When the clock strikes at exactly one in the morning, Elijah's jaw tightened as his eyes darkens upon feeling swirling emotions.
"Damn it, Tia!"His lips came crushing on her as he starts to move his hips in a gentle manner.Tiara didn't know whether she would focus on kissing him or savor every bits of pleasure. Her toes curled and could not help but let out moans of both pain and pleasure as he thrusts.Her kisses were sloppy as she begs underneath the man who seemed to be a hungry wolf at the moment."Faster. Uhm ahh," She moaned.Her nails dug into his skin when he obliged. Her eyes rolled back and did not know where to turn her head. She was deliriously moaning as she oblige the man's command.Elijah's gaze fell on the sleeping woman on his bed while wiping his damp hair. He heaved a deep sigh and gulped as the memory of what happened last night dawned him.He feels guilty for not even feeling a bit of remorse. Tiara was drunk. The woman seemed to not know what she was doing and yet he still gave in to the temptation.Tiara's parents entrusted her to him to make sure she's safe because tons of assholes are lurking around and there he was, he was an asshole who dared to take an advantage of a drunk woman.But dear lord! She's tight!He has known Tiara since they were young and the last time they have seen each other, Tia was this young lady who looked like a log that she'd definitely get blown by the wind. He could not believe she's the same girl.Her naked figure flashed back to his mind and he couldn't help but shut his eyes and roll his tongue inside his cheeks."Fuck!" He cursed under his breath and then stormed out of the room. He grabbed a box of cigarettes.He thought he just have to smoke it out to forget what has happened.That was just a one night stand, you have to relax; was what he thought."You've been there, Elijah. This is just the same as the ones you had before," He blew a smoke.Elijah threw the cigarettes on the floor out of frustration. "And who on earth fucks a childhood friend?" He asked himself. "What a fucking mess!"Elijah headed to the kitchen grabbed a knife and such to prepare something for breakfast.TIARA groaned as her head throbs. She winced when she moved as her body's aching as if she just got ran on by a truck."What the hell? Is this a hangover?" She asked herself, still not aware nor recall what has happened.Her gaze landed on her reflection in the mirror. Her hair is messy and no longer wearing make up when she could not remember taking it off last night. Her lips parted the moment she notice she was no longer wearing her clothes and there are some blood stains on the white sheets. She looked around and realized she was not familiar with the place.Tiara's blood ran cold as an idea sinks into her mind. "Oh my! What have I done?"One-night-stand. Was it that? Damn! She doesn't even have any idea who was the asshole she was with last night!"Fuck! Dad's going to kill me," She muttered.She looked under the sheets and on the floor just to find her dress and panties torn off."What the hell am I supposed to do now?!" She asked in a frustrated manner."Get something to wear in my closet then come down for breakfast," A man suddenly spoke.She looked at him with wide eyes as the man was awfully familiar.Elijah then turned his back and closed the door after receiving fiery glares she usually gives him every time they crossed paths.Tiara pulled her hair in frustration. "I didn't do it with him, did I? No please! Oh good Lord! Anyone but Elijah."She got off the bed while wincing in pain and rummaged Elijah's closet. She found a white shirt and a new boxer shorts. She took the liberty to use a clean towel and showered in his bathroom."How dare he leave so much marks? Fuck it! Of all people, why does it has to be that skinny jerk?" She kept on mumbling curses while rubbing the kiss marks Elijah has left on her fair skin in hope that it'll miraculously vanish as if it never happened.HEAVY FOOTSTEPS made Elijah watch the stairs while sitting on the sofa."Elijah!" She called."Oh here we go," He mumbled."Tia, do mind having breakfast first before you lash out on me?" He asked while walking to the kitchen.Tiara followed him with her arms crossed under her chest and eyebrows furrowed as if she's ready to skin Elijah alive."We fucked, didn't we?" Tiara asked in an annoyed manner in the middle of their tensed breakfast, causing Elijah to choke on his meal."What the