in my blood

“How do you deal without talking to your best friend? This is rough. It’s been weeks.”

Maverick only gave Milo a look, like he didn’t really want to have this kind of conversation in the middle of the street. “Like I said…let’s go home.” He ran a hand over his face, trying to think through how their night had ended so badly. “You’ll talk when we get home, right? I wanna help.”

“Yeah. We will. I promise.” He grabbed Maverick’s hand so that they could start walking. The farther away from this hotel they got, the better. Once they were finally at the building, Milo stopped. “The silence is...I don’t like it.”

      Post gala, Selene just found herself ever confused with the whole Saboteur ordeal. The only way to cope in her eyes was to consume copious amounts of alcohol. “Well, I don’t know a Maya so I’m pretty sure we’re at a 1, because bitch knows I’d probably still spill things. She’s mad at you, huh?” 

“No, she’s worshiping the ground I walk on. Of course she’s mad at me. I can’t exactly throw down with her like you did. Right now, I’m just waiting for her to apologize. Which she will eventually. Maybe.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Or not. Mierda, you’re probably just wondering what the fuck I’m yammering on about.”

“Sorry! I’m wearing socks because my feet get cold so fast…” Maya was stood at the doorway, looking at Milo as he chastised her, and part of her just accepted it. Maybe all she wanted to hear was that he hated her, and they would be back where they started at the beginning of their relationship; maybe that was just what it always was. Fragile, on eggshells. “Always good to see a familiar face around the house…Hello to you too, Milo.” Because Maya had spent most of the day cooped up in her room, avoiding strangers, avoiding her own husband. “I should let you…get back to..–” She vaguely gestured to his coffee, torn between making small talk or just padding away back to the guest room she was calling home for now. “It’s been so long since I’ve had coffee…” 

“Of course you are.” He let out a sigh as he looked at her. There was just no way. It was basically impossible. Milo couldn’t fathom her even remotely being the Saboteur. Then again, he also couldn’t ever think that his mother would have faked her death and be alive right now so it seemed nothing was ever what he assumed. “Right. I’m sure. My father is here, I’m assuming?” It felt like he was talking to the same woman and then it didn’t at the same time. He didn’t know what to think. There was so much going on in his head right now. “No, wait...” He drifted off and dropped his head to stare at the floor. For some reason, he couldn’t meet her eyes. “Just...I had a fight with Regina because she’s ready to cut your head off and I wouldn’t let her talk about you like that. She just blindly believes that you’re...” A deep breath escaped his mouth. “I don’t know how to help you, Maya, lo siento. And I defended you and now I’m not talking to my best friend and I just need this to be over for you. I hate that you’re going through this. It’s like...this family can’t catch a break.”

He felt guilty – like maybe he should’ve paid more attention than he did. But Maverick was used to seeing everyone in the spotlight; he assumed it came with the territory. Unless you were famous, why would you be mentioned? The Hendrix family had clearly gotten by unscathed, yet now it made sense. Mav only nodded, his mouth shutting almost immediately. He didn’t want to fight, and he clearly didn’t know what to say to make anything better. “Mi dispiace. Let’s just…go home.”

Milo felt like shit for shoving Maverick out yet again. It wasn’t the other man’s fault that this was happening. What could be said about his stepmother supposedly being the Saboteur? It all just seemed like a bad dream and he had only just heard about it. With a sigh, he shook his head. “Lo siento. I did the thing again where I don’t talk and I shouldn’t do that.”

It was awkward, to say the least. People were looking at Maya, then at any available Hendrix in the room. Granted, the attention wasn’t exactly on him, but he could feel his anxiety rising with Milo’s. “Yeah…let’s go.” He waited for Milo to start walking, awkwardly following after him as quickly as possible. It wasn’t long until they were outside, and Maverick searched for something to say. It took him a few moments of silence, but he cleared his throat, “Has she…said anything about you?”

