Loving Maverick

A Surprise For The Books

“Mr. Singh!” 

The voice that followed the clinking sound of his cell opening, brought Maverick out of his sleep. He looked up to see the officer standing there with an exhausted and yet brow raised distrustful look on his face.

With a sigh, Maverick stood from where he sat and walked toward the exit of the jail cell. When the officer moved to the side, Maverick walked past him.

“You rich kids get away with everything.” He heard the officer say as he walked past. 

He couldn’t help but pause and look at the man; he couldn’t believe what this man-that did not know him said. “I work for every penny I have, officer,” He looked at his badge. “Hendricks.” He sized the officer up. “I was raised to respect women and when I see one in trouble, I tried to help-”

“Against her will?” The officer sarcastically said. 

“I’d rather not wait until she’s r***d by two drunk men.” He hissed and pushed past the guy. “Have a good day officer, Hendricks.” He sarcastically said. 

When he walked into the general area of the police department and saw his father standing there with a curious and seemingly livid expression on his face.

Maverick rolled his eyes as he recognized the look on his father’s face. “Look, I can explain-”

“What in the world were you doing last night, Mav?!” He incredulously asked. “Picked up for attempted k********g and assault?”

“Dad, it wasn’t like that-wasn’t like that at all.” He said.

“Well then-” When Abhimanyu realized that he was raising his voice and causing attention, he consciously  looked around to see that he was sort of making a scene. He gestured for his son to follow him out of the police precinct. When they were standing in front of Abhu’s wide body, royal blue benz, he finally confronted his son again. “What happened, Maverick Singh?” 

Maverick hated when his father tried to confront him with his full government. He looked around to see if anyone heard him before he answered. 

“She was drunk and leaving the bar at 0200 and-”

“You mean...two o’clock?” Abhu stated.

Maverick gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw. “Yea. She left the club and she was tipsy. Two guys followed her out and started to harass her. I assessed the situation until I recognized that she was in potential danger and so, I acted.” 

“By beating up inebriated men an-”

“Two drunk pieces of scum, you mean?” Maverick hissed. “They were harassing her, dad? Had I not intervened then-”

“I am not saying that you should not have intervened, Maverick.” Abhimanyu said. “But there’s a way to handle situations-”

“Dad, I don’t need this right now.” He walked away from his father, deciding that he would just take a long walk home instead of taking a ride from his father. Then Abhimanyu grabbed his arm.

“Apparently, you do.” Abhu said. “I understand that readjusting to civilian life is hard for you, but what you need to understand is that you are not on the battlefield anymore, son. You are a rising executive of Maverick Industries; and my son!” He exclaimed. “So get yourself together!”

Maverick was so angry with the way that his father spoke to him but he was conditioned to respect his superiors-even when he felt that they were in the wrong. And his father raised him to respect his parents before anything else.

“Yeah, yes sir.” He finally replied and when Abhimanyu finally let him go, he started to walk away.

“Don’t you want a ride?” His father asked. “You should really at least try and get yourself together before you go to work.”

“I’m fine, dad. I’ve been through worse.” He countered. “And I think I’ll walk home.” Maverick said.

“Maverick, it’s a long walk home-”

“Then I’ll run.” He said and started in a military jog all the way back to the house.

“Mav-” Abhimanyu started to say when he realized that there was no point. His son was upset and he wasn’t in the mood to talk. So, he decided that he’d just let him be.

“Why oh why, did I let her convince me to go out on the daghty before I have to meet my new boss?” She hissed as she looked into the mirror.

Stevie was having a full on conniption at the moment. Her head was still throbbing and her stomach was turning in knots. She only wished that she didn’t remember what happened the night before. 

She remembered being effortlessly lifted over some big and brawny man’s shoulders after he saved her from two drunk bozos. She also remembered screaming like a buffoon as if the man wasn’t doing her a solid by forcing her not to walk home alone after what just happened. She was so ashamed as she thought about how inappropriately she acted at that moment.

Of course, her mother didn’t see it that way when she rushed to the station to pick Stevie up. She could have called Kacey but was so upset with her after their little spat at the club that night that she decided that she’d rather deal with her mother’s overwhelming concern than talk to her. And boy was her mother, overwhelmingly concerned!

She prattled on for an hour on whether Stevie remembered being inappropriately touched by the stranger; even after Stevie told her that she wasn’t. She even went as far as to ask if Stevie wanted to press charges against the guy.

Stevie was so relieved when her mother finally left and went home; and after the fact, she tried to sleep for a couple of hours.

Fortunately, her meeting wasn’t until around noon anyway and her mother picked her up at around seven that morning so she had the time-or at least that was what she thought. Calista, her mother, talked her head off for another hour and a half after she dropped her off before she finally decided to go home.

Just the simple thought of the ordeal leading up to that moment seemed to intensify Stevie’s hangover.

“Okay, Stevie.” She said to herself. “Get it together.” 

It was half past ten and she had to be at Maverick Industries at five minutes after twelve-which really meant that she had to be there at eleven forty-five. The crunching of numbers and time in her head was making her nauseous.

