Page 117 of Undisputed Player
I couldn't help laughing, and any lingering stress eased. “Truth, I guess?”
“Rookie mistake,” Jax chided beside me, holding me just a bit tighter in his lap. “Adrian's truths are brutal.”
“Have you seen Jax’s ass?” Adrian asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
I choked on my wine, heat flooding my face. “What?”
Sierra reached across to smack Adrian's arm. “Behave! It's her first time being stuck with us.”
“That's why I'm asking!” Adrian protested, completely unrepentant. “He literally did a photoshoot with his ass out! We all know what it looks like, and Star doesn’t! That’s messed up!”
“It’s not,” Jax said smoothly, his hand settling on my knee with casual possession. “It was a shoot for a women’s brand. Not foryou.”
All three men looked at me then, their expressions varying degrees of amusement and intensity. The air in the cabin suddenly felt charged, like the moment before lightning strikes.
I realized that for all their joking and teasing, these men operated on a different level, like predators playing at being civilized.
“Maybe,” I finally answered, lifting my chin. I remembered whose lap I was on—who I could be in Jax’s presence. “But a lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”
Adrian clutched his chest dramatically. “Oh, she's perfect! Jax, I'mstealing her."
"Over my dead body," Jax growled, but he was grinning.
“He’d shoot you,” Connor said dryly, not looking up from the book Sierra pulled from their bag. "Adrian, did you bring the files?"
The shift was subtle but unmistakable, the playfulness in Adrian's expression receding, replaced by something sharper. “Already sent it to you. Everything Bee and Star need to know about the security protocols at the arena.”
I blinked, surprised by both the sudden topic change and my inclusion. “Security protocols?”
Sierra gave me another little smile. “High-profile fights draw all kinds of attention. The guys are just… cautious.”
“Cautious is Adrian checking under the bed for monsters,” Jax scoffed, his tone light but his eyes hard. “We're thorough.”
“Paranoid, you mean,” Sierra teased, but there was understanding in her eyes. “They're overprotective, but you get used to it.”
“Like hell we are,” Connor muttered, but his lips quirked in a way that suggested this was an old, familiar argument. “Adrian, show the girls the box seats.”
Adrian produced an iPad, swiping through to a blueprint of what seemed like a luxury box-thing. “You'll watch the fight here,” he instructed, pointing to a section marked in red.
“It has a private entrance, bulletproof glass, and security at all access points.” He looked up at me, his expression uncharacteristically serious. “Nothing gets to you.”
“Or near you,” Jax added, pressing his lips to my hair.
The possessiveness chafed against all the years I'd spent fighting for independence, for control over my own life and Leo's. But it felt a weight lifted from my chest. Now, I wasn’t alone.
“Thank you,” I said quietly, meeting each of their gazes in turn—Connor's steady intensity, Adrian's unexpected depth, and Jax's confident assurance. “For including me.”
“Don't thank us yet,” Jax grinned wickedly. “Wait until you've seen us at the after-party. Adrian has a tradition of challenging the losing team to a tequila contest.”
“Which I always win,” Adrian interjected proudly, stroking Toffee's fur.
“Only because you cheat,” Connor countered.
Adrian gasped in mock offense. “I do not cheat! I strategically ensure victory through creative methods.”
“You switch your glasses with water,” Jax deadpanned.
“Creative. Methods.”
