Page 81 of How We Fooled

“See, it’s Timon,” Ben teases, pointing her out to me.

“Shut up.” She giggles.

She comes running toward the truck, and when Ben puts it in park, he hops out to meet her the rest of the way.

“Ben,” she cries as she jumps in his arms, wrapping her legs around him so he’s carrying her.

“I’m here, Sunshine. I’ll always be here.”

He walks her back to his truck just as Dalton and Natalie arrive. Dalton turns on his cube lights, illuminating the entire area around us before they hop out.

“’Bout time you made it in that slow-ass truck,” Ben taunts Dalton.

The 1994 Chevy Dalton drives is sick as fuck, but eighty miles per hour is about as fast as that thing will go.

“Shut up.” He grins, knowing Ben’s just messing with him.

Natalie runs up to Maya.

“Are you okay?” Natalie asks.

Maya nods, then turns so she can check out her butt and leg. That’s when we see red spots coming through her jeans.

“Is that blood?” Ben asks, not hiding the rage about to spill out.

Maya bites her lip, trying to hold back tears as she nods.

He examines her closer. “But your pants aren’t ripped.”

“It’s because he pulled them down, then yanked me out of the truck and onto the ground. I had to pull them back up before I called you.”

“He did what?” Ben growls.

She grabs him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she cries all over again.

I watch in horror as he asks, “Did he do anything to you?”

“No. I pushed him off of me,” she replies, and we all release the air we were holding, praying nothing happen to her.

Ben glances at me and Dalton, and I raise my eyebrows at him in a silent pledge between us, saying, We’re going to go fuck this guy up.

It was a good thing that I was there tonight because I don’t think Dalton would have been able to stop Ben from physically killing the guy Maya had been dating. After allowing Ben to take a few good swings at Trevor, knocking him to the ground, it took everything in my power to peel him off of him.

The entire time, all I could think about was how I would feel if that were Liza. I pray if I am ever in this situation, someone would stop me before I did the same because I would no doubt kill the guy if they didn’t.

After we got Maya’s keys from the guy’s truck and drove to where she was parked, I hopped out and drove the car home.

It’s well past midnight, and I’ve tried to call Liza a few times, but it keeps going to her voice mail. Every ounce of my being needs to know she’s okay. Even though I know she’s in bed, it’s like I can’t breathe until I know for sure.

We head to Dalton’s place and all meet inside. I watch as Ben walks around the apartment, obviously bothered by what happened tonight, but avoiding Maya at the same time. For the last few weeks, she’s been missing from our group, and I haven’t seen them even talking at school, which was very odd for them.

I’m not sure what’s going through his mind, but he’s got some shit to work through when it comes to that girl.

Natalie is the first to speak up. “Sorry, but I have to get going. My parents have accepted that I’m dating Dalton, but I still have a curfew. I told them what was going on, so they let me stay out later, but I’m sure they’re wanting me home by now.”

Maya stands to hug Natalie. “Thank you for everything tonight.”

“You know we’ll always be there for you,” Natalie replies.

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