“Take a deep breath, Stevie.” She exhaled. “Oh what I wouldn’t give to be under a car right now.” She muttered as she stepped into the shower. “Life is so much simpler under a car.”

After she got out of the shower, Stevie rushed into her room and put on a pair of black boyshorts and a deep purple lace bra. She walked past her mirror and started to hesitate so that she could linger and observe herself, but she wasn’t really fond of mirrors. Why she had one in the first place was beyond her. She ended up walking away and grabbing the clothes that she had placed out for herself.

The skirt that she chose was a simple dark gray; and when she put it on, she realized that it was a tinge tighter than she originally thought it to be.

“Oh, god!” She exclaimed stressfully. She didn’t own much in the way of business clothing and in that moment was reminded that she should definitely go shopping later.

She then grabbed a plum colored top that could probably be considered only a little inappropriate. She then grabbed the jacket top that matched the skirt and attempted to button it all the way up but of course, it only reached below her ample breast. 

“Things just keep getting worse, huh?” She muttered to herself and rolled her eyes. 

With a sigh, she headed to her closet and grabbed a pair of plum colored platform pumps-yes, platform. They were quite classy to her-or at least as classy as she had.

She then went into the bathroom, where only the top of her body could be seen. There wasn’t ample cleavage but there was certainly enough where she didn’t know if it could be considered, showing too much.

“There you go, thinking too much, Stevie.” She looked at the clock on her phone to see that it was fifteen after eleven. She cursed under her breath before quickly brushing her hair up into a bun. Yes, it was messy but it would just have to do. She didn’t want to be late, after all.

She put on a little lipstick and grabbed a pair of studded earrings, her glasses, and rushed out of the house.

When she finally arrived in front Maverick Industries, her heart began to beat even more rapidly than before. “Here goes.”

She started for the building when her phone rang. She pulled her phone from her little case to see who it could have been that was calling her. It was Kacey. With an annoyed sigh, Stevie rolled her eyes and ignored the call, placing it on silent before rushing into the building.

Upon arriving at the desk, Stevie felt a stray strand of hair fall across her eye; and by the look on her face, Stevie could only imagine how flustered she looked. Suddenly, she was timid.

“Hi, how are you?” Stevie sheepishly and breathlessly asked.

“How can I help you?” The girl said, cutting right to the point. 

Rude, Stevie thought as she attempted to respond with a smile. “I’m here for an appointment to meet Maverick Singh.” 

“Mav-Maverick Singh?” The girl asked.

Stevie was starting to lose patience. “That’s what I said.”

She looked at her with an almost confused expression. “Top floor-office on the end.”

“Thanks.” Stevie dryly said and hurried off and up the elevator. “Stupid….” Her voice trailed off as she thought about how blatantly rude the girl was.

When she reached the top floor, she looked at her phone to see that it was almost noon. She then rushed down the hall to find the office, when she suddenly was knocked into by someone.

“Oh, I so apologize, young lady.” The man said.

Stevie grabbed her case, taking a deep breath as she did. “No, no-it’s okay, sir I-” As she looked up, she saw the large hand of a tall and equally large older man staring down at her with a sympathetic smile on his face.

He was immensely handsome and painfully familiar looking around the eyes. “I didn’t see you there.” He said. “I was in a rush-always am.” He pulled her up from the floor effortlessly.

“Uh yeah-no-no sir, it’s fine.” She gulped.

“Can I help you with something?” He asked.

“I-well I’m here for the assist-assistant position.” She staggeringly said. Something about this man was painfully familiar.

“Ah! Then you must be here for my son.” The man smiled. “Come, I’ll show you to his office.” He said with a hint of excitement. “He’s just finishing up a meeting with a potential client.”

“Uh, thank you, sir.”

As they headed to the office, she noticed the man-who she assumed was more than likely the CEO of the place, stare at her every now and again.

When Stevie finally looked his way, he chuckled lightly. “I apologize for my rude stares, but I feel like I know you from somewhere.” He said.

“Not...that I know of.” Stevie answered.

“Hm.” He replied. “Maybe you’re right.” He replied as they approached the open door of his son’s office. “Maybe you...just have one of those lovely faces that everyone wishes they knew.”

Stevie chuckled timidly. “Thank you, sir.” She smiled.

The man opened the door. “After you.” He said. Stevie smiled and nodded a shy thank you before entering the office. “Son, you have a lovely young lady here to meet you.”

“Oh, is that right?” The deep voice said. 

No sooner, Stevie heard the voice, she became imbalanced and her stomach began to turn in knots. Why was that voice so familiar?

The guy was even larger and taller than his father was when he stood from his desk. She could see the tattoos peeking from the collar of his shirt on the back of his neck.

He turned around with a small smile on his face. “It’s nice to meet you….” His words slowed before tapering off as he looked at the girl that was standing there.

Immediately, Stevie’s stomach flipped and her heart dropped when she saw his expression. She knew it! It was him! The guy that saved her life the night before! The same one that she got arrested! He was her boss!