hell, Tiara?!""Just answer the damn question, you stupid log!""Wha... Yes, we did! Heard what you wanted to hear? Now eat your damn breakfast! And for the record! We both know I do not look like a log."Tiara flashed a sarcastic smile after chewing. "Of all people, why do I have to lose my V card to a log like you?"Elijah dropped his utensils and then smirked at Tiara. He leaned on his seat and then crossed his arms."You don't mean that, Tia, darling," He replied while shaking his head, teasing Tia while she was wearing a disgusted look upon hearing that stupid endearment. "Drunk people spits what they really think and guess what, you told me I'm hot, Tia.""Well, I spit nonsense when I am drunk, Elijah!""Was you, begging underneath me last night was also nonsense? Because you clearly enjoyed it for you to ask for more," He smirked.Tiara's face was as red as tomatoes upon hearing that and having the flashbacks of last night."Shut up, Eli! I really, really hate you to the core!"Elijah laughed. "Are you still drunk, Tia? You're speaking nonsense," He said with a hint of sarcasm. "You don't seem to hate me when you moaned.""Moaned?" Tiara stood up and then started walking towards Elijah. "You're saying that as if you didn't went crazy inside me until dawn, Eli."Elijah looked at Tiara's eyes with the same intensity when she leaned towards him and slowly closing the gap between their faces.Tiara sat on his lap while moving a little to make it a little comfortable for her, rubbing her ass on his bulge.She leaned on his ear to whisper. "Keep talking about me moaning and begging for more and hear me talk how I heard you call may name and complimented me how you've always wanted to taste me."She started moving her hips and then smirked when she felt him. She moved away and then walked away while waving her hand."Thanks for the meal," She turned around. "Oh, will you go get me something to wear? A pair of undies and a dress, please. I have a class this afternoo..."Before she could even know it, she was already pinned on the wall while Eli was kissing her in a passionate yet aggressive manner.Tiara pulled away and then smirked. "It was you who was pleasured the most by my drunken mistake, Eli. Look at you, darling, you look hungry, aroused by that small move. I meant it when I said I hate you, Elijah."She pushed him away and then went upstairs to lay on his bed as she could feel her body screaming for rest."He really went rough on me." She mumbled and then hissed.ELIJAH HAS always known how much of a seductress Tiara is and he couldn't help but laugh at her behavior.It happens every time.He then went to buy her clothes while thinking of different ways to get even with her.Tiara has always hated Elijah since they were young for telling everyone at a party how much Tia likes Eli's older brother. She never moved on. Well, Eli thinks she has already forgotten her grudge towards him.Tia just act that way towards almost everybody. She's not Tia if she is not a bitch.People around her just learned to live with Tiara's inconsistencies.Elijah knocked on the door. "Tia?" He opened the door when she did not answer.He sighed and then placed the bags on the table when he saw Tiara sleeping on the bed with new sheets. She has also cleaned his room and he suppose Tiara has already thrown or burnt their torn clothes away."Yeah, yeah, whatever," Elijah mumbled.He placed the receipt next to the bags and left a note that Tia should pay him the same amount."I hate you too, Tia the bitch."TIARA MCKENZIE'S POVThe sunlight slipped through the edges of the hotel curtains, casting soft golden stripes across the carpet and the side of the bed. I sat on the armchair, legs pulled to my chest, wearing the same clothes from last night and feeling like my skin didn't belong to me. My eyes burned, not from tears, but from the kind of exhaustion that sits in the bones after something inside you has shattered. I didn't know what time it was, but the quiet hum of the city waking up made it clear that morning had arrived whether I wanted it to or not. Everything about this day felt too bright for the kind of heaviness I was carrying.Elijah was asleep on the floor, his back turned to me, a pillow wedged under his head and the spare blanket bunched around his legs. He hadn't said much after I told him I was still leaving. No
