A/N: Lol I meant what I said about finishing this story up by next week at the latest! :D
Hi Posse! Nope! The two foreshadowings haven't been explicitly guessed yet with certainty. And you're right lol! Those were the subjects of the previous story summaries! Do you remember what they actually said in full? (You still can have the high fives! I just want to see if you remember that too).
Thank you for the sweet reviews you guys! I appreciate them very much and I am grateful for the time you took to drop me the kind words! I'm glad you are enjoying the story! Thank you for reading it! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own GMW otherwise Maya would be kicking asses for real.
"How long are you going to ignore me, Billy?" Lucas asked, leaning back against the wall with a raised brow as he polished his father's pistol.
They'd been sitting in silence in the parlor for almost an hour waiting for Maya and Katy, and Billy was angrily sharpening his throwing knives, his expression blank through the dim lighting of the single candle they'd lit.
Lucas was trying to keep his mind off of the other two and whether they were safe in their quest to return the contracts by talking to Billy, but her was closed off and clearly still angry over their little row.
"Until you stop being such a stubborn ass and take someone with you to get Jed."
"That's not going to happen."
Billy shrugged. "Then I guess I'm not going to stop ignoring you."
"You do realize in responding, you already stopped ignoring me, right?"
Billy glanced up, his eyes narrowed in irritation. "You're not goading me into playing whatever mindfuck game you want. If you still are choosing to die, then I have no reason to talk to a dead man walking anymore, now do I?"
Lucas sighed. "Billy… look—"
Before he could finish his statement, the back porch door swung open and Katy and Maya dragged their feet inside, looking exhausted. Despite Maya using her cane as an aid to walk, Katy was supporting her. Maya's face was a little bruised, a dark ring of purple under one puffy eye. Her nose was swollen and she looked like she was limping more than usual. Lucas' brows lifted in alarm. What the hell had happened to Maya?
"We did it," Katy said, setting Maya slowly down beside Billy so she could rest. Maya let out a shuddering breath, closing her eyes briefly and looking like she was so glad she'd finally gotten a chance to rest from the pain. "Everything's taken care of. All that's left is the reveal of Jed's plotting in the morning and we've completed it all."
"What happened to Maya?" Billy asked in concern. "No offence, but you look like—"
"I know," Maya said sharply, shooting Billy a warning look not to finish his sentence. "Like a horse kicked me in my face. Shut up."
"Actually, I was going to say that you look like you're in a lot of pain."
"It's fine. Nothing I'm not used to at this point." Maya looked at her mother. "But Mama, you look like you're about to fall asleep on your feet."
"I can't lie," Katy said, stumbling over her feet as she headed toward the free parlor chair. She smiled gratefully when Lucas caught her arm, steadying her. "I'm not sure how much longer I can stay awake."
"So sleep," Lucas said, taking her to the longer parlor couch and helping her sit down.
"I don't want to miss the finale of our plan."
"We'll wake you when dawn breaks. In the meantime, get back your strength. You might need it."
"You mean, we'll wake her when it's time." Maya quipped nastily, gesturing between herself and Billy. "You'll be dead by then."
"And I'm sure you'll be celebrating," Lucas drawled.
Her eyes narrowed. "Of course I will. Good riddance to an insufferable grump."
Lucas didn't blame Maya for being furious with him. He had intentionally deceived her after all. He had known better than to take her innocence when neither of them were in the right state of mind, but in that moment, common sense had left him, and the only thing he could focus on was how beautiful Maya was to him, despite the fact that she was stubborn and infuriating and the most irritating kind of vixen there was. These were the consequences of his actions. And he would accept them gracefully.
"I'll take you up on that nap then." Katy yawned, laying down on the sofa and resting her weary body on the plush cushions.
They all fell silent for a spell, each handling their own tasks, Billy now cleaning off his knives with an old rag while Lucas continued to polish his father's gun. Katy's soft breaths soon grew heavier until her rhythmic breathing indicated that she had indeed fallen asleep. Lucas could feel Maya's withering glare on him, as if she was trying to burn a hole in his body with it.
"Maya, how was…" Billy started, looking concerned, but he tapered off, shaking his head. He started to vigorously clean his knives again, his hand shaking a bit unsteadily. "Nevermind."
Maya smiled gently, resting her hand on Billy's forearm to stop his motions.
"Stop before you cut yourself on those," she said. "If you want to know about Bull's Sleaze, I can tell you."
Billy nodded with a resigned sigh. "I told myself I wouldn't worry about Missy. I told myself I would leave this be and keep it out of my mind until we got this done, but I just need to know. Is Missy… is Missy still…"
"Yes, she's alive," Maya said, not quite meeting Billy's gaze. "She's fine, just waiting for this whole mess to finish up."
Billy slumped back against the couch, the tension leaving his shoulders as he laughed in relief, rubbing his face with his hands. Maya's smile grew a little tight and she briefly stared at the carpet, absentmindedly picking at frayed strings at the bottom of her shirt. Lucas didn't know what in particular she could have been hiding, but what he did know for sure was that Maya wasn't telling the truth about something. When she glanced up and met his gaze, he could easily see the guilt in her expression. When Billy sat up, the easy smile graced her lips again.
