Maya had no idea what happened after what she went through in the alley. Nor did she have any idea where she was.

Instead of the cold hard ground she collapsed on when she lost consciousness, she was in a nice comfy bed, a soft blanket covering her. She noticed her clothes were off, including her panties. At first she thought the tattooed guy had raped her while she was out cold, but when she looked down at her legs, she saw no hint of being raped, not even remnants of someone's semen between her legs or blood from skin tearing. Nor did she feel any pain between her legs.

The only pain she felt was in her back, which was bandaged up. She remembered the pain she felt, and when that imp almost had his way with her, until someone had stopped him before he could. She began to wonder where her clothes were, and she found her dress and panties in the trash can. Someone must have seen how damaged her dress was and how filthy her panties were.

She looked at the side table next to her and saw a large baggy shirt and a fresh clean pair of panties sitting there. At least someone was willing to give their clothes to her to wear with her own clothes ruined and unwearable. She put the shirt over her, and luckily for her, the panties were a perfect fit when she put them on. Whoever it was that gave her these clothes and healed her wounds must've been nice enough to help, but she thought they'd be expecting a little thank-you in return.

Maya turned her head when she saw the bathroom door open. An imp came out of the bathroom drying his face with a towel, and when he removed it from his face, she recognized him from earlier.

The imp said to her, "Glad to see you're finally awake. You've been out for a couple of hours."

Maya couldn't believe she was in the same room with the very imp she tried to seduce, but she also couldn't believe he saved her from those three who wanted to have their way with her. Still, she had no idea why he was being all nice to her.

"Why did you help me?" she asked him, looking down at the floor.

"Well, I wasn't gonna let those assholes gang rape you." he said to her. "Wrath ain't the place for someone like you."

"You should have just minded your own business. Maybe that way, you shouldn't have gotten me into a bigger mess."

"Hey, I saved your slutty little ass, and this is the thanks I get?" the imp glared at her. "You whores really are ungrateful, ain't you?"

"Just what I'd hear from someone like you!" Maya glared, her eyes red with anger and her hair raised like an aggressive dog. "You imps in Wrath all think of me the same way, just like everyone I come acro- OUCH!" She winced in pain as she gripped her bandaged back. She was so angry that she forgot about her wound in her back.

"Careful. You don't wanna open up that wound. Maybelle spent quite a lot of time stitching that wound closed and cleaning it." the imp said, coming over to her. He was about to put his hand on her shoulder, but she jerked herself away from him.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped. "And don't bother asking me for a thank-you fuck. Because I've had enough of that for today!"

"I don't want to fuck you. Besides, you're in no shape anyway, and neither am I."

"Then what do you want from me?" Maya asked him, crossing her arms.

He answered her, "I only want to know your name. We've met three times in a row today, so I think it's only fair that you tell me. Unless your name really is 'Whore' or 'Slut'." Maya shot him a dirty look, but she answered him anyway.

"It's Maya. My name is Maya."

The imp repeated her name under his breath. She said to him, "So, I'm going to assume you want me to ask what your name is, too? Since I already told you mine."

The imp answered her, "The name's Striker."

Maya almost let out a giggle hearing his name. To her, the name sounded a bit weird, but she wasn't one to judge since she's heard multiple imps with strange and funny names like Dipper and Fish, and even some of the succubi she had to work with back in Lust had some food related names like Berry or Mocha. Her smile suddenly disappeared as she looked away from him.

"But you didn't answer my other question. Why did you help me?"

"'Cause even imps like you tryin' to get by in Hell shouldn't be gang-raped by dickheads who want sloppy seconds without your consent." Striker answered her. "And women shouldn't even be treated like playthings by men who show little to no respect for them and wanna have their way with them even after they said 'no'."

"Well, at least it's nice to see someone actually has standards." Maya remarked. "You're not at all like the other men around here, or other Rings, for that matter." Striker thanked her. She didn't know about him being a hitman for hire, but he was probably going to tell her that later when he thought she was ready to know.

They suddenly heard a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal a female imp who looked like she was in her teenage years. Maya recognized her as the imp who caught her with the two imps she serviced in the morning, except she was dressed differently instead of being in her purple and black dress. She also had a tray in her hands that carried a plate of hot food and a glass of water.

She saw Maya standing with Striker, and she said with a smile, "Glad to see you're awake. And I knew we shared the same size for clothes."

"You must be Maybelle." Maya said. "Striker here told me that you were the one who healed by back after he brought me here."

"He also told me about how you tried to get it on with him at the motel earlier today."

