Altering the Plans Ch. 01

"Shut the fuck up, Maya. You know better than to make me mad."

Maya paled but then drew herself up. "That's it. We're done, and I'm leaving." She spun on her heel and walked out.

Toby wanted to applaud.

Dean slammed his hand on the counter and pointed a finger at Krista, and for a minute Toby feared his sister might bite it off.

"I am going to get her, and then I am coming back, and you will do my fucking tattoo." He glared. "Bitch."

"Enough." Toby pushed off the wall and came over to stand next to his sister. "I don't care who you are, Dean, or who you know. Get out of our shop. Don't come back."

"You will both be very sorry." Dean wanted a mic-drop moment, Toby was sure, but didn't get it and settled for a vague threat. They watched while he stormed out.

"What an—" Krista began.

"Asshole," Toby finished. "Yeah, he definitely was."

"You should go after the girl," Krista said as she turned to the computer. "Maya."

"What? What are you talking about?" Toby stared at her.

"You liked her. That guy's a jerk, and I figure he's likely to get physical when he's angry. You should go get her."

"Right. First off, I don't know if I like her." He did but he wasn't admitting it to Krista. "Second, I'm not sure she'd be thrilled for a stranger to chase her down. I know you want me to get a girlfriend, Kris, but even I know this isn't the way to go about it." He turned to go back to his sketchbook, but paused. Maybe Krista had a point; the guy had been pretty angry.

"You do like her, I saw it, but you're right." Krista pondered the situation, twisting a lock of light blond hair around her finger. "I'll go."

"What?" Toby jerked around. "No, you're fucking not. Don't be ridiculous."

They were interrupted when Jackson Park, the third tattoo artist at Chandler Designs, came out front. His client, a man who'd come for some work on his arm, shook hands with Jackson, nodded at the others, and left.

"Who's being ridiculous?" asked Jackson.

"Krista," Toby said.

"I am not," she said, and brought Jackson up to speed on what had happened. "I didn't like that guy, and you didn't either, Toby, you know it."

"I'm not denying that." He was starting to feel uneasy. Maybe she was right. Dean had seemed to have a temper, and even after just those few minutes, it was easy to imagine him getting physical with Maya. Toby didn't like to think about that. Damn it, he should go after her.

"But you're right that you can't go after her, and Jackson can't either. You'll both probably scare her. So that leaves me." Krista nodded. "I'll be back."

"Look, I'll go with you," Toby said. "I don't want that guy getting physical, and if you're there maybe I won't scare her too much."

"Toby, that guy does not scare me." Krista gave him an arch look.

"I know. I'm worried what you'll do to him."

"It might—" Krista started, but the door chimed and to everyone's surprise, Maya ran inside.

"I'm sorry," she said, a little breathless. "I was here a few minutes ago. Do you have a back room or something? Please. I need to hide." She took a few breaths and darted a look behind her. "Shit," she whispered with a pleading look at Krista. "He's coming."

"Here, sweetie. Quick." Krista took Maya's arm and led her to their breakroom.

Toby watched them go, then stood watching the door, glad they didn't have any customers at the moment. Jackson came and leaned on the counter.

"Should I call the cops?" Jackson asked.

"No, not yet. There's nothing to call about." Toby felt a little jolt of adrenaline as he waited for the confrontation. On one level, he didn't want to come to blows with a stranger. On another, he couldn't say he'd mind punching this particular guy. He decided not to think about why he felt so protective of a woman he hadn't even officially met.

Dean punched the door open and stalked up to the counter. "Where the hell is she?"

"Can I help you?" Toby asked, keeping his voice bland. Jackson stifled a grin.

"Cut the crap," said Dean. "Where is she?"

"My sister is on break," said Toby.

"My sister's out of town," added Jackson, "in case you meant her."

"You think you're funny," Dean sneered. "Now, last time, where the fuck is she? Where is my girlfriend?"

"Ex-girlfriend, as I recall," said Toby.

"That's none of your goddamned business," Dean said, his voice rising.

"You made it my business when you threw a tantrum in my store."

"Fuck you. I know Maya came in here and she is coming home with me. So tell me where she is, dickhead."

"Nice," said Jackson. "That'll really work on him. Keep going."

"You stay out of it. It's none of your business," Dean shot back.

"If you don't want people in your business, then don't conduct it in public," said Jackson. "I mean, that's just common sense."

"You a cop?" asked Toby. "Got a warrant?"

Dean glared at him.

