I said, but the words came out strained. I meant each one of them, but they had climbed up my throat wrapped in barbed wire.
“I can swing by your place in a bit,” he continued. “My shift’s about to be over, and I can help you with the boys.”
“That’d be wonderful.” I smiled, but underneath the table, my fingernails were digging into my palms. “I’m looking forward to seeing you.”
17
Soren
Maya was definitely hiding something.
I waved as she closed the garden gate behind her, my thoughts running a mile a minute. She’d abruptly gotten up and said she needed to get some fresh air and clear her head as soon as Dylan had gone to sleep.
It had been like this the other night, too, when I’d come by while she and Dylan had been babysitting Carlin. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but she was just off.
Sure, she’d been as sweet and loving as always, but there had been some distance between us that hadn’t been there just a couple weeks ago. I couldn’t understand it. Was she distancing herself from me purposely? It was like she was running hot and cold.
One minute, everything felt normal, and I wondered if I was imagining things. If I was just being paranoid because of how badly I’d been hurt in the past. Then the next, she’d go and do something like this—run off at the first sign of me initiating anything intimate.
It was frustrating as hell, and I wished I could understand what was going on in her head. Maybe I should confront her about it. If she didn’t want to be with me anymore, I’d rather her be up front about it.
Of course, hearing that wasn’t what I wanted, but the longer it went on, the more it would hurt in the end.
And then there was the matter of the IEP contract. Surely she would have received it by now—my friend Priux had made that much clear. Whether it was the Tracorox contract or a renewal offer of her Hollander contract, though, remained to be seen.
Yet she hadn’t mentioned either of the options to me at all. She hadn’t once mentioned that Tracorox was even on the table.
I paced in the garden for a few minutes, trying to figure out my best course of action. It was eating me up inside not knowing where Maya and I truly stood. I could be a patient man, but right now, I stood on a precipice and everything I wanted in life—primarily Maya and Dylan—was hanging in the balance.
On edge, I pulled my Holopad from my pocket. Not knowing was driving me crazy. Perhaps if I just had a little more insight, I’d be able to have the patience to let Maya work through this on her own and talk to me when she was ready…
I dialed up Priux.
“Soren? What’s up, my friend? Two calls in a week’s time.” He chuckled. “What can I do for you?”
“How do you know I wasn’t just calling to shoot the shit?” I asked, even though Priux obviously had my number on this.
“Let’s just say you sounded a bit…urgent on our last call. I figured you were probably following up.”
“Sort of.” Yeah, I wanted to know what the status of Maya’s contract was, but my conversation with Niall had been on repeat for days now. I’d told myself he was right, that I needed to listen to him. After all, he’d almost lost Brittany when the truth about him buying her contract had come to light. But if I had Priux here on the phone, an inside connection with the IEP, it might not hurt to ask if buying out Maya’s contract was an option, even if I didn’t intend on acting on it.
“What was the name again?” Priux asked.
“Maya Lane.”
Then, as if my mouth had a mind of its own, and all the reasoning I’d done with myself had been for nothing, I hurriedly added, “I actually need an additional favor. I want to see if I can buy out her contract, make sure that it’s cancel—”
“How dare you?”
I whirled around, my eyes landing on a seething Maya. Her eyes were narrowed to slits, and her face was bright red. She was clenching her jaw so tightly that I knew without a doubt she’d heard every word.
I quickly jabbed at my Holopad screen, not even bothering to say anything to Priux as I ended the call and shoved my device in my back pocket.
Holding