26. JAX

CHAPTER 26

JAX

I can’t believe how quickly time has flown these past few days. After our film crew packed up and left, the four of us—Olivia, Ethan, Marcus, and I—just decided to stay. No big discussion needed; we all seemed to know we weren’t ready to return to everyday life. So we’ve been lazing around the beach house, sleeping in late, and letting the sun bake our skin during long afternoons by the water. When night rolls around, we wind up tangled in each other’s arms, fucking until we’re breathless, laughing ourselves silly in between because it still feels a little surreal.

This morning, though, I wake to an unexpected emptiness. The sheets next to me are cool, and there’s no sign of Olivia. Her scent lingers on the pillow, faintly sweet. With a soft groan, I sit up and rake a hand through my hair. Ethan and Marcus are still sprawled out on the other bed, totally oblivious. I tug on a pair of shorts, yank a t-shirt over my head, and decide to go look for her.

The sun’s barely risen; only the pale edge of dawn streaks the sky. I step onto the deck and immediately feel the salty breeze brush over me.

My bare feet pad along the sand. It’s damp and cool, the tide having receded some time in the early morning hours. Then I spot her.

Olivia sits at the water’s edge, legs drawn up, arms wrapped around her knees. Her hair spills over her shoulders in soft waves, the faint orange glow of sunrise catching in the strands.

I head over, deliberately scuffing my foot so she hears me approaching. She glances over her shoulder, a small smile ghosting across her lips, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Hey,” I say. “Couldn’t sleep?”

She shrugs, turning her gaze back to the pinkish line of the horizon. “I was sick, actually. Threw up a couple of times. Must’ve been that gin mixed with leftover grilled fish and jalapeno poppers. Terrible idea.”

A spike of concern darts through me. “Wait—you threw up? Are you feeling better now?” I rest my palm gently on her back, where the sweater has slipped off one shoulder. “We probably shouldn’t have mixed gin with greasy jalapenos and day-old fish. You think it’s just an upset stomach, or maybe you’ve got actual food poisoning?”

She gives a shaky laugh, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I hope not. I’m feeling a bit better, but it was rough earlier. Didn’t want to wake you guys.”

“You sure you’re okay?” I press, “We can head to a doctor if you need—there’s that urgent care about a twenty-minute drive from here.”

She shakes her head. “Let’s hold off, at least for now. I just needed some air. Promise I’ll let you know if it gets worse.”

I nod, but I don’t move my hand from her back. Her shoulders feel tense under my touch, like she’s bracing against something. We both face the ocean, watching the sunrise spread a warm peach glow along the horizon. The waves lap at the shoreline, a gentle hush that makes the world feel peaceful, even if my insides are churning with worry.

After a few moments, I clear my throat. “I, um… I wanted to talk, actually. We haven’t had much downtime to just sit and…” I struggle for the right word. “To just be.”

Olivia turns her gaze from the water, eyebrows knitted. “Sure. What’s on your mind?”

“Us,” I admit after a moment. “This... whatever it is we’re doing.”

Her brows lift slightly, and for a second, I think I see a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. “What about it?”

I draw in a slow breath, the words coming out heavier than I mean them to. “I guess I’m wondering where we stand. You’ve got Ethan, Marcus, and me all tangled up in your orbit, and I can’t tell if it’s just... fun, or if there’s more to it.”

Her lips press together, and she looks down at the sand, tracing absent patterns with her fingers. “You think this is just fun for me?”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly.

Olivia’s quiet for a moment, her gaze fixed on the sand. Then she lifts her head, meeting my eyes. “I didn’t plan any of this, Jax. I didn’t wake up one day and think, ‘You know what would be great? Getting involved with three guys I work with.’ It just... happened. I know it was Ethan’s idea at first, but it’s as good as all of ours now. And yeah, it’s messy and complicated, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

“So it’s not just fun?”

She shakes her head, a faint smile tugging at her lips. “It’s fun, sure. But it’s more than that. At least for me.”

I nod slowly, her answer settling over me like a warm blanket. It’s not everything I need, but it’s something. A start.

“I don’t want to screw this up,” I admit, my voice quieter now. “You, me, all of us—I don’t want to lose it because I’m too much of a mess to figure out how to make it work.”

