Chapter 148 A Castle of Cards
POV Maya:
I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to be here, everything around me a damn house of cards, where nothing is real, where once again a light breeze is enough to bring everything down, because nothing is strong enough to remain standing. How fragile is everything? I open my eyes slowly, ready to face my truth. I don’t need to be ashamed of my dreams, even if, to the Moretti brothers, they’re nothing more than a tasteless joke.
“You wanna repeat that shit?” Luca asks, still laughing, still mocking me.
I swallow hard, knowing I’ll have to be stronger than I’ve ever been. No matter how many times I fall, I will always get back up. I will always keep going. I lift my chin and tilt my nose upward. I won’t let them laugh at me. I won’t let them play with me. People only have the power to hurt us if we give them that power. I suffered to learn that, but I learned.
“Are you looking for a fiancée?” I repeat the question. “Are you interested in having a relationship with me?”
“Are you serious?” Dominic asks as he stands up and comes closer to me. “Because this shit isn’t funny.”
I knit my brows together, not understanding why they can’t take what I’m saying seriously. I’m standing in front of them, being honest about being ready to enter a non-conventional relationship, and why can’t they see the truth in my eyes? Is it that hard to understand that I want them, that the time I’ve spent with them has been the best time of my life? The happiness I’ve felt in this almost one month of knowing them is far more than anything I’ve felt in my twenty-six years of life.
“Let’s go home and we can talk better there,” I suggest. I don’t want to have a conversation this important inside a bar.
“Our house,” Luca says, pointing to himself and his brothers. “You’re just a guest, don’t forget that.”
Another blow, another pain for my collection. Still, I won’t let them notice. I’m not like that. That sad person isn’t me. I force a smile onto my lips. I won’t allow them to treat me this way, to treat me as less than the incredible woman I am.
“I didn’t forget, Luca. Maybe you’re the ones who forgot who you’re talking to.” I lift my chin, twist my hair into a bun. I’m going to put these brothers in their place. No one breaks my heart and walks away unscathed.
Only my parents did, I think bitterly.
“Maya, don’t start. Why don’t you go back to Burt’s lap and leave us alone?” Dominic says, and rage boils inside me.
“Maybe I will,” I say, and within seconds I’m surrounded by five rough, ill-mannered cowboys.
“Maya, don’t start with your bullshit,” Luca says as he grabs my arm and pulls me against his chest.
“Take your hands off me. Didn’t you just say we have nothing? Then don’t act like ogres toward me. Do you just want my little body for yourselves? Put a ring on my finger, fuck.” I say defiantly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to take care of. I’m done with you saying and doing whatever you want to me. I’ve reached my limit!”
And I truly had. Maybe my mistake is trying to control my pain instead of letting it out and letting it do what it wants most—destroy. Holding a shot glass, I hurl it in David’s direction. He jumps in shock when it almost hits his face. A feeling of liberation floods me, and I like the sensation. I grab a few empty bottles from the tables and start playing target practice, and my target is David.
“Maya!” he shouts, dodging the shards of glass that begin to pile up at his feet.
“Don’t even try,” I warn him as I throw a full bottle of beer at him.
“Come on, redhead. That beer was mine,” the man wounded by my fury complains. I wink at him, and he grins with two missing teeth. “Finish him.”
Listening to my new friend, I grab more bottles and throw them at David again. He jumps from side to side. For a second, I fear he’ll lose his balance, fall onto the glass shards, and get hurt, but I quickly stop being stupid. He didn’t care whether I’d fall in love with the cowboys and get fucked up and hurt, so I don’t owe him anything.
“What the hell is going on in my bar?” I look at the short woman walking toward me with a pool cue in her hands.
“I’m breaking everything on that lying asshole,” I confess, throwing two more bottles toward David. “He lied to me, played with my feelings, and called himself my friend.” She looks at David, who pushes the glass shards aside.
“I just want to know who’s paying for the damage.” I point at the idiot.
“He’ll pay. Don’t worry.”
“Maya, fuck, I’m not paying—”
“You will. This is still cheap for you. You should pay much more for what you did to me.”
I throw another full bottle at him, beer spraying everywhere. Some people step back, opening space for me. I take advantage of the moment, pass by the pool table, and grab a cue. If I’m going to cause chaos, it might as well be in style. The bar owner steps aside for me, and I head toward David, ready to break the cue over his head. But before I can reach him, someone grabs me.
“You’re leaving,” I hear Luca order, and I growl, even more irritated.
“Let me go!” I demand, and he throws me over his shoulder. “I told you to let me go, Luca!”
I receive a slap on my ass that makes me let out a furious scream. With the cue in my hand, I try to hit David, but end up striking a table full of rough-looking men instead. They stand and take a step toward me, but a barrier of four men keeps them from getting close. Luca puts me down, and without thinking, I kick him in the balls, making him collapse at my feet. I resume my path. I don’t run from a fight, especially when the main culprit is still breathing.
“Is this crazy woman your girlfriend or something?” I hear one of the bearded men ask Sebastian. He doesn’t have time to answer, because the man grabs his shirt and pulls him.
“Take your hands off him!” I shout, lunging at the man.
“Maya, get back here, fuck,” Dominic yells. I dodge his grab and jump onto the bearded man’s back.
“Get off me,” he says, swaying from side to side, trying to shake me off, but I lock my legs around him.
“Then stay the fuck away from my cowboys!”
“Get this bitch before she gets hurt,” I hear Luca shout from somewhere, and soon I feel someone pull me off the man.
As soon as I’m set on the floor, I turn to the person who grabbed me and see that it’s David. Without thinking, I clench my fist and punch his face, and I thrill inside. I landed a solid punch on his face.
“Maya.” I’m quickly surrounded by Mikhail and Adrian, both worried as they look at my hand, which is perfectly fine.
“Never talk to me again,” I warn David, who stares at me in shock.
“Maya, listen to me, please.” My eyes burn, the alcohol and emotions too much to bear.
“No. You deceived me. You used my dream against me and lied to me.” The lump in my throat grows enormous. “I don’t want to hear you. We’re done.”
I turn my back on him and head to the bar to take a few more shots of tequila, hoping I can contain all the fury of feelings inside me. I don’t look back when Mikhail and Adrian call my name, nor do I care about the horrified faces of the people staring at me.
I just need to drink.
I just need to forget.
I just need to stop feeling.