Jagged Embrace

Chapter 43 - Maeve

"You're unbelievable!" Maeve yelled at Will. She was so angry she threw her purse on Ander's bed and spun to face Will.

"Will you calm the fuck down? You're acting like I did something wrong. Why do you care?" Will's voice increased in volume.

"Calm down? Are you serious? You set him up!"

"Exactly!" he retorted as color crept up his face.

She balled her hands into fists at her side. Did he seriously not understand what he did was wrong? "You don't know that woman. You don't know what she might do to him."

He started laughing. It made her want to slap his face.

"Oh, I've got an idea, and it's something he needs. Why are you acting like this? The room is ours for tonight." He stepped toward her with a softened expression.

She was in no mood for any of it and moved back, crossing her arms. "Don't even think about it."

"What the fuck!" Will's face flooded with red again. "Are you seriously pissed off because I made sure he got laid for his birthday?"

"Yes. No. Damn it." She took a deep breath. She was too livid, she couldn't think straight. "I'm not talking about that. Well I am, but not the way you just..." She stopped and squeezed her arms.

"What the fuck are you saying? You sound crazy." His heavy steps thundered on the carpet on the way to the mini fridge.

"I sound crazy?" She heard him open a beer behind her. Hadn't he had enough to drink at the damn bar? When Will had admitted he'd orchestrated the entire scenario with Ander, she'd lost it. He didn't seem to think he'd done anything wrong, and that she was the problem. She moved to Ander's bed and sank down. Maybe she did sound crazy.

"We're not gonna have sex, are we?" Will asked in a bitter tone.

She turned to him in disbelief.

"Fucking fantastic, all that work for nothing." The vein on his neck throbbed.

"No, we're not going to have sex." She averted her eyes. Crack. Maeve recognized that sound. Thunk. Thunk. She sighed. Great, he was back to breaking bottles because she'd upset him. She lowered her head into her hands.

"Are you gonna tell me why you think I'm an asshole?" Will asked from somewhere beside her.

"Where should I start? That woman went home with him because you made him seem like a charity case."

"He was having an off night. He wasn't gonna close the deal." Will attempted to defend his actions.

"Off night? Close the deal?" She shook her head. Perhaps she didn't want to have the conversation with Will.

"Yeah, he counts on me to get things done."

Maeve felt nauseous. Was it true? Was she the one that didn't get it? No. That didn't seem like Ander at all.

"Andy can be really shy and awkward. Sometimes he sucks at the social part of things. I'm good at that. I was helping. Probably shouldn't have gone for the pity fuck, but I wanted to get out of there because-"

"Because you thought we were going to have sex," she finished for him, but didn't look at him.

"Yeah," he replied in a tone that suggested regret.

"Do you have any idea how demeaning that is? If Ander had been sober, he would've been mortified."

"Hopefully, she won't say anything that'll set him off," Will mumbled.

Maeve snapped her head up. He sat across from her on his bed, his expression reflective.

"Do you mean so he knows you purposely got him drunk and had some strange woman bed him out of pity?"

His jaw tightened before he nodded.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You always treat him like less than you, below you somehow."

"I don't do that." Will's eyes deepened into charcoal grey.

"Yeah, you do. You can't see it, but I do and so does he. Look at what you did tonight. He's second to you, your needs. He has to be subordinate to you-"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Fury made the violence creep to the front of his eyes.

"Yeah, I do. It's the way things have always been. You're in charge-"

"My rank is higher," he replied with a set jaw.

"I'm not talking about the missions," she snapped. "You don't get how much your opinion matters to him. He always looks to you for approval or guidance. He always puts you first, remembering what you like or don't like, how you want things."

Will shifted his position but didn't reply.

"You're everything to him. He never knew his parents, he had no one but you-"

"That's not true," he cut her off.

"No one that mattered to him the way you do," she corrected her statement. "You had your father, memories of your mother-"

"Don't talk about my parents." Will bared his teeth, but spoke in an unusually calm voice.

"The point is, even if he didn't want to go home with that woman, he was going to because you wanted him to. He had no interest in going to any bars, but he went because you wanted him to. He did that for you, not himself. Maybe he wants to be with random women and needs you to help him by being his wingman, but what you did tonight wasn't that. What you did was force your will on him because you wanted me," she told him in a heavy tone.

All irritation melted away from his features as she spoke. His tone had shifted and was reflective. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Talk to me. We could've come up with a different solution," she said as her ire dissolved. Under the anger was something much worse — disappointment. She was disappointed in both of them for their choices.

Will flopped back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. "Fucking talking is gonna be the death of me," he told the ceiling.