Her smile softens, and she reaches out, resting her hand on mine. “You’re not going to screw it up, Jax.”

I let out a bitter laugh, shaking my head. “What if I already have?” The words come out heavier than I intend, and I glance down at the sand, dragging my hand through it. “With Adam, I mean.”

She turns toward me, her brows pulling together. “Jax…”

I cut her off, the knot in my chest tightening as the words tumble out. “I know threatening her seemed like a good idea at the time. Charlie deserved it—hell, she was practically begging for it. But all I did was close the door on reconnecting with him.”

Olivia’s quiet for a moment. Then she looks at me. “And do you want to? Reconnect with him?”

“Should’ve been an option for me,” I mutter. “That’s the thing, Liv. It wasn’t just about wanting it—it was my right. My right to be in his life, to watch him grow up, to… to be his dad.”

Olivia shifts, angling toward me fully. Her hand rests lightly on my forearm. “You’re his dad. No one—not her, not his mom—can change that.”

“I just don’t want to hurt him. He’s just a kid.”

“Adam deserves his dad, Jax. And you deserve the chance to be that for him,” Olivia says. I expected her to tell me to let go of it—and Adam. That’s part of the reason I told her, but she’s doing the opposite.

I look at her and the words are right on the tip of my tongue. I love you, Olivia.

And this is why I love her.

“What am I supposed to do, Liv? Send a letter? Call his mom? Show up at their doorstep and hope for the best? Every time I think about trying, it feels… pointless.”

“It’s not pointless. And I promise, once we get back to the city, we’ll figure something out.”

The drive back to the city feels like a slow transition from paradise to the chaos of reality. I hate being back already, and we’re already even there yet.

Ethan’s behind the wheel, his hands drumming idly against the steering wheel as we weave through light traffic. Olivia and Marcus are quiet in the back seat. The day is dreary and grey, a stark contrast to the good weather we’ve had for the last couple of days. It feels almost ominous.

We’re just a few blocks from my place when Ethan’s phone buzzes on the console. He glances at it briefly, the name on the screen making his jaw tighten. He swipes to answer, his tone casual but strained. “Kara, what’s up?”

The rest of us sit up a little, catching the change in his energy. He’s listening intently, his expression darkening with every second.

“She’s on what channel?” Ethan’s knuckles whiten as he grips the wheel tighter.

“What’s wrong?” Olivia asks.

Ethan doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he pulls the car to the curb, his jaw clenched. “Yeah,” he says into the phone. “Send me the link. We’ll deal with it.”

“It’s Charlie Green,” he says, and just hearing her name is enough to set me on edge. “She’s found out about our new segment.”

Olivia’s eyes narrow. “How? We haven’t even announced it yet.”

“Doesn’t matter how,” Ethan snaps, frustration lacing his voice. “What matters is she’s already spreading shit. She’s going to be on some local WeTube news channel, no doubt trashing us. She’s already talking shit about us on her stories.”

My gut tightens. “What’s she saying?”

Ethan runs a hand through his hair, his irritation barely contained. “The usual bullshit, but she’s targeting the polyamory angle. Saying we’re promoting ‘immoral lifestyles’ or some crap like that. Kara said she’s making it sound like we’re out here corrupting kids or something.”

“Goddamn it,” Marcus mutters. “What’s her play? I thought we gave her a good reason to shut the hell up with her nonsense.”

“It obviously didn’t work,” Ethan says. “Let’s go to my place and figure out how bad this is.”

By the time we pull up to Ethan’s apartment, my jaw aches from how tightly I’ve been clenching it.

Inside, Ethan heads straight for his laptop while Olivia perches on the arm of the couch, her arms crossed.

“Can we do something to stop it?” Marcus asks.

“I can’t catch hold of my lawyer,” Olivia says, biting her tongue.

“I can call my lawyer, and have it taken down,” I say. “It’ll probably be quicker that way since he’s local.”

“Okay,” Ethan says, nodding.

I call my lawyer, Ronnie, and he picks up on the second ring. He’s aware of Love Lab, and I previously talked to him about Charlie Green once so I give him a quick rundown of the situation with her.

But his answer leaves me dismayed.

“There’s nothing we can do?” I ask.

