Chapter 8 Puck , Stick , Goal

Chapter 8

Maya

Tuesday night, and the Falcons are up 4-1 in the third period.

I should be relieved. Another win, another clean game, another successful night of narrative control.

Instead, I'm watching the clock, counting down to when I can escape to Vesper and pretend to be Stella again. Even if it's just in my head. Even if Ryan Zurri never walks through those doors again.

"Great game,are you heading to the party?"

Thabo says as the final buzzer sounds.

"Not tonight."

"You never go to parties anymore." He looks concerned.

"Crisis mode takes a toll I need a break ."

"You okay, Maya?"

No. I'm falling apart. I'm in love with my family's enemy. I'm being ordered to destroy him while every fiber of my being wants to protect him.

"Just tired.Long week."

"You want to grab a drink? Just us, nothing work-related?"

"Rain check?"

"Sure." He doesn't hide his disappointment well.

" I'm sorry bud."

"Have a good night, Maya."

I escape before anyone else can corner me. The drive to Vesper feels like muscle memory same route, same time, same desperate need for a few hours where I'm not Maya Rossi.

The parking garage is nearly empty. I take my regular spot, check my reflection in the mirror.

I look exhausted. Dark circles under my eyes, stress written in every line of my face. I've barely slept since Saturday night, too busy dreaming about Ryan's hands on my skin, his voice in my ear.

Too busy researching him during the day, learning everything about the man I can't have.

Ryan Lorenzo Zurri is complex. On paper, he's exactly what my father says the heir to an empire, ruthless in business, following in Lorenzo's footsteps.

There are cracks in that narrative. Charitable donations made anonymously. A tendency to choose development projects that benefit communities, not just profit margins. Employees who speak of him with genuine respect, not fear.

He's not the villain my father painted him as.

Which makes this so much worse.

I take the elevator up to Vesper, my heart pounding. He won't be here. Lightning doesn't strike twice. Saturday was a fluke, a moment of perfect timing that can never be repeated.

The elevator doors open, and I scan the bar out of habit.

I freeze.

Ryan is here. Sitting at the bar, nursing what looks like whiskey, looking devastatingly handsome in dark jeans and a black shirt that probably costs more than most people's monthly rent.

My heart stops. Starts. Stops again.

He hasn't seen me yet. I could leave. Could retreat before he notices, preserve the fantasy of Saturday night, keep it perfect and untainted.

I can't move. Can't look away. Can't do anything but drink in the sight of him.

Then he turns, and our eyes meet.

The impact is the same as Saturday. That jolt of electricity, that sense of recognition, that feeling of finally.

He stands. Starts moving toward me.

Every rational thought tells me to run. This is dangerous. This is impossible. This is going to destroy us both,my feet are rooted to the floor, and all I can do is watch him approach like a moth watching a flame. I was surprisingly calm.

"Stella."

He says when he reaches me, and the sound of that name in his voice does things to me that should be illegal.

"Ryan."

My voice is breathier than I want it to be.

" I can't believe my luck ."

"What are you doing here?"

"Same thing you are, I think."

His brown eyes are intense, searching.

"Trying to understand what happened Saturday night."

"Saturday night was..."

"Don't."

He steps closer, and I can smell his cologne and feel his heat.

"Zurri."

"Don't tell me it was just one night. Don't tell me it didn't mean anything. I know that's a lie, Stella. I can see it in your eyes.

"You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you, and yet here we are."

His hand comes up, brushes my cheek, and I shiver.

" Eyes are everywhere . "

"Why did you run?"

" I had to."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I can give you."

We're standing too close, too visible. Anyone could see us. Anyone could recognize me.

Anyone could tell my father that his daughter is standing in a bar, looking at Ryan Zurri like he hung the moon. He is one hell of a fine spearman of a man.

"We can't do this Ryan."

I say, even as my body sways toward his.

" liar ."

"Whatever this is,it's impossible."

"You keep saying that. I don't believe you."

"Ryan."

"Come upstairs with me."

"Just for an hour. Let me prove to you that this is real."

I want to. I want it so badly I can taste it.

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?"

The same question he texted me. The one I couldn't answer then, can't answer now.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

He takes my hand, threads our fingers together.

"Can't means there's something stopping you. Something external. if I know what it is, maybe I can fix it."

If only he could. If only there was a fix for our families' generations of hatred, for the war we're both trapped in, for the fact that falling for him is the ultimate betrayal of everything I'm supposed to be.

"You can't fix this."

"Let me try."

"Ryan..."

