But I knew, deep down, if it kept going like this—if they kept turning our bodies into battlegrounds—it was only going to get worse.
13
Jackie
Elliott was silent as we stepped into the room. He walked straight to the bathroom, turned on the water to the shower, and closed the door behind him. I could feel something behind his silence. He was too tense, too quiet. The sex hadn’t soothed anything in him. If anything, it had only wound him tighter.
He was never like this.
What had happened?
I was still sitting on the edge of the bed, reaching for a shirt thrown on the floor, when a soft knock came at the door.
“Hana?” I asked, but I already knew.
I cracked the door open, and she pulled me toward the hallway, lowering her voice as the door softly shut behind us.
“I think something’s changing,” she said. “With them. Withthis.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?” But I knew it too.
She hesitated, searching my face. “I think Jack and Elliott are getting too caught up in it. Not with us, but with each other. There’s…tension. Competition. It felt different tonight. It wasn’t playful.”
I swallowed hard, the memory of Elliott’s hands gripping me, the way Jack’s jaw had tightened, flashing through my mind. She wasn’t wrong.
Hana took a deep breath. “We either need to stop this…or something needs to change. Before it goes too far.”
I nodded. I knew she was right.
We’d opened something between all of us, but what had started as curiosity, connection, maybe even healing…it was tilting. The balance was off. And no one wanted to admit it.
“I don’t want it to fall apart,” Hana said softly. “I just want to fix it before it does.”
I nodded, unsure of what “fixing it” even looked like anymore. “Do you think they’d be open to talking? To, like, at leasttryto fix it?”
Before she could answer, footsteps thundered behind us.Jack.
He didn’t say a word as he walked up to us—he just reached out, took Hana’s hand, and tugged her toward him.
“Jack—” she started, but he shook his head.
“Come here.”
There was something possessive in the way he held her. I took a step back instinctively, letting them pass. They walked down the hall together, and a second later, the door slammed shut.
Then raised voices.
I froze where I stood, tension crawling up my chest. I couldn’t help but inch closer.
“You’re mine,” I heard Jack bite out. “You’remy fucking wife, Hana.”
Her voice was lower, too soft to catch at first.
Then Jack spoke again, sharper now. “You pushed this on us. Just like with Michael. Youmademe share you.” His voice cracked as it rose. “And then he fucking took you away from me and almost killed you!”
I gasped before I could stop myself, then crept even closer, my heart pounding even though I knew I shouldn’t be listening.
“This is different, Jack,” Hana said firmly. “I thought we both agreed to this.”