Striker shot Maybelle a dirty look as he blushed a deep red when she brought that up. "I said nothin' happened!"

"In my defense, I thought he was the client my pimp set me up with, and it was just dumb luck he came into my room while I was getting ready." Maya looked away with an embarrassed blush of her own, even trying to hide her face in her hair.

"So, how are you feeling now?" Maybelle asked Maya, changing the subject after seeing their embarrassment from their little encounter, even bringing the plate of food over to her. "That was quite a nasty cut you had on your back, but luckily, it didn't cause any real damage. You might have a scar on your back within a couple days once it's healed, though."

Maya felt her shoulder, thinking about the idea of having another ugly scar on her body, and how much it would affect her work if Victor saw it and her clients would possibly turned off by it. It was bad enough she had her scars on her arms, wrists, and ankles, but to have a big one on her back made her hate the thought of it. Still, she was glad it was tended to before it got worse.

She said to Maybelle, answering her question, "I'm fine right now. I think you did a good job bandaging me up."

"Thanks. I learned to do first aid from my mother." Maybelle said with a smile. "After losing so much blood from that wound, you need to get some iron-rich food into your system. I brought this up for you to eat. It's tonight's special, and it gets sold out right away, so I was lucky to snag what was left before there could be scraps and leftovers." She handed Maya the plate of food and the glass of water. The dish was some of Bertha's hellhog roast with some raw vegetables and a slice of cornbread. At first, Maya was reluctant to accept this food from someone she just met, but she was starving and hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, so she took the food and water from Maybelle and sat down on the bed and started eating the meal.

It had been so long since Maya enjoyed a good meal, after being forced to eat nothing but condensed soup and fat-free foods since Victor didn't want her or the other prostitutes gaining weight and make them less attractive. She scarfed it all down after the first bite made her love it so much, nearly choking on the cornbread and she had to wash it down with the water. After finishing her meal, she looked at Striker and Maybelle, who were surprised at her big appetite.

"Don't judge me!" Maya said, looking away as she wiped her lips with a napkin. "I haven't had anything this delicious in years.

Maybelle shrugged with a giggle, "Can't blame you for liking it so much. My ma's cooking is the best in this part of Wrath."

"Speaking of your mother," Maya said, setting the now empty plate on the side table. "I probably should leave before your parents see me here. They probably don't want me here after this morning."

"I'll tell them what happened tonight with you later." Striker assured her. "But for now, I think it's best you stay here for the rest of the night to recover from after what happened to you. Besides, those dickheads are probably gonna want their sloppy seconds when they see you out there again."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Maya said, running her fingers through her hair. "My pimp and his men are probably looking for me, especially since I lost my phone back there."

"I knew you were part of one of those prostitution groups. I even figured you had a pimp judging by how you could even have style like what you had earlier, and judging by the way you acted earlier with me." Striker said, knowing he guessed right about why she was going around Wrath servicing men anywhere she went.

"It's that obvious, isn't it?" Maya said with sarcasm in her voice.

Striker shrugged with a chuckle, "Well, to be fair, you kinda stand out, especially with that getup you had earlier. But I take it your pimp and his men are always watchin' you?"

Maya nodded, "They always look for me, and believe me, it never ends well when one of their prostitutes tries to either hide from them or run off. I tried that when I first started, but they still caught me anyway."

Striker thought about what he said for a moment. As much as it sickened him that three men almost gang raped her, he couldn't imagine how bad it could be with her pimp. After all, he had seen multiple different pimps during his jobs around Hell, mostly in Lust, and especially the Overlord known as Valentino the Porn Demon himself. And judging from what he saw during shows held by certain pimps during his missions to kill off his targets, it made him sick to his stomach watching the prostitutes they had do disgusting live sex shows that involved orgies or even women using toys on themselves.

However, it was mostly the pimps themselves that always made him sick to his stomach that they would exploit women by having them sleep with random men, perform said disgusting and humiliating sex acts, or even risk getting raped just so they make money off of them. But even the thought of all that was just enough to make him vomit. He couldn't even imagine Maya going through all sorts of those things, and Satan knows what she would be forced to do next besides having to let men screw her anywhere around town.

"You're stayin' here, whether you want to or not."

Maya and Maybelle both looked at Striker when he spoke up. He looked at Maybelle and said to her, "If your parents plan to throw her out when they see her in the morning, tell 'em it was my idea she came here. Just let me deal with 'em if they try."

Maybelle could see that there was no sense in arguing with him. Whenever he was serious about a decision that he makes, it was hard to have him change his mind about it. Not wanting to go against this decision he made, and even seeing the state Maya was in when he brought her inside earlier, she decided to leave Striker be.

