JAY JAY POV
The silence in the room was deafening. I was sprawled on top of him, my hands still locked with his, and the air between us felt like it was charged with a thousand volts of electricity.
Keifer stared up at me, his chest rising and falling in heavy, jagged breaths. The darkness in his eyes from the fight with Yuri hadn't fully faded, but it had shifted into something else—something raw and terrifyingly honest.
"Jay-Jay..."
I froze. He didn't call me London. He said my name. Just my name. Hearing it come from him in that low, broken whisper hit me harder than any volleyball or right hook ever could. It felt like he was finally stripping away all the games and the armor.
"Why do you keep doing this?" I whispered, my voice cracked and small. I was so close I could see the golden flecks in his dark irises. "Why do you have to be so... violent? Why can't you just let things go?"
Keifer's grip on my hands tightened, nearly crushing my fingers, but he didn't pull away. He looked like he was struggling to keep a dam from bursting.
"Because I'm terrified," he whispered, the words vibrating against my skin. "I'm terrified that if I don't hold on tight, if I don't fight everyone off, I'm going to lose you. Just like I lost everything else."
I barely had time to process the vulnerability in his voice—the raw confession of a guy who had spent his whole life building walls—before he moved.
He didn't ask. He didn't hesitate. He just reached up, his hand tangling in the hair at the nape of my neck, and pulled me down.
And then, he kissed me.
It wasn't like the accident in the hallway. There was no tripping, no gravity to blame, and no excuse to hide behind. This was deliberate. This was hungry. And because I am apparently the world's biggest idiot, I didn't pull away. I didn't punch him. Instead, I melted.
I leaned into him, my hands finally letting go of the bedsheets to find their way into his messy hair.
What started as a desperate, breathless kiss quickly spiraled into something much deeper. It was a total system override—mouth to mouth, tongue to tongue—a collision of mint, chocolate, and pure, unadulterated tension. It was the kind of kiss that makes you forget your own name, your country, and the fact that there was a locked door with his mother and his best friend on the other side.
He groaned into my mouth, his hands moving from my neck to my waist, pulling me even closer until there was no space left between us. I could taste the desperation in him, the fear he had just admitted to, and the possessiveness that usually made me want to scream. But right now, it just made me want more.
My brain was screaming at me that this was a bad idea. He was the King of the Assholes.
But as his tongue rhythmically tangled with mine, all those logical thoughts were drowned out by the sheer heat of him.
We eventually broke apart, both of us gasping for air, our foreheads resting against each other. My lips felt swollen and hot, and Keifer's eyes were dark with a look that made me feel like I was the only person left in his world.
The sudden rush of reality hit me like a bucket of ice water. My brain finally rebooted, screaming about the fact that I was in his room, the door was locked, and my twin brother—who has the intuition of a bloodhound—was probably already wondering where I was.
"I—I ha-ve to go. Jare is waiting," I stumbled, my voice shaky and breathless as I scrambled off the bed. I tried to smooth down my hair, but I'm pretty sure I looked like I'd just survived a category-five hurricane.
Keifer didn't look flustered at all. Instead, those dark eyes followed me as he sat up, a slow, predatory smirk creeping onto his lips.
"After this... you really want to go home?" Keifer asked, his voice low and teasing. He stood up, stepping forward into my personal space while I instinctively took a step back toward the door.
"Keifer," I said, my voice warning but failing to sound firm.
"Jay-Jay," he countered, echoing my tone, his eyes never leaving mine.
He was mocking me, but in a way that made my knees feel like jelly. I reached behind me, fumbling for the lock on the door.
"Jare is waiting," I repeated, clinging to the thought of my brother like a literal life raft. "If I'm late, he's going to come over here and actually kill you this time."
Keifer reached out, his hand resting on the door just above my head, effectively pinning me in place. "Let him try," he murmured.
Before I could come up with a witty London comeback or remind him about his tiger in a cage reputation, he leaned in and kissed me again.
It wasn't a long, deep kiss like the one before; it was short, firm, and tasted like a promise he had no intention of breaking. It was a "see you tomorrow" and an "I'm not done with you yet" all rolled into one.
He pulled back just an inch, his smirk wider now. "Tell your brother I'll bring you home tomorrow, too."
I finally managed to unlock the door and practically spilled out into the hallway, my face feeling like it was on fire. I didn't look back at him, I didn't say goodbye to Tita Serina, and I definitely didn't look at Yuri as I bolted for the front door.
