---
Maya couldn't stop thinking about his mouth.
About the way he held her like he had the right to.
Like her body was made for him to claim.
Like her fear was fuel and her silence a challenge.
It haunted her through the night — the kiss, the heat, the way he walked away like it meant nothing.
But it meant something.
It meant everything.
---
By morning, Maya felt raw.
The world was too bright. Too loud. She sat in class, head down, pretending to focus while her lips still tingled. No one knew what happened behind the gym — but whispers buzzed anyway.
"Did you hear Elias is messing with the freak twin?"
"It's a dare, right? Poor girl's already obsessed with him."
"He'll break her. Just like her sister."
That one cut the deepest.
By lunchtime, she couldn't breathe.
So she did what she always did when the world was too much.
She hid.
Behind the library. In the stairwell. Alone — except for the thrum of her heart and the memory of his hands on her waist.
But even here, she wasn't safe.
Because twenty minutes into her escape, heavy footsteps echoed down the stairwell. She didn't have to look to know who it was.
Elias.
"Skipping class now, Mouse?"
Her shoulders tensed. "Go away."
He didn't. Of course he didn't.
He stepped into her space again, that same predator's confidence in every movement. He crouched down in front of her, dark eyes searching her face.
"Regret it?" he asked softly.
Maya's breath hitched. "Should I?"
"You tell me."
He reached out and brushed his fingers over her wrist.
"You kissed me back."
"You kissed me first," she snapped, hating how shaky her voice sounded.
Elias tilted his head, amused. "I told you I don't play fair."
She yanked her hand away. "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to see you."
Liar.
"No," she said. "You wanted to see if I'd break."
He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"I think I like you better when you fight back."
Maya stood abruptly, shoving past him. "Don't play with me, Elias."
But before she could escape, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her back — gently, but firmly enough to stop her.
"You already let me play, remember?"
She turned, furious now. "Is this what you did to my sister too? Mess with her head, make her feel like she mattered, then—"
"Don't," he snapped.
For a second, his expression cracked. Something feral burned in his eyes.
"Don't talk about Mira like you knew her. You didn't."
"I was her sister," Maya said through clenched teeth. "I knew her better than you think."
"You knew nothing," he growled.
The stairwell fell into silence.
His fingers loosened on her wrist, but he didn't let go.
"You want to know the truth, Maya?" he said quietly. "The real reason I kissed you?"
She didn't answer.
Elias stepped closer. "Because I wanted to see if kissing you would feel like kissing her."
Maya's blood ran cold.
"But it didn't," he continued, voice suddenly ragged. "It felt worse."
She swallowed hard. "Why?"
"Because I liked it more."
The words hit her like a slap.
He liked it more. With her.
The girl he hated. The girl he blamed.
It didn't make sense.
Nothing about Elias Cross made sense.
A loud buzzer cut through the air, announcing the end of lunch.
He stepped back, finally releasing her.
"See you in detention," he said casually, like they hadn't just stripped each other bare in five minutes of raw honesty.
"What?" she blinked.
"I got you assigned. Told them you skipped class with me. Two hours. After school."
"You—you set me up?"
Elias grinned darkly. "That's what happens when you kiss the villain, Mouse. You get dragged into his story."
And then he was gone.
Leaving her heart hammering, her head spinning, and her hands still aching from the memory of his touch.
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