Page 33 of Cross Point

Maxwell leaned back casually, eyeing Jackson with an air of superiority that he knew would piss the other man off. “It seems to me that a man who gives up a treasure like Trinity doesn’t deserve to have her in the first place.”

“I didn’t give her up.”

Maxwell raised an eyebrow at that in a mocking gesture.

Jackson had been waiting for Trinity to finish what she was doing to have this out, but he had seen the hurt in her eyes that she had tried to hide when she had told him off earlier. She was right. He should have called her. He could see how she had taken his silence as a rejection, and he was sorry for that. But he wasn’t willing to walk away from her now, even if she had found someone new.

He sighed. “I’ve been working since we were together that night, Katrina.”

She made a humming sound in her throat that didn’t bode well for him, so he decided to be as honest as he could. Leaning forward, he braced his elbows on his knees as he stared at the back of her head, ignoring Maxwell.

“A kid died the other night. I—it was rough. I know her parents.”

Trinity turned her head and stared back at him. “I’m sorry.”

He could see that she was and took that as a good sign. “Here’s the truth. You fucking confused me the other night, Katrina. One second, we were sighting down each other with our weapons, then we were on a date. And then…yeah, I freaked a little. I wasn’t prepared for someone to walk out and see us. Not that I was ashamed to be with you, but it was the chief’s niece for Christ’s sake. He’s my boss!”

“Do you really think your friend was going to run and tell your boss she saw you having sex in an alley?”

“No, probably not,” he admitted. “But I just don’t do stuff like that. Ever.”

“Noted.”

He took a deep breath before continuing. “Once I got my head out of my ass, I was going to contact you, but I got called into a shit storm. They were just stupid kids having a party on the beach while one of the kid’s parents were out of town for the night. But someone had distributed this new drug called Euphoria to the partygoers. It’s a little blue pill with a fancy “4” marked on it. We ended up with sick kids all over the place. One of them was gone by the time the EMTs arrived.”

Trinity had turned around during the telling, and it irked Jackson that she was leaning against Maxwell’s leg as she sat on the floor of the boat, her rifle across her lap. They looked like a unit and he felt apart from them…like he didn’t belong. The familiar feeling had never really bothered him so much before.

He had always felt like an outsider in his family while he was growing up. In the army, he had deliberately separated himself from his men when he had become a lieutenant, just like he was on the police force. They needed that distance to learn how to depend on him while respecting the chain of command.

But with Trinity, he had felt like she had been there with him.

And with her, he hadn’t felt so alone.

Trinity couldn’t bear the sadness in Jackson’s eyes. She wanted to go to him, but she was in a difficult position in between two of the most possessive men she’d ever met. She looked up at Maxwell as he squeezed her shoulder and saw his understanding smile. Relief flooded her that he understood. They were going to have to talk about this, but for now, the need to give comfort overwhelmed everything else.

She placed her rifle safely to the side and got up, moving the short distance to Jackson. He’d been lost in thought and looked up at her, surprised to see her standing there before him. She reached down, moved his arms out of the way, and sat down on his lap, putting her arms around him. She felt his shuddering breath as his arms wrapped around her, holding her in a tight grip as he buried his face in her neck.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you.”

His voice was muffled, but she still heard him. She stroked his head with her hand, enjoying the fuzzy feeling of his almost bare skull.

“You should be, but I understand that you were dealing with a whole shitload of crap. I could have helped if you told me, though.”

He raised his head to stare at her with stark eyes. “Am I too late? Did I lose you?”

She sighed. “That is a complicated question with an even more complicated answer. Max and I have something just as special as you and I do. I don’t know what that means for us.”

“Actually, I think it means that we should remember where we are and embrace it,” Maxwell said casually.

Jackson’s entire body went rigid beneath her. Curious now, she asked, “What do you mean?”

Maxwell smiled at her. “It means I have no intention of stepping back to let Jackson have you just because you met him first. As you said, we have just as strong of a connection as you do with him. This island caters to couples in ménage and poly relationships. Perhaps we should see if that would work for us. All three of us.”

Trinity was speechless for a moment. Sure, she had fantasized about the idea, but actually having a relationship with two men at once was, well, complicated. She moved to sit next to Jackson on the bench, pulling away when he tried to hold her in place on his lap. She needed space to think it over and didn’t want to get distracted by him.

“I don’t want to share her with you,” Jackson said to Max with a scowl. “And I don’t do guys.”

“I’m not hitting on you, you bloody git! I don’t like men that way. And you don’t have much choice about sharing. I’m not going to let Trinity go. Unless you’d like to give up now.”

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