they landed in the bushes. He ran towards the bushes and started pawing through them. She pealed out of the driveway as fast as she could and arrived at the house 10 minutes later.

"What's the matter?" Kina jumped to her feet along with the others. "Ray." She started to cry as she limped to the couch. "What?" Trent roared. "Ray came over. I tricked him long enough to get away." She gasped out between sobs. "I'll kill him." Trent growled heading towards the door. "No, no, lets just go before he finds his keys." Maia objected standing up and putting her hand on his shoulder. "His keys?" Kina questioned looking over at her. "Yeah I threw them into the bushes he's probably still looking for them but we should go anyways." Maia explained, sitting back down and rubbing her ankle. "And you ankle?" "I hurt it when I jumped out the window. We need to go…Now, he was so pissed off. Maia slowly stood up again and headed for the door. They all grabbed their things and followed her.

Kina and Trent went in their car and the others went in Maia's Durango. The first thing Maia did was find her cd she always listened to when she was upset. The Used "Buried myself alive" Blared out of the speakers. Maia pulled her sweatshirt off before pulling out of the driveway after Kina and Trent. Madysen reached over and turned the music down before speaking. "Maia did Ray put those marks on you neck. Tana reached up and pulled the neck of her shirt further down. Maia looked in the rearview mirror and saw two distinct handprints around her neck. "Yes." She frowned then turned the music back up.

They arrived the next day only stopping occasionally for food and the restroom. When the arrived the sun had just rose and was casting its golden hues on the road. "It's beautiful…I may never wanna leave." Maia said as they stopped for one last time at a gas station. "So where are we staying?" Madysen asked as they got back into their vehicles. "My friend Roy. He's a pro surfer of sorts. He's got some big house that he bought with money he won in a tournament." Tana explained giving Maia directions; they finally pulled up about 20 minutes later. "This is it? You never said it was so big." Madysen exclaimed in disbelief as they circled the driveway. "I did so." "Yeah but I thought you were exaggerating, like always." Madysen explained as they pulled to a stop. Tana just glared at her before getting out.

Kina and Trent pulled to a stop behind them and everyone started pulling their stuff out of the vehicles. "That's all you have?" Kina questioned looking at Maia's small bag. "It's all I had packed before Ray got there." She explained as she turned to follow Tana up to the door. The door swung open and a guy was standing there with a huge grin on his face. "Roy." Tana yelled and ran into his waiting arms. "God, you're still gorgeous as ever." He swung her around before sitting her back down and planting a kiss on her cheek. "You're still as handsome as ever." She grinned before introducing everyone. "Whoa what happened to you?" Roys' mouth dropped open when he saw Maia's throat. "That's a good question." Kina crossed her arms. "Ray….When he practically body slammed me." Maia put her hoodie back on hoping to cover the bruises.

Kina started to say something but Roy tactfully interrupted. "Let me show you to your rooms." He headed towards the house. After he showed Maia to her room she plopped on the bed. Suddenly getting an idea she jumped up and ran downstairs. "Hey guys I'm gonna go for a ride." She told them. "Hey Maia. Can I go?" Madysen asked from her position on the couch. "Sure." Maia nodded before walking out the door.

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