I hopped into my car and gripped the steering wheel, staring at my reflection in the rearview mirror. My lips were a deep pink, and my eyes were wide.
"You are so dead, Jay-Jay," I whispered to myself, the scent of mint still clinging to my skin.
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KEIFER POV
IN THE GAMING ROOM
"You're falling for her, Keifer!" Yuri snapped at me, his voice echoing off the walls of the gaming room.
Tss. Like I didn't already know that. Like it wasn't eating me alive every single second.
Why am I so attracted to her? Why is it that whenever those assholes—Kiko, Ben, Dave, or even Jare—get near her, I can't breathe? Every time they make her laugh, every time Aries looks at her with that protective warmth, I feel like I'm losing control. My blood boils and my vision narrows until all I can see is red.
And her lips. God, I can't stop thinking about her lips.
This wasn't supposed to happen. The plan was simple: hate her. Use her. Break her heart to get back at Aries. It was supposed to be a cold, calculated move in a war that started four years ago.
But looking at her, hearing her London sass, and feeling the fire in her spirit… the lines got blurred. I went from wanting to destroy her to wanting to own her. I went from wanting to see her cry to wanting to be the only person she ever smiles at.
I didn't just like her. I was spiraling, and the more I tried to pull back, the deeper I fell.
"Keifer, are you even listening?!" Yuri growled, stepping into my place. "She's the enemy's sister! You're going to ruin everything!"
"Shut up, Yuri," I hissed, my hands curling into fists.
"I won't shut up! You're becoming weak because of some London girl with a pretty face!"
That was it. The snap. I didn't care that he was my best friend or that we'd been through hell together. No one talks about her like that.
I lunged, grabbing his collar, and shoved him back. "I said, shut up!"
"Make me!" Yuri roared, throwing a punch that grazed my shoulder.
It wasn't just a fight about a girl; it was years of built-up pressure, secrets, and the ghost of Percy hanging over us. We were both fueled by rage, crashing into bean bags and knocking over chairs, neither of us willing to back down.
I felt like a man losing his mind. And the worst part? Even as I traded blows with Yuri, a part of me was still thinking about the scent of chocolate and the way her eyes flashed when she was angry.
I was falling, and I was going to take everyone down with me.
"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I yelled, my voice cracking with a rage I couldn't contain. I slammed Yuri back against the wall, the sound of the impact thudding through the room.
"No! Get this through your head!" Yuri yelled back, shoving me off with enough force to make me stumble. He didn't back down. He stood there, chest heaving, his eyes wild. "She is Aries's sister, Keifer! The same Aries who took Percy from us! The same Aries who ruined everything!"
"I know whose sister she is!" I roared, lunging at him again.
"Then act like it!" Yuri's fist connected with my shoulder, but I barely felt it. "You're supposed to be breaking her, not protecting her! You're supposed to be making him suffer, not making her your priority! If the boys find out you're actually catching feelings for a Fernandez, Section E will fall apart. Everything we built to get back at them will be for nothing!"
"I don't care about the plan anymore!" The words tore out of my throat before I could stop them.
Yuri froze. The look on his face was one of pure, unadulterated betrayal. "You don't care? You're choosing her over Percy? Over us?"
"It's not about choosing!" I screamed, grabbing a controller from the table and hurling it across the room. It shattered against the wall. "It's about the fact that every time I look at her, I don't see Aries! I don't see the past! I just see her! And it's driving me fucking insane!"
"She's a trap, Keifer," Yuri said, his voice dropping into a deadly, quiet hiss. "Aries is using her to get to you. He's probably laughing behind your back, watching you fall for his bait. You're becoming exactly what he wanted: weak."
The word 'weak' hit me like a physical blow. I lunged forward, my fingers digging into Yuri's jacket. "Call me weak one more time and I'll put you through that floor."
"Go ahead," Yuri challenged, his eyes narrowed. "Kill your best friend over a girl who belongs to the enemy. See if that makes you feel any better"
I was about to swing—I was about to let every bit of that poisonous anger out on his face—when the door burst open.
I saw Jay-Jay standing there with Mom. The look on Jay's face—the shock, the disappointment, the confusion—it froze my blood. All the fire I had for Yuri vanished, replaced by a cold, hollow dread.
She wasn't supposed to see this. She wasn't supposed to know how close I was to the edge.
But as I looked at her, standing between me and the wreckage of my past, I knew Yuri was right about one thing: the war wasn't over. It was just getting started. And I was the one who had just handed over my only weapon.
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