Jax's Little Obsession

Chapter 18

Maya’s Pov

The morning sun didn’t feel warm when I stepped onto campus; it felt like a spotlight I never asked for. By the time I reached the main quad, the atmosphere was thick with tension.

Students were huddled in small groups, their heads bent together, phones held up as they scrolled through something that made them stop and stare whenever I walked by. I tried to ignore it, tucking my hands into my pockets, but the feeling of eyes tracing my every move was suffocating.

Ava intercepted me near the library entrance, her face pale. She didn't say a word, just shoved her phone into my hand. My breath hitched. There it was: a series of grainy, black-and-white photos of me and Jax in the garage. We were close, too close, the tension between us in those shots practically vibrating off the screen. They weren’t just photos of a mentor and a student; they were images that looked like a private, intimate moment.

"They're everywhere, Maya," Ava whispered, her voice shaking. "Briar has been posting them since sunrise. She’s telling everyone you’re using those sessions to wrap Jax around your finger, making it sound like you're manipulating him into giving you everything—the bike, the attention, the grades. She’s framing it like you’re some kind of gold-digging shark."

My blood ran cold. The anger that had been simmering since the night before exploded, but it wasn't just directed at Briar anymore. It was directed at the situation, at the unfairness of it all, and at the man who had brought me into this world without a map.

"I didn't ask for this," I muttered, handing the phone back.

"I know," Ava said, her voice soft. "But you need to make him deny it. If Jax just comes out and says you're nothing, these rumors will die in an hour. You have to get him to fix this."

I found him ten minutes later in the center of the crowded cafeteria. He was sitting at a corner table, surrounded by his usual circle of people, though he looked entirely detached from the conversation. When he saw me walking toward him, he didn't look surprised. He just watched me with that steady, unreadable gaze that always made my pulse jump.

I didn't care who was watching. I walked straight up to his table, the noise of the cafeteria fading away until it was just the two of us. "You saw the photos," I said, my voice cutting through the chatter.

Jax leaned back, his eyes dark. "I saw them."

"Then do something about it," I demanded. "Deny it. Tell them I’m just a mechanic, that our time is strictly business, that I’m just a project you’re working on for your stupid redevelopment plan. Tell them I mean nothing, and this stops today."

The entire cafeteria had gone silent. Everyone was leaning in, waiting for his answer. I expected him to brush it off, to treat me like a common annoyance he was tired of dealing with. Instead, Jax stood up slowly. He walked around the table, putting himself in the center of the room, fully aware that every single person was recording him, waiting for a quote.

He looked around the room, his expression cold and untouchable, before his eyes locked onto mine. "I don't owe any of you an explanation about who I spend my time with," he said, his voice ringing out, clear and sharp. "If you want to waste your time speculating on my private affairs, feel free. But don't expect me to validate your gossip with a denial."

The silence that followed was absolute. He hadn't said we were together, but he hadn't denied it either. He had essentially told the entire university that he didn't care what they thought, and that he refused to distance himself from me.

I was stunned. I stood there, rooted to the spot, while he turned and walked past me, beckoning for me to follow. We left the cafeteria in a daze, walking until we were alone in a quiet, empty hallway near the gymnasium.

I spun around to face him, my hands shaking. "Are you trying to destroy me?" I hissed, my eyes stinging. "You just made everything ten times worse! Now they don't just think I'm a project—now they think I'm someone you’re protecting, which makes me an even bigger target for people like Briar. Why didn't you just say it wasn't true?"

Jax stepped into my space, his face hard. "Because it wouldn't be true, Maya."

I stopped breathing. The air in the hallway felt like it was rushing away from us. "What does that mean?"

"It means I'm not going to pretend," he said, his voice dropping until it was a low, rough rumble. "I'm not going to stand in front of a room full of people and lie and say you don't matter to me. I don't care how hard that makes your life. I'm not going to act like you're invisible just to make the gossip stop."

"But this is my life, not yours!" I shouted, though my voice was losing its edge. "You can walk away whenever you want! I’m the one who has to sit in those classrooms and deal with their stares!"

Jax reached out, his hand catching my chin, forcing me to look up at him. His eyes weren't just intense; they were desperate. "Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I planned for you to become the only thing I can think about?"

I didn't have an answer. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but stare at him. The line between the contract and reality had vanished. It wasn't about the bike, or the workshop, or the debt anymore. It was about the way he was looking at me, like I was the only real thing in a world full of lies.

He didn't move his hand, and I didn't pull away. We stood there in the quiet of the hallway, two people trapped in a collision that neither of us had started, and both of us were too far gone to stop.

He didn't say the word love, and I didn't say the word relationship. We didn't have to. The way he was standing there, ignoring his own reputation just to keep me in his orbit, said more than any confession could.

I realized then that I wasn't just his prisoner anymore. I was his anchor, and for reasons I couldn't even explain, he had decided he was never going to let me drift away.