The day Xavier had found out about Tyler, he could still remember the stares, the whispers, his guts telling him something was awfully wrong yet he was the invincible for a reason, he had held his hand high and had strutted around the school hallways like he wasn't aware that the attention he reveled in usually was nothing compared to that day.
When he had gotten back from school and had seen a younger Tyler with a big smile on his face, still in his uniforms and waving at him, the alarms had gone off yet he had chosen to ignore it. He had rolled his eyes at Tyler and wondered what the wuss was doing in his house, especially when he noticed Jared who sat next to him fidgeting.
His sister had tears in her eyes as she held onto his mother while his bastard of a father, looked at her, dried-eyed and composed.
Before the words had left his father's smug mouth, before he had remorselessly told him he had a new brother, he could
Maya walked back home ignoring the strange look she got from both those in their car and pedestrians who held umbrellas but she didn't care as she enjoyed the water that wetted her hair and trickled down to her body making her gown stick to her skin. She coughed, aware of the cold she has invited into her body but still, she craved the liberating feeling the water gliding down her body offered. She walked as slowly as possible, allowing the water to soak her completely. She had left her phone in Jared's car and had assured him she would be fine. She knew he would have realized that was a big lie because her phone must be going off now with phone calls and texts by a worried Jasmine and Jessica. Her feet hurt reminding her of the distance she had walked, but she couldn't stop as she hoped that somehow she just disappeared, get away, maybe being isolated would help her sort her crazy confusing
Xavier clenched his hand inside his sweatshirt pocket as he glared at his phone wondering if the man who had sent him this text had plans to show up. The guts, he thought to himself reading the text once again: (Unknown number): Hey I'm the guy that might end up landing your girl if you don't get your head out of your ass. I'm not the enemy but you have one. Let's meet. Text me the address of where is suitable to you but mind you it must be in a public space. I hope your feelings are not hurt but it is quite understandable why I can't trust you. Immediately his phone had lit up and he had read the message, he didn't need a soothsayer to tell him who was behind the text also known as the motherboard of his problems. He had wanted to just block the number or delete the messages angrily but he had decided to talk it out with him rather because although he had been a diesel to make whatever he had with Maya burn faster, he was not the arch
"I'm going to help you get Maya back not because you deserve her but she deserves to be happy." Xavier snorted hoping that Jared was aware that he was not just going to take his words for it at face value because if he did, then he must be frickin delusional. "How can I trust you? Believe that this isn't some elaborate plan with your big dipshit of your best friend. Like you both have been really tight for years, so how do you want me to believe you are really fucking him over and you are not fucking with me right now?" Jared chuckled, he had seen the big whys coming. Whys he had even asked himself. Why help Xavier get the girl when if he tried hard enough there were possibilities he might sneak his way into Maya's life especially now she was vulnerable and weak? but he didn't want love to make him a bad guy, he wanted it to make him a better person just like it had, Xavier. Besides he was of the school of thought that if s
"Then you need to come off this guilt. You're too overgrown to keep on dwelling on something you didn't have any control over. You couldn't have told that Diane would leave the car and be run over. It was simply not your fault," he shook his head, a sad smile on his face "You asked what I stand to gain from all of this? I'm also hoping that you both can just let go and live. Tyler too blames himself for what had happened. He had been responsible for driving Diane home after all but he had been with some now faceless blonde chick." Xavier averted his gaze from him, "Blaming you have been Tyler's only way to get through his sister's death and it had been easy, filled him with a purpose to destroy you and I'd supported him for a while because I didn't want to hurt my best friend, but now this is unhealthy and his obsession to hurt you is becoming scary. I might not want to take Maya from you but she would slip through your fingers if you don't act wise and fast. The
Punish the man she love"But why didn't you tell me all this while?" She had asked in pure confusion. "This is a secret everyone had begged me to keep in wraps for years, hope you can now understand why I was so horrified to find out you both were engaged. It didn't feel right. I tried to warn you subtly, but you were blinded by your love for him to understand." Maya had looked over her shoulder, immensely grateful that the girls had taken the initiative to disappear, even as she felt completely at odds with this piece of information she wasn't sure she was ready to share yet. "So you had just let your only sister's murderer go unpunished?" she swallowed hard knowing that she was suggesting that he punished the man she loved. The man who could be a murderer. She swallowed hard again. Fuck. "The odds were against me. Do you know how powerful the Salvadors are?" Her gaze narrowed as she remembered how Ann
"Are you alright?" Tyler asked her, concern in his eyes as she screwed up her line for the umpteenth time. They were on the terrace and according to the script she was supposed to tell him a story about her that would inspire a song. She unscrewed the cork of the bottled water one of the members of the crew provided her with and hurriedly gulped the whole content. She stood up from the cold slab where she sat with Jared resisting the urge to yell and ask him how he expected her to be fine, but no thanks, she didn't want to trend on social media as the newest added member of the deranged patient in NYC, she thought drily as she removed the microphone on her body and steadily walked out of the room ignoring Tyler as he called her repeatedly. She had thought she could do it, work and pretend like her life was in order but she had been kidding herself. She felt suffocated like she was burning inside of her and was not expected to shout, was dying
He stepped closer and she couldn't help but noticed that something has changed about him, it had nothing to do with his surprisingly wrinkled clothes or how humbled his eyes were. A one o clock stubble seemed strange on his perfectly shaven jaw and his eyes seemed almost dead, she choked on her spit horrified although the realization that he could be ruffled made him look less god and more like a man. A human. He took another step forward and she could see his ruffled hair where his hand must have been on so many times in exasperation, frustration, or both. The tight line of his lips. The leaves on his shoes. The matching sleeping bags under his eyes yet somehow he looked devastatingly handsome and it felt unfair that he didn't even need to try at all to look that way. She took a step backward as he took another and he stopped. "Please Maya, don't go away," he begged and tears burn her eyes at the pleading tone in his voice. The Xavier
"Where is Maya and how is she doing?" Tyler immediately asked Jared the minute he stepped into the Hall. The interior decorator was already removing the wallpaper and things in place they had used in making a part of the room look like a balcony and he was glad Tyler had spared him the stress of spelling out what they both knew already. Maya was in no mental or physical state to perform today and till further notice and it was only because of him, Tyler, and his stupid obsession with revenge. "If I didn't know better I'd have thought you cared for her and do not see her only as an important pawn in your plan to achieve your devious plan." Tyler looked hurt by his words and took a step backward like they were physical weapons because they did have the same impact of wounding him though not physically. "You know I do care about Maya. You know that." "Do I?" Jared hoarsely