She also offered to wash Maya's hair after seeing how stained and caked in dried blood it was. After looking down the hall to make sure no one, not even her parents, were around, she took Maya down the hall to her room. Once they got to her room, Maybelle led her to her personal bathroom, and she turned on the water in her tub and set it to the shower head. While the showers in the other rooms for the guests had plain shower heads, Maybelle's had a handheld one, so it was easier for her to wash her hair without getting the rest of her body wet. And it had a few different settings for her to wash her hair with.

Even though this was going to be Maya's third shower in one day, it was still better than not showering at all, especially since she rarely had a shower or even a bath during her prostitution job. Besides, she really wanted to get this dried blood out of her hair.

After setting the right spray to her shower head, Maybelle had Maya lay against her bathtub while soaking her hair. Since her hair was long, it was a bit of work to get it all wet and ready, but Maybelle couldn't help but admire its length and beautiful light color. After getting her hair wet, she applied a good smelling shampoo that smelled like brimstone and ashes to it and lathered it up; it didn't seem to smell good for Sinners that lived in Pride since they were originally human, but to the imps of Wrath, it was a good smell for a woman's hair.

As she felt her hair being cleaned, Maya felt relaxed by it for the first time in years. It had been a while since she had her hair done like this when it used to be half its length, but ever since Victor forced her into working for him, he forced her to let it grow longer since long hair seemed to be bit of a turn on for most men, according to him, and Maya wasn't allowed to go to a hair salon to get her hair cleaned or trimmed.

Both girls didn't speak to each other, especially since this is the most time they spent together, not counting the incident from this morning. Once Maybelle got all the dried blood cleaned out and the shampoo all rinsed out, she turned off the water and grabbed a towel to dry Maya's hair with. After getting it mostly dry, she grabbed her hairbrush and brushed away. It was a bit more than she was used to, since Maybelle's hair was short compared to Maya's. After several minutes of brushing, she decided to braid Maya's hair in a large single braid.

Once she was done, she asked Maya as she handed her a mirror, "All done. What do you think?"

Maya looked at her now-braided hair in the mirror, admiring the work Maybelle put into the braid. She had to hold back her tears as she looked at it. The last time someone braided her hair was when her mother Rosemary was still alive, and whenever she wanted, her mother would braid her hair when it was shorter than it was now, and it was hard for her to do it herself with her hair the length it was now.

"You okay?"

Maya snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Maybelle talk to her. She looked at her and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. You did pretty good on this." She hoped Maybelle didn't notice the tears forming in her eyes.

She thanked Maya as she took the mirror from her and set it down on the countertop along with the hairbrush. She then said to her, "By the way, what's your name? You already know my name, but I didn't get yours."

"It's Maya."

After hearing her name, Maybelle grinned excitedly, "No way, that's so neat! Our names sound almost the same! They both start with the same first three letters. It's almost as if we're sisters!"

"So they do." Maya said with a chuckle. She found it odd how the girl who caught her servicing some clients in her family's establishment earlier was suddenly acting all nice with her like they've just become friends all of a sudden. But at the same time, it felt nice having someone to enjoy talking with. She still wasn't getting her hopes up with this, because she knew it wasn't going to last long anyway. Just like with all those other random imps she met before they learned what she was and ditched her just like that, not wanting to be friends with a whore.

"By the way, sorry I had to throw away your clothes." Maybelle apologized, rubbing the back of her neck. "Your dress was pretty torn and your panties you were wearing looked like they haven't been washed in ages and it would be impossible to clean them, and they were pretty stained with blood, too."

"It's okay," Maya assured her. " I hated that stupid ugly sundress, anyway. Besides, this isn't the first time I got my clothes torn off, especially the tops of the dresses or shirts I have to wear." She tried not to recall all those times that Victor tore off all her clothes to 'punish' her, and she tried thinking of only the times where the men she serviced in Lust tore off her panties before she serviced them in the alleys. "And unfortunately, those were the only clothes I had since I got here."

"Hasn't your pimp ever heard of providing you and your fellow... hookers with clean clothes or even back-up clothes?"

Maya shook her head. "Victor, my pimp, doesn't bother spending a single cent on anything for us. The only time he gives us new clothes is if they're both good-looking and cheap. He'll only splurge on something nice for me or the others to wear if his client is someone rich and respected. Not royalty, but either an Overlord or someone from a rich imp family."

"That sounds pretty selfish of him!" Maybelle said, feeling sympathy for Maya but also disgust at her pimp's selfishness and neglect. "Well, in that case, and since we have the same clothing size from the looks of it, you can borrow my clothes until we find some for you."

