Chapter 14

Maya’s P.O.V

In my years of existence, I had many a time managed to get myself into a lot of perilous situations. Take for example, the time when my parents had invited a married couple who they had recently met to our house for dinner. As you can imagine, I made my way downstairs in the rattiest, oldest t-shirt I could find, jeans so ripped the Rock’s abs had nothing on them and barefoot. Yeah, that’s right, barefoot. Mr. and Mrs. Wintour and my parents were so stupefied that they spent the better part of that evening eyeing me rather than actually eating. I was grounded for a month after that little stunt.

Now that I think about it, I would have preferred to have been in such a scene rather than being caught on top of Mr. Duke, and the fact that he had almost kissed me didn’t make it any better. Due to a sudden rush of adrenaline, I rose from the floor and dusted my knees. My face was so hot in mortification that I wished the ground would just swallow me whole.

“It’s true daddy, look at our faces?” Aiden added with quivering lip, at the brink of tears. Their faces were practically smeared in pie bits and whipped cream. For a split second, I began to laugh all by myself, until about four sets of eyes landed on me. Oh-oh.

“What is the meaning of this? First, I catch you spying on my son and now you’ve made my grand-children into baked good? For shame!” Mrs. Duke sniffed in condescension making me look down immediately. So much for the prank. It’s blown up in my face.

Mr. Duke had risen from the ground, his upper half glistening with sweat. His face was now impassive and he was trying desperately to avoid looking at me. Well, that makes two of us pal! “I’d like to know too. Maya, did you really do this?” he asked, finally having found courage to look at me after what he’d almost done. His eyes were hooded, intense and penetrative.

I squared my shoulder as I looked up at him. He was indeed taller than me, yet again, aren’t these fictional guys always taller than normal? “I-I did. In my defence, they pranked me hard and this was just my way of getting them back! I couldn’t just let them get away with what they did yesterday,” I defended myself weakly. I sounded like a toddler but maturity be damned. All is fair in war and pranks.

Brianna began to shed some no doubt crocodile tears. “We already apologised for that. It was a welcome gift but ow you’ve gone and done this. How could you Maya? We were starting to like you,” she said in a quivering voice, and Mr. Duke stooped down to wipe some of the smudges with the towel that had been previously around his shoulders.

“Don’t cry love, it’s really not that deep. I’m sure Maya is sorry. Right Maya?” he directed towards me with a look that screamed ‘you better say what she wants to hear or else’.

I usually wasn’t one to dance to the musical tune of another, but lately I’d been like a puppet on strings. This family is really testing my patience. I ground my teeth so hard that I could have crushed granite with them. “Of course. I’m sorry guys. I hope you can forgive me,” I worded in a feigned apologetic tone, morphing my lips into a forced grin.

“I told you that she was bad news, Theo. When will you ever learn to listen to the voice of reason? Yolanda told me that she’d ruined hers and your clothes on purpose. This young woman is a she-devil,” Mrs. Duke remarked self-righteously, making my jaw tick ominously. I better find a way out of here before I strangle her pruned neck.

Grabbing the twins’ hands, I began to escort them towards their room. “Let’s get you guys cleaned up,” I said as we got further and further away from their dad and grandmother, who was giving him more and more reasons as to why I’m a ‘nefarious menace’ who should probably ‘be in a correctional facility somewhere’. I scoffed at that. If anyone needed some straightening it was her son, who thought he could have any woman he wanted, and his offspring, who are professional actors.

"I hope you demons are happy. You made me look like the devil back there,” I hissed at them and they both had finished their pity act and were now smiling wolfishly.

“We are. Very ecstatic. You’re on your way out of here, American,” Brianna bragged and high fived her brother with her free hand. “I must say, your plan was well executed. We didn’t even see it coming,” she commented, openly airing that I had impressed her.

I rolled my eyes. “Clearly it wasn’t, I got caught and now everybody thinks I’m the devil incarnate,” I replied saucily. On our way up the stairs, Meredith appeared out of nowhere as usual. She must be part of Dr Strange’s sorcerer crew because nobody could do that unless they are magical.

“And what happened here?” she asked, her brow upturned in derision and curiosity.

I didn’t bother to stop. “Mind your own business, Merry. This has nothing to do with you,” I voiced flippantly.

“It is my business since I’m the head servant of this household and I demand you stop and once and explain yourself, you belligerent opportunist!” she barked lowly at me. I halted in my tracks, swallowed and then turned to face her.

