Page 63 of Devious Lies

We’re seven minutes out from the hospital.

And I can’t stay quiet any longer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE-MARIA

Tears blur my vision as Luc races as much as he can through Jersey City traffic to the Medical Center.

My mother’s longtime friend and neighbor, Mr. Palermo, is the one who pushed that envelope through my door.

I’d given Mami my address and a burner phone to call, but I didn’t have it with me the past few days.

I’m ashamed I missed her call, and that she had to resort to getting Mr. Palermo to find me.

It’s just another reason I had to give up this charade.

“Easy, Baby Girl. Talk to me, tell me what’s happening, please.”

It’s the please that does it. That, and Luc’s big, warm hand pressing down on my thigh.

I hiccup and sniff, mopping my face with a tissue.

He’s waiting for me to answer. His steel gaze is on my profile as we sit at a red light.

And I feel the weight of it. It’s crushing me. Till it’s not.

I look at him, and I decide. Now, his gaze is comforting me.

“You have to understand, this is hard for me. For so long, I-I haven’t had anyone to trust,” I confess.

“You can trust me, Maria. I will always take care of you,” he says, and I feel those words wrap around my tiny, hopeful little heart.

I hope he’s serious. That he won’t hate me. But I know it’s time I gave him something.

Besides my virginity, my inner voice snarks back at me.

“My mother has cancer.”

“I am so sorry, Baby,” he says and squeezes my leg.

The silence stretches, and the light turns green.

“I didn’t know you had family here. Thought you were from out of town,” he says, but I know he never believed that.

Not with my easily distinguishable Jersey accent.

“This last round of chemo is taking its toll. But I haven’t been around much for her. I can’t be,” I whisper that last part.

“Why, Maria? Why can’t you be there for your mother?” he asks.

“First, well, I’m from here, you know.”

“From where?”

“New Jersey. I left six years ago after,” I pause, sucking in a breath.

“Why?”

“I kinda had to. See, my father worked for a bad guy, and he was killed because of it,” I confess.

---