Everything was hitting him fast. It was so much that Milo wasn’t sure what to do. Was he supposed to be angry? Upset? Grateful? The Saboteur had never said anything bad about him. Nothing bad was ever said about him or his siblings. He didn’t want to hear that though. There was nothing but confusion with a hint of anger flaking across his features. What if this was Maya? Picking a side would be exhausting. Family or friends? His friends were basically his family. Turning to his boyfriend, he let out a sigh. “Maverick...how about we not and say we did, hm? Just don’t. Don’t do that.”

He grinned, pulling Milo back in for another kiss when the other pulled away briefly, “Who cares. They only talk about famous people. Well – okay, you’re famous, but I’m not. So let me just make love to my famous boyfriend for a few minutes before all hell breaks lose,” he held on to Milo’s hand, tugging him up the stairs and out of sight.

**

Maverick was still leaning heavily on Milo, his mouth on the other’s neck as they reappeared who knows how many minutes later. His posture straightened out a little more once the words on the speaker started, “Who are half of these people they’re talking about?”

All he heard were whispers. ‘Who’s Maya?’ ‘She’s the Saboteur.’ It didn’t take long for Milo to put the pieces together. Everyone was talking and he could only assume the worst. “I think we need to get out of here.” He paused for a second and looked around the room, his eyes landing on Maya who was being stared at by several people. “This is so not good in any way.” Someone shoved past him while his eyes shifted to find other familiar faces across the crowd. “Can we go?”

Milo had decided to pay his father a visit in this time of...well, whatever it was. He wasn’t sure what the older man was thinking and he wanted to pick his mind. It felt like he was being pulled to either side and he had to know what to do before he did anything. Hearing footsteps, he jumped slightly, almost spilling the cup of coffee in his hand. “Mierda, don’t just sneak up on people like that.” When he turned and saw that it was indeed not his father and Maya instead, his face dropped. “Oh. Hi.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how easy was it for you to recover from all the shit with S and fix your relationship with Regina? I mean, I did nothing wrong, but still. I figure I ask because I still love that bitch even if she’s annoying me right now.”

MAYA: this is worse than the one word answers I used to get from you

MAYA: it's like that, but in text form

MAYA: Milo...

MAYA: I don't know what kind of evidence they're talking about

MAYA: I'm telling you, it wasn't me! I would never do something like this

MAYA: The blog is a sick joke and you have to believe me when I say I wasn't a part of it, Milo

Gina: Never bothered you before. I need the peace of mind, something you apparently can't give to me.

Gina: Your STEPMOTHER is S. What the hell am I supposed to think about any of this?

Milo: Oh, it doesn't bother me when it's not to me. Because you're never one to me. Your peace of mind should've started a little fucking better than immediately assuming I knew something and then proceeding to basically tell me there was no point in asking my sister or my brother because why would they know anything?

Milo: I didn't even like her when all your shit was happening so for you to assume that I told her anything means you've clearly lost your fucking mind.

Milo: You want to assume something of me, I just can't deal with that. You're going to blindly sit behind your fucking phone and listen to another anonymous source about who this so-called S is. Maya is not the Saboteur. She's literally incapable. I don't care if I liked her or not at the time. All that matters is that she's my family now. I know she's not the person that would do something like this and, if you want to come for my family because you can't have a mind of your own and want to jump down anyone's throat who will listen, then I've got nothing more to say to you, Regina.

Gina: Yet you refuse to answer the question. A little defensive there, aren't we?

Gina: That was low. I'm just looking for answers you apparently can't provide for me. Such a shame.

Milo: A little bit of a bitch, aren't we? The only reason I'm not answering is because you're asking a stupid fucking question.

Gina: I just needed to know if you were protecting her.

Gina: What would you prefer to have me think then? That Kian told her? Or Abel?

Milo: So you'd rather think it was me because why the fuck not, right?

Gina: I DO trust you.

Gina: But your own step-mom is S.

Gina: She came at me, Milo. She knew so many things about Selene and I, about my love life.....

Milo: Your way of trusting me is asking if I knew?

Milo: Don't you even, Regina Gabrielle Salazar. I know what S said about you.