My phone buzzes in my purse. I ignore it, but it buzzes again , and again.

Papa's ring tone.

The universe's cruelest timing strikes again.

"I have to take this,"

I say, pulling away from Ryan's touch even though it physically hurts

" I ber it's your father. "

I step away, answer the call.

"Papa."

"Maya. Where are you?"

His voice is sharp.

"I'm." I glance at Ryan, who's watching me with those too-perceptive eyes.

"Tell him ."

He whispers.

"I'm following up on some leads. The Zurri research you wanted."

Please let that be convincing. Please let him not hear the lie in my voice.

"Good. I just got word that Ryan Zurri was spotted at a bar in the Waterfront tonight. Vesper. Do you know it?"

My blood turns to ice.

"Yes."

"I want you to go there. See if you can accidentally run into him. Turn on the charm, get him talking." Papa's voice is cold, calculating.

"Noted Papa."

"Find out what he knows about our bid, what his father's planning. Get inside his head."

Oh no.

"Papa, I don't think..."

"This is important. This is how we win,are you going to tell me you can't handle a simple seduction?"

The word makes me sick. Seduction. Like Ryan is a mark, a target, not the man who held me like I was precious.

I look at Ryan across the bar. He's still watching me, with concern written on his face.

"I can handle it."

I hear myself say.

"Good. Call me when you're done. I want a full report."

He hangs up before I can protest further.

I stand there, phone in hand, feeling the walls close in.

Ryan approaches slowly, like I'm a spooked animal.

"Everything okay?"

"No. Everything is very not okay."

"Talk to me."

"I can't."

I meet his eyes, and I know he can see the desperation in mine.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Ryan, you need to leave. Now. Before... "

"Before what?"

Before I fall completely. Before I betray my family for you. Before this becomes something neither of us can walk away from.

"Before this gets more complicated."

"It's already complicated, Stella. Or should I say Maya."

The world stops.

He knows.I can't breathe.

"How long have you known?"

"Since Sunday morning. After you left. I couldn't stop thinking about you, so I looked for you. Found you."

Anger flares through the panic.

"Knowing who I am? Knowing what that means?"

"Yes."

"Are you insane?"

"Probably. Maya, I don't care about our families' bullshit war. I don't care about the politics or the power plays or any of it. I care about you."

"You don't even know me."

"Don't I?"

His voice is soft.

"I know you're trapped by expectations. I know you're exhausted from playing a role. I know that Saturday night, when you were Stella, was the first time in years you let yourself be real." He cups my face.

"Shit."

"I know you felt what I felt. I know you're terrified of it."

Tears burn behind my eyes.

"This can't work."

"Why not?"

"My father just ordered me to seduce you. To get inside your head, find out what you know, use you to win this development deal."

The words taste like ash.

"Maya ."

"That's what I am, Ryan. That's what my family made me. A weapon."

I expect him to recoil. To look at me with disgust or anger or betrayal.

Instead, he smiled. Sad, but genuine.

"You want to know something funny? My father gave me the same orders about you. Find your weakness, exploit it, destroy you and your operation."

Oh.

"So we're both weapons."

"Apparently."

We stand there, two people caught in an impossible situation, and despite everything the danger, the betrayal, the absolute insanity of this I start to laugh.

"This is so fucked up."

"Completely."

He's laughing too.

"We're supposed to be destroying each other, and instead..."

"Instead what?"

His laughter fades, replaced by something more intense

. "Instead I'm falling for you."

My heart stops.

"Ryan."

"I know it's insane. I know it's too fast. I know every logical reason why this is a terrible idea."

"Zurri."

He steps closer, until we're breathing the same air.

"I can't stop thinking about you, Maya. Can't stop wanting you. Can't stop imagining what it would be like if we were just Ryan and Maya . No families. No war. Just us."

"That's not reality."

"Maybe not, for a few hours, we can pretend.Come upstairs with me. Let's have one more night where we're just us. Tomorrow we can go back to being enemies, tonight..."

"Tonight we're just Ryan and Maya"

I finished.

It's the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. I should say no. Should walk away. Should choose duty over desire like I always do.I'm so tired of it

.

"One night.That's all we get."

"Then let's make it count."

He takes my hand, and we walk to the elevator .

Because that's what this is, isn't it? The beginning of the end.

We're both dead. We just don't know it yet.

As the elevator doors close and Ryan pulls me into his arms, as his mouth finds mine and the world disappears, I can't bring myself to care.

If I'm going to burn, at least I'll burn for something real.

At least I'll burn for him.

"you're not alone Maya . "