I weighed him. “If you want her out, she needs to feel protected. Not like she’s sneaking around for nothing.”
Theo’s eyes flicked up, steady. “I can do that.”
“Third.” My gaze cut between them. I glanced between them. “Logan’s already foaming. The team saw blood. Don’t feed the rumors. No posts. No subtweets. We talk to Coach first thing. That’s the only conversation we have in public.” It was a damngood thing he had cut out a few minutes early to take a call and had missed the explosion.
Theo’s eyebrow lifted. “What’s Logan got on the Dunn’s business, on your family’s?”
“Don’t know yet.” The truth sat heavy. “Mila’s got ears where I don’t, through her mom. Between them, hopefully we’ll know something before it becomes a headline.”
Jax studied me, like he could see I was balancing more than I’d put words to. He probably could. He wasn’t dumb.
“Now.” I straightened. “The part we aren’t leaving this kitchen without. You and Avery.”
He didn’t move.
“This isn’t a question about how you feel in the moment because she lights you up.” My voice cut steady. “This is me, as someone who cares about Avery, making it clear—are you all in? Not a secret. Not until it’s easy. Not when it’s fun. All in. Because if you’re not, you walk away now. You don’t give her half. I won’t let you.”
Theo’s chair creaked as he leaned forward.
Jax shut his eyes, briefly. Opened them. The ice pack had melted to slush against his shirt. He set it on the counter and braced both palms there as if he was taking an oath.
“I’m not walking. I’m in.” He drew a breath. “I’ve been in a long time, if you want the truth.”
The tension in Theo’s face eased a notch.
Jax kept going. “I kept my hands off because of Chase—because our team. Then everything with Elise went sideways, and it wasn’t safe to have anything that looked like a soft spot. And then… it was just habit. Not looking straight at it.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “Tonight wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t a heat-of-the-moment thing. I was going to talk to Chase this weekend and take the punch he gave me anyway.” A humorless twitch of a smile. “Guess we just moved the clock.”
“Ground rules,” I stated.
Jax arched a brow. “You giving me a curfew too?”
“Don’t be an asshole,” Theo said, but there was no heat in it.
“Rule one,” I said. “No lies. Not to us. Not to her. Not to yourself. You can hold things when safety’s on the line, but you don’t play us.”
He nodded.
“Rule two. No power plays.” I held his stare. “You don’t use us to pressure Chase. You don’t use Avery to get to him. You don’t use any of this to punch up at Elise. We do this clean, or we don’t do it at all.”
Another nod. Slower.
“Rule three.” The one that mattered most—even if it made me taste blood saying it. “You don’t disappear on her when it gets ugly. You don’t go quiet; you don’t take space without saying you’re taking space.” I exhaled, felt the ghost of Mila’s text in my chest. “We show up. That’s the only way this works.”
Resolve settled over Jax. “I can do that.”
I believed him.
Theo stood, chair legs scraping. He walked to the sink, ran a hand towel under cold water, wrung it out, and tossed it to Jax. “Your face looks like you tried to kiss a train.”
Jax caught it one-handed, pressed it to his cheek, and winced. “You should see the train.”
Something small and almost normal loosened the air.
My phone buzzed again.
Mila:Avery asked if Jax is okay.
Me:He is. He’s all in with her. We’re setting rules.
