As I Once Knew

Chapter 9

Lydia

The house was quiet, as I walked down the stairs, the sun still hiding behind the horizon line. The wooden floor was cold against my bare feet as I padded into the kitchen. I rub my eyes, a yawn escaping as I round the corner. A pause, taking in Mavericks large form as he leans over the breakfast bar, a pencil in his hand as he draws on the white paper of a sketchbook.

"It's awfully early for you to be up, Sweet Girl." Mavericks deep voice startles me from my trance. A blush creeps up my neck, and I glance at my bare feet. The shuffling of papers causes me to look up, as Maverick closes his sketchbook, turning in his chair to look at me, a small smile on his face.

"I could say the same for you," I smile back, walking towards the fancy coffee pot in the corner of the kitchen. Mavericks eyes are on me as I grab a cup, and place it under the machine. I press a few buttons and it whirs to life, grinding coffee beans, and pulling two shots of espresso into the cup.

"I'm always up early, a habit I never kicked from when I was in the service," Mav shrugs, his gaze following me as I grab milk from the fridge.

"You were Military?" I ask, pouring milk into the cup, before finding the vanilla syrup and pouring some in.

"I was a Marine corp sniper, until I was discharged when I lost sight in my left eye." Mav crosses his arms across his chest, I pause the cup halfway to my lips and set it back down.

"Wow, I had no clue, I thought you would've been like Kai following your parents or whatever."

"Ah no, my parents were small town dairy farmers their whole lives. I loved them, but it just wasn't my thing, I joined the marines as soon as I could to get out of there. Nothing against my parents, I love them dearly, I visit when I can. But I needed to be a part of something bigger."

I take a sip of my coffee, "understandable, it must've felt nice to be a part of something like that."

Maverick pulls a chair out next to him and motions for me to sit, "yeah it was...."  I watch as something dark crosses his face.

"I'm sorry.. About your eye." I put my hand over his, my hand dwarfed by his.

"It's okay, I wouldn't take it back if I had the chance, my eye isn't worth the lives I saved that day." Mav places his other hand on top of mine, sandwiching it between his.

"What happened? I mean.. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." I squeeze his hand, and Maverick lets out a sigh, before pulling one hand from mine and running it through his hair.

"I was in Afghanistan, we were on an evacuation mission getting locals out. I was getting a family out, a small girl, her mother and her brother when a guy rushed into the house. He charged at me with a knife and I was knocked off balance, I should've been more prepared. But he went after the little girl, she looked so scared, my gun had been knocked across the room. I knew I wouldn't be able to grab it before he got to her so I jumped on him. When he swung back to knock me off his knife caught my eye. I was able to subdue him and the family fled. But i passed out from blood loss and pain, i don't know what happened after that, just that i woke up in the hospital. They told me they managed to save my eye, but not without total loss of vision. The next people in told me they were honorably discharging me, and when I was well enough they would be sending me home." My heart ached for this man, he selflessly put his own life in danger to save a stranger. Many people will probably argue that he was just doing his job, which he was. But it was the look in his honey colored eye that got to me. The way he looked as if it physically pained him to not be out there helping people anymore.

"You were very brave." I lean my head against his large bicep, his free hand coming to rest on top of my head.

"I'd do it again... Anyway, after I got home, I was lost. I didn't know what to do with my life anymore, so I started street fighting. I was so angry all the time. I felt like the one thing that I was good at was taken from me. The difference I could make was ripped from my grasp. That's where Kai found me, I remember the day Kai approached me. I had just won a fight, I collected my winnings and gave them to a family that was sitting outside the warehouse where the fight took place. It wasn't much, a few thousand, but it made a world of difference for them." He runs his hand down my hair and trails his fingers along my arm leaving goosebumps in his wake.