BAD INFLUENCE
Bad Influence - Episode 43&44
(•Tainting Her Innocence•)
GENRE: College romance
By, Mide L.
✧༺✰༻✧ ✧༺✰༻✧ ✧༺✰༻✧
✮{...ACCEPTANCE...}✮
"I love you" she whispered between sobs. "And you're never alone. Not anymore"
Xavier stood frozen for a moment, her words sinking into him like raindrops through cracked soil.
"I love you… and you’re never alone" she repeated.
No one had ever said that to him. Not like this. Not with that kind of raw emotion, not with tears soaking into his hoodie, not with arms that held on like he was something worth holding onto.
He dropped his keys.
Slowly, carefully, he wrapped his arms around her like she was something fragile, something he didn’t know he deserved but was scared to break.
"Hailey, you shouldn’t be here" Came his hoarse voice.
She pulled back slightly, just enough to look up at him. Her eyes were glassy, red, but fierce.
"I need to be here. With you"
Xavier scoffed, pulling away from her touch as if her warmth was too much to handle. He turned his back to her, digging into the pocket of his black jeans. A moment later, he pulled out a crumpled pack of cigars and a silver lighter.
Click. Click.
The flame danced for a heartbeat before he lit the cigar and placed it between his lips.
But before he could take the first drag, Hailey marched over, snatched it from his lips, and tossed it to the floor, stomping it out like it personally offended her.
"Stop killing yourself!" she snapped.
Xavier looked at her, startled. Not by what she did. but how she did it. The girl who once flinched at his tattoos now stared him down like she saw through every wall he’d ever built.
He let out a dry laugh, bitter and cracked.
"I’m not even trying to" he said coolly, eyes dull as ash. "It’s just a fact I know"
"No, you don’t get to talk like that. Like your life doesn’t matter”
He shook his head, smirking like it was all a joke.
"It doesn’t. Not really. Not to anyone"
"It matters to me. You matter to me"
Xavier stared at her, his expression softening.
Hailey’s chest rose and fell as she stood in front of him, her fists clenched by her sides.
"Do you… love me?" Her gaze searched his. "Like I love you?"
Xavier blinked. Once. Twice.
His jaw tightened.
That question, simple as it was, hit him harder than any punch he’d ever taken.
He looked away, like the truth burned too hot to hold her gaze.
"Hailey…" he began, but the words caught in his throat.
Her voice cracked. "I need to know. Please. Even if it’s not what I want to hear. Just… tell me the truth"
Xavier stared at her, really stared and for a second, he wasn’t here. He was back in that stupid restroom, the first day they met.
She’d stumbled in, wide-eyed and flustered, looking like she had no idea what she was doing in the boys' restroom. Her innocence practically screamed at him, and he remembered how intrigued he was. Amused. He wanted to see how far she could bend before she broke. That was all she ever was supposed to be—a game, a distraction.
A challenge.
He only wanted to taint her. Twist that sweet, naive energy until she became something darker, something ruined. His ruin.
And now… she was standing here. In front of him. Eyes brimming with love and tears, whispering that he wasn’t alone.
He had won. She had fallen. He had taken her mind, heart, and even her virginity. He had done what he set out to do.
So why the hell did his chest feel like it was splitting in two?
Why did it feel like every time a guy looked at her, touched her, he wanted to kill something? Why did her tears wreck him more than anything else ever had? Yes it does wreck him, he just doesn't show it.
She was never meant to get under his skin.
Yet now, her voice was echoing in his head—
"Do you love me? Like I love you?"
He clenched his fists.
"You weren’t supposed to mean anything to me" he said, his gaze hard but his eyes betraying the war inside. "I was supposed to ruin you and walk away"
He paused, then added hoarsely,
"But now… I can’t even breathe when I’m not around you"
She didn’t answer his confession with words.
Instead, she jumped on him with arms wrapping tight around his neck, legs instinctively curling around his waist. Her lips crashed on his, stealing whatever words were about to leave his mouth.
