Chapter 34 The Cost of Silence

Chapter 34 The Cost of Silence
Daniel’s POV

I’ve been parked here for twenty minutes, engine off, heater barely whispering, watching the stretch of sidewalk where Maya usually turns the corner with pickles around 4:15 p.m. I know the routine because I've been stalking around for awhile. It has been fourteen days.
Fourteen nights of staring at the ceiling, replaying the moment Nora’s voice broke the night she left.
“Who am I to you, Daniel? Really?” She asked as she looked in my eyes.
I hadn’t answered. Couldn’t.
The words stuck in my throat. So she left. And I let her. Now I’m reduced to stalking my girl’s best friend like some desperate psycho. The PI I hired (yes, I stooped that low) gave me the walking schedule. I told myself it was just to make sure Nora was safe.
They're all lies. I needed a way in, any way in, because I was loosing my fucking mind.

Maya rounds the corner with Pickles walking ahead. My chest raises high. I drove the SUV forward, slowly and carefully till I was close to Maya then I lowered the passenger window. Maya freezes but Pickles doesn’t. His ears perk, his tail starts wagging before he even sees me clearly. He knows my scent and my voice already. “Maya,” I say. My voice comes out rougher than I mean it to. She stares with an icing expression. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Pickles is already barking happily, his paws scrabbling at the door like he wants to climb through the window into my lap.“I just need five minutes,” I say. “Please.”She yanks the leash back. “Go away, Daniel.”
“I can’t.” I kill the engine and step out. Pickles break free as the leash slips from her gloved fingers. I drop to one knee before he can knock me over, let him jump, lick my jaw, whine like I’ve been gone for years. I scratch under his chin the way he likes.
“You’re still worse tho.”Maya says as she watches with her arms crossed. “He’s too nice for this.”
“I know.” I look up at her. “I’m begging, Maya. One conversation. There's a coffee shop around the corner.” She glances down the street, then at Pickles, who’s now sitting on my foot, his tail still wagging. Her shoulders drop half an inch. “This is because of him,” she says flatly. “Not you. Pickles still like you, God knows why.”
Relief crashes through me so hard I almost sway. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”

We walk in silence with Pickles walking in between us. The coffee shop is small, half-empty with exposed brick, mismatched chairs, and the air filled with the smell of espresso and cinnamon. I hold the door for Maya who doesn’t thank me. I totally deserve that.
She picks a corner table, far from the window as Pickles curls under it and puts his chin on my boot.She orders black coffee. I just sat still with my dark shades waiting for her to lash out at me and she did immediately as the waiter walked away.
“Why in the hell did you ghost her?”I stare at the table silently. “Look Daniel.” Her voice is firm and harsh. “I’m not here for brooding. Talk or I leave.”I force the words out carefully. “I thought… if I disappeared, the press would lose interest. They’d move on to the next scandal and she'll be safe.”Maya lets out a short, bitter laugh. “Safe??” she says back in disbelief.
“I saw what they were doing to her.” My hands fist on the table. “The comments. The lies. Someone posted her school’s address. Her mother’s phone number. They were digging into her students, Maya. Her students. I thought distance would starve it. Make me the villain instead of her.
”She leans forward closely. “And you decided that without asking her.”
“I didn’t want her to have to choose.”
“That wasn’t your call.”
“I know.” My voice cracks on the last word. I hate how weak it sounds. Pickles whine softly, nudging my knee. Maya studies me long and hard. “Do you have any idea what you did to her?”
I swallow hard. “She cries in the shower so I won’t hear. She pretends to sleep when I come home late. She circles job ads like crazy, but every single one reminds her how fucked up she is now because of you. She replays that video every night of your voice calling her your fucking mate. She thinks you’re ashamed of her.” Maya blurted out.
Each word lands hard like a blow. I can’t breathe right.“She’s not eating enough,” Maya continues, mercilessly. “She smiles like everything’s fine, but her eyes are dead. She misses you so much that she hates herself for it. And you–” She stops, exhales sharply. “You let the silence do the rest.”I pulled off my shades and pressed my hands into my eyes. “I thought I was protecting her.”
“No,you didn't. You broke her to keep her safe. That’s not protection. That’s cowardice.”
The word hits hardest because it’s true. Maya pushes her untouched coffee away. “She’s strong. Stronger than you give her credit for. But what you did? It shattered something. And silence doesn’t fix shattered things.”I look at her. She loves Nora like family.“I need to see her,” I say quietly.“No.” Maya says as she stands up. “You don’t get to use me as a bridge. You want her? You find her yourself. You face what you ran from. You fight for her.”Pickles stands too, his tail low now, sensing the tension.
Maya unclips his leash from the table leg. “I’m disappointed in you, Daniel. Not because you’re rich or powerful or whatever bullshit the press has on you. I’m disappointed because I thought you were better than this. I thought you saw her–the real her. Anyway I have to go.”
“Maya–” I call out sharp. She pauses, but she still has back to me. “Fix it. Or leave her alone forever. Those are the only two options left.”Then she’s gone. Pickles glances back once, his ears drooping, before walking after her. The door shuts softly behind them while I sit there left in my thoughts.