Let It Burn [18+] **Being Edited**

Chapter 12

Maia

The kiss is deep and tastes like heaven, however, I feel the need to pull away for my own sanity. Breaking away from Michael, I turn to face Danny's angry face. His left eye almost twitching and the vein on his forehead popping out makes me understand how ready he is to push me aside and punch Michael in the face.

Michael sports a mischievous smile on his face while wrapping his tattooed arm around my waist. I won't attempt to pull away from him for two simple reasons. One is that I very much feel protected in his presence and two is fuck Danny's lying ass. I can't believe I believed he cared for me. Oh for fuck sake I've been torturing myself about the scene that happened between Michael and me in the bathroom, while he has been with Alyssa all this time. Why didn't Alyssa tell me anything? Is that why he always seems annoyed when she's with another guy? I always thought it was him being protected over her because she's his friend and he cares. I'm fucking naive.

Gently touching his hand around my waist, I look up at Michael. He really is beautiful. I can feel my face heat up at the sight of him. Looking away in an attempt to hide my blush from him, I make eye contact with Danny who's still talking shit.

"Will you shut up already and leave me alone." My voice is low but demanding. I don't look away from him because I want to his reaction to what I'm about to say. "I can't believe you played me like a fool. You're a fucking asshole." I flinch at his attempt to reach out to me. I no longer see him as a safe haven, in fact, I see him almost how I see my stepdad on a way lower scale but still repulsive.

Michael's hand tightens his grip on me in protectiveness. His eyebrows dip downward and his eyes narrow down to me for a second before diverting his sight to Danny. I can feel his muscles tense up.

"It's not what you think please let me explain." Desperate to get me to listen he attempts to reach out to me again but was stopped quickly after by Michael's free hand. It was just a shove to keep him back but was hard enough to nearly send Danny's body hitting the wall. Looking up at Michael with wide eyes, I see his eyes are on the man before us and the look on his face tells me he's ready to let go of me and make him pay for his sins.

I don't want to see a fight between these men. I honestly hate violence so I would do anything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. Reaching a hand to gently touch him, I cup one of his cheeks with my hand and softly glide my finger up and down his freshly shaved jaw. His eyes snap from Danny to me and they instantly go from hard to soft in nanoseconds. Awarding him with a cheesy smile I tell him- "Please don't fight".

As if hearing the sheer panic behind those soft words, he nods at me and motions for us to walk away but not before a threat leaves his mouth. Looking over his shoulder, he stops walking for a second, "If you so much as ever tries to touch her again or simply do any dumb shit, not even she will save you from me." His voice was low but firm and carried a lot of promise to it which made the hairs on my back stand.

We continued to walk to an all too familiar building, the dark red brick walls, and multiple-level floors carry a dorm I used to feel the safest in. Now, thinking about it almost makes me nauseous.

I've dealt with betrayal before but not like this, not with people who acted as if they cared for me, not with people I thought were my friends. My first betrayal was from my mom; she didn't listen when I told her her husband was molesting me and abusing me in every sense. She was supposed to care, but then again, my mother never did act like a mother, therefore I knew she wouldn't do anything but I had to try. The second betrayal was from my stepdad, I mean he was supposed to care for me like a father should, right? That's what a stepdad means, no? He is supposed to replace my biological dad's place but instead of reading me night stories to put me to sleep and instead of playing with me, he was forced kissing me and touch me. Taking what he wanted from me without my saying so, without real consequences.