"Yeah, I didn't think so." Toby leaned into the other man's space and Dean jerked back as he had with Krista. "As I recall, she broke up with you, so she's not your girlfriend. Get the fuck out of my store, and don't come back. And before you think about going on some macho rampage, be advised we have security cameras recording everything."

"Plus I'm a witness," Jackson said. "So I'm thinking you'd better leave." He turned to Toby. "I think I'll call the cops after all. Just to check in, you know."

"Sure, say hi for me," said Toby, his eyes never leaving Dean.

"You are in so much fucking trouble," Dean said. "This is not over and you will be sorry."

"Get out," Toby said.

Dean glared and spun around, yanking the door open and muttering to himself as he stomped away.

"Well, that was fun," said Jackson. "I'm going to get some coffee. Want anything?"

"No thanks."

"Okay." Jackson nodded and left.

I, thought Toby, am going to find out what the hell is going on.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Maya sat in the breakroom, fidgeting with the water bottle the other woman had given her. God, how had she let all this happen, she thought as she tried to get a grip on herself.

"Hey, sweetie. I'm Krista. You're Maya, right?" Krista sat down and smiled. Her height—she had to be close to six feet and being slim, seemed taller—along with her long, light blue hair, tattoos and black t-shirt and jeans should have made her intimidating, but her demeanor was the opposite. Maya liked her.

"Yeah. Maya Stone." She twisted the cap off the bottle, then back on. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—I don't—oh, crap." Maya put the bottle down and covered her face with her hands. Stop it, she told herself. Get it together. It's your mess, you have to clean it up.

"It's all right, Maya." Krista patted her shoulder. "It's fine. I'm kind of worried about you, though. Here." She handed Maya an ice pack. "Put this on your face. You don't have to tell me, but what's going on? Maybe we can help."

"I appreciate the offer," said Maya, "but I don't think you can. It's my fault. I've been an idiot." What was she going to do? She closed her eyes and placed the cold pack against her cheek, where Dean had slapped her before she'd managed to get away from him.

"You're no idiot," Krista said firmly. "Trust me, I can tell. I promise, nothing you tell me leaves this room unless you want it to. I'm good at keeping confidences. I won't even tell my brother, no matter how much he nags."

"Okay." Maya sighed. "What have I got to lose?" She took a drink of the water while marshaling her thoughts, and jumped when she heard the door chime in the other room.

"It's all right," Krista assured her. "My brother and Jackson are out there, and I locked this door. Go on."

"Yeah. Okay." Maya took a deep breath. "I moved here a little while ago because I had a line on a new job. Dean had moved here a bit before that, and we'd been long-distance for a while. He wasn't the main reason I came, but it was a plus, you know? At least I thought so."

Krista nodded.

"Anyway, I got here and the job didn't pan out. It wasn't working out with Dean either. Jesus, I can't believe I didn't see it earlier."

"Sometimes things aren't clear right away, but it doesn't mean you did anything wrong," Krista told her. "When you aren't expecting something, it's harder to see it."

"Yeah, I think you're right." Maya nodded. "Anyway, I was going to break up with him this morning and he suggested we come down town and walk. I thought good, it'll be in public, he won't make a scene, all of that. Then he starts talking about tattoos and next thing I know, we're walking in here." She rubbed her temples.

"It's all right," said Krista.

"I'm sorry he was so awful." Maya said, then cringed again when she heard raised voices.

Krista laid a hand on Maya's arm. "Don't apologize for him, it's not your fault. And don't worry, we're not letting him anywhere near you."

Maya smiled and wiped at her eyes. "You don't even know me."

"Sure, I do," said Krista. "You're brave, and strong. You moved and even though you were scared, you dumped the only person you know in town so you could get to a better place. It takes guts to do that."

"It doesn't feel like it," Maya said. "It feels like I finally wised up after too long."

"It might feel like that, but it doesn't mean you aren't brave, and it doesn't make it all mean any less. Give it a while, you'll see."

Maya sighed. "I hope so." She jumped at a knock on the door.

"Krista, it's me. Open up. He's gone."

Krista opened the door and Maya tensed as a tall, lanky man walked in. She recognized him from before. She realized he probably wasn't as big as she thought; she was scared and sitting down, and that made for a skewed perspective. However, he was taller than Krista, and then there were the tattoos, faded t-shirt and blue jeans. He didn't have Krista's easy demeanor, though there was a physical resemblance. This must be Krista's brother.

He was handsome, and she could imagine the crooked grin he'd have when he found something funny, but nothing was funny at the moment. Maya shrank back in the chair as he stared at her.

