Page 54 of Jax
“I’m delightful.”
“Debatable.”
She winked, all glitter and confidence, like she already knew she’d won. “Offer stands.” I opened my mouth to shut it all down before the moment stretched too far, but nothing came. Instead, I watched her, perched on the armrest like it was hersby right, braid slipping over her shoulder, eyes clear, kind, and unbothered. She wasn’t pressing. Just offering something I hadn’t realized I missed. A lump caught in my throat, and I swallowed hard before it could reach my voice.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, quieter than intended. Her grin softened, but didn’t diminish.
“I know.”
I looked down at my book, though the words didn’t stick. Her presence filled the room like it was stitched into the furniture. She didn’t need volume. Just existed like joy was a natural state—bright, teasing, completely disarming. I didn’t understand her. Maybe that’s why I trusted her.
Sunlight stretched across the floor, warming a pile of pillows and an abandoned mug. The air held cinnamon and leftover coffee, smelling sweet, spiced, and almost painfully normal. Then came a clang—metal, concrete. Voices followed, low, focused. And then: boots. Steady. Heavy. Measured.
Maddy snapped upright like someone had pulled a string, grin sharpening with a wicked edge. “Ohhh,” she whispered, practically vibrating. “Here we go.”
I blinked. “What…?”
“You’ll see.”
He walked in.
Nikolai Sokolov didn’t just enter a room. Hearrived. A shift in pressure. A weight. He came from the hall like a shadow given form—black boots, dark shirt molded to muscle, each movement quiet and precise. He didn’t look at me. Didn’t register the twitch in my fingers or the silence I couldn’t break. His eyes found Maddy, who hadn’t moved but had changed completely, still and charged like a wire.
He raised a hand. Snapped once. Sharp. Final. Then pointed.Two fingers to the floor. No cruelty. No explanation. Just absolute clarity.
Maddy gasped, one hand to her chest in mock offense. “So bossy today,” she said, turning toward me with a pout. “Do you see this? The tyranny I endure?” I blinked, still mentally catching up as she batted her lashes and flicked her fingers like she was testing gravity. “Hmm. What if I don’t?” she teased. “What then?”
Nikolai didn’t respond. He just lifted a brow barely, then let out a sound. Low. Contained. A growl that coiled up from his chest and rippled through the air. Not loud enough to startle. Just quiet enough to mean it. The back of my neck tingled.
Maddy shivered, like the sound had seeped under her skin. Her breath hitched. Her pupils darkened. A slow, radiant smile followed, one that looked far too pleased for someone on the receiving end of a command. “Gotta gooo,” she sang, already rising, barefoot and practically glowing as she crossed the room with a grace that looked effortless. She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t even glance back. Her body already knew where it belonged.
I couldn’t look away. She reached him and stopped exactly where he’d indicated, lifting her face to his without instruction, offering a kiss to his jaw that was quiet and full of reverence. Not performance. Not plea. Just reverence. Her version of thank you. He didn’t move. Didn’t acknowledge it. But something shifted; the space between them tightened with meaning. Then they were gone—no words, no lingering. Just the door closing behind them, leaving taut silence in their wake.
I exhaled, realizing how long I’d been holding my breath. My body remained still, fingers clenched around the forgotten book, pulse too loud in my ears.
What had I just witnessed?
My brain scrambled for context. Command, response, tone. That growl. The snap earlier. The grace with which she obeyed. It should’ve felt off. Controlling. Dangerous. But that wasn’twhat stayed with me. Maddy didn’t look afraid. She hadn’t seemed diminished. She looked... aligned. Like something inside her had clicked back into place. As if she’d been tuned, and he was the one who struck the chord. And the wildest part was, he hadn’t even touched her.
That wasn’t control I recognized. It felt like something older. A ritual. Wordless and weighty. And somehow sacred. I didn’t understand it. But God, I wanted to.
I rubbed my thumb against my knuckle, unsettled by the heat still blooming low in my stomach, and the fact that I didn’t feel ashamed of it. I’d spent every day since being kidnapped jumping at noises and watching for hidden threats. But this didn’t feel like a threat. It felt deliberate. Intentional. Safe, even in its strangeness.
And it wasn’t really about Nikolai. It was about what she’d given him. That wasn’t power taken. It was power offered. Trusted. Whatever happened behind that door, I didn’t believe it was violence. I believed it was a choice. Controlled. Consensual. Maybe even beautiful.
My jaw tightened. Because if that was true, if control could mean safety, if surrender could be strength, then maybe I could re-learn how not to be afraid all the time. I wasn’t ready to believe it. But the thread had already been pulled.
The silence after they left pressed against my skin and settled deep in my ribs, heavy and intrusive. I stared at the closed door, half-expecting Maddy to burst back in—bright, loud, absurd. But she didn’t. And he wouldn’t.
They were gone, but the charge remained, clinging like static to the corners of the room. My pulse hadn’t steadied. The air still felt claimed, marked by something I didn’t have language for. The book in my lap blurred into white noise, the words collapsing beneath the hum building in my chest.
I wasn’t alone.
A soft rustle caught my ear, barely more than fabric against skin. I turned and found her, Bellamy, curled in the oversized armchair like she’d been there for hours, watching. One leg was tucked beneath her, the other stretched beneath a worn throw, her Kindle balanced loosely in her hands. She wore a gray tank, dark sweatpants, her hair twisted into a messy knot, but nothing about her looked careless. Even her stillness felt chosen.
Her eyes—cool, dark, alert—were locked on me with unnerving precision.
“She can be kind of a lot, huh?” she said, voice low and even, her mouth curving just slightly.
