The Hurt I Chose Over Peace

~ 🖤

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There was a moment—just one—where Maya stood at the edge of her old life.

Jax was waiting outside her apartment, leaning against his motorcycle like he was still the boy who once swore he'd protect her.

The streetlight flickered above them, soft rain misting the night.

> "Come with me," he said.

"Please, Maya. You don't have to go back to him."

Her hands trembled.

Elias was waiting in his car across the street, headlights off. Still. Silent. Watching.

And for a second, just a breath, she imagined what it would feel like to run.

To choose warmth over cold.

Peace over pain.

Love over ownership.

> "You could be free," Jax whispered.

But Maya just shook her head, eyes glassy.

> "I don't want to be free."

> "Maya—"

> "I want to feel something. Even if it kills me."

---

She turned away from Jax.

Climbed into Elias's car.

And never looked back.

---

Inside the car, Elias said nothing.

But his jaw was clenched tight.

His hand white-knuckled around the steering wheel.

> "You watched us," she said, barely a whisper.

> "Yes."

> "You heard him beg me."

> "Yes."

> "And you didn't do anything?"

> "You came to me anyway."

That was all he needed.

---

Back at his place, the air was thick with tension.

Not lust.

Not rage.

Something deeper.

Something dangerous.

Elias pulled her inside and closed the door behind them with a quiet click that felt like a lock slamming shut.

> "He touched you," he said.

> "No, he didn't."

> "But he wanted to."

> "Yes."

He stepped closer.

> "And did you?"

She met his eyes.

> "No."

It wasn't a lie.

---

The fight didn't come in screams.

It came in silence.

Elias pressed her to the wall, rain still drying in her hair. His mouth didn't move toward hers. His hands didn't explore.

He just stared at her.

Like he was memorizing her before she disappeared.

> "You keep choosing me," he said.

> "I know."

> "Even when I hurt you."

> "I know."

> "Why?"

She didn't answer.

Because the truth was too dark to say out loud.

---

> Because peace feels like silence now.

And silence feels like being alone.

And being alone feels worse than his hands.

---

He kissed her then — not softly, not violently.

Just desperately.

Like she was already halfway gone.

And she let him.

Let him strip her.

Let him lift her into his arms.

Let him lay her down like she was both a curse and a blessing he couldn't put down.

---

> "Say it," he whispered against her collarbone.

> "Say you belong to me."

> "I do."

> "Say no one else can touch you."

> "They can't."

> "Say you'll never leave."

And this time… she hesitated.

Only for a second.

But Elias noticed.

> "Maya—"

> "I won't leave," she said.

> "Say it."

> "I'll never leave you, Elias."

---

That was the moment he snapped.

Not in anger.

But in possession.

He devoured her — his mouth, his hands, his body — all of it crashing over her like a wave she didn't want to survive.

Every bruise was a vow.

Every gasp, a signature.

By the time he was finished, Maya wasn't a girl anymore.

She was a ruin with his name carved into the wreckage.

---

They lay in silence afterward.

Elias traced the scar on her hip. The one from the accident.

He didn't ask about it.

He didn't need to.

> "You said once that you wished I died instead of Mira," she whispered.

He stiffened.

> "Do you still feel that way?"

He didn't answer immediately.

Then:

> "No."

> "Why not?"

> "Because if you had died… I wouldn't have anyone left to destroy."

She turned her face into his chest and closed her eyes.

---

And across town, Jax was sitting in the school gym. Alone.

He still had the key to the weight room.

Still had the bloodstains on his knuckles.

Still had the ache in his chest.

He pulled out the notebook — Mira's diary.

The page he hadn't shown Maya.

The page Mira had written the day before she died.

---

> "If anything ever happens to me… don't trust her. Not Maya. Not Elias. They're both broken. And broken people don't know how to love — only how to ruin."

---

Jax stared at it.

His jaw clenched.

His vision blurred.

> "I tried," he whispered into the dark.

> "I tried to save you, Maya."

And somewhere deep in that fractured heart of his…

A decision began to take root.

---

Back in Elias's room, Maya was fast asleep.

Elias sat at the edge of the bed, watching her breathe.

His hand hovered above her cheek.

But he didn't touch.

> "You're mine now," he whispered.

> "Even if it kills us both."

And in her sleep, Maya smiled.

Because even in dreams, she couldn't remember who she was before him.

---

🖤