"Hey, Toby. Everything ok?" Krista asked.

"Yeah. He's a lot of hot air and we took it out of him."

Krista snorted. "I don't suppose you mean that literally. Oh well, one can dream. Toby, this is Maya Stone. Maya, this is my brother, Toby Chandler."

"Hi." Maya tried to ignore her feeling of intimidation.

"Hi. What's with the ice pack?"

It seemed Krista had the tact in the family, Maya noted, but Toby deserved a response. She cleared her throat and made herself answer. "Dean hit me." Maya realized she needed to say it, to make herself face what had happened and not rationalize it away.

Toby's face darkened. "He did?"

Krista turned to her brother. "Don't, Toby. He's a jerk, and I'd like to take a piece out of his scrawny ass myself, but this isn't about us." She cast a look at Maya. "Don't mind him, he's always had a protective streak. He'll settle down."

Toby relaxed a little and looked slightly abashed. Maya couldn't help a small smile at Krista's remark, and her brother's reaction. It was a relief to have someone on her side, even if she'd just met them.

However, even with a couple of new allies, Maya knew she had to find a way to handle this, because she couldn't rely on someone doing it for her. It had been her idea to come seek her fortune in the big city, as Allie had said, and she would have to deal with the fallout.

In that moment, Maya realized that she had no job, no car, nowhere to live, and not a lot of money, not to mention all of her stuff was at Dean's house. Now that she'd had a moment to think about what she'd done, she felt as though she'd made a huge mistake. Not leaving Dean—she should have done that ages ago—but that she should have done it on her own terms, the night before, as Allie had said.

Oh god, she thought. What am I going to do?

Maya bent her head and covered her eyes so the others wouldn't see the tears building up. They'd already done so much to help her, she didn't want them to have to tend to an emotional wreck as well.

"What's wrong?" Toby said sharply.

He sounded angry, and no wonder. She'd come in to his place of business, argued with her boyfriend, run away and then run back, and asked them to hide her. Then her boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, she reminded herself—had followed her and there'd been some kind of confrontation. Surely that had not put him in a good mood.

Jesus, she felt like she was going to hyperventilate, and Toby's icy glare wasn't helping matters.

x-x-x-x-x-x

"Back off, Toby." Krista jabbed a finger at her brother's chest. "You're scaring her."

"What? No, I'm not." Toby rubbed where she'd poked him, wondering if her long nails had drawn blood. Krista gave him a look and tilted her head in Maya's direction.

Toby saw Maya and took her in: small, trembling, and trying to calm herself down. Krista was right, and he felt terrible. He hadn't meant to scare the woman, but he was off-kilter. The intensity of his feelings, even though they'd just met, was unsettling.

Krista nudged him and indicated he should go over to Maya. He gave her a questioning look, and she just sighed and shook her head and nudged him again. He shrugged in surrender and sat down across the table, making sure to leave space so Maya didn't feel threatened.

He cleared his throat. Maya's breathing started to even out, but she didn't look at him. Krista gave him a frustrated look. Fine, he thought. Fine.

"Maya, I'm sorry," Toby said. He cleared his throat again. "I'm sorry if I scared you. Krista's right, this isn't your fault. If it helps, nothing happened. Dean came in but he was all talk. He acted tough, but when Jackson said he'd call the cops, Dean left. Really. It's okay."

She nodded, took a deep breath and at last, looked up. Toby met her eyes and felt everything in him shift for a second. Her eyes were brown with gold flecks, and he saw both bravery and vulnerability. He wanted to pull her against him and soothe the fear away.

What the hell? This whole thing was messed up. No woman had ever messed him up this much, this fast.

Maya took one last breath and let it out slowly. Toby realized he was watching her chest rise and fall and averted his eyes.

"Thank you. Thank you, both." Maya's voice was soft but grew stronger as she spoke. "I'm sorry to have caused you so much trouble. If you don't mind, I'll just take a few minutes to get myself together, and then I'll head out." She gave a weak smile. "It's been kind of a day."

"Where will you go?" asked Krista.

Toby saw Maya's calm crack slightly. She tried to speak, cleared her throat, tried again. "I don't know. I was staying with Dean, and obviously that's not happening anymore. Could you recommend a hotel?"

"No friends in town?" Toby kept his voice even, not wanting to scare her again.

"I haven't been here long enough to make friends," she said. "Anyone I know was Dean's friend."

"Then you can come with me," said Krista. Maya started to protest but Krista shook her head. "No, it's fine. I live with my friend, Lacey, and our other roommate just moved out. You can even have your own room, no need to crash on the couch."

