Xavier rushed towards Jasmine hitting the gun off her hand immediately Melissa's hand stopped moving making his eyes widen. Immediately he passed it with his leg.
Mr. Dominic smirked and left Melissa. She fell on his feet, her breath hard.
He took the gun and pocketing it smiled, raising his brow at Xavier, "How hard was that?" He shrugged, "That's why you will always be weak, Xavier. The cunt even had more guts than you," he mumbled, referring to Jasmine who was apologizing profusely as she rushed to Melissa.
"No." Xavier mumbled, "That's the difference between you and me. While you care about nobody, I do care."
"Hope you care enough to take your sister and this woman," Mr. Dominic glared at Jasmine, "Over here out of here and I'll pretend like this ugly incident never happened."
"I didn't leave the comforts of my house to just come in here and call it quits." Xavier retorted Cooly, his hands on his pocket.
He already knew the house was surrounded at the moment, he knew that if everything goes according to their plan, the cops should be dealing with the scums outside.
He raised his brow at Jasmine who discreetly dragged Melissa's almost limp body out of the room.
"You could get another plaything son, don't die for a woman," his gun was pointed at Xavier's forehead.
But that didn't make him bat an eyebrow or shake, making him realize why even at the brink of death, Melissa had not even faltered for a second. The pure hatred he felt for the man in front of him superseded any other type of feeling.
"That's where you got it all wrong. Maya isn't just another. She is not a page among the books. She isn't a temporary fix." He took a step forward even as his father's eyes widen, his fingers threateningly hovering around the trigger of the gun.
"I've got this son, I'm not scared of using it!" His dry cackle died in his lips as Xavier took another step towards him.
"Xavier." His voice was low.
Xavier took yet another step towards the mad man in front of him, way too gone to give a fuck.
He could see a flash of police uniform, they were asking for someone to lift their hands and drop weapons. He didn't care too much to even listen.
His eyes were hard as he closed more distance between his deadbeat father and himself.
Maya opened her eyes. Her vision blurred. Her head was pounding and it seemed like she had just woken up from a bad dream.
She could hear screams. From her sprawled position she could see, why was Melissa shouting and why were the policemen here?
Then she saw a livid Xavier and she stopped breathing, immediately she saw Mr. Dominic's face.
She knew that face. He was going to use the bullet and he had a perfect aiming at Xavier's heart.
She didn't know what possessed her as she immediately sprang to her feet and she was diving towards both men.
***
The gunshot resounded, and Mr. Dominic stared in disbelief like he couldn't believe it.
The gun fell out of his hand.
Xavier stared in confusion wondering if it was okay to feel numbness when you have just been shot.
Melissa screamed, Jasmine blinked.
He turned wanting to tell them he was okay when he heard the thud.
His face was drained of any sort of blood as he saw Maya on the floor, a crimson stain on her pale pink nightgown which was no longer pink but reflected the horrid ordeal her father had put her through.
He wondered when she had pushed him out of the way, he had not even felt her hand on his body and why the heck she had stood in front of a mad man.
Then he saw her eyes flicker open making him snap out of the transfixed state he was in.
"Maya," he screamed, rushing towards her.
"This was to prove what point exactly?" He half chastised, his eyes deep with worry as he gathered her in his arms.
She laughed even as she winced seconds after, "Bullet pain is a bitch. And yeah, I just wanted to prove that I'm tougher than you."
"Are you insane, Maya?" He didn't even notice the handcuff clasped on his father's wrist, didn't wait for Melissa to catch up with him as he carried Maya on his arm, pretending that talking to her will make him forget she had just been hit by a bullet.
She had taken a bullet for his stupid self.
"Why did you do it?" He mumbled noticing her eyes were dazed and were about closing.
"To prove a point." She whispered and then her eyes were closing on their own accord.
"Stay with me, Maya. Maya!" He shouted even as he held her in his arm, screaming at Dc to kickstart the car.
"Sorry." She mumbled, a ghost of a smile on her face as she fell limp on his body.
The earth-piercing scream of her name followed, as pure fear, shot into his heart.
***
"You know you should change your clothes or something. It's been two days, and you reek of blood and death." Xavier gave his grey t-shirt which was anything but that with the stripes of blood where Maya had been on him.
He gave Brian a tiny smile, "Remember not friends."
"The doctor said she is out of harm's way. The surgery was successful, what else do you want?" Melissa quipped.
"Why are you here, Mel? What do you want?"
"I want to see that she is alright of course!"
"I want to see her and give her a good lengthy lecture on how you could shorten your life span if you go about taking random bullets," he retorted.
He shivered as Melissa held his hand, "She is safe now."
"I was so close to losing her." He mumbled knowing his sister could see through his cold facade and empty talk.
He was still shaken from seeing Maya's body limp on his body.
He couldn't remember who but somebody had touched her and had mumbled that she had a weak pulse.
He could remember screaming, a hand dragging him into the car.
Maya was placed on a stretcher and taken away from him.
Everything was a nightmarish blur, which he just wanted to play off and act like all was fine but yet, he just couldn't.
He shook his head in disbelief, "The foolish girl had taken a bullet for me. She had jumped in there knowing she could die. She had wanted to die for me," he closed his eyes looking away, "Just a minute later the doctor had mumbled and she would have been gone. Dead."
Melissa held his hand, "But she isn't."
"What if it had happened? What if she wasn't so lucky and the bullet had hit her vital organ? Jesus."
Jasmine stood up and then walked towards him, her eyes blazing with both amusement and horror, "I'd have hated you for life. Now you have the answer can we stop playing the Dangerous what-if game?"
Xavier stared at her in surprise. He had given up on trying to talk to her ever since Maya had been confirmed out of danger. The others had gone to their houses to eat or change into something that didn't make them look like death, but she didn't.
She just stared into space refusing to acknowledge anyone's existence.
"My friend is dumb and though I don't see why she had to go all the way to profess her love like a movie character by standing in front of a bullet, can you stop reminding us?"