* / 𝒽𝑜𝓁𝓎

His face dropped as he looked down at the shirts in his head, of course he had been wrong. He was glad he asked as the shirts were taken away from him and he followed the woman. He lloked at the shirt critically and a little skeptically as he took it from her, “it’s great. Really. It’s just uh, isn’t this going to be a little see-through. I’m getting dinner with my mom after all.” He didn’t want to reject the help, clearly he was desperate. But this seemed out of his comfort zone for sure.

Maia sighed in slight annoyance when David rejected her choice - disappointed, but not surprised. Most people didn’t seem to want to do what was good for them and follow her advice, but hey, if they wanted to live mediocre lives, that was on them, not her. “And what? Your mother isn’t aware that you have nipples?” Still, she put the shirt back on the rack, and continued to look for a more conservative option. “What about this floral patterned one? Or are roses too risqué for your mommy?”  

What happened next was no surprised to Aaron. He knew that telling her that he would give her literally anything would make her reconsider posting the video. He relaxed a little when her demeanor changed, knowing he had said something to change her mind. Thank god. “Fine.” He sighed, then he smiled down at her to give her a charming smile. “Anything for you.” He said sarcastically. It had been quite some time since he had taken Maia shopping, but he wasn’t surprised that she still found a way to make him hand over her credit card. 

Beaming, Maia guided Aaron down the sidewalk, heading in the direction of one of her favorite boutiques. She’d gotten to see Aaron attacked by a pigeon, and she was being treated to a shopping spree? Today was seriously starting to look up. “You always know just what to say, babe.” Then again, it was more his money talking that had made her help him out, rather than anything he could have actually come up with. “What’s the limit on your card? You might want to call your bank and let them know you’re about to be making some large purchases.” 

River could immediately tell by the way the young lady looked at him that she was quite unimpressed. However, as she spoke, he couldn’t help but gaze at her confusedly. “But I… didn’t ask for a lap dance? I simply told you how gorgeous I think you are and offered to buy you a drink. I sincerely apologize if that offended you, but I can assure you my intentions were pure. I did not mean to upset you in any way. I’ll leave you be now. Have a lovely night, darling.” 

“Mmhm.” Maia looked him up and down, sizing him up, but simultaneously checking him out. Frankly, if he didn’t look the way he did, she wouldn’t still be standing here, giving him any more of her time. “That’s how it starts, with the gentleman type like you. An offer of a drink, as if you care about anything other than how cute my ass looks in these shorts.” A neatly manicured finger was pressed into his chest, as she tried to act like he wouldn’t have about a foot on her, height wise, if he was standing. After a few, long seconds of simply staring back at him, trying to figure out what exactly the man’s angle was, Maia decided that she did in fact have time for a drink. “Fine.” Her finger fell from River’s chest, and she settled down beside him, flipping her hair over her shoulder, and choosing to ignore the fact that he’d given her an out. “But just one. I’m on the job, and I have to get back up there in a half hour.”

at  the  mention  of  stealing  her  phone , fiore  couldn’t  help  but  raise  an  honestly  perfect  eyebrow , wondering  if  she  was  serious  or  not . when  she  pulls  out  the  pepper  spray  though , that  answers  his  question . the  last  thing  he  wants  right  now  is  to  be  noticed  by  anyone , so  stealing , surprisingly , wasn’t  on  his  list . when  he  was  fully  clothed  and  far  away , sure , but  now ? half  naked  and  very  much  noticed ? definitely  not . “ right . because  me  grabbing  onto  your  iphone  seven  and  running , half  naked  in  broad  daylight  definitely  won’t  get  me  caught , ” he  rolls  his  eyes , but  soon  corrects  himself , “ sorry , i  meant  iphone  seven  plus . ” how  he  managed  to  be  such  a  little  bitch , even  in  a  situation  like  this , really  surprised  even  himself , but  it  is  what  it  is . of  course  he’s  not  blaming  her  for  protecting  herself , but  he  was  wearing  balenciaga  briefs  and  a  black  balenciaga  shirt  to  match , for  crying  out  loud . at  this  point , fiore  wasn’t  even  expecting  her  to  help  him . maybe  this  was  bad  karma  for  being  such  trash  all  the  time  or  whatever . “ hello , i  told  you  i  was  robbed ! ” he  lies , her  facial  expression  screaming  ‘ i’m  not  buying  it ’ . the  last  thing  he  expected  was  to  run  into  someone  with  half  a  brain . after  a  minute , he  sighs , running  a  hand  past  his  luscious  hair . “ okay , fine . i  left  with  a  guy  yesterday  and  we  had  banging  sex  all  night  long . i  stayed  the  night  and  he  fed  me  all  these  stories  on  his  dead  husband  and  how  he  was  just  trying  to  have  fun  and  forget  and  blah , blah , blah  and  i  think , for  a  second , wow , he’s  been  through  a  lot ! maybe  he’s  okay  and  maybe  i’ll  come  back  for  more . not  even  five  minutes  later  and  the  motherfucker’s  wife  comes  through  the  front  door . his  fucking  wife . to  wrap  up  this  awful , yet  sadly  true  story , i  barely  have  time  to  put  on  my  shirt  or  put  on  anything  before  he’s  shoving  me  out  his  stupid  window ! ” he  didn’t  even  notice  how  terrible  the  story  was  until  he  actually  said  it  out  loud . the  worst  part  of  all ? a  tear  is  streaming  down  his  left  eye  and  he  has  to  quickly  wipe  it  away . he  can’t  believe  he  just  showed  this  type  of  weakness  to  a  stranger . “ so  yeah , that’s  my  very  unfortunate  and  honestly  humiliating  story  at , ” he  looks  down  at  his  dutch  watch , “ not  even  eight  thirty  am . ” how  sad  was  this ? very . he  doesn’t  know  why  he  feels  this  pain  on  his  left  elbow , but  he  does . out  of  curiosity , he  wipes  it  with  his  right  hand , to  find  blood . of  course  he  scratched  up  his  elbow  when  he  fell , damn  it . he  sighs  and  walks  underneath  a  staircase , determined  to  hide  here  until  he  finds  someone  else , because  something  was  telling  him  this  girl  wasn’t  loaning  him  her  phone . 

