Enemies Living Under The Same Roof

Chapter 3.

Maya's POV.

I blinked.

Like my eyes were trying to reset my brain because there was no way those words just came out of his mouth.

"Sorry?" I muttered.

He stood up. Walked toward me.

I stepped back, my back hit the door. He kept coming, stopped inches away. His eyes searched my face like he was looking for something.

I didn't know what, I didn't know anything anymore.

"For this morning," he said. His voice was low and husky. "Pushing you out of the car. Making you walk." He paused. "That was... fucked up."

He was close, I could feel the heat coming off him. My heart was doing that thing again. The stupid thing.

I couldn't breathe, not because of fear this time. Because of something else. Something worse.

"It's fine," I whispered. I needed him to move, needed air. I needed to think straight. "Really. It's fine."

I reached for the door handle behind my back.

His hand caught my wrist.

"Wait."

I looked up. His face was right there. Inches. His breath on my lips.

"I'm not done."

And then his mouth was on mine.

My brain stopped, it went blank.

He was kissing me. Jaxson. My bully, he was kissing me.

I should push him. I should. But my hands... my hands were in his hair. When did that happen? When did my fingers tangle in that dark mess? When did I start kissing him back?

His hands found my waist. Pulled me closer. Then higher. His palm cupped my breast and I made a sound I'd never heard myself make before.

Something small, something desperate.

He broke the kiss. His forehead pressed to mine. His breathing was ragged.

"Say you want more." His voice was rough. "Say it."

I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but feel. The heat of him. The hardness of his chest. The way his thumb moved against my right nipple.

"Please," I whispered. I didn't know what I was begging for.

“Please what?” he asked, his voice low and husky.

“Please kiss me,” I replied, pulling him closer.

His lips found my neck.

I tilted my head back and let him. My hands gripped his hair, pulling him closer, needing more.

An alarm blared, ruining everything.

Jaxson jerked back like he'd been burned. He stared at me. His eyes were wild.

"Shit." He ran a hand through his hair. "Shit. I have somewhere to be."

He grabbed his bag. His jacket. Didn't look at me.

The door slammed.

I stood there, pressed against the door. My lips tingled, my chest heaved, my whole body was on fire.

I touched my mouth with shaking fingers.

He kissed me, Jaxson kissed me.

And I kissed him back.

I don't remember walking back to my room. One moment I was against his door, the next I was sitting on my bed, touching my lips like they belonged to someone else.

I pressed my hands to my burning face. My world was interrupted when a knock came in.

"Maya." The butler. "A word."

I opened the door. He stood there.

"The child you'll be babysitting arrives next week. Chelsea. She's ten. Young master's sister."

Sister? Jaxson had a sister?

"Where is she now?" I asked.

"With Mr. Richard. They're visiting family." He paused. "You won't interact with her until they return. Questions?"

I had so many questions. About Jaxson's mother. About why no one mentioned her. About why this house felt so empty for such a big family.

"No," I said.

He left.

I spent the rest of the day in my room. Staring at the ceiling. Touching my lips. Wondering.

Jaxson didn't come back that night. I knew because I listened. Because I hated that I listened. Because I caught myself waiting for footsteps that never came.

******

Morning came too fast.

The driver dropped me at the gate, Jaxson left earlier to school.

I pushed it open.

People were staring, a group of girls by the steps. Some guys near the basketball court. They looked at me and whispered.

One girl covered her mouth. Another shook her head with something like disgust.

I glanced down at my clothes. Same as always. Hand-me-down jeans. A sweater with a small hole near the cuff. Nothing new.

So why were they looking at me like that? I walked faster. Kept my eyes on the ground. I pushed open the classroom door.

Silence.

Every head turned. Every single person in that room stared with the same expression.

Disgust.

"There she is." Tiffany's voice cut through, "The desperate chick."

I frowned. "What?"

“I always knew you were pathetic." She stood up. Walked toward me. "But this? This is a new level. Even when he looks disgusted, you still cling to him?”

"I don't know what you're….."

She turned her phone around and my world stopped.

It was me!

Against a door, my hands in his hair, my lips moving against his. My voice, saying "please kiss me" over and over.

Begging, while Jaxson's face stayed cold, he did nothing. He just stood there and let me make a fool of myself.

But that's not what happened. I grabbed the phone. Tiffany let me.

The video was edited. He made it look like he was rejecting me, like I was some desperate, disgusting girl throwing herself at him while he tried to escape.

I scrolled through the comments under the video.

“Desperate.”

“Embarrassing.”

“Someone get her some self-respect.”

“Imagine begging like that and still getting rejected.”

Tiffany snatched her phone back. My vision blurred.

The bell rang.

Everyone moved to their seats, laughing and snickering, while my phone buzzed, messages from numbers I didn't know.

“Saw the video. Yikes.”

“Do you have no shame?”

“Delete yourself fr.”

I turned my phone off, and for the first time, I didn't tell myself not to cry.

Because what was the point?

Jaxson kissed me just to destroy me.