"It turns out that you paid Missy's debt a long time ago too, but Jed's been robbing you," Maya continued. "So now that you know Missy is free, what's your plan of action?"
"First things first, I'm going to marry her, of course. I'm making Missy Bradford my official wife." Billy grinned.
"Good for you. I'm just glad you have other aspirations for your life," Maya responded sourly.
Lucas rolled his eyes in annoyance, knowing her words have. "Get over it."
"Shut up."
Billy sighed. "Look, you two have been on edge and annoyed with each other even worse than before and it's starting to get really old. I mean last time I saw you guys, you were kissing in an abandoned barn for no reason."
Maya's cheeks burned a little red, and Lucas' eyes narrowed at Billy's mention of it.
"Clearly between the time you guys decided to get frisky—and don't even try to deny it—and now, something happened to make you want to blow his head off his neck, Maya. And you guys need to talk about it, because clearly you haven't."
"There's nothing to talk about. Nothing happened except that I was duped into believing he was any different than those vengeance obsessed maniacs in town. Every single insufferable guy." She stared right at Lucas, her unusually beautiful blue-gray gaze tarnished by her fury. "Especially that prick."
Maya rose slowly to her feet, inhaling sharply and slightly grunting when she put too much weight on her leg. She snatched her cane from the wall and began to make her way out of the parlor.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pack. New York will definitely be a great change of pace from this toxic town and idiots who live for revenge."
Neither Lucas nor Billy said anything as they watched Maya leave, the steam coming out of her ears nearly visible. It was a little amusing to watch her storm away waddling a little bit like a duck, but he didn't dare laugh because he knew she would hear him and really might decide to shoot him.
"…You really must have done something bad for her to be this pissed off at you for this long," Billy said after a spell. "What the hell did you do? Did you leave her unsatisfied or something?"
Lucas shot Billy a glare as he smirked at his own stupid joke. "It has nothing to do with sex."
Billy rose a brow. "So then what's the deal with her raging? I thought sex was supposed to relieve the tension. But you guys are swimming in that shit."
"I told her the truth… she didn't take it well."
"So you mean you lied to her." Billy said, a statement, not a question. "Let me guess: you told her you wanted to die, didn't you?"
Lucas said nothing, staring down at the onyx pistol of his father. He may have lied to Maya, but what choice did he have when she'd looked at him like that that night? Like she'd been ready to give away her heart. It had made Lucas momentarily lose sight of his plan. It had made him almost imagine for a second that his life wasn't a fucking mess, that he was just a man who'd found a woman he couldn't get out of his mind. He'd almost forgotten why he'd come back in the first place—had almost forgotten his purpose to kill Jed—and he couldn't have that distraction from Maya when he had a job to finish.
Billy set his prized knives back into the holster, clearly nonplussed by Lucas' lack of response.
"You told her you want to die because you didn't want her holding on to you if you really do. You're trying to push her away like you push everyone away so that she doesn't end up hurt if you don't make it."
"I had no choice." Lucas growled. "There can't be anything between us because I can't be anyone for her. I meant what I said. My only goal in life is to kill Jed."
"Was. It was your only goal. But then you met me, Lucas. You met our grandfather. You met Missy. You met the Matthews and the Minkus' and other townsfolk. And you met Maya. For the first time, you met someone just as reckless as you, just as determined, just as stubborn, just as crazy. Someone who can put up with you and keep up with you for once," Billy said empathically. "Did you ever consider your goals could change?"
"I'm on a death mission! I can't have any other goals. And I can't give up my goals. I've waited too many years and for too long for this chance to kill Jed, and I can't give up now just because she…" Just because she makes me want to live. "It would never work."
"I see your point, but I disagree." Billy frowned. "Maya deserves better than some half-assed lie because you don't have the decency to tell someone who seems to like you a lot the truth. She's good people. At least tell her why you're pushing her away."
"And what purpose would that even serve?" Lucas growled. "I'm not giving her false hope."
"But you're totally okay with letting her live with the knowledge that she lost her innocence to a man who didn't care to stick around? That's what she'll think about every time she remembers this town now. She'll never trust anyone again. All because of you and your stupid lies. Is that the kind of life you want her to lead?"
Lucas knew Billy had a real point, but it still didn't make it any less irritating to be called out for it.
"You're fucking annoying."
Billy shrugged, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "That's my job, Lucas. And if you're not going to care about my opinion or listen to anything I said about helping you, do me a favour and at least tie up loose ends with Maya before you die. Take responsibility for your actions by telling her the truth for once in your goddamned life."
His stood up abruptly, his jaw clenched as he brushed past Lucas to leave the parlor.
"Don't leave her fucked up like this. You're better than that, Lucas. You can be an asshole to me all you want, but don't do the same shit to Maya."
The room fell into a thick silence that weighed heavily on Lucas. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, staring at the melting wax of the candle, but when he finally was roused out of his thoughts, he knew what he had to do. Sighing, he set his pistol on the parlor table, leaving and heading towards where Maya had left.
Billy was right.
Lucas owed Maya the truth.