And just like that, he stopped talking.
His hands gripped her thighs, holding her up effortlessly as he walked them toward the bed.
When they reached the edge of the bed, he lowered her gently, letting her sink into the mattress like she belonged there, beneath him with him.
Then he reached for the cigar and lighter again.
He leaned in over her… smoke trailing lazily from his lips, dancing between them.
They were in that position.
"Your innocence was my temptation" he whispered, letting the smoke curl above her lips. "But now… you’re my addiction"
She swallowed hard, heart pounding beneath her ribs.
"And you…" she murmured, fingers clutching his shirt, "you’re my ruin"
He exhaled the smoke between them, letting it spiral and swirl above her face. She didn’t flinch or say anything. Instead, she reached up, fingers curling into his shirt and pulling him down until their foreheads touched.
"I asked you something. Do you love me… the way I love you?"
Xavier stilled.
Every nerve in his body tensed.
His eyes darkened as he crushed the half-burnt cigar in the ashtray by the bed.
Then he hovered over her again, his lips barely brushing hers.
"I shouldn’t, but I do. Damn it, Princess… I do"
That was all she needed.
She pulled him into her, mouth seeking his, hungry and desperate. Tongues tangling, teeth grazing. His hands ran up her sides, under her shirt, feeling her warmth, her need.
Clothes came off piece by piece, thrown somewhere into the room. His lips explored every inch of her, worshipping her skin like he hadn’t already marked it with sin.
She arched into him, gasping when he trailed hot kisses down her neck, her collarbone, lower...
"Xavier…" she breathed, nails digging into his back.
He groaned against her skin. "Say it again"
"I love you"
He entered her in one slow, deep motion... familiar and new all at once.
And when she came undone beneath him, whispering his name like a vow, he followed breaking apart in the safety of her arms.
•••
AT CORY KING HIGH SCHOOL*
Lucy sat at her desk, her notebook open but untouched. The words on the whiteboard blurred before her eyes. She wasn’t paying attention, she couldn’t. Her eyes kept drifting to Cory, who sat three rows ahead, leaned back in his chair like he didn’t have a care in the world.
But she knew better.
He hadn’t spared her a glance since morning. No whispered greetings. No quiet smirk. Nothing.
He hadn’t even looked her way when he walked into the class. And that silence… it killed her more than his words ever could.
She kept stealing glances at him, hoping and praying that he’d look back. That he’d change his mind. That he still believed her.
But Cory didn’t.
He hadn’t said a word to her since the incident at his mansion, last night. Since she stood in that glowing vault, trembling under the weight of his silence while his mother painted her a thief.
Lucy blinked back the memory.
She gripped her pen tighter, the sting of rejection still raw in her chest. She hadn’t meant to touch the necklace but she did anyway, out of her stupid curiosity. She hadn’t even known the room was real, let alone booby-trapped. But it hadn’t mattered. Not to his mother. Not to Cory.
Did he believe her? Even a little?
The bell rang sharply, snapping her out of thought.
Their teacher packed up and left, and students spilled out in groups, laughter and chatter filling the corridor.
Cory stood.
He didn’t wait for anyone.
He just slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out.
Lucy was on her feet in seconds.
She followed him quietly, until she caught sight of him heading toward the stairwell.
Then it clicked—he was going to the rooftop.
The one place he always escaped to when things got too loud.
She hesitated before she followed him, one step behind.
This time, she wouldn’t walk away without him hearing her out.
The breeze tugged at Lucy’s hair as she stepped on the rooftop, the door clicking softly behind her.
Cory was leaning against the railing, his back to her, looking out at the buildings below. His shoulders were tense, his jaw clenched like he’d been holding something in for too long.
She walked toward him, slowly, carefully, like approaching a wounded animal.
"Cory…"
He didn’t turn.
"I wasn’t stealing,I was only exploring. I didn’t know that room was—"
"You didn’t know?" he cut her off, voice sharp as glass. He finally turned, and the look in his eyes nearly knocked the breath from her lungs... so cold as ice.