Okay, damn, for once, taking the time to listen to the details of someone else’s day had actually paid off, because that was a story worth hearing. “Mmhm, mmhm, okay.” Maia hummed, tapping her finger against her chin as she weighed over the options, before stepping forward and grabbing Fiore by his uninjured elbow. “Come on, bring me back to the building. Do you remember the apartment number?” Doing favors for others, especially strangers, wasn’t usually high on the list of ways Maia chose to spend her time doing - or on the list at all, really, but this guy had brought her entertainment in the form of his little sob story, and inserting herself into it, as well as giving the tale the happy ending it deserved - at least for Fiore, anyway, not so much the couple involved - really seemed like the best option. At least if she wanted away to wrap this all up, when she talked about it at brunch. And it’s not like she’d never been in situations that were among pretty similar lines. Sleeping with people in committed relationships was something she’d done more than enough times to really be considered a coincidence. But why were their relationship problems her fault? They weren’t, and to see another couple doing the same thing to this guy just didn’t sit right with her. “What kind of pants were they?” Though Maia still kept the pepper spray gripped tightly in her fist, she lowered it slightly, now that she’d decided that he wasn’t an immediate threat. Besides, she was pretty sure she could kick his ass, if she needed to. Especially considering how much he was wincing over just a scraped elbow. 

No, no. Not the insta story. That would just be a total disaster. Too many people would see that. Next thing he’d see would be a Daily Mail article about Ali Haynes’ baby dad getting attacked by a bird in New York City. That was just embarrassment that he did not want to have to deal with. “Maia.” He insisted. “Please. I will literally give you anything not to post that.” The billionaire begged, knowing his money could talk. Especially with Maia Palmer. He gave in, however, deciding it would be better to play this off as a joke rather than looking completely miserable. He forced a little chuckle and gave the camera the middle finger for dramatic effect. 

Maia slowly lowered her phone, giving Aaron a raised eyebrow in response to his offer. “Anything, huh?” Oh, this could definitely work for her. Especially considering the budget she knew Aaron had - which was damn near endless, it seemed. Dropping her phone back into her purse she sprung into action, quickly shooing the bird away - though not before making sure she’d saved the video to her camera roll first. Blackmail material was never a bad idea to keep around. “Come on, honey.” She linked arms with him, her tone much more friendly than it had been a few moments ago. “Let’s go shopping.” 

The good underwear was totally the right choice, as evidently, the house call hadn’t just been for a knight in shining armor and Jude was more than happy to step into the house, following Maia to the couch and dropping onto it. Staying put as instructed. Sure, his head did hurt a little, but a couple of battle wounds were always worth a night with Maia. She wasn’t just a girl. She was the woman of his dreams in a lot of ways. Besides the whole, being his woman, thing. She was smart, independent, strong, not afraid to go for things she wanted, which occasionally happened to be him, for some reason he never really could quite understand. He didn’t have to though, he just needed to be available when she called, and that was something he could understand and do. “I think you need to kiss it better…” He murmured, closing his eyes as he called out to her, listening to her sound of her coming back into the room before he opened them again, only to stare at her. “And a little head scratch would probably help too…” He pushed his luck with a crooked grin as he looked up at her.

Maia set the wine glasses down on the coffee table and pressed the ice pack against Jude’s temple with arguably more force than necessary, but he was starting to get just a little too cozy at her place. They were no longer together - for pretty much that reason exactly. He’d started to get a bit too close for comfort, and, even worse... so had she. She’d been someone’s girlfriend, for way too long. But this? Exes who occasionally hooked up, when she couldn’t find anything better to do? Much more manageable. “And I think you need to zip it, Judge Judy.” She picked up one of the glasses and handed it over to Jude, before settling down beside him on the couch. “You don’t have a concussion, do you? Because I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to drink with one.” Carefully draping her legs over Jude’s, she got comfortable - both physically and otherwise, even if she tried to act like it was simply the first one. “Tell me how pretty I am.”