“What aren’t you getting!?” She spun, glaring up at Maya. “This isn’t your problem.I’mnot. I’m not your responsibility, or yours to protect, even though you’re acting like that’s the case. I don’t want it, or your goddamn pity, so fuck off and leave me the hell alone.”
Maya stared at her, shock making her silent. She clearly hadn’t expected Harper to react like this, and neither had Harper, for that matter. If this involved anyone else, she might not have.
But it wasn’tanyone. It was Maya. Maya, who had appeared out of nowhere and had become a lone beacon of peace in the desperate mess that was her life. Someone who didn’t know all the shit Harper had been through. Who waseasyto be around. Who didn’t judge, whisper, or overstep.
Now she could do all of it. Judge Harper for going down a road she had walked enough times that she should know to avoid it. Whisper about the terrible things she had let happen, potentially tattling about it to Nell and Patricia.
And Mayawasdoing that last thing. Standing so close, eyes glittering gold even though she was shrouded in darkness.
She gave a single nod. “Okay. I’ll leave you alone.”
Harper scoffed. No way it was that easy. “Yeah. Right.”
“I’m serious. I won’t be happy about it, but if you want me to leave you be, I will. If you don’t want me to talk to you, or be anywhere near you, then I’ll keep my distance. If you tell me to stop, I’ll stop.”
Harper stared at her. That didn’t make sense. What she wanted wasn’t taken into consideration, about anything. Instead, she was told to try harder. To give in, to keep her mouth shut. The only people who had never done any of that were the chosen few she considered family.
“I don’t believe you,” Harper said, surprised by the earnestness in her voice.
Snow whirled around them, catching in Maya’s dark brown hair. She was still standing so close. She only needed to take one step forward, and they would be touching.
“Then tell me to back off.”
“Back off,” Harper snapped, channeling all the confusion rushing through her into the most biting tone she could muster.
But then all that just-summoned anger evaporated when Maya actually did it. She stepped back, increasing the distance between them until she was several feet away.
The quiet became almost deafening. Snowflakes fell from above, invisible except for when they drifted into the golden cones of the distant streetlights. The wind muted any surrounding noise, making the silence so much heavier when neither of them spoke. When neither of them moved.
When exactly had Harper’s heart started racing? She wasn’t making a run for her car anymore, so its rhythm should have eased. But how could it, when her eyes were locked on Maya, standing at a greater distance than Harper found she wanted?
She was only wearing a black t-shirt and jeans but seemed completely unfazed by the cold. Her posture was straight but not tense, her gaze focused but calm. A controlled mask, hiding a danger deep within those mesmerizing eyes of hers.
Maybe that was why Harper’s focus shifted. Maybe it was because of the regret she’d been walking around with ever since that night on the park bench, and now they were alone in a dark parking lot, with no one around to see.
Maybe it was just because she had an innate calling for doing stupid things.
“Come closer,” Harper whispered.
For a moment, Maya didn’t move. Then, she took a single step forward.
Harper leaned against the front of the car, gripping it in a vain hope that doing so would slow the pounding rhythm of her heart.
“Closer.”
Another whispered request. Another step forward. Maya kept advancing until she was so close that their bodies nearly touched.
A brief shine flickered over her irises. A similar sheen to how a nocturnal animal’s eyes would respond to light.
“Do you still want me to go?”
There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her face. No teasing. And no anger. Instead, there was something else. Somethingyearning.
Something Harper had been fantasizing about in far more detail than she should have allowed.
“No. I don’t.”
Maya put her hands on either side of Harper’s hips, resting them against the car.
