Mated To My Stepbrother-Chapter 16

Aria’s POV

"I’ve always known you’ve had great luck with boys," Mary said as we walked to our spot, which was a small cafeteria.

I rolled my eyes. It was more like bad luck with boys. Boys had eyes on me for reasons I couldn’t fathom. And one would think they had eyes on me because they wanted a date or something.

But that was only a wild fantasy. They were only there to bully the hell out of my life.

I dragged out a chair and ordered a cup of cappuccino, "I wish. Maybe we could exchange partners," I tried to reason with Mary.

She sighed and looked at me with puppy eyes, "Mr. Tinder would never let that happen."

I winced remembering what happened the last time we decided to exchange partners because mine was a total jerk. And I didn’t have the mind to give him a piece of my mind. But Mary was more than willing to do so for me. And I knew she would do same for me with Jaxon.

We talked and laughed so much, reminiscing and all the naughty things we did as kids.

The door burst open and a wave of loud teenage boys trailed in. In the middle of them all was Jaxon.

I groaned and felt like Jaxon was following me everywhere. Like seriously? Why do I see him everywhere?

"Holy hell, the jerk is here," Mary said with wide eyes, her hand latching into my hands.

"I know. Let’s get out of here," I stood up and walked a few distance but Jaxon blocked my view.

Mary came in front of me like a little fiery ball of fire, "Let her go you d**k," she hissed and I placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Aria and I have an unfinished conversation," Jaxon said, unfazed by Mary.

"Isn’t that right princess?" Jaxon said with a smirk on his face.

I looked at Mary who didn’t look like she wouldn’t back down, "I’ll meet you outside in five."

Mary turned and spun around, looking back at Jaxon.. She wasn’t hearing any of it. And after so many words to calm her down, she finally relented, but not without giving Jaxon a warning.

"So what do you want?" I snapped immediately I was alone with Jaxon.

I didn’t fail to notice how his friends occasionally glanced at us from the corner of their eyes. It made me uncomfortable. But I knew Jaxon was not so stupid to tell his friends about our relationship.

No one at school knows about it except for Tim and Mary. Yes, Jaxon hated me so much that he wouldn’t even let me drive his car to school. Only stopping me a few meters away so we wouldn’t be seen together.

"This isn’t how you talk to someone who knows your secret."

I crossed my hand across my chest, "What do you mean?"

"Your little rendezvous with Mary after school."

My eyes widened, not sure if Jaxon was talking about what I suspected. And if he was, this would be bad, terribly bad.

"Didn’t think I would find out what you’ve been doing at her house after school? So bad you’ve been careless," he clicked his tongue like he was reprimanding a five-year-old.

I would have been pissed if I wasn’t so scared already, "What are you talking about? Mary is my friend and it’s only normal that I spend hours at her house after school."

"Not when it involves creating a school magazine. You know it’s against school rules."

I reeled back from shock. How had Jaxon found out about that? Only Tim and Mary know about that.

And I trusted none to snitch. That wasn’t possible.

"Are you watching me?" I took a step closer to Jaxon, growing angry.

He could do a lot of things to me. But what I won’t tolerate is him watching me. It’s so creepy I felt goosebumps rise on my arms.

He smirked, his hand coming down as if to ruffle my hair. But he stopped as if he thought better of it.

"You think so highly of yourself. Let’s just say-," he looked up at the ceiling as if waiting for the answer to drop.

"Let’s just say I have superhuman abilities," he leaned in closer to my ears, "Don’t tell anyone about it. I’m so scared of people finding out my secret."

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away. "Get lost. You have no evidence of me doing so." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Would be shocked to find out what I am capable of. Don’t underestimate me, princess," with that he walked off in the direction of his friends.

And I noticed they were full-time gaping at us now. Taking my bag, I walked out of the shop, believing Jaxon to be bluffing. Even though my instincts screamed at me that he wasn’t.

I just preferred living in bliss to the idea that he was bluffing. That was so much better than being eaten up with worry.

Although, I had discarded the project with Mary when we weighed the pros and cons of it. But Jaxon would not believe it. Whichever source it came from, I shuddered.

I didn’t even want to think about it. The rest of the day went on smoothly, not catching a glimpse of Jaxon until the next day at school.

"Is it just me or is everyone staring at me?" I asked Tim as we walked to our lockers.

He shrugged, "Maybe."

We were walking to his locker as his locker was far away from my locker. So we had to get to his first.

"How are you still calm?!" Mary dragged me away from the hallway to the field at the back of the school.

"Take a look at this," she brought out her phone from her pocket and logged into the school’s forum.

Scrolling upward through different messages which I noticed to be curse words directed at only God knows who, she came to a picture of me and Jaxon.

My heart stopped beating for a moment. It wasn’t just a normal photo of Jaxon and I. It was a picture of us together in the coffee shop.

And the picture was taken the exact moment I pushed him off me when he whispered in my ears. So it looked like I was straddling him.

"What’s that?" Tim’s voice broke the ice as he came behind me, looking over at the phone.

"Who do you think did this?" Mary’s voice was calm but all I could focus on were the hateful comments.

It wasn’t just me. I had been getting stares. And no one bothered to say anything to my face. They were all spineless keyboard warriors.

But that mean it didn’t hurt. It hurt like hell as I soon found my face wet.

"Why would Jaxon go to this extent just to see me hurt? Why would he kiss me then and make me feel those things?"

I didn’t know I said those things out loud until Mary took the phone from my hand and looked me in the eyes.

"What do you mean he kissed you?" Mary asked as her mouth twitched from trying to control her anger.

I broke down in tears as I told them everything that happened since the day Mom and Rick left the house to Jaxon and me.

"How dare he? Doesn’t he have a heart?" Tim turned around and stormed into the school.

Mary and I looked at each other with wide eyes. Tim stayed out of trouble. But when trouble comes knocking, he is never one to back off.

"This is bad, Mary," I said as I wiped my tears, running after Tim.

Mary was hot on my tail as we tried to find Tim among the tong of students. The stares were still there but they had somehow reduced.

We searched but couldn’t find him anywhere until it clicked where they might be.

The rooftop.

Mary and I ran to the rooftop. And there he was, Tim in front of a fuming Jaxon as they stared one another down.

Jaxon said something that made Tim’s fist fly and connect with Jaxon’s face.