Page 69 of Never Give Up

But we’re both exhausted, and my raging need for her can wait until later.

Right now, I’m content to listen to her breathing as she falls asleep.

When I’m sure that she can’t hear me, I whisper the words aloud. “I love you, Maya. I always have, I think. And I’ll do anything to make you happy.”

I kiss her head gently. “Just don’t ask me to let you go.”

25

BRIAN

A responsible manwould not use his sons to help him blackmail the woman he loves into staying with him.

But an immature man would definitely do it.

And at this point in my life, I’m openly admitting that I’m immature and willing to use every single thing I have to my advantage.

Plus, I’m not going to do it without letting my boys know the plan, and I’m going to ask them to go along with it.

“I want Maya to stay with us while the person who hurt her is still out there,” I tell them both, but look at Jonathan. “Grandma and Grandpa said that she could stay there with them, but I think that you two should tell her how you feel about that idea.”

“Well, I think she should stay here with us too,” James says. “But I don’t know why she would listen to us.” He stuffs a bite of pancake in his mouth while he waits for an answer.

“Listen to what Dad is saying. He wants us to help him convince her to come here instead of staying at Grandpa’s house.” Jonathan looks at his brother and ruffles James’ hair.

“Maybe we should tell her we don’t like Dad’s cooking. She does a way better job.” James starts to play along.

“Yeah, Dad. Why did you make pancakes? They don’t taste very good.” Jonathan picks up his food and throws it in the trash.

“I’m trying to convince you guys to help. Now get dressed and let’s go wait for her with Grandma and Grandpa.” I usher them out of the kitchen and down the hall to their rooms.

They take their time getting dressed, and I can hear them talking about how cool it will be to have Maya staying with us. I agree with my boys. Having Maya around will be amazing.

I throw on a pair of shorts and a black shirt, then clean up my room. I empty out part of my closet and make room in my dresser again. After Ashley finished moving out, I took back my entire room. But honestly, it feels good to be making room for Maya in my life.

After I’m finished, the boys and I go to my parents’ house, where my mother is taking a nap and my father is watching old war movies. The boys go out back to play, and I sit down next to my dad and hand him a beer.

“You care to explain why you and the boys are here so early in the morning?” My dad cracks open his beer and takes a drink.

“Come on, Pop, it’s already after noon.” I follow my father’s example.

“Exactly. Your mother wasn’t expecting you until dinnertime.” My dad looks at me out of the corner of his eye with a smirk.

“Well,” I say. “I don’t know what time Maya is coming over.”

My father is laughing now. “Doesn’t that girl have a cell phone? Just give her a call.”

“Yeah, she does. But the last thing she told me was that she’s going to stay here. We decided to come and convince her otherwise.” I look down at the beer I’m holding in my hands.

“Oh, you mean to tell me that you brought the boys to do your dirty work and convince Maya to come stay with you.” Dad starts to chuckle.

“Yep.” I take a drink from the beer in my hand.

“Smart boy. You learned something from me after all.” He claps me on the shoulder.

“How’s that?” I’m smiling, knowing exactly what my dad is talking about.

“Use anything you can to get what you want. Those boys in on it?” He motions to the kitchen, where the boys are rifling through the pantry, looking for some sort of a snack.

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