Page 76 of Mace
I’m not sure what to expect when I open the door, so my heart is in my throat as I twist the handle.
Maylie is lying on the bed with Toby and a younger blonde girl who I assume is her sister. There is no blood, no injuries that I can see either. Her sister appears to be asleep, curled on her side against Maylie, and Toby gives me a smile, flicking his fingers at me in a wave as Maylie gently disentangles herself from her sister.
“Maylie…” The girl’s sleepy voice is quiet.
“It’s okay. Go back to sleep, Ivy. I’ll be back in a second, okay?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her,” Toby assures her.
The kid might be young, but the resolution in his expression tells me he means every word he says. I respect the fuck out of him for stepping up when Maylie clearly needs him to.
“Thanks, Toby.”
Maylie slips off the bed and crosses the carpet. I watch every step she takes with a corresponding thunk of the meat in my chest. She’s not hurt, though she is rattled. There’s no sign of her usual infectious sunshine as she stands in front of me. Instead, she’s uncertain and expressing a myriad of other emotions I can’t read.
Is she worried what my reaction will be to her coming here?
Is she in trouble that she thinks I can’t help her out of?
The only thing I feel as she steps into my space is fuckin’ relief. I let my eyes roam over every inch of her face until I’m sure there’s nothing life threatening, then I tug her against my chest, crushing her to me.
Fuck. She’s okay.
Her arms wrap around my back, clinging to me with a desperation that sends anxiety skittering through me. “Thank you for coming,” she whispers, and my chest hollows out as I pull back.
What the fuck is going on?
I cup her cheeks, needing to touch her, and press my forehead to hers. I’ve never felt panic like I did getting that call.
“You’re okay.” I’m not sure if it’s a question or a statement,but the tension in my shoulders and neck eases as the bands around my heart loosen.
Her hands slip over mine, holding me in place as she peers up at me. Maylie is so strong, so determined, but her vulnerability is split open for all to see. What the hell happened to drive her here? “I need to talk to you.” She glances back at the bed, and I get her meaning.
She needs to talk to me alone.
I open the door behind us and wait for her to slip out into the corridor. There’s an empty room next door that I lead her to, and as I close the door behind us, she steps away from me, her arms wrapping around her stomach as if she’s nauseous. I don’t like the distance as it makes the embrace we had feel almost like a goodbye.
“I’m so sorry for coming here, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
“What’s going on, Maylie?”
Her bottom lip slides between her teeth as her eyes screw up slightly. “I’m in trouble and I don’t know how to fix it. I hate asking for help, but?—”
I’m in front of her, my hand wrapping around her nape before I realise what I’m doing. “I’d be more pissed if you didn’t come to me,” I assure her.
She closes her eyes, and my stomach lurches as I brace for whatever hit is about to land. “The bruise on my arm…” Her voice breaks, and I rub my thumb over her skin. “I didn’t fall. Well… I did, but because I was pushed. Ivy… she’s got herself into a situation, and I don’t know how to get her out of it. We need to leave town. I have to take her somewhere safe.”
There is no way in fuck she’s leaving town. I won’tallow it. I lead her over to the bed, guiding her onto it as I sit next to her. “Tell me everything.”
A tear slides down her cheek, and I reach out to wipe it away. “She started dating this guy. I thought it was someone from school, but she was cagey as hell about him. At first, she was happy, and then she started to change. She was dipping out on her responsibilities, giving me shit all the time, and she was so angry, like she just couldn’t regulate her emotions. I tried to talk to her. I tried so many times, but she was so closed-off to me. Her boyfriend is a fucking man, Mace. He’s at least in his thirties, and that wouldn’t be issue if he was good to her, but he’s not.” Her voice trembles. “He’s hurting her.”
My jaw clenches so tight, my teeth ache. I’d only glimpsed Ivy, but she looks as small as Maylie, and at seventeen, she’s still a kid. “Hurting her how?”
“I think he’s beating her. I grabbed her arm one day in the kitchen when we were arguing, and she cried out as if I’d broken it. I barely touched her, Mace, but she told me tonight that she’d reacted like that because he’d already hurt her.” She wipes at the tears now freely falling down her cheeks. “I don’t know how to help her besides running from him. She’s so scared, and to be honest, so I am. When I went to confront him, he didn’t take it very well.”
Red films my vision, and it takes every ounce of my strength not to lose my shit. “He pushed you.”
“Ivy pushed me. She was trying to protect me, to get me to leave before he did anything else. He’d already put his hands on me by that point.”