Princess & the Player

nine: when the saints

Marco's POV:

The irony was that I had no plan. Call me a sexist hypocrite but I was winging it in the parking lot with Maggie. 

I hadn't even really admitted to myself where I was going when I'd headed in the wrong direction out of town. Or picked up an iPhone charger at the gas station.

But there she was, sitting next to me in the truck.

Looking hot as hell in Daisy Dukes and a tight t-shirt.

I glanced at her again and tried to get my shit together in my mind.

Upside, that feeling of doom was gone. Since Friday night, a thousand images had popped in my mind of Maggie getting hurt.

Downside, uh...

I needed a cold drink.

I pulled us into a diner and cut the engine. She followed me in. Finest grease in town; it had healed me from everything from hangovers to all-nighters over the last four years.

She picked the cheapest thing off the menu.

"Just order what you want," I could hear her stomach rumbling from my side of the booth.

"I have money. It's fine."

"Call it a birthday gift."

"You already got me a charger. And a trip practically across the country."

I raised an eyebrow. "Maggie, you're on your own at 18. Save your pennies, trust me."

"I can't let a guy..."

I raised both eyebrows.

"Marco," she sighed. "I can't be my mom."

"Like, how?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"I can't take advantage."

"Yeah, I don't know what that means. Explain it to me." 

"I'm not letting a guy buy me breakfast because he wants to get into my pants." She immediately blushed and grabbed her water.

Jesus. Way to make me sound like a pervert. "For the record, I don't buy dates eggs and grits as foreplay. Or quid pro quo."

"Sorry," she chewed her lip. "I just don't want to feel like..."

"You can't say no?"

Maggie nodded.

"Excuse me, but I'm the one who explained consent to you. Pretty sure you're safe there."

"It doesn't feel right."

"I respect that. You buy your own breakfast. And when the time comes, you make the first move. Fair?"

She coughed her water down her chin.

I couldn't help it, I cracked up like a madman. Scared half the customers.

She mopped up furiously and glared at me, "Who says I want you anyway?" 

I stared. Maggie blushed. 

"Make you a deal. You buy my breakfast, too, and I'll get your phone re-activated."

"Uh," she looked startled.

Shit, I was startled, too. Did that just come out of my mouth? OK, think. Details! "Just for a month. Until you land on your feet. I've got an unlimited plan."

"You do?"

"Yeah."

"For real? Not like..."

"I'm not that generous, trust me. I don't even lend shirts, remember?"

She cocked her head and decided I was telling the truth. "But..."

"What?"

"I want to stop at Jacob's place. See Jeb and Laurie."

I really didn't want to walk into whatever situation was playing out. But I remembered the way Maggie had taken her mother's shit rather than book out on her little brother and sister. 

She didn't look like she would take 'no' anyway.

Maggie hit the bathroom after we finished. I went next door and got her phone reactivated on my plan. It buzzed with like 100 incoming texts as soon as it went live. I saw Scottie's name flash a few times and realized I should call him.

"Santos?"

"Yeah, uh, look. I found Maggie."

"What? Say that again."

"She was working by Logan's."

"Holy shit. I didn't know. My father said she stayed with her mother."

"You know her mother's got a mean right and likes to use it on her kids?"

Scottie was quiet a long moment. "Damn. I mean...never in front of me...is Maggie OK? She hasn't responded to me since the night my dad took the kids."

"She just got her phone fixed."

"And you know this, how?"

"I just do. Look, Scottie-"

"OK, thanks," he cut me off. "Appreciate it. See you in the fall."

He hung up before I could explain.

10 seconds later, Maggie's phone began to ring in my left hand.

"You called him?"

I looked up and she was standing right in front of me. I held out her phone.

"Hi, JJ," she answered softly. "Yeah, I'm OK. Yeah. No, I skipped it. No, I've got enough. I do. New York. What? No, Albany. I got some family there, on the Helgen side. Yeah, I've got a ride. Well, he would of told you himself but I think you hung up too fast. Not up for discussion. All right. Yeah, bye." She disconnected and tucked her phone in her pocket.

"He's thrilled at the news," I guessed.

"Over the moon," she agreed.

"Helgen?"

"That's my name. Margaret Mary Helgen."

"What? Really?" I don't know why I was surprised; I knew she and Scottie had different parents.

"Yeah."

"Helgen. It sounds like werewolf tribe."

"It's Norwegian," Maggie pushed a pair of cheap pink sunglasses on her nose. "It means 'saint'."

Then she laughed at my surprise.

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The name thing was tons of fun. I love that they already have banter. And please, remember, if you see an error just tag me. I want to make this the best story I can. -bella