~ đź–¤
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The storm was still raging when the knock came again — louder this time.
Desperate. Furious.
Maya jolted upright, Elias's body still tangled with hers beneath the sheets. Her skin was slick with sweat, her lips swollen from the way he'd kissed her — claimed her — over and over again like she was the only thing keeping him alive.
But that knock… it cut through the fog.
> "Maya!"
Her heart twisted.
Jax.
Elias sat up, instantly alert. His jaw clenched as he grabbed the discarded hoodie and threw it on, shielding the bruises he'd left on her neck and chest. But nothing could hide the tension in his muscles. The possessiveness in his eyes.
> "Don't open it," he growled.
> "I have to," she whispered.
> "Why? So he can tear you down for something we both wanted?"
She slid off the bed, shaky but determined. "Because I owe him the truth."
Elias swore under his breath, fists clenched.
Maya stepped into her room, pulling on jeans and a long shirt — hiding the war on her skin, even though it still throbbed. When she opened the front door, rain slashed through the air, and Jax was standing in it, soaked to the bone.
And broken.
> "You didn't answer," he said tightly.
> "I was—"
> "Don't lie to me."
His eyes dropped to her throat. The bruises. The faint marks of lips and teeth. His face contorted into something ugly.
> "He's still here, isn't he?"
She didn't answer.
> "I loved you," Jax said, stepping forward. "Even when you blamed yourself. Even when you hated yourself. I chose you. But you—"
> "You loved Mira," Maya cut in, voice sharp.
That stopped him.
> "Don't pretend you didn't," she continued, stepping into the rain, her bare feet splashing against the steps. "You were obsessed with her. Just like he was. Just like I was."
> "She manipulated us," Jax snapped.
> "She manipulated me the most. And now she's gone and you're still holding me to a ghost I'll never be."
> "And Elias?" he asked. "What is he to you?"
Maya hesitated.
Behind her, the door creaked — Elias stepping into the doorway, silent and deadly, rain soaking into his dark clothes.
> "Get out of here," he warned.
> "You think you're better than me?" Jax snapped. "You think you can bury what you did with sex and control and bruises?"
> "I never pretended to be a savior," Elias replied. "I just stopped hiding the monster."
> "And you," Jax turned to Maya, hurt slicing across his features, "you let him ruin you."
> "No," she said softly.
She stepped forward, brushing wet hair from her face.
> "I let you all ruin me. Mira. You. Elias. And I'm done pretending I didn't break too."
Lightning cracked behind her. Her voice rose above the wind.
> "I love the darkness in him… because it finally made me stop pretending I was made of light."
Jax's face crumbled.
He didn't speak.
He just turned, fists clenched, and walked back into the storm.
Maya stood there in the rain, her chest heaving.
Elias stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
> "You didn't have to explain anything."
> "I did. For me."
> "Are you okay?"
> "No. But I don't want to be okay anymore."
She turned in his arms and kissed him — raw, fierce, messy.
He kissed her back like the world was ending.
And maybe it was.
Because everything else — guilt, shame, grief — had been stripped away.
There was only this now.
Her. Him.
And the wreckage they didn't bother to escape from.
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