“First off, I didn’t come here for you! So don’t speak to me as though I’m under your employ, you venomous witch. Secondly, I told you that what occurred is none of your concern, so you need to back off and respect that. Lastly, I have no idea what is going on between you and Mr. Duke but just because you have some kind of a relationship does not give you the right to act all high and mighty. I’d advise you to remember your place in this house before you come to me. Good day,” I spat with a snarl and continued up with the kids.

I didn’t stay long enough to enjoy the pleasure of having astounded her with my two cents. Serves her right for acting like she owned the place. That felt fantastic. I hadn’t confronted anyone in long time and I think that I’m going to be doing it a lot in this person.

Theodore’s P.O.V

Bloody hell! Did I just almost kiss Maya?

As my mother continued to ramble one endlessly about why I ought to chuck her out of our lives with immediate effect, my mind replayed what had happened earlier. As wrong as it may sound, having her on top of me was exhilarating, even more so than the rush I get when I box. Up close, I got to see the few almost invisible freckles she had around her nose, the prominent dip on her soft looking upper lip and her dilated light brown irises…

And like the hormonal fool that I was, I just had to lean in for a moment on the lips but as fate would have it, I never got to get the feel of her lips on mine. This is crazy, downright outrageous! I have never wanted a woman this badly and there she was, unknowingly throwing compelling me to break my typical rooms. I usually go to bars and night clubs to get a woman; this time around, temptation was right under my own roof.

“Are you even listening to me Theodore?” my mother inquired, her wise old eyes narrowed into slits.

I shook myself out of the daze and looked directly at her. “Of course, I am but despite all your convincing, she is staying. She’s here to pay off a debt and she will do exactly that,” I told her solemnly and she tsked at me.

“You like her, don’t you?” she accused and I was about to outright deny it but she pointed her finger straight at my chest. “I know you, son and don’t you dare lie to me. Is that why you brought her here? Is she just another conquest for you?”

To be honest, I’m not even sure why she is here anymore. I really shouldn’t have let her come here and disturb my life. And now that I’ve already felt what it’s like to breathe the same air as her, I’m afraid I can’t let her go just yet. I know that what I’m doing is wrong, but I basically live on impulse. Do now, ask questions later.

With confusion still clouding my thoughts, I didn’t dignify my mother we a response and began to make my way towards the staircase when I heard the sound of two voices arguing. I stopped in my tracks, and began to listen to what was being said.

“First off, I didn’t come here for you! So don’t speak to me as though I’m under your employ, you venomous witch. Secondly, I told you that what occurred is none of your concern, so you need to back off and respect that. Lastly, I have no idea what is going on between you and Mr. Duke but just because you have some kind of a relationship does not give you the right to act all high and mighty. I’d advise you to remember your place in this house before you come to me. Good day.”

Now that was definitely Maya. Only she could manage to be just as rude as she was eloquent at one go. By the time I rounded the corner, Meredith was looking at the ground in frustration. Oh, so she was the one who was being told off. I’d have been just as dumbstricken had I been at the receiving end of such powerful words. I had to make supreme effort to stop myself from bursting into laughter.

“She gave you quite the earful, didn’t she?” I teased and Meredith scoffed before crossing her arms.

“She’s just a troubled youth who certainly has no etiquette and clearly hasn’t the slightest clue about being civilised. You must have gotten her straight from the streets,” she disputed in bitterness, “I think you’ve seen enough evidence as to why she simply cannot stay, Theo.”

It seems everyone in this house is against her staying. This just gives me more motivation to make her stay. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion, Meri,” I remarked saucily as I passed her enroute to my room but she caught me by my bicep.

“I’m just tyring to look out for you. When you gave me the task of watching over your household, I swore to do it with my life. You’ve done so much for me and my family that this is the least I could do for you but you’ve gone and upset the whole balance of things. And for what, to keep her close to you? Tell, what is the real reason as to why she is here?” she prodded nosily.

Maybe Maya was right about Meredith becoming too familiar. I needed to fix that immediately. “Meri, you may be my friend but I’m still your boss. Now, don’t concern yourself with matters that don’t involve you and please, let go of my arm,” I said calmly yet somehow coldly and she did as she was told.

“I apologise for my overstepping of boundaries. I’ll get back to my duties now,” she bowed her head as a sign of respect and then went away as quickly as her legs would allow her.

But she and my mother are somehow right. I absolutely cannot be harbouring such sentiments towards someone who it only here transiently. I can feel that my attraction towards Maya isn’t ordinary, and I’d given in before only for it to have precarious consequences.

I need to shake whatever the bloody hell this is, and I need to do it fast.

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Hi guys. So, this is more of a filler and not as exciting as the chapter to come.

I hope you're voting, commenting and sharing guys. Low votes and reads make me feel less inclined to update and we wouldn't want that, would we?

~Deetronite 🔥