Chapter 135 - 0135: He Wants More

Chapter 135: Chapter 0135: He Wants More

Elena’s Point Of View

The room held its silence except for the low hum of the air conditioner pushing cool, sterile air against the heavy velvet curtains and the faint, rhythmically muted thump of bass floating up from the boutique’s main floor downstairs.

My hands twisted so tightly in my lap that my knuckles stood out stark white, my nails digging deep into the soft meat of my palms until sharp, red crescents marked my skin.

I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath... my lungs aching, my ribs tight, my whole body braced as if waiting for a blow, until Lexy’s fingers closed gently, firmly over mine.

"Elena," she said softly, her voice laced with a sudden, cautious tender weight, like she was afraid that if she spoke too loudly, I’d bolt right out the window Jaxx had just slipped through. "Sit down. Please. Look at me."

I sank onto the velvet sofa, the plush cushions swallowing me whole, as though the furniture itself understood I needed somewhere to disappear. The fabric usually smelled faintly of expensive vanilla and fresh-cut lilies, but right now, all I could breathe in, all that filled my mouth and saturated my clothes, was him.

The heavy, intoxicating scent of single-malt whiskey, worn leather, clean sweat, and sharp clove smoke clung to my skin like an invisible brand. It felt as though he hadn’t just left the room; he had claimed the air itself, leaving nothing behind for me to breathe that didn’t carry his signature.

Lexy sat down directly next to me, the side of her silk dress brushing my knee. She tilted her head, her sharp dark eyes warm with concern, yet searching every line of my face with relentless precision, the way she always did when she sensed I was hiding something too heavy to carry alone. "It’s really complicated, huh?"

A bitter, humorless laugh ripped from my throat before I could stop it, sounding raw and brittle in the small space. "Complicated isn’t even the word, Lex. It’s... it’s an absolute disaster."

Lexy squeezed my hands, her thumbs pressing into my aching knuckles, grounding me the way she’d done a hundred times before, back when we were girls trading secrets under blanket forts, and now, as women trading far darker truths. "I’m right here with you. No matter how ugly, how messy, or how complicated it gets, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll sit right here and listen to every single detail. You know that, right?"

I nodded, swallowing against the hard, dry knot wedged in my throat. "I know. I’m sorry."

Her gaze flicked over my face like a seasoned detective reading a map of fresh damage, tracking the dark smudges on my neck, the slight swelling of my lower lip, and the nervous tremor in my jaw.

Something in her expression flickered... not judgment, but a kind of aching recognition, as if she already suspected the shape of the story before I gave it words. "So tell me," she said finally, her voice steady, dropping an octave into pure seriousness. "How the hell did it get to this? Jaxx and you... in a fitting room at two in the afternoon. From everything you’ve told me over the years, you hated that man’s guts."

"I do!" I blurted out quickly, far too quickly, the pitch of my voice rising in a panicked defense. I pulled one of my hands free to drag it frantically across my forehead, as though I could physically wipe away the confusion tangled there. "Trust me, Lexy, I do! I hated him back in high school when he was ruining everything in sight, and a huge part of me hates him right now. I never planned for this to happen. I never wanted things to go this far!"

Lexy’s brow furrowed, her dark eyes narrowing, though not unkindly. "Then why, Elena? Why is his taste all over your lips? Why are you sitting here looking like someone who just barely survived a fire?"

I swallowed hard, my fingers twisting feverishly in the delicate lace hem of my dress. Images flashed behind my eyelids with terrifying, vivid clarity... the dim, amber-tinted lighting of that underground bar three weeks ago; the sharp clink of ice in his glass; Jaxx’s towering, dangerous profile as he leaned his broad shoulders against the wood like he owned the entire building; and the sheer weight of his dark gaze pinning me to my seat before he had even spoken my name.

Even now, the memory sent a shiver skating down my spine, equal parts dread and something far more shameful.

I shook my head, staring down at my lap, unable to meet her gaze. "I don’t even know how it truly started. I was... I was completely lost that night. I’d been drinking way too much. I ran out of the house after Graham threw that glass against the wall, and I ended up at the first quiet place I could find. And Jaxx was just... there. Sitting at the back corner booth. I don’t even know why I walked up to him, of all people on this earth."

Lexy said nothing, offering no judgment, just listening intently, her thumb continuing its slow, rhythmic brush over my knuckles, patient in a way that made my throat ache with gratitude.

"I was drunk," I continued, my voice dropping to a harsh, gravelly whisper. "And I was so tired of holding everything inside. I didn’t know when I started spilling every dark thing happening in my life... everything about Graham, about the control, about the gaslighting, about the endless nights sitting in that huge, empty house feeling like a ghost. I broke down and told Jaxx things I haven’t even dared to whisper to my own reflection."