TIARA MCKENZIES' POINT OF VIEW"Sorry."The word slipped from Elijah's mouth like smoke, soft and low, but it burned straight through me. I didn't know how one syllable could unravel me like that, but it did. It caught me off guard, pierced a place I didn't even know was still vulnerable. And in that moment, everything in me started to fall apart.It wasn't just an apology. It was a wound reopening after years of pretending it had healed. It was the crack in a dam I'd reinforced with silence. And now, nothing could stop the flood.I froze where I stood, staring at the night sky beyond the balcony. I didn't trust myself to look at him, not yet. If I did, I might drown in whatever was written on his face. And I wasn't
TIARA MCKENZIES' POINT OF VIEWThe television played on low volume, casting cold blue light across the suite walls. I sat still on the edge of the bed, the tips of my fingers curled around the hem of my shorts. I wasn't blinking as much as I should. My eyes had locked onto the image of a burning van displayed on screen. Thick smoke spilled into the air as emergency lights flickered through it, and charred wreckage littered the ground. That was the lie we had created, fed to the public like a headline meant to die within the week.The anchor's voice was calm and practiced, the way all anchors are when death is routine for them. "Four alleged criminals found dead after a fiery explosion in Cabuyao, Laguna," he said. "Though the bodies were burned beyond recognition, authorities suggest the individuals were related to the
TIARA MCKENZIES' POINT OF VIEWThe darkness in the storm tunnel pressed down like a second skin, damp and unrelenting. The narrow shaft beneath the garage stank of rust, stagnant water, and mildew, but it was our only path to freedom. Each step we took echoed too loudly in the confined space, boots sloshing through ankle-deep filth that clung to our legs like a curse. I kept one hand on the wall for balance, the other gripping my weapon tightly as my eyes strained to adjust to the faint glow of the flashlight Vera held ahead of us. It wasn't the first time I had crawled through places like this, but something about tonight felt final, like every breath we took down here might be our last before rebirth or ruin.Behind me, Cameron cursed softly as he stumbled over a loose pipe. His limp had worsened since the firefight, and though he tried to hide it, I could hear his breaths coming heavier, more uneven. He was stubborn, but even steel had a melting point. Vera pressed forward ahead of
TIARA MCKENZIE'S POINT OF VIEWThe moment the second squad burst from the armored truck, I knew this wasn't a tactical hit anymore. This was execution. They weren't here to warn or threaten. They came to wipe us out. Their formations were tight, fast, and aggressive, like wolves released after days of starvation.I dove behind the base of a steel beam, bullets rattling off the column inches from my head. Cameron rolled beside me, wincing as fresh blood trailed from a wound on his thigh. His eyes met mine, grim and focused. We didn't need to speak. The plan was survival, and survival only.Vera's voice crackled in my earpiece, strained but composed. "I'm stuck near the east flank. They've got the high ground and roofline. I count at least seven shooters."I peeked through the smoke curling around us, my mind racing through every floorplan I remembered. This warehouse wasn't defensible. Too many blind spots. Too many exits for them, and none for us. We needed to move. We needed to regro
TIARA MCKENZIES' POINT OF VIEW We moved fast. The streets of Laguna were still damp from the late rain, the mist rising like smoke from the pavement. The lights from far-off sari-sari stores flickered in the corners of my vision. We didn't have time to dwell. Not when danger was a whisper away. Inside the safehouse, Cameron and I packed the last of the essentials. No electronics, no comms. Just bags of physical notes, burner IDs, and the weapons we couldn't live without. This house had given us cover, but it had served its purpose. Cameron moved like he was running on pure muscle memory. "Everything we can't carry, we destroy," he muttered, wrapping a detonator cord around a rolled-up floor mat. It wasn't paranoia anymore. It was insurance. I tore down the maps pinned to the inner wall. Each one marked the fallback zones. Each one felt like a lie now. I ripped them clean and shoved them into a duffel bag. No trail. No pattern. My fingers found a small crumpled drawing tucked in t