“Not in the time we have,” Ronnie, sounding more apologetic than I need him to be. “If it’s a public opinion piece and not an outright defamation, it’s tricky to get an emergency injunction. The segment will have already aired by the time we push anything through.”

I clench my jaw, fighting the urge to throw my phone across the room. “So that’s it? She gets to say whatever she wants, and we just have to take it?”

“For now,” he says cautiously. “But if anything she says crosses the line into actionable territory, we’ll go after her. Document everything.”

I hang up without bothering with pleasantries and toss my phone onto the table. The sharp sound makes everyone look at me.

“Well?” Marcus asks, his tone clipped.

I shake my head, running a hand through my hair. “He can’t stop it. Not in time.”

Olivia’s leg stops bouncing, and she leans forward, her brows furrowed. “So what now? We just sit here and watch her trash everything we’ve built?”

“We don’t have much of a choice,” I mutter. “The segment’s already lined up to air. If we’re not ready for what she’s throwing at us, she’ll have the narrative before we even get a chance to respond.”

Ethan sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Great. So we’re just sitting ducks.”

“No,” I say firmly, my voice cutting through the room. “We’re not. We might not be able to stop her from airing it, but that doesn’t mean we’re defenseless. We watch, we take notes, and we figure out how to counter every lie she throws out.”

Olivia looks at me, her expression sharp and determined. “She’s not going to hold back, you know. If she’s dragging us into the mud, she’ll make sure it sticks.”

“Let her try,” Marcus growls, pushing off the wall. “She thinks she can take us down? She doesn’t know who she’s messing with.”

I sigh. “How, Marcus? Because right now, all I see is Charlie Green gearing up to spin her narrative to an audience that’s ready to eat it up.”

Before he can answer, his phone buzzes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What now?” Olivia asks

“Check this out,” Marcus says, holding his phone up. “Some gossip blog just dropped an article about us.”

Ethan looks up from his laptop. “What is it?”

Marcus doesn’t answer right away, scrolling through the article with a look that could kill. Finally, he speaks, his tone dark. “They’re speculating about our ‘true intentions.’ Says Olivia’s using this whole polyamory angle as a smokescreen to fend off a hostile takeover at her company.”

Olivia stiffens, her eyes narrowing. “That’s ridiculous. Why is Death Crunch even mentioned there?”

“What else do you expect from psychopaths?”

“Wait, it gets better,” Marcus says grimly. “They’re also claiming that Jax—” he pauses, glancing at me, “—is doing this to bolster a custody case for Adam.”

“Wait a minute,” I say, standing up. “I thought Charlie was going to be quiet about Adam. Where did this come from?”

“Directly from the source apparently,” Ethan says.

“Fucking hell,” I say, raking my hand through my hair. “She doesn’t have an iota of decency.”

“That woman is a menace,” Ethan says. “She must really love all the attention.”

“I’m not doing this to win custody. I haven’t even—” I cut myself off, swallowing the rest of the sentence. I don’t need to justify myself to them.

Ethan gestures to the laptop on the table. “It’s almost time,” he says. “You still want to watch it?”

We don’t answer. None of us want to watch Charlie Green tear us apart live, but we don’t have much of a choice. Olivia reaches for the remote, turning the TV on and pulling up the WeTube stream. The video buffers for a moment before Charlie’s face fills the screen.

She looks composed, polished. Her expression is one of concern, but I know better. That fake sincerity is a mask for the glee she’s feeling right now. The host introduces her, and the two of them exchange pleasantries before diving into the segment.

Charlie starts slow, building her case with vague statements and half-truths. Then she goes for the jugular.

“This isn’t just about relationships,” she says. “It’s about responsibility. Love Lab has a massive following, and instead of using that platform responsibly, they’re promoting something that’s inherently unstable. Dangerous, even. Jax, now he’s a washed-up hockey player form the yesteryear trying to gun for some cheap fame. And that guy Marcus—he’s a doctor, right? He’s a member of the community, and people trust their secrets with him. And now he’s here pulling this kind of nonsense. His concerned ex-wife reached out to me the other day?—”

“Turn it off,” Marcus says. “I can’t listen to another word.”

Olivia grabs the remote and shuts off the TV, the room plunging into silence.

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