My throat closed up tight, hot tears stinging the backs of my eyes, but I forced myself to push through the humiliation, my voice trembling with the effort of dragging the truth into the light.

"And then," I whispered, "he opened a deal. He sat there, swirling his glass, looking at me like he was making a business transaction with my soul. He said I could use him. Use his name, use his reputation, use his body... anything to make Graham burn with jealousy. To make Graham actually look at me and pay attention for once."

Lexy’s eyes widened slightly, a faint gasp catching in her throat, but she kept her lips pressed together, letting the confession flow, though her grip on my hands tightened as if she needed the anchor as much as I did.

"It was supposed to be just that," I choked out, a single, hot tear finally spilling over my lashes and tracing a path down my flushed cheek. "A transaction. A game. He swore he wouldn’t touch me. He said he’d just... be there in the shadows. Just close enough for Graham to notice. Just close enough to make him hurt the exact same way he’s been hurting me for years."

The silence between us thickened until it felt physically heavy, pressing down on my shoulders like concrete. I could hear the faint tick of my wristwatch and the muffled sound of Lexy’s steady breathing, and for a moment, the whole world seemed to shrink to the small space between us.

"But now..." My voice cracked completely, shattering on the quiet air.

Lexy leaned closer, her shadow falling over me, her presence somehow both comforting and unbearably heavy. "But now what, Elena?"

I stared at the hardwood floor, watching the light catch on the faint scuff marks left by Jaxx’s heavy boots near the vanity legs. My heart was slamming against my ribs so violently I felt certain Lexy could see it throbbing beneath the silk of my dress.

"Now..." I whispered, tasting the confession like copper and blood on my tongue, "...he wants more."

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet, the air charged with an electric tension that made the small hairs on my arms stand up. Lexy’s fingers tightened around mine until it nearly hurt.

"Wants more?" she echoed, her dark eyebrows pulling tight into a sharp line. "How do you mean he wants more, Elena? What did he say to you in here?"

Her voice was extremely careful, measured, but her eyes were razor-sharp, like she was piecing together a terrifying puzzle and just needed me to confirm the final piece, the way she used to solve equations in school... methodically, relentlessly, refusing to let the answer slip away.

I shook my head, my dark hair falling around my face like a veil as I kept my gaze locked on those scuff marks. "I don’t know. Or maybe I do, and I’m just terrified of admitting it out loud." I took a shaky, uneven breath that rattled in my chest.

"He’s... he’s acting like he’s actually interested in me. Not just as a weapon against Graham, but as... as me. But that’s completely insane, Lexy. It has to be a trick. That’s not who Jaxx is. Jaxx doesn’t care about people."

Lexy shifted her weight, pulling one leg up under her as she sat cross-legged on the plush sofa, angling her entire body toward me. The gentle curiosity in her eyes was now mixed with an intense, analytical focus, as though she were determined to excavate every hidden layer of the truth. "Did he actually say those words to you? Did he tell you he likes you?"

I let out a breathless, nervous laugh, pulling my hands away to bury my face in my palms, pressing my heels into my tired eyes. "No! No, he didn’t say anything normal like that. He’s a terrifying puzzle I can’t put together. Every single time I think I have his motives figured out, he does something so reckless, so intense that it blows everything up! One minute he’s harsh, cold, talking about ruining me like he’s made of pure steel and bad intentions. The next..."

My voice trailed off into nothing as the vivid, scorching memory of his mouth pressed against my neck, his hot breath fanning my skin, and his thick fingers tangled in my hair flashed violently behind my eyelids, stealing what little composure I had left.

"The next?" Lexy prompted softly, leaning in until her shoulder was pressed against mine. "What does he do next, Elena?"

I swallowed hard, my hands dropping back into my lap, revealing my red, kiss-swollen lips and flushed cheeks. "The next second, he’s holding me like I’m going to break, saying things that cut right through my skin... touching me like he... like he actually gives a damn about what happens to me."

Lexy leaned back against the arm of the sofa, letting out a long, low whistle that cut through the heavy atmosphere. "Oh, God," she breathed after a long beat. "This is bad. This is so much worse than I thought."

I snapped my eyes to hers, my heart dropping straight to my stomach. "Bad?"

A faint, almost reluctant smirk tugged at the corner of Lexy’s lips, though the look in her eyes remained deadly serious. "Yeah. But not simple bad."

I frowned, my chest tightening with confusion and panic. "What the hell does that mean, Lexy? Speak plainly!"