"Did anyone force the necklace into your hands? Did my mum? Did she shove you in there?"
Lucy took a step back. "No, I—"
"You walked in there with your two legs, even after I told you to wait for me in the room. You couldn’t stay put for twenty damn minutes. And now look” He ran a hand through his hair, laughing bitterly.
"Yeah, I know you’re poor, Lucy. But is it to the point of stealing? You made my mum mock me last night like I was some lovesick fool chasing after a thief"
Her breath hitched.
"Cory…" she whispered, shaking her head. "That’s not fair. I didn’t—"
"Didn’t what?" he snapped. “Didn’t try to take something that doesn’t belong to you? Or didn’t know the cameras would catch you? You think I didn’t see the footage? You looked at that necklace like it was your way out of the gutter
Lucy gasped but he wasn’t done.
"You know what’s funny? I knew you were trouble. But I ignored it. You proved to me that you’re just a whore who sends nudes to boys in our class for money and now, what? A thief too?"
She froze.
The words struck like bullets.
Tears pooled in her eyes, but she didn’t look away.
"Don’t you have any shame left in you?" he growled.
Lucy swallowed hard. Her hands trembled at her sides. Her chest ached like something was ripping inside her.
But she still managed to whisper, "Cory I swear I didn’t try to steal it. I was just… just checking it out. It was beautiful and I touched it, yes, but not in the aim to steal it”
He didn’t say a word.
"I know how it looked but please believe me”
"You shouldn’t have been there, you had no right"
She swallowed hard, blinking back the tears.
"I know. I was just curious"
Without another glance, Cory turned his back to her.
"Cory… please" she whispered, reaching out.
He didn’t stop but instead walked past her, the door creaking open and slamming shut behind him with a finality that shattered her.
•••
LIANA’S PLACE*
Liana sat on the rug, helping Ariella stack alphabet blocks. The little girl giggled, mispronouncing letters as she built a shaky tower.
The doorbell rang.
"Stay here, baby" Liana said, standing up cautiously.
She opened the door and froze.
Mrs. Knight.
Elegant, cold, and out of place in their modest apartment.
"What are you doing here?" Liana asked, surprised.
Mrs. Knight stepped in without waiting for an invitation. "I came to see my granddaughter"
Liana scoffed. "Now she’s your granddaughter?"
"She always was. Remember Xavier doesn’t have long span life, and he deserves to leave something behind" Her eyes flicked toward the sound of Ariella’s voice in the background. "She’s all we have"
Liana crossed her arms. "You told me to drug him. You made this mess, remember?"
Mrs. Knight gave a tight smile. "And you went through with it"
Liana’s jaw clenched.
“You don’t care about her, do you?"
"Trust me I do, she's my granddaughter after all" Mrs. Knight walked toward her.
"Ariella" Mrs. Knight said softly.
The little girl blinked, surprised. Her name never sounded that warm coming from her grandmother’s lips.
Mrs. Knight knelt in front of her, her eyes glossy with something that looked frighteningly close to emotion. She reached out, cupping Ariella’s cheeks in her hands. The gesture was foreign, unfamiliar.
"I love you, my sweet granddaughter, pardon my previous attitude to you. I was wrong"
Ariella’s eyes widened, her small mouth parting in shock. This wasn’t a dream, was it?
Mrs. Knight smiled sadly and brushed a curl behind Ariella’s ear.
"I will make sure your father accepts you, okay? I promise. No more pretending you don’t exist. No more coldness. Just… family"
Ariella didn’t speak. Her body didn’t know how to react to kindness from the woman who had never shown it before.
After a pause, Ariella finally whispered, "Do you really mean it?"
Mrs. Knight nodded and pulled her into a rare, warm embrace. "I do"
She wanted to right all her wrongs before Xavier finally left the world. She would beg for his forgiveness, make him accept his daughter, and, someday soon, gather them all with Hailey included, for one final family dinner.
___
💕TBC💕
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