The two continued talking to each other for the next couple of hours. As they talked, Maya felt more comfortable being around Maybelle, and the more she told Maybelle of her job on the streets and how much she hated it no matter how many men she pleased on the streets, the more Maybelle regretted what she initially thought of Maya. Instead of the slutty whore she found in her family's saloon earlier, she was really just a lonely woman who really wanted out of this life but can't escape it and has to continue living it. She even saw that Striker was right about her just being another imp trying to get by in Hell like everyone else, and she felt bad for making jokes about her trying to seduce him earlier.

After a couple more hours of talking and getting to know one another, Maybelle decided it was time to turn in for the night so she wouldn't be too tired for her performances tomorrow. After bidding her new friend goodnight, Maybelle decided to sneak back to Striker's room to try and get some sleep herself. It was a long day for her, and after all she's been through in one day, she had to end up in this new place that was either a new prison for her or some new sanctuary to keep her away from Victor and his men. Whatever the case, at least she didn't have to see that disgusting pig of a step-uncle of hers or listen to the harsh words her fellow prostitutes always said to her or the sobs of those who were 'punished' by Victor or forced to please him.

As long as this Striker guy was here, she was going to be finally safe from those creeps. But she still didn't trust him enough to let her guard down with him. Still, she needed him after seeing what he was truly capable of when it came to fighting other imps, and she still owed him her gratitude for saving her from being gang-raped by those creeps. As she crept back to Striker's room, she could hear Striker talking with someone downstairs, and she recognized the other voice as one of the owners, Maybelle's father.

She couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were talking about something. She was too tired to even care about what they were talking about, and she snuck into Striker's room, the lamp still being on, and crawled into his bed. Compared to the one she slept in at the motel, the sheets smelled like they were freshly cleaned and they felt more comfortable to sleep in. Even the comforter felt nice compared to the blanket she slept with. She hadn't been in a bed this wonderful in a long time since she had to leave her old life behind her.

Within seconds, she fell asleep.

While Maya was with Maybelle, Striker went downstairs to the saloon to help Buford and Bertha clean up for the next morning. Bertha was working on the menu for the breakfast, lunch and dinner specials while Buford cleaned the bar and Striker helped out by sweeping up around the saloon. When Buford asked Striker about his wounds earlier when the imp left Maya alone for a little bit and Maybelle was upstairs keeping an eye on her after telling her parents she was going to her room to relax for a bit, Striker told him that after waking up from his nap, he got into a fight with a few imps who made the mistake of picking a fight with him, and one of them stabbed him in an attempt to gain the upper hand. He didn't mention anything about Maya or the two imps who were in the Watering Hole with her earlier and their buddy attempting to rape her.

After finishing up with wiping down the bar counters, Striker said goodnight to them before heading back up to his room. He would usually go to the stalls to say goodnight to Bombproof, but after everything that happened today, he was just too tired to do it. He would make it up to him by letting him out to go for a ride with him the next day to one of their favorite spots near Satan's Frontier.

When he walked into his room, he saw Maya asleep on his bed, the blanket by her feet after the bed was left untouched the last little while since she woke up. He believed she was enjoying the bed judging by how content she felt as she hugged the pillow in her sleep with her head still on it. He guessed she's never felt a comfortable bed for some time, and he didn't blame her.

He wanted to also crawl into his bed, but he didn't want to sleep in it with her. It wasn't because he didn't like being in the same bed as another person, let alone someone he barely knew, but it was because he preferred sleeping alone in his bed with more room for himself, and sleeping with a random woman next to him in bed felt a bit odd to him. He admitted that he had slept with many different women during his missions, but none of them stayed with him for the night. It wasn't that he didn't find them attractive, but it was more out of him not wanting to be in a committed relationship.

Being a hitman for hire had one of its rules; never be in a relationship, or they'll be used as a way for the target to get away. Because of that rule, he didn't get too close to any woman, and he had no romantic relationships with anyone.

Trying not to wake her up, Striker pulled the blanket over Maya, just like he did earlier, until it was all the way over her shoulders before turning off the lamp on the side table. She stirred a bit in her sleep when she felt the blanket over her, but she didn't wake up. Since he couldn't just kick her off the bed or even sleep in the bed with her, he decided to go sleep on the couch again. Lucky for him, just like the bed, the couch was just as comfortable to sleep on.

Helluva Boss belongs to Vivienne Medrano aka Vivziepop, and I own Maya, Maybelle and her parents, and Victor.