"I mean..." Lexy shifted even closer, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper as if the walls themselves might hear us. "This is the kind of bad that’s... intoxicating. The dangerous kind that makes your blood hum, that makes your chest heave, that makes you remember you’re a living, breathing woman and not just Graham’s doll."

I shot her a harsh glare, my temper flaring through the haze of confusion. "Are you out of your mind right now?! He just backed me against a vanity and nearly tore my dress off!"

She lifted both hands in immediate surrender, though that knowing look didn’t leave her face. "Hey, don’t misquote me! I am not sitting here telling you to throw your life away and jump into bed with a known delinquent!" Hl

Her smirk faded entirely, her posture straightening as her tone turned solemn. "I’m just stating the facts. Jaxx is... well, he’s Jaxx. He is easily one of the most drop-dead gorgeous, terrifying men I have ever seen in my life, and that’s not an exaggeration. Ever since high school, he’s had that dark, overwhelming aura that makes women completely lose their minds. But I am not painting him as a knight in shining armor! He is still dangerous. He is still violent, unpredictable, and capable of wrecking your entire life. I am definitely not forgetting that."

I pressed my palms flat over my face again, letting out a long, agonized groan. "You are really not helping my sanity right now, Lex."

She reached out and gently pulled my wrist down, forcing me to look directly into her eyes, her expression suddenly fierce with a protectiveness that startled me. "I’m helping you by telling you what I see with my own two eyes! And what I see," she said, her voice dropping into a firm, undeniable rhythm, "is a man who just walked out of this shop looking like he was ready to kill anyone who looked at you wrong. A man who looks at you like you’re the only real thing in a world full of ghosts. And I see a girl who is fighting herself to the point of breaking because she’s starting to feel something real... something she swore she’d never allow herself to feel again."

I stared at her, my lips parted in shock, my chest rising and falling rapidly, but no words came out to refute her, because some traitorous part of me knew she wasn’t wrong.

"I know you better than anyone, Elena," Lexy continued, her voice softening into a protective, maternal warmth that reminded me suddenly of all the years we’d spent surviving things together. "You’ve been trapped in that icy, suffocating marriage with Graham for years. You’ve built brick walls around your heart so high and so thick that I thought nobody would ever reach you again. And yet somehow, without even breaking down the door, this dangerous, arrogant man just walked right through your defenses. And now you’re terrified out of your mind because you don’t know what that authority over your feelings actually means."

A violent tremor ran through my spine, starting at the nape of my neck where Jaxx’s lips had rested and cascading down to my knees. I hated that she was right. I hated that every single word coming out of her mouth was cutting straight to the raw, bleeding truth I’d been hiding from myself, layer by layer, like she was peeling skin from an old wound I’d convinced myself had already healed.

Lexy took both of my hands in hers again, her thumbs tracing firm, reassuring circles against my skin. "This situation is a complete minefield, Elena, but it’s not the end of the world. It doesn’t have to destroy you unless you let it."

Her voice dropped even lower, weighted with solemn dread. "But it absolutely will destroy you if you keep lying to yourself about what’s happening."

I blinked rapidly, hot tears threatening to spill over my lower lashes again. "What am I supposed to do, Lex? Tell me, please."

She gave me a long, deep, searching look that seemed to peer straight into my soul, the kind of look only someone who had known me since childhood could give. "You’re really asking me that?"

"Yes!" I whispered desperately, my fingers tightening around hers until my hands shook. "You’re my best friend! You’re the only sane person left in my life! I don’t know what to do anymore! He’s dangerous! He’s completely unpredictable! He’s..." My voice broke, reduced to a helpless whimper. "...He’s Jaxx."

Lexy let out a long, slow sigh, reaching up with one hand to gently tuck a stray strand of dark hair behind my ear, exactly the way she used to do when we were seventeen and crying over stupid high school heartbreaks, back when our biggest fears were failed exams and fleeting crushes, not marriages built on cruelty and men who set fire to everything they touched.

"I can’t make this choice for you, Elena. I can’t tell you to run back to Graham, and I sure as hell can’t tell you to throw yourself into Jaxx’s arms. I can only sit here, hold your hand, and remind you of who the hell you are beneath all this damage."

I looked at her, my lungs straining, my pulse hammering a frantic beat against my ribs, desperate for an answer she couldn’t give me.

Her dark eyes locked onto mine, unwavering, sharp, and fierce. "It’s not about what Graham demands from you," she said quietly, each word ringing out like a strike on an anvil. "And it’s sure as hell not about what Jaxx wants to take from you."

She tilted her head, her voice dropping into a soft, inescapable command. "It all depends on you, Elena. What do you want?"