"But I can't—I mean, I don't have a job. I can't pay rent, I can't—" Maya's voice caught.

"Worry about that later," Krista said. She came and sat next to Maya. "Take a breath. Look, you need some help right now. You need a place to stay, and I have one. This isn't the time to worry about payback. Right now, it's just a night or two on a couch."

"It's not that," said Maya. "It's—these are my problems. I should handle it myself. I shouldn't impose on you."

Toby exchanged a puzzled look with his sister, trying to figure out what to say next.

"I'm not trying to pile on," said Toby, "but you should listen to her. We'll help you get your stuff tomorrow." Where had that come from, he wondered, but continued, "You don't need to punish yourself just because your plans fell through. Sometimes it just happens that way. The best laid plans of mice and men, right?"

"He's right, for once," Krista said. "Give yourself a break, Maya. You've been through a lot. Take some time to process it, then you'll be able to figure out what to do next."

Maya nodded, much to Toby's relief. "Okay, you're right. There's no sense in making this any more difficult." She took Krista's hand. "But I will pay you back, and I won't impose."

A knock at the door interrupted Krista's reply.

"Hey, you guys in there? Everyone decent?" Jackson called through the door. After a beat, he said, "I'm going to empty the cash register, ok?"

"That's Jackson," Krista said and patted Maya's hand. "He's a goofball, but he's a good guy and an excellent tattoo artist."

Toby shook his head and stood up. "I'd better go make sure he doesn't actually empty the drawer. You know he'd do it just to mess with us."

"He would. Come on, let's go." Krista squeezed Maya's shoulder. "We'll get some dinner and get you settled for the night, okay?"

"Okay." Maya nodded and wiped at the corner of her eye. "Thanks. I appreciate it. I can't tell you how much." She cleared her throat. "I feel like Blanche DuBois, relying on the kindness of strangers."

"It's good. Keeps her out of trouble," said Toby, and was pleased when Maya's smile grew a little stronger.

They stepped out into the shop and Jackson looked up. "Everything okay?" he asked.

"We're good," said Toby.

"I'm going to take Maya back to my place," said Krista. "Tomorrow, if you're up for it, we'll get your stuff, okay?" She glanced at Maya, who nodded.

"We'll come with you," said Toby.

"Absolutely," Jackson agreed. "By the way, I'm Jackson."

"I'm Maya. Nice to meet you. Thanks for your help." She turned to Krista. "What about your shop? You must have appointments or something tomorrow."

"Don't worry about it," said Toby, more forcefully than he intended. Maya stepped back, and Krista glared at him. He sighed. "What I mean is, ah, we open at eleven tomorrow and I don't think we have any appointments until the afternoon."

"It'll be fine," Krista assured Maya. "Ashlee can cover for me at the counter, I don't have any appointments, and if we had to open later, it wouldn't be a problem. No, it's fine," she said as Maya started to protest. "It wouldn't be the first time we opened late. Toby oversleeps a lot."

"One time," Toby said. "One time." He looked at Jackson for help; his friend shook his head. "Okay," Toby conceded. "Maybe twice."

"Maybe twice last month," Krista said.

Toby sighed. He knew when he was beaten. "Fine. Go on, Krista. We can handle it for the rest of the day."

"All right. Come on, Maya. Let me get my stuff and I'll take you to my place. You can meet Lacey, and then the three of us will have a fun evening. You deserve some fun."

After they'd left, Toby turned to Jackson. "Well, that was a hell of a day."

"It was. And what have I gotten myself into?" Jackson asked. "Since I've volunteered to help this stranger reclaim her belongings."

"I don't know." Toby sighed. "I guess we'll find out."

x-x-x-x-x-x

Sitting on the floor that evening with Krista and her roommate Lacey Carmichael, sharing some pizza, Maya tried to relax a little. They'd both been friendly and helpful, and while she worried about repaying them, Krista was right. Maya needed help, they had offered, and the important point would be to repay when she could. In the meantime, she'd keep her back straight, her chin up, and impose as little as possible.

"Maya, I don't mean to pry, but had he ever hit you before?" Lacey asked.

Maya had liked Lacey right off. Lacey was the opposite of Krista in many ways: dark hair, caramel skin, far fewer tattoos, and closer to Maya's height, but still taller. Which, Maya thought wryly, wasn't hard. Differences aside, the women clearly had a tight bond, and shared a manner that made Maya feel both liked and cared about. She wasn't sure she could remember the last time she'